“Why are you human already?” she asked, turning to look up at him curiosity getting the better of her.
“I’m the Alpha. I have the ability to shift between the forms as necessary. I am not commanded by the moon as they are.” She nodded, continuing to watch them as they ran around like children, their howls a supernatural laughter that echoed into the night. As the day continued to approach, the warmth of the sun began to penetrate the dense branches overhead. She reached out her hand, touching the rays as they came down to her. Her fingers tried to wrap around the feeling, committing it to memory knowing when she returned to Nero she would never feel the golden sun on her flesh again.
“I’m human,” she said, clearing her mind as she looked up at the alpha.
“I know.” He wasn’t even watching her.
“Then why make me stay?”
“Like I said, only I am the one who can go between forms. If you wanted to speak to my brothers, you would have to be here in the daytime to do so.” He rose suddenly, nodding his head at the pack. She turned in time to watch a man shift back to human form without a shred of dignity to cover himself.
“You are very comfortable with your bodies,” she said, unabashedly staring still as he grinned at her wolfishly before taking off in a run and disappearing. “Where is he going?”
“To get clothing, unless you prefer to hold your interrogation...”
“Well, as lovely as the sights are,” two more shifted back, each one as cocky as the last, “it’s a little distracting to be fair.”
“For them too, it’s not often we have beautiful women in our midst.”
“Hence why you’re confident Rose isn’t here.”
“Yes. Although, when not in wolf form we do live elsewhere and the boys have women they keep so your sister could be one of them. I don’t keep track of sex lives.” Unnecessary anger bridled up inside of Quill at the idea some arrogant werewolf keeping her sister locked up in his house exclusively for sex. That was the whole reason why she had sold herself to Nero - to protect Rose from that kind of life but she had stumbled into it anyways.
“Your boys better pray to their God my sister isn’t one of their sex slaves.” The Alpha laughed and shook his head at her before watching as some of the boys came back out of the forest fully dressed. Awkwardly they came to stand in front of them before bending down to one knee with their head bowed.
One brother, in particular, remained shifted and came to sit in front of her in his wolf form. The smell up close was even more awful than before. He whined, leaning in and sniffing her before letting out a small howl. Beside her, the alpha looked interested as she arched an eyebrow at the wolf who nudged her with his huge head. The action was enough to make her slip off the stump she had perched upon. He whined again and the others were now looking at her with interest.
“Why doesn’t he shift back?”
“Colt is cursed, his ex was a witch who cursed him to remain in wolf form.”
“Curse... Witch...?” she repeated back incredulously. On top of everything else: vampires and werewolves and militia governments, she now had to worry about witches as well. “What does that have to do with me?” The Alpha didn’t bother answering her as he shifted beside her suddenly and as a wolf brought his mouth down on Colt’s neck, forcing him into submission. Nothing happened after that, they laid on the ground with the Alpha’s mouth caught around Colt’s neck and Colt just laid there. She looked up at the other wolves who were watching the exchange in interest.
“Is he hurting him?” She finally broke the silence to ask her burning question.
“No, he’s speaking to him.”
“He’s not saying anything.”
“We communicate through our bond when we’re wolves.” Someone else answered her and she crossed her arms watching them for a moment until finally the Alpha shifted back.
“Colt knows your sister.” Her eyes flashed dangerously and then again with horror as she considered the implication of being a sex slave to a werewolf who couldn’t exactly leave the wolf part of him at home. “He hasn’t claimed her if that’s what you’re thinking.” Her head snapped up to look at the Alpha again. “He says you have the same smell like her, except yours, is tainted. Vampire blood no doubt.” He cast a judgmental look upon her and Quill felt herself huff in indignation. Someone with a tail had no right to judge her life choices.
“Will he take me to Rose?” She looked down at Colt for her answer, she wasn’t fluent in wolf, but he made his answer clear as he stood up and started walking away. She rose from her stump and looked over the pack, “well, thanks for helping this vamp bitch,” she said with a casual shrug. She smirked, unable to stop herself, as her eyes drifted southward once more before turning and following Colt through the wood.
There had been some incredible circumstances in her life but werewolves and vampires, she decided, took the cake. She would’ve never guessed these things were real but despite that she was quite proud of herself for taking it all in stride. Rose probably had a better grip on this new reality than she did. She had no doubt that patronage training had to have included the fact that she would’ve eventually become a blood bank for some wealthy vampire. So a werewolf as a pet couldn’t be that far off the mark.
Colt stopped once they were far enough away from his pack to crouch low on the ground like Damien had. He didn’t need to bark as he did to tell her what he wanted. She was aware now she had many handicaps as a human alongside these supernatural creatures. Gripping his fur at the back of the neck, disgustingly still wet from the alpha’s mouth, she hauled herself onto him and he took off before she was even fully on. Without thinking she grabbed him tighter, hugging herself to his back as they ran with a freedom that Damien’s motions hadn’t possessed.
Clearing the trees Colt carried her along a field that rose into hills. The lush greenery was damp with morning dew, adding to the earthy smell that hung around them. There was something else that perfumed the air, but Quill couldn’t quite place it. Colt slowed his trot as he came over a hill, looking down into a village in the valley of the hills.
