23. Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CREED'S POV

H ours of my life wasted in a room with three idiots asking basic questions. They didn't know the first thing about a proper interrogation. Their methods were as weak and pathetic as they were.

Tracers. Dogs of the corrupt council.

They've wasted precious time I needed for planning the Christmas party at the abattoir. There were only a handful of days left, and I still had too much to do.

On top of that, we had the issue of that tiny black pill making its way closer to our domain. And all the scum slithering from the shadows hopped up on that shit and thinking they could take a shot at us.

I barely had time to sleep these days, let alone waste it talking to the Council's dogs about shit they'll never find real answers for.

Annex pushes open the main door to the academy, with Ezra, Mallyn and I following as he grins, talking about catching up with Red. Again.

His thoughts always seemed to stray to Micai. He and Ezra were becoming more and more embroiled in her, spending every second they could with her and losing sight of our goals. We have plans, and they need to remember the bigger picture of why we started all this.

The group coming to the party this time has connections that would be useful to our plans. We only need to show them a good time and play ‘nice' for the night.

But everything has to go smoothly. Getting rid of this new little black pill before it entered our territory was our first priority, and after that making sure our guests were happy on the night of the party is our next. The boys could take their ‘playtime' after all of that is said and done.

"Do you think she'd still be in bed?" asks Annex, glancing toward Ezra.

"It's already been a couple of hours. She's probably gone to get something to eat." Ezra smirks, glancing in the direction of the cafeteria. "Micai loves her food."

Annex chuckles, veering off and heading toward the direction of Ezra's gaze. Ezra follows right behind him before I call to them.

"Be back before nightfall. We have another job to do tonight."

They both turn back, their expressions darkening as they stalk over to me.

"We're not working tonight, Creed. We're taking the night off and spending it doing what we want." Calls Ezra as Annex nods beside him.

"I'm pretty sure you did that last night, Ezra," I add as he rolls his eyes.

"I already did my fucking part last night—" barks Annex, a frown pulling his brows together.

"And left me and Mallyn with the clean-up this morning." I scowl at him, the ass simply shrugging.

"Still did my part."

"You can plan your little sleepover for another night—"

"Hell no."

I narrow my gaze at Annex as he cuts me off.

"We're not working tonight, Creed."

"We've been doing a lot lately. We need a break, Creed," adds Ezra, brushing a hand through his hair, a tired look pulling at his features.

"Yeah, Christmas is coming up, and I wanna do something special with Red."

"We don't ‘celebrate' Christmas Annex." I sigh. None of us ever did more than go to a couple of parties over the winter holiday. We never celebrated it like other people in town or the academy students would. Families and traditions …they disappeared from our worlds a long time ago. If they ever existed, to begin with.

"That was before . Now we have Red, and she deserves the best. We missed her birthday, so this has to make up for that, and all the years we weren't around," Annex says as Ezra nods. "And maybe with Red, we'll properly get into the Christmas spirit. I can already imagine us placing balls on some huge oversized pine tree. All of us snuggled up beside a fire and watching old holiday movies and drinking that eggnog shit. Or vodka. Whatever Red would prefer." He shrugs. "All that good holiday stuff. I don't even mind wearing matching pyjamas and shit. I'll do it for her…as long as she lets me take ‘em off later. I'll be her Santa, and she can be my ho-ho-ho ." He chuckles, finding his own joke hilarious as Ezra rolls his eyes but grins anyway.

They were both going crazy. Or crazier in Annex's case.

"But in all seriousness," Annex continues, a softer look taking over his features, "The thought of waking up on Christmas morning wrapped in those soft little arms and opening presents together before burying myself in her…Sounds like a proper slice of heaven to me."

Ezra scoffs, shaking his head. "Either way, we plan to spend our time with Micai, Creed. She's one of us now. So either you let us go to her, or she comes to us."

I glance back and forth between Ezra and Annex, a heavy sigh falling from my lips. They were serious about this.

I open my mouth, but Mallyn cuts me off.

"We found a lead for the black pill being distributed." He glances briefly at me before turning to Ezra and Annex. "They're a few towns over but moving closer to our domain. We don't need that leaking into our territory…it could cause unwanted casualties."

He gives them a pointed look. Her name passes through my mind as they glance back and forth between each other. It was a good ploy by Mallyn to bring it up while discussing Micai. For her, they would listen. To protect her and to keep the place surrounding her safe, they would do what they had to do.

"Fine." Ezra agrees with a sigh. "It better be real and not a waste of our time." He looks my way as I give him a curt nod. The source was reliable.

"Fine, but I'm taking my time with Red now." Annex swings around, looking to dash toward the cafeteria, but suddenly comes to a stop, a small group standing in his way before he can move.

A dark chuckle leaves his lips. "What do we have here?" He calls.

And I know that dark voice. He's pissed and ready to play with whoever these poor bastards are.

I glance toward Ezra, his eyes narrowed at the group of three guys in front of us, his fists clenching before a dark smirk tilts his lips.

"Going somewhere?" he calls, a tone Ezra only reserves for our enemies.

My brows pull together. Who were the pitiful bastards that pissed off both of my brothers?

"Perfect timing." Annex cracks his knuckles before reaching for the blade tucked down the back of his trousers. "I wanted to pay you bastards a visit anyway."

"Annex," I bark, halting his movements before he shoots an annoyed glare my way. "Don't start shit for nothing."

"Nothing—" Annex shouts, his frustration bleeding through in his tone as Ezra interrupts him.

"It's not nothing, Creed," Ezra seethes, taking the space beside Annex and glaring at the three guys in front of them.

"We don't have an issue with you," some dark-haired guy shouts from the trio.

"That's too bad, ‘cause I have plenty with you, asshole." Annex grins dementedly, taking a step closer to them.

