“I am sorry. I didn’t know.” Her brain grew fuzzy. She wasn’t expecting any good news from him anytime soon. She could read the room and the tensions had been high since after the party. But this was felt closer. There were shadows under his eyes speaking a great deal, Noah was confused at how close to home this hit. She had nothing to do with it but she was scared, it only meant sense if he was too.“Are you scared?” They would both be on the same page then.“No. Not the quaking in my boots sort. The enemy is wise, whoever it is, so for them to provoke us like this means nothing. There is no movement here. There is no politically thought-out plan. I don’t get it. And that is what scares me.” Noah was never arrogant enough to believe himself invincible, that’s another one of the things she admired about him.“Maybe there is no purpose. Maybe they enjoy what they are doing, so they get some satisfaction out of tormenting others. Has this happened to other packs?” Vanessa was just speak
“You don’t know? With all your skills, you must have figured it out.” The man was loony as a bat. In Evan’s experience, loony meant crafty. He was important to the organization he worked for which is why he was protected. If they had to make him unimportant, all they needed to do was prove him to be a liability. Without the protection, he wasn’t half as intimidating. Noah had made that clear. The more tedious part was figuring out how to prove him to be a liability. “I don’t. I gave up after sixteen hours of watching through different sets of binoculars.” Not a complete lie, Evan had given up because the whole smuggling episode had struck him as a cliche. These people had underground networks which were nearly impossible to penetrate, why would they bother with trucks and black tinted SUVs to draw attention? Unless something had gone wrong, he was desperately counting on it. “Our usual routines failed, yes. Which I believe you already know.” It was like talking to a robot. Evan was
The airconditioner’s compressor hissed and gurgled in the silence. Only laboratories used air conditioning in cold places, or hospitals. The furnace, a fake one, entombed in the wall completed the room with its 2-D fire flames. Blood in glass tubes survived this way, blood alone. Wolves were made to withstand harsh lower temperatures than most would believe. There was a history lesson there somewhere, the origins of all their species Ancients had predicted long before it happened. At least, that’s the watered down version of story all of them were told. But not him, no. His father, and his father’s father before him had sacrificed about everything to realize this truth. Truth like a noun, not a verb. Because this truth didn’t change or alter to the fickleness of time. It only changed people who came to know it. He was one fine example of it. He closed his eyes, shut the cyro tank and went to sleep at ten degree celsius. His eyes saw double the way he focused hard on the blue rhythmic
Mikhail pushed her bedroom door open, the wood creaked underneath his heavy trade. Rhys and Samuel were alerting their contacts in other packs so they hear the first thing about Beatrice and Ian. Noah checked her wardrobe while Mikhail traced the window sills as if they held answers, and his eyes could squeeze it out of them.“Does the bathroom have a window?” Mikhail asked her. He seemed more in control now so Vanessa wordlessly lead him inside. There was a window but only something a size of domestic cat could get in, even then a latch had to be opened from the inside. The window was shut. Her room was way tinier than Noah’s but it had a small balcony. “Someone your height can jump and be able to walk.” Mikhail was wandering around, commenting aimlessly.“If they knew what they were doing….” Noah shot his best friend a sharp look. Beatrice wasn’t adventurous. Her medical condition didn’t allow her to be. “Don’t worry. I don’t think she was running away.” His snide remark hit home.
“Yes. I am aware. Tell them the truth about Ian, not Beatrice.” His eyes dared anyone in the room to question. No one did. Besides, Rhys was relieved they had narrowed down their search. Too many options led to chaos. And when it came to missing people, there were never correct ways to do things. Noah trusted his hunches. So they would too.He left them to their jobs. Mikhail was already on his way to track down every person who had come in contact with her to the ends of the earth.Vanessa quietly followed him. For once, she went unsuspected. “Are you serious about Ian? You are going to tell others he was taken from your house?” He kept on walking. Across the room to the foyer, turning left to the gardens. His back tensed at her nearness but he didn’t speak until they reached his car. The same silver McLaren who had shared the stalking tendency of its owner.“Yes. Because they are going to tell them he was taken from outside the orphanage. This place stays away from prying eyes.” Sh
“Check the glove compartment.” He whispered. The dewy atmosphere once they crossed the main cities had set in. Her green eyes held him hostage in the dark when she looked at him.“What?” Noah knew she had heard him right the first time, he just wanted her attention on him and not the road.“What’s so interesting about the black concrete anyway? Check the glove box.” He grumbled.“Okay. Are there used condoms in there? Becasue I am not….” the wind in her hair had done some good to the stuffy set back of the car. “Naah. You should’ve visited me and my back seat seven years ago for that honor.” Despite himself, he smiled. Vanessa felt around in the cabinet to find a small velvet box. Not small enough to contain a frisky jewelry, like a ring but it was a jewelry box. She put it on the dashboard between them and kept lookking at it.Noah cleared his throat.“That was a joke. About the backseat and….”“You mean you haven’t used your backseat for recreational purpose?” She was beggining to
