Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) (20 page)

I tried not to scowl at him, instead saying, "What are your life plans?"

It was a big question, one I hoped would get him to relax and talk. It would give us some semblance of appearing normal when our man finally showed up.
 

He frowned and ran his hand over his jaw, with the light stubble forming, before his brow furrowed and he seemed to give it some proper thought. He was a good guy, but I wasn't in the mood for inane chatter, and it really wasn't the place to be openly discussing fae or other such things. I didn't know what was with him, some days he was startlingly competent, others he seemed to be in a world of his own and missed the biggest cues. I shrugged and sighed to myself. We all had to learn at some point, and he was still a cub.
 

Clouds started to gather around the sun, which was on her descent down to the rooftops. The sky was taking on the greyish hue of light rain with pink tinges when he finally said, "I'm really not sure I have a plan. Just to find my place in the world, I suppose. I’ve spent a good deal of my life looking for meaning, purpose, and that feeling that I belong somewhere. Do you know how difficult it is, to realise that you don’t fit? That there is nowhere where you really belong?"

He looked at me with those big dark blue eyes. He reminded me of a lost puppy for a fleeting second. I knew that feeling a little too well, but I had found my place in the world and turned from it. I didn’t know if that was better or worse. I smiled. "You've found it. You're one of my pack. Do you need more than that?"

His eyes sparked and a large smile spread across his face. He looked quite handsome in that light, with the genuine smile on his face. I allowed a small smile to sit on my lips as I looked away and brushed the thought from my mind; I had no intentions of going down the incestuous route. It was classless, manipulative, and open to too many problems.
 

His voice had taken on a slightly deeper, more gravelly tone when he said, “What about you? What are your big life goals?"

He was searching my face again. I didn't know what he was searching for, but his eyes trailed down my neck a couple of times while I watched him.
 

I pursed my lips and looked along the rooftops on the horizon. The pink hints were spilling down the corrugated metal rooftops, forming small streams of colour that sat between the dark shadows. It was pretty in its own odd little way. I hadn't really thought about my life plan in a long time. I didn't want to. To do so would mean acknowledging my place in the world, my dire need for the one thing I didn't think I'd ever truly have. Freedom. Thoughts began filtering through my mind. I planned to be free, but how would I achieve that?
 

A dark little voice murmured something within my consciousness: "Kill them."

I curled my lip and looked down the road to cover my facial expression. Shadows skittered and played along the tarmac, a stray petal fluttered in the breeze adding a flash of yellow to the increasingly grey and rose landscape.
 

I finally sighed and simply said, "I'm not entirely sure, myself. For now, it’s to fulfil the tasks as given to me by the Sisters and to lead the pack as well as I can."

He pursed his lips and looked away, seemingly unsatisfied with my answer. I didn't care. I wasn’t there to satisfy his curiosity.
 

Shouting, growling, snarling, and a muted scream cut through the air. I stood and ran down the alleyway towards Ryan and Honey. The man must have come at her from the other end of the alley. I didn’t know how he got past Alex and Nik, but no one was perfect. I growled and prepared myself for the worst. I didn't prepare myself well enough. Alex had Honey pinned to the wall by her throat, her feet dangling just below his knees as he snarled in her face. Ryan was crumpled on the floor with a split lip and blood trickled down his lightly tanned cheekbone. Nik was standing just behind Alex with his teeth bared and his hands balled into fists.
 

I snarled at them, "What the fuck is going on!?"

Alex took a deep breath and looked at me. "This worthless little parasite felt that Ryan would be a nice little snack to keep her occupied while she waited for the killer."

I fought to calm myself as the desire to rip her to shreds filled me. My claws broke through the skin in my fingertips. The pain was more than welcome. I walked up to her slowly, my eyes fixed on hers as she trembled against the brick wall. She tried to beg, to plead. Tears streamed down her face leaving black streaks down her pale cheeks.
 

I swallowed hard and looked up into Alex's cold, blue eyes and said, "Put her down. We need her."

