Ch.5: The Buyer

Nikolai

I couldn't believe I had run into Yen again. It had been just a little over a month since our one night stand. Running into each other seemed so out of the blue.

It felt like fate was meddling about, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

Though, tonight, there had been a noticeable difference about Yen that I couldn't put a finger on. Not only was she extremely nervous, there had been a different smell and aura about her.

Out in the middle of Bourbon Street, it had been hard to focus solely on her with the hundreds of other people moving around us.

Whatever was going on with her had made me uneasy.

Perhaps I could find out where she worked, or learn her routine and run into her again when there were less people about? That way I could assauge my preconceived fears.

Aaron, my beta, bumped shoulders with me and I chuckled at his smirking smile. While I was worried about Yen, it had been fun teasing her. My pack and I were rather tight and loved to have fun. I was glad they approved of my true mate. It would make incorporating her into our lives so much easier when the time came.

Though, if I had it my way, we wouldn't become an item for some time still. Not until I found Desdemona, the half angel-half demon creature I was hunting in the area.

Desdemona was a centuries old creature who had first made her debut back in the civil war era. Near the close of the war, she had been captured by the archangels and put into purgatory where she no longer could reign terror onto the innocents and mortals of this world. Unfortunately, not that long ago, she had escaped from purgatory and was now back to her old ways: wreaking havoc on innocent mortals here in New Orleans. She was the cause of all of the disappearances as of late, and she was starting to draw attention with how many mortals had gone missing in the past couple of months. It was concerning because most of the mortal population did not know about us immortals. If they did, it would be like another witch hunt. And the scary part about it was, they had the means and weapons necessary to kill us all.

So, it was imperative we took care of this sooner rather than later.

My pack and I had been delegated by the Immortal Council to take on the dangerous task of finding and eliminating the threat she posed.

While I was hunting Desdemona, I didn't want to put Yennifer in harm’s way. If Desdemona ever caught onto who my mate was, she could use her against me. And I didn't want Yen being scarred for life due to my careless mistakes.

Though, there had been no harm in making a lasting impression on her.

Seeing her tonight made my heart happy and ache all at the same time. It reminded me of that long ago time when I'd first met her back on the beaches of California. Seeing her wearing the pendant I had given to her on impulse made me wonder if she remembered the reckless boy on the beach...

...Flashback

When I had taken Constance Erickson, my arranged mate, to the beach for a fun filled afternoon, I was met with someone entirely unexpected: my true mate.

Yennifer.

She was a beautiful little sight to see with her red hair, green eyes and freckles.

While it was uncommon for mates to find themselves this early on in life, it wasn't unheard of. Just more unexpected.

After we left the beach, Constance and I discussed what had happened. She was my pre-chosen mate. I had been bonded to her while she was still in her mother's womb. An expensive and binding process that gave us an edge above many other mates. Our bond was nearly as strong as a true mate's was.

To say I was torn between her and Yen was an understatement.

While discussing such adult matters wasn't normal for mortal children, it was when it came to us immortals. Our brains developed much faster than a mortals and we could hold inteligent discussions. At this stage, our brains were more in the teenage developmental area, where we had all the information but reacted more on emotion than rational.

Constance, bless her heart, was not upset by this development and was more than willing to let me out of our pre-arranged partnership. She gave me her blessing and said she would deal with the consequences of our agreement.

I hadn't planned on going back out to the beach house that night, but something in my gut told me there was something wrong. And so, I left the underground immortal city below Los Angeles and made my way back to the beach house. That's when I found, amidst the familiar scent of Ulysses's wolf pack, Yen's family had been murdered and Yen was hanging on for dear life.

My heart nearly shattered when I saw Yen with her throat slit and I almost started panicking. My hands tried to hold the edges together, to staunch the bleeding but it still seeped out. In the haze that clouded my mind, I felt Constance's soothing presence as she helped me navigate through the gripping fear.

I took her back to the underground city where Constance met me outside of a healer's ward. She made sure Yen was taken care of. When she suggested taking her back to the nightmare at Yen's beach house, I made the ultimate decision not to take her there. If Ulysses found out Yen survived, he would hunt her down himself and finish the job. And so, Constance used her Controller powers--powers that allowed her to infiltrate the minds of other beings, manipulate their minds and even rewrite their memories--to ensure Yen's whereabouts stayed a secret. Even from me.

