Chapter 14

" Y ou fucked both of them at the same time?" Tori screeches gleefully as we pick up our coffee order to go, her grin filling her face. The barista the other side of the counter nearly drops our coffee as he goes to hand it over to us. He re-evaluates me as his eyes travel up and down my body, a sensual smile appearing on his face. I snort out a laugh and nudge Tori in the ribs.

"Bloody hell, woman, you don't have to tell the whole city," I hiss, but I can't keep the traitorous smile off my face. I walk away from the counter, ignoring the appraising looks from the barista as I walk to where the sugars and stirrers are kept. A cackling Tori follows behind, finding my embarrassment hilarious. "Well, I'm glad you're getting some amusement out of this," I jibe, but I sling my arm around her shoulders to reduce the sting of my words. She just grins at me and shakes my arm off so she can start pouring sugar packets into her coffee. I shake my head at her in mock disgust as she proceeds to pour her fifth sugar into the drink.

"I still don't know how you can drink it that sweet. You've ruined it," I tease, scrunching my nose up in disgust. What a waste of perfectly good coffee.

This is the one thing that the two of us have always disagreed on ever since I moved in with her all those years ago. I still remember when I sat on her sofa and she told me I was moving in. I wasn't given an option, not that I had many other choices. I'd been sleeping on the streets those first few weeks, and I had bumped into Tori—quite literally bumped into her. She had taken one look at my scrawny body and feral appearance, and had taken me to a burger joint. I hadn't trusted her, hell, I didn't trust anyone, but I was starving and she was offering free food. She had explained what she was, and that she knew what I was, and that I was going to be staying with her. I can't tell you why I decided to trust her, but I just had this feeling, and that gut instinct had never lead me astray before. So, when I was sitting in her apartment as she was explaining how everything would work, she had given me a drink with more sugar than coffee in it. We had then bonded over our opposing views on coffee.

I shake my head as I watch her take a drink of the monstrosity she has created with a happy smile on her lips.

"I don't know how you can drink it like that." I frown, taking a sip of my own coffee, savouring the rich, slightly bitter taste. "Ahh, now this is proper coffee," I comment, grinning at her look of disgust.

"Stop stalling. Tell me, tell me, tell me ," she chants, and I know she won't let this drop until I tell her all the gory details.

"Well, I didn't have sex with both of them at the same time…just one after the other…while the other was watching…" Tori's eyes get bigger as I continue to talk, her grin growing as a knowing look enters her eyes. "Okay, fine. I gave Killian a blow job while Garett was fucking me," I admit quietly, as we walk out of the coffee shop, my smile scandalous.

I almost can't believe it happened myself, but when I'd woken up this morning, they were both still sharing the bed with me, one on either side of me, with possessive arms thrown over my waist. I'd worried that Garett would have been upset about sharing me, but I pulled him aside this morning before he left to talk to him.

Garett steps out of the bathroom with a towel slung around his hips, water dripping from his hair and trailing down his body. I've never been jealous of a towel before, but I have a ridiculous urge to rip the towel from his body. I'm not sure what expression I'm wearing, but whatever Garett sees causes his eyes to light up as he leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms with a smile as I walk towards him. Pressing my hands to his bare chest, I let my fingers walk down to where the towel is knotted, hooking my fingers over the edge before gently pulling the towel a little lower. I glance up at him and smile at the look of utter adoration he's giving me. It makes my heart hurt a little, knowing that someone as good as Garett loves me, and I wonder what I did right to deserve it.

"Are you okay with everything that happened last night?" I ask softly. I'm afraid of the answer, but I have to ask. Seeing my face tighten with worry, Garett wraps his arms around me and pulls me in close to his body. I don't care that I'm getting wet, I'm just thankful he's holding me. He wouldn't do that if he was about to reject me, right?

