Tommy
The common room was a hub of noise and mess. Not even the closed door of my office could drown out the absolute chaos that was going on out there. There was no point telling them to quieten down either. Everyone was wound up now that the news of the white goat being tossed on our doorstep was common knowledge.
Leviathan was going to call. Our fearsome leader himself. It wasn’t the first time he had given us a mission, but it wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence. Even if it was, I did not doubt that my club brothers would act in exactly the same way. They were a fearless and furious group of men, but there was something about Leviathan that made even the most hardened of men cower.
Possibly because he was a dragon. But I suspected it was more to do with his utter ruthlessness. The Legion of Vidar was led by some of the most feared creatures out of myth. Some were massive monsters who ruled their chapters with brute strength, and others who were wicked and cunning. Creatures like me were the latter. I didn’t have the size or power of Leviathan, but I was clever and sneaky. My name was whispered in fear, or at least it had been back when I went by Bloody Bones. Back then I generated fear. But it was nothing compared to the terror that Leviathan caused in people.
“What do you think he wants?” Raze asked from his place opposite me across the desk. He appeared totally at ease, his shoulders relaxed, his long legs stretched out with his muddy boots on my desk. Flakes of dried mud fell on my papers. His face told another story though. Raze was worried, and it showed. The skin around his eyes was tight, and his lips had thinned to a straight line. The cigarette in his hand was almost forgotten, the ash growing longer and longer by the second. Any second it would break off and land on my neatly stacked papers.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, pushing his feet off with a huff. “Get your damn feet off the desk. you’re getting mud everywhere.”
I hated mess, and it was well known. My mind had been a chaos vortex for so long that I couldn’t stand it. Everything had to be organised and tidy. It was the only way I could keep my sanity.
“And find a damn ashtray.” Grumbling, I closed my eyes for a second, sucking in a deep breath.
Maybe my men weren’t the only ones that were anxious. I might have been a touch nervous, as well. Not because I was afraid of Leviathan - I classed him as a friend as much as anyone could, but because I had a sinking feeling in my gut. I’d had it since the moment I had woken up in a cold sweat.
Something was going to happen. And it wouldn’t be something good. It was never good. The last time I had felt like it was the morning I had found my brother with his wrists slit open and his life’s blood drained over the forest floor. My instincts back then had told me that something was about to change my life. I had been right.
And I had the same feeling that very morning.
“You are such an anal bastard,” Raze muttered, his voice dragging me out of the past and back to myself. He tossed the still-smoking end of his cigarette into his coffee mug and leant back to stare at me again. “You honestly have no idea? Levi doesn’t just drop goats into the compound for nothing. He usually just lets us get on with things.” The wolf’s eyes narrowed into slits. He thought I knew something and was keeping it from him. “You must have some idea.”
“I wish I did.” I shrugged, my shoulders barely moving. My whole body felt stiff. Like I had slept awkwardly, when in truth I had barely slept at all. I wasn’t human. I didn’t get aches and pains from something so mundane as lack of sleep.
“If I knew, I would tell you.”
“But you think it’s going to be bad, right? I can tell by the way you're acting.” Raze let out a chuckle. “You’re even more uptight than usual, my friend.”
I grumbled loudly but didn’t correct him. I was uptight. “Yeah, it’s going to be bad. When is it anything else?”
“That’s true. Probably dangerous as well.” Raze rolled his lips under his teeth, not bothering to hide his excitement.
“You look like a fucking kid at Christmas,” I muttered.
“Can you blame me? It’s been a long time since we had anything juicy to sink our teeth into.”
Chuckling, I let my eyes meet his. “I’m pretty sure I saw you sink your teeth into something juicy last night.” I wanted to change the subject and it worked. Raze's smile grew into a full-blown grin.
“She likes what I have to offer.” He shrugged his shoulders in mock coyness.
“You seem to have taken a liking to her as well. I’ve seen you with her several times these last few weeks.”
“She’s feisty as fuck, and I like that in a woman. Not afraid to use her teeth.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“She's human.” I didn’t mean for it to come out so distasteful. Like being human was something less than what we were.
“So? Without humans our kind would have gone extinct. Wolves mate with humans all the damn time these days. Stop being so old fashioned.” He pulled another cigarette from the pack in his pocket, lighting it with a flourish.
“Mating? Are you thinking of mating her? Making her your old lady?” I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice. It wasn’t unheard of for members of the Legion of Vidar to take mates, but it was pretty rare.
“Maybe, I don’t know yet. You should think about finding a regular woman of your own. She might help dislodge the stick up your ass,” Raze joked.
Frowning, I pondered his words. A mate of my own? A woman who loved me and who I loved in return? That kind of thing happened to other men. Not a creature of nightmares like me. I would never take a regular woman. Everything I loved ended up dying. And with them, a part of me died as well.
Raze might have been happy to risk his sanity for a woman, but I never would.
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