The girl sighed, “Ugh, fine. Be that way, text me when you change your mind.”
The four of them ducked back as the girl left, staying hidden until she turned the corner.
Tristin stared at the guy. He was tall and lanky with light brown hair, wire rimmed glasses and a sad attempt at facial hair. He was wearing a bow tie and a short-sleeved shirt that should have looked ridiculous but instead looked fashion forward. Now that he was alone, he clutched a pen between his perfect teeth and was very interested in whatever he was reading. Her brother’s eyes were downright predatory as he took it all in. Yeah, Kai faking interest wouldn’t be too hard.
“What are you going to say to him to get him out of there?”
“I don’t know. He’s cute. I’ll wing it,” Kai shrugged.
“He looks like Quinn,” Rhys noted, scowl firmly in place.
Tristin snickered, “Well then this should be even easier. These two have been secretly in love with each other for years.”
Kai smiled at Quinn and winked, “Who said it’s a secret?”
“Aw, thanks, buddy.”
“Could you get on with it please? We have to be home in time for work,” Rhys grumbled.
Kai checked his reflection in the glass, straightening his shirt. He could pass for a college student. He walked past the door as if he was walking down the hallway, then popped back.
“Hey, there you are.”
The other man looked up, surprised by his appearance. “Hi?”
“Eric, right?”
Tristin watched the other man’s gaze rake over her brother, eyes lighting up.
“Yeah, can I help you?”
“I hope so,” Kai told him, sounding shy. She tried not to snort at that, “I’m Chris. You don’t remember me, do you? Six months ago, the thing after that party?”
Tristin cringed at the suggestive nature of her brother’s tone. It was a pretty big gamble. There was a long pause, “Oh, yeah, sure, right. Chris. Of course, I remember. How could I forget anybody with eyes as pretty as yours?”
Eric certainly wasn’t one for subtlety. Her brother laughed and leaned forward, blocking their view of Eric. Rhys huffed and rolled his eyes. She patted him on the shoulder absently. She didn’t have time to stroke his ego today.
“Listen, I’m just here for the day. I’m working on a project relating to Celtic mythology and death rituals and I wondered if maybe you would let me buy you some coffee and pick your brain a bit? You knew so much about it last time we talked.”
“I’d love to but…” Eric trailed off, looking around the mess of the front office.
“Oh, no it’s cool. I understand if you’re too busy,” Kai told him, disappointment seeping into his voice. Even Tristin had to roll her eyes at that. Her brother was quite the actor.
“No. No. It’s fine. I can finish this up later.” She heard the chair scrape back, “I mean, I only have you for one day. I have the rest of the semester to finish cleaning out a dead man’s office.”
They, once again, hid as the two left. She couldn’t help but feel like she’d stumbled into a Nancy Drew novel as they stood there flattened against a wall in an otherwise empty hallway. Steam practically poured out of the Rhys’ ears.
She shook her head.
She sent a quick text to her brother to remind him to text when they were on their way back. They agreed Rhys would keep watch of the hallway. They passed through the doorway to the left of Eric’s desk and closed the door behind them.
The professor’s office was a disaster. Half-filled cardboard boxes covered every surface. There were papers strewn everywhere. An inch of dust sat on the tiffany style lamp on his desk. Her nose twitched at the heavy herbal smell that permeated the room. It was flowery and cloying, like an old woman wearing too much expensive perfume. It made her head swim.
“What is that smell?” she asked.
“It’s not one smell,” Quinn blinked. “He was doing some serious conjuring in here. Marjoram, patchouli, star anise maybe?”
“I’ll take the desk, you start with what’s left on the shelves. Will you be able to tell what’s real and what’s not?”
“I think so,” he shrugged, turning away from her.
She pulled open the top drawer of the desk, rifling through pens and random sticky notes with strange cryptic messages. Some didn’t even look like English. She put them aside to show Quinn. There was a picture of a little girl with a gap in her teeth and bright red hair shoved towards the back of the drawer. Somebody had smeared a reddish black substance around the photograph. Tristin looked at it for a long time, recognizing Ember’s face from her dream.