"Well, it didn't exactly go how I had imagined it," he says wryly, making guilt course through me. "Killian isn't exactly my favourite guy, but I understand you guys share this bond. I'm not always going to want to share you, but it was unexpectedly hot." I pull away at his words so I can look up at him, gauging his mood. He's smiling, and I know he's telling the truth. Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I brush my lips against his, moaning as his hands drop down to my ass, picking me up as I wrap my legs around his waist…

"Earth to Ari!" Tori's amused expression lets me know I've been caught out having a sex daydream. "Man, here you are with your very own little harem and having sex with multiple guys each night, and my poor vagina is seeing less action than a nun. It's as dry as the Sahara down there—"

"Tori, will you stop talking about your vagina in public?" I laugh, not at all surprised with what she's saying. She doesn't seem to have a filter, and she certainly has no shame. Red-faced members of the public, who've obviously overheard what she was saying, are hurrying by with grins or looks of shock on their faces. "What happened to that guy from the pack. Mark was it?" I ask, ashamed to admit I'd completely forgotten about him until now. Tori had gone on a few dates with one of the lower-level wolves, and I know for a fact that they'd been sleeping together. With a dramatic sigh, she links arms with me as we walk down the street towards the park we had agreed to check out together.

"Oh, little Mark. I broke his heart, you know? You wolves are really possessive and overprotective. I just wanted some fun, but he wanted to settle down." She does sound regretful as she says this, but I know she can be quite harsh when ending relationships. Poor Mark.

"So what's going on with you and Eric?" She sounds hesitant as she asks this, and I narrow my eyes at her. "What? He's a good guy! You should give him a chance. He is literally starving while you're trying to make up your mind, but he's too nice of a guy to say anything."

I huff out a sigh, knowing that she's right, I just don't want to accept it.

"Don't I have enough guys without fate coming and messing with my life again?"

"So you don't have any feelings for him?" Tori inquires with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no. I didn't say that. I don't know what I feel. I mean, sure, he's attractive, but I never thought that we could have a relationship, so it's weird to think about being in one with him now," I explain, biting my lip as I run through it in my mind. Eric has been the perfect gentleman since he arrived at the pack, and the guys seem to get on with him, except Killian, but that's no surprise. I can't deny that I'm beginning to have feelings for him, but how can I trust if these are my own feelings or just the bond we're supposed to share? I felt an attraction to him before, when I thought he was human, but had never thought that going forward with my feelings was an option for me.

We fall into silence as we mull over everything that's been said, the reason behind why we are both here weighing heavily on our minds.

We enter the park, and Tori glances around before nodding in a certain direction. We're in the park where the latest kidnapping happened. We received a call from the avian shifters' alpha this morning, telling us that one of their falcons had been taken and the body was dumped here in the early hours. The body had been mutilated again.

"Have you found anything? Are your bloodhound senses working?" I tease, knowing Tori hates it when I compare her to a magic sniffing bloodhound. Her rare ability makes her very useful for things like this, but she hates it when I use that analogy. She glares at me, pointing at me threateningly.

"If you don't cut it out with the dog jokes, I will hunt down another mate for you." Her tone is teasing, so I know I'm not really in trouble. I mock gasp, clutching at my chest. I don't think I could cope with another mate.

Following Tori to an open spot in the park, I watch her silently as she makes some sort of gesture with her hands and then drops to her knees, feeling for something on the ground.

"Tor, what are you doing?" I mutter under my breath and look around us, the humans are sure to start asking questions if two people are rummaging around in the grass.

"Relax, I placed a spell. The norms can't see us. Get down here, will you?" she instructs, and I roll my eyes as I crouch down to her level, looking at the plain grass, wondering what the hell she's looking for since it just looks like grass to me. It feels like a weird place for a crime scene, and although she has assured me that the humans—or norms, as she calls them—can't see us, it feels like we're exposed. Mumbling under her breath, she's frowning as she runs her hands over the ground.

