Just the Tip Short stories of love and lust

by Aria Grace et al

  Echo

  by Tempest C. Avery

  Chapter 1:

  749 B. C

  Jensen stood with his toes hovering over the edge. He kept switching back and forth between leaning the majority of his weight on his heels then toes so that he almost toppled over.

  Would it really be so bad? To fall? He imagined what it would feel like the moment his body smashed into the rocks below, how the jagged stone edges would tear into his flesh, possibly severing muscle and tendon upon impact. Unless it happened to sever his head from his body as well, or stab him straight through the heart, the fall wouldn’t kill him.

  But it would hurt like hell.

  Fire and brimstone, that’s what he needed right now. Something to char and sear his flesh. Something to make him feel…anything.

  Today marked the two hundredth anniversary of his father’s death. It also marked the day his brother had turned on him, and Jensen had taken the crown. As pack leader of the Moonshine Lycans, he had a responsibility to protect his people above all else. That meant stopping his brother from destroying all that they knew.

  Jericho was hot headed, rash, and cruel. His wants came before all others, and he believed his word was always right. Without his mate, he was even more of a threat then he’d been in the past. More, yet less as well.

  As if his thoughts had conjured her out of existence, the scent of his brothers’ mate tinted the air. He turned his head, following the sweet smell of strawberries, and locked eyes with a set of golden ones.

  She was beautiful, had been for as long as he could remember. There’d been times when he’d foolishly wished she’d been destined as his mate instead of his brothers, but knew deep down that they were meant for a friendship the likes of which none could rival. She was his confidant, his shoulder, and his savior in many ways. She’d pulled him from the edge-this one as well as the proverbial-on numerous occasions.

  No doubt that was what she was here for now.

  Standing at a lithe 5’7” with her shoulders squared back, she looked very much the part of a warrior. Not surprising, seeing as how she’d been his right hand for a little less than one hundred years now. Her hair, a glittering copper color that ran down to her elbows, flicked about in the wind.

  “ Is it possible to be jealous of hair?” he asked her quietly, watching as soft tendrils slid against her bare arms.

  “ What are you doing out here, Jensen?” she questioned, ignoring his statement without so much as a blink. Her clothing was made from deer hide, as were the boots that went up to her knees, and she didn’t seem to notice the mud that caked her pants.

  “ Did you go running?”

  “ Don’t deflect.”

  He let out a chuckle. “You’re not the one in charge here, Kiley. Or have you forgotten that fact?”

  “ Of course not,” she hissed back. “If I were in charge my first order of business would be to forbid you from ever coming here again. You risk your life too often, sir. You risk the pack too often.”

  His hazel eyes hardened, and he took a distinct step towards her. “I put the pack above all else. It’s the only reason I’m still here.”

  This didn’t seem to surprise her, and instead of pushing him further she held out a hand. “Come. You requested I tell you news of your brother, and I won’t do so here, out in the open.”

  “ There is no one around to overhear.” He sent sarcastic glances side to side to emphasize his point. Still, she was right and they both knew it. He just felt like being an ass, and she-for some reason-had decided to take it today.

  “ Jensen, let me do my job. Let me take you inside.” Her voice had dropped a few octaves, and she still held her hand stretched out before her.

  She was the only one who knew how to play him, just what to say and what to do in order to get him to bend his will to theirs. He’d known her since she was born, had grown up with her. Where once she’d had it all, now she had next to nothing. Her job was the most important aspect in her life. She used it not only as an outlet, but as a way to atone.

  She’d remained with his brother and the Truth pack for a century before realizing that he’d changed. Then she’d come to Jensen, begging for forgiveness and entrance into the Moonshines. He’d given it.

  Leaving a mate took more strength then most had, in fact, he’d only ever heard of it happening once before in his entire lifetime. But she’d done it; she’d made the sacrifice for her people, and for him. Jensen couldn’t deny her anything when reminded of this fact.

  “ You win,” he heaved, gripping her hand in his own and stepping completely away from the cliff. “Tell me of my brothers’ woes.”

  “ And if there are none?” she asked, leading them through the thicket of trees and to the cave where they’d made their home for the past five years.

  He couldn’t help the tiny growl that slipped past his lips.

  “ I could only watch from a distance,” she began as they entered the cave. “And the spy didn’t have much for us today. I still think that-”

  “ No,” he stopped her, already knowing where she was going with this.

  “ I could be useful there, Jensen,” she argued. “That’s more than can be said for the spy who never has anything for us to go on. He hasn’t given us a single piece of information that can be used to our advantage. I fear you’ve chosen wrong in this.”

  “ I trust Gregor.”

  “ Yes, but should you?” She turned towards the table that was situated against one of the gray stone walls.

  The cave was large enough to house fifteen of them in their human forms, and twice as many as that in their wolf ones. The ceiling was high, hovering over their heads by a good twenty feet, and there were a number of twists and turns leading to different caverns within. The Moonshines had situated themselves there, taken refuge there, not only from the Truth pack, but from the humans as well.

