by Shen Hart
I frowned at him. “I told you why. I love him.”
Was that so difficult to understand?
“Why?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Why do I love him?”
He merely nodded, a small gesture as creases formed around his eyes. I had to think for a minute. It was hard to put it into words. Why did I love Lee? A flood of emotions came to the surface, but there weren’t any accompanying words. I began to question the emotions and the feelings themselves.
Finally, I just said, “He accepts me and loves me for who and what I am.”
“And I don’t?”
I sighed. He had given me everything I could ever have dreamed of. He’d made me happier than I thought possible, until he abandoned me. I didn’t know how to answer his question. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I had nothing to say.
“I don’t know anymore.”
He simply nodded again and took a step closer, a small smile attempting to sit on his lips. “Forgive me?”
I bared my teeth a little. “For earlier or for everything?”
He tensed, his hands formed fists for a second before that smile came to his lips, a little forced but present. “Earlier.”
I nodded. “I suppose.”
His smile broadened, becoming genuine before his eyes darkened and he looked past me into the kitchen.
“Then we’ll need to deal with Nik and the Sisters.”
I snarled, “Nik needs putting down. To be perfectly honest, I’d be quite happy to cut him out of the pack, given his current behaviour and attitude.”
Alex shook his head and took another step closer. He was within arms reach, then. I wanted to wrap my arms around his waist and take the stress from him, to let him know everything would be ok. I pushed the thoughts aside. That was foolish and wouldn’t help anything.
“He needs to understand, is all. He wants to be in this pack and to be a part of it, but he needs to see our perspective and have a reason to see us as alphas again. You have to admit, we haven’t been very good alphas as of late,” Alex said quietly.
I growled, “Speak for yourself.”
He crossed his arms, and I huffed, “Fine. We haven’t.”
The corner of his mouth twitched in a smile, the grey shifted from his eyes a little, and he went to touch my arm, but pulled back at the last second. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the next part of the conflict—Nik. I was growing really tired of the constant conflict. The idea of stealing Ryan and Dan and vanishing into the woods was growing on me. Nik was slouched at the kitchen table while Ryan and Dan were wandering around the kitchen putting together coffee and breakfast. I sat opposite Nik and made hard eye-contact. He refused to meet my gaze, which I took as a reasonable start. Alex sat next to me, which wasn’t such a good start, but I ignored it.
Nik dragged his fingers through his hair. “I see you found them, then.”
I growled quietly, “We have some unresolved issues.”
He simply nodded. He didn’t look like he’d slept. Stubble coated his jawline and shadows hung under his eyes.
“I do not expect you to follow my every word without any thoughts of your own, but continuing to question me is absolutely unacceptable.”
He nodded.
“We made a decision with regards to the assignment. We have given you more information than you need on Lee. The discussion is over. Understood?” He nodded again. “Do not raise the Lee topic again.”
I pushed my chair back and went looking for an easy breakfast. Dan pushed a bowl of cereal into my hands with a small smile. I thanked him and took it into the living room. I wanted some space. I was growing tired of the constant fights. Why couldn’t they just do as they were damn well told and stop pushing? I looked back on the good old days when the pack fell into line and everything worked beautifully.
Alex broke my thoughts. “The old pack fought us in the beginning, too. Don’t forget that.”
I curled my lip at him. I had forgotten that. That was the beauty of memories; you often erased the bad and focused on the good. I was starting to wonder if I’d done that with Lee.
Chapter Fourteen
The next couple of days were remarkably peaceful and calm. Alex remained uptight, but Nik relented and started to settle down again. I suspected that Dan and Ryan teamed up on him and brought him around, but I wasn’t going to complain. I stretched out on the sofa and enjoyed not thinking about much of anything as the lead characters in a trashy film kissed for the first time. My mind flickered back to Lee, the taste of cinnamon on his lips and the scent of warm neroli in his hair. I missed him, but I couldn’t forget what he’d said. I couldn’t shake off the doubt that had formed in my mind. I cursed the Sisters under my breath, which was quite fitting given they appeared out of thin air in the middle of the room.
