by Roxanne Lee
But...can they can stop? Do they die if they don't feed?
The wolf didn't like that idea either.
We could keep her here, lock the feeder in a room built to hold that seeping oil. Perhaps visit, just when the tar becomes water in its weakness.
But they don't like being locked up...women. They need air and space and things that you buy them.
Don't they?
Perhaps I should ask Arya, she'd know if that was okay, to keep her locked away.
I wouldn't mind her being here, she wasn't as bad as the others, not so coated in such black grease. Her brother though; I could feel that from a mile away. Wolf cringed under his thickened aura.
I could kill him. I wonder if she'd mind...perhaps she would understand.
But then, she'd come between us as I'd held him by his throat, tried to stop the choking I'd been so intent on.
Her claws had come out, pretty talons that scoured my skin as they tapped against it, sank deep to spill crimson blood. A sharpened, gratifying touch. We appreciated her vengeful nature, it was a draw for both the man and the already enamored wolf.
Conall cleared his throat beside me as I paced back and fore on the hardened soil, cracked from icy frost melting in the afternoon sun. "Lane?"
I snapped my eyes to his. Perhaps I'd ask him, he could be helpful sometimes...mostly drunk, but sometimes useful. "Yes?" He indicated behind me and I turned to see the pack of females, a few men within their closed ranks, staring at me. "What do they want?"
Conall huffed a laugh, "I'd imagine they're waitin' on yer."
I frowned a little, "why?"
"Well, you're their new Alpha, they're most likely waitin' on instruction."
I frowned again, I didn't have time for them right now. I looked a few in the eye and scowled as they instantly dropped their eyes. "Go...away." They scattered like rabbits, giving Wolf need to chase and rag them around like tiny prey.
She'd run as well. But I found I wanted to chase for another reason, something like a game to play, hunt her down and run around the icy forest with her wolf. I hadn't played a game in years.
"Do yer want a change of clothes?"
I looked down at myself, red covered and stained, blood that had been absorbed by material until it hung heavy on my skin. I liked this colour - I should get some more. Carver had always given me black clothes but this was different, vibrant. "Later." I swung my gaze to Conall, he seemed amused about something. He had spent some time with the female, perhaps he knew things about her. "The girl...little witch."
His lips twitched, "she's yours, yes?"
I pondered the question. Was she mine? It seemed like ownership to say that and if I claimed ownership then I would be expected to take care of her. I'd need to feed her, take her outside sometimes, keep her alive. It sounded hard but I could try. "Yes...mine."
Conall sighed, "dat's a shame, she's real pretty."
Wolf growled, sent the Irishman a warning. She was mine now and that meant no touching, not even this wolf who I'd share most things with.
He laughed out loud, deeply amused at something I'd done. I smiled back at him - it seemed the correct expression to use.
Conall lost his laugh and frowned at my face - perhaps a bit too much teeth. I huffed as silence fell between us, tiny birds fluttered above, emerging spring from winter’s glacial death. I opened my mouth to ask him the question and quickly shut it once more. I should know these answers, it bothered me that I didn't. I wanted to know and yet at the same time I didn't, as if once it was clear in my head then I'd have no choice but to move forward and take the empath as mine.
Conall grinned again, "Everythin' okay?"
I huffed once more, annoyed with my own lack of understanding. "What do I...do with her?"
That laugh burst from his lips and this time, I decided not to smile. "Ah, Lane, You're a funny lad. Yer talk tae her, find out what she likes and get it fer her."
That didn't sound too bad - I already knew she liked to stab me. "What if she...feeds?" Conall understood my aversion, Ireland was full of those damned feeders and he enjoyed the hunt just as much as I did. Stalked the filth covered beings with the same pleasure and fulfillment, sank his claws into their chests and carved out hearts until we'd both cut through the countries swarm.
He sighed a little, "tell her, Lane. She seems different, not like the others."
I resumed pacing, the wolf wanted to chase her, so badly he pushed at my skin and I had trouble pulling him back, ravishing those chains until they became weakened and worn. She was wrecking my previously unparalleled control and that would work out disastrous for all in the immediate vicinity. It was confusing, he didn't like empaths, wanted to burn their houses to the ground, turn their bones to ash and their organs to splattered remains and yet, this one he wanted.
Quiet steps fluttered across the barren ground, I turned towards the invading feet and bared my teeth at the intruder. A shivering female appeared before me, fear and horror struggling for position on her pale face, not all of it directed at me. I was not yet used to this title, I had more than one female to keep alive now, I had responsibilities - it was mildly annoying.
"A-Alpha?"
The beast growled out at her. I strained for those chains, camouflaged the disturbing creature in some insubstantial, disposable shroud. I gritted my teeth and answered the already shaking girl, "yes?"
"A-At the border...Sally. He killed her."
I frowned and the wolf held his tongue for a moment. "Who?"
She swallowed thickly, "a big wolf, red hair."
