RYLEN (The Tangled Web Book 1)

by Morgan Wylie

  After the team had been assembled and prepped, they were ready to head out into the streets of downtown Seattle. Most times when they went out, they dressed and looked like regular young people you would see in any big city; they seemed to be most-overlooked that way, and tonight they wanted to blend in. Truth was, they had accumulated quite a bit of money and they enjoyed spending it… wisely, of course. In fact, Rylen had bought the hotel they lived under several years ago and created the Lair. They received income from the prosperous hotel and their various business endeavors—or so they liked to call the jobs they did. The team had honed their process over the last several years and only took down accounts that were worth their time and efforts. Their MO was discreet, clean—violence based on necessity—and well planned. Often they worked for high-level or wealthy—usually human—officials as guards, hitmen, and recon scouts. Their repertoire was not exclusive to, but included, high-end theft, hacking, antiques fencing, identification alteration, and what they like to call the import-export trade.

  Each faction of the Web chose their own means of survival, their own jobs. Unless, like this one, Black Widow stepped in and mandated their operation. She had left them alone for the most part, but lately she was paying greater attention to their PNW faction of the Web, and none of them cared for anyone snooping into their local business. On the whole, the Web was formed to be a place for those with extra human abilities to feel like they belonged… a family—created by the Black Widow, an outcast in her own right. However, over the years it evolved into more of an organized network of supernatural outcasts. Indeed it still was a place to belong, to take refuge from the “normal” world, but it had become dangerously so much more.

  The team for this job consisted of the inner and secondary circles along with a few extra bodies, too many and it would have looked like a takeover. Everyone on the team was as uniquely skilled as they were made—beyond human. In addition to the shifting Jefferson twins, Enock, and Rylen, Violet, Mai, and Lola made up the core team. Mai was trained in tactical with explosives, outside of her martial arts, and was called upon from time to time for that cool trick. Rylen and Enock would be escorting Violet, a.k.a. Vi, as she would provide the team emergency transport out if necessary. The non-core team would remain as guards at the exterior of the building. Once Mather, Lola, and Mai had the stone, replacing it with an illusion stone, they would get out in whatever manner they could, but hopefully their cars would be the best option.

  They arrived at the entrance of a rave hotspot. The atmosphere outside Triumph was thick with a heady anticipation of the high, the seductive rhythm of the music enticing you to enter the doors, and the adrenaline rush of oblivion. It was well-known that you could score the latest party drug and pretty much any other mind-altering drug of choice. The guards casually positioned themselves near the front entrance and a few more strolled around back. Rylen, Enock, and Vi gained access into Triumph first to scope out the scene. Ten minutes later Mather, Lola, and Mai entered as well.

  Inside, the rave was fully underway. Triumph was a den of iniquity for humans looking for a “good time” and unfortunately for them, it resided right in the vampire seethe territory. It was their prime hunting ground for fresh human blood. They had rules if they wanted to co-exist. No killing humans for blood was the main one. Triumph was a two-story building, the center hollowed out except for a hanging platform with a DJ spinning. A balcony ran the perimeter of the main room broken up by multiple seating arrangements, tables, and large ground speakers. People danced and drank and did various things all throughout the room, thankfully concealed by all the pulsating, strobing, and moving lighting. Rylen was positioned at a tall table with Vi in a somewhat-secluded corner casually watching the crowd. Enock purposefully wandered, getting a lay of the main room. Mather and team found a table on the opposite side within Rylen’s view.

  Rylen looked as if he was speaking to Vi, but was in fact talking to the whole team via ear-piece comm links. “Mai, the door to the vaulted room is down the hall behind you.” He laughed at something Vi pretended to whisper in his ear. They feigned conversation, looking into her eyes while he spoke to the team. “Enock, how many vamps tonight?”

  “Ten so far, scattered throughout the room. Pretty low considering it’s a full house.”

  “Anyone notice anything out of the ordinary?” Rylen asked.

  “No,” came the simple return from all five of the others.