  They’d grown smarter over the years, advancing their weapons and their tactics. War was waging between the Mirror Warriors and the mortals. It wasn’t surprising, after all it was just a matter of time before they turned on their supernatural counterparts. Fear was a strong motivator.

  “ Are you questioning my choices?” he asked her, though there was no heat in his voice. He lowered down onto a large bolder, leaning back against another wall. He sighed when the cool surface touched his skin.

  A few strands of his multi-colored hair fell into his face and he blew them out of the way so he could watch her begin to sharpen a knife blade. Though they were twins, Jensen and Jericho looked different in many ways. There were similarities as well, but for the most part those differences stood out.

  For one, his hair was made up of multiple hues of gold’s and browns, where as his brother’s was a solid chestnut color. He was tall, at 6’4”, his brother the same, and they both had the eerie blue, green, and brown eyes that changed with their mood.

  “ I fear for your safety, that’s all,” she huffed back. The sounds of stone scraping against stone reverberated throughout the cave as she sharpened the make shift knife in her hands. “It’s hard to know who to trust nowadays, who to believe. This has been going on for a long time and now the newer pups don’t even really know what this is about.”

  “ It’s about my brothers’ greed,” Jensen said. “And about his disloyalty. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to be though. Gregor has been a friend for a long time. I’d trust him with my life.”

  “ You are trusting him with your life,” she pointed out. “It would be better to-”

  “ Do you want to go back to my brother, Kiley? Is that it?” He watched as her whole body froze, as waves of worry wafted around her. When she looked up and met his gaze, he kept his face devoid of any telling emotions. This was something that he needed to know. Did she want to leave him?

  “ Of course not,” she whispered so quietly that if he hadn’t been a werewolf he wouldn’t have heard her.

  “ Then why push this? Why do you want so badly
for me to consent? If I did what you asked, I’d be sending you straight back to him. And if he ever found out what you were really doing there, that you were spying for me, he’d do worse than kill you.”

  “ Yes, but until he found out-if ever-I could supply information that we need. He trusts me, Jensen.”

  “ Correction, he trusted you. He no longer does. Not after you turned your back on him.”

  Originally, Kiley had gone with Jericho, had stood by his side and arranged the Truth’s. She’d taught them, led them. Lived with them. But inside she’d known what was wrong and right, and she’d realized that her mate had gone over the edge.

  Jensen still couldn’t believe that she’d had the courage to come to him directly, to stand before him and the entire pack of Moonshines asking for acceptance and forgiveness. She never told him what had finally pushed her, what Jericho had done that was horrible enough to get her to leave, and he didn’t pry. She kept her secrets for a reason, and he wanted to respect that.

  She’d gone without saying goodbye to her mate. She’d gone and she’d never stepped back, never looked back as far as Jensen was concerned. She’d pledged loyalty and since that day she’d lived it.

  “ I need you here,” he finally said. “I would be lost without you. Besides, what about Tobias? He would never allow you to do something like that.”

  Her older brother was just as stubborn and hard headed as she was. No, he wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of sending her off to her possible demise, and Jensen couldn’t risk losing both of them.

  “ Toby isn’t a factor in this equation. I’m over one thousand years old. I can make my own decisions.”

  “ So long as they don’t go against your king, and I’m against it. I’m pack leader, Kindle.” The nick name had been a long standing one between them, a testament to her hot temper.

  “ So back to what I learned.” She switched the topic over with ease. The tension that had appeared at his question draining out of her. “Turns out, Jericho’s been trying to find a way to side with the mortals. His hopes are to rise against us with their help.”

  “ My brother hates the humans,” Jensen frowned.

  “ My thoughts exactly. Which can only mean he’s planning on using them, then discarding them once he’s through. My guess is they won’t last a month before he’s piling their bodies on the pyre. But if he can convince them we’re the true evil, they’ll help him reach his goal. And with us out of the way you can sure as hell believe he’ll destroy any trace of their race on this continent.”

  “ The other sects will stop that from happing,” he waved her words away. “The Vampires especially, given that mortals are their main food source.”

  “ Still, I’d rather be alive to see Jericho beaten, even if it is by a blood sucker and not by you or me.”

  “ Do we know how he’s going to attempt this?”

  “ Sadly, no. Gregor says that Jericho’s keeping that tightly concealed from everyone else. He’s trusting no one ‘sides Warren with the information, and he won’t be spilling any time soon.”

  Warren had once been all of their best friend, but when the old king had been found murdered, he’d sided with Jericho. None of this would have happened at all if their father had just named the eldest of the twins as the heir, but he’d seen in Jer what the others had not. He’d seen the darkness.

  “ We could beat it out of him.”

  They turned towards the new voice which came from the entrance. A tall man with wavy brown hair appeared with a slight curve to his lips. He paused just inside, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

  “ Tobias,” Jensen inclined his head in greeting. “A brilliant suggestion.”

  “ Yeah, one I came up with years ago.” Kiley rolled her eyes.

  “ You wound me, sister,” he laughed, walking over to her and planting a noisy kiss on the top of her head.

