Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) (10 page)

I walked into my bedroom and found the answer to my question was ‘not very far’. I'd been side-tracked with other thoughts and completely forgot. I threw in my pretty shinies, my favourite blades, and a selection of clothing in the hope it'd cover every occasion. It wasn't perfect like Nik's packing, but I hoped it had everything I needed. Alex was leaning on the doorframe when I turned around to return downstairs.
 

"Is everything ok?"

I smiled. "Great, why?"

"You seem... distant."

I shrugged. "It's still a big change."

He nodded and stepped aside to let me past. "Try not to get us in trouble. No thieving, please."
I bristled, but bit my tongue and held back any retort I might have wanted to spit at him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reminding myself that we had to be a united front, a pair of alphas. I cursed the Sisters again. I couldn't help wondering if perhaps there was some grand prize or something for that. Maybe I'd be given another irritating little mark like the choker once I hit 1,000 curses. Or maybe, just maybe, they'd give in and let me be. I cursed them again, just in case it was the latter.
 

11

Dan had insisted on riding with me, which I couldn't help but bristle at, but I reminded myself that I needed to form the bonds, and Dan was like me. Alex wasn’t particularly amused, but he gritted his teeth and made a show of being happy that I was integrating into the pack and being a good alpha. Alex led the way, which gave me time to switch off a little bit and allow my mind to wander, admiring the surrounding countryside. It wasn't the safest practise for driving, but I hadn't been killed, yet. After half an hour, Dan spoke over the classic rock I'd put on the radio as nice white noise.
 

"You and Alex clearly have history, a bond. What’s going on between you two? Should I be trying to pick a side?”

I glared at him before remembering that I was in fact driving and was supposed to be looking where I was going.
 

I gritted my teeth and gripped the steering wheel more tightly before I said, "That is not appropriate. You do not speak to your alpha in that manner. You do not probe into their personal affairs."

He looked out of the window before saying, "As an alpha, we must give you our all and trust you with our lives. How are we to do that if you shut us out and keep us at arm’s length and potentially hide important things from us?"

I couldn't help gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. His airy and faux-innocent tone grated at me, but I knew he had a point. I mentally cursed his careful manipulation before taking a deep breath, relaxing my hands and muscles and thinking about how best to answer. I hit the brakes as I almost got too close to Alex. He looked at me in the rear-view mirror and made a hand gesture meaning ‘what's wrong with you?’

I rolled my eyes and focused on the problem next to me. I took a deep breath and smiled sweetly before saying, "What exactly do you mean?"

I couldn't keep the ice out of my voice, but I tried.
 

The memories tried to flood my mind. I pushed them back in their box and affixed a mental lock on them. The last thing I needed was to deal with all of that while attempting (and at that point potentially failing) to drive.
 

He gave me the big innocent kitten eyes before saying, "Well, there's clearly a history there. You know each other very well and there's almost a visible spark between you. Yet, you barely say a word to each other and there’s a lot of friction there, with the potential for aggression."

I ran my tongue over my teeth, I hadn't realised things were quite so obvious, but I hadn't been trying all that hard to form a strong, cohesive image. I decided simple and to the point was my best option.
 

"We're soulmates. It didn't work out."

His brow creased and he leaned a little closer "How does it 'not work out' between soulmates...? I thought the entire point of soulmates is that you’re completely bound, there is no getting out of it. You’re supposed to be two parts of one whole or some shit."

I ground my teeth together and wondered exactly how far away the damn city was. "It just… didn't. We're bonded, now we're in this situation; do you really need to know more?"

He sat back in his seat more before he sighed softly and said, "Thank you for telling me."

I mentally cursed the Wyrd Sisters again for giving me such a manipulative little shit. They were taunting me with finally bringing me close to one like myself and then making it
him.
I bit back further curses and smiled.
 

"Tell me your story proper, then. We have time."

