“Can’t say I’m happy to see you two again so soon. What do you want?” Erebus snapped, taking the seat facing the bar. Kallan and I sat on the other side, keeping the door in my sight and the wall to my back.
Kallan answered smoothly, “We are here to talk business again.”
Erebus gave Kallan a bland look before looking to me. “I’m done playing along with your little charade. I did it out of respect for you the first time you entered my business. Mostly because of our past, Olezka.”
I nodded, acknowledging his comment.
“And what charade is that?” Kallan asked, obviously annoyed at being treated dismissively by the Dark fae.
“That you two are working for a Dark mage gang. I did my research.” Erebus sat back and watched us shrewdly. “I don’t think I need to paint it any more clearly than I am right now. I will allow your team to continue to try to peddle your fake drugs here, but the moment I see real drugs, you will be banned. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other business to attend.” Erebus started to stand but paused before leaving. “Olezka, I hope you will reconsider.”
“Noted.”
Erebus nodded his head respectfully to me and ignored Kallan. Shaking my head, I leaned back in the booth. I’d managed to suppress some of my old life. It had been years since Erebus and I crossed paths, and it felt strange after all this time. Knowing what I knew of him and his tactics, it didn’t surprise me that he’d done his own investigation.
“Ana is working tonight,” Kallan said, twisting in the booth to look at the bar. Erebus stopped to have a quick word with the other bartender before glancing back at us. When I leaned forward, I pulled in another breath. The floral scent hit me again, and this time, I knew who it belonged to and that it was fresh.
“Sixx,” I growled, vaulting from the booth and heading straight for the bar, where her tantalizing scent hit me like a tidal wave. Ana’s gaze cut over to me and then to an empty chair where Sixx’s scent was the strongest. Worse yet, the cloying scent of Erebus lingered nearby.
Is that why he glamoured his scent? Surely that bastard can’t know about her connection to me.
Hell, considering my possessive nature coupled with the instincts of my beast, I hadn’t even told my brothers that I had found mine yet. Kallan knew, but he was there when I had her over my shoulder and at almost every encounter that I’d had with her since.
“She’s not here. She went home,” Ana snapped. “Plus, I don’t know why you keep stalking my friend.” She jutted her chin out defiantly as I got closer. It was pretty obvious that she’d been gone for some time, but something in me knew better.
“I am not stalking her.”
Ana raised both brows, and her lips pressed together. She looked like she was about to argue, but Kallan chose that moment to come up behind me.
“Anastasia.”
“Kallan.”
“You ran out this morning,” he chided.
I didn’t want to stay around for this lover’s spat. Instead, I left them and followed the scent trail of my mate. For most paras, it would have faded too much by the heavy traffic, but her scent called to me. Once outside in the alleyway, her scent exploded on my tongue. But there was a mixture of sour notes that trampled it.
After investigating the area, I scented two male werewolves. My skin tightened over my bones, and my insides rattled with the need to shift. The flames were hot in my veins, ready to burst. Gritting my teeth, I followed Sixx’s scent to the adjacent brick building. When a tang of blood hit my tongue, my vision went red.
Sixx’s blood.
Unable to control myself any longer, my body erupted into flames. Fur that more closely resembled spikes pierced my skin as my bones reshaped and formed into my other form. My canines burst through my gums, all my teeth sharpening to razor-sharp points.
With a vicious snarl, I took off into the night, my beast determined to find its mate.
****
Out of my mind with rage due to the knowledge that my mate was bleeding, but also that she was in the alleyway with two unknown males drove my beastly side to the brink. I ran to blow off steam for a couple of hours before managing to gather an inch of sanity. Once I did, I returned to Kallan’s cottage. I dressed and then considered the time. Even though I knew it was too late for a visit, I couldn’t not see Sixx.
I got into my car and drove over to their apartment, breaking all speed limit markers. Once in front of their apartment door, I considered not going in. But something happened in that alley, and I needed to know if she was okay. I needed to see her with my own eyes. If anything, just to reassure myself.
