20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Tolly

T olly knew he should not sulk. Leigh did care for him and desire him; he could see it in his eyes even if not for the added passion he felt through their connection. But magic was old-fashioned. The pact required the power of words. Leigh had to say it. He had to tell Tolly or come the full moon, as soon as the sun set, Tolly would lose his legs and the others would come. There would be no hiding anymore.

The week passed, and Tolly dared not profess his love a second time for fear of alienating Leigh. He had to wait for the right moment, after they fixed the chaos around them.

Alvin was home and healing well, perhaps better for having Cary beside him. Tolly insisted that Leigh tell them the plan, at least Alvin, so he would not worry, and Leigh did, assuring Alvin that no matter how much the plan might seem dangerous, they had everything under control.

It was a good plan. Getting the detectives on board had been difficult, but in the end, they had agreed to participate. Tolly only wished he could help Leigh acquire the shop he looked at longingly whenever they passed it. Surely, if he helped Leigh get out of his criminal life, then he would love him. Leigh had to love him.

Once the week was up, there were only ten days left.

The day of the meeting, Leigh was calmer than he had been all week. He had to be to see this through, and Tolly projected as much calm as he could through their connection to keep it that way.

The other club was not very different from the one Tolly was familiar with. Open, dim, and mostly empty when they arrived, save Rosa, who had beaten them there, along with a single bouncer who opened the club for them and then left.

"Sweeney's cutting it close," Rosa said, eyeing them distrustfully.

"I'd focus on Moretti," Leigh said.

Sweeney would not be coming, but Leigh did not want her to know that.

A few tense minutes later, Leo Moretti arrived with minimal muscle to protect him as requested, two men only, though Leigh had told Tolly there would likely be more goons outside. Moretti might suspect an ambush, so they had to be ready for one too.

"You understand if I want my men to pat you down, considering we're on your turf?" Leo, the younger brother to Vincent, said. He was likely grateful to have his brother gone, Leigh had said, leaving him in power, but he would still want retribution.

This part of the human world truly was like Tolly's kin.

"Go wild, Leo," Leigh said. "We're just here to talk, but then you'll understand if we ask you and your men to set aside your weapons after?"

"Depends on what we find."

Tolly did not want these men to touch him, but he had promised to follow Leigh's lead and was prepared. The wire Leigh had asked him to wear was uncomfortable beneath his clothes. Leigh wore one as well. But as the goons came forward to check them, starting with Leigh and Tolly before one moved to Rosa, Tolly hummed ever so subtly beneath his breath.

You find nothing, he willed with a gentle nudge.

The man before him blinked as if in a daze, but he eyed Tolly hungrily when he said, "Pretty Boy's clean."

"Hurley too," the other added.

Tolly was glad when they moved away.

From Rosa they found a gun. Tolly had not used his powers to help her, but she was smart. Simply being armed was not betrayal. Leo and his men set their guns with Rosa's on a nearby pool table.

"What a good sport you are, Hurley, Miss Brookes." Leo shifted his eyes to Tolly. "Others. But Sweeney owes me the courtesy of being here too."

"He sends his apologies," Leigh said. "Alvin isn't doing well after that accident last week, so Sweeney was called away. I speak for his territory with full authority."

"You what ?" Rosa spat.

"No longer part of the inner circle, Rosalind?" Leo said, but everyone was on higher alert now. The goons could easily have hidden weapons since they had not been patted down in turn.

Tolly wanted to sing again now , but Leigh had warned him that they must be patient to get everything they needed for the detectives.

"Let's sit." Leigh gestured toward a circle of chairs. "And we can discuss where this relationship went sour."

"I believe it was your Robin Hooding," Leo said, though neither Leigh nor Tolly flinched, for Leigh would not be held accountable for anything he was accused of tonight since the detectives had offered him immunity. "You know, I had men scour this place before the meeting. They didn't find anything."

"Why would they?" Leigh said. "I'm no coward who'd plant a bomb ."

Leo looked curious enough to listen, but Rosa was trapped. She could not make a run for it, much as she seemed to want to.

Still, it was Leo who said, "Why don't we send the muscle into the back? We can discuss this just us three."

Tolly started. They had not planned for that . He could handle two on one with ease, but if he left Leigh alone and Rosa double-crossed them again….

Leigh did not allow any panic to show on his face. He looked at Tolly squarely and nodded as if dismissing nothing more than the bodyguard he pretended to be.

Tolly had to obey—they could not risk spooking Leo early—but he would listen carefully for the moment when Leigh gave the cue to sing.

Leaving the others to take their seats, Tolly led the goons into the back. There was a lounge for the waitresses, dancers, and bouncers that Tolly turned to instead of the office, but he still kept his senses attuned. He did not like the way the man who had patted him down had looked at him—and continued to look at him.

"You really the one who took out so many of our guys? With a face and body like that ? More like a night's entertainment than a bruiser. You cover both bases for Hurley, sweetheart?"

Tolly wanted to believe the comments were merely to rile him, but this man meant his lewd words. "It is not your concern what I am to Leigh. Our orders were to give the others space. That does not mean I wish to converse with you." He glanced over his shoulder and made sure to frown in the direction they had come from, instinctually prompting the men to turn around.

