by Rebecca Main
“Quinn, meet Maureen Clybourn,” Zoelle introduces us with a gentle smile. “This is my grandmother, Diana Baudelaire, and this is—”
“Lydia Stein.” The last woman has her hair pulled back into a tight bun, her skin the color of cocoa. It’s almost the same shade as Diana’s. “How are you handling that boy?”
“It could be going better.”
“She’s being modest,” Zoelle quickly quips. “She has him wrapped completely around her finger, and she doesn’t even know it. Every other second he’s making moon eyes at her, and they do this whole flirting-fighting thing.”
“What?! We do not.”
Zoelle gives me an innocent look. “Just because you’re too blind to see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.” I must look like a fish out of water. I wasn’t used to this sassier side of Zoelle.
“I’m not blind,” I grumble. “I’m well aware of the fact that he’s stalking me. And I'm almost positive I’ve seen him sniffing after me, like, literally sniffing.”
“He’s been pacing outside her door for the past day or two,” Zoelle adds. The women look at me expectantly for an answer.
“He marked me,” I tell them with a heavy sigh, “without my knowledge or permission.”
“They were having sex—”
“Zoelle!” I shriek in outrage, “could you not divulge all the details of my life?”
“Sorry,” she mumbles around her mug.
“He didn’t pressure you into it, did he, dear? Sometimes the wolf inside them can grab control. They can be quite dangerous. If you need us to, we can put that dog in his place,” Lydia states.
I shake my head. “It was most definitely consensual,” I admit. And completely my doing. “We have a lot of…fire, between us. Plus, it’s not the first time we’ve fooled around.”
“Well, I don’t know why you would go and have sex with the boy if your intentions weren’t to complete the soulmark,” Lydia adds. “Physical contact increases its effect and pull.”
“What? It does?” I ask in a panic.
“Well, yes,” she says, eyebrow cocked. “The soulmark desires to be complete. It is meant to be one, not two, and the physical contact drives this urge.”
“I didn’t know that,” I tell them pitifully.
“Every bond is different to a certain extent,” Diana tells me, reaching out to pat my hand. “Why don’t you have a cookie, get some sugar in you. You’re looking a bit pale.” I snag a cookie and shove it into my mouth. “Have you been eating enough?” I give a short nod and take another cookie. “Good. It won’t do you any good to starve yourself.” Her voice takes on a familiar motherly tone. The one you always hear in movies and TV shows.
“You’ve certainly gotten yourself into a jam,” Maureen remarks, sipping on her tea. “Perhaps you should leave your life of crime behind for something more useful to society.”
“It’s what I’m good at,” I tell her with a forced smile, “and it’s what I like.”
Lydia passes a speculative look at the two other women before pinning me with her stare. “You find fulfillment in stealing from others?”
“When you put it that way it doesn’t sound very…nice.”
“Well stealing isn’t a very nice hobby,” Lydia says with a snort, “and it doesn’t seem to have done you any favors.”
“It did put her in the path of her soulmark, Lydia.”
She rolls her eyes. “It also had her steal from us, Mo. Or have you forgotten?”
“She’ll get it back for us,” Mo says solemnly, turning her intense gaze upon me. “Won’t you?”
I finish my cookie and fight for some semblance of composure. It wasn’t every day you had to confront the people you stole from. Not for me at least. “I have a plan. I’ll get it back.”
“Well, don’t hold out on us dear. We want to know the details,” Diana says, sitting back.
“Yes!” Lydia agrees eagerly. “I want to discuss your plans with Kymberly Moon. If she has a clear idea of your plans, it helps her know what to search for in her premonitions.”
“Her premonitions?”
The three older women nod their heads in unison. “She can see the future. It’s come in handy more than once. I’ve been helping her learn how to focus her talents. If she can get an idea of any obstacles you might face, then you’ll be one step ahead of the game.”
“And you can get back that crystal,” Maureen's endorsement is said with unusual gusto, and I give a small laugh.
“Okay, okay,” I tell them with a small but honest smile. “I’m all for supernatural help.” Or any help at all.
“You’ll need all the help you can get if you’re going up against a vampire,” Diana says seriously.
I turn my sights on Zoelle, somewhat accusingly. “How much have you told them, exactly?”
“Just about everything,” she admits sheepishly. “I couldn’t not! You stole our crystal after all. They need to be kept in the know.”
“And telling them about my private affairs with Ryatt fit how?”