  She waved her hand in the air as if shooing him away.

  “ Should I be following War?” Tobias asked, turning back towards their leader.

  “ Not just yet. He won’t talk, that’s a given. We’ll have to find another way. Get Gregor to earn Jericho’s trust faster. There’s got to be some way to get to the mortals first, influence them to our side before he can get his claws-literally-into them,” Jensen said.

  “ I could go,” Kiley volunteered. “I know a few of the villagers who aren’t prejudice against our kind. They might be willing to help.”

  Toby frowned. “How do you know humans?”

  She shrugged. “Ran into them down by the river. Their son fell in so I fished him out.”

  “ You don’t have to save everyone, you know.”

  “ You would have done the same.”

  “ And you’re sure that they’ll believe you?” Jensen broke into the conversation before it could take a turn. “They’ll be able to sway the others in their village?”

  “ Should.” She flashed a wicked smile. “They’re in charge of it, after all.”

  “ Ah, my sister,” Tobias chuckled. “Always knows how to make the right friends.”

  “ Except for that one time,” she said, the sadness lacing her voice despite the fact she was clearly trying to joke about it. It was clear she was referring to Jericho.

  “ Well, yeah, except for that,” Toby responded back softly. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. When he let go, any signs that she’d been upset were gone.

  “ I’ll go with you.” Jensen decided then. “It’ll give us a better chance if they speak to the leader of the pack.”

  “ Why don’t you think Jericho’s done that already?” Kiley asked.

  “ Probably because he doesn’t know how to make friends,” Toby said.

  “ You should stay here,” she turned to Jensen. “I don’t know how comfortable they’d be with a massive male werewolf around their miniature children. Let me talk to them first, put the idea in their head before you go over and scare the life out of them.”

  He sighed. She was probably right. “Try and be back before dark,” he said instead of arguing.

  “ Sure thing.” She plopped the knife back onto the table and stood. There was a small burst of light, not enough to blind them, and in the next instant there was a large white wolf in her place. She shook her head and winked in his direction before taking off out the opening to the cave.

  Kris Kendall

  Just the Tip: Short stories of love and lust

  Chapter 2:

  Jensen ran as fast as he could. The muscles in his legs tightening to the point where he thought they might explode beneath him. Still, he pushed harder, ran faster. What else was he going to do?

  It was hard to take his mind off of the past, off of the present. It took everything he had to forget-even for a moment-that he was empty. The knowledge just kept springing back, taunting him. He’d lost everything the day his father had been murdered. They’d found his body decimated in wolf form, ears ripped from his head, feet cut off… Jensen had puked when he’d seen it for himself.

  No one knew for sure who’d done it, but there were rumors that it had been Jericho. Not a week before Jensen had been named heir to the pack, and his twin, older by a minute, hadn’t taken the news well. He’d been destroyed, in fact.

  He’d turned on his family, and now there wasn’t any family left.

  The one thing that still remained was his friendship with Kiley and her brother Tobias. The Sinclair siblings held him together, the only reason he hadn’t gone and killed himself by now. It was a horrible truth, but there it was. He no longer had a father, or a brother. What more was there?

  Jericho and he had been best friends. He’d never dreamed of the day when that would change, but his brother was impulsive and had a tendency towards cruelty. Their father had decided, because of that, he wouldn’t make the right leader.

  Sometimes, Jensen got angry that it was him, too. He’d never wanted to be pack leader, had always thought that it would be J
ericho. He’d grown comfortable in that position, knowing that he was going to be right hand to his brother. But now… He had responsibilities that weighed on him, brought him so far down that he didn’t think he’d ever see the light of day again.

  The Vikings were attacking, destroying their numbers with an ease that no one had seen coming. Humans had always been weaker, less smart. Something had changed in them, they’d developed, and now they viewed their Mirror Warrior counterparts as enemies.

  They’d gone after the Vampires as well, and there was word that soon they’d be hunting the Shape shifters. It would be wiser for them to band together, but trust wasn’t common among the Mirrors, and the only time they agreed on anything was at the Fundur, under the watchful eye of the Unknown Halsey.

  In wolf form, he dashed through the woods. Low hanging branches scraping against his golden fur coat unnoticed. The tiny stabs of pain were welcome, a reminder that he could still feel something.

  He’d killed a rabbit a few miles back, and the adrenaline from the chase was just now starting to unwind within him. The second Kiley and Tobias had dispersed he’d left the cave, needing to run and pretend that it was from his responsibilities for a while.

  His pack traveled as they wished, moving about from town to town. Still, for the most part they stuck together, within the same areas and in distance if there should be an emergency. There were still tons of land for them to roam, and many people who’d take them as they were without lifting a weapon over their head at first sight.

  Those in the village were such people, and he hoped that Kiley would succeed with them. He didn’t hate Vikings in general, just those that killed his people, and those numbers had been increasing as of late. Strange, considering that their gods were full of magic and shape shifting beings. Killing Vampires was one thing-even Jensen was guilty of that occasional pleasure-but to murder Werewolves…