  “Mai and Lola, you’re up.” The plan was they’d pretend they were searching for the bathroom since chicks went together. Lola would play lookout and ears for the safe if there was one. They didn’t know exactly what to expect once inside the main office. Mai and Lola slunk off down the dark hallway behind them. Minutes later, Enock approached Mather alone at his table and they shook hands as if greeting an old acquaintance.

  “The hallway was clear,” Lola whispered over the comm. “Main office… empty and searching for the safe.” Enock left Mather’s table and went back to wandering around the dance floor. Mather checked his watch, an impatient boyfriend waiting for the girls to get back from the restroom. Only three minutes down.

  “Status, Mai,” Rylen checked in.

  “Found it. Lo working on the digits.” If it had been a newer one, Mai most likely would have been able to apply magic to it, but Lola had skills with cracking the older models. Another minute passed.

  “Got it,” Lola whispered then almost immediately after, “We’re out. Easy peasy.”

  “Ready for extraction,” Rylen informed the team inside and out. Mai and Lola sauntered by their table, closely behind Rylen. Mai discreetly deposited the stone in his jacket pocket. Soon after, Rylen and Violet left their table and moved to the dance floor. He strode confidently through the mash-up of the writhing crowd hypnotized by the industrial beat with the very provocative Vi hanging on his arm. They exited Triumph confident the others would follow shortly behind them.

  “On your six, Boss,” Enock informed Rylen. “We’re all out.”

  “To the car,” Rylen ordered.

  Simple.

  Too simple. Everything went off without a hitch. Usually there was at least something that went wrong or something they would have to improvise on. Not tonight. During their debrief of the event after they got home, each one thought about all that had gone down and recounted it from their point of view.

  “I was just surprised in a building that full of people that no one was in the hallway the exact time we need to be there,” Lola said then popped her bubble gum.

  Lola was petite for a wolf shifter, but just shy of average for a girl in general. She had purple hair with black strips of hair woven throughout. With fair skin and dark eyebrows that canopied her blue eyes, she looked about eighteen. Lola wore fishnet stockings with ratted jean shorts accompanied by black lace boot cuffs tucked inside mid-calf combat boots. On top, she liked to layer T-shirts with vests or sweaters, as in this case, since it was still chilly this time in Seattle. With rings on most of her fingers and a piercing in her eyebrow and one opposite that in her lower lip, she had the corner on goth as far as the girls of the PNW Web went.

  Rylen listened carefully, feeling like he missed something. “What else?”

  Mai stood from her seat. They didn’t need to stand to be heard, but Mai always did. She kept a calm sort of energy bottled up in a petite package. She wasn’t entirely sure of her heritage, but she had fair skin and warm brown, almond shaped eyes. Her long, straight black hair was a fall of darkness. “I did everything by the book,” she recounted. “But thinking back on it all and the feeling of ease when I placed the magic spell on the stone’s protective case inside the safe, something wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it seemed too easy. Does that make sense?” She didn’t wait for anyone to respond, but continued on. “So I took the stone and replaced it with the cloaked rock. Easy. Lola and I grabbed Mather and left casually to the rear exit. Said hello and winked at the guard, then made our way to the car.” Mai was at her
best when it came to stealth and, when combined with her magic, she would have been in her element when making the switch.

  Rylen nodded his concurrence with the events. He looked to Enock and Mather. “Did either of you pick up anything strange?”

  The boys shook their heads. “Nothing,” Enock verbalized. It wasn’t the type of scene that they liked to hang out in, but it appeared pretty standard for what it was.

  Rylen ran his fingers through his hair, deep in thought. “I don’t like it.” He paced while he thought. “I’m missing something.”

  “Did you see her?” Gracie’s small feminine voice spoke up from the back corner of the room.

  Rylen scowled at her as he thought back on the night. He shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone that stood out to me or anyone that shouldn’t have been there. Ugh!” he growled out. He hated it when he missed something he felt should be obvious to him.

