Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) (25 page)

39

KAI

T
he 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.

Kai’s eyes fluttered closed, as Rhys set to work rubbing his face against his throat and along the edge of his jaw. Kai snorted, the jerk was scenting him again. He licked his lower lip, body taut as Rhys’ tongue traced the corded tendon of his throat. Kai moaned, head dropping to the side thoughtlessly. That was new.

Rhys growled low and guttural, teeth sinking into Kai’s neck, accepting Kai’s submission with enthusiasm. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to submit to a wolf, but Kai’s body responded much differently this time, jerking forward in a way that made them both groan. Rhys let go of Kai’s throat, soothing the spot with his tongue before dropping his forehead to Kai’s.

Kai kept his eyes shut, listening to the sound of their panting, not ready to break the spell. When he realized nothing more was happening, he finally looked, only to find Rhys’ human eyes searching his face for…something.

“What?” Kai whispered, imploringly.

His eyes dipped to Kai’s mouth. “You make me crazy,” Rhys whispered, then warm lips grazed his once, twice, hesitant, like he thought Kai would push him away. Kai buried his hands in Rhys’ hair, pressing their mouths together firmly.

Rhys’ hands slid around his waist, fingers playing at the skin under his t-shirt and above the waist of his jeans. Kai melted against him. It was then he realized his mistake, letting himself have this. Kissing Rhys in his fantasies was always perfection. He kissed him in a million different ways and a thousand different situations each of them amazing in their own way but so very two dimensional, just moving pictures running through his overactive imagination.

Now, he knew what Rhys’s lips tasted like, how it felt to cup his face in his hands and feel the scraping of stubble along his palms. He could smell him, taste him, feel him and, fuck, if it wasn’t better than anything he’d ever dreamed in his fantasies.

Rhys’ tongue slipped into his mouth and his higher thought process shut down, leaving only thoughts like yes, please, finally and mine. Kai was screwed. He was a domesticated animal who’d just had his first taste of human flesh and now nothing else would ever do. Rhys was it for him.

Kai tried to catalogue every single sense. The way he could feel Rhys’ claws pricking the flesh at his hips, the sound of their lips meeting, the way Rhys groaned when Kai bit his lower lip. Every time Rhys pulled back, Kai’s lips followed like a magnet, pulling them back together. He wasn’t ready for it to be over, not yet. And it would be over as soon as they left this place. He’d won this battle but Rhys wasn’t surrendering the war.

“Really?”

Rhys jumped back, shoving him away at Tristin’s indignant shriek.

In that moment, he hated his sister. She had the worst timing of anybody ever. She looked at the two of them like a disappointed mother. He looked over at Rhys’ guilty expression, taking in kiss swollen lips, heavy lidded eyes and messy hair. He must look even worse. Kai couldn’t help but be a little smug. He’d done that.

“We’ve been sitting in the hot car for twenty minutes so you two can make out in the woods?”

Rhys blushed, snatching the keys from where they’d fallen and stomping off towards the truck.

Tristin crossed her arms, tilting her head, “Well?”

Kai widened his eyes at his sister, “What?”

“What?” She laughed, saying, “I love you, Bro, but I’m not going to hang out in the car staring at Quinn while you lose your virginity against a tree.”

Kai glared, “You’re a real class act, Sis.”

She smiled, fluttering her lashes, “I’m not the one dry humping my boyfriend on the side of the interstate.”

Kai’s face burned. “Shut up,” he said, body checking her gently as he walked past.

“Whatever you say, Romeo.”

40

TRISTIN

T
risten and Kai walked back to the car in silence. She was surprised to find the keys in the ignition and Rhys cramped into the backseat with a very confused Quinn. Kai yanked open the passenger seat, leaving her to drive. Rhys quickly backslid to his default setting of non-verbal cave wolf.

