by Dakila Reed
It got Reece's attention and before anyone could say anything, Reece had shot up, offering his help. Rustom smiled at Reece's eagerness. He'd learned by now that the blond man couldn't even do jack in the kitchen. He wondered how the two would fair inside the same space.
It didn't take long for Rustom to find out it wasn't such a good idea. A yelp broke the otherwise silent house. Rustom dashed to the kitchen in a beat. His eyes instantly landing and narrowing at Reece, who was cradling his hand. He walked towards the man and took a careful hold of the man's arm. Skye was standing somehow shocked, the silver kettle still raised half in the air. Rustom followed the sight of the still steaming small pool of water staining the reddish floorboards.
Rustom felt a sudden annoyance, boiling down to Reece getting his hand injured. "What happened?" he almost snapped at Skye, barely being able to contain his voice. He cleared his throat and looked back at the reddish skin at the back of Reece's right hand. He guided Reece into the kitchen sink and let the cool, running water soothe the burned skin.
"What happened?" Rustom repeated, turning to look at Skye.
Skye was about to open his mouth, but got interrupted by Reece's nonchalant voice. As if the glaring red on his knuckles wasn't even hurting.
"It's my fault Rustom," Reece cut in, his brows drawing closer though when Rustom tried to trace a finger on the skin gently. The omega hissed and then forced a grin. "I insisted on taking the kettle. And you know I'm the clumsy one in the kitchen and somehow, I managed to spill the hot water on me..." Reece craned his neck, regarding Skye with an easy smile. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have grabbed it from you forcefully. You didn't burn yourself too, did you?"
"Uh, no. I'm fine," Skye replied, his voice sounding so faraway.
Reece chuckled, seemingly from relief. At that, Rustom frowned. "Nothing's funny. Dimwit."
The other omega standing by the kitchen turned away. Skye placed the kettle on the side and grabbed a towel by the rack beneath the cupboards. "Take him away Rustom. I'll clean up the mess."
After Rustom had managed to put a first aid on Reece's hand, he returned to the kitchen. But like what he'd expected and felt earlier, the kitchen was already deserted. The mugs were left on the counter top, the towel damp on its rack. Skye had used the back door. And for some reason that wasn't sitting pretty well in him.
Rustom groaned, moving back to the living room where he picked the still boxed disc they should be watching. He tossed it back to the center table and flopped down the couch. He tried calling Skye. But there was no answer. A few more days of being drowned by work, not to mention spending time with Reece, and Rustom realized he'd failed to contact his best friend for almost a week now.
He couldn't believe how time just flicked by before his eyes. The one week felt so fast, but also inexplicably wrong like something had been missing and not in place.
When he called Skye that Friday evening, there was no answer. Weird that Rustom had already expected that. Skye must be royally pissed by him at the moment. Thinking of someone Skye was close enough to rant, Rustom decided to call James instead.
"Why are you asking me? Shouldn't you be the one to know first where he went?"
Rustom got up from his seat, frowning at the bloody egg-yolk scenery of the horizons outside his window. "'Where he went'?" he repeated.
James groaned through the phone. "God. You didn’t know?"
He was already pacing. Gritting his teeth at the few seconds it took James to tell him what was going on.
"Something happened in the nursery last Wednesday. He's been acting weird lately and he asked for a temporary leave," James paused, as if he himself couldn't get around what he was about to say. "He messaged me and left. The idiot went to Warren Point. With a guy called Regem Wayne.”
Contrary to what he was expecting, there wasn't much inside of him except of one thing. There wasn't havoc. There was no pain. Nor was even humiliation. As he took one step at a time to the main business area of the district, strangely so there was quietness all around him. There was no car honking in the rush hour traffic. For once, the students having their snacks on their way home weren't very loud. And mercifully at this time of the day, the odd cool breeze was there to quell the heat the sun had left them for the day.
