Loup Garou

by Mandy M. Roth

  “You lie,” the demon hissed. “You do not have the power to call upon—”

  “I don’t? Really? Hmm, news to me.”

  I used my power to change the music. The sound of monks chanting filled the air, as did the sound of thunder. The demon looked around, hissing and snarling, clearly taken aback by the newest revelation. It threw a handful of snakes at Exavier. I shot another bolt of electricity out, unsure how I was controlling it as well as I was but not really caring.

  Myra looked up. “Gina, isn’t this the same chanting music that kept playing while Lindsay was healing from the accident?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is it?”

  Exavier put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s an ancient chant used to call upon the protectors of good, of life. It asks them to protect the ones you love and to keep them safe from the evil that surrounds them.”

  We all glanced at him. He shrugged. “Music lover.”

  I laughed. “It’s gibberish. Something that a little boy I once knew taught me. It’s not Latin it’s…” I stopped just short of saying ancient Fae.

  Myra stood tall. “Same guy I sent a guitar to? Same guy who taught you about creepy shit? Same guy who is named Exavier too?”

  “Yes, why?”

  She snorted. “What do you mean why? You wrote a note with this on it for him. I stuck it in the package with the guitar.”

  “Note?” My eyes widened. “No, Myra. That wasn’t my card to him. That was something I dreamt about. Something I couldn’t stop thinking about. Not…Oh, shit, you sent him that?”

  The demon tried to go to black mist again. I thrust another bolt of energy at it. “I’m trying to talk to someone here, asshole. I get that you have no respect for anything but you will stand there and allow me to finish. Understood?”

  “Who are you talking to?” Jay asked, holding his off-duty weapon. “Just point in the general area. The last thing I want to do is carry your limp body out of here tonight, Lindsay. I can guarantee Exavier doesn’t want that either. We spent the afternoon getting to really know each other, Lindsay. Trust that he can handle whatever comes our way—mentally and physically. Please, just glance at the damn rat. All I need is a hint.”

  Ignoring Jay, I stared at Myra. “Tell me you didn’t send that with it.”

  “Why? It’s nice. Kind of pretty.”

  “In an embarrassing sort of way. Sure. You’re right.”

  “Lindsay Willows, how is this more important than the other thing?” Jay asked, clearly annoyed with me.

  The demon hissed. “The prince now, bitch.”

  “Bitch? Me?” I rolled my eyes. “Oh please, Gina calls me worse by the time I’m through my first cup of coffee in the morning. Be a bit more original.” I could feel my power waning. Drawing in a deep breath, I readied myself for what I needed to do. “Myra?”

  “Yes?”

  “Battery’s about out of juice.”

  She, Gina and Jay did a collective deep breath and Myra lunged for me. The demon extended its arm. Snakes reached from it towards Myra. She came to a grinding halt. “I hear hissing.”

  I did the only thing I could think of, I began to speak in Fae to it. “No. I’ll take you to him but if you harm any of them, the deal is off. I will see to it that you’re in a place I’ve been told he roams. You have my word and my life should I forfeit.”

  Exavier thrust an arm out and seized hold of my waist. I glanced at him and smiled. “What’s wrong?”

  His expression didn’t lighten. If I wasn’t positive that no one but a fellow Fae and the demons that hunted them could understand ancient Fae, I’d have thought he understood me.

  “Why is Lindsay speaking French at a time like this?” Jay asked.

  “That’s not French,” Myra said, glaring at me. “What did you just say?”

  The demon backed away from Myra. “I shall follow you. You are now bound to honor our agreement.”

  I nodded and spoke in Fae to it. “You have my word, a place I’ve been told he roams.”

  “Very well. We agree to your terms.”

  “We? There are more of you?”

  It attempted another sickening smile. “Your knowledge of the old language is extensive. It is true. You are the prince’s mate.”

  I pointed towards the opposite hallway. “He went that way, guys!”

  Everyone but Exavier ran off as I stood facing the demon. It began to circle us slow at first, seeming to eye us up. “He watches over you as though he were your mate. Who is this man?”