He growled but dropped her. She landed unceremoniously, collapsing into a heap on the filthy ground. She continued to sob and muttered
thank you
repeatedly. I grabbed her hair and wrenched her head upwards to look at me.
 

"If you so much as consider thinking about pulling that shit next time, one of us will end you. It will be agonising. It will be excruciating. You will beg for death before we're done. Do you understand?"

She swallowed as hard as she could and nodded as best as she was able. I dropped her hair in disgust and turned to Ryan who was slowly gathering himself and stood with his head lowered and his back partially to us.
 

"Ryan, come with me. The rest of you, go drinking, go home, do what you please."

Alex put his hand on mine. "We should deal with him together."

I had to work not to growl at the contact, as much as the presence of his large hand on my bare skin did calm me more than I'd ever admit. I simply nodded. "We should."

Dan had his teeth slightly bared at Ryan. His eyes carried slight amber flecks. I pushed him away. "Your problem is with Honey. Go. Drink. Stay out of trouble."

Nik was beginning to relax. His hands were starting to uncurl. He grabbed onto the collar of Dan's shirt and pushed him gently away. "Come on, we'll head to that feral bar.”

Alex growled, "She said stay out of trouble. Go to Medusa. We'll see you there in a bit."

They lowered their eyes and walked away. I looked down at Honey, restraining my strong desire claw her. "Get out of my sight. We'll tell you a time and a place when we're ready."

She scrambled to stand and fled the alley as quick as her heeled feet would carry her. The clicking of her blue stilettos on the tarmac only aggravated me more.
 

Ryan had his shoulders hunched and kept his back turned slightly to us. Alex flexed his fingers and closed his eyes while he focused on calming himself. I walked to Ryan and placed my hand between his shoulder blades.
 

I said as calmly as I could manage, "What happened?"

He kept his eyes down but twisted to face us. "I was tucked up in the shadows like we agreed. She was there doing her pouty, seductive thing. I ignored her and kept my ear out for anything of use. After a while she starts coming over to me. I told her to get back in her place. She gave me the hurt puppy routine and tried again a couple of times before her voice changed."

His own voice started to crack.

"It sounded like liquid gold. It was so smooth, I could feel it filling me. My energies all settled, and I found myself walking towards her. There was nothing else; it was just me and her. She was the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid eyes on. The next thing I know, she's trying to sink her teeth into my neck and Alex has dragged her off me."

He didn't dare look up at Alex. Instead, he tried to make himself a little smaller before Alex looked at me and said, "I punched him. I thought he was being a horny little cub who was fucking up the plan for us. It wasn't my best move, but can you blame me?"

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I couldn't blame him. Not even a little.
 

He sighed softly. "The look on her face gave her away. The satisfied little smirk, it was written all over her. Then she was stupid enough to start trying to get to Ryan to finish what she'd started. That was when I snapped. I pinned her against the wall and she kicked up a fuss. I didn't intend on killing her, as much as it crossed my mind. The rest you know."

Ryan merely nodded in acknowledgement.
 

Alex turned to Ryan and placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt. As your alpha, that was wrong."

Ryan looked up at Alex and offered him a small smile "It's not your fault. You reacted to what you saw. You had to do what was best for the pack and the mission."

He offered his hand for Alex to shake. They shook and did the man-hug thing before looking at me.
 

I smiled. "Drinks, then?"

22

We were becoming regulars in the bar. I grinned at the barman when he handed me a bright blue drink with a little umbrella in it. He knew me so well. Dan was tucked up the corner with Nik, each with a beer in front of them, but I didn't really want the company. Alex ran his hand over my lower back when he walked behind me to order a whisky. Ryan, however, went straight to the shots. Alex and I looked at each other, but gave a small shrug. We'd let him have his night as long as he behaved himself.
 