He didn't appreciate the tables being turned and crossed his arms as he looked out the window. The temperature inside the car dropped a little as his energies spiked and flared.
 

I growled at him, "Control your energies."

I saw no reason to be softer about it all. He flashed me a dark look before closing his eyes and pulling himself back under control.
 

"What do you want to know about my past? I assume you have something specific you’d like me to share."

I smiled and gave him my best innocent puppy voice, "Whatever you want to share."

He sighed and sat a little deeper in his seat. "I was removed from my pack at a relatively young age. They didn’t appreciate the fact that I wasn’t like them, that I didn’t quite fit. From there, I wandered. I thought I found a pack a couple of times, but it went sour, so I carried on wandering. I'd heard all about the black market and it sounded... fun. I liked the idea of hiding in the shadows, cutting the deals, and a lot of me wanted the satisfaction of being truly on the edge. If everyone was going to drive me away anyway, I may as well make a profit from it. I quickly built up a nice business selling the rarer items, nothing from shifters of course, as much as I was tempted at times. Then, I got dragged here by some blonde woman."

I nodded. That explained a lot, and was hardly surprising; tri-shifters were not welcome and were very rarely born to their own kind. I wasn't overly happy about the black market part, but I couldn't blame him for doing what needed to be done. Someone was going to fill that hole, after all.
 

I found myself at war with myself. My instincts fought with my mind, and whether good or bad, my instincts won. I brushed my hand over Dan's arm. It was intended as a mark of understanding. My own past had been far from smooth and easy sailing. That being said, I couldn't help thinking I should keep my distance and not encourage him. I looked at Alex's car and reminded myself that I was an alpha, he was part of my pack, and it was appropriate to form those bonds, not run from them. Dan smiled and relaxed a little.
 

I said, quietly, "I understand. Things weren't smooth for me either."

It felt bizarre to have this connection with him, but it was what I needed. I didn't trust it, but that was irrelevant. The rest of the journey went peacefully. We discussed the music on the radio and TV shows: normal, easy stuff. I found that, as much as he was a manipulative little shit, he wasn't that bad. We had some similar interests and views on the world. It felt good to have someone to talk to, even about the stupid irrelevant things in life. I almost thought about being nice to the Wyrd Sisters. That thought didn't last very long.
 

As we entered the suburbs, Dan said, entirely out of the blue, "Do you ever doubt this? This role?"

I shrugged. "Sometimes. I fought it in the past, I ran away from it a few times, but I can't help seeing that we do help."

He tilted his head and looked at me closely. "Are you absolutely sure of that?"

I nodded. "I think your doubt is natural, and I can't be entirely certain. I just have to accept it. When I don't accept it, it eats at me, tears me apart. There are some things you just have to deal with and move on"

He sat in silence for a little bit before saying, "Normally I would point out that your views are weakness and folly but… there’s something about you that makes me believe you."

I smiled softly and held back the bitter emotions he'd no doubt knowingly brought forwards. "I've been around a long time."

He smiled and returned to looking out of the window, seemingly content. Things didn't seem to be that bad in that moment. He was beginning to settle, and I had a vague sensation of a bond and sense of belonging forming.
 

The city, however, was that bad. I'd called many places home over the time I'd been alive: countryside, cities, and many different countries. Tall, dirty, buildings that were pockmarked with age and a lack of care surrounded us. The road was littered with small holes, and unkempt grass grew at the edges of the paths.
 

I sighed and said, "Well, there went my hopes of a nice place to stay for a while."

Dan shrugged. "I've stayed in worse places. Chasing down the rare items means forgetting about luxuries and doing what you must. A price I happily paid."

