She smacked the hand, breaking the connection. “Those scratches look like a cats.”
“I’m impressed with your knowledge of cat scratches. Is that some sort of kink you’re into?” a chuckle from the doorway.
“Careful Cole.” A warning, Rex’s jaw clenched as he fought for control. “She’s mine.”
“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Coleman murmured. He was an average looking guy, his blonde hair scraped back from his scalp, a rubber band holding the pale strands in a lank ponytail. His eyes were mean and narrow, constant frown lines indented into his forehead. His mouth a harsh line, hidden faintly behind his ginger beard. “You must be his Alice.”
“Hmm, must be.” She looked between the men, the tension palpable in the small room. They knew each other, and it wasn’t friendly.
“You look fine to me.” Cole leisurely checked her up and down, eyes glistening as he smiled at her shirt. “Not a mark on you. Those news stations are always exaggerating.” He clicked his tongue.
“What does he mean?” Rex gripped her jaw once more, staring into her eyes.
She kept her face passive. “Nothing.” Rex’s eyes narrowed, he knew she was lying.
“Now, now children. No fighting, we are among friends.” Cole clapped his hands and a group of men walked in as if called. They positioned themselves behind certain chairs, forcing Alice and Rex to split.
“Alice, take a seat.” Cole motioned with his hand. “I saved this space for you, opposite me,” he said with a toothy grin. She passed Rex as she sat in the seat Cole pulled out, tensing as he brushed his fingertips through her hair. “Such a pretty blonde. Like your mother’s...” he whispered along her neck.
“Excuse me?” She whipped around to face him, his attention on the decanters on the bar.
“Boys,” he proclaimed as he started to pour, the men sitting down in one fluid motion, practised in their precision.
She watched them carefully, knowing something was wrong, but unable to put her finger on it. They all sat there, all six of them, all different ages with no expression on their faces. No emotion in their eyes. It was like a blank canvas, a puppeteer pulling the strings. Their suits were all the same, almost uniform in their blandness, many of them too large for their small forms, cheekbones sharp against their skin.
Cole continued to meticulously pour a red liquid into a glass, repeating it several times as an uncomfortable silence filled the room. The lions were yet to react, all barely breathing as they stared blankly across the table. Moving slowly Cole handed one glass to Alice, his fingers lingering on her own before he went to Rex.
As if a spell was broken the young lions started to fidget, pulling at their lapels in panic. The three to her right started to squirm uncontrollably, their eyes mostly white as they frantically took in their surroundings.
“Hitting the alcohol already honey?” A woman strode in, her dramatic neckline leaving nothing to the imagination. She pouted, making her bright red lips, the same startling shade as her hair, look bigger, more sensual.
The atmosphere became thick, fear heavy as all the lions froze, becoming once again unmoving mannequins. The woman smiled seductively along the table, lingering slightly longer than she needed to on Rex before kissing Cole on the lips, leaving a red smear.
“This is my wife, Poliana.” Cole smiled lovingly before helping her take a seat.
“Wife?” Rex raised his eyebrows. “Congratulations, I never knew. How long?”
“About a year,” Poliana replied, her eyes slanted as she stroked the skin of the young man next to her, his face pale as he stayed completely still, his chest barely moving.
“Welcome pride members, new friends and old.” Cole lifted one of the glasses up to the air, saluting the room. “I hope you enjoy your stay.” He stared intently at Alice as he took a sip.
Picking up her own she brought it to her nose, a sour copper smell coming from the deep red liquid. She tensed, looking over at Rex as he sipped his own. He shook his head gently, almost imperceptibly as he placed his drink back down. Following suit she placed her hands beneath the table, careful not to get too close to the lion next to her.
Cole finally sat at the head of the table.
“So, please tell me. Why is the Alpha of White Dawn gracing my presence after all this time?” A slow smile. “Or better yet, why has he brought a Paladin into my home?”
She glanced away from the lion beside her, catching Cole’s eye. His smile widened.
“She’s a bit small for you isn’t she?” He continued to openly glare at her, his eyes roaming across her face. “I get she has some curves, but she must break easily? Nothing like the women you used to have.” With a tut he took another drink, sipping loudly on the rim.
Alice felt her face burn. “We’re working together.”
“Are you now, pretty lady?” A predator’s smile, one showing his sharp teeth.
A bark of a sound. The man Poliana was caressing doubled over in pain, his forehead touching the table, a choking noise escaping from this throat.
Cole looked over angry. “Lukas, calm down.”
“Sorry, sire.” The man known as Lukas continued to cough, shaking as he gained control.
“Where was I? Oh yes, Miss Alice Skye. I knew of a family in London with that name once. Shame what happened, don’t suppose you know anything of it?” A smirk.
She remained silent.
“What? You’re not even going to deny it?”
“You seem to be talking enough for the both of us,” she bit back.
Cole’s eyes narrowed, his hand crushing the glass enough to leave a crack. “Hmm. I can see why he has taken you to his bed.”
“You sound so sure.”
“Concealer charms might cover up the bite, but I am the lion equivalent of Rex. Our sense of smell is beyond your comprehension, even my lions can smell him on you.”