I grinned at her, all teeth and wide eyes. He'd come to continue the fight, excellent. Although, apparently he'd also killed a female from this pack, my pack. That just won’t do. "Keep everyone away...from the border. Conall?"
"I'm wit' yer, lad."
I turned away from the pale, blonde female, towards the woods that beckoned the beast to turn and hunt down the man that threatened his new territory. I'd keep my form for now though, I should probably not tempt the wolf to run after pretty, shiny eyed females. I bent my head back and howled to the rising moon, sun and crescent warring for position in the darkening sky. Conall joined my call, a warning and invitation to the beast that waited on the border, a single chance to flee and rethink his recent choices. I'd kill him regardless, take the head of the man who'd betrayed, ended the life of one remarkable old man. I didn't like many people, that one though had managed to batter his way passed the onerous wolf inside. This was simply a choice between death and dismemberment.
The forest swallowed us in its reaching fingers, creaking branches that pointed the way. I turned at a bush near the pack house, just beyond a break in the surrounding wall. A stale scent permeated the air, sweet but mixed with the spice of male. Peaches.
I grinned - looked like little witch had been spying on my land. I took the longest breath, ripened fruit that split its skin bursting with sun drenched flavor. She was resourceful, I liked that very much.
I turned back to the smell of blood that trailed between ghostly trees. I picked up the pace a little, sprinting through the close knit branches and dodging narrow ditches and hidden pitfalls. The wolf flashed sharp canines and panted heavily in excitement, both at the wind in our face and the blood creeping ever closer. I flicked a quick look around and found Conall right behind me. Tricky wolf - always right on my tail.
I found Duncan easily, he stood in the last light of day, the only spot at the edge of the border that allowed that light to filter through. I stopped ten feet before him and looked questioningly at the blonde female on the floor at his feet, chest caved slightly, collapsing into the hole where her heart had once been.
"You brought company, Lane. I'm disappointed."
I cocked my head to the side, "you killed a female...I'm more than disappointed." Duncan chuckled his rough, husky brogue. I didn't find him so amusing any more. "You could have just...called."
He nodded in acceptance. "Aye, I could of. Got
a little bored waiting on you, brathair."
"Not your brother...any more."
He frowned, "you'll be joining me, Lane. Was always meant ta be that way."
I shook my head at him. "Not this time."
He flashed his teeth in anger, "is it the girl, that why you donae want ta leave here? I'll take care of her, get her out the way."
The wolf bled rage. Pure, icy rage. "Don't. Touch. My.Witch."
Duncan's wolf rose to answer mine. He was big, a strong wolf that had years of experience on me. He was still less than I was. "You should be with me, you know you're stronger than Carver. We both are."
I laughed at his ego, he thought a little too much of himself. "No."
His anger grew, a little disturbing by how easily it emerged. "You could, you just haven't tried."
"Don't want to...maybe I could, maybe not. He's still a better leader...not so quick to kill everything. Deserves his title."
His face changed colour, red to match his hair. "What's happened ta ya? Mating some half breed feeder and not killing their sickness? You hate feeders!"
I shrugged, "I like this one...she has pretty eyes, shiny."
He growled at me and took several steps back, "it's the girl then? Fine, I'll get rid of her." He grinned wickedly and kicked the dead female’s body with his foot, flipping the husk left behind and sending it soaring through the air towards me. "Catch."
I sighed as the figure flew with the force of his kick - he really needed to stop throwing bodies at me. I caught it out of the air and gripped the girl as she leaked more blood onto my shirt. Duncan had left, sprinted away into dusk, hunting my witch no doubt. I looked to Conall as he raised an eyebrow my way.
"Would yer like me tae get him?"
I shook my head and passed the body to him, "he's going after her....I'll get her first. Smell her better."
I turned my back and started for the town only to hear Conall cough behind me. I looked around and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Change your clothes, Lane. Girls doan't like gettin' kidnapped by men covered in blood."
I looked down at my shirt and combat trousers, boots sticking to the leaves littering the floor.
No blood....right then.
Chapter 11
I opened the second bottle of the evening. Some sort of vodka that Ty had appropriated from the store. He was certainly a resourceful man, not only had he managed to bring that wolf to his knees, he'd also swiftly stolen several bottles of alcohol that he claimed were 'payment' for avoiding the building's destruction. Personally I believed he was being particularly liberal with that excuse but I wasn't about to turn down anything for free. I'd lived life without, preferring morals over my own survival - it had only lasted until I was hungry enough to see those shaded areas of integrity.
It seemed even such valued females were quickly thrown aside when their parentage was questionable. It was nothing but some snobbish view of what made a wolf - I was wolf and yet I was a percentage too empath to ever be considered valuable. That had been made perfectly clear on the night of my parent's death, some forty two years ago. Not grown enough to shift and yet grown enough to be tossed to the street and let the fates decide on whether I lived or died. Perhaps I should have been grateful that he allowed me to live, that I was spared the same torturous end as those that birthed me, that noxious swell of extermination swayed only by a single hand of deaths most prevalent reaper. But that would be much more forgiveness then I had left in my soul.