Skye looked up, noticing a single yellow balloon flying up and away into the sky. It was such a cheery color in contrast to the darkening canvas. Somehow, the yellow dot in the sky reminded him of Kyler. The three-year-old pup under his care in the nursery. Or more precisely, was in his charge. He paused to draw a deep breath. His hand suddenly shaking from the thought of what almost had happened, if not for Mandie standing close by.
His brain had been muddled too much by the past events and his feelings he didn't want to entertain. It wasn't even because of the movie they failed to see, or how Rustom had acted too protectively over Reece. That was already a given. The one thing that had chipped at his strong hold of everything was the rumors going on around. Sierra Nadre and Sierra Gena were having district talks more and more. Said it was for economical projects. But people couldn't help but think that the wedding and claiming talks were also a huge part of why the Supreme Alpha of Sierra Gena was visiting more often than not. It never had been a secret that SA Vera found his fated in the son of Sierra Gena's Supreme Alpha.
The story of the fated mates. It was far too a fairytale for the modern times and everyone was soaking it up greedily.
The more Skye tried to ignore the jealousy, the annoyance, and the betrayal he had no right to throw at Rustom, the more his mind wandered. And in turn, almost causing him his greatest mistake in his profession as a nursery teacher.
He was far too in his own world. He lost sight of the pup running energetically in their early morning walks. The pup almost got hit by a delivery motorbike. Mandie who was in-charge of two pups herself thankfully was fast enough. She managed to grab the pup by the arm. But the surprise and the adrenaline rush of her grabbing onto Kyler made the young boy cry non-stop. The bad turned to worse when the pup started getting his asthma attacks and while they were close by a clinic, they had to call Kyler's mom. And she showed up real angry.
Skye was just standing still in shock by the hallway. He was the kind who takes his job seriously. In his hands were young lives for god's sake. And there he was so early in the morning, getting distracted by his love woes. He felt guilt-stricken. And seriously ashamed of himself.
That was why when the mom appeared after her talking to the doctor, Skye braced himself for whatever the woman had to say. He's got nothing but to man up to it after all.
"What would you have done if something worse had happened to my son?" she asked, with cold accusation. She was still wearing the apron from the restaurant where she was working. The front was damp. Her cherry-blond hair tumbling out of her tight bun probably because she ran. "I always leave him in the nursery in faith that he's being looked after."
"I'm sorry ma'am." There was nothing else he could say. He couldn't even look her in the eyes. "I'm very sorry."
She huffed a forced laugh, stepping one foot in Skye's personal space. "You know... everyone's all in good confidence with you because you're very close to our supreme alpha. Very good to your resume, huh?"
That got Skye looking up, his eyes wide in disbelief. Never had he used Rustom's influence. Not for his gain. Not for anything else. His place he earned through all his hard work and effort. Skye's ears were buzzing, his knees growing weak. The lady would have hurt him less had she slapped him instead.
"I'm sorry..." was all he could say.
A little later that afternoon, Kyler's mom called him to apologize. She said she was just too tired and had been just terribly worried about her son. That was something Skye understood, he was okay. But that didn't stop him from handing a sudden leave of absence notice. The incident with Kyler had the HR of the nursery stamping and approving the leave without much process.
And now here he was, in the early evening, walking a
imlessly, wondering what he would do to the sudden free time falling on his lap.
Turning into a corner, he heard hushed voices of females. They were in a hurry to get past the bright and welcoming convenience store as if they were running for their lives. Skye followed them with his gaze. The excitement of the ladies left a faint scent lingering in the air. He shrugged and looked back at the front of the establishment. No wonder those women were part scared and part curious. A gleaming black motorbike was not very usual in Sierra Nadre. More so the equally ragged, imposing, and intimidating owner of it, smoking lazily without care in the world.
Skye slowed down. The motorbike was new to him, but the stranger wasn't. This hulking man in a tight dark blue shirt and jeans was that same man fishing just a couple of days ago. From a few feet away, the man looked contemplative. The smoke oozing out of the tip of his cigarette swirled in a dreamlike manner, disappearing with the breeze. The man had a black wavy thick hair up to his shoulders, some curling and framing the man's face. It was the weird contradiction of that hardness and softness that made Skye talk to him by the river in the first place.