  “Think on it, perhaps your mind saw what you needed to see,” the Oracle stood and walked purposely out of the Den. Lucius stood in the opposite corner, arms crossed and a permanent frown upon his face, his dark attire almost blending in with the shadows there. He shrugged a shoulder when Rylen looked to him. Lucius had stayed behind to protect their home while the others were out. They never left the Lair unprotected because most times, the Oracle and their tech squad remained behind.

  “It feels like a set up,” Mather offered after it had been quiet for a minute.

  “I agree, but by who?” Rylen stopped to ponder out loud. “Widow wanted the stone, so she had no motive. The Fairfax group isn’t in the area as far as our last intel reported. And if so, what were either of their reasons?” Rylen paced again.

  “Everybody out. The boss needs to think,” Enock announced above the idle chatter. He stood to usher everyone out.

  Rylen waved him off. “No, no, they need to unwind. I’ll go to my suite.” He looked at everyone in the room. “You did well, clan. We will figure this out. Have a good night.”

  “Want me to send someone up? To help you think,” Enock said playfully as he waggled his eyebrows.

  “Not tonight, thanks man.” Rylen smiled at his second and gave him a pat on the shoulder as he passed to head out the door.

  CHAPTER THREE

  In his room, Rylen sat in his favorite chair that looked out over the city with a partially obstructed view of Puget Sound. Late that night, the dark expanse of ocean before him revealed nothing more than the illuminated buoys swaying with the movement of the waves and the occasional passing cargo ship. Some fall nights, though not as late as this one, he could often see the lights of Seahawk Stadium. Of all the places he had lived in his life, the bustling city of Seattle was where he fit in as a person the most, but as his animal the least. Always conflicted—the struggle between man and beast. The night was beautiful; it was where he belonged and he relished in it. Alone in his space was where he could truly let down and be himself.

  Stretching his long legs out onto the plush ottoman, he folded his hands behind his head and leaned back. He sighed as he practically melted into the massive black leather chair, resting his hands and head into the pillow-like cushion. His room was in the top floor apartment of the hotel above the Lair—it wasn’t quite a penthouse, but it was still lavish. Several near-floor-to-ceiling windows outlined the outside wall, flooding the room with natural light during the day and entrancing the room with the sparks of big city life at night. His room was professionally decorated in a modern style: simplistic and clean in black and white with muted shades of various blues spread around. Outside his door, three additional bedrooms were in the apartment. He shared them with each of his inner circle: Enock, Mather, and Lucius. Although, each of them took turns staying down in the Lair as added protection for those that chose to live there. The wards, set by Rylen himself, were strong, but it didn’t hurt to take extra precautions especially in the line of work they found themselves in and, of course, their little secret weapon: Gracie.

  Their apartment had its own elevator that went straight down into the Lair, bypassing the lobby of the hotel. A second service elevator was used for the hotel maids to come and clean on scheduled days, but they never saw—or even knew about—the Lair below. The staff at the hotel didn’t know anything about who, or what, Rylen and his team were, but they had heard rumors of him being some kind of eccentric trust-fund kid that had become a recluse. Most days he left the Lair he used their specific entrance, but on occasion he would use the hotel lobby entrance so the staff would see him and not come check on him. That only happened once, but he preferred not to use memory enchantments on people he saw regularly if he didn’t have to. When they had intense operations happening below at the Lair, he would let the staff know he would be “out of town” and they were not to disturb his room.

  Hearing a knock at his door, he reluctantly pulled himself out of his chair.

  “I thought I told you I wanted to be left alone tonight,” Rylen grumbled at the door. He had stripped off his clothes, needing to be free of the events of the day. Standing in nothing but his black boxer-briefs, he opened the door expecting to see one of the boys.

  Instead, standing there in skin-tight red leggings and an off-the-shoulder black top with a red bra strap peeking out was one of the girls from the Lair. Lacy. She wasn’t in his close group, but he knew her quite intimately nonetheless. Her eyes were made up dark and seductive, her lips as red as her bra. Straight blonde hair was cropped short just below her ears at sharp angles. With her short, tight mini skirt and black “come hither” heels at the end of her long sexy legs, she was as tall as he was.

