Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) (19 page)

It looked as though a weight had been lifted from Ryan's shoulders, and Alex even smiled. The cocktails kept flowing, and I enjoyed the soft buzz that began to envelop me. I wasn't ready to face everything that was being presented to me. A vicious little voice kept sniping at me, blaming me for the siren's death. Another tried to wrap my mind in the darkness of the past, to drag me back down into what had been and what could have been. I knocked it all back with another sweet, fruity embrace. We laughed and joked about nothing in particular until we laughed at each other laughing. The entire world was spinning ever so slightly, but it was exactly as it needed to be, because nothing else existed. Just me and the comforting noise of laughter and feeling of smiles all around me.
 

The buildings danced with us as we made our way back to the apartment, a tangle of limbs and a symphony of laughter. We sang songs as we climbed the stairs, each of us in perfect harmony with the others. We showed the pop bands how it should have been done. Or so we thought at the time. The bedroom seemed an incredibly long way away, so I collapsed onto the sofa and closed my eyes. I was vaguely aware of other people near me, but they didn't matter. Sleep took me.
 

** **

I cracked an eye open and peered out into the room with a groan. I wondered why I did it to myself and then I remembered when the memories flooded my mind. I did my best to lock the past back in its tidy box as I assessed the situation. I had Dan behind me with his chin resting on my head and his arm draped over my waist. Nik was somehow half on and half off the couch with his head and arm over my thighs. Ryan looked particularly peaceful curled up in one of the armchairs, and Alex was… somewhere. A crashing sound erupted from the kitchen. I glared at it only to see that Alex looked completely fine and was cooking some breakfast. The earth-shattering noise was just him placing a pan down to cook some eggs. I muttered to myself and wriggled out from under the boys to trudge to the bathroom. A hot shower cured many problems.
 

The boys all looked the worse for wear but were perking up quickly when I returned. Alex handed me breakfast with a smile and his fingers lingered on mine for that moment too long when he handed me my plate.
 

"You should arrange that meeting with the sirens. The sooner we move on that lead, the sooner we can wrap this all up."

I muttered and walked away with my food before commandeering the seat Ryan had been planning on. "Yes, dear. I’ll get on it as soon as I’ve eaten something.”

I continued muttering to myself as I tucked into my eggs. I’d only just woken up. I needed some time to eat and think things through. I didn’t want the sirens to arrange everything. Putting all of the power in their hands couldn’t possibly be a good move.

Alex sat next to me. The boys backed away from the impending disaster and ate in the little kitchen with their plates on the counter.
 

I glared at him. "I’m getting to it. I’m perfectly aware that I should have moved more quickly and I fucked up."

He sighed. "We all make mistakes. We don’t know that we could have stopped her from being killed.”

His tone was oddly light. I tensed, bracing myself for the bite.
 

"I’ll ring them in a moment. They’ve already set the location, which I don’t like; we can’t give them all of the control.”

He sighed softly and finished his eggs. "I trust you to handle it."

Part of me wanted to growl at him, I didn’t like his tone, the way he resigned himself to trusting me. I focused on savaging the remains of my eggs instead. I closed my eyes and calmed myself. I had to figure out all of the possible angles with the sirens, and then try to twist it around to be more in our favour.

The boys were all looking at me with varying degrees of confusion. I smiled sweetly as I realised I'd been muttering to myself out loud. "Have you boys dealt with sirens before?"

Ryan blushed a little but said nothing. Nik said, "I’ve heard about their attitude problems, but nothing past that."

"Well, you're in for a real treat today, then, aren't you?"

By treat, I did of course mean a real show. Alex and I both knew that the sirens would be difficult. We weren't wrong.

I made the arrangements without much difficultly for that afternoon. That left me with a few hours to relax and see how the cubs were getting on.
 

We were lounging on the various sofas and armchairs when Ryan said, “You know, my little sister would get a kick out of this. She’s off on the other side of the world, supposedly saving it from the latest big disaster. She always said I’d never to come to anything, that I’d forever be a worthless wanderer. Now here I am, stopping murderers.”

