by Diane Lennox
A couple minutes later Marius joined him, shutting the door behind himself and taking a seat on the other side of his desk.
“What can I do for you, Evgeni-khan?” Marius asked, his voice incredibly monotone and his expression blank.
Evgeni could feel himself bristle. It wasn’t all that often that somebody just rubbed him the wrong way, but Marius definitely did. His voice, his mannerisms, the way he looked, all of it was just irritating Evgeni.
He couldn’t believe this was who Ezra wanted. Marius was handsome enough if you could get past the resting bitch face, but Evgeni really couldn’t see the appeal. Even his wardrobe was something to be desired – all monochrome and flowing fabrics that hid a lot of his figure. It was artsy, he supposed, but ultimately uninteresting.
“I’m going to need your continued assistance with Ezra,” Evgeni said, getting right to the point. He really didn’t want to be around this man longer than he had to. “I believe you’re better suited to helping him with his fear of being frightening, due to your upbringing and all.”
Evgeni knew he was fishing for a reaction, referring rather rudely to Marius’ family, and was quite annoyed when Marius didn’t even flinch.
“As you wish,” Marius replied with a little bow of his head.
“It didn’t phase you, did it, when he said he’d killed a man?” Evgeni asked, finding himself desperately wanting to get some sort of emotion from the icy man before him, wanting him to feel as annoyed as Evgeni felt in his presence.
“Yes, it did. Ezra did not strike me as a man who would be anywhere near that sort of thing,” Marius replied, that damned even tone of his revealing nothing of whatever was going on inside of his head.
Gods, this was irritating! Was this how their familial predecessors felt around each other? If it was, Evgeni now understood why the Desjardins and Amberwoods had been always at each other’s throats.
“What Ezra sees in you, I’m not at all sure. If I were him I’d go after Lazarus. Though now knowing what he likes, Lazarus probably would be the better pick,” Evgeni said, letting his eyes wander over Marius. “I’m not sure if a man like you could satisfy the desires he has.”
Finally Marius’ eyes narrowed and Evgeni saw the muscles twitch near his jaw. So Ezra was his button, excellent.
“I will let Ezra be the judge of that,” Marius replied.
Evgeni cocked an eyebrow. “You’d leave it up to chance? Give Lazarus room to move in on the man you want?”
Marius just glared, his resolve to not answer that question plain to see on his now very unimpressed looking face.
“Alright, I’ll leave that alone for now,” Evgeni said with a wave of his hand. He’d gotten what he’d wanted – an irritated Marius. “All I ask is that you keep working with Ezra.”
“I will. Good day, Evgeni-khan,” Marius said and stood, his monotone voice sounding rather clipped now.
“Good day, Marius,” Evgeni said and took his leave with a smug grin on his face.
There, he’d made good headway with Ezra and managed to piss off an Amberwood. It was a very productive day, if he did say so himself.
~~~~~
“Soren! What are you doing?!”
It was all the warning Pasha Scarlett got before he was suddenly tackled to the ground, his lunch box flying out of his hand and skidding across the hallway.
“What the fuck?!” Pasha cried, twisting and thrashing violently until he finally managed to get on his back and look up at his attacker.
Soren’s honey brown eyes looked near possessed, contrasting against the purple rings under his eyes. “Did you know? Did you know it was me all along?”
“No!” Pasha exclaimed, fighting at Soren’s hands that were doing their best to grab at his wrists as if to pin him down.
“Gods, why does it have to be you?!” Soren snarled down at him, his hands getting frantic.
“I don’t know! I’m wondering the same thing about you!” Pasha yelled back and managed to wrap a leg around Soren, flipping them around so Soren was the one on the ground, but that didn’t last long. Soon enough the two of them were rolling once more, neither able to assert their dominance for long, they were too evenly matched.