  “A friend of mine from childhood,” I said in Fae and then shook my head. What had possessed me to say that yet again? I glanced at Exavier to find him staring at me with a shocked expression. Did he understand me?

  My power began to drain again and Exavier picked that moment to pull me to him and hold me close. In an instant, I felt my strength gaining. Puzzled, I stared up at him. A slight smile played over his lips. I wanted to explore this more with him, see if it was a fluke or not but the demon had other plans.

  “Give me the prince or I will have the others attack your friends.”

  “Fine, but I’m only showing one of you so they better be ready to follow,” I said, in Fae as I pushed off Exavier.

  “Linds?”

  “Tell me you’re not like me.” I held his gaze. “Tell me you’re not scared of the dark.”

  “No. I’m not. Why?”

  I glanced up at the lights and let my power free. It shut them all down, rendering the center in a state of complete darkness. My night vision was better than the average human but nowhere near a shifter's. I took off running down the opposite hall I’d sent Myra and the others down.

  I could feel the demon, hot on my heels as I ran. Another wave of evil came directly at me and I knew then it was one of the demon’s buddies. I came to a grinding halt.

  “The prince, now!”

  “She lies,” the other said.

  I let out a nervous laugh. “No. I didn’t lie so much as I stretched the truth. See, everything that comes looking for him talks about his power over the demons and the things belonging to hell. I’m just thinking of a creative way to send you back to hell.” I shrugged. “See, technically not a lie. Just not a ‘hand you the prince’ either.”

  “Kill her,” the demon said coldly.

  The power slammed into my stomach and lifted me up and off my feet. Screaming would have required air, of which I currently had none. I struck something solid and instantly had a pair of large, warm arms wrapped around me. The evil shrieked and then dissipated as if it was never there. There was also no pain. There should have been pain.

  “Huh?”

  “You okay?” Exavier asked, hugging me close to him. The lights flickered back on but it wasn’t my doing. “That floor’s pretty slippery.”

  “Slippery what?”

  He turned me in his arms to face him and the second he did, heat flared through me. We were so close that my lips feathered past his. He tightened his hold on me. Every ounce of me wanted to wrap my legs around his waist and demand he fuck me. I held back.

  “Um, thank you,” I whispered, my lips still close to his.

  His blue eyes seemed to see through me and for a moment, I forgot anything but him existed.. “I can’t have my choreographer breaking her leg or anything. I need her,” he paused and crowded me against the wall, “to be in,” he exhaled deeply, “perfect health.”

  “I never agreed to be your anything.”

  Exavier ground his body to mine just right, leaving his thigh between my legs. As he leaned in, his leg rubbed past my clit, causing a deep shudder to move through me as moisture flooded the apex of my thighs.

  “You like me, Linds. As much as you don’t want to, you do.”

  Opening my mouth to object, I found Exavier’s finger pressed to it, silencing me. “No. You said it earlier. We officially bonded. Don’t analyze it and don’t second guess it.” He smiled. “And don’t assume because I’m a singer that I a
m useless in every other area of life.”

  “Xavs,” I kissed his fingertip without thought, “I was only joking with you. I really don’t think you’re useless. I was just…”

  Kiss me.

  For a second I was sure I’d heard Exavier’s voice in my head. The really strange part of it was how much I truly did want to kiss the man.

  Touch me, Lindsay.

  “W-what?”

  Exavier moved his body against mine even more, his lips hovered just above mine. My nipples reacted, hardening. As my gaze raked down Exavier, I noticed I wasn’t the only one having issues with things getting hard. I swallowed, trying to get the lump in my throat down as I stared at his clothed erection.

  Kiss me.

  My gaze went to his and I was powerless to stop myself. I brought my lips to his gently. The second I went to open my mouth, I sensed someone coming.

  “Is it gone?” Myra asked, coming down the hallway at us. She gave Exavier a pointed stare. “Fuck her later. I need to talk to her a moment.”

  “Myra!”

