“Eee!” I was lost in my thoughts and squeaked when Olezka stomped into a room, shut the door, and swung me back over his shoulder. The air rushed past me, and my hair flew out of my face again. I glared up at him as he leaned down and caged me in with his arms against the wall.
“What are you doing?”
“You know some of our world, but not nearly enough to stay safe. But I will tell you now, a para knows their mate. My kind has never been wrong before.”
“And what exactly is your kind?” I interjected because the last thing I wanted to have was the ‘I haven’t been messing with you, you really are mine” conversation.
He breathed in, his eyelids drooping heavily as his lips parted. And because my stupid body reacted before my brain caught up, my eyes dropped to his lips, remembering the feel of them pressed firmly against mine. Commanding but never forcing, more like coaxing. And how he tasted, like smokey s’mores at a bonfire. My breathing quickened, and my tongue snuck out to wet my lips.
“Don’t you know what you do to me, zhizn’ moya?”
“No.” I felt drugged, lost to this moment.
“You are my mate. If you discredit me again, I will prove it to you.”
My mind resolved with steel, I was unable to back down. For some reason, I wanted to push a little more just to see how far he would take it.
“Oh? How so?”
The corner of his lip quirked up, his eyes filling with hunger. “Should I prove it to you now?”
My heartbeat fluttered in my chest as my thoughts jumbled together. Did I want that? A little bit. But then I remembered him showing something that changed Ana’s mind about him. What was so life-altering? Did I really want to kiss someone who was practically a stranger?
Yes, I did, but when he called me his, a part of me wanted to be okay with that, too.
“What did you show Ana downstairs?”
Olezka sighed, softly pressing his forehead against mine before pulling back.
“I showed her my badge.”
“Your…”
“Badge. Like I said, you don’t know nearly enough about our world to survive it properly. That goes for Anastasia as well. Come, Kallan should arrive in a couple of minutes, and I would still like to feed you before he gets here.”
I nodded mutely, my head spinning. I didn’t trust myself alone with him right now. Badges in the human world usually meant some type of law enforcement. I resolved to ask Ana about it as soon as we got back downstairs. For now, I allowed Olezka to grab my hand and lead me back downstairs. Ana stood in the kitchen with a coy grin on her face.
Mostly, I think she was hoping I’d gotten a little bit of somethin’-somethin’ out of the few moments Z and I were alone, considering it had been over a year since I dated someone even remotely seriously. Though, truth be told, she was as bad as me if not worse.
I shook my head. Everyone had a lot of explaining to do.
Chapter 18
Ana and I sat at the table with our heads bent together and tried to speak as quietly as we could. Ana got me caught up on what she had been up to since last night.
“Once you left the bar, that one,” she tilted her head at Olezka, who was making us some eggs, “and Kallan met with my new boss, Erebus. Then, something caught his attention because Olezka got up and sniffed around, following the direction you had gone. As soon as he disappeared, I asked Mark to take the rest of my shift. Then, when Olezka took you, I spent all night trying to find you.”
“How did you find me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ana said without looking at me. I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What did you do?” I hissed, noticing over Ana’s shoulder that Olezka’s ear was quirked toward us. Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and chastised him. “Stop listening in.” Olezka turned his back to us, his shoulders shaking.
Ana watched me with a strange look in her eye.
“What?” My cheeks reddened. Had she seen us kissing when she stormed in to save me?
“It’s nothing; we can talk about it later.” She raised her brows as if to emphasize the fact that she didn’t want to talk about it in front of Olezka.
I nodded in agreement. “But don’t think this means you can squirrel your way out of the question, Ana. How did you know where to find me?”
“Yes, I am quite curious about that, too. Very few people know where I live,” Olezka noted dryly as he set plates down in front of us.
He moved to sit next to me, scooting his chair a little closer so his knee touched my thigh. A tingle went through me. I’d thought he was handsome before, but now… Hell, my attraction to him couldn’t be ignored. But I did try, and wanted to because, up until a half-hour ago, I assumed he was the enemy.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ana answered breezily, picking up her fork and shoving in a mouthful to halt further speech.
“You should eat, pchelka.”
He leaned a little closer, and I noticed the slight tremble of his nostrils flaring.
“What are you doing?”
“Scenting you. I have dreamt of nothing but having you in my home since the moment I slung you over my shoulder. Now that I have you here, I plan to take full advantage,” Olezka said, unashamed to admit his intentions. I had a feeling I was well over my head with this one.
Olezka leaned a little closer, his own heady scent surrounding me and invading my senses. My eyelids fluttered shut as heat injected in my veins and my heart sped up. His breath brushed over my lips, and I could practically feel him pressing his lips against mine…
Anubis growled and darted out from under the table. It was enough to distract both of us, and Olezka leaned away. Ana cleared her throat, reminding us we had an audience. Anubis headed to the front door and sat down, darting his head from Olezka to the door and back again.
“Kallan is here. I need to speak with him for a moment. We shouldn’t be long.” Olezka’s heated gaze dropped to my lips, but my mind latched onto him speaking to Kallan alone. He sighed as if disappointed and walked away.