“Cole,” Rex growled a warning.
“Interesting,” Cole chuckled. “I suppose that would be a conversation for you to have in private.” He sipped from the broken glass, red liquid leaking through the small crack.
Alice tried for patience, her fingers digging into her knees as she failed. “This isn’t about me...”
“Is it not?” His face was impassive, eyes bright. “You are nothing. I’m just reminding you that you’re just a pawn in something bigger than all of us.”
“Cole that is enough,” Rex stated, his fist coming down hard on the table, making the cutlery rattle. “You know I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t need to.” His eyes were serious as he glared.
Cole stared back, no smile on his face. “Interesting how you have come back. After all this time.” The intensity between the two shifters, the two leaders was electric.
The lions started to murmur, their attention not on the Pride Leader but on Poliana, the only other woman at the table.
Where are the other females? Alice eyed the lion next to her, his face twitching as she watched him, frowning. He was pretty, apart from the clear malnourishment. His face was perfectly symmetrical with the straightest nose she had ever seen. The other lions too, Alice had noticed, were all handsome men.
“Where are the women?” she asked him, studying his reaction intently.
He flinched, his eyes darting wildly. “I’m not supposed to talk to you,” he whispered back, his voice surprisingly deep.
“Why not?” she asked in the same volume. He just swallowed and shook his head, his attention on the Pride Leaders wife. She tried to speak to the lion on her other side, but his eyes widened in alarm before he faced the wall, away from her.
A cough brought her attention back to Lukas, his chest rattling as he wheezed in and out. He looked scared, the whites of his eyes huge as he stared straight ahead. Poliana had moved closer to him, her hand stroking his thigh, her tongue licking lazily along the side of his ear. The wheezing noise continued, an uncomfortable screeching sound that hitched in intervals, his breathing shallow.
There’s something wrong. Alice couldn’t figure it out, but she just felt something in the air interfering with the lions, something she had never felt before.
Alice concentrated as her vision blurred, her third eye opening, allowing her to see perceptions beyond ordinary sight. Auras appeared in a burst of colour, a distinctive atmospheric film that surrounded any living being like a personal shield. What separated the humans from magic users was the ability to harness their aura, creating a chi.
The sounds in the room became a low hum, background noise as she focused on Rex and Cole who continued a conversation she could no longer hear.
Searching straight for Poliana she gasped, watching her aura swirl with a spectrum of colour Alice had never seen before. Most people have a dominant colour that is unique to them, with other colours spotted throughout to show sharp emotions. Poliana’s was different. Hers was a burst of reds, oranges, yellows and greens that merged together in a beautiful concoction of colour.
Concentrating, Alice watched the hand Poliana stroked Lukas with, his aura an incredibly pale blue, almost transparent. Holes appeared wherever her hand touched, Lukas’s aura becoming weaker, disappearing before her eyes. The blue colour whirled, crawling up Poliana’s fingertips.
Alice sucked in a breath. She knew exactly what she was. A type of Fae whose sole purpose was to seduce men so they could feed. A Succubus.
Bloody Hell.
She was literally eating his aura, gaining sustenance by absorbing his life force. It must be why many of the lions were so malnourished and weak, she was slowly killing them.
Alice looked over the remaining lions, their auras just as damaged as Lukas’s, holes floating across her vision, everyone except Cole. His aura was a dull grey, spotted with black but completely whole.
Letting her third eye slip she blinked the remnants of the sight away. Intense anger bubbled in her blood, her eyes flicking across the lions, now noticing the bruises, new and old marked across their flesh like sirens of abuse. Cole had destroyed his pride, turning the strong, proud predators into prey, food for his wife.
“They’re dying,” she said quietly. The lion next to her finally turned towards her, an odd expression on his face. “You’re killing them,” she said louder, loud enough that everyone on the table heard.
“Excuse me?” Cole stood up, his eyebrows creased together.
“She’s killing them, absorbing their aura.” Poliana started to giggle as if she was a small five-year-old child, and not a full grown woman. “Look at your lions. Can you not see?” Alice gripped the edge of the table, blue sparks coming from her fingertips in irritation. She paused, calming down, willing the fire back inside. “You are their Pride leader, you’re allowing them to be hurt.”
“They are only giving what they can. We are in the process of enrolling some new blood into the pride.”
“Where are all the females?” she quickly asked.
“They don’t need any females,” Poliana finally spoke up. “Do we boys?” The lions murmured back in agreement.
“You’re a witch, how could you possibly understand what it’s like to be part of a pride? My wife completes us, fills the void against the members we have lost.”
“So you have lost members?”
“Yes.” Genuine emotion in his eyes. “My wife feeding on them is a small price to pay for the pride to feel complete again. Whole.”
“You’re killing them,” Alice repeated matter-of-factly.
“No one has gone missing or died since she arrived.” He laughed, his eyes fevered, excited. “No one can touch us.”
Alice stood up, the back of her chair falling to the floor with a crash.
“Alice I think we should go.” Rex moved quickly to stand behind her, growling at the lions next to her in warning. “There’s nothing here.”
“Why are you even here?” Cole questioned, ignoring Rex. “Poli is stable, together we have learnt to control her cravings.”
