Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) (21 page)

On the walk back home, Ryan decided that he couldn't hold it in any longer. He stumbled, both over his feet and over his words. "I'm sorry. I. I know I'm a screw up. I just. I couldn't resist. So sorry."

Alex patted him on the back. "We know."

"She sounded so beautiful, and it tugged at me."

I smiled. "It's fine, we all end up in stupid situations."

Alex flashed me a knowing smile at my comment. I looked away with a smirk of my own. Ryan continued on and we simply explained to him that that was what pack was for. He seemed contented enough when Alex and Nik put him in his bed.
 

**
 
**

Alex was growing more confident in his contact as I fought against my desire to reject him. I kept reminding myself that it wasn't his fault, and that through the darkness I still craved contact with him. His hand brushed over mine as he walked past me to sit on our bed in nothing but his black boxers. I cursed the Sisters. They were teasing and tormenting me. He'd washed the blood off and only a few deep purple bruises marked his smooth, lightly tanned skin. The years of physical strain had left him toned, and I wanted to take comfort in those strong arms. I cursed Lee quietly for leaving me without so much as a goodbye. A night with him would have made me feel much better about everything.
 

"We should talk, Baby Girl."

I couldn't help noticing the little growl on the “Girl” and turned away from him, refusing to let him see the little bit of pleasure that brought me. "About?"

He lay back on the bed and stretched, showing off his taut stomach and muscular arms. I curled my lip a little and crawled under the covers on my side.
 

"Lee, the siren, Ryan, Dan."

I buried my face in my pillow for a moment. "A whole shopping list, huh?"

He laughed softly and went to stroke my hair, but stopped himself. "Something like that."

"Go on then, what's wrong with Ryan and Dan?"

He rubbed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Well, they're two separate topics, but, Ryan needs to sort his shit out with the sirens. Dan is beginning to resent Ryan for his mistakes, and he's just slightly off."

"And you can't deal with them, why?"

His hands clenched for a moment before he said, "Because you're an alpha, too, and we both need to deal with this shit."

"Ok, note to self, give Ryan a good slap and tell Dan to stop being odd. Next?"

He laughed again. "Lee..."

I raised an eyebrow and glared at him, it was none of his business what I did or did not do with Lee. He had no right to me, no control over me. I prepared myself for the big fight.
 

Instead, he said softly, "He's going to hurt you again."

His eyes looked into mine with a sorrowful gaze. I wanted to cuddle up to him and tell him everything would be ok. It still hurt to see him sad or upset.
 

Instead I smiled and said, "I'm a big girl."

He sighed and said, "That leaves us with the sirens."

"Personally, I'm all for poison. That will keep the vocal chords and other nice, expensive parts in good shape so we can make a pretty little fortune."

His lips tugged at the corners, but he refused to allow a proper smile to form. It had always been so much fun trying to make him smile when he went serious on me.
 

"We're not killing them."

"No one's going to buy them as slaves. They're far too much of a pain."

His eyes regained a bit of their usual shine and his lips pursed as they fought back the laughter. "They need to stop pulling this shit so we can end this and return home."

The word home felt odd, it hung in the air for a moment while both of our faces fell. Was it home? I couldn't help thinking that it'd never replace what we had had, but it did no good to live in the past. "Can we at least kill one of them to put the rest in their place? It'd do us all good to have a hunt."

He rubbed his temples, "Thalia. We're not killing them."

I pouted at him. "Fine, what's your method?"

"Open aggression worked reasonably well last time. We can step it up a notch without actually harming them."

It was decided. I wasn't particularly happy about it and wondered about picking up some poison, just in case. Alex raised an eyebrow at me, to which I smiled sweetly, rolled over, and went to sleep.
 

** **

 
I strongly debated grabbing Ryan by the scruff of his neck as he moped the next morning. He was looking down into his bowl of cereal as though he were contemplating drowning himself in it. He slowly poked at it before it finally became too soggy to eat, at which point he pushed it away.
 