When we arrived back at the quarters we were staying in, after Yen had been secreted away to safety, Ulysses morphed out of the shadows and pulled me aside, ordering Constance to go inside and wait.

Once she was out of sight, he backhanded me hard enough I was taken off my feet. The bones in my cheek were broken. Blood from my teeth scraping the inside of my mouth seeped out from between my lips as I glared up at the crook.

I knew why Ulysses had heartlessly given the order to murder my true mate and her family. He had done it in order to ensure I would stay true to Constance, his niece. The one he had blood bonded me with while she was still in her mother's womb. His actions had been a desperate attempt to get around a family curse that was slowly killing off the Erickson bloodline.

I wasn't sure how he had found out about Yen.

I knew Constance hadn't said anything about Yen, per-se. We were bonded deeply. There were no secrets between us and she promised not to tell him exactly why we wanted to separate and break the pact that bound us. Ulysses must have had us followed by one of his packmates while we had been playing at the beach. He couldn't have followed us himself since he was a High Immortal Councilor and had business in the underground immortal city. Someone must have overheard Constance and I talking and told Ulysses about it.

Ulysses loomed over me looking like the vile monster he was as he glared severely down at me. There was a bright light somewhere behind him, making him appear like a shadow monster with his angry red gaze boring down on me. "You understand how your actions have consequences," he growled. "You are Constance's mate, and hers alone. If I ever find you consorting and planning to elope with another, I will not only continue to kill them, I will kill your family. Your entire pack. Do not cross me again." He threatened.

That night, as Constance slept, I stared out into the underground immortal city and promised myself I would find a way out of this predicament. I would find some way out from under Ulysses' thumb, even if it was at the cost of his own life. I wanted revenge for the innocent lives he had taken. I wanted revenge for the pain he had caused my mate and the lonely life she would now have to face on her own.

Even though Constance had been able to save Yennifer, her life would forever be in danger until Ulysses was no longer alive.

I didn't care what I would have to become, even if it made me an enemy, even if it cost me my very soul, I would find some way out of this and find my way back to her, my true mate: Yennifer.

End flashback...

I was the boy who had gotten her family killed because I had been selfish enough to think a child's reasoning could rival the decisions of hot-headed adults. Though, Yen couldn't know I had been the reason her parents were murdered.

"You don't have to worry about that yet," Yuri reminded me gently, his mind brushing mine reassuringly. Knowing the heavy burden I carried.

Taking a deep breath, I reoriented my mind back to the task at hand. "Pete said he found traces of Desdemona on the outskirts of town, near the swamplands in the east. We will go ahead and start searching there."

Ducking into a darkened, abandoned area, we stripped, tucked our clothing into an inconspicuous spot we could come back to, and shifted into our wolf forms. Taking off towards the outskirts of town, we searched for any signs of Desdemona or her demon henchmen. It didn't take long before we picked up on the scent of demon. We pursued it and found a demon lurking about in the shadows of some buildings, looking for unsuspecting prey. Unfortunately, the wind wasn't on our side. He caught whiff of us and took off. We took chase and pursued him. As the sun was lighting the horizon, and we were nearly on top of him, he ran across a country road. I didn't think anything of it as I lunged after him.

One moment, I almost had the damn demon in my clutches and the next, I was out cold.

***

Drake

I held the panties up to my nose and inhaled her intoxicating scent deep into my lungs. It was a fetish of mine. One I indulged in often.

I rubbed them over my face and lips, my tongue scraping along the silky material, tasting her sweet essence.

Honestly, I hadn't been picky with my purchases until I had been exposed to her. Isabella Rose. She was the one seller I became infatuated with.

Ever since I bought my first item from her several months ago, I'd fallen head-over-heels for her. I was damn near sure she was my true mate, and I was determined to find her. My werewolf demanded I find and claim her as ours, so I could feast on her inevitably and keep the smell of her on us indefinitely like perfume.

I knew Isabella was an alias name. Which was why I ordered my tracker to find her based on the environmental smells of the packaging and such. He hadn't let me down.

He had narrowed it down to a few states in the deep south.

Hopefully, in the next few weeks or months, I would have her in my sights.

As for now, I thought as I wrapped the silky piece of clothing around my hard cock and started jerking off, her subscription of used panties would have to do.