She wasn’t entirely sure how smart an idea it was to come into a village she knew nothing about on the back of a monster, but she didn’t get the chance to stop him. He seemed confident enough it was too early for anyone to see them as he moved with such concentration along a path more than just familiar to him. Stopping outside of a house on the far outskirts of the main village he nudged his head against the door and scratched at it letting out a soft pitiful moan.
Soft footfalls on the other side made Quill slide off the wolf and straighten up in time to watch Rose pull the door open.
“You’re late,” she said to Colt before her eyes caught sight of Quill and she pulled back in surprise.
“Izzy.” She didn’t look happy to see her, Quill should’ve known better. She took a deep breath to steel herself and smiled as much as she could force through the sudden tightness of her features.
Colt nudged past both girls and into the house, moving toward the fireplace before circling about like he was an ordinary house pet and flopping into a ball on the ground.
“Sorry, come in.” She stepped back and pulled the door open more for her sister to enter. Quill nodded in thanks before entering the cozy hovel. Her eyes flicked around taking everything in. It might’ve only have been a week - at best - since Rose had found this place but she had already made it into a home. Rose had always possessed a knack of turning bad situations into good things.
“It’s nice here,” she said before finally allowing her eyes to settle on her sister. There was a weariness in Rose’s features now, a guarded expression on her face like she was now a woman who had seen things that would never be unseen. She didn’t doubt that, but she did wonder if she knew it had been Nero’s doing.
“Thanks. Would you like some tea?” Colt perked up from his spot by the fire, rose and moved like a well-trained pet to grab the kettle from the small kitchen, bringin
g it over to the fire and hanging it up for them.
She smiled lovingly at the wolf before looking back at Quill, “C’mon, sit down, from the looks of things you’ve come a long way to find me.”
“I wanted to know you were okay.”
“Before or after you left me at the compound.” Quill flinched involuntarily but refused to apologise. She had done what she needed to. “I shouldn’t be surprised though, you have a knack for always leaving me in bad situations.” The bitterness on Rose’s tongue was uncommon and unexpected. It hurt a lot more than Quill had expected it to.
“That’s a fair assessment but if I can explain...” Rose, at least, gave her that as she walked silently into the kitchen and fetched two teacups and teabags for them. Stumbling over her words Quill quickly launched into an explanation about the night she helped Rose escape the city, telling her everything right down to her bargain with Nero. Rose was frowning when she returned to Quill’s side and held the teacup out.
“How are you here then? Did you kill him?”
“No,” Quill said, feeling the betraying blush rising high on her cheeks. “He took me as his mate.”
A strange, tense silence followed her admission while Rose stared at her in intrigue. Apparently this mating thing was a far bigger deal than Nero had let on.
“He... mated with you,” she said finally, as Quill nodded again. “Do you understand what that means Iz, what that means to him - to the supernatural community?”
“Uh, no?” There was a community? She vaguely remembered him mentioning something about wars and treaties or something. Frankly, she hadn’t cared then and hadn’t known she was supposed to now.
“Mating is a big deal. For vampires, for werewolves-” Colt howled at this, “for witches, faeries, for everyone.”
“Faeries?” Quill’s head spun as she added another monster to her growing repertoire. “Everyone?”
“Hundreds of different creatures, straight from storybooks that weren’t stories so much as accounts.”
“Right,” she said, shaking her head, “back to the mating thing. Why is that a big deal?”
“Mating is like - finding your soul mate and claiming it. Mating doesn’t just happen because someone likes someone else, mating occurs because your soul is already attached and a part of that person. Mating is literally two pieces coming together that were always meant to be together. Mating doesn’t happen as much anymore for two reasons: first, there were too many humans for supernaturals to be able to find their mate and now, there’s too few humans for supes to have mates. Chances are most mates have been killed off or their fates were altered so that they were never born. Finding a mate is incredibly rare, most people just settle for someone they love or deal with the loneliness of eternity.”
“And how do you know this much?”
“I was very close to Nero when he kept me, I was the perfect arm candy to make him look good in the city. But that also meant I spent a lot of time around the vampires and I overheard a lot of things.” Quill frowned, thinking about all this before she looked over at her sister with interest.
“What was Nero’s stance on mating when you knew him?”
“He has never, and insisted he would never, take a woman partner. He firmly believes women are meant as accessories and nothing else.” Quill reached up and rubbed her neck absently, thinking about what he said in the shower all over again. He would turn her because he couldn’t be without her.
“If you are his mate you’re in a lot of danger. Nero has a lot of powerful enemies and that makes you his one and only weakness.” Rose’s eyes flicked to Colt on the ground who watched them with interest. She frowned slightly and shook her head at him as if they were having a mental conversation now. “This is a supernatural community. They’ve only taken me in with them because I’ve crossed enough paths with supes to be able to accept the things I see here but if they knew Nero’s mate had walked into the village...”
She frowned and pulled away from Quill, pacing suddenly as she worried on her thumbnail in thought. It was hard to follow Rose’s train of thought and for once in her life she felt utterly helpless. Not to mention angry with Nero for not telling her any of this. He had made it seem like mating was a choice, not a fated thing.