I rolled my eyes, ate the rest of my toast, and said, "Ryan, you're coming with me."

He looked at me with those pretty, pale-green eyes all wide and worried. I simply tapped my foot impatiently before pulling my shoes on.
 

He didn’t say a word as we walked through the city. I had to wonder if he thought he was being thrown out of the pack. The birch trees swayed softly in the warm breeze and a few songbirds squawked, which broke up the uncomfortable silence that hung between us. Ryan kept his head low and his hands tucked in his jeans. An occasional sigh escaped his lips.
 

I had to break the tension, I couldn't stand it any longer. "You're not on death row, here."

He glanced over at me before he mumbled something.
 

"I'm good, but I'm not that good; you're going to have to form actual words."

A small smile flashed across his lips. "I said, you're going to remove me from the pack."

I laughed, which made him hunch his shoulders more and look like I'd just kicked him. I covered my mouth and tried to restrain myself. "Ahem. No, I'm not. We just need to talk."

He looked at me slowly. "’Need to talk’ sounds like polite talk for ‘reprimand me.’"

I poked him in the ribs. The depressed injured puppy routine was beginning to grate on me. He flinched and huffed. I was tempted to smack him around the back of his head and see if that got a better reaction.
 

After a couple of moments and some more shuffled steps, I'd had enough. I hit him around the back of his head, which gave a nice thwacking sound. He yelped and reached around to check his head to see if there was a bump or a dent, while I sat down on the old wooden bench and crossed my legs, quietly waiting. He sat down next to me, still rubbing the back of his head with a look of confusion on his face.
 

"I am not throwing you out of the pack. Neither Alex nor I have any problems with you."

He frowned and looked at me, his hand dropping to his lap as he said, "Then why did you smack me?"

"You were dragging it all out and grating on my nerves."

He looked down and away again, that hurt puppy look returning as his shoulders hunched.
 

I sighed. "Don't give me that. You're a strong, intelligent guy and a useful member of the pack. Yes, you screwed up a bit, but that wasn't exactly all your fault."

He straightened up a little bit and looked at me suspiciously. "You're not going to tear me a new one?"

I smiled. "Not this time, no. Do it again, though..."

He nodded but kept his eyes up this time. "I am sorry, about the sirens and last night."

"Last night?"

He looked a bit sheepish. "I started the bar fight."

I laughed and patted him on the knee. "Well done. How did you do it?"

He was taken aback for a moment before he grinned and sat up straight. "Well. There was this hot nymph, fresh out of the woods, ya know. This elf and fae were trying to hit on her, and she just was not interested. So I stepped up and helped her out. The guys didn't appreciate that. They got in my face, and I'd had a few drinks; I saw no reason to back down. So they kicked off, I defended myself and accidentally hit a pissy demon partbreed around the back of the head when the fae ducked. He blamed the elf and started on him, and it escalated from there."

I grinned and leaned back, feeling a little bit proud of him. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help myself.
 

I said, "So. What's the real issue at the heart of this slump you've gotten into?"

He looked away and brushed some imaginary dust off his jeans. "I feel like I don't fit. Like I'm not good enough and I don't have a place in the pack."

The raven took over before I had a chance to fight it off and keep control. I found myself hugging him close and the maternal instincts swamped me. I drove the raven back and mentally scolded it as I pulled back and smiled weakly. Bloody bird. "You have a place in our pack. You all drive me insane, quite often, but you all also have a place."

He smiled and continued on, "I've never quite fit. I've wandered and tried various things, but it's never felt right, and I'm terrified that if I screw up this incredible opportunity then I'm screwed. I'll just carry on being a nothing, a no one, with no place in the world."

I blinked and took in the cascade of words for a moment. "Well, you don't have to worry about any of that. You have a place, and while I'm not entirely sure what exactly your skills are, you have them and they will benefit the pack."

He flinched a little at my comment about not knowing his skills. He kept his eyes up and his shoulders relaxed, so we were making some progress.
 