  “What? Like the attraction between the two of you isn’t thick enough to slice. It’s all I can smell. I’m about to make him take you to your office and take care of the problem.”

  My breath hitched. “Myra!”

  “I refuse to apologize for wanting you to have a night or two or ten of mind-blowing sex. Oh, I’m not opposed to you making a long-term commitment to him. He’s kind of cute. I could get used to seeing him around here more.”

  Mortified, I dropped my forehead onto Exavier’s chest. “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” I glanced up and found Exavier smiling down at me.

  “It didn’t work. You’re still here.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Myra grabbed my arm. “Time out. I need to know if any more rats are here.”

  “Rats?”

  It hit me then. “Oh, rats. Got it.” I felt out with my power but found nothing. I shook my head and Myra clapped her hands.

  “Goodie. Let’s eat.”

  Jay rounded the corner. His gaze met mine before going to Exavier. “There’s no sign of Stan. He’s gone.”

  Myra clapped again. “That settles it. Let’s eat. Insane extermination attempts and possible crazed stalkers always make me work up a good appetite.”

  Chapter Seven

  I stared up at the gymnasium ceiling and laughed. The wine had been going to my head for the greater part of an hour but that still hadn’t stopped me from drinking more.

  Gina threw a wadded up napkin at me and grinned. “Stop laughing at me, Lindsay. I’m not kidding. I really did want to be a marine biologist when I was little. That or Santa but his gig was already taken.”

  I snorted. “Ohmygods, I went to the zoo with you and you screamed when the baby shark swam past the glass in the aquarium.”

  “Hey!” Gina threw another napkin at me. “I didn’t say I’d be good at it, only that I wanted to do it. It doesn’t matter. Life had something else in store for me.” She locked gazes with me. “Did I ever thank you for spending the first few weeks with me after I found out what I was? I was so scared, Lindsay. It was all so new, so terrifying. But you weren’t fazed. You didn’t even scream when that thing popped out at us.”

  Rolling onto my stomach, I thought back to when we were teenagers. It was the summer before our freshman year of high school when Gina had started experiencing weird hot flashes and strange bursts of energy. We took up running together to help blow off some of her newfound steam. It didn’t take long before we not only figured out that Gina was a slayer but that creatures we couldn’t begin to imagine lived among us.

  Sure, I understood growing up that my father was half-vampire and half-Fae. I also knew my mother was a full Fae. That didn’t mean a thing. In my mind, they were special. End of story. I had no idea that horrible, evil things with similar powers existed and thrived off death and destruction.

  Gina let out a soft laugh. “That thing that popped out at us was huge. He kept talking about all the horrible things he was going to do to us. I remember being terrified but what I remember most was how you told me it was okay to be scared.”

  I snickered. “It was all I had at the moment. I was too scared to think of anything earth shattering.”

  “You talked your dad into letting you spend almost every night at my house for weeks because I couldn’t deal with what I was, what I was expected to do. At least not until I took my first one to…”

  I closed my eyes and nodded. “To protect me. I remember. You switched gears. Stopped over-thinking and just started doing. It was amazing, Gina.”

  “Thank you for being there for me, Lindsay.”

  “Don’t thank me, Gina. Don’t ever thank me. So much of what you’ve done has been for me. It’s me who owes you a thank you.”

  “No,” Myra said, lifting her heels in the air while she lay on her side. “It’s the male currently known as Prince that owes Gina a thank you.”

  “He owes you one too, and Jay,” I said with a tiny laugh.

  Jay let out a choked snore and opened his eyes slightly. “Huh?”

  I winked at him. “Go back to sleep. But could you lie on your side? You’re snoring—again.”

  He rolled onto his side and tossed his arm over Gina. She tossed it right back at him. “Nice try.”

  He smacked his lips. “I thought so.”

  Myra nudged Jay. “Don’t go there. She has a man. Paco.”

  “Paco?” Jay asked and let out a deep, throaty growl. Myra glanced at me. It was something a supernatural male typically did to lay claim to what was his. When Myra lifted her brows, I knew she was wondering the same thing I was—was Jay into Gina?