She’d endured a lot of awkward car rides with her brother and Rhys over the years but none compared to this. Not even music could dull the tension in the car. Kai alternated between texting Quinn and staring desolately out the window. Quinn stayed quiet, giving Rhys plenty of room. Tristin knew the exact moment Kai told Quinn what happened because Quinn made a noise like a dying cat, staring wide eyed at Rhys until the wolf growled at him.

Tristin had never been so happy to be home in her life. She wanted to fall to her knees and kiss the ground. Once inside, Kai stormed up the stairs. She flinched as his door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame. For once, she got his need to be dramatic. The house was too quiet with the others at work or school. She followed Rhys into the kitchen, watching as his large form crumpled onto the bench of the breakfast nook, rubbing his eyes and sighing.

She snatched a bottled water from the fridge, leaning against the counter as she drank, contemplating her next move. She finished half the bottle before she stalked up to him and punched him on the arm hard enough to make her hand throb. His eyes widened in shock.

She shoved him so he moved over and she sat down, “You know I love you right?” His face flushed and he nodded once.

“Good, because you’re not going to like what I have to say,” He looked at her warily.

“Stop dicking around with my brother’s head.”

He looked like he was choking on his tongue, “I-”

“Just listen. I get it. I know you and I don’t really understand and all of this touchy feely stuff. The emotional stuff squicks me out too.” She looked him in the eye, “But you’ve been tying my brother in knots, literally since the day he was old enough to realize he liked boys. Why are you fighting this so hard? You have to see you are tearing him apart. What are you so afraid of?”

He looked conflicted, like he was just on the verge of saying…something. But then it was gone, eyes blank as he shrugged, “What’s the point?”

Tristin squinted at him, “What’s the point of what? Being in love? Being with somebody? Dating?”

He didn’t look at her.

She opened her mouth to tell him what the point was but realized she didn’t know, really. The idea of being so dependent on somebody seemed horrible to her. She saw the way Isa looked at Wren, like he was the air she breathed. Isa would never survive if something happened to him. Why would anybody want to be so entwined with another person you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began?

But she certainly wasn’t telling Rhys
that
.

She sighed, “The point is to be somebody’s person. To be there for them. To make sure when crap gets real, you have their back and vice versa. People have been falling in love since the dawn of time, like people die for it and write poems about it, there has to be a reason. My brother wants you to be his person.”

“Like Quinn wants you?” he countered.

Tristin’s mouth tightened, “That’s different.”

Rhys huffed, “Really? Why? He’s definitely your person. He’d do anything for you. He probably writes weepy sonnets about you in a dream journal tucked under his pillow. He reeks of love whenever you are in the room. You certainly don’t have a problem taking advantage of his feelings for you when you need something.” Tristin’s mouth fell open as Rhys continued, “You know, since we’re being honest.”

This was not how this conversation was going to go. She just wanted him to see what he was doing to her brother. She wanted him to understand what he was doing to himself. This had nothing to do with her or Quinn.

She set her mouth in a hard line, glaring at the wolf. Quinn was a good person, one of the few pure souls she knew. He was smart and funny and attractive in a way she tried hard not to think about. Thinking about Quinn was messy and distracting. She couldn’t afford any distractions.

She was seventeen. She was fighting monsters and studying for SAT’s. Maybe someday there would be room for Quinn, but it wasn’t now, “Quinn is human. Falling in love with a human is stupid and dangerous. Just ask my dad…or yours.”

He looked at her, eyebrow raised. “That’s a pretty cynical view even for you. Also, you’re full of crap.”

“Maybe, but it’s true. Humans are defenseless in this town. Like baby bunnies.”

Rhys snorted, “Quinn is clumsy and spastic, but he’s no baby bunny. In fact, he might be the only thing in the world I’ve actually seen scare you.”