I hoped we weren't going to be spending much time in that part of the city. I was due some luxury. They owed it to me, or so I told myself. Fortunately, the area became greener and better kept reasonably quickly. The road was in better shape, and the scraggly grass and weeds were replaced with manicured grass verges and healthy green trees. The buildings were towering mixes of dark metal and clear glass. They clashed with the old stone churches that sat proudly in their midst. Alex turned off the main road down onto a smaller one that was lined with small boutiques, florists, and other mid- to high-end shops. It wasn't the best part of the city, but it was pleasant enough. At least they'd done that bit right. I held a little hope for a luxury hotel with my own room and a king-sized bed. It was unlikely, but it was nice to hold on to for a little bit, at least. We parked in front of a modern building with crisp white edges, clean silver lines, and large windows. The cars in the parking lot all looked to be quite expensive. That made my glimmer of hope grow, just a little.
 

I stood and stretched after the long drive and grabbed my bag before joining the boys. Alex stood close to me, towering over me in that protective manner he'd held so many times previously. I rolled my eyes and walked up to the door with the boys close behind before I realised I didn't know which name our rooms were under. Alex smirked at me and held the door for me before taking the lead again. He strode up to the front desk with its sleek modern design and smiled sweetly at the dark-haired woman sitting behind it. Her emerald-green eyes gave her away, not that she seemed all that worried about hiding it. I licked my lips and allowed my energies to flicker just enough that she glanced at me with that predatory smile. I loved fairies. They were my kind of people.
 

She looked back up at Alex, who said, "Marken. C. Marken and co."

She nodded and looked up the information on the computer before sending us up to the fourth floor. The boys all seemed to be in good spirits. Nik and Ryan had smiles on their faces. There was a slight buzz running through the group, anticipation and the thrill of excitement. I tried to tap into that feeling rather than slipping into the melancholy work attitude I'd developed over the years with these tasks. The elevator opened and we went to our door. It appeared that we'd been placed in a serviced apartment. That's to say, an apartment with the benefits a hotel brings, the best of both worlds. Or so I hoped, right up until we stepped in. There were two bedrooms. Two.
 

I looked at the boys and settled on Alex. "Seriously...?"
 

He shrugged and mouthed, "sorry" before he went through the first bedroom door. He came out shortly after and looked in the second bedroom.
 

"Boys, you're in this room. There're three single beds."

The boys filed into that bedroom and talked excitedly about the entire thing, I had to assume they felt this was something of an adventure. Alex gave me a weak smile and opened the door to our bedroom for me to inspect. It was worse than I'd hoped. A double bed sat in the middle of the room with wardrobes, chests of drawers, and a desk. I sighed and dropped my bag on top of the chest of drawers before glaring at the bed. I growled to myself and cursed the Wyrd Sisters in every language that came to mind.
 

Alex ran his hand down my arm. "It won't kill us. We’re sharing a bed, it’s hardly the end of the world. We’ve done it many times before."

I sat on the bed and Alex shut the door before sitting next to me. The time had come to have that talk. I cursed the Sisters again, for good measure.
 

"Thalia, we're soulmates. We have a rocky past, but the bond remains in place. I'm not going to harm you, I'm your alpha. Please, stop treating me like an enemy who may slit your throat in the night."

I closed my eyes and pinched my nose, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. I wanted to curl up in his arms and have everything be ok again, but I couldn't forgive him. I took a deep breath and swiped away the stubborn tears before facing him.
 

"I can't forgive you. I can't."

He nodded and reached out to put his hand on mine. I brushed my fingertips over the palm of his hand while the thoughts and emotions settled. It was an old habit, something that brought comfort to both of us. I couldn't let everything go. I had tried, but I couldn't.
 

I looked into those beautiful ice-blue eyes and smiled. "I know you won't harm me. Surely you can understand my stance on this?"

He leaned in and kissed my forehead. "I can, Baby Girl. Just, try not to throttle me in my sleep?"

I laughed and looked at the bed. Those Sisters would pay for this blatant interference and aggressive manipulation.
 

I patted Alex's knee. "I make no promises, but I'll try."
 

He smiled before standing and beginning to unpack. I glanced around the room again and noted that we did at least have an
en suite
shower room. The subject needed to be changed.