I pressed my lips together. We just got brought into the inner circle, and he’s already keeping us in the dark. Ana seemed to have the same thought because she glared at his back as he walked away. As soon as she heard the front door open and close, Ana gestured me closer. Scooting forward, I shot my gaze to the stairs. I had no idea where his brothers went.
“We need to hear them out, but stay on your toes. We may need to Pina Colada anyway,” Ana whispered.
I nodded, agreeing with her.
It didn’t take long before Olezka and Kallan strolled back into the house. I picked up our empty plates and put them in the sink.
“Let’s move into the living room. I have a feeling we both have a lot to speak about,” Olezka suggested, taking my hand and leading me down the hall.
The living room was cozy enough with two sofas that sat opposite each other and a love seat facing the elegant fireplace with a massive TV above it. Ana sat down on one of the sofas, but when I made a move to follow her, Olezka seemed reluctant to release my hand.
“Not there yet, bud,” I muttered. He must have heard me because he let go of my hand. I sat next to Ana, my hands fidgeting as the two men remained standing. Kallan looked unimpressed, wearing a scowl and his hair loose over his shoulders.
“Let me get this straight – you two believed we were selling Dreamscape then decided to get a job at the bar so you could spy on us?” Kallan asked. His unwavering stare remained on Ana, for which I was thankful. Silver eyes stared unblinkingly into her electric violet ones.
“What else were we supposed to believe?” Ana fumed, refusing to falter under his penetrating gaze.
“Perhaps if you had come to me?”
Ana didn’t even look ashamed. Instead, she shot him a look of disbelief. “Oh, so you wanted me to come to you, a para I barely knew, someone I thought was selling drugs that have been affecting humans and giving them super strength? Which we only know about since one of thos
e hopped-up humans attacked Sixx? Not to mention that the first time you met us, you tried to stop us. Then you threatened my friend!”
“What?” Olezka roared.
Kallan rolled his eyes and waved him away as if his anger was nothing even though I could feel the heat of his flames from here. “Don’t worry, I didn’t harm a single hair on her head. Just mentioned she would be a weakness. To both of you,” Kallan said pointedly, looking between Ana and Olezka.
“And this human who attacked you?” Olezka turned to me.
I swallowed and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “It was nothing; Ana and Todd took care of it.”
“That’s old news. We have more important things to discuss,” Kallan said.
Olezka’s uncanny eyes flamed at his partner. “Don’t minimize my mate’s safety.”
“Sixx, do you wish to discuss it?” Kallan asked with a warning tone.
“Um, not really.”
Olezka growled.
“Then, it’s all settled. Now, moving along: we have a great many other things to talk about. Starting with: how much do you two know about Sentinel?” Kallan asked, moving to the love seat and sitting on the end closest to Ana.
I kept quiet because I was fairly certain he wasn’t talking about the crazy robots used to detain people in a comic book series. Ana looked mildly annoyed but kept quiet as well. She didn’t like being the last to know something. She loathed being left in the dark. Her aunt managed to teach us a lot about her world in a short amount of time, but there were many holes in Lola’s knowledge. We usually found that out the hard way, and I believed today would be another lesson in the discovery of knowledge we lacked.
“Sentinel acts as the policing force of this side of the Veil as well as the governing portion. Our police force acts differently than a human police force. Rarely do we task a multi-force team to investigate a situation together. If a para is found exposing themselves to humans, the consequences are usually harsh and dealt with immediately,” Olezka explained, giving Ana a pointed look.
Was that what they were going to do with us when they first found us in the alley?
“Humans are allowed to know,” Ana insisted stubbornly.
“Select humans are allowed to know. Unless there were circumstances that led to her exposure, or she was mated to a para, Sixx shouldn’t have known.”
Ana didn’t give away anything, but with recent events and my encounter with the three wolves in the alley, our werewolf abduction was too close to the surface. I bit my lip and looked away from the group for a split second, but it was enough for Z to notice. He sent me a look that promised this was something we would discuss in the future.
Kallan and Ana seemed to be having their own silent argument and didn’t notice. Olezka cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention back on track.
“Sentinel recruits some paras to remain on guard, similar to a human police officer. That is mine and Kallan’s role. But because most paras live very long lives and know how to hide their crimes better from the humans, we are not often necessary. Many times, Sentinel officers are hired as bodyguards. But recently, the drug Dreamscape, which you two obviously know a little about, has been catching the eye of the Council.”
We both gave him a blank look, obviously clueless about what the mysterious Council did.
“The Council consists of Elders within each faction who are voted in by their people. Wolves get one representative as do vampires, fae, etcetera. The Council acts as the ultimate governing body over all supernatural creatures.
“This new drug has a strange effect on paras but even stranger ones on humans from the reports we’ve received.” Olezka paused before glancing at me. His gaze hardened, and his features stiffened. “We’ve had a few incidents where humans showed a display of para-like activity, which caused a para to step in and neutralize the threat.”
“How many?” My back stiffened, knowing I wouldn’t like the answer.
“At least four confirmed cases,” Olezka answered.
“And…”
“They each resulted in fatalities. One human displayed magic used only by the high fae while the others had the strength of a werewolf or vampire. The paras they encountered were only doing what they thought was correct.”