"They have a really strong magic user," she mutters, her eyes narrowed as she continues whispering before sitting back on her heels with a smug grin. "But not as strong as me. Got ya!" Her face is lit up, but soon drops to a frown again as she looks at the ground. I look down at what has her attention and gasp, falling back a little when I see that we're surrounded by a ring of glowing, purple runes. I have the heebie-jeebies just looking at them, but Tori doesn't seem worried, so I guess they aren't dangerous.

"Chill out, Ari, they aren't active, the magic has been used up. This is just like a fingerprint. You can't use magic without leaving an imprint behind. I used my magic to make it visible," she says distractedly as she looks closer at the runes, running her fingers over them.

"Do you know what the spell was?" I ask quietly. I don't know why I'm whispering, but my hackles have risen and my wolf is prowling under my skin. I glance around us to check no one is watching. There are only a few people in the park with us, and no one seems to be paying us any attention. Tori's spell will stop the humans from seeing us, but any supernaturals walking by would be able to see what we're doing. Alex had wanted us to bring the others to make sure we were protected, but I had said no. Tori and I can look after ourselves, plus we're in a public place during the middle of the day.

"Hm, there are runes of holding, silence, and invisibility here. So they wanted to keep hold of the shifter for a while and make sure no one saw or heard anything. There are some more complicated ones I need more time to explore. I'll draw them and research them later."

"Can't you just come back?" I question, confused by her hurriedly scribbling in a notebook she has produced with a flick of her hand.

"The imprint fades with time, which is why I said we needed to come here today. We needed to make sure we got here while it was still fresh," she explains, but I can tell she isn't really paying attention, her gaze firmly on the runes, which now that I'm looking at them, I can see that they are fading.

My wolf jumps to the surface again, ready to protect me, trying to alert me to danger. The hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, and I know we are being watched. I try to glance around surreptitiously so not to give the game away, and out of the corner of my eye, I see someone just outside of the park, watching us. They aren't even trying to be inconspicuous, so I decide fuck it , I'm going to let them know I'm aware they are watching us. Turning to face the stalker, I glare at them before realising I recognise him. He was one of the agents from ASP that took me in for questioning, the one who warned me that my pack was going to be attacked. I don't remember his name, but he was the friendlier of the two agents. I narrow my eyes when he doesn't move, and he just keeps watching us. After a moment, he turns and walks away. I take a step forward to follow after him, needing answers.

"Ari, everything okay?" I glance back down at my best friend. I'm getting a bad feeling, and I can't just leave her here on her own. I grumble internally but smile at her anxiously.

"We were being watched, but they've gone now. Can we hurry this up?" I ask, watching as she looks around with a frown before nodding and closing her notebook, and it disappears again with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah, I'm done now anyway."

Standing up, she waves her hand over the ground and the glowing runes disappear.

"I'm going to drop the shield, so the norms will be able to see us. Just start walking like we were here all along," she explains in a low voice, as she links arms with me before snapping her fingers and pulling me into a walk. No one seems to notice anything, and the two of us talk about inane things just like two best friends walking together would. We leave the park and start heading down the street. We had planned to grab some dinner together and are now on the lookout for somewhere to eat. My appetite has soured after what we discovered and being watched, but I'm determined to enjoy my time with Tori. We see so little of each other now that I'm living with the pack and she's staying somewhere safe. We had decided it was best if I didn't know where she was staying, in fact, no one does. This makes me nervous, since I won't know where to go if anything happens to her, but it's safer that no one knows.

We walk through town towards the quieter, industrial area. It's a little-known secret that one of the best Italian restaurants in the city is out here, and while it's a little way out, it's worth the walk. The sun is beginning to set, but it's still bright enough where we can see everything, the view around us is bathed in a warm, orange glow.

"There's no way you can fit a whole slice of pizza in your mouth," I scoff at my best friend as we walk, my shoulders shaking with laughter. That laughter just increases at the indignant look on her face.