Ryan jumped and swore, Alex growled, and Nik tensed. Dan merely smirked and moved a little closer to me. I glared at the most angular of the Sisters, with her poker-straight blonde hair and white leather trousers. She met my glare with stormy grey eyes, her mouth hardened and her muscles tensed. I held her gaze and stood putting my shoulders back. I hadn’t taken on the Sisters in a fight before, but I was willing to give anything a go once. Alex stood and put his shoulders back as he watched the situation unfurl.
He spoke first. “It took you longer than I expected.”
“We expected better of you, Alexei. You have always been so good and kept Thalia on track.”
I snarled at her, “I am not some worthless cub. I don’t need a keeper.”
She raised her eyebrow at me. “Are you sure about that?”
I ran my tongue over my lips and looked down over her throat. I could smell the hint of fear. That only encouraged me. I barely felt the choker tighten or the electric stinging me as I focused on the fear and her increasing heart rate.
“That is enough, Thalia.”
I took a step forwards. “Yes, that is enough. We’re done with your games. You treat us like toys that you can tug the strings on and laugh as we stumble and break.”
She swallowed hard and lifted her chin, the hardness in her eyes fading quickly. “Don’t be so childish. We made you. We can destroy you and do as we please with you.”
I took another half step forward and gave her a predatory grin. “Are you sure about that?”
Her nostrils flared. “We’re not here about your petty grievances. You were given an assignment, yet you attacked Lee and refused to take on the assignment. That is unacceptable.”
Alex growled, “We see no reason to bow down to you and slaughter a group of humans. It’s a waste of life, and your twisted sense of humour is no longer welcome in our home.”
The sister with the wavy hair and rounder face said, “We do not give you these assignments for our own amusement. There is a purpose.” Her voice was much softer than her sister’s; she pursed her lips and looked away from us. “You know that the humans will die horrible deaths. This isn’t slaughter of innocent victims, this is carefully considered euthanasia.”
Nik went to speak, but both Alex and I shot him a dark look.
“No, it’s slaughter. If you would get the fuck out of our way and let us kill the angels before the ritual, then the humans would be spared,” I snarled.
The original angular Sister shouted, “No. You are not to touch the angels. We have made that clear. You were given your assignment.”
“Please. Understand that we have given this careful consideration, we do not take lives for no reason,” the Sister with the rounder face said softly, almost imploringly.
I ground my teeth together as her soft words washed over me. I cursed them in multiple old languages, but stood my ground.
Alex crossed his arms. “Why can’t we touch the angels?”
“There are games afoot that you cannot understand.”
“Games?”
She muttered under her breath and turned away from us. “Politics between beings you have no connection to. Things
far above your head.”
“The gods?” I asked. That piqued my curiosity.
She simply nodded. The smell of fear was beginning to fade, but it still lingered in the air. She looked down and away.
“The leader of this cult, he intends on killing the gods?” Alex asked.
“He does.”
I pursed my lips and smirked at her. “It sounds like he has the right plan to me. He’d solve your problems.”
Her eyes darkened once more and she raised her voice, “Would you stop thinking in the short term for once in your life, Thalia! There is much more to this than you’ll ever understand, now do as you’re told for a change.”
I laughed a dark, harsh laugh. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re scared.”
She lifted her chin and looked away. “Don’t be so foolish. Now, will you do the assignment? Or do we need to convince you?”
I glanced at Alex and lifted my chin to match her haughty stubborn pose. The boys all started coughing and choking. I looked back at them to see Dan clawing at his throat and Nik had dropped to his knees. “Are you going to make your cubs suffer for your own insolence?”
I swallowed hard, their eyes were growing wider and their breaths were becoming more laboured. “It’s so easy to take a life such as theirs.”
Alex snarled at them before he growled, “Fine. We’ll take your assignment.”
“Thalia?”
I looked into Ryan’s pale-green eyes. “Yes. We’ll do it.”
The boys all slumped and gulped down air. Alex and I refused to move. We had no intentions of giving the Sisters the pleasure of seeing our concern for them.
The angular one smirked at us. “Good girl.”