He had a small grin on his face as he finished. It was good to see him relaxing and settling in a little bit. Nik said, “I don’t have any siblings, but I’m sure my father would be proud if he was still around. He was always supportive of my choices.”

It was slightly surprising to hear that he had no siblings. Most shifters tended to have at least three cubs. I assumed there was a good reason for it. My thoughts were cut short when I glanced to Dan and saw his tension. His entire body had gone rigid.
 

He quietly growled, “My family would be disappointed to hear that I’m still alive. So I guess I lose that round.”

With that, he got up and left. I thought I should probably follow him to ask what that was all about, but I left him to his peace and thoughts. Some things were best dealt with alone.

** **

I was even less happy with their choice of location when we arrived. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt as I trekked through the dry grasses that reached up to my ribs. It offered too much protection and camouflage. There wasn't a soul for a least a mile, and the gods knew that the sirens weren't the most intelligent creatures. They wouldn't see the downsides to ambushing us. They were also desperate, which increased my suspicion at their choice of location.
 

Short, twisted trees were scattered throughout the grass-filled expanse before the dilapidated cottage. I kept looking around us; there were too many little hiding places. A dark green prickly bush bit into my bare legs as I brushed past it trying to follow the narrow path that barely cut through the undergrowth stretching between there and my goal. I glanced at Alex and gave a small nod. He moved back and to my left along with Ryan while Nik and Dan moved back and to my right. I kept point, and we all opened our energies just enough to feel around us without alerting anything outside of our immediate proximity. If the sirens were close, they already knew we were there.
 

Soft whispers carried on the breeze, marring the sweet sounds of the grass and leaves rustling. They were even more stupid than I had given them credit for. I came to an abrupt halt just before a small group of blonde, lithe women emerged from their hidey holes in the grasses and moved to encircle us. They were all clearly related, which made the entire experience slightly creepier. Alex and Dan moved out and around to get behind the sirens while Ryan, Nik, and I pushed forwards to tighten their ranks. They paused, all looking to the sallow-skinned woman that had approached me in the first place. We moved around to encircle them as they stepped back, allowing themselves to be corralled. The boys had all allowed their wolf sides forward, their eyes shining amber and their teeth slightly bared. Fear began to roll off the sirens in intoxicating waves. The jaguar threw itself forward, desperately trying to unsheathe its claws and begin playing with the fresh prey. I kept myself in control and crossed my arms while the sirens huddled together. The leader tried to push her shoulders back and jut her chin out in a mark of defiance. I merely laughed at her.
 

We closed in slowly until they were all tightly pressed against each other while the boys licked their lips, eying them like slabs of meat. The leader's voice wavered as she tried to growl, "You're here to help us. You can't hurt us."

I smiled and stepped closer causing her to whimper. "Can't we?"

A collective whine passed through them as they clutched onto each other. I could hear that their hearts were pounding in their chests. The slightly acrid tang of fear was pooling around them. They were all drenched in sweat and quivering. It was difficult to hold myself in check, and the boys' faces were all slightly contorted as they fought their own internal battles.
 

The leader swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. "Please..."

My nostrils flared, and I snorted quietly before nodding to Alex once more. He stood more upright and pulled back his wolf aspect, which triggered the boys to do the same.
 

I looked her straight in the eye, refusing to hide any of the aggression or contempt I felt for her or her kind. "You ask us for help, and then you
dare
try and treat us like an easy meal?"

Her bottom lip wobbled and she dropped to her knees and began sobbing. "We're starving. We haven't eaten in such a long time. We've been hiding in fear that we'd be next."

I shrugged. "There are stray animals. If you walk far enough you may even catch a sheep or a pig."

A look of revulsion spread across her face, her dainty hand went to her mouth to stop herself from retching. I couldn't hold back the smile of satisfaction at her suffering.
 