“You’re going to have to leave, but it’s not safe now. There are creatures that are awake during the day...” Her eyes flicked to Colt again, “but again at night there are others too... You’ll have to leave at dusk, during the in-between. It’ll be dangerous, but you need to go. You can’t stay here.”
“Wait, wait! What about you? Are you just going to stay here?”
“Yes. This is my home now.”
“Rosie.” She moved to her sister and grabbed her shoulders tightly, “you can come back with me.”
“No. No, I can’t.” That haunted look in her eyes returned and this time when she looked at Colt it was with sadness. Quill was tempted to look away from Rose, but she couldn’t. “You could stay, we could find a way to break the mate bond?” Colt whined again from the floor making the crease in Rose’s forehead deepen more. “There has to be a way.” Another whine. It wasn’t the answer Rose wanted as she looked back at Quill sadly. “Does he take care of you?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “The reason we mated was - he told me - he wanted to give me blood to heal my heart. He didn’t want me... to die on him.” She choked on the words that when said the first time she had found them possessive and meaningless but knowing now the extent of what this mating bond meant she realized the truth of his words. How many times had he told her in his way that he loved her and she had brushed him off, ignored him and called him hateful names?
“And is it better - your heart?” Quill looked up at Rose in surprise and nodded her head.
“It’s not broken anymore,” she said, accepting the double entendre of what her words meant.
Before anyone else had the chance to speak, there was a crippling pain that went through Quill, tearing first at her stomach and making its way up to her chest. She screamed in pain, unable to stop herself as she doubled over and caught the edge of Rose’s kitchen table before slumping off it completely in a pile.
Colt rose quickly, moving over to her and nudging her with his nose, forcing her body over so Rose could see her face. Her sister hovered close, her mouth moving, but Quill couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of her own terrorized screams.
CHAPTER 15
When Quill woke next she was huddled in front of the fire in a makeshift bed Rose and Colt had concocted for her. Two broad, blood red eyes were the first thing Quill saw when she opened her eyes. Colt had taken it upon himself to hover over her like a sentry, watching her go through the various stages of pain throughout the day. She pressed her wrist to her forehead and groaned. The pain, for now, was gone, but the lingering ache in her muscles and bones spoke of the various positions she had twisted herself into while out cold.
“Where is Rose?” She whispered hoarsely, her throat aching from misuse. Colt growled slightly before moving to the kitchen, catching the handle of a bucket in his mouth and brought it back over to her, sloshing the water everywhere. He set it down next to her and she peered down at it, not sure what she was supposed to do.
As if to demonstrate Colt nudged her out of the way to lean down, lapping up huge swallows with his great black tongue.
“Yeah, okay, except now you’ve contaminated it with your wolf breath.” She grunted, pushing it away from her. He growled again, this time in a way that made the hair hanging around her shoulders ripple and gooseflesh crop up all along her arms.
“Fine, fine.” She grabbed the bucket and pulled it toward her again as she sat up straighter and leaned down. Sliding her fingers into the cool water and collected it in a makeshift cup before bringing her hands to her mouth and sipping. The water burned at her raw throat, but it made her feel so much better.
“You win,” she said before wiping her hands off on the blanket around her. The pain
in her chest and stomach had subsided while she slept, but now something different circled inside of her. She didn’t know how else to describe it besides a steely reserve to fight and survive. She felt on edge and anxious, like she shouldn’t just be sitting around and waiting because there was somewhere that she needed to be. Every inch of muscle inside of her wanted her to get out of the bed and get going. She just didn’t know where yet.
“Where is Rose?” Colt barked, turning his head to the door just as the latch clicked and Rose walked in with a bulging bag of supplies.
“Oh thank goodness you’re awake.”
“What happened to me?”
“I wasn’t sure at first, but I spoke to Melony and she confirmed my fears. Not only are you mated with Nero but you did a blood exchange, didn’t you?”
“Isn’t that how you mate?”
Rose laughed and shook her head as a deep blush appeared high on her cheeks.
“You’re the older sister, I assumed you would know about mating without me having to tell you about the birds and the bees.”
“Sex… is mating,” she said, her voice a mixture of surprise and anger.
“Of course, mating… to mate. I mean, it’s in the name. How didn’t you know?”
“Because that asshole told me it was a blood exchange and sometimes sex came with the blood exchange!”
Rose curled her nose up, trying to shake away the visual that was suddenly conjured. “No, mating is just sex. Intense sex, usually heightened in intensity by the connection of your souls but it’s still just sex. A blood exchange is just a vampire’s way of tying your souls together indefinitely.”
“Indefinitely? It’ll never go away?”
“No. If he were to turn you, it would only get stronger. Every time you have a blood exchange the connection goes deeper and gets stronger. There have been documented - albeit rare - cases where a vampire and his mate have been so connected their lives were connected as well.” Rose spoke with a terse caution like she was holding something back that she deemed crucial but not enough to incur the wrath of her older sister.
Desecrated Beauty (Twisted Fairy Tales #1) Page 15