I knocked, and when there was no answer, I knocked harder and longer. Feet slowly shuffled toward the door. It swung open, and a blurry-eyed Sixx stood, grumbling as she snarled, “What?”
My eyes locked onto her bandaged hand.
“Fudge nuggets.”
“I think it’s time we talked, mate.”
Chapter 15
“I’m not your mate!” I exclaimed, feeling frazzled by his bluntness.
“Careful, Sixx. I found your blood mingled with the scent of two male werewolves. I am not exactly in a forgiving mood,” Olezka said, using a tone of voice that rattled me further, like an icy finger trailing down my spine.
Run! my instincts screamed. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as Olezka’s eyes flared with anger. Then, his shoulders tensed and his gaze went past me to Ana.
“Sixx, back away from the door,” Ana hissed as she moved closer. I took a tiny step backward, which Z noticed. His gaze cut back to me. He growled, his brow dripping heavily over his eyes.
“Um, look, it’s,” I glanced over at the clock and squinted, “jeez, 3 A.M.? Maybe we should all take a breather and regroup in the morning.”
“Oh no, ozornoy. I do not trust you or your friend not to run off.” Olezka reached forward to grab me at the same time Ana screamed at me to move.
Ana’s electricity spell crackled past my ear. I may have squeaked. A little tiny bit. And definitely jumped about three feet in the air. Olezka slammed back against the wall of the hallway. I gasped, unable to control the reaction. When he grunted loudly and fell to his knees, guilt stabbed at me.
Ana ran over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hallway and edging past Z’s crumpled form. At the top of the stairs, I glanced over my shoulder at Olezka. It looked like electrical currents still ran through him, but his gaze held mine, and a promise lingered in their depths. Swallowing, I followed when Ana tugged me again.
As we descended the stairway, I huffed, “What’s with the overreaction, Ana?”
We hit the final landing that led to the lobby’s front door. There was a small parking garage near the back of the building where we usually parked the car, but last night I’d managed to get a street spot without a meter.
“I’ll explain when we get in the car, but right now we gotta go!”
Ana rushed forward again, but something made me look back before I followed. When Olezka’s feet came into sight, my eyes widened.
“Okay, it’s go-time,” I muttered as I followed after Ana with renewed speed. She waited for me outside as we sprinted down the street to where the car was parked, and I tried not to feel like an idiot as I ran down the street, barefoot, wearing short pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. Luckily, it was 3 A.M., and not many people were out and about.
When Ana lived with her aunt, she learned a wide variety of skills. One of which was how to hotwire a car. Which I requested she not do to my car because once it was done, you had to get it repaired.
But as I raced up to the passenger side, she’d already jimmied the lock open with her magic and was leaning under the dashboard pulling out wires.
“So, are you going to explain what happened back there?” I asked as she worked. She kept sneaking glances over my shoulder to see if Z followed us. I didn’t even know where Ana planned on taking us. Even if we drove around for hours to lose him, he would just wait for us to ret
urn.
Ana looked up at me. Fear shone in her eyes, and my stomach clenched.
“Aunt Lola warned me that if any para male called me his mate, to run. In their world, it means something entirely different than it does in ours. Once you’re claimed, the rest of the para world sees you as theirs. Males have absolute control over their mates. I’m not going to let that bastard use you against me by claiming you’re his mate.”
For reasons I didn’t want to consider, my heart shattered at her words. I thought Lola had told me everything she told Ana. She told me countless times how much she wanted me to help keep Ana as safe as possible. We were supposed to share everything. Her aunt passed several years earlier, but during our time with her, she provided as much information as she could before the cancer took her.
Yes, that was definitely why my heart hurt. Not because Ana just threw the possibility in my face that Z’s attraction to me was false, something he was only using to get closer to her. She wasn’t to blame, and I knew that, but still.
“What if he truly believes I am, though?”