I decided to keep on the positive route while I had it. "What do you feel your skills are?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, I'm quick and agile. I can handle myself in a fight. My energy work isn't too bad either."

I smiled. "That's useful, you seem like you complement me well. I can see you being trained as my shadow. Have you ever considered assassination as a career path?"

His eyes lit up. "I never thought I'd have a chance at it, but I'm eager to learn everything I can."

I had to hold back my desire to tell him to settle down, but the enthusiasm was cute. "That's good, that desire and drive to learn will take you far. I make no promises, but we'll see what happens. Just don't do this," I gestured around him with my hands, "hurt, mopey puppy thing again. It's not a good look, and it grates pretty quickly."

He nodded and grinned at me, apparently pretty happy with what had been said. I relaxed back into the bench. That hadn't been quite as painful as I'd expected.
 

23

Her pulse was through the roof. Her heart was pounded against her ribs while fear rolled off her in deliciously intoxicating waves. My tongue slipped out over my bared teeth as I stroked a clawed finger down her throat. A thin red line followed my motion. The iron tang mingled with the sweet, heavy scent of fear as the blood welled to the surface, leaving a crisp red line on her pale white skin. She whimpered and her muscles tensed against my grasp as she considered trying to fight back, again. Her blonde hair was tangled and matted with sweat that dripped down along her hairline and pooled in the dip of her collarbone for a moment. Tears streaked down her cheeks, leaving black marks around her large blue eyes, which only highlighted her high cheekbones and elegant bone structure. Not that I was interested in that.
 

Alex leaned in next to me and growled in her ear, "Are you ready to be a good girl?"

She flinched and tried to pull away from him. I tightened my grip on her throat. She tried to gulp, but my hand restricted the movement, causing her to panic. Her pupils enlarged and her hands balled into fists as she tried to jerk away. A shiver ran down my spine, and I couldn't help myself. I leaned in and licked up her throat. The beads of blood sat on my tongue for a brief moment as I savoured them. She was trembling under my touch and began sobbing uncontrollably.
 

I kept her pinned against the tree, but turned to Alex, "You know, I think that given she clearly has no respect for the boys, they deserve a bit of fun here..."

They moved in closer around us, their wolves all vying for complete control while their teeth were bared and sharpened. Alex smiled and nodded. "I think you're right."

I dropped her to the ground. She instinctively curled up into a little ball and wept openly. Alex and I stepped back and allowed the boys to close in around her. They all snarled, and Ryan reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair, dragging her back up to her feet.
 

His green eyes were etched with amber as he pressed his nose to hers. "I think you'd be a nice little snack. If you're very good, we may even give you a little head start."

Her breath caught in her throat, and she looked to Alex, wild eyed, before she began begging, "Please, please... I'll behave, I just, please."

I shrugged and looked to Alex. "I'm not sure that we've made our point yet. What do you think, Ryan?"

I gave control to Ryan. Given his past experiences with the sirens, he needed to feel that control both over himself and over them. We couldn't afford to have it fuck up a third time. He licked up her cheek in response. "I'm not convinced."

She was visibly shaking. Her pale skin had a sheen from the sweat, and her fear had gone from intoxicating to overwhelming. It pooled around her and drowned out the other local scents.
 

Ryan dropped her in disgust. "I think she's learned her lesson."

Alex and I both nodded before Alex gave a small hand gesture cueing the boys to back off a little. He growled again, "Be a good girl, or we'll let the boys have their fun next time."

Her eyes somehow managed to go even wider. She nodded furiously and said, "I promise, I promise, to all gods I promise."

I pursed my lips and turned away from her. I breathed deep and took in the fresh pine scent, trying to shake off the sickly sweet scent of her fear and adrenaline.
 

The boys were all bristling with aggression that we needed to burn. I glanced back to see the siren, Honey, stumbling through the woods trying to get away from us as quickly as possible. The jaguar and wolf both threw themselves forward, trying desperately to take control and chase her. I closed my eyes and breathed deep again before I twisted around, bit Alex on the arm, and took off the in opposite direction.