The softer one sighed softly and looked away before they vanished. I rushed to Dan and Ryan and ran my hands over their throats. “Are you ok?”
They both nodded, each taking long deep breaths. I closed my eyes and cursed the Sisters. They had no right to put the cubs in such risk. I swore vengeance on them for all of the shit they had pulled. They had gone too far.
Chapter Fifteen
It had taken the boys a little bit to really recover from what the Sisters did to them. They’d sat quietly taking deep breaths before they settled back down onto the sofas and began muttering.
Dan finally spoke properly and said, “What the fuck did they do that for? I know they’re not the most pleasant of people, but that was fucking psychopathic!”
I couldn’t help but smile a little. “Welcome to my world.”
His eyes trailed down to my choker and he looked away.
Ryan said, “Is that the sort of shit we should expect from them if we choose to disobey them in the future? Because I vote we ditch them if it is.”
Alex laughed quietly. “Talia’s tried to ditch them many times. That’s how the choker came about. If she’s not careful, they’ll add a pretty pink lead, too.”
I bared my teeth at him. I didn’t appreciate the joke. It did lighten the mood a touch, though, and relax the boys, which was something.
“What now, then?” Nik asked.
Nik’s voice was still a little rough and scratchy, he kept looking at the floor.
“We scope out the house where the cult meets up and see what we’re really dealing with, here.”
I wasn’t entirely sure how that matched up with the Sisters’ views on not harming the angels, but, given the fear they displayed at the idea, I was all for it. I was curious to meet the wannabe godslayer, too.
Dan rubbed his throat and glared at the space where the Sisters had been. “What was their problem with the angels?”
I shrugged. “It seems someone else has them scared. Sounds like a pretty good excuse to hunt some angels to me.”
Alex gave me a lopsided smile. “It’s not like you need an excuse.”
I wrinkled my nose and lifted my chin. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why do you hate the angels?” Nik had finally raised his eyes and looked at me. I held his gaze but felt my jaw tightening at the memories.
“They took great pleasure in killing someone close to me, so now I take great pleasure in killing them.”
“That sounds like some fun I’d like to get in on.” Dan gave me a dark smile.
I returned his look. “We’ll hope for the best, then, won’t we?”
“Why didn’t you stop them?” Nik asked quietly.
I frowned and looked at Nik. “Stop them?”
“From hurting us.”
Alex stood and said, “We couldn’t have done anything more than we did.”
I gave a small nod. I was happy to try and take the Sisters in a fight, but I didn’t have the skills to be able to stop them from their torture. I decided to change the topic.
“Whereabouts is this house, then?”
“Twenty minutes’ drive away. We’ll head over there tonight.” Alex said matter-of-factly.
We would have a god-hunting angel cult in our territory, wouldn’t we? The boys remained contemplative and quiet through lunch. Food cheered them up, though; typical shifters. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the bonds I was forming with them and the protective streak that was developing. Logically, I knew that it was natural, but that didn’t mean that I liked it. Nik was still bothering me. The fact that he’d gone from the quiet obedient one to the pushy shit didn’t make things any better. I sighed to myself before Alex started the evening’s plans. He seemed to have returned to his usual self as though nothing had happened. Part of me wanted to take him to one side and help him. I knew that he was bottling up his emotions, but I had my own to deal with. He’d brought it on his own head.
“From what we’ve managed to pull up on the maps, it looks like there’s a few acres of grounds surrounding the house. We’ll park up in the little layby a mile or so away and walk down. Nik, you’re with me, we’ll take the back entrance. Ryan and Dan, you’re with Thalia. Stick together at all times. Never enter a room alone, you work as a unit. Thalia, that does apply to you, too. I know you think you’re a one woman army…”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Need I remind you of the kills I’ve made? Of the creatures I’ve taken down single-handedly?”
“Regardless, stick with Ryan and Dan, we can’t have you back in bed again.”
“We wouldn’t want Lee back here.”
I glared at Nik for his insolent comment. I debated threatening to rip his tongue out, but the glare was enough to make him lower his eyes and look away. Alex had tensed again at the mention of Lee. I shrugged it off and turned to Ryan.