Despite Pasha being small and rather wiry, he was quite strong. He often worked out with his brothers and before coming to University he had gone through basic training at the barracks, so he knew his way around a fight. Soren, however, was surprisingly strong as well, stronger than Pasha thought he’d be.
“This isn’t funny, you two! You’re going to get yourselves into actual trouble!” Rafe cried at them. “Deal with this later! Privately!”
Soren glanced away and Pasha followed his gaze, noticing that they now had a few people watching their little fight.
“Shit,” Soren swore and got off the ground. “Come with me.”
“Are you insane? No!” Pasha yelled at him and made sure there was quite a distance between them as he stood up as well. “You attacked me!”
“And I’ll fucking do it again if you don’t come with me. I don’t care if I get suspended for a couple weeks.”
“By the fucking trees,” Pasha cursed, hearing the truth in Soren’s words. “Fine!” Unlike Soren, Pasha wasn’t at all okay with getting suspended. He didn’t need another reason for his father to get pissy with him.
“Take his lunchbox, Rafe,” Soren ordered before marching up to Pasha, grabbing his wrist, and pulling him down the hallway.
“I can walk myself!” Pasha growled, trying to wrench his hand free.
“I don’t trust you not to run away, now deal with it,” Soren said and took Pasha away from the arts building and through the connecting corridor into the adjacent business building.
“Where are we going?”
“Away from where people and professors know us,” Soren replied and went up to the third level of the building before finally pulling Pasha into a bathroom and locking the door behind himself.
“Just so we’re clear here, if you try attacking me again, I will punch you in the face,” Pasha said, glaring up at Soren and rubbing at his sore wrist. Soren had quite the grip.
Soren spun around and slammed the side of his fist against the bathroom door right next to Pasha’s head.
Pasha jumped a little, but then quickly hardened his glare, trying desperately to hold back the traitorous thoughts that were bouncing around his head, the ones that were telling him how good Soren’s eyes looked right then, so fiery it looked like molten gold was trying to seep out of them. Or telling him how good Soren must look under that fitted hoodie to be as strong as he was.
“I haven’t slept. I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Soren said, staring right into Pasha’s eyes as he did.
Pasha’s heart stopped.
“Do you know how much all of this fucking sucks for me? I wanted him, Pasha, I wanted Rafe. But I had to watch him be taken right in front of me, had to listen to him tell me all about how he wants to explore courtship with Paris fucking Romero. Gods, he’s so smart, so clever, and so handsome in that sick, frail way of his. I even like the way he talks, the way he’s got that posh little accent. I would have waited years for him.
“But when I heard how he talked about Paris, saw how he looked at him, I realized I had no chance. Never did. Rafe probably doesn’t even realize it, but I think that instinctual part of him desires the biggest, strongest brute he can get his hands on. Maybe it’s some sort of deep, hidden need to be protected ever since he was attacked by that lynx as a kid. Maybe that’s why he needs a hunter at his side.
“And you know what? I could have handled all that. I have been handling that because Rafe is still mine. I will always be his best friend and I know Rafe is the type to be incredibly loyal. But then you…”
Soren’s eyes raked over Pasha and Pasha wasn’t sure what to make of the younger man’s expression. Part of it had to be disgust judging by the way his flat, broad nose wrinkled up in distaste, but his eyes said something entirely
different, something that Pasha had seen in Yuri’s eyes whenever his hunger was becoming too much for him to handle.
“You’ve made me realize Rafe could never have been the man for me either. I couldn’t be like this with him. He’s not strong enough to deal with me. Not physically or mentally. He also doesn’t understand art the way I’d want him to. Not the way that Draconia does. I knew you were talented, Pasha, but I had no idea you were capable of such artistry. And you’ll always fight to be better, you’ll never quit, fuck, you’ll never leave me alone, as Soren or as ShadowDarling. You’ll always try to be better than us.”