"Ari, my friend, you seriously underestimate me. I could totally—" Tori's argument is cut off when we hear a strange noise. Frowning, we stop walking to see if we can hear it again, glancing around us.

My adrenaline causes my wolf to perk up within me, putting me on high alert again. Tori looks green, like something is making her ill.

"Someone's using magic," she gasps out, like it's choking her. "Strong magic."

For a moment, I think they are using it on her. I've not seen her react to magic being used like this before, and it makes panic rise inside me. She points towards an alley farther down the road, and I realise she's showing me where the magic is being used. I strain my ears to see if I can catch anything, but all I can hear is our breathing and quiet footsteps as we creep forward.

As we reach the mouth of the alleyway, I look over at Tori. I want to tell her to go somewhere safe, but I know she would just be insulted, besides, she can probably protect herself better than I can with the amount of firepower she has with her magic. A feeling of menace is rolling from alley, and I know whatever is happening is evil. With a deep breath, I take a step into the alleyway and feel my stomach drop at the sight before me.

A male shifter is pinned to the ground by glowing spikes of what I assume is magic. I can see that he's screaming from the look of agony in his face and the way he's thrashing around on the ground, but no sounds are coming from his mouth. I remember what Tori said about the runes we found in the park, marks of silence and holding. They were keeping him silent while they tortured him, so no one heard him and came looking. Three guys surround the shifter, they're wearing cloaks with the hoods up like something out of a sick movie, but I can tell from the power coming off one of them that he's a wolf. Crouched over the poor male pinned to the ground, the shifter twists in his position, slicing into the bare chest of the male with his partially turned hand. As he turns, part of his face becomes visible, and a sick smirk greets me as he enjoys the screams of the shifter. I recognise that sick smile, I've suffered under the hands of that twisted fucker. Terrance. The now Alpha of Shadow Pack.

" Just do as we say, Ari. It's simple. One little job, and you can come and join us in the main house." Terrance's voice washes over me from where I kneel in the dark, grimy room. I've heard this all before, this little routine where he acts like what he's about to do pains him.

"I'll treat you like a princess, you'll have whatever you want. All the food you could eat. All you need to do is a little job for us." I shudder at the mention of him treating me like a princess, I know how he treats his women. My stomach betrays me at the mention of food and growls loudly, twisting painfully, reminding me that it must have been at least a day since I last ate anything.

"I hate treating you like this." Liar. "Just say yes."

I usually just stay silent, but today feels different, maybe madness has finally hit me. I lift my head to look at him, the gentle shift of my body makes the chain around my ankle rattle. They don't usually chain me, but I tried to attack them last time, so this is my punishment. Terrance's face lights up as he sees me lift my head, especially when I give him a small smile.

"Go fuck yourself, Terrance." The words are rough and raspy. I haven't spoken to anyone in a while, so the words break from my dry throat. It's worth it for the look of fury that crosses his face though. He sighs and takes off his suit jacket, the one he always wears since he thinks it makes him look cultured. Rolling up his shirtsleeves, he walks towards me, fists raised. I know I'll suffer all the more for my remark, but I can't help it.

"I don't want to do this, Ari, but your actions force my hand." His regretful tone is ruined by the bloodthirsty look on his face and the eager anticipation that flashes in his eyes.

I'm dragged back out of the memory when Tori shakes my arm roughly. Now is not the time for a trip down memory lane. Rage fills me as I run my eyes over the bastard that made my life a misery, and my wolf pushes to the surface. I'm tempted to shift and let her tear through Terrance and the bastards torturing the poor shifter on the ground, but I don't know what effect the runes they've cast will have on me. Besides, my shadow powers might be more useful here. If I can control them, that is. One of the robed dickheads must sense we're here, as he spins around to face us, his mouth opening in a shout, no doubt to warn the others that someone's watching them. They're all looking at us now, even the poor sod pinned to the ground is straining to look at us, and even though his voice is silenced, I can see the words he pleads at us.