He walked over to the man, not needing to announce himself as Wayne, if he correctly remembered, glanced to his direction with obvious recognition.
"If it isn't the guy who let my fishes get away..."
Skye smiled a bit. He didn't know what was with the guy. For all the hulking intimidating features, he found himself relaxing instead. It was a lot saying since the only one he could get to relax like this was around Rustom. The memory made him scowl.
"I already apologized for that," Skye replied, shooing away the thoughts of Rustom and the reason why he was in a sudden leave from his work in the first place. "So... uhm... what's up?"
"What's up?" Wayne drawled. He chose to get a long drag of his shortening cigarette, dropped the butt to the ground and stepped on it. All in a fluid action of laziness. "Nothing much. Just thinking. Looking at that."
Skye watched the man nod at a certain direction. He followed the man's light gray eyes and found himself looking at the powerhouse hill. It wasn't an official name for the hill. Long ago, because it was the tallest hill inside the district proper where houses of district betas, district advisers, and the like were located, it ended up being called in that manner. The name got sealed when Rustom Vera's grandfather, the supreme alpha then, decided to build their residence at the very top. Thus everyone in the district had come to call it the 'powerhouse hill'. It sort of was an attraction too. What with the structures peeking from the thick greeneries. Somehow the people of their district could feel their leaders really watching over them.
"Those blue ones," Wayne started."Who do they belong to?"
"Ah... the blue ones usually belong to the district advisers. The green ones to the betas and the one at the top belongs to our SA," Skye replied, adding more information than being asked. He was going to joke about taking the man's picture but thought of it otherwise. With the flash of darkness in Wayne's expression, he doubted the man was looking over the hill with appreciation in his mind. "You said you're a tourist... but you really don't give off the vibe of one."
Wayne looked at him, straight and open. "I am a tourist. Who instead of looking for pretty places, is looking for answers." The man then gave a lop-sided smile. "Did that answer your curiosity?"
For some reason, Skye couldn't look away. Of all the things he should be interested about, his head was caught up to something else. "Are you close to those answers?"
Pulling the helmet hanging by one of the motorbike's handlebars, Wayne rested it on his lap, his fingers lazily tapping on the smooth surface. "I'd like to believe so. I've come this far. As a matter of fact... I may be close. Really close."
"Huh..."
Wayne winked at him, pulled on his helmet, and hopped onto the bike with grace only men who lived on riding the vehicle could possess. In an instant, the motorbike was alive, roaring its intimidating growl in the air. "Well... nice meeting you again Skye. But I have to go now."
"Wait," Skye called. "Where are you going?"
"I'm off to Warren Point," the man replied as he eased his fingers more properly into his biker gloves.
“Warren Point?” Skye repeated and chewed on his lower lip. “That’s a dangerous place right?”
Warren point was a gray area between the members of Allied Districts. Rumors say human and shifter criminals littered the streets. An area cradled by a wide patch of forestry, it was outside of any district realm for rules and regulations. Apparently they had their own. To the many, Warren Point was just a pure lossless place.
Wayne wagged his brows with amusement. “Babe, everywhere is dangerous. Warren Point is a legal business site if one would actually take time to explore the area. It’s the perfect place for travelers and bored people to let loose.”
Skye blanked out for a few seconds. It was enough for him to come up with a reckless decision he'd never thought himself of making.
"Wayne. Can I come with you?”
Wayne who was tightening the chinstrap of his helmet froze. "Excuse me?"
“I want to… let loose."
The alpha just laughed at his face. “No way, babe. If I bring you along with me, I would end up baby sitting you. Get a new hobby if you’re so bored with your current one.”
“I want to breathe away from this place. Okay?" Skye insisted. "Just for a while. You don’t have to baby sit me. I’ll even chip in for your gasoline.”
Wayne's expression changed. Gray eyes deep, they bore right into Skye’s blue ones.
