Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1)

by Shen Hart

  Short, twisted trees were scattered throughout the grass-filled expanse before the dilapidated cottage. I kept looking around us; there were too many little hiding places. A dark green prickly bush bit into my bare legs as I brushed past it trying to follow the narrow path that barely cut through the undergrowth stretching between there and my goal. I glanced at Alex and gave a small nod. He moved back and to my left along with Ryan while Nik and Dan moved back and to my right. I kept point, and we all opened our energies just enough to feel around us without alerting anything outside of our immediate proximity. If the sirens were close, they already knew we were there.

  Soft whispers carried on the breeze, marring the sweet sounds of the grass and leaves rustling. They were even more stupid than I had given them credit for. I came to an abrupt halt just before a small group of blonde, lithe women emerged from their hidey holes in the grasses and moved to encircle us. They were all clearly related, which made the entire experience slightly creepier. Alex and Dan moved out and around to get behind the sirens while Ryan, Nik, and I pushed forwards to tighten their ranks. They paused, all looking to the sallow-skinned woman that had approached me in the first place. We moved around to encircle them as they stepped back, allowing themselves to be corralled. The boys had all allowed their wolf sides forward, their eyes shining amber and their teeth slightly bared. Fear began to roll off the sirens in intoxicating waves. The jaguar threw itself forward, desperately trying to unsheathe its claws and begin playing with the fresh prey. I kept myself in control and crossed my arms while the sirens huddled together. The leader tried to push her shoulders back and jut her chin out in a mark of defiance. I merely laughed at her.

  We closed in slowly until they were all tightly pressed against each other while the boys licked their lips, eying them like slabs of meat. The leader's voice wavered as she tried to growl, "You're here to help us. You can't hurt us."

  I smiled and stepped closer causing her to whimper. "Can't we?"

  A collective whine passed through them as they clutched onto each other. I could hear that their hearts were pounding in their chests. The slightly acrid tang of fear was pooling around them. They were all drenched in sweat and quivering. It was difficult to hold myself in check, and the boys' faces were all slightly contorted as they fought their own internal battles.

  The leader swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. "Please..."

  My nostrils flared, and I snorted quietly before nodding to Alex once more. He stood more upright and pulled back his wolf aspect, which triggered the boys to do the same.

  I looked her straight in the eye, refusing to hide any of the aggression or contempt I felt for her or her kind. "You ask us for help, and then you dare try and treat us like an easy meal?"

  Her bottom lip wobbled and she dropped to her knees and began sobbing. "We're starving. We haven't eaten in such a long time. We've been hiding in fear that we'd be next."

  I shrugged. "There are stray animals. If you walk far enough you may even catch a sheep or a pig."

  A look of revulsion spread across her face, her dainty hand went to her mouth to stop herself from retching. I couldn't hold back the smile of satisfaction at her suffering.

  I gave her a few moments to compose herself before we got down to business. The boys were all very well behaved and controlled themselves fantastically. It took a little while for the sirens to stop shaking, but they didn't try and pull any of their usual entitled princess shit, so it was a net gain overall. After a lot of pacing and some growling, snarling, and shouting we finally concluded that the sirens knew absolutely nothing of use. They just expected us to swoop in and save them because, well, they deserved it. Alex had to take over at that point so that I didn't snap their necks and be done with it.

  We finally settled on setting up a trap. It amused me to use one of them as bait. They were horrified, which only added to my love of the plan. Ryan was to stay close to the siren in case the killer managed to get past the rest of us. He had already had experience with one, so I thought he’d be the best choice to handle that. Not that I expected them to try anything. Alex and Nik were to hold down one end while Dan and I covered the other. It was simple and easy. What could possibly go wrong? The worst part was the waiting game. We didn't have a territory pinned down for the killer or a timeline, we just had to hope that our pathetic damsel in distress would attract him. That bit I wasn't so happy with, but I had to work with what little information I had.