Should I meet that particular wolf again, I'd give him his own ending. One that gave me my effervescent freedom and his hide a cold stone floor to lay on, a rug for the slum I slept in, an animal skin for warmth in the winter and a prize to gloat at in the summer. Eight years old and those flashing amber eyes had been carved into my memory for all time, bright eyes against tough, darkened skin. He'd thrown me to a life of constant death and destruction, one that bled the colour from my skin until I was some watery wash of the appearance of animation. I found in my search for life after death, I was but a brewing pot of witches cauldron, simmering caustic smoke in it's intention for sabotage, cackling rhymes of rotting misfortune. In my worst moments, I was nothing but my hatred and contempt. How I rolled luxuriously in my desirable slow burn of resentment, how I found peace in such black bitterness.
And that one shooting star that should have been my reward for a life lived so precariously?
A blond wolf that was one slice short of a loaf and quite possibly killed the only people I called home.
How far we fall.
I knew what Ty thought, his beady blue eyes were focused intently on the side of my head. His mouth opening in almost speech before he shut it quickly, rethinking his approach. I knew that look though, the one that said I should give the wolf a chance. How odd that the same man that attempted strangulation should receive Ty's blessing. Perhaps he only thought to give me that chance, in hopes that I'd been wrong about his smell. As if I wouldn't know that rolling thunderstorm anywhere. And if I somehow managed to see past the deaths of Michael and Sarah, ignored the seething boil that simmered for justice, would that be any better? How could that be fates plan? Allow a man to kill and be forgiven for a bond. Surely she is not that cruel.
I turned my attention to the man huffing beside me, losing his patience for his chance to talk. "Out with it, Ty."
He grinned as we locked eyes, a smile of too many years together to lie willingly to each other. "You know what I think, Sashy pants."
I scowled at the name and swatted at his head.
"His smell was there, not the wolf. Maybe it's not as bad as you're so determined to think."
It's not like I hadn't had a moment of such foolish thinking myself. "The guy tried to strangle you at first sight, I'm not overly convinced he even remembers half the people he's killed."
Ty conceded my point with a nod, "probably, still doesn't mean he killed those particular two."
"And that's okay is it? As long as it's not the two people I actually liked?"
He shook his head and tipped the bottle to his mouth to swallow deeply. "That wolf that killed our parents, he’s the madness we followed for so long, not this Alpha."
He passed the bottle along and I took a sip of something different, sweeter than the vodka I'd started with and a pleasant burn that ignited it's journey south. "He fits, Ty. The scent, the blood, the lunacy. Tell me you can't see his claws ripping them apart." And that was the thing - I knew he couldn't deny it.
"He fits perfectly, but even the worst offenders get a chance for defense."
Sometimes that brother of mine was too damn smart. I could easily give him that chance, the problem that I couldn't quite voice was the hope that would seed and grow, become some giant aged oak in it's strength of optimism, only to fall crashing to the dusty ground at his guilt. "And if he did it?"
Ty shrugged, broad shoulders moving fluidly in a contradiction to his usual clumsiness. "Then I'll do it, so you don't have to."
I agreed, much to the animal's distaste. I only hoped she wouldn't make a choice between the mate and the brother, I wasn't completely confident which she'd choose.
The night drew ever closer, a darkness only seen by vagrants, without the artificial light so relied on. The warehouse we occupied was barren in it's state of disrepair, the only sign of previous existence being old machinery rusted and broken in aged pieces, papers yellowed and stuck to the floor in dampness and disintegration - what gets left behind when life moves on. It was these times that I truly enjoyed the creature that lazed within, eyes that saw through such dark night and blood that chased away the biting wind and penetrating frost. A nose that perked and smelt rain and sunshine on it's way.
"Fuck."
Ty frowned at me and I sighed in response, "he's here, remarkably close by how strong I can smell him." Sneaky wolf, got much further than I anticipated before I caught that flavour.
My skin became hot to the touch, a flush that seared it's way to my face
, darkening the surface and flooding vessels with animal reactions I'd only previously felt in anger. Skin that felt too tight, a wildness that fought to break free and have it's chance at a first meeting. I denied her push for escape, fought to control the shift that begged for a game of chase the mate. Our perfect fluidity was becoming a wreck of misshapen pieces in the face of our disagreement and we would be weaker for it. Still I conquered the beast, I refused to find myself in a situation I couldn't get out of.
He entered the warehouse so calmly, he could have been walking into a house full of trusted family. I found that very odd - that not a single part of him was wary at the unfamiliar place. He was no longer covered in crimson red, a uniform of black combat trousers, boots and t-shirt had replaced the sodden material. His hair had been tied low at the back of his neck, leaving a short ponytail and his now shaven face, completely bare for my eyes. The wolf looked her fill, she found him to be the epitome of strong, virile male and eagerly panted inside my head. I could already see I would have to keep a heavy hold on that leash of hers.