Maureen lets out a sharp, bark-like laugh. “That man is a downright scoundrel, and his wolf is always near the surface of his mind. It makes him more impulsive. As if he’s untamed.”
“You think he’s a liability?” I ask with a slight frown. “That the ‘wolf part’ of him will make him…I don’t know. Do something to draw too much attention to us?”
The women ponder my questions carefully. “I don’t think so,” Zoelle hedges carefully. “I think it will make him more overprotective of you, potentially even more careful.”
“More paranoid,” Lydia states coolly. “You’ll need to stay calm. If he senses danger or anything that might endanger you, he’ll react.”
I nod my head thoughtfully. It was good information to know. I wasn’t used to working with a partner on a job.
“I plan on getting in and out as quickly as possible. We’ll have to mosey around for 20 minutes or so that I can show some face, but Mr. Vrana will most likely expect me to keep a low profile—so I will. The trickiest part will be getting to the safe without notice. It's in his bedroom on the second level. We’ll take a staircase tucked away near the kitchen to go up, but the second-floor landing is in perfect view of the first floor.”
“We can give you an aversion elixir,” Diana tells me reassuringly. I give her a slightly bewildered look.
“I have someone on the inside stashing a pair of waiters’ clothes for us to change into. They promised to make a small diversion for us, but we can take the aversion elixir too, for extra precaution. What does it do exactly?”
“Those around you will want to stay away from you and ignore you,” Zoelle explains, “but only one of you should take it. I don’t think the plan would go nearly as well if you suddenly don’t want to work as a team any longer.”
“The artist’s work will be displayed throughout the place. I just don’t know if it will be up on the second floor. If it is, we can slip into the bedroom more easily.”
“And then?” Maureen asks.
“And then I break into the safe while Ryatt keeps guard. I double-strap the sucker to my thigh, and we get out.”
“We’ll get the elixir to Zoelle by Friday,” Diana says, “and Mo will speak with Kym by then as well.” A large smile splits across my face.
“Thank you. I promise this will go off without a hitch. You’ll have your crystal back by Saturday night.”
“Good,” Lydia declares, “because our enemies are closing in, and by the looks of it, we’re going to have another one added to the list once Saturday comes about.”
Chapter 10
Ryatt
If there was one thing I was good at in life, it was fucking up. Fucking up my sister’s attempt at a love life. Fucking up the retrieving of our allies’ property. Fucking up my relationship with my soulmark. The robe Quinn has been using rests on a hook of the bathroom door. I snatch it and make my way over to my bed, flopping down upon it with a forlorn sigh
. I bring the robe to my face and inhale. I also happened to be a master of being secretly pathetic. No doubt Xander would have been caught sneaking scents off Zoelle’s clothing pre-binding. But not I.
The scent of Quinn lingers in the room, but it is strongest in the things she wears on a daily basis. The wolf takes to it like some kind of calming sedative and happily relaxes at the back of my mind with her scent surrounding us.
The wolf had reached a level of pathetic I hadn’t known possible. It’s not been two weeks and it’s head over heels in love, while I’m left to try and keep our feelings separate. Mostly. Lust and love were two very different things, but with the way the wolf was projecting, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep the divide up. I inhale deeply once more, enjoying the scent of jasmine and citrus and Quinn.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I hesitate for a fraction of a second, my eyes flying open at the sound of her voice before I throw the robe down faster than humanly possible. “Nothing,” I smoothly deny, sitting up and running a hand through my hair. “You’re back.”
She eyes me warily, shuffling from foot to foot. “Obviously,” she finally scoffs, though I note it is half-hearted. I slowly get to my feet.
“And you’re talking to me.” She looks away uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, Quinn, about the other day. Truly. I didn’t plan on that happening.” She doesn't carry the same tense weight about her. Her shoulders are no longer hunched. Hands unclenched. Scowl...still mostly intact. Regardless, it’s a welcome reprieve. Quinn remains silent. Gaze elsewhere. Mind whirling, no doubt. The wolf whines pathetically in the background of my mind, still distraught over her body language and reaction to the marking. It could not comprehend why she was so upset, but I did and was determined to give Quinn some distance. She deserved to make her own decisions, no matter how unpleasant the consequences may be for both of us.
“I’m still pissed at you,” she finally says, eyes caught on the window. “And I’m still definitely not okay with how any of this has played out, but…”
My breath catches as she swings her gaze my way. Her eyes are the most serene blue. Startling even from afar, if I could only be so lucky as to wash away the unease from them. I shove my hands in my pockets, dropping my regard to the floor submissively. The wolf had obviously been getting to me more than I realized.