By this point Pasha was trembling. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was nervous, scared, or just completely overwhelmed by whatever the fuck was happening right now. The only thing he was sure of was that he was wrong last night. He had been worried that he wanted someone like Soren, but there was no one who could ever be like Soren, no one who could encompass everything that was wonderful and terrible about him.
“I spent all night trying not to think of you, but I couldn’t stop,” Soren said again. “I don’t want to think about you, I don’t want to obsess over you, but that’s exactly what’s going to happen, fuck, has been happening, and I hate you for it. I don’t want to want you. You’re annoying and small and strange looking and honestly I look at you and just want to punch you in the face. I want to want a gentleman, someone handsome and stylish, someone who’s artistic and quick with his words and yeah, probably a little posh. Someone I could show off.
“But no. You just can’t leave me alone. You have to be in my classes, you have to be in direct competition with me, you have to be bloody fucking Draconia, the one vidder I considered as good as me, even if your style is probably the complete opposite of mine. Gods, you’ve even forced your way into my friendship with Rafe! I didn’t sleep because I knew you’d be in my dreams and there was no fucking way I was letting you have that space too.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Pasha asked, his voice coming out strangely quiet, almost a whisper. “What are you expecting me to do?”
“I expect you to say you’ll be mine, Pasha.”
“What?!” Pasha squeaked out, a cold sweat breaking out over him. This wasn’t happening. He was sleeping. This was insane! “You just spent the last five minutes telling me how much you don’t want me!”
“No, how much I don’t want to want you. Weren’t you listening?”
“Yes, of course I was! And if you don’t want to want me then don’t! You already said I’m strange looking and annoying!”
“Gods, what did I do to deserve this?” Soren asked with a groan and rested his head on the door just on the other side of Pasha’s opposite from his fist, which still hadn’t moved.
“I don’t know,” Pasha said and shoved Soren away from him, making the younger man stumble back into the sink. “But I know I definitely didn’t deserve this! Seriously? You expect me to want to date you when you’re telling me I’m not even close to the sort of man you actually want?”
“Do you not feel the same?”
“Yeah, unfortunately I do, but that doesn’t mean I think we should date! I would never date a man who would say that sort of stuff about me,” Pasha said, trying to ignore the ache in his heart. It damned well hurt to be told that he was undesirable, especially from Soren.
“Well I’m not ready to say the more flattering stuff yet.”
“Then don’t expect me to want to date you until you are ready,” Pasha said and stepped forward right into Soren’s space. “And don’t ask me again until I’m your first pick. You can say what you want about your feelings towards Rafe, but it’s obvious you aren’t anywhere near over him yet, and I’m not interested in being with you while you’re still wanting him, even just a little. Though to be honest I’m not sure how good your chances at getting with me are anymore. You attacked me then made me feel like shit. Not a real good start if you’re trying to woo me, Soren. Now I’m done here. I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”
And with that Pasha turned around, opened the door, and marched out of the bathroom.
Fuck Soren! That insane little prick! How dare he assume that Pasha would just give in because it was rather obvious they should be together. It didn’t matter to Pasha if it made sense, that wasn’t a good enough reason. He wanted Soren to want him, and not begrudgingly. He wanted Soren to only think about him. He wanted him to damned well obsess over him just like he said he was going to.
Pasha was going to make that man’s life miserable. He hated that Pasha wouldn’t leave him alone? Well now Pasha was going to make damned sure he was right up in his face – both in the real world and online. Every video from now on was going to be for ShadowDarling. Every day he was going to make sure he talked to Soren. Fuck, Pasha was going to figure out what turned the man on and then learn how to tease him mercilessly with it so that whenever he got off it was Pasha he was thinking of. And all the while Pasha was going to make sure he kept reminding Soren that he wasn’t going to say yes until Soren made up for what he’d said and done today.
He was going to make Soren Warrick suffer and enjoy every single second of it.
Episode 8
Leander Kane ran through the dense forest, barely registering anything around him. He didn’t care that the trees didn’t seem quite right with their black bark and shimmering, silver leaves, or that there wasn’t a single sign of animal life anywhere. All that mattered to him was that he found his brother.