  “Lacy. What are you doing up here? I told Enock, not to send anyone up.”

  “He didn’t send me. I thought you could use some company.” She batted her eyes and pouted. “You seemed stressed downstairs,” she said as she took a moment to look him up and down with great appreciation, licking her full red lips. She leaned toward him then lightly, seductively ran her fingers down his arm.

  Shivers ran from his shoulder to his fingertips. Another night he might have asked her in; it wouldn’t have been the first time she’d been in his bed. After all a guy still needed to have fun even if it wasn’t as satisfying as a mate would be. Lacy was good for immediate gratification and a good time. But not tonight. Her touch was irritating as much as it was tempting. Something was nagging at his mind to pull away and yet the pull toward her was just as strong and growing.

  “Not tonight, Lacy. Go back downstairs.”

  “You already have someone else? Who’s in there?” she asked with a flare of jealousy in her eyes.

  “No one is in here.” He took in her appearance more slowly. Hunger stirred his senses, temptation and need circulated through his body. “Just not tonight, Lacy. Go back to the Lair,” Rylen said, but his body betrayed him.

  Lacy’s eyes narrowed with seductive prowess, intent on her purpose. She focused on the one part of Rylen that was saying “yes” to her desires. Stepping toward him, she placed one hand on his cheek feeling the rough stubble of a beard while her other hand ran her fingernail along the outside edge of his formidable erection. His pupils dilated, his slow steady breaths increasing in rhythm, and a growl erupted from his throat in frustrated surrender.

  Rylen grabbed her wrists, pulling her roughly inside the door to which she giggled with victorious delight. Tonight was not about making love. Tonight was sex and release. Lacy knew that, she played the game. Rylen pushed her up against the wall right inside the door, raising her hands above her head. He leaned his head in to her ear and whispered, “Are you ready for me?”

  Nodding her head, Lacy rubbed her cheek sensually against his own and replied with a low husky voice, a voice filled with need and want, “Always. Take me, Rylen.”

  His mouth crushed her lips to his own. Their kiss was hard almost punishing, but her moans of pleasure incited her appreciation. She kissed back as hard and demanding as he did. Their tongues tangling together in a fierce dance. Ry
len broke away, his mouth trailing kisses down her neck to the edge of her collar bone. Licking and teasing along that ridge, but not dipping lower.

  “Rylen,” she pleaded with short, fast breaths.

  Out of patience and overtaken with need, Rylen ripped her shirt from the neck down to her stomach, allowing the pesky hindrance to fall over her hips and down to the floor. She stepped out of the shirt with no love lost. He palmed her large, full breasts in each of his larger hands, massaging. Dipping his head low, he took one breast into his mouth as far as it would go, his tongue dancing along her nipple’s edge. Gently grazing her tit with his teeth, he then moved on to its twin, giving equal attention there as well. Lacy moaned and sighed with extreme pleasure.

  “What do you want me to do, Lacy?” he asked breathlessly.

  She gripped the hair on the top of his head and pulled his face to look at her. “I want you to quit fooling around, put that powerful dick inside me and fuck me.”

  Rylen smirked at her brazenness and dirty mouth. Happy to oblige, he spun her around to face the wall. He positioned her arms above her head enabling her to brace against the wall. Running his hands from her wrists down either side of her arms, cupping her breasts still temporarily freed from their red prison and giving each nipple a tug, then down to her slender waist. Positioning her hips at an angle he could gain entrance, he tugged her tight skirt up over her ass only to discover that she wore no panties. He grunted in appreciation and gave her ass a swat. Her only response, to wiggle it back at him. Quickly, he fitted himself with a condom she had handed him. In the quiet of the night, their heavy breathing was all to be heard. Until Rylen placed his firm cock at her entrance, teasing her.

  Lacy backed her ass into him as if she could impale herself upon him. She mewled, “Rylen, please.”