“What deos she have?” He audibly swallowed before answering.“Parvovirus. The human form is mostly immune.” It was a very common disease, Canine Parvovirus. And well known among population. It only became deadly with other factors in it, like some auto-immune disease. So far, no medical facility can hypothesize just which auto-immune disease made the recovery difficult. Not only Beatrice was dying, she also didn’t know what was killing her. “And she is on tight schedule of medicines?” She didn’t want to talk about it anymore than he did. If they kept talking though, she hoped she could share the burden of guilt. “Yes. She can survive though. She had before. I am scared for her, Vanessa. I know where she could be, and not being able to do anythign about it makes me frustrated. I am afraif I’ll slip up.” So it wasn’t just compulsive need to let his plans play out perfectly, Noah was rightfully scared of making a mistake. She clutched his forearm throughout the drive. There weren’t eno
He tore the city apart like a rabid dog after a bone. There was still no sign of where she could be, Beatrice. Mikhail was back where he started, in Vanessa’s room, sitting on the floor. Usually when someone was taken by force, there was at least a witness. And it wasn’t late enough at night for no one to see her. It was close to twenty four hours. The corner of white folded paper was trapped under the dressing table, like someone had put it there, like someone did not want it to be lost in ruckus. He carefully opened it. ‘You’ll look everywhere, you’ll find nowhere.’ If this was a trick or a coded message, he’d kill her himself. Worse even, if it were a prank. But the handwriting was not quite the same. Beatrice drew her ‘y’ with an elongatetd curve and she never dotted an ‘i’, there was a dash in place of it. She hadn’t written it. It could be Ian. Only one way to find out. Noah had made its way back, asked someone in missing person’s department to do them a favor. He pocketed the
'Love does find a way afterall. No matter what obstacles are laid before us, if our love is pure, it will win at the end, no matter what.' Vanessa thought as a smile lit her face up. She was sitting comfortably on a couch, in a large sweatshirt that belonged to Noah, now her husband.She thought back to their wedding ceremony, it was a wonderful affair filled with laughter, love and hope. All their friends had come, looking clean in their dresses and suits. Noah had left last night, in wolf form, hollering and calling loudly to the moon. A makeshift bachelor party- a wild run in the forest and then some chilled beer at a cliff with a nice view. That left Vanessa to sit back at home, thumbing through her favorite book and smiling now and then. It was midnight when she decided to call it a night and go to bed- her last night as a single lady. Just then, she caught sight of a rustling figure outside the window. It was Noah, his hair windswept and his cheeks red from being drunk. He was
She watched his face, less shy about its location on the map of her body. He was smiling to himself, mischievous, his eyes on his work. Small pool of sweat gathered at her lower back, at the dimples he liked so much. He was finger painting.She gasped, trying to twist away as he wrote more. But he didn't have to. "Noah...." Was she going to weep? She didn't want to weep. "Is that a yes or a no?" The wolf was relaxed this time around. Like it had gotten what it wanted for the time being, she knew the decision was equally human. "Yes! Yes, I'll marry you." "If you can stop snotting, maybe then..." She hit his shoulder. When he kissed her, on the psychic plane, his wolf appeared. Battered, strong, feral. And with him- a bond. It was a great shining thing, like a falling moon. An orb born of love tumbling in the creeks, in the meadows. She had only to catch it. And she did. With it came a smaller bond-Ian. Unafraid, she linked herself to it. The distance between them felt like sph
The last thing she remembered was his claws digging in her ass, and their pleasure sated bodies a tangle of limbs. Where was he now? Not next to her. But he had slept, the bed held his impressions. Coming to herself, she blushed. His smell was so strong on her, hers had nearly vanished. She had an inkling that these were the signs of mating bond completing itself. Even he would smell more like Vanessa than himself. The animal was playing for keeps, and it wanted to be kept as an equal. She found him sitting on the porch stairs. She grabbed his shirt, shivered at how sensitized her skin felt, trying desperately to keep herself from looking at the spot of blood on lavender sheets. Thankfully, they weren't white. His marks, teeth, hand, claws pulsed in her body. Her body held his secrets more tenderly than it did anything else. He sensed her approach, straightening his legs, making space for her between them. She went, hiding behind her hair. His content was contagious. Bare chested
The satisfaction coursing through him was so arrogant, so unfaltering in its ownership, her wolf quivered a little in fear. If he consumed her, would she live to see another day? Intrigued, he rubbed his jaw against the inside of her legs, her scent decadent, strong. He fumbled with his jeans before pulling them down. His wolf wanted to take. To turn her around on hands and knees, mount her, and when she'd arch her neck in pleasure, take a bite. It'll hurt but he'd share the pain. "Noah?" She was still here. Legs spread, waiting for him. He smiled. His mind was playing tricks on him, he won't take her like an animal. That'll have to wait. He suddenly dipped his head and she shoved a discarded pillow to her face. Which was a good thing. Because the scream that tore out of her was no human. Her eyes shifted, her wolf begging to have her equal measure of the sensations. His eyes still on her face, he licked her between her thighs. The tender bud begged for his attention, which in h
When he threw up his shields, she was back in front of him. Tonight, there was no leash. She wanted to play, he'll abide. The wolf bared its teeth.... She shot out with a grin. Adrenaline shot through her, she was nowhere near as fast as him. But she could read his thought clear as a bright sunny day. Apart from the high of the chase, she was humbled by the trust. He lowered his shields to nil and let her in. She had yet to do that.He was getting closer, the wolf didn't try to hide the heavy breathing, his massive lungs resounding in warning because he wanted her to know when he was near. Claws out, canines protruding, Noah was no longer human. Not a single part of him. Heart raising hard and fast, she sharpened her run into the direction of lower range, a steep one her much smaller body could maintain running at. Noah's much larger frame would tumble at this speed, so he pulled out an old trick. He laid down and rolled like a barrel. Laughter bubbled inside of her. 'Nice trick.'