  21

  Dan lifted himself up onto the wall, which was slightly taller than him. I tilted my head and admired the nice view for a moment before he twisted himself around to sit comfortably on the old, worn bricks. He shuffled over just a touch to hide behind the scraggly, twisted old tree. Part of me was tempted to join him. It looked reasonably comfortable, and it would be nice to be away from prying eyes. Instead I slumped down onto the wooden bench and pulled out my paperback book. The only good thing about said book was the fact that I'd gotten a nice little thrill from stealing it. I wasn't going to pay for such a thing. I skimmed the pages absent-mindedly while listening intently to everything that went on around me.

  The gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the trees nearby, a few songbirds murmured their good night chirps, and a distant cat yowled. No footsteps, nothing of interest. I was glad to hear that the wretched siren, Honey, had also shut up. I'd come close to throttling her with her incessant whining, complaining, and in the end, wailing. Ryan stayed near her just in case the killer did manage to get past Dan and I, or Alex and Nik on the other end. We weren't really sure quite what we were dealing with, so we were depending on the ability to pick out his lack of energies or impact on the area.

  After what felt like days, Dan came to join me on the bench. I smiled at him and put the book away (any excuse).

  "Do you come here often?"

  I held back a laugh and tried to play my part, "Not really, you?"

  He pursed his lips and shook his head, "Me either."

  He looked at me expectantly. I returned the look. It was him who'd started the conversation, after all. He glanced around and leaned back on the bench stretching his legs out in front of him. "Do you really think this will work?"

  I shrugged. "What other options do we have?"

  He thought for a long while as I gazed out across the well-worn old road with its faded lines and the abandoned industrial unit opposite us. "It just feels... half assed."

  I smiled. "It does at that, but we work with what we have."

  "What's the deal with Ryan? I mean, what’s going on there?"

  He had turned to look at me, his eyes searching mine for some hidden answer. I looked away and ignored him for a short period. The man hadn't shown up. I began to wonder if we were in the wrong place, if perhaps it was all a foolish idea.

  He asked again, "Is there something about Ryan I'm missing?"

  I looked back at him pointedly. I didn't know quite what he expected me to say or do, but I didn't appreciate the line of inquiry. "All three of you are equal, you each have skills that are useful to the pack. We work as a team."

  He nodded and looked away before edging just a touch closer. "How long have you been dealing with the fae?"

  He really wasn't much into subtlety that day. "A long time. What's your favourite movie?"

  He opened his mouth to ask another question before smiling and running his fingers through his dark hair. "I don't know. It depends on my mood. Some movies are good for idle distraction and removing all thoughts from your head. Others do the opposite; they make you think and give you a different view of the world."

  I nodded. That was a fair enough answer, but it didn't give me much of an opening to ask more things or continue on with the conversation. I didn't want to sink into the dark and dismal world of trading favourites. I looked around hoping to see a shady man walking our way, but there was no one in sight. Not a single soul. That alone was suspicious, but not entirely unexpected. A killer isn't going to be stupid enough to k
ill something as noisy as a siren in a densely packed, well walked area. Dan's hand brushed against mine, knocking me out of my thoughts.

  I tried not to scowl at him, instead saying, "What are your life plans?"

  It was a big question, one I hoped would get him to relax and talk. It would give us some semblance of appearing normal when our man finally showed up.

  He frowned and ran his hand over his jaw, with the light stubble forming, before his brow furrowed and he seemed to give it some proper thought. He was a good guy, but I wasn't in the mood for inane chatter, and it really wasn't the place to be openly discussing fae or other such things. I didn't know what was with him, some days he was startlingly competent, others he seemed to be in a world of his own and missed the biggest cues. I shrugged and sighed to myself. We all had to learn at some point, and he was still a cub.

  Clouds started to gather around the sun, which was on her descent down to the rooftops. The sky was taking on the greyish hue of light rain with pink tinges when he finally said, "I'm really not sure I have a plan. Just to find my place in the world, I suppose. I’ve spent a good deal of my life looking for meaning, purpose, and that feeling that I belong somewhere. Do you know how difficult it is, to realise that you don’t fit? That there is nowhere where you really belong?"