My stomach swirled with disgust. Because they might have exposed the para world, the humans were killed. The paras had no compunction about killing their own kind to keep their secret. Lola had tried to warn us that Ana’s world was dangerous, but…
“Don’t most paras have better senses than humans?” I asked.
Olezka’s frown deepened. Kallan spoke first.
“Of course. Most recognized them as humans, hence why they were eliminated.”
“That’s disgusting!” Ana shouted, jumping up from the couch.
“We have nowhere to place these humans to contain them until the effects wear off, and this drug is highly addictive,” Kallan explained. “That’s why it’s so important for us to find out who’s producing the drug and who is peddling it. Hence, why you saw us with it.”
“When did you see us with the drugs?” Olezka interrupted. My eyes widened, and I looked to Ana for help.
“Well, I think the more important question is: what do you guys know about the drug so far?” Ana interjected smoothly.
Just thinking about how Olezka slipped a baggie of drugs into that woman’s bra made my anger rise. How could I forget about him being draped all over that woman? Even if he claimed me as his mate, I was a lowly human. For playtime, he probably wanted another para.
Bitterness sat heavily on my tongue.
“Where?” Olezka snapped again. His tone brooked no argument, and I peeked over at him. His nostrils flared as a muscle ticked in his jaw.
“At the bar Xibalba, on one of the club nights.”
Olezka ran his hand through his hair and stood up. “You saw Sasha?”
“Apparently,” I grumbled.
“She and I are not an item. You are mine.”
“Hey, just because I accidentally stepped into your life doesn’t mean you have to change everything for me.” I stood up as well, tipping my chin up and trying to act like the memory didn’t gut me.
“She is not mine. You are,” he growled back, leaning closer.
“Let’s resume our conversation about the drug for now, shall we? You two can work out your mating rituals at a different time,” Kallan snapped, mildly annoyed.
I narrowed my eyes before stepping back and returning to my seat next to Ana.
“Yes, the drug – do you have any leads?” Ana asked, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
“We have a few, but the actual drug has been impossible for us to get our hands on to study. Not to mention, most human drugs do not affect paras,” Kallan admitted. “We’ve tried to flush out the few leads we have, but they’re not biting. We are also concerned about what the drug is made of since it’s having such a unique effect on humans.”
“So, what you’re saying is you need a sample of the drug so you can find out where it’s being made and what it’s made of?” Ana asked.
“Yes.”
She smiled. “I think we can help.”
I followed suit, knowing, for once, we had the upper hand.
Chapter 19
“How?” Olezka asked.
“Sixx. She’s crafty,” Ana said, her face ablaze with pride.
My shoulders dropped a little, disappointed that I’d only managed to get one tablet though it was at great cost.
“My mate makes me proud with her resourcefulness,” Olezka beamed as his gaze swept over me. My cheeks burned.
Kallan, on the other hand, looked less than impressed. He sized me up quickly and returned his gaze to Ana. He breathed sharply through his nose. “We need to come up with a real plan, and Ana, you need to begin real training. Your use of magic is no better than that of a fae child.”
“Hey!” we both shouted. He couldn’t deny that Ana was powerful, and we had
never run into anyone else who used the same type of magic as hers. Even Effie said her magic was unique. He originally wanted her blood when we needed a favor from him, but Aunt Lola pounded it into our heads to never allow another para to gain access to her blood. They could do dangerously powerful things with just a drop. Luckily, Effie’s favorite blood type was my own.
“Calm down,” Kallan bit out, his tone haughty and his nose in the air. “I only say this so you won’t rush into a situation you are not prepared for, Anastasia. Especially if you have Sixx to protect as well.”
We both relaxed a little, and after a few tense minutes of a stare-down with Kallan, we both sat back down. Ana kept her eyes fixed on her lap and then lifted her hand to bite on her thumbnail, something she did when she was stressed. I reached over and grabbed her hand. Ana squeezed my hand before sitting a little straighter to accept whatever else Kallan and Olezka planned to drop on us.
“How much do you know about human drugs?” I asked since they had both been vague about the whole thing. From what they told us, it was obvious they wouldn’t know where to begin. Whereas, I’d been Ana’s wing-woman doing the research since we left high school and dabbled in it even before then. I enjoyed pulling information together like a puzzle until the answer became clear, and learning new things was utterly exciting to me. When I found something I was interested in, I dove in with both feet. It was how I got my job and how, within my first year, not only had I learned the basics of retail pharmacy, but I went on to learn IV and other hospital pharmacy positions.
Hell, after I became bored with my job, I applied to other higher positions, but they wanted formally trained techs, and unfortunately, I wasn’t. Then, things picked up for Ana, so I became content with my job.
“Our knowledge is limited,” Olezka admitted. Then his eyebrows rose, and a smile ghosted over his lips. “But you work as a pharmacist.”
“No, I’m just a tech, but I can research with the best of them. And any questions I do have, I can filter them through my boss. I think it might be best to let me do a little digging while Ana trains with Kallan.”
Sixx and the Hellhound: The Sidekick Chronicles Page 12