“Your pride came up in the investigation I’m working on. A lion was found dead with an interesting amount of similarities to another body.”
“Which one?”
Which one? Exactly how many were there?
“Francis Carter,” she replied, noting the lions recoil.
“Francis.” A hollow chuckle. “He didn’t listen to any advice. Thought he could control his urges.” His eyes glazed over in thought.
“Urges?”
“Drugs, women. To anything and everything he would become addicted. He thought he was invincible.”
“What happened?”
“He thought he could beat the system.” Cole’s eyes stared off into nothing. “How could a stupid boy try to beat them when I couldn’t do it myself?” He shook his head, eyes flashing yellow. “He was a fool, one who nearly destroyed the whole pride. Without Poli everyone could have succumbed to the same fate.” He gazed over his lions like a father would his children.
“Who’s them?” Alice pushed.
Cole ignored her, instead turning to glare at Rex.
“This has been a pleasant evening. I apologise we have to cut it short.” Cole started to leave, pausing at the threshold. “I might not be in the circle anymore, but I know you are.”
Rex’s eyes flashed in warning.
“Stop delaying the inevitable. They are growing impatient.” He tugged at his lapels. “Is it worth the risk?” With that he left, Poliana and the lions following him out in perfect synchronisation.
Alice stared after them, confused. “What the actual fuck?” Rex was emitting an intense heat against her back, as if she could feel his anger.
“We need to leave.” Without checking to see if she followed, he made his way out the house. Alice stomped after him, her temper still blaring.
Her boots started to slide on the loose stones of the driveway as she followed him towards a large black Range Rover.
“Get in,” he said without turning. Opening a side door he shrugged off his jacket, throwing it into the back. With a small thwack something fell out of his pocket, landing on the floor by his tyre.
“I have my own car.” She bent down to pick up the brown square, realising it was a wallet as she stroked the worn leather.
“You need to come back to the motel,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
But Alice liked to argue. “I said I have my own car. I can drive myself home tonight.” Besides, it wasn’t late.
She clutched the wallet to her, staring down at it intently before she opened the flap. A photograph was pinned with a paperclip to the left fold, a photograph of herself from a side angle, as if someone took the photo without her knowing. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail, loose strands dancing around her flushed face as if she had just finished running. Her green eyes were looking off into the distance, a small private smile on her lips.
The photograph made her look delicate.
It made her feel uneasy.
Pulling the picture out she tried to take a closer look.
“Rex, why do you have a photo of…” she paused as she noticed another photo underneath, beneath the transparent plastic. Three men stood huddled together in the picture, Rex was on the left, the biggest grin as he smiled at the camera, his arm stretched behind two other men.
“Those are my brothers,” Rex whispered, his voice full of an emotion Alice had never heard from him before. “That’s Theo,” he said pointing to the man furthest right. “He’s my twin.”
“Twin,” she repeated back at him, only just realising the two men were identical. “And who’s this?” She pointed to the younger man in the middle, their features similar, clearly brothers.
“And that,” he pointed to the younger man in the middle. “Is Roman…” He took the wallet from her, staring at the picture for a few seconds before throwing it into the back o
f his car with his jacket.
“Roman? As in the wolf that’s missing?” It all started to make sense. He slowly turned to face her, his eyes bright as the wolf prowled behind his irises, his emotions strong. “Why have you only just hired me?”
“What?”
“You’ve lost three wolves,” Rex tried to hide his flinch. “And you’ve only just asked for outside help. Why?”
He stared at her for what felt like hours. “It’s because I’m running out of time.” With that he got in his car, closing the door behind him.
Chapter 18
They remained silent as Rex used the little key-card to open the motel door. According to Rex, who felt the need to apologise before even entering the building, it was the only place available in such a short time. Which didn’t give her much confidence.
The room didn’t look too awful in the dark, almost normal as Alice could just make out the bed in the back, the curtains drawn behind it. She flicked on the yellowing plastic light switch, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. She flicked it a few more times, but it still didn’t turn on, keeping the room gloomy. Instead, she pulled the curtain, allowing the harsh light of the street lamp outside to illuminate through the window.
“Wow,” she said, appraising the room. “This is… nice.” It wasn’t.
Rex stayed by the door, his expression intense. The room was a typical motel room with a queen size bed and off-white linen. Taking a closer look Alice noticed the slight yellow rings, the stains being the result of years of sweat and other bodily fluids. She was definitely sleeping in all her clothes. Maybe even wrapped in a towel.
Lifting up the duvet sheet she pulled it off, relieved to notice the sheet underneath was clean. A sofa covered in a pink and blue paisley pattern sat in the corner of the room, opposite the old television that looked like it had seen better days, dust a fine layer across the screen.
The bathroom, which was right next to the front door, actually had a working light, even if it did flick on and off on its own accord. The porcelain tub with attached shower was an avocado green with a matching sink. There was even a large rectangular mirror positioned above, a spider web of cracks along its surface, interestingly growing from a hole the size of a fist.
Witch's Sorrow: A Witch Detective Urban Fantasy (Alice Skye Series Book 1) Page 16