The second drawer proved just as fruitless; an old magazine, a black binder full of empty loose-leaf paper and two unopened packs of gum. She pushed the drawer shut with more force than was necessary. It rattled. Something rolled across the bottom of the drawer.
She opened the drawer again, removing everything and examining the bottom. There was a tiny dent in the wood. She used the letter opener to dig at it, cackling when the wood gave, revealing a secret compartment. They really were in a Nancy Drew novel. Underneath the panel was a vial, a ritual knife, a chalice, a small jar and a flask. She picked up the vial and opened it.
“Look at this,” she told him.
He peered over her shoulder. “It looks like the items they give you at the start of a video game,” he picked up the black sea salt. She showed him the vial, “Poppy seed? Well, he was definitely using black magic.” He opened the flask and inhaled, choking at the smell, “That is not booze. Wow, we know what that smell is. If he was drinking this, he must have an iron stomach.” He tucked the flask in his back pocket.
“Are these anything?” Quinn looked over the sticky notes, “I don’t think so. It doesn’t look alchemical. It looks like gibberish. Do we know if this guy was, ya know, all there?”
“No idea. Ember doesn’t seem real fond of talking about him.”
Twenty minutes into their ransacking Quinn let out a triumphant noise, pulling a book from a pile stuffed behind an old leather chair. She watched fascinated as he opened the book and started to scan page after page with robotic precision. She couldn’t imagine a reality where her brain would ever work like that. It was more supernatural to her than her own magic. She barely passed pre-algebra.
She proceeded to continue her search, periodically checking his progress. When she glanced up, he was staring at her, “What?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled, going back to his reading.
She stared at him for a long minute before returning to her task. He was so weird. She didn’t understand his fascination with her or his insistence that they were fated to be together. Even the wolves didn’t believe in true mates anymore. It was simply a myth they’d used to keep bloodlines pure back when that was all anybody thought was important.
She watched as he pushed his glasses up his nose. It would be nice though, to think there was somebody out there fated to love you no matter what. Even if you weren’t as smart or funny or beautiful as other girls; even if you weren’t happy and bouncy all the time. She watched as his tongue flicked over his lower lip as he concentrated. In another world, she could see staring at his stupid face forever.
He looked up, smiling as he caught her staring. Her breath hitched; face flushing. Her phone chirped an alert. She thumbed open the screen.
“They are on their way back. Hurry up.”
Quinn flipped through ten more pages before sticking the book down his back, tucked into his jeans. He arranged his flannel shirt to cover it.
“What are you doing? We can’t take that home.”
“We can’t take it home but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep it somewhere more centrally located. Even I can’t read this entire book in one sitting. We will put it somewhere only we can find it.”
She nodded,
stomach knotting in fear. Even holding that book made her nervous, but maybe something in there could save her brother, could save all of them. They were too young to deal with the Grove.
She shook the thought away as they made their way out of the office and back to the hallway just around the corner. Rhys tensed, lips tightened. Her brother must be close.
Footsteps came towards them, “Can I see you again?” Eric asked her brother.
“Um, honestly, I’m not sure. I can call you the next time I’m in town.”
“Well then, I guess I shouldn’t waste any time.”
There was a startled breathy sound from her brother, followed by kissing noises. Rhys growled low in his throat. She elbowed him so hard he grunted, even if the last thing she wanted to hear was her brother kissing somebody.
“Definitely call me,” Eric said, sounding a little dazed. She smiled. Way to go, brother.
Quinn stifled his laugh, biting down on his lip so hard there would be permanent damage.
Her brother managed to mumble, “Yeah, sure. Totally. Thanks for the help.”
39
KAI
The walk back to the car was awful. Kai stayed close to Quinn, who rolled his eyes as he made absurd kissy faces at him, tongue lulling in his mouth. “Call me, big boy. I need you,” Quinn mocked.