  He looked at me with those big dark blue eyes. He reminded me of a lost puppy for a fleeting second. I knew that feeling a little too well, but I had found my place in the world and turned from it. I didn’t know if that was better or worse. I smiled. "You've found it. You're one of my pack. Do you need more than that?"

  His eyes sparked and a large smile spread across his face. He looked quite handsome in that light, with the genuine smile on his face. I allowed a small smile to sit on my lips as I looked away and brushed the thought from my mind; I had no intentions of going down the incestuous route. It was classless, manipulative, and open to too many problems.

  His voice had taken on a slightly deeper, more gravelly tone when he said, “What about you? What are your big life goals?"

  He was searching my face again. I didn't know what he was searching for, but his eyes trailed down my neck a couple of times while I watched him.

  I pursed my lips and looked along the rooftops on the horizon. The pink hints were spilling down the corrugated metal rooftops, forming small streams of colour that sat between the dark shadows. It was pretty in its own odd little way. I hadn't really thought about my life plan in a long time. I didn't want to. To do so would mean acknowledging my place in the world, my dire need for the one thing I didn't think I'd ever truly have. Freedom. Thoughts began filtering through my mind. I planned to be free, but how would I achieve that?

  A dark little voice murmured something within my consciousness: "Kill them."

  I curled my lip and looked down the road to cover my facial expression. Shadows skittered and played along the tarmac, a stray petal fluttered in the breeze adding a flash of yellow to the increasingly grey and rose landscape.

  I finally sighed and simply said, "I'm not entirely sure, myself. For now, it’s to fulfil the tasks as given to me by the Sisters and to lead the pack as well as I can."

  He pursed his lips and looked away, seemingly unsatisfied with my answer. I didn't care. I wasn’t there to satisfy his curiosity.

  Shouting, growling, snarling, and a muted scream cut through the air. I stood and ran down the alleyway towards Ryan and Honey. The man must have come at her from the other end of the alley. I didn’t know how he got past Alex and Nik, but no one was perfect. I growled and prepared myself for the worst. I didn't prepare myself well enough. Alex had Honey pinned to the wall by her throat, her feet dangling just below his knees as he snarled in her face. Ryan was crumpled on the floor with a split lip and blood trickled down his lightly tanned cheekbone. Nik was standing just behind Alex with his teeth bared and his hands balled into fists.

  I snarled at them, "What the fuck is going on!?"

  Alex took a deep breath and looked at me. "This worthless little parasite felt that Ryan would be a nice little snack to keep her occupied while she waited for the killer."

  I fought to calm myself as the desire to rip her to shreds filled me. My claws broke through the skin in my fingertips. The pain was more than welcome. I walked up to her slowly, my eyes fixed on hers as she trembled against the brick wall. She tried to beg, to plead. Tears streamed down her face leaving black streaks down her pale cheeks.

  I swallowed hard and looked up into Alex's cold, blue eyes and said, "Put her down. We need her."

  He growled but dropped her. She landed unceremoniously, collapsing into a heap on the filthy ground. She continued to sob and muttered thank you repeatedly. I grabbed her hair and wrenched her head upwards to look at me.

  "If you so much as consider thinking about pulling that shit next time, one of us will end you. It will be agonising. It will be excruciating. You will beg for death before we're done. Do you understand?"

  She swallowed as hard as she could and nodded as best as she was able. I dropped her hair in disgust and turned to Ryan who was slowly gathering himself and stood with his head lowered and his back partially to us.

  "Ryan, come with me. The rest of you, go drinking, go home, do what you please."

  Alex put his hand on mine. "We should deal with him together."

  I had to work not to growl at the contact, as much as the presence of his large hand on my bare skin did calm me more than I'd ever admit. I simply nodded. "We should."

