by Layla Heart
Cyra starts the car, but after a couple of splutters, it stops. Frustrated, she tries again, before cursing and banging on the steering wheel. “Fucking shitty pile of rust. Arg!”
Liam steps closer, looking inside the car, like he’s about to help her. “Enough fuel? Battery still full?”
“Yes and yes.” She grumbles and her face falls.
“That’s the extend of my car knowledge. Sorry.” Liam laughs.
She glares at him and I like her even more for it.
Then Liam turns around. “Let’s use my car. It’s a better carriage for a princess anyway.” He points. “It’s right there.”
I glance and, with a groan, I realise that he bought a brand new car, again... Well, if you have the money...
Cyra shakes her head, her eyes guarded. “I’ll just wait for help or take the bus home.”
“That’s going to be a long wait or a very long walk.” I look at her. “Nearest bus stop is at least a half an hour walk. Liam is right. We’ll drop you off at your place and I’ll get someone to look at your car on Monday. I’ll drop it off at yours after it’s been fixed.”
“I couldn’t...” She looks at her hands. “I... really...”
“I’m afraid it’s that or walking for half an hour in those princess shoes you’re wearing...”
That seems to make her change her mind. “Fine. Just... No funny business.”
“I can’t promise that with Liam around. That guy is a bag of fun and I never know what comes out of his mouth next.” My really bad joke seems to put her at ease, at least somewhat. I open the car door for her. “Do you need the box? Or can that stay?”
“It can stay. I won’t need it this weekend. I just need some things from it.” She climbs out and goes to the back of the car.
Liam steps closer, grinning. “Well, we’ll get to know the princess even better. She doesn’t seem that skittish around us, does she?”
I smack him on his arm. “She probably won’t be, if you don’t say weird shit to her. Behave.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He laughs, walking ahead of us to his brand new car. “This is a carriage fit for a princess.” He opens the car on the passenger side so Cyra can get in and then he gets behind the wheel himself.
I quickly climb in the back, before he leaves me here.
Any time Liam is involved, interesting things start to happen, and I feel that if I’m not going with them that something might happen to Cyra. Not something bad or dangerous, more that he might get them in trouble. I don’t know, they’d get involved in a bank heist or something. You really never know with that guy.
I feel like I want to protect her. That’s probably just because I know what Liam can be like.
Yes. Probably that.
Definitely that.
No other reason. Absolutely no other reason than that.
6
Liam
I hadn’t planned on attending Daisy’s birthday party, but when I heard that Max was there I decided to show my face anyway. Daisy’s Omega mum, Julie, is the same age as Max and I are. So, until they split the Omegas off from the Alphas and Betas, we were in the same classes at school. Of course, no longer sharing the same classes didn’t mean that we no longer got into trouble together, we were great at that.
That’s definitely behind us. It seems that both Julie and Max have lost their wild hairs a couple of years back, around the time we graduated college. Even though I’ve been trying to keep them on their toes, which Max can’t always appreciate. Sucks for him.
But now I’m glad that I went to the party. This human girl, Cyra, she’s interesting. Max keeps looking at her, getting that protective gaze he sometimes has and I can understand why. She’s pretty and seems to be fairly headstrong, but she’s also got a fragility to her, even though she hides it well most of the time. And he’s a sucker for people like that. Must be the wolf/dog inside him, always wanting to protect people.
I turn to Cyra. “Have you been doing this for long?”
She glances from the road to me and back. “What? Get into a random stranger’s car?” She’s got spunk, I like that.
I can’t help my laugh and from the corner of my eyes, I catch a slight smile on her lips too. “Not exactly what I was going for, but I’d be curious about the answer to that.”
Max bangs his knee into the back of my chair, cutting off more questions from me. “He meant how long you’ve been playing a princess at birthday parties. At least, I hope that was what he meant, otherwise...” Yes, his warning is not lost on me. Protective guy.
Cyra smiles, her eyes twinkling slightly. “Ah, that. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years. It’s a great job to have when you’re in college, since I can always plan it in on the weekends.” She seems to relax some, but not fully, not as much as her calm voice would make us believe.
“Are you always the same princess?” Why am I even asking about this? Well, because I’ve not really got anything else to ask her and Max will kill me if I ask any questions he thinks are ‘inappropriate’.
“No. I do a couple of different princesses. It depends on what the client wants.” She pulls her sleeves up and then the front of her dress which had started to slide a little low, interestingly low... “I play the character they want for the afternoon, keep their kids entertained, they pay me. Simple, easy.”
“Do you ever do adult—” But before I can finish my sentence Max smacks the back of my head, hard.
“Different question, creep.” He grumbles and I laugh. I can’t help it, it’s fun to watch him get protective like that.
“No, I don’t do entertainment for ‘adult’ parties. And no, I’m not going to make an exception for you.” She levels a look at me and I’m pretty sure that no money in the world would convince her otherwise. Good for her, good for having boundaries.
“I wasn’t going to ask.” I was just curious, and it looked like something that would annoy Max.
