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Loric won’t be able to kill us if he mates us. His beast won’t let him. On top of that, his merry band of misfits won’t be able to touch us or push us into harm’s way again. Shifters have an unspoken code, a hierarchy, and none of them will cross their alpha, not when it involves their mate. It’d be a death sentence.
I glance out of the corner of my eye, smirking at Brenn when he sucks in a breath and puts more space between us.
The only question is, how do I seduce a creature without knowing what or who they are? More importantly, how do I facilitate it while Calamity has control?
A whimper draws my attention to the red haired woman, Vik. Her shoulder oozes blood from a deep gash as Faelor helps her move closer to Loric. I suppose a good way to start is to make friends with his friends.
When the gods bless you with the ability to heal, you heal. You heal your way right into some mysterious man-creature’s heart… because nothing saysmate memore than that.
I don’t finish taking a single step forward before Brenn opens his mouth. “She tried to kill me! The creatures were attracted to the light.”
“Figure that out all by yourself, did you?” I arch a brow at him.
“You helped minutely. That is, if you consider trying to coerce one of those things to eat me, helping.” Brenn puffs his chest, stalking closer toward me.
I snarl, flashing my teeth and he jumps back a few steps. “You wanted us dead and if it weren’t for me taking control, that thing would be picking our bones out of its teeth.” Closing the distance between us, I lift a hand, spreading my fingers wide as darknessheeds my command. I won’t kill the fool. It wouldn’t bode well for the courtship I’m about to initiate with the prime specimen of a man he calls his alpha.
It doesn’t mean I can’t scare him into submission though. He hasn’t tasted power yet. Not like ours. The magic that courses through our veins is ancient and beyond anything the fake blond pipsqueak can imagine.
Darkness leaves me, rippling out over the ground like fog. Brenn starts to turn, like he plans to run away, but I whip a hand out, a rope of ink-like power cracks through the air, wrapping around his middle and holding him in place. I inch closer, my eyes never leaving him. “Do you feel that?” The darkness starts to travel over his skin, running up and down his flesh like poisoned veins. Calamity might have to touch the person to use our magic, but I don’t, not when I’m in control.
Standing directly in front of Brenn now, I tilt my head back so he can see my face, giving him a smile that’s all teeth. His skin reddens, his breaths uneven as he feels the draw of my power. It’s slow and steady, but more frightening than anything.
“Focus on it, the way your heart seizes, incapable of pumping with my power wrapped around it, the strain of your lungs as they fight for air, the pressure in your head…” I poke him in the chest. “Next time you want to play hero and shove me into the jaws of death, you better succeed. If you don’t, this is what it’ll feel like as I pull apart every cell of your fucking being. Understand?”
Brenn nods, the tendons in his neck straining. “I understand,” he forces the words out, but it’s enough.
Satisfied, I let the life I pulled snap back into his body and he stumbles out of my clutches. “Good.”
Leaving Brenn gasping, I shoot Mira and Vik an innocent smile, deciding to start my healing rounds with them. Brenn cango last, though I’m certain the only thing he has to heal is his black heart.
“May I help?” I ask Vik, nodding to her shoulder. “I can fix it. It’ll be like it never happened.”
The red-haired woman casts a glance behind me, likely seeking her brother’s permission. Her features are pulled tight as she tries to breathe through the pain, then her purple eyes meet mine and she gives a curt nod. Faelor and Jesper step away, but Mira stays at the woman’s side as I place my hand on her shoulder.
This time, instead of darkness, it’s light that leaves me in pale yellow threads, linking my hand to her body like stitches. Her skin moves, fraying at the torn edges of the wound, bending and weaving together until the gash is closed and all that’s left is a shiny new scar.
Vik sucks in a breath as I remove my hand, glancing in hurried movements from me to where the beast tore into her shoulder. “Thank you,” she breathes.
“This might have started because of a debt, but you’re helping me. It’s the least I can do.” I give her a tight lipped smile before turning to Mira and doing the same to her hand. It doesn’t give her a thumb back, which I’m sure Brenn is going to be ecstatic about, but it does heal the ripped flesh and the break in her wrist and fractured knuckles.
Slowly, I make my way through each of Loric’s friends, taking away the injuries they sustained from the never cats, skipping Brenn for obvious reasons, and ending with Loric. Pursing my lips, I stop a few feet away from him, linking my hands behind my back.
“I can help you too, you know.” He doesn’t answer. With a cant of my head, I let my eyes flash bright, coaxing out the beast within him. It’s like a dare he can’t resist taking. His jaw flexes and a muscle feathers in his cheek as he growls low in his throat,but the man gives in. Silver eyes glow as they meet mine, his lips twisting into a smirk but his beast doesn’t say anything, just stares.
Perhaps his creature is a mute.
I tread closer until I’m standing in front of where he’s seated on the ground, the blood spatter still covering most of his face and body. The scent of it is too strong to know if he’s wounded beyond what
I can see. There’s no way of knowing if the crimson stains on his clothes are his or the beasts I killed, and something tells me he doesn’t intend to give me the answers I seek.
Crouching down, his gaze bores into mine. It’s both mesmerizing and terrifying in equal parts.
Hesitantly, I reach for the scratch on his face, running from the top of his ear to his chin. It’s shallow, and it seems like his body is healing quickly, anyway, but this is a peace offering. A dance. If I’m to convince him to protect me, until death do we part, his beast has to want it and healing this wound is my olive branch.
I can’t count on Calamity to swindle her way into matehood. She’ll fuck it up somehow.
She’s scared, terrified of the new world we’ve stepped into and yet thrilled to be free, but she’s never been very trusting of others. She'll keep her mental walls up and her legs closed, which is precisely not what we need right now.