Ana put on her determined look. “Don’t worry; I won’t let him take you. I’m going to take you back to your parents’ place. Then, I’ll come back and deal with the fall-out. I think my boss at the bar might be able to keep us out of their reach. Mark told me he’s pretty well connected.”
I considered the conversation I’d had with her boss and shook my head. “No. Don’t go to him. I don’t trust him.”
Ana’s lip ticked up into a smile.
“What’s that look for?”
“Isn’t this what we always do?”
A ghost of a smile crossed my lips. Yes, we’d played this game before. Many times. The first time was with the werewolves. They were circling in on Ana, and I stepped in because she had saved me.
Ana’s smile disappeared.
“You forgot to mention it was werewolves in the alley.”
My gaze dropped guiltily. No, I purposefully left that detail out. I opened my mouth to apologize when Ana jerked.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, wide-eyed as she stared down the road. I glanced in the direction she was looking to see a beast lumbering down the sidewalk. It was on fire, flames flaring all over it. It looked like it was a mixture of a demented wolf, bear…thing. I squinted because even with my contacts in, I could barely make out the finer details.
“Sixx, get in the car!” Ana yelled as she jumped in front of me, her magic already starting to swell up her arms. She used electricity for most of her attack spells because it was all her aunt managed to teach her before she passed away. The ability seemed fairly rare by para standards. Most seemed shocked by her use of it, and not many of them could pick themselves back up right away after one of her attacks.
“Holy… Is that Z?” I asked as the beast stalked closer. It had the face of a wolf, with canines that looked sharper than blades. Its body seemed more bear-like in breadth and muscle, but an incongruously barbed tail whipped dangerously behind it. As terrifying as that description was, the part that really terrified me was that its entire form burned with flickering flames. The closer it got, the warmer the air became. While I quaked in fear, Ana stood strong, getting ready to attack again.
Which was why I would never be able to explain what happened next. The beast came hurtling down the sidewalk, pretty much taking all the available space. Ana’s forehead flooded with sweat as the beast’s heat became more intense. To me, it was soft, like the comforting warmth of a fire on a winter night. Ana looked like she was about to blister from the heat, and she typically handled heat a lot better than I did.
Swallowing, I pushed her out of the way just as the beast lunged forward. It tried to slow down but was moving too fast to slow its momentum.
“Fudge.” I cringed as its body slammed into mine. I flew backward, skidding against the concrete, scraping up my already abused palms. My head hit the ground with a loud thwack. “Ouch,” I slurred, my head already feeling fuzzy from the knock.
When I lifted it, the beast came rushing over, and the heat brushed over me comfortingly. Because I probably had a concussion, I smiled at the terrifying beast as he stood over me.
“Get the hell away from her!” Ana screamed as electricity sparked up her arms.
“Z…” God, I sounded like shit. Ana took another step forward, and Olezka whipped his tail, knocking her flat on her ass. Ana groaned before rolling to her side to get up again. Olezka’s attention started to turn toward Ana and the look in his eye was devoid of emotion, hinting the Z I knew, the weirdly honorable male, was buried beneath his beast’s more violent nature. As Ana pointed out, his affection could have been a ruse to get closer to her. But technically, he didn’t intentionally hurt me. I jumped into his path to protect Ana.
As he continued to skulk closer to Ana while she frantically worked to recharge her magic, I tried to stumble into a standing position, which took a great deal of effort. I lurched toward the nearest car, my side crashing hard into the passenger side. Unable to help the gasp of pain that escaped me, I drew both paras’ attention.
“Sixx!” Ana stumbled forward to catch me, but Z was faster. He rushed to my side and pressed his body against mine, giving me support. Aching and exhausted, I leaned against him, surprisingly unharmed by the flames that licked his skin.
My head swam as his heat surrounded me. My brain screamed that I should be in pain. My skin should be burning. But instead, my vision darkened.
“Sixx,” a deep voice called to me. The last thing I felt was strong arms wrapping around me, holding me close.
It was too much. All of it.
