Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

ARCHER

" I 'm her m—" the guy as tall as Luca starts to answer from behind our mate. Izzy throws her arm back and connects with him. She groans, and he grunts as her elbow hits his solar plexus.

Izzy turns to face him and whispers, "Not here. There are too many ears." He gives her a nod and straightens up.

Elbowing people in the gut is more like my sunshine. With her blonde hair, delicate bone structure, and pale skin, Izzy does look like the embodiment of the sun. She also smells like berries and sunlight. It's only when you look into her eyes that a few clouds appear. Izzy's eyes are like the ocean during a hurricane, emotions constantly swirling and crashing in the gray depths.

Despite her prickly personality, Izzy's emotions flit across her face. She's horrible at hiding what she's thinking. It's adorable, but I'm pretty sure she'd stab me for calling her that. It might be worth it, though.

Speaking of shanking me, I wondered if Izzy had been body snatched when she ran over and crashed into me. Her tiny arms banding around me in a hug caught me off guard. When she whispered that she'd stab me if I told anyone, I barely held back my laugh. At least I knew it was, in fact, my sunshine.

She probably didn't mean for us to hear her whisper to Bishop about her nightmare. With our enhanced hearing—perks of wolfing out—we could all hear what Izzy said. I have the urge to hug her again, but I doubt she'd be open to it.

That's okay. I'm an expert at slowly wearing down people until they have no choice other than to accept my affection. Just look at Cain. I only get punched twenty-five percent of the time when I try to hug the guy. That's a huge improvement.

Izzy sighs before spinning to face us. As she's mid-spin, she stops and looks at something over Bishop's shoulder. From where I'm standing, it looks like she's staring at three girls who are giving her death glares. I wonder what the fuck their problem is. "Fuck me six ways to Sunday," she says with a groan.

That's certainly an image my dick didn't need. I can't get the thought of fucking Izzy over and over out of my mind. Now, I'm hard. Cool, cool. Not awkward at all. "Gladly," I respond, knowing that's not what she meant.

Izzy looks at me in confusion for a moment. Her cheeks, dusted with freckles, turn pink when she realizes what I was talking about. She rolls her eyes at me. "Hilarious," she comments dryly.

"I wasn't joking, sunshine." I give her a wolfish grin. Izzy's eyes widen before she ducks her head in embarrassment. It's cute. Her looking away also gives me an opportunity to adjust myself without her noticing.

"Who are they?" Luca asks with a head nod toward the three girls. Izzy avoids eye contact with him, suddenly finding something on the ground fascinating.

"Those are the girls who love to make Izzy's life hell." Bishop is the one to fill us in. "They treat her like shit, then try to hit on me. It's baffling."

A growl rattles in Luca's chest, and he advances on the girls. Usually, I try to rein in my brother's violence a bit. Now, however, I'm all for him eliminating anyone who hurts our mate.

Izzy rushes over to him. She grabs his hand and tugs him to a stop. "Cool your jets, wolf boy." I snort at what she calls him. I'm sure it grates on him being called a boy, which just makes me enjoy it even more. "Saying or doing anything to them will only cause problems for me. How about we go somewhere else to talk?"

Luca looks at Izzy for a long moment. Seeming to come to a decision, he turns away from the girls, who have a very short life expectancy if they keep hurting our mate. He intertwines their fingers, not letting go of her hand. I'm jealous that he gets to keep touching her. "Where do you want to go, little mate?"

Her lips part in shock before she turns wide eyes on Luca. "You're going to need a new nickname for me, my dude. That's one thing you can't say here."

After considering her, Luca's lips quirk up in a barely there smile. "I can do that when we're around mages, little one."

Izzy lets out a little growl at the nickname. "I'm not little!" she protests.

"Whatever you say, little one." Luca is purposely antagonizing our mate, if the grin on his face is any indication. He seems to love messing with her. Most people wouldn't dream of sassing Luca the way Izzy does. While he tries to seem annoyed at her attitude, he likes her fire.

Izzy huffs and turns to Bishop. "I'm thinking Annie's Diner."

Bishop chuckles and gazes at our mate with so much emotion that witnessing it makes me feel like a creep. "You want French toast for this conversation?"

"French toast makes everything better," Izzy responds with a nod. She glances over Cain and me. "I refuse to eat French toast anywhere else because it's always an affront to the French toast gods." I manage not to laugh at how serious she is about a breakfast food. I'm getting the sense Izzy lied when she said savory instead of sweet in our game of This or That.

"How'd I know?" Bishop teases her with a fond smile. "You want me to open a portal?"

