6 - DEVLIN

I’m not sure how Trent even managed to drive when he was staring at me through the rearview mirror almost the entire way. The weight of his stare was demanding to be looked back at, but I refused. Building after building flew past the vehicle, people walking out on the streets completely oblivious and seemingly fine with each other’s abilities. 

‘Dad said it’s not safe out there, Dee,’ Trent had told me after he went with his dad the first few times, ‘we can only visit Pop’s and then straight home.’ 

There was water building behind my lashes, but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Tears mean he’s won, tears mean he’s broken me, and I know that’s what he’s waiting for. Well, he’s not getting them, so my traitorous body better get its act together. 

“Maybe,” Corbyn cleared his throat, “we should send her to that elevation school.” Silence. “You know your mom wanted you to go, and maybe they could help her abilities come out.” Corbyn really didn’t take a clue. Trent’s knuckles were white now around the steering wheel. The mention of his mom was enough to do it, but add in elevation school? 

His mom did want that for us, but his dad brainwashed him into believing that she betrayed them. She wanted us to make sure we were mates, find out if either of us would be a Nexus, but Trent would never chance someone else trying to claim me.

“I’m not leaving,” I cut in for multiple reasons, mainly to deescalate Trent before we all died in a car crash. Been there, almost done that, pass. “I know I shouldn’t have yelled,” I finally looked at him in the mirror, do not gag, “but please don’t make me spend time away from you.”

Corbyn looked at me like I betrayed him, but really, what was going on with him? First, he’s defending me, then he’s trying to ship me off. Me… mingling with all kinds of creatures just because he wants my abilities to come out? I think not. I wanted out of this hell, but I wasn’t about to be trapped in another one. One can only imagine the gag-worthy classes they would hold for Iota’s, ‘How to behave 101’, or maybe, ‘What Alpha’s need 200’. 

“We all should have gone,” Corbyn tried some more, “but we can’t risk things sliding out from under us now. It would be a good-”

“No, she stays with me.” Trent's declaration came out as half a growl, and that was enough to put us all back into complete silence. 

Elevation school was typically reserved for elite families anyway, the kind that could pay all kinds of crazy ‘donations’ to the staff who were all recruited for their talent to control the students and help their abilities be better, stronger than others in their species. 

As a shifter, I don’t think there’s much that school could offer me. What would they teach me? Maybe shift faster, training my shifted form to be stronger, but to go there I would have to mingle with other species/types ability-less. Sure, I could shriek, but I wasn’t a Banshee, so what was I going to do? Be someone's lunch, probably. 

Vampires, I shivered, weren’t even remotely the scariest things that could be there. Heck to the no thank you. 

The few blocks surrounding the fortress we call a house, which was really a highly improved and remodelled hotel, came into view and this was the end of my freedom for the day. At least I wouldn't have to wait a whole month as usual. Nope, this Sunday was the first Sunday in May, which meant I get to lead a handful of ninety-year-olds to craft bliss.

Huh. Maybe I'm an Angel. Pretty impossible with a wolf shifter dad and human mother, but come onnnn wings! 

As the vehicle pulled up to the front, the two normal guards were stationed by the door, but there’s a third man leaning against the building who hasn’t bothered to move as we approach.

Trent's fourth kill of the day could be soon. 

He’s in the darkness that the shade provides near the door, so most of the mystery man is hard to make out thanks to my human vision. Trent, nor Corbyn, draws a weapon, so they must be expecting him. Whoever he is, it's awfully bold to lean in the presence of the Alpha’s son… in his own home no less.

Corbyn opens the door on his side, and as I step out he positions himself slightly in front of me and the man in question stands to attention. He was taller than Trent, and though his shoulders are broad, his waist is lean and his muscles are more defined than large where his shirt clings to them. 

He must be another Alpha, just from the way he presented himself and was carrying himself now. There are tattoos sneaking out of his shirt collar, winding up his neck. His stature is a little more relaxed than it should be around us. A powerful light flashes into my eyes, and as they refocus, they zero in on the small knife he is weaving between his fingers in a playful manner. Another flash of light tells me he’s doing it on purpose, and as my eyes snap up to his, I’m not sure how I haven’t noticed them before now. 

Blue, but such a light, almost frozen-looking kind of blue that they could be closer to white, and they are focused solely on me. His nose ring and long blonde hair tied up near the back of his head betray the rough look that he has going for him, but the flash of his impossibly white teeth where his canines are pronounced, even in human form, told me all I needed to know - this man may look like a dirty dream come true, but he was a different kind of monster entirely. 

His lips tip up as my back hits a hard chest. With Corbyn and this stranger in front of me, I know the chest belongs to Trent. My chin angles towards him while I try to keep an eye on Mysterio over there, but Trent yanks my chin all the way around. 

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of your new guard,” he drops my chin roughly before shoving me so hard that I stumble past Corbyn. Corbyn’s fingers flinched where the stranger had no reaction at all, but they both knew better than to intervene, even if they wanted to. 

Nobody interfere’s with a Stone. 

“Go on, Dee, say hello.” There is danger laced through Trent’s words. He’s upset with me once more, for what I haven’t the slightest idea. Maybe he thinks I want to go to elevation school, maybe I didn’t run back into his arms fast enough, maybe he thinks I looked too long at my new guard after almost drowning me because he thinks I wanted to take off with my old one, maybe- “You can see she’s more pathetic than I described,” Trent interrupted my thoughts with more insults and it became harder and harder to still my face. “You’ll have your work cut out for you, but it needs to be done.”

“What…” I squeaked out, turning to face him, “...what needs to be done?” 

“I tried to teach you when you were a child, Dee,” Trent’s face softened a bit, “but you were never strong. I need you to be able to defend yourself now. With me gone more than not, it’s important.” He sighed as he closed the distance between us, pulling me into him before giving me a soft kiss. “Behave, and I’ll be home later, as promised.” All I could do was nod, earning me another kiss to the forehead, “He doesn’t leave your side, you don’t leave his,” he gripped the side of my face so roughly that I might have a bruise there later, “and if I find out you’re trying to use your looks like you did with the other guard and at the warehouse, I’ll kill him and make sure no one ever wants to look at you again.”

It doesn't matter what I say, he will never trust me. I'm not sure he ever did. I am his toy, his plaything, HIS… and that's all that matters. He is using the fact that he’s building US an empire as an excuse, but there will be another after that and another until he gets bored with me or someone looks at me when he's in a mood. 

Then no one will want to look at me again. 

The sound of the tires rolling over the cement reminded me that they are gone. I was left here alone, probably with Gavin, and now - my whole body shook with a shot of electricity up my spine, now Mysterio is here too. 

I turned to face him again, and the air felt thicker, harder to breathe in as I looked at the huge flashing danger sign standing there. How well did Trent really know this guy? 

"Inside." He jerks his head towards the door, but I stand my ground. "Pet, don't make me ask twice. You won't like it." 

"I am NOT a pet," I half yell as my face pinches together and I almost recoil in regret, but nope, not today. From the beginning, he will know how this goes. He can't order me around. He works to serve me, not the other way around.

He hasn't moved or made a sound in a full thirty seconds, long enough to prove I do what I want and not what he ordered, right? 

Right. 

I tip my chin higher than normal, walking towards the door without acknowledging him… right until his whisper has me trying not to fall all over myself.

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