  It made perfect sense. He originally gravitated towards me to inquire about her but she’d paid him no mind. Ignoring hot men was a very Gina thing to do. If she wasn’t in the mood to screw them, she didn’t really bother with men in general. Killing things seemed to satisfy most of her basic needs.

  “We are not bringing Paco into this discussion.” Gina went to smack Myra on the butt but ended up falling onto Jay instead. He tried to bear hug her and she pressed her fingers to his windpipe. “Hug me and die.”

  Jay looked all too pleased with the idea of being “punished” by Gina.

  Exavier chuckled, drawing my attention to him. Since I had Myra on one side and Exavier on the other, I decided to slide back a bit so I could see them both. Glancing over at Exavier, I found him staring at me. He lay on his side with his head propped up on his hand.

  “What?” I asked, unsure why he was looking at me like that.

  “I’ve missed you, Linds.”

  “Well, I only spent like five minutes in the bathroom. I had to pee and then there was hand washing time on top of it.”

  Myra snorted. “Such a lady. Your mother would die if she heard you say the word pee to him.”

  “My mother can’t die. She will live forever—telling me what a loser Tim was and how I need to move on and get over him.”

  “You and Tim weren’t an item. He was one of your closest friends. How the hell can she say you need to get over him?” Gina asked, pushing Jay’s hands off her once more. “Boy, I’ll rip off whatever touches me next.”

  Jay actually looked as if he were entertaining the idea of risking life and limb to touch her again. I shook my head, hoping the man would be smart enough to leave well enough alone. He tried to make contact once more and she made a quick move. He jerked his hand back and licked his lips. “Mmm, such a fiery one.”

  “Because,” Myra said, sighing, “Lindsay will take some secrets to her grave and knows it's better to let her mother and father believe her troubles come from Tim’s death—and only Tim’s death. Can you even imagine what her father would do if he knew the truth?”

  Not wanting to discuss it any further, I focused on Exavier. “Okay, you know about us. Tell us something about you.”

  “I don’t just sing..” He touched
my chin and smiled. “I also play guitar.”

  Gina put her hand up. “I knew he played the guitar already. New one.”

  “I’m trying to convince Lindsay to go on tour with me.”

  Myra shook her head. “Nope. Can’t use that one because I already knew you wanted her to.”

  Jay tilted his head back and stared at me. “I didn’t.”

  “Still doesn’t count. So, hush up Mr. Wanted to Be a Cowboy When He Was Little.” Myra snickered and Gina actually spit wine on herself.

  “A cowboy?” she asked, doing her best not to choke.

  Jay groaned. “It’s not that funny.”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek quickly. It was a very un-Gina like thing to do. “Oh, but it is.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh too. “She has a point. It is funny. I’m guessing that’s what’s up with the motorcycle. You were too urban for a horse.”

  “Ha, ha, I love being teased by a woman who wanted to be a princess ballerina when she was little.”

  “Hey, technically, I did accomplish the ballerina portion of my dream, Wild Jay Hickock.” I pushed to my feet and swayed. “Whoa.”

  Exavier was on his feet in the blink of an eye, steadying me. He laughed. “You okay there?”

  The music in the stereo advanced and the song that came on was signature Gina style. She jumped to her feet. “Let’s dance. You can tell me all about Ruland.”

  Jay groaned.

  Ruland was the artist playing now. Gina absolutely loved everything he did. He had a hip-hop, crunk style.. He also wasn’t too bad on the eyes. This song in particular had been a source of contention between she and I ever since she found out I spent a summer touring with him.

  “Come on, Lindsay. I know you know who this girl singing with him is. Tell me.”

  Grinning, I began to dance to the slow, rhythmic, thumping beat. “I’ve got no clue.”

  Liar.

  “You have to know. Whoever this is shows up on some of the discs you brought back from…umm…well, the ones you had when you retired.”

  I appreciated her reluctance to talk about Tim. That being said, I didn’t want to tell her the truth. It was too embarrassing for me.