Before Izzy can chime in, the tall guy says, "I'll create a portal, little raven." He waves us over to him.

When I get closer, I realize he smells…off. While he has the typical peppery scent of mages, it's almost like it's covering up something. Underneath the mage scent is something that smells like smoke, fire, and a hint of sulfur. It's weird.

He waves his hand and mutters gibberish before the most metal portal I've ever seen appears. I'm used to portaling with Bishop, whose rip in space is ringed in blue sparks. Instead of sparks, this guy's portal is rimmed in flames. There's also a yawning black void in his portal, rather than wherever we're supposed to go.

"In you go, wolves, mage, and little raven," he tells us with a sweep of his hand. Izzy eyes the portal warily before stepping through. Bishop looks reluctant but is willing to follow Izzy anywhere.

The fact that the mages are suspicious of the portal doesn't bode well for us. Our mate went through, so I guess we have to. "If this is some trick to hurt my brothers, I'll take great pleasure in ripping out your intestines and strangling you with them," I tell the man in an upbeat voice that's at odds with my words. While Cain isn't related to me by blood, he is my brother in every way that matters.

He lets out a booming laugh. My eyebrows raise in surprise. The man's not even a little intimidated. "It's not a trick, wolf. You're her mates, so I won't hurt you. Hurt her, and you'll be begging for the relief of being strangled when I'm done with you," he says evenly. The only indication that he's bothered by anything is that the red rings around his pupils grow to swallow up his irises.

He's one creepy motherfucker.

Nodding to show I heard him, I walk through the portal. Instead of the typical feeling of slogging through maple syrup, I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. My stomach flips, and I feel like I'm falling for a heartbeat. Then my feet touch the floor outside of a fifties-inspired diner.

Looking side to side, I realize that we're on Hawthorne Grove's main thoroughfare. Red cobblestone sidewalks and a mixture of red brick and colorful clapboard-sided businesses, all squished together, line the paved street. Along with awnings, the businesses also have old-fashioned picture signs hanging out front.

It's a charming downtown for a less than charming town. Hawthorne Grove is known to be hostile toward any supernaturals who aren't mages. Most of us avoid this town. With our mate living here, we'll have to suffer through dealing with the arrogant mages here. Hopefully, we can convince her to move somewhere else, like Lockwood, where our pack is, once she's done with the required mage school.

I had no idea she was young enough to still be in school until Bishop mentioned it. Izzy seems much older than early twenties. Our mate has been through something to force her to grow up fast. I just wish I knew what it was.

I'm so glad wolves aren't required to go to college. School has never really been my thing. Our parents died when I was in my junior year of college, so I never graduated. Even if our entire pack hadn't been thrown into chaos, I probably would have failed out, anyway.

Running our pack is a full-time job for the three of us. We should've had thirty more years to fuck around before we had to assume responsibility. Somehow, the three of us managed not to run the pack into the ground, but none of us were ready for it. Cain handles the administrative work. Luca handles leading the pack. I handle the dirty work that keeps our pack safe. Luca and Cain join in on the hands-on stuff, too, because that's way more fun than pushing papers or resolving disputes.

"That was not a normal portal," Luca gripes as he steps out of the portal. Cain follows him, looking a little seasick. For a man with such a brutal reputation, Cain sure is a wuss about roller coasters and boats.

The man with weird eyes walks out of the portal last. His unnerving gaze immediately finds our mate. It softens with affection before scanning the area around us for threats.

"Who is he, sunshine?" I ask with a nod at the guy. I can't contain my curiosity any longer.

Izzy's stormy-sky eyes flick to the man and back to my face. "That's Levi. He's my combat instructor, and he's like you."

"I don't know what he's told you, but he's definitely not a wolf." If this guy is trying to pass as a wolf shifter, he really needs to work on his scent. It also rubs me the wrong way that he's lied to our mate.

She snorts. "Not a wolf, Archer. I mean, he's like what you are to me," Izzy tells me with a genuine grin.

It takes me a few moments too long to realize what she's saying. "Ohhhh," I draw out when it finally dawns on me that he's also her mate. Luca raises one eyebrow at me, and Cain just shakes his head in exasperation. It's not my fault she was being vague.

Izzy giggles at my confusion, the sound tinkling like bells in a shop door. It's the most carefree sound I've heard from her. My chest puffs up in pride that I was able to make our mate laugh like that.

Making people laugh is something I'm great at, if I do say so myself. With an older brother like Luca, who's perfect at school, sports, and being likable, I needed to find a way to stand out. Being the class clown at least got me noticed growing up.

After our parents died, Luca and Cain needed the reminder