He was frantic, his heart beating so loudly he couldn’t hear anything except the sound of it pounding in his ears. He had no idea why he needed to find Simon so badly, but he couldn’t escape the desperate feeling inside of him. He had to find him and he had to find him now.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he finally saw something. A shadow moving in the forest with him, running in the same direction as him only a handful of meters away.
“Who are you?” Leander called to the figure.
The shadow looked to him and all Leander could see was his red eyes, glowing brightly through the trees.
“Father!” Leander cried out. He had no idea why he thought the being was his father, but he couldn’t shake the notion and started to run towards him.
His father, however, didn’t stop. He kept running ahead, never letting Leander catch up.
“Wait! Father! Where’s Simon? Where is he?” Leander yelled after him.
“You won’t stop, will you, Leander? You won’t like what you find, I promise you that.” The words echoed from the trees themselves even though the voice was very much Lazarus’.
“I don’t care! I need him!” Leander cried, feeling even more desperate than before.
“You won’t like what you find,” Lazarus’ voice echoed again.
“I don’t care! Show me!” Leander yelled back, his legs and lungs burning from running so hard.
The trees became denser and Leander lost sight of Lazarus in them, but he kept running forward all the same. He had to be just up ahead.
With little warning the dense trees opened up to reveal a clearing and in it stood Simon and Alexei, embracing and kissing passionately, their moans of desire ringing in Leander’s ears.
“No,” Leander whispered as he skidded to a halt.
The plea, however, wasn’t directed at the men in front of him, but at the clawing feeling in his gut.
“Stop,” Leander said, shaking his head and wrapping his arms around his stomach, scared that whatever was inside would suddenly burst out.
“We’d do anything for you,” Lazarus’ voice whispered, though this time it came from somewhere behind Leander.
Leander looked behind himself, expecting to see the shadowy figure from before, but he let out a scream as he saw not his father, but a blood lynx, the animal unmistakable with its dark red fur and bright, glowing red eyes.
He dared to glance quickly at Simon and Alexei, scared they might be in danger, but they were still kissing, seemingly un
aware of everything around them.
“Simon!” Leander tried yelling at his brother, but his brother didn’t respond.
The lynx, meanwhile, started to walk around the clearing, looking between Leander and the two men in the center.
“Don’t. Don’t hurt them,” Leander begged the lynx, his voice shaky. He knew it was pointless, there was no way the lynx would understand him or obey him, but he didn’t know what else to do.
The lynx, in response, began to walk towards Leander.
Leander scrambled back until he hit a tree then hugged his knees to his chest, hiding his face in them. His heart was beating so fast he was scared it was going to burst out of his chest, not that it really mattered anymore. He was going to die and he wouldn’t be able to save his brother or his friend.
Sharp nails scraped along Leander’s bared forearms, causing him to ball up even tighter, but the sensation wasn’t painful. It was almost pleasant.
“Just do it. Kill me,” Leander said, not wanting to be toyed with.
The nails kept scratching gently at his arm, sharp, but not piercing his skin.
Leander looked up, glaring at the beast that was now right in front of him, the red eyes so bright they were almost painful to look at.
“Why do you not kill me?” Leander whispered.
The lynx just looked away and towards the two men again.
Leander watched as well as Simon guided Alexei to a nearby tree and pinned him there before moving his hips in a very suggestive way, making Alexei cry out in pleasure.
“No, I don’t want to watch,” Leander said, looking away, the feeling in his gut coming back.
Then the claws were back on his arm, harder this time.
“Stop!” Leander cried. He didn’t want to look!
The lynx growled, the sound of it strangely human, and it made Leander shudder in fear.
“Why are you so cruel?” Leander asked and looked back to the lynx. He remembered his father saying once that lynxes were evil in a very human way. They took pleasure in toying with their prey.