Tristin walked between them and Rhys eyeing the wolf warily. Rhys kept his eyes forward, jaw set, in full brood. Whatever, if he was so upset, he should do something about it. He was tired of playing this game with him.
Tristin stopped abruptly, hands on hips. She looked at each of them in turn, “You know what? Quinn and I will sit in the back.”
“We will?” Quinn said, startled and confused by her sudden eagerness to be near him.
“Yes,” she told him.
“Fine, but I’m driving,” Kai said, snatching the keys from Rhys’ fingers and trudging ahead. He climbed into the SUV and took a deep breath before unlocking the doors for the others. His lips still tingled where Eric kissed him. His stomach twisted at the memory. It wasn’t like it was his first kiss. Granted, it was his second and Quinn was his first, but that didn’t matter. He should feel happy. It was nice to feel wanted for a change. He thought he would feel smug that somebody wanted him and Rhys witnessed it but instead it just felt wrong. He clenched his teeth at the guilt gnawing in his gut.
This shouldn’t feel like cheating.
They drove in silence for an hour, Quinn dozing with his head against the window; Tristin drooling on his shoulder, snoring softly.
He glanced over to find Rhys glowering at him.
“What?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
He wolf snorted, shaking his head as if Kai was the one who was infuriating, “Nothing.”
“Of course not,” Kai said mouth twisting, the words sour on his tongue. “Never anything to say.”
The wolf hunched his shoulders, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Seriously?” Kai asked.
“Never mind,” Rhys told him, turning to look out the window.
Kai fumed, chest heaving. Right, just like that. Conversation over, because Rhys decides it is. He couldn’t deal with this feeling anymore. It was like he lived with a softball lodged under his ribs, making it hard to breathe. He didn’t want to do this anymore.
He made a decision, jerking the wheel hard, careening across two empty lanes and skidding onto the soft shoulder of the highway. Tristin screamed and Quinn’s head thunked hard against the glass as the SUV came to a sideways stop.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Rhys shouted, eyes wide, “Are you trying to get us killed?”
Kai looked him dead in the eye, “Get. Out. Now.”
“What’s going on?” Quinn asked groggily, rubbing the side of his head. Tristin looked around, surreptitiously wiping drool from her chin.
Kai ignored their questions, focused only on Rhys, “Get out of the car.”
“Is he planning on ditching him on the side of the road?” Quinn whispered. Tristin shushed him, watching the two of them with bewilderment.
After a moment, the wolf relented with a huff, brows furrowing as he exited the vehicle. Kai climbed out of the driver’s seat, slamming the door and stomping past Rhys, not looking back as he broke through the tree line.
He knew Rhys followed; it wasn’t just the familiarity of the wolf’s heavy footsteps on the hard packed earth, it was the fact his body seemed hardwired to know where the jerk was at all times. Once hidden by the trees, Kai turned on him, causing the wolf to fall back a step or two. Kai suddenly realized he didn’t know what to say.
Rhys stood, legs spread wide, arms crossed, one brow raised, “In case you were wondering, this is why I don’t let you drive.”
Kai bared his teeth, “You think this is funny? I can’t do this with you anymore.”
Rhys sighed, shifting his weight, “What are you talking about?”
Kai shoved him hard. The wolf didn’t even budge, “Tell me you weren’t jealous when he kissed me?”
Rhys’ eyes bulged, “What? Why should I care about your love life?”
Maybe he should punch him, “You’re such a coward. You know that?” Kai shouted, “Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I don’t know what you do?”
“What?” he said again. His tone sounded bored but his spine stiffened noticeably.
Kai growled, throwing his hands up, “Stop saying that.”
“Then start making sense,” Rhys spit back, raking a hand through his hair.
“I know what you’re doing.”
Rhys’ jaw clenched so hard it popped, “Meaning?”
Kai squinted, “The shoving me into lockers, the brushing up against me for no reason. I’ve lived with your pack for twelve years. You must think I’m fucking stupid.”