“Look. I really want to experience change," Skye continued. He didn't know where that sudden desperation was coming from. Words just kept tumbling out of his lips. "I’m left here and stuck, while everyone is moving forward with their lives. New jobs. Traveling plans. Fated mates. I need a change of place.”
“I wouldn’t recommend Warren Point for soul-searching," the man said, shaking his head at Skye. "Besides, aside from my name, we're complete strangers."
"Come on," Skye insisted. "This isn't any different from asking for a hitch, is it?"
The alpha regarded him with a steely gaze. Without talking for long, the man just continued looking at Skye. As if reading something, seeing something. To Skye’s surprise, the man sighed and twisted to the back of his bike. He opened the black compartment and pulled out another helmet. A white one. He shoved it to Skye’s chest.
"Put this on," Wayne said with a mock grudge. “God, I’m so no good saying no to omegas, am I? Each and everyone of you are fucking slaving me. You know that?”
Skye grinned with the relief he felt filling his chest. "You're really... agreeing?"
"Yeah. I'm bringing you along." Wayne looked ahead to the darkening streets. "I’m staying there for a couple of days. Just don’t go prancing around without me knowing, you got it?" The man then kicked the main stand off the ground. "Consider yourself lucky I’m in the mood for humoring you. We'll let your wings stretch out a little."
"T-thanks..."
The alpha nodded at him once. "But I’m bringing your ass back here in Sierra Nadre. No questions asked.”
In all sense it should have been impossible. But the tangy taste of blood, the stale damp air caressing his cheeks, all were so real they made him shiver. Every time he opens his eyes into the darkened sky and down to the body face down on the swamp, he knew something was different. Or wrong. He was getting closer. Nearer. Approaching to the point that he could see even the scabs and scratches all over the young man.
Rustom hesitantly dipped himself into the swamp too. He didn't know why Larri Devlin kept appearing in his dreams. But there must be a reason. A silent plea. A call for help. Anything. The murky water stirred under his weight, clouding the already murky substance a nauseating shade. The water, ice cold and nerve biting, enveloped his ankles until he was knee deep.
He reached out, cautiously reaching to the body. He held on to the man's shoulders with both hands. Freezing cold, it b
urned his fingertips. He carefully turned Larri's face to him. With a gentle touch, respect to this violated body, he wiped off the mud framing the other's face. The silent wind hissed at them, blowing away the thick clouds veiling the little moonlight above their heads.
That was when Rustom saw it. Recognized it. Him.
This black hair. The contours of this face he'd seen his entire life. The twin moles just below the chin. This ghostly pale skin so foreign in the blackness and horridness of this place. The faint scent already washed away to nothingness flooded him.
No.
This wasn't Larri. The body he pulled out from the swamp sent chills down his spine. He choked with his own breath.
Skye. He mouthed. No words came out.
Skye... no... no... "No!"
He bolted up right. Running after his breath he could still taste the death in his mouth. The tangy taste of soiled blood. The chill of a body without its soul.
Sweating, he looked around him. He was so disoriented, even his room looked so foreign to him.
"Rustom?"
He felt a warm hand squeeze his shoulder.
"What happened?" Reece whispered in a voice hazy from disturbed sleep.
"I don't know," he said as he hastily left the bed. "I have to bring Skye back here."
"Huh— what? Skye? Why?" Reece asked, leaving the bed himself as he followed Rustom behind.
He pulled on whatever shirt he could grab from his closet and almost fought with his jeans. He swallowed hard but whatever was stuck in his throat, remained in his throat. He'd seen worse. He was never spooked that easily. But his temples were pounding and his skin was prickly with cold sweat of rattling and unexplainable fear.
"I can't explain right now Reece," he almost growled. "I just have to haul him back here."
"You're going out now? It's already eleven. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"
"No," Rustom said, his fright betrayed his strong decisive voice. Fear. It was coursing through his veins almost crippling him. He rushed to the door, passing Reece who'd pursed his lips in a thin line. He looked over his shoulder, almost wondering why Reece couldn't see the sense of his worry. Maybe the other man really couldn't. "I'll be back soon."