"W-we don't want to fight—" Calls the smaller blonde-haired one, his eyes flickering back and forth between Annex and Ezra, a terrified look bleeding through his expression. Annex has that effect on people.

"I don't remember asking." Chuckles Annex.

"I don't know what Micai has said, but—"

And that's all it takes. Annex lunges for the brown-haired guy, knocking him over before laying into him, fist after fist. The guy must be a shifter since he tries to put up a fight. But it's a losing battle against Annex when he's pissed.

"Kane!" the black-haired one calls, trying to reach for Annex, but Ezra knocks his hand out of the way, a stand-off happening between the two of them as the noise of Annex's hits gets louder.

"Move," the guy grits out, but Ezra simply grins.

" Make me."

I'd never seen Ezra this angry before or wanting to fight. They mentioned Micai, so clearly they were connected somehow.

I glance between the three guys, a strange annoyance bubbling under my skin as I stare at them.

"Xander," the blonde one yells to the guy facing off against Ezra. His eyes spark gold and Mal moves closer, his own beast pushing forward and glinting in his eyes.

Xander turns toward Mal, sensing the dominant shifter aura pouring from him. Hell, even I feel it.

And the moment their eyes meet? He flinches, taking a step back instinctively, knowing Mal's beast was not something he wants to fuck with.

Annex straightens himself, the guy on the ground covered in blood and beaten to a pulp. "Keep my woman's name outta your mouth…or next time, I'll rip your tongue out." He twists around, glancing between Mal and Xander, a deranged grin pulling at his lips. "Picking a new chew toy, are we, Mal?"

Mal ignores it, honed in entirely on Xander, watching on as a tremor works its way into his clenched fists.

"Keep away from Micai," Grits out Ezra, his tone a dark threat promising pain as his glare switches between Xander and the shaking blonde one. "Whatever happens in the future, whatever realisation you come to when your fantasy finally cracks…Know that it's too late." A feral grin stretches his cheeks. "She doesn't want you. You never deserved her to begin with."

Annex chuckles darkly beside him, blood dripping down his fists as he leans an arm against Ezra's shoulder.

"If you so much as glance in Red's direction again, I'll happily hunt you down and flay the skin from your bones. I'll bleed every drop of blood from each and every pore and slice open every tendon and muscle, letting you heal just enough so you don't die…" He leans forward, his demented grin stretching wider. "Only to rinse and repeat that shit until I get bored." He smirks. " Which could take a while ."

"M-Micai is our friend." Stutters the blonde, standing beside Xander. "We've never hurt her. She…" His brows pinch together, his gaze falling to the ground with a conflicted look flitting back and forth in his eyes before he meets our gaze again. "We would never hurt M." His face twists up, a look of sadness coating his features as he opens his mouth again—

"Xander?" A soft female voice calls from behind them.

Xander turns toward her call like a beacon, the fear seeping from him almost instantly as he turns to meet her shocked gaze. "Seria?"

She rushes over, noticing the blonde standing there slightly frozen, and wraps her arm around him.

"Anders, are you okay?" she asks, her voice sickly sweet, leaning in toward him. A slow smile appears on his face, the conflicted frown from before gone in the blink of an eye as she smiles at him.

She turns back toward Xander, reaching for his hand before he wraps it around her waist.

"What's happening here?" she calls, her gaze meeting each of us, shying away from Mallyn and Annex and staying on Ezra's too long before she finds me. A strange glint forms in her eyes as she takes a step toward us, letting go of the boys around her.

"You're Creed, right?" She tries to give me a smile, but the look slightly irritates me. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't like the feel of this one.

She takes another step forward, and Annex lets out a low growl, stopping her in her tracks.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding—"

"You seem to have a lot of those," Ezra adds, cutting her off.

Seems my brother had met this one before and didn't like her. Usually he didn't display his hostility so openly, but he was blatantly glaring at the blonde right now.

"Save the excuses. We're not interested in the bullshit. Just keep your distance. Or next time, I'll let Annex hang you all from the top-level windows and slit you open." Promises Ezra darkly.

My brows raise with my usually level-headed brother's threat.

"Why wait, brother? I can start now." Annex whips out his blade, flicking it in the blonde's direction.

She shrinks back, her gaze finally falling on the bloody body a few feet away. Her eyes narrow before widening. "Kane?"

She turns back toward Xander as he pulls her closer. "He's okay…he'll heal."

I glance toward Kane , noting the cuts ever-so-slowly mending on his forehead.

"But—but why?" She twists back toward me, her eyes almost pleading. "Whatever Micai has told you…" She shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes as she flickers them from Ezra to me. "I-I know Micai isn't happy that the guys and I are together…Maybe she still has feelings, but…We've done nothing wrong, you can't listen to—"

"Enough," I bark, tired of her whiny voice and the bullshit falling from her thin lips. "You're wasting my time with this shit."

I glance toward Annex. "Next time you meet them…Make it quick and clean it up properly when you're done." I turn to each set of eyes on me, some turning away as I let some of my power lose. "You're not worth our time. But if you piss one of my people off— for whatever reason —you'll suffer the wrath of us all."

Annex's grin grows manically as the blonde's mouth parts in surprise.

I quickly realise what it is that bothers me about her.

She's fake. This was all a well-crafted show to her.

One well-wrapped in her ‘innocent' persona. But if there's anything I could smell easily, it was corruption and manipulation. I had been with enough women to be able to tell when someone was playing a game or some type of rouse. And she stank of it.

How the hell were she and Micai siblings? They were nothing alike.

Rumours indicated she didn't get along with her sister…And I'm almost sure from that interaction that it's her sister spreading them.

Maybe there was more to Micai's background than I initially thought.

But with a sister like that, who needed enemies?