"I am sorry I made you feel unwelcome. Consider this an apology." He kissed her knuckles, a small key pressed to her palm, the soft crinkle of paper-a note. She couldn't read his thoughts anymore. But he walked away with a purpose. Dusk clambered in the Nebraska, the summer of dragging afternoons fast learning to evade the gossamery warmth for autumn seeping in sycamore trees, yellow golden leaves ready to replace the greens. Beyond the moonbeam dancing stream, stood two peaks, protecting the land from the unknowns, so many unknowns. The peaks, they are not exultant, and they no longer believe themselves to be the instrument of some great intention. They are, but a shadow of those living beings looking up at them, creatures grasping at life with stained hands. Waiting. Hoping. Vanessa hid her gasp, swallowing the thick ball of emotion in her throat. A heavy weight ruffled the decidous low hanging branches in the trees but she didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Her soul
Home.The black villa doors opened to reveal the place she had thought would save her from the mountain of debt she had buried herself under. The debt was the answer she had been waiting for, and apparently so was Silas. Greggory Flynn, she had kept his ashes in a thurible, had never given her complete answers. They arrived, to find Mikhail, Beatrice and Rourke waiting for them in the foyer. Vanessa was searching for Mrs.Kemp and her cupcake smelling apron. Beatrice looked healthier but the awkward distance between her and Mikhail didn't go unnoticed by anyone. "This here, little heathen, has more body count than me, brother. What do you say to that?" Evan dragged Vanessa from under Noah's arm to his side, strangling her in a side hug. Vanessa was beyond grateful. She didn't know how to break ice with Mikhail. The last time he had her tied to a chair in the basement, he had his reasons but that didn't make it okay. She didn't know where to go with him from here. She loved Noah but
Vanessa shuffled inside her closet, her claustrophobia all but gone. She was done packing but not ready to head back home. Things felt so incomplete. In past two days, she had tried to access Calvin's mind but had failed. When all of them, Selene, Falkner, Silas, Noah, Evan and Jodie convene for finalizing border control policies she had to tell them. She wanted everyone to know there were others like her, the Communion will want a hard proof. "Come in." She knew it was Evan. "Hii. I am resigning. Consider this official." He had been in a jolly good mood, he always was when he worked on secret plans but this time, Vanessa knew it was about Jodie. His mind was a back to back movie night on weekends, filled with lewd imagery of things he'd like to do to her.The powers did have it's shortcomings. "Resigning?" His shields were up. "Yes." Evan folded his legs, sat on the newly purchased futon, which Noah had gifted Vanessa because she liked to sleep on the floor. Bed after thirty six
He begrudgingly admitted nudity was her last preserve right now. She shifted but did a very poor job of hiding herself, the swell of her ass, small and pert with tan lines- he groaned- held his attention. Until he moved it to her shoulder. Stripes, more stripes of red, white, yellow, blue. What the fuck was it? How did she get bruises this bad? Before he could ask, she begged for a clothing. Anything he might have. He stripped off his shirt and threw it to her. She scrambled into it like she was on fire. No more inadvertent strip show, his cat saddened by the perspectiveShe knew what he was going to ask. It was always there, in the manner people stood, slightly skewed, uncomfortable of her reaction even before she had reacted. Scars. He had seen them. And she knew he won't let it go. "You aren't going anywhere until you answer me." Lonely, she wanted to be with her own kind after being denied association for so long. Walter Desmond's death made her breath for the first time, free