Help me.

I look at Tori, and I'm sure my expression matches hers. Fury like I've never known is etched across her face, and her eyes glow purple in what I know means she's about to let loose a whole bucketload of magic.

"Let's fuck shit up," she eloquently says before stepping into the alley, her hands now glowing with her unearthly power. Her hands flick, and I see the same circle of glowing runes surrounding the end of the alley where the shifter and his attackers stand. "Avoid stepping over the circle, the magic is still active," she grits out as I see her fingers moving in complex patterns. I have no idea what magic she's using but I trust her, she'll deal with any magic users. Terrance, however, is mine.

As if he can hear me, Terrance stands up and pushes back the hood of his cloak, a look of sick joy crossing his face. His hands are covered with the blood of the trapped shifter, and as he steps over the rune circle, I can smell it on him. He reeks of alpha power, blood, and fear.

"Ari, what a delight that you're here! I hadn't anticipated getting my hands on you today, must be my lucky day." Glee dances in his eyes as he steps towards me. There are flashes and bangs of magic being used around me, but when I glance over, I see Tori and one of the robed guys locked in a battle of wills, silently staring each other, only their lips and hands moving. The coward hasn't moved from his protective circle of runes, and I see that Tori is struggling to break through it.

I need to end this. I close my eyes and focus on that power within me, rage making it easier for me to find. I concentrate on my body and let the shadow come forward, making my body go invisible. I watch, with pleasure, the furious look that falls over Terrance's face, before his eyes light up .

"You've been working on your powers. You're so strong, fit to be the mate of the Shadow Pack alpha. Come home with me, Ari, see the world I'm creating for us."

I shudder at his voice and the implications behind what he's saying, he truly believes that what he's doing is right. A cry from Tori has me looking around, seeing her on one knee, with blood dripping from a wound on her shoulder. Her eyes flash red, and the air around her starts steaming as she calls her hellhounds to her.

I ghost toward Terrance, aiming right behind him so I can become corporeal behind his back. Just as I arrive behind him, the other robed dickhead who's been silent and unmoving until now steps into my path. I'm so focused on pushing back my shadow that I don't notice. Pain, light, and screams of agony reach my ears. I look around in shock, the alley is coated in blood, and Terrance has spun to look at me, his face glowing with adoration and glee. I look around me in confusion, what the hell just happened? I'm covered in blood, but I can't see any wounds.

Loud snarls fill the alley, and Terrance has the decency to look nervous at the presence of hellhounds. He runs back into the rune circle, nodding towards the magic user, who makes some gestures, causing a blinding light to cover them. Once the light fades, they're gone, including the shifter who was staked to the floor. Although I couldn't hear Terrance after he crossed the runes, his message was clear. Soon , he had mouthed to me.

Turning my attention to Tori and the two snarling hellhounds standing guard in front of her, I eye her for wounds. Other than being exhausted and having the wound on her shoulder, she looks okay. I know calling the hounds takes a lot of her energy, so she will have to wait a bit before she sends them back.

"What the hell happened?" I ask, slumping to the ground next to her, leaning against the wall of the alley.

"I was going to ask you the same fucking question!" she responds, gesturing to my blood-soaked body. "You disappeared, and then you reappeared behind dickhead number one, who I assume you knew. But then you fucking ripped the other guy apart when you reappeared inside him!" My eyes widen at Tori's explanation, and I look down at my body in disgust, now understanding what the strange bits stuck to me are—bits of body. I shudder. I didn't realise it was possible to reappear inside someone! I lean forward and vomit as reality sets in. I just killed someone. I keep vomiting until all that's coming out is stomach acid, burning at my throat, while tears stream down my face. I'm dimly aware of a hand on my back and Tori's voice in the distance. The only thought going through my head was the look of excited delight as Terrance realised what I'd done.

Like I am exactly the monster they hoped I would be.