Her eyes widened, heartbeat stumbling. Rhys looked smug. She narrowed her eyes and slapped his shoulder again. “This isn’t about me and Quinn. This is about you and my brother. I don’t get why you are fighting it so hard. Everybody knows you are in love with him. Nobody hates anybody as much as you two pretend too without secretly wanting to…mate,” she smirked at him, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

His eyes flicked to hers and then back to his hands. His jaw muscle twitched. “Even if I do have…feelings,” he swallowed hard around the word like it stuck in his throat. “Everybody seems to be forgetting something extremely important.”

“Such as?”

“My fiancé?”

Tristin laughed, “Oh my God, you are such a drama queen. She is not your fiancé. You’ve never even met her. You’ve never even spoken to her. You were betrothed before you were even born. It’s an antiquated tradition. Nobody is going to hold you to that.”

“Isa honored her betrothal to Wren,” he told her.

“One, your sister is an alpha and it’s her job to expand the pack. Two, she’s marrying Wren because they are gaga for each other and you know it. She’d never marry Wren if she didn’t love him. That’s not who she is and she wouldn’t expect you to either.”

Rhys looked at her imploringly, “Marrying a wolf from the Clearweather pack will solidify our alliances in Oregon, Alabama and Tennessee. It’s what’s best for the pack.”

“Look, I’m sure this girl-”

“Selina.”

“Selina,” she continued, “is a very nice girl. She probably doesn’t want to marry somebody who doesn’t love her. Pack alliances were for a hundred years ago when werewolf hunting was rampant. It’s been a long time since we’ve had any real threat from the hunters. Most humans don’t even know we exist anymore. Even the Grove doesn’t get involved in pack mating disputes. Have you talked to your sister about this?”

“No,” he told her, “and I’m not going to. If my sister can honor her commitments, I can too.”

She made a noise of frustration, feeling a sudden need to rip his face off. “Fine, be a stubborn ass but let me make this very clear,” she turned so she could look him in the eye. She wanted him to know she meant this with every ounce of her being, “I love you like my family. I really do. But if you don’t stop hurting my brother I’m going to lace your toilet paper with aconite.”

His eyes bulged, jaw falling open. “Wow, calm down, crazy.”

“I’m going to get ready for work. You should probably do the same.” She stood, heading to the back stairs, “You should probably also try to sneak in a quick shower. I can smell my brother all over you even without the super werewolf sniffer. Your sister will definitely smell it and if you think I’m angry, think about how much Isa loves Kai?”

His face paled and he looked a little sick. She couldn’t help her smile as she ran up the stairs. The idea of lacing his toilet paper with aconite, more commonly known as wolfsbane, was her best idea yet. It was a wonderful weapon really. It wouldn’t kill him unless he ingested it but it would give him a rash that made poison ivy seem like a daydream.

She met Quinn at the top of the stairs coming out of her brother’s room.

“How is he?” she asked.

He pulled a face, “Not sure. He is staring at the wall and every now and again he mumbles something like ‘whatever, screw him,’ and then goes back to staring. How was your conversation with Rhys?”

“He brought up his fiancé.”

Quinn burst out laughing, pulling it together when he realized she wasn’t kidding, “Wait, seriously?”

“Yep.”

“There is no hope for him. He is so desperate to be a martyr we should just change his name to Joan of Arc.”

Tristin couldn’t help but laugh. Rhys really did seem desperate to be miserable. He needed a therapist.

Quinn shifted from one foot to the other, “Come find me when you get back from work. No matter what time it is. Okay?”

Tristin went cold, eyeing him warily, “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to talk but we don’t have time to talk now. So…later, yeah?”

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and scuffed his shoe across the hard wood floor. It was never a good sign when he couldn’t look her in the eye.

“You are lying but I don’t have time to pry it out of you so…sure, we will talk later. Now I have to go get ready for work so that I can spend all night worrying about whatever it is you want to tell me but can’t tell me in fifteen minutes. Thanks for that.”

“Dagger.”

“Save it. I’m over the men in this house today. Do you hear me?” She shouted loud enough for her brother and Rhys to hear, “I’m done with all of you.”