“But I can’t undo it. I can’t change it, and I know that the marking probably wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t take your pants off,” she flushes with remorse. “I talked with a lot of witches today and was pretty thoroughly shot down. Time-travel is a big no-no, apparently. Plus they put on a little magic show for me. So that’s apparently a real thing. Witches.”
“A productive chat then,” I mutter under my breath. I chance a glance to see if she has heard my utterance but only a small scowl lines the features of her brow and lips.
“I’m not going to be in a relationship with you, Ryatt,” she tells me seriously. “I’m not a relationship kind of girl. I don’t do boyfriends. I barely do ‘friends,' but since we are apparently stuck together that’s what I can at least offer. Friendship.”
I can feel my eyes narrowing in on her as the wolf prowls steadily at the front of my mind. Mine, it softly chants. As if I didn’t know that already. “Friendship,” I roll the word around on my tongue, not particularly liking the taste of it. “Why? I think we can both agree we're quite good at being much more. We haven’t even explored all the things we might do—”
“Can we not go there?” She takes a deep breath, her heart racing though she maintains a neutral facade. “I spoke with Zoelle—” I let out a dramatic groan “—and she said she was able to with Xander. I don’t see why we shouldn’t give it a try.”
“One, their situation was completely different from ours. Zoelle had a significant other at the time, and my brother is a bully, as Alphas tend to be. Two, we’ve already had sex. I’ve felt you. I've been inside of you. That changes things—”
“No,” she says sternly, “it changes nothing. We can put what’s transpired between us in the past and move forward as friends. People can have sex and still just be friends. It's not impossible. Besides, it didn’t mean anything.”
“Like hell it didn’t,” I growl, the wolf echoing its displeasure with a snarl that almost bursts forth from my lips. “It was a fucking revelation. I marked you, and that means something. There’s no more ignoring it. No more ignoring us.” The wolf leaps to the forefront of my mind and I feel a streak of all-consuming possessiveness ram its way through me. Quinn swallows and stares me down determinedly. “Do you honestly believe we can be ‘just friends’ after all that’s happened?” I ask, deliberately keeping my calm. I take a step towards her and watch silently as she fumbles back.
“I won’t deny that whatever this fascination is between us will be difficult to ignore. In fact, the soulmark will make it more difficult, or so I’ve recently learned. Nevertheless, I think we can push past the awkwardness and find some kind of common ground—without all the touching.”
I mull over the words and find myself stuck on her comment about the soulmark. The soulmark didn’t make things more difficult. What exactly was she talking about? “If by fascination you mean attraction, you’re right. It will be most difficult to ignore. The soulmark,” a satisfied smile takes up residence on my face as I recall some minor details regarding its influence, “amplifies feelings that are already there. You like me.”
Her face flushes a telltale red, “It just means we already have a sort of rapport that isn’t exclusively derived from animosity.”
“You like me!” I crow, taking several steps forward. She peels out into the hallway; hands held up defensively as she glares at me from outside the door. “What are you doing?” I ask, watching in amusement as her skin shades an even brighter red.
“You’re not entirely loathsome,” Quinn bites out.
“Why are you out in the hallway?” I take a measured step forward and watch in befuddlement as she skirts backward. Again. “Why are you doing that?”
“I have to meet with your sister,” she says feebly. But feeble is a very un-Quinn thing to be.
“You’re lying.” A spike of indignant anger flares through the bond from her end. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Quinn hesitates, eyes darting around the room until they land back on the window, a long sigh drawing from her rosy lips. “Physical proximity increases the pull between us because we’ve already engaged in rather…intimate positions.”
I quirk a brow. “Are you referring to the fact that we've had sex, or was it the rather fantastic head you gave me? Or was it—”
“Yes. You ass,” she huffs. Her indignation turns to anger. “I’d prefer if we maintained a certain distance from one another to put a stop to that.”
I pull my hands from my pockets and cross them over my chest. The urge to move closer is almost irresistible with the wolf clawing and howling to drive me towards her. It’s her scent that holds me back. A mixture of fear and resentment, along with a healthy dose of what can only be shame. Space, I remind myself and the wolf sharply, she needed space.
“I don’t understand why you can’t just give me a chance,” I tell her softly. “There’s something between us. Something not even you can deny, even with all your carefully chosen words.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It is,” I insist, shuffling forward a few steps. Her eyes flutter close for a second as she warily shakes her head.