Quickly, Tolly spun forward to pulse his powers into the space behind the club, checking for signs of backup as Leigh feared.

"Trying to throw us off, Princess? Don't worry, talking's the last thing I want to do with you," the man said just as Tolly felt the resonance of his powers return a picture of a man outside the back door.

He spun with his arm outstretched, hoping to catch one or both of the goons off guard, but a hand caught his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. No matter, Tolly could easily overpower him and—

A sharp pain pricked his neck, and something burned into his veins.

"Like lull you to sleep, pretty thing, so you put up less of a fight."

They had poisoned him. He could feel an instant sluggishness overtake his body.

"Will you stop chatting, for chrissake?" the other goon said. "All we need is him out of commission so we can take Hurley out."

Leigh .

Tolly pushed past the spots blinking in front of his eyes and the way everything was blurry and spinning. He could not pass out. He could not leave Leigh to whatever fate they had planned for him.

"You guys already taking down the bruiser?" another man said—the one from outside. "Why ain't ya just killing him?"

"Boss wants to see if he can be bought into playing for our side after Hurley's gone."

" N-never …." Tolly gasped, limbs no longer listening to him, though he managed to stay conscious as he was flipped around and pressed against a table, the needle pulling away but nausea very much present.

"Not ready for your nap yet, Sleeping Beauty?" The first goon held Tolly to the table, daring to stroke his face and down his neck as he crowded in close to his body.

No one got that close to Tolly without permission, and he wanted to tear something to pieces at the fury it built in him.

The man. The others.

All of them.

"Still raring to go, huh?" The man held Tolly tight as he struggled and willed his body to heal the poison faster. "All the better in my opinion. Maybe we can have some fun before we kill you."

"You thinking with your dick now ?"

"What harm'll it do? All Moretti said was make sure Pretty can't come to Hurley's rescue." His hand drifted lower down Tolly's body.

"You will n-not touch me," Tolly rasped. "N-no one… is allowed to t-touch me but Leigh."

"Knew you were screwing him," the man breathed hot and unwelcome in Tolly's face.

Red flashed before Tolly's eyes as his fury grew, his claws lengthening even before he reached out to grip the man's wrist and pry his hand away, just barely able to hold him back but feeling his strength return as he burned through whatever they had poisoned him with.

"You will regret it if you do not desist," he warned.

"What's with his hands ?"

Tolly had too few days left. Losing his form would make it harder to change back, but the man did not seem to care about his fellow's comment.

He leaned forward and hissed at Tolly, "I'm gonna have you, fight or not, and enjoy every minute of it."

Tolly slammed his head into the man's face, barely feeling the thunk of contact before he gripped his wrist tighter and twisted with the full force of his claws, like popping off the lid to a jar—enough for the hand to fall to the floor.

Before the man could scream, Tolly grabbed his neck and yanked him forward to ram their foreheads together once, twice more, then released him to leave an unconscious heap on the ground.

"The fuck !" one of the others sputtered, but all Tolly saw was prey .

He growled as his fangs extended, eyes sharpening as they darkened to their true color, scales freckling across his cheekbones and down his neck, but his legs remained strong and stable to carry him across the room where the others backpedaled to escape him.

"What—!" one tried but was cut short by Tolly slicing his throat and ramming a knee up into his stomach. He was lucky Tolly had not punctured more deeply, but still he coughed and gasped as he bled onto the floor where he fell.

The final man, the one who had come in from outside, was mute and trembling, too terrified by what he saw of Tolly to do anything but flounder.

"Only Leigh is allowed to touch me," Tolly growled with an inhuman resonance as he reached out with both hands, deep red and further spattered with blood on his claws, to grab him by the front of his shirt and haul him closer.

"Please…," the man said, soiling himself—Tolly could smell it—but it was the other voices drifting in from the main room that stopped him from sinking his teeth into the man's throat with a bite .

"Liar!" Rosa screamed. "I didn't kill Vinny! It was you!"

Leigh . He was out there alone going forward with the plan. Tolly had to reel in his true form. He had to calm down.

"P-please," the man said again, while Rosa kept shouting. Leigh spoke calmly but loudly back at her, and Leo said nothing, which meant he was not sure what to believe.

Tolly had to do his part. He had to act. Now .

Glancing back at the men on the floor, one missing a hand, Tolly felt the nausea of what they had injected him with surge up in his throat again for how easily he had fallen to his nature and what his kin were capable of.

Then he opened his mouth and sang because it was something he could use his powers for that was not monstrous. It was supposed to be soft and subtle like his humming, but he was too far away from Leigh now and had to project as far as possible.

Tell the truth , he sent through the song.

The men on the floor were out, but the one at the end of Tolly's claws fell to the song with startling clarity.

"I killed my cousin, took out teenagers before, dozens of 'em, beat my girl within an inch of her life. Am I dead? Is this hell? Coz I'd rather be skinned alive than face whatever pit you crawled out of."

Tolly threw the man into the wall, slamming his head hard to knock him out with the others. That was hardly a truth that surprised him, because he still had claws and fangs. He could not let Leigh see him like this. With every ounce of power left in him, he willed his body to be human. He had to be human.

Before it was too late.