“I’m preemptively turning down any requests.” Her voice is stern but she’s also smiling.
“Different questions then.” I look at the navigation for a moment, to see where we need to go. “Are you still in college? Or already graduated?”
“Graduated, two years ago. Just never left the city.” There’s that undercurrent again, something she doesn’t want to reveal. Ah, well, we’re strangers, what else should I expect? It’s not like she’s going to tell us her whole life story within an hour or two of meeting us.
“I think we graduated four years ago, right?” I meet Max’ eyes in the mirror. I suck at remembering these things, all the seasons just seem to flow into each other after a while.
“Five.” He grumbles. “This will be the fifth... winter, since graduation.” His eyes flit to Cyra. He was going to say ‘mating season’ but somehow didn’t. Because of her?
Cyra tensed when he paused, but relaxed when he said ‘winter’. Curious...
Somehow, I feel like I want to see her again. Of course, I can, when we drop off her car in a couple of days, but why do I feel like that’s not enough? Like I want to see her again, meet her again? Actually get to know her?
“We’re here.” I park the car and look around. The neighbourhood is... poor, is a good word for it. Not like some areas at the other edge of the city, but this is definitely the student and starter neighbourhood. No streets with large holes, or anything really obviously bad or run down, but the cars lining the street are mostly like hers, old, on their last leg and far overdue a replacement. The paint on the doors and windows of the buildings could use a new paint job. Not bad, just not that good either.
“Thank you.” She nods, opening the door, ready to get out.
“Should we walk you to the building?” Max opens his own door.
Cyra stills, this time it’s definitely more obvious, obvious enough for Max to notice it too.
He quickly closes his door. “Of course not. Letting a set of strangers into your house is probably a bad idea.”
“Yes...”
Her voice is careful, like she somehow hadn’t even considered that. Then she looks at me. “Thank you for driving me. That was a very kind offer.”
“No problem.” I smile at her. “We’ll drop your car off as soon as someone’s looked at it.”
“Thanks.” She nods. “See you in a few days.”
“See you then.” I give a quick wave.
Max gets out anyway, intercepting her on her way to the door, giving her one of his rare soft smiles. “Thanks for the story this afternoon. You had everyone mesmerised.”
Her cheeks flush as she answers him, though I can’t hear her reply, and then she goes into the building without looking back.
Max climbs into the seat that Cyra just vacated, drumming his fingers on the dashboard in front of him. “A new car, again?”
I grin as I start the car. “The old one had lost its ‘new’ scent. We can’t have that, you know?” I know he thinks I go through a lot of cars, but I just like trying out different cars all the time. It’s fun and it’s not like I spend my money on much else, to be honest.
“No wonder your family is worried. Always new houses, new cars, new...” He looks me over. “New hair, new clothes. It’s like you reinvent yourself all the time. I know that’s a thing for centaurs, but you might be overdoing it.”
I shrug. “That’s just on the outside. You know I don’t change where it matters.”
He laughs, snorting. “No, that would have been a miracle. You’re still the same pain in the ass as you’ve always been.”
I grin. Not changing a damn thing about who we are, he’s as guilty of that as I am, but I don’t tell him that, not wanting another smack from him. “Do you want to get something to eat somewhere? Or do you want to go back to the party?”
His face falls. “And having to listen to them talk about the mating season and predictions of who is going to be mating who for the rest of the evening? No thanks. I showed my face, helped a cute girl home, my duty is finished for the day.”
“Then eating out it is.” I pull onto one of the bigger streets, driving towards one of our favourite places to eat.
We’re quiet for a while, until Max speaks again. “How can I get my parents to understand that I’m really not looking? Why do I have to go ‘hunt’ for some Omega? Things will happen when they happen. Why the rush?”
I shake my head, smiling slightly at his obvious frustration at his parents. “Maybe because you barely ever leave that office of yours? Like, where are you going to find a mate when you’re always locked inside? When you never go out, meet new people?”
“Maybe I don’t want a mate? Ever thought of that?” His voice is low and I glance at him, frowning.
“Why are you saying that? Don’t you want a family?”
“I don’t know. When I see my cousin and the others with their kids, they look happy. But I... I don’t have the feeling that I need that. I don’t really need all that to be happy. I’m happy to just work. I like my privacy, my own things.”
“Not even if Cyra could be your mate?” I don’t know why I ask it, and his intense reaction to the question definitely doesn’t go unnoticed... The way his eyes grow, the way he holds his breath for a moment. The fuck?
He composes himself before he answers. “Just because she’s cute and good with big groups of kids doesn’t mean anything. And she’s human. What’s the use of dreaming of her when she’s human? That alone stops everything, puts those dreams to an immediate halt. It’s no use dwelling on it.”
I’m not like Max. I’d love to have a family. I love having people around. But what girl would want to date a guy who constantly changes himself, like the seasons, exactly like the seasons? As Max was so quick to point out, it’s a centaur trait, I’m just a little more extreme at it because I can, I have the time and money to do it.