I finished my drink in two mouthfuls and joined Ryan in his third shot before heading out to the dance floor. I closed my eyes and smiled as I let go of everything and moved to the bass. I felt it flow through me and pushed away awareness of everything. There was just the darkness, the beat and nothing else. Hands glided over my hip, but I ignored them. That was not the time for company. Or so I thought, until I felt the warm lips caress my neck. I slowly opened my eyes to find a pair of beautiful liquid-chocolate eyes looking back at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck not caring who or what he was. We danced, our bodies pressed tightly together as we gave ourselves over to the beat. His fingers stroked my ribs and his lips caressed my throat. I dug my fingers down into his light brown hair, but found myself being twisted away by a second set of hands. I growled, expecting to find Alex being possessive, but instead was pleasantly surprised to see Lee's green eyes sparkling. That easy smile sat on his lips as he pulled me closer to him. The previous man was quickly forgotten as I slipped my hands around his waist.
 

"I've missed you," I murmured into his neck before lightly grazing my teeth over the smooth, soft skin. He was exactly what I needed in that moment.
 

He nuzzled my neck and nibbled slowly up my ear as he pressed his lean body tight to mine. "I know."

I pulled back to softly bite his lip. "What do you mean, you know?" I said good-naturedly.

He licked up my throat. "We know each other, Suriel, do you need to ask?"

I scratched my fingers down his neck. "No, but I do so enjoy our games."

He ran his fingertips up my neck before resting his thumb on my cheekbone and leaning in. My heart skipped a beat, his warm breath danced over my lips in eager anticipation. A thrill ran down my spine and small butterflies began forming in my stomach, but of course, it never quite got there. The music stopped and was instead replaced with shouts and the sound of smashing, snapping wood.
 

I growled and looked over to the bar where the sounds were coming from. A group of people were fighting; fists were flying along with glasses, bar stools, and the occasional person. I wrapped my fingers around the back of his head and kissed him fiercely. I'd waited far too long to feel his lips against mine. It felt as though my heart was swelling in my chest as I finally got what I had waited so long for. A shiver ran down my spine, and I pulled away with a grin before striding over to the brawl.
 

Lee kept his hand on my lower back. Alex and the boys were already in the middle of it. I caught Alex's attention for a second. He threw me an exasperated look between punching what appeared to be a part-bred demon and blocking a kick from a scrawny little elf. His expression quickly darkened when he spotted Lee at my side, but he was distracted by someone hitting him around the head with a wine bottle. I looked at the non-humans before us, the metallic tang of blood brought out my prey drive, and I lashed out at the closest being. That… happened to be some draconic who did not appreciate my fist colliding with the back of his neck.
 

I grinned at Lee who flashed me a grin before punching the man closest to him in the jaw. We dove in. We had no idea who had started the fight or why, we just saw an opportunity to vent and have a little fun. Yes, it was completely against what Alex and I had told Ryan, but that didn't enter my mind. Adrenaline surged through my veins as I allowed the jaguar to come forward, sharpening my teeth, honing my prey drive. I lashed out at anything and everything that came within range. The pain only encouraged me. It added a rage and aggression to my fervour. I relished it, the blood, fear, adrenaline, and delicious sound of snapping bones. I don't know how long it lasted, but when the lights came up and the people faded away, I missed it.
 

Lee had somehow managed to vanish, but I was too intoxicated on the thrill of the fight. The adrenaline spike and the taste of blood on my lips only made it last longer. I slumped down onto a bar stool and looked around at the chaos. Alex and Nik were checking on Dan and Ryan. All of them were covered in blood, along with the rest of the bar. The heavy stone bar was covered in crimson smears; small pools were sitting on the crisp, white-tiled floor. Shattered glass glinted in the harsh neon light overhead. Shards of wood were scattered about. I smiled with satisfaction when I realised I had claimed the last barstool that was left intact.
 

Once the high had begun to fade, I walked over to the boys and checked them over myself. None of them had any serious injuries, Ryan needed some help walking, but that appeared to be alcohol rather than blood loss or anything worth caring about. Alex double-checked that everyone was ok before we headed home. He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say a word. I knew it was coming, but it would wait.