by Shay Cabe
“Any idea how many?”
“A lot, Nora,” he answers.
“We need a new type of wards,” Maggie says and pulls away from the window. The murmur of her voice as she calls someone is the only noise in the silent room.
How are we going to be strong enough to fight an army of bitten when we’re a mess? They’re essentially untrained, our bond isn’t fulfilled and we’re barely getting along.
As if fate herself is listening, the doorbell rings.
As odd as it is, I know it’s Don Gregory. I feel him down there now, he’s letting me know he’s here. Alpha males are a pain in the ass and not only is he one but the four standing behind me on the stairs are too.
I open the door and he grunts at me and walks past me without a word, heading straight for the guys. He stops at the foot of the stairs and looks at each of them for several seconds before turning back to me.
“You’re right, they need a lot of work.” He turns back to them. “Training starts at four a.m. in three days. Any mundane activities need to be pushed back and you’ll do exactly as I say when I say.”
“Can you train us well enough to beat her?” Phoenix asks in a teasing voice. Honestly, I think part of him is serious.
Don barks a laugh and says, “No. Your training will mirror hers so you can work as a unit but none of you will ever be able to beat her.”
I watch the various emotions chase themselves across all four of the guy’s faces.
“Why not?” Hez asks, the first to cave to his own ego.
Don watches him like a hawk does a fat little mouse then says, “It is not your destiny to beat her, it is your destiny to have her back. One day, if you stop measuring the size of your dick compared to hers, you might be equal—but never better.”
That is the most I’ve ever heard Don talk at once and I’m so floored by it that I don’t comment on what he actually said.
He walks to Maggie, bows and when he straightens very politely says, “I’ll need accommodations and the contract signed. I’ll charge double my normal fee for three of them but regular wages for the hyena—he has the most potential and will be the easiest to train.”
Way to go, Phoenix.
Maggie is smiling and has a bit of a twinkle in her eye; it takes me a minute to realize why but when I do; I facepalm. Maggie thinks he’s cute.
“Right this way, I have a room that I think you’ll like.” She motions to the stairs and he follows her past the boys and out of sight.
“Did he just say Phoenix is the only one of us who doesn’t completely suck?” Hez asks no one in particular. Everyone laughs cos yeah, that’s exactly what he said.
“None of us took it serious but Phoenix, not even me,” Barrett says his eyes still on the space at the top of the stairs where his Mom and Don disappeared from view. I’m a little surprised about that, Barrett is the more serious one of the four. He’s also the physically strongest. I can see how that might make him a fuzz lazy about training. If you think you can simply punch your way—or squeeze in his case—through all of your opponents it might give you the confidence to think you don’t need to learn anything else.
Plus, we’re all sixteen.
If my life hadn’t taken the turn it did, I know I’d be different. My biggest concerns would be what to wear to the fall dance and the latest fashion trends. I’d be naïve, a typical sixteen-year-old witch. I’m a little surprised to discover there’s no pang of longing for that. Not one twitch.
There’s nothing typical about the life I have or the people in it and I’m okay with that. My eyes land on Phoenix who’s staring hard at me and also not wearing a shirt. They should really thank the mystics that they were blessed as supernatural creatures. When my eyes raise to his again he winks.
Yeah, I’m really okay with it.
Chapter Seventeen
Somehow they talk me into going to their football game. I’m pretty sure it’ll be the last one that Don lets them attend. I don’t really want to go but they want my support and I like hotdogs. Phoenix and Barrett insist I ride up with them, Barrett driving after Phoenix loses at arm wrestling. I end up in the front seat with Phoenix leaning in the space between the seats, only a few inches from me.
There’s a tension there that exists between me and all of them. I’m not sure exactly what kind of tension—I have my suspicions—but it’s good, whatever it is. I know eventually it’ll hit the point where it becomes obvious in a way I can understand it. When I—no, we—allow it to.
Whether that happens I don’t know, I can’t see the future like Maggie can but I do know that underneath it all, I’m looking forward to being close with them again. It’s a feeling that can’t be replicated or substituted. Being close with the Hazard boys is like wrapping myself in a warm, comforting blanket of love and closeness that I didn’t realize how much I truly missed until right this second.
Damn it all.
“Nora, you ever gonna answer or you know, close your mouth? I think you’re drooling a bit,” Phoenix teases, wiping at the invisible drool on my chin. I play smack at his hand and roll my eyes at him.
“Answer what?” I ask.
“Told you she wasn’t paying attention,” Barrett comments giving me a quick glance before turning his gaze back to the road.
“I asked if you had a date for the fall dance yet.”
“Uh, no.” I hadn’t put that much thought into it. When I saw the flyer I figured that going stag was the way to go, I’m not about to ask one of the Hazard boys and risk looking like an idiot because they have a line of dates.
“Cool, we’ll take you,” Phoenix says with a smug smile on his face.
“We’ll?” I ask in surprise.
“Yes, the four of us,” he says slowly, like I’m a simpleton.
“Does this mean I get four boxes of candy?” Isn’t that something guys give their dates? I’m not really sure, dating hasn’t been high on my priority list, but I love candy so if they do that’ll earn them major brownie points.