But that’s not the only thing that’s bothering me. It’s one thing to be a shifter who can shift into a whole different creature, but a centaur, like me? Even among shifters, there are very few who are into centaurs. The half-creature, half-human thing freaks people out.
I can’t blame Max for not going out all the time, meeting others. It’s not like I’ve been trying very hard to look for a mate either. It’s only when it gets cold that I feel like this, that I feel like I want to share warmth with others.
But when it’s summer, when the weather is great, I just want to be able to roam, go around the world and do my own things. Travel the world and see everything, do cool things. The wind in my hair, the sun on my skin, all of that. And when you’ve got a mate, a family, that usually ends. When you’re mated and have to look after your family, things like that end. The freedom ends.
And I’m not looking forward to that. Sure, people around us seem to be happy with it, settling down with a mate, but, like Max, I just don’t see myself doing it any time soon.
Unless...
I smile to myself.
Maybe I could do it when it was with someone like Cyra. She seems to be a free spirit herself. Knows what she wants, knows what she doesn’t want. Maybe I could get her on my back and take her everywhere with me. Show her my world, show her the beauty of nature, of being out there and not having to worry about when you come back. Maybe she would like to do things like that.
But no matter how tempting the idea is, she’s human, I’m a shifter. Getting attached to her will only bring heartache, for both of us. And that’s the last thing that I want for her, to break her spirit. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I’d ever hurt her...
7
Cyra
I make extra sure to lock the door to the apartment behind me, even though it’s no use. It’s not like the guys followed me into the building, I watched them drive off from inside the building. And they would be able to break the damn door really easily if they wanted to. They’re shifters, Alphas by how they carry themselves, and by how people reacted to them. No matter what type of shifter they are, they can break through a stupid flimsy wooden door if they want to. Hell, I could break through it, if I wasn’t taking the medication, it’s really not that hard.
My cheeks are aflame as I put my bag on the couch and make my way down the hall to my bedroom and the bathroom. I need to get rid of all the dirt and grime of the day, I can’t stand how sticky I feel.
Why is it my luck that I’ve had months, years, of barely running into any shifters, at least not having their attention on me, and now suddenly they seem to be everywhere?
I was doing so well. I felt like my plan of avoiding shifters for the rest of my life could work, like I could make this happen, but now I’m doubting that.
When I was at the party today, it looked fun. Everything looked like it was going well and everyone seemed happy. If that’s what shifter life, especially shifter life as an Omega, is going to be like, then I might be able to deal with it.
But I also know the darker side, the side they don’t show a mere human like me. Even today, I could still see glimpses of it. Omegas who move a little too abruptly when their Alpha calls their name, just a little, but nobody pays attention to it. Because whatever happens between an Alpha and an Omega is between them and nobody else, so everyone keeps quiet. Even worse were the whispers of who was old enough to go into heat and who had found an Alpha, or Beta, to mate with, who they were expecting to have a baby around this time next year...
The people at the party were definitely not trying to hide that they were shifters, and I, ‘obviously’ being a human girl, was mostly ignored, since I supposedly don’t know anything about those things anyway. It just reminded me of why I didn’t want this, why I’ve been trying to stay away from shifter society for so long.
But then there was Max... His eyes on me were... I don’t know, they felt heavy, like once he found me, he couldn’t let me go. Like a dog not letting go of a bone or a brand new toy. Once he had me in his sights, I was his to guard.
He didn’t act possessively or anything, or stupidly arrogant like the two shifter guys at the
cafe, he was more of a shadow following me everywhere, always there to make sure I was safe, protected. And even though I don’t want it to, it felt kind of good... He was trying not to be obvious about it, pretending to be looking after the kids, playing with them, being around me without trying to be my whole focus.
It was nice, in a strange way. I miss having someone around who’s just there, who I can be with without any other expectations.
I don’t have many friends. I’ve got a hard time trusting people and since I’m hiding so much of myself, it would be unfair to them. I don’t like lying, I hate it, but this is the only way to keep myself safe. So I take the other option, if I don’t become friends with people, I won’t have to lie to them. Simple, effective, but also lonely.
When the other guy, Liam, showed up, Max became less my shadow and he disappeared into the background more, even though he obviously didn’t stop paying attention to me. But something else changed too, the look in Max’ eyes changed, became less happy, less carefree, more serious. I don’t know what Liam said, the guy doesn’t look like someone who’d say something painful on purpose, he doesn’t seem to take life seriously enough to do that, but he still must have said something to Max that made him more guarded.
Liam’s very perceptive. He started asking me questions in the car that were coming a little too close, and while he changed subjects, I could see that he’d still remember it later. He might not comment on what’s going on, but he remembers.
I throw the princess dress onto my bed, I’ll wash that later, and then go into the bathroom, stepping under the hot stream of the shower.
I need to put these guys out of my mind. It’s no use to think of them, they’re part of a world that I refuse to be a part of. A world that isn’t safe, a world that won’t let me be myself. So, no matter how good being around them felt, I have to stay away. For their sake, for my sake. For my safety.