“We’ll clear the room together. Dan, you’ll be on watch in the hallways. I’ll take the right side, you take the left. Understood?”
They both nodded. I swore that Dan had mumbled something, but I let it slide. I hadn’t seen the boys in a tense situation before. I had to hope that they kept a cool head. It was one thing running around a warehouse complex hunting a single killer, it was quite another clearing a house with the gods only knew how many rabid humans and angels. I had quite a bit of faith in Ryan, he’d been doing well in his training as my shadow, but Dan was still hot-headed and eager to prove himself. I reminded myself to have faith. There wasn’t much to be done at that point anyway.
I was sitting out on the patio when Ryan sat down next to me “So… the Sisters mentioned a godslayer. Can someone actually kill the gods?”
I grinned at him. “There’s only one way to find out.”
He frowned. “But, aren’t they part of the balance? What will happen if they’re killed?”
Dan appeared beside me. “Then the world will be a better place.”
Dan sat down next to me while Ryan seemed to mull over the situation and possibilities. “But if the Sisters are all about balance, and they’re trying to protect the gods…”
I shrugged. “Let everything descend into chaos and see what happens. Who knows, it could be a better, happier existence. We’ve never tried it, so how do we know?”
“The Sisters are just trying to protect themselves; they’ve clearly demonstrated their feelings on mere mortals.”
Dan spat out the last couple of words. I leaned back and gazed at the setting sun.
“Welcome to my world, boys. It’s nice to see you finally having the wool pulled from in front of your eyes.”
“You know it isn’t that simple, Thalia.”
Part of me missed the days when he called me Baby Girl and there was none of the Thalia crap, when we were relaxed and at ease with each other.
“Do I? As I said, we’ve never seen a world without them, we’re making assumptions based on what they’ve told us.”
“We have to have some faith, some trust in them.”
“Do we?”
He sighed. “Get ready, we’re leaving in an hour.”
I muttered under my breath. I didn’t like how he took control of the preparations, but I had no desire to do it myself, so I let it slide. I glanced up at the darkening sky and found myself considering a small salutation to the stars. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done such a thing. I curled my lip and went to retrieve my blades. I remembered just fine. It was back in the happy days.
I focused instead on much happier things in the present, like my beautiful blades. I unwrapped the dark leather and silk from the pair of poignards. I didn’t like the single-edged nature of knives—double-edges blades were more flexible. I ran my energies down over the dark metal and couldn’t help but purr at them stirring and flexing their energies under my touch. An assassin’s bond with their weapons is unlike anything else. My blades were like the shadows to me, old friends that would never betray me. They had clear personalities and were part of me, an extension of myself. I couldn’t keep the grin from my face as I slid them into their sheathes on my hips. Part of me wanted to take a couple more blades for good measure, but it was just a recon job. Two was more than enough to slaughter some humans, or an angel if need be.
Chapter Sixteen
Ryan and Dan rode with me in my car while Nik went with Alex. The split in the pack was starting to grate on me, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I was just grateful that no one was trying to kill each other. Ryan insisted on fidgeting next to me. He kept running his hand over the sheath on his thigh. He’d wanted to take a gun, but we reminded him that we were apex predators; we didn’t deal with guns unless we had no other choice. Dan, on the other hand, was lounging in the back seat, calmly looking out of the window. I was beginning to wonder if perhaps I should switch them around and have Ryan on guard. I pushed the thought aside. I’d taken Ryan as my shadow. If he wanted to be an assassin, then he’d have to learn. I just had to have patience with him and faith in his abilities. We pulled up to a pair of large wrought-iron gates with intricate designs of leaves and other such nonsense. It was over the top and nothing more than a statement of wealth. I tried not to curl my lip and to focus instead on the surroundings. We parked the cars on the pale gravel with them pointing out towards the road to make a quick getaway easier. I glanced through the gates to see an expanse of wide-open manicured lawn that went directly on to the surrounding forest. I knew from the plans we’d managed to pull up that the eight-foot pale stone wall that extended from either side of the gates encompassed the vast grounds of the house. That made me feel a little better, as it would contain any potential escapees.