“If you want candy, sure.”
Okay, so that’s not a thing. I already know I’ll be googling how to date later being the loser I am when it comes to these things. That’s if he means an actual date versus doing the whole friend thing. I don’t know for sure and it makes me feel dumb.
“Why are you making that face?” Phoenix asks.
“What face?”
“The one you get right before you hit something.”
There’s one way to find out for sure. “Would this be a real date or like some friend pity date?”
Phoenix purses his lips fighting back a smile. “A real date, Nora.”
“With all four of you?” He nods. “And all of you are cool with that?” He nods again. “Only me?” He nods a third time and his smile breaks free. So do the butterflies in my stomach. “Are you sure about that?” This time instead of nodding he puts his face close to mine.
“Oh, definitely,” he whispers. His breath brushes my lips and I look away. That’s intense, whatever it is. Way intense.
The idea of going on a date with all four of them doesn’t bother me at all. It probably should but I’ve never been good at conforming or expecting my life to be what everyone considers normal. After fighting and working hard to become who I am, I don’t ever want to have a ‘normal’ life.
If this circus does end up being a relationship, with four guys—I’ll deal with it then. Now I have to work on trusting them again and them, me. We have to fix our friendship and then I’ll worry about it becoming anything else.
“Are you over thinking everything again, Nora?” Phoenix asks softly.
“No,” I immediately deny.
Of course I am, I always do.
I pull away from Phoenix and lean against the car door. Yes, I like him being that close, but it also freaks me out a little. I’m so paranoid about them playing a game with me again that the thought of allowing myself… eff it.
“Are you guys playing another fucking m
ind game with me?” I demand turning to look at him and Barrett.
Phoenix’s eyes are wide and Barrett swerves a bit because he’s staring at me. He gets his eyes back on the road so I focus on Phoenix. His mouth is opening and closing and there’s a small frown between his eyes.
“No… has this been what’s going through your head all the time?” he asks softly.
“Yes.” And no but I’m keeping that to myself.
“Nora…” he starts then stops. He pulls his phone out and dials a number. I hear Hez’s voice on the other end. “You better fix this shit bro, she thinks all we want to do is play head games and I’m not going to risk losing her—“ his voice cuts off and I hear Hez on the other end.
“Put her on the phone.”
Phoenix hands me the phone but I can’t move my eyes from him. I’m not going to risk losing her. That part keeps playing through my mind, that doesn’t sound like he wants to play head games anymore. When he said it, he sounded genuinely bothered by it.
“Nora?” Hez asks, his voice loud in the stillness of the car. I shake my head a little and look at the phone. With a sigh, I put it up to my ear.
“What’s up?”
“Do you remember when your dad had the friend come over?” I know exactly what he’s talking about. Dad brought home a pedo. He didn’t know the guy was a pedo, and he was rich so dad wanted him to hang around. The boys and I were playing in the backyard when this guy—Arnold—asked me to come inside and see something.
He took me to our garage and was trying to explain to me that sitting on his lap was okay when the boys all busted in. Hez jumped on him and even though the guy was huge compared to him, those boys still saved me. How that has any relevance right now I don’t know, so I ask.
“What’s that got to do with now?”
“I told your dad what the guy did… or was trying to do that day.” I blink several times absorbing this information. The feeling of betrayal is sharp in my heart, so sharp in fact that my eyes sting. My dad brought Arnold back after that and even encouraged me to spend time with him. I didn’t but… what the fuck.
“I still,” I clear my throat, “don’t understand what this has to do with this particular situation, Hez.”
“When I said I was going to tell your mom, he threatened to keep you away from us and then he used that threat to get us to do things for him—”
“WHAT?!” I yell, my rage instant. If my father… no, no, that MAN who pretends to be a father hurt these guys I’ll rip his...
“Nora, babe not those kinds of things.” The rage simmers down to a slow burn but it’s still there, waiting. I’m like that big green man, I’m always angry. “He had us steal a few things but eventually I told mom because I got tired of doing it.” They also were always with me after that. Sometimes even slept in the woods behind the house.
“Do you remember when I ended up in the hospital?” he asks quietly. I’m assuming it now has to do with something Dad had them do, which I’ll deal with another time. Dad and I need to have a talk anyhow.
“Yeah, you were so pissed off… I remember that it cost me an entire box of cookies and my favorite stuffed unicorn to get you to stay in the bed.” He was wide eyed and looked half beat to death. I wanted to take him home and cuddle him on the couch until he got better, but everyone kept telling me no.
The relevance of this weird conversation now starts to make sense.
“I still sleep with that unicorn,” he said then hangs up.
I stare at the phone for a while before finally handing it back to Phoenix. My mind is stuck on the fact that he still sleeps with that unicorn. The significance of that is enough to make me sigh and let the insecurity completely go. Games greeted my return but that same guy still sleeps with the unicorn I gave him years ago.
Knowing this takes the wind right out of my vengeance-is-mine-sails.
Boys suck.