Chapter 16
As my mind drifted closer to consciousness, my bladder burned with fullness. Unable to ignore it for one second longer, I swung my legs out of bed without even opening my eyes. I slowly lifted my lids to peek at where I was going but cringed when the horrible, gritty feeling of dry contacts plastered to my eyeballs hit me. Feeling around until my hand came into contact with the bedside table, I quickly pulled out the contacts and placed them on the solid surface.
I staggered up and stumbled, blurry-eyed, intending to head to the bathroom located beside our small living room. Another jaw-cracking yawn hit me as I gripped the bedroom doorknob to twist it open. I rubbed my eyes and had just stepped out of my room when two strong, ridiculously warm, large hands wrapped around my wrists, halting my actions.
Fear flooded my veins as my mind tried to catch up to reality. Oh…no. Last night came rushing back. The bar, the werewolves, Olezka showing up at three A.M., Ana and me trying to escape, being knocked on my ass by a fire beast, and then passing out. And, this was not my apartment.
He gently tugged my wrists down, and I opened my eyes. I tried to will my heartbeat to slow down, but the pressure in my bladder still raged on. I suppressed my fear, ‘cause right now priorities, and those didn’t include peeing in front of this male.
Those crazy, stupid-beautiful eyes stared back at me. Stupid, Z, for being so handsome. I waited for fear to accompany all the other strange emotions swirling through me, but it didn’t come. And the more I thought back to all our interactions, he’d never once put me in harm’s way.
Olezka pulled me from those thoughts when he asked, “Why do humans press upon their orbital sockets to waken themselves? Will you not just do more damage to your already weak eyes?”
I took offense to that, and my face twisted up to reflect it. “Excuse you! My eyes are very strong.”
“You wear glasses,” he pointed out.
“The muscles in my eyes, according to my eye doctor, are very strong, but I have weak vision. There is a difference.” True, I didn’t understand my doctor’s explanation, and I never really inquired further. Doctors terrified me. The eye doctor was the only one I found tolerable, but I still didn’t make much small talk with the man during my yearly exam.
“Well, I do not want you to do this anymore.”
I snorted. “And why the ever
-loving hell not?”
“I will not have you damage your eyes further. They must remain functional so that you may look upon your mate.”
The conversation I’d had with Ana just before we ran away from Z hit me. It stung, hearing him talk so casually about his ruse. I took a step back, dread dropping heavily on my shoulders.
“What have I said to displease you?”
“Nothing. Can I please pee now? We can continue this argument after,” I said, twisting my legs and trying to hold back the urge to pee right there. I tried to tamp down the disappointment that his interest wasn’t real even though I finally admitted to myself my attraction to him was. If it wasn’t, this wouldn’t sting as much as it did. It was the proof I needed to steel my resolve and get myself out of this situation.
“Da, bathroom is the next room on the right.”
I nodded and ran past him. The room was sleek and updated. Too bad I wouldn’t be sticking around long to check it out. After I peed and washed my hands, I looked at the window in the bathroom.
There was a screen that I could easily pop off, and it looked like we were on the first floor of a house with soft grass below. Absolute score. Part of me felt this was too easy, but convenience worked for me. I pushed the window open, and once it was up enough that I thought I could squeeze out, I pushed on the screen. After a few slams, it popped off and bounced onto the ground with a clatter.
Elation filled me with my first success of the day. Why he brought me here, I had no idea, unless those werewolves knew him and told him about the dopey human who bought drugs from them.
Fudge. I hated how Kallan’s not-so-thinly veiled warning came back to haunt me, especially since they probably figured out this whole plan together. All the more reason to prove I could take care of myself. I could outsmart them. I smiled as I shimmied my front half through the window. Piece of cake.
That was when I hit a snag. My thick thighs got caught between the narrow space, and I regretted not trying to lift the window up a little farther. Grunting, I twisted backward to try to push it up a smidge, but I couldn’t bend that way. I was certainly not made for this sort of thing. Huffing, I continued to twist.
Sixx and the Hellhound: The Sidekick Chronicles Page 10