At Rhys’ bewildered expression, Kai laughed, “You’re scent marking me, you dick. Marking me up like I’m yours. I haven’t had a guy look at me twice since eighth grade because you’ve made it so very clear I belong to you. You have literally marked me like I’m your property, your territory.”
Rhys’ eyes slid away, face going red.
“Yeah, that’s right. I know. You’ve turned me into a social pariah, dude, and the worst of it is-” Kai sucked in a breath, eyes stinging, “The worst of it is, I wouldn’t even mind if you were willing to act on it.”
He moved closer, stepping into Rhys’ space. Rhys stared at his shoes. It made it easier for Kai to say what came next, “I’ve known how I feel about you since I was twelve years old. I was all in, before I even knew what that meant.”
Rhys swallowed hard as Kai rushed on.
“Don’t you get it? I would be yours, just yours, if you would be mine too.” Rhys’ head snapped up, golden green eyes flashing bright as Kai’s mouth twisted, “But that’s not what you want, is it? You don’t want me. You just don’t want anybody else to have me.”
Kai swiped at the wetness on his cheeks. Rhys gaped at him, chest heaving, brows heavy.
“You use your scent like a bookmark. You mark me to hold your place. For what? Why you do this? Do you even know? Why put your scent all over me if you have no intention of doing anything about it?” He moved closer, holding his wrist to the wolf, “Do I smell like you? Do you smell like me too? Can you even separate our scents anymore? What are you waiting for?”
Rhys looked poleaxed, every muscle taut. His nostrils flared at Kai’s scent flooding him. He staggered forward, before catching himself with a growl, “You have no idea what you’re talking about. You talk so much but you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t understand anything. Why can’t you just leave it alone, leave this alone, before-” He snapped his mouth shut, hands fisted at his side, words dying on his lips. His eyes darted away again, posture hunched like a cornered animal.
Kai almost
felt bad for him. He lifted his hand, to touch, to comfort him, before letting it drop. Almost. He didn’t want to play this game anymore. He had to stop pretending this was a movie and Rhys was going to get it together.
Kai took a breath, heart breaking. “If you aren’t willing to do something about this, about us,” he gestured between them, “then don’t touch me. Don’t hover over me. Stop growling and snarling when other people notice me. You want me to leave it alone. Okay.” He nodded, the words tasting like ashes in his mouth, “I’m done with you.”
Kai stuffed his hands in his pockets, curling his shoulders in, finally letting himself think about what was coming, “I don’t know how much time I’ve got before they figure out what I did but I won’t waste them on someone who’s never going to care about me.” He made sure to meet Rhys’ gaze, “I’m not going to waste them on you.”
Rhys flinched like Kai punched him, Adam’s apple bobbing.
Kai’s hands shook, blood pounding in his ears. Rhys moved closer, stopping himself with another aborted motion. Kai wanted to scream in frustration. He knew it was hard for Rhys. He knew words didn’t come easy, but this was important. Fuck, he was important. Wasn’t he? How long was he going to make excuses before he just accepted Rhys would never admit his feelings? How much time did he even have, really?
He scrubbed his hands over his face, before throwing them up in surrender, “Screw you, dude.” He pushed past him, yanking the keys from his pocket and stalking back towards the truck.
His breath left in a rush as his back forcefully met a tree, hissing as the bark scratched through his shirt. The keys clattered from his fingers as he looked at Rhys’ hands clenched in his t-shirt.
He had Kai pinned. He was partially shifted, fangs dropped, eyes wild, all pupil, as if he was the one trapped. He looked feral. He looked hot. Kai’s heart jackhammered against his diaphragm and Rhys made a strange rumbling whine deep in his chest; the vibration shivering through Kai in a not unpleasant way.
He’d seen Rhys shifted; he’d seen him rip things apart with his bare hands. He’d always known Rhys was a predator, but he’d never felt so much like the prey. Rhys closed the gap between their bodies and warmth flooding him from shoulder to thigh. Kai forgot how to breathe. This time when the wolf rumbled, his lips were right against Kai’s ear and he felt it all the way to his toes.
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) Page 26