When we arrive at the game, Phoenix and Barrett steer me towards seats in the front. I bitch under my breath but give in. We’re here to show support for Oz and Hez, and in their opinion the front is the best place to sit, where everyone can see us—I don’t agree with this theory but I didn’t want to stand there arguing with them either. When I tried to climb higher, Barrett lifted me off my feet and carried me back down the bleachers. I let him because it made me laugh.
Next time though, I’m kicking him in the balls.
We’re sitting at ground level and when I look forward all I can see are butts. Although, some of them are really nice butts. Two in particular. As if he senses I’m thinking about his butt, Oz turns around and blows me a kiss over his shoulder. Hez also looks and gives me a killer smile as puts his helmet on.
Someone blows a whistle loud enough that it hurts my ears, and the game is on. In a human football game there’s order and rules. In our kinda football games there’s strength and speed and sometimes magical abilities. You get the ball to your goal no matter who you have to go through.
Even with my natural attraction to certain kinds of violence, I’m still not a fan of the sport. I cheer when the guys cheer but my attention is pulled to the people in the bleachers. This is the perfect chance to see if I can find the stalker dude.
So far I’ve felt nothing from him specifically, but my instincts say someone is watching me. The little hairs on the back of my neck keep standing and my fight-or-flight instincts are pushing for me to pull a knife and start stabbing people with it. I avoid the temptation to use my magic, I’m strong but magic can be blocked or tricked. Especially when you’re up against multiple casters. I know the limits of my own abilities and one on one I can take most people, but powerful magic like this I can’t fight alone.
I need the guys.
However, I can try to discover the identity of the stalker and his crew. One on one I can take him, bitten or not. He’s already changed, unlike me but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the natural order of things. Someone helped him or turned him with a specific purpose in mind and unfortunately I think it has to do with me. Why else play his game?
Teddy hasn’t answered my texts for a couple days, which concerns me but he’s also got a new boyfriend and I know how that can be. The last text I got from him was, OMG he kisses like a dream. They were on their first date and Teddy was nervous but really excited.
That was two days ago.
With him on my mind I pull my phone out and send a quick what's up text. I watch in the hope that there will be a reply and amazingly there is.
Sorry caught a cold from the hot boy. Out of school for a week or so.
Aww I’m sorry, want me to bring you some soup and a healing potion?
No… I’ll be fine. Just need sleep. You at the game with the guys?
This makes me pause, how would he know this? I hadn’t mentioned it or told him the guys even played football.
Teddy are you or your brother killing animals and stalking me? I see no reason not to straight up ask him. My biggest suspects, friend or not are him and his brother. They’re new, his brother is creepy and dabbling in dark things—makes perfect sense to me.
It's not me. Is the response I get after several minutes followed by, Abraham is into some dark things but it isn’t him either.
Strangely enough, I believe him but I also think there’s more to it. I think he knows something.
What aren’t you telling me?
One word. Oath.
Oaths are nasty things. Blood sworn oaths can cause you all sorts of damage if you break it. They also prevent you from speaking about the contents of it but you can say you’re under one.
Are you in danger, Teddy?
Bear. Is his response. My body goes cold and my heart rate skyrockets. I try to send another message but it keeps saying undeliverable.
I grab Phoenix’s arm and say, “We gotta go check on Teddy. Now.” He looks at me in concern.
“What’s going on Nora?”
“He’s in danger.” I stand and start heading towards the car.
Hez catches my eye as I jog along the field. He’s standing still in the middle of a maelstrom of bodies and side steps to avoid a tackle. He makes the time out sign to his coach and runs to me followed by Oz.
“Nora, what's going on?”
“Teddy is in danger, we gotta go to him.” To my amazement he jogs over to his coach and after a quick but heated exchange shoves his helmet at him and runs back to me. Oz tosses his helmet towards the coach and joins us. Barrett and Phoenix are there as well.
“What are you waiting on? Let’s go,” Hez says and starts walking.
They don’t argue or try to avoid doing it, hell they ditched their game because I asked them to. Any lingering reservations I had about anything to do with them vanish and I hurry to catch up to the four of them.
Chapter Eighteen
During the drive I gave a brief explanation on why I thought, no—know, Teddy is in danger. I also admitted to straight up asking him if he was either the stalker or if his brother was.
“Why do you believe him?” Phoenix asks from beside me. I’m squished in between him and Oz who’s stripped off his football pads and is wearing only a wife beater.
“Instinct.” Nothing but the truth. Surprisingly, Phoenix simply nods his head.
As we pulled into the long, winding driveway they all look around and comment on the creepiness of the place. At least it wasn’t only me that got the heebie jeebies.
“Mr. Sunshine lives here?” Oz says, his eyes on the house ahead of us.
“Yeah, surprised me too,” I add, pushing him to get out when we roll to a stop. Walking right up to the door I push the doorbell, that I hear an echo in the house and wait. There’s movement inside but no one answers the door.
Me, being me, says, “If you don’t answer, I’ll knock it down.”
Feet scuffle on the other side and then the door slowly opens. Abraham is looking at me with irritation in his pale green eyes. I fight the desire to take a step back and instead step forward trying to look around him.