I gave her a few moments to compose herself before we got down to business. The boys were all very well behaved and controlled themselves fantastically. It took a little while for the sirens to stop shaking, but they didn't try and pull any of their usual entitled princess shit, so it was a net gain overall. After a lot of pacing and some growling, snarling, and shouting we finally concluded that the sirens knew absolutely nothing of use. They just expected us to swoop in and save them because, well, they deserved it. Alex had to take over at that point so that I didn't snap their necks and be done with it.
 

We finally settled on setting up a trap. It amused me to use one of them as bait. They were horrified, which only added to my love of the plan. Ryan was to stay close to the siren in case the killer managed to get past the rest of us. He had already had experience with one, so I thought he’d be the best choice to handle that. Not that I expected them to try anything. Alex and Nik were to hold down one end while Dan and I covered the other. It was simple and easy. What could possibly go wrong? The worst part was the waiting game. We didn't have a territory pinned down for the killer or a timeline, we just had to hope that our pathetic damsel in distress would attract him. That bit I wasn't so happy with, but I had to work with what little information I had.
 

21

Dan lifted himself up onto the wall, which was slightly taller than him. I tilted my head and admired the nice view for a moment before he twisted himself around to sit comfortably on the old, worn bricks. He shuffled over just a touch to hide behind the scraggly, twisted old tree. Part of me was tempted to join him. It looked reasonably comfortable, and it would be nice to be away from prying eyes. Instead I slumped down onto the wooden bench and pulled out my paperback book. The only good thing about said book was the fact that I'd gotten a nice little thrill from stealing it. I wasn't going to pay for such a thing. I skimmed the pages absent-mindedly while listening intently to everything that went on around me.
 

The gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the trees nearby, a few songbirds murmured their good night chirps, and a distant cat yowled. No footsteps, nothing of interest. I was glad to hear that the wretched siren, Honey, had also shut up. I'd come close to throttling her with her incessant whining, complaining, and in the end, wailing. Ryan stayed near her just in case the killer did manage to get past Dan and I, or Alex and Nik on the other end. We weren't really sure quite what we were dealing with, so we were depending on the ability to pick out his lack of energies or impact on the area.

After what felt like days, Dan came to join me on the bench. I smiled at him and put the book away (any excuse).
 

"Do you come here often?"

I held back a laugh and tried to play my part, "Not really, you?"

He pursed his lips and shook his head, "Me either."

He looked at me expectantly. I returned the look. It was him who'd started the conversation, after all. He glanced around and leaned back on the bench stretching his legs out in front of him. "Do you really think this will work?"

I shrugged. "What other options do we have?"

He thought for a long while as I gazed out across the well-worn old road with its faded lines and the abandoned industrial unit opposite us. "It just feels... half assed."

I smiled. "It does at that, but we work with what we have."

"What's the deal with Ryan? I mean, what’s going on there?"

He had turned to look at me, his eyes searching mine for some hidden answer. I looked away and ignored him for a short period. The man hadn't shown up. I began to wonder if we were in the wrong place, if perhaps it was all a foolish idea.
 

He asked again, "Is there something about Ryan I'm missing?"

I looked back at him pointedly. I didn't know quite what he expected me to say or do, but I didn't appreciate the line of inquiry. "All three of you are equal, you each have skills that are useful to the pack. We work as a team."

He nodded and looked away before edging just a touch closer. "How long have you been dealing with the fae?"

He really wasn't much into subtlety that day. "A long time. What's your favourite movie?"

He opened his mouth to ask another question before smiling and running his fingers through his dark hair. "I don't know. It depends on my mood. Some movies are good for idle distraction and removing all thoughts from your head. Others do the opposite; they make you think and give you a different view of the world."

I nodded. That was a fair enough answer, but it didn't give me much of an opening to ask more things or continue on with the conversation. I didn't want to sink into the dark and dismal world of trading favourites. I looked around hoping to see a shady man walking our way, but there was no one in sight. Not a single soul. That alone was suspicious, but not entirely unexpected. A killer isn't going to be stupid enough to kill something as noisy as a siren in a densely packed, well walked area. Dan's hand brushed against mine, knocking me out of my thoughts.