  Dan had his teeth slightly bared at Ryan. His eyes carried slight amber flecks. I pushed him away. "Your problem is with Honey. Go. Drink. Stay out of trouble."

  Nik was beginning to relax. His hands were starting to uncurl. He grabbed onto the collar of Dan's shirt and pushed him gently away. "Come on, we'll head to that feral bar.”

  Alex growled, "She said stay out of trouble. Go to Medusa. We'll see you there in a bit."

  They lowered their eyes and walked away. I looked down at Honey, restraining my strong desire claw her. "Get out of my sight. We'll tell you a time and a place when we're ready."

  She scrambled to stand and fled the alley as quick as her heeled feet would carry her. The clicking of her blue stilettos on the tarmac only aggravated me more.

  Ryan had his shoulders hunched and kept his back turned slightly to us. Alex flexed his fingers and closed his eyes while he focused on calming himself. I walked to Ryan and placed my hand between his shoulder blades.

  I said as calmly as I could manage, "What happened?"

  He kept his eyes down but twisted to face us. "I was tucked up in the shadows like we agreed. She was there doing her pouty, seductive thing. I ignored her and kept my ear out for anything of use. After a while she starts coming over to me. I told her to get back in her place. She gave me the hurt puppy routine and tried again a couple of times before her voice changed."

  His own voice started to crack.

  "It sounded like liquid gold. It was so smooth, I could feel it filling me. My energies all settled, and I found myself walking towards her. There was nothing else; it was just me and her. She was the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid eyes on. The next thing I know, she's trying to sink her teeth into my neck and Alex has dragged her off me."

  He didn't dare look up at Alex. Instead, he tried to make himself a little smaller before Alex looked at me and said, "I punched him. I thought he was being a horny little cub who was fucking up the plan for us. It wasn't my best move, but can you blame me?"

  I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I couldn't blame him. Not even a little.

  He sighed softly. "The look on her face gave her away. The satisfied little smirk, it was written all over her. Then she was stupid enough to start trying to get to Ryan to finish what she'd started. That was when I snapped. I pinned her against the wall and she kicked up a fuss. I didn't intend on killing her, as much as it crossed my mind. The rest you know."

  Ryan merely nodded in acknowledgement.

 
Alex turned to Ryan and placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt. As your alpha, that was wrong."

  Ryan looked up at Alex and offered him a small smile "It's not your fault. You reacted to what you saw. You had to do what was best for the pack and the mission."

  He offered his hand for Alex to shake. They shook and did the man-hug thing before looking at me.

  I smiled. "Drinks, then?"

  22

  We were becoming regulars in the bar. I grinned at the barman when he handed me a bright blue drink with a little umbrella in it. He knew me so well. Dan was tucked up the corner with Nik, each with a beer in front of them, but I didn't really want the company. Alex ran his hand over my lower back when he walked behind me to order a whisky. Ryan, however, went straight to the shots. Alex and I looked at each other, but gave a small shrug. We'd let him have his night as long as he behaved himself.

  I finished my drink in two mouthfuls and joined Ryan in his third shot before heading out to the dance floor. I closed my eyes and smiled as I let go of everything and moved to the bass. I felt it flow through me and pushed away awareness of everything. There was just the darkness, the beat and nothing else. Hands glided over my hip, but I ignored them. That was not the time for company. Or so I thought, until I felt the warm lips caress my neck. I slowly opened my eyes to find a pair of beautiful liquid-chocolate eyes looking back at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck not caring who or what he was. We danced, our bodies pressed tightly together as we gave ourselves over to the beat. His fingers stroked my ribs and his lips caressed my throat. I dug my fingers down into his light brown hair, but found myself being twisted away by a second set of hands. I growled, expecting to find Alex being possessive, but instead was pleasantly surprised to see Lee's green eyes sparkling. That easy smile sat on his lips as he pulled me closer to him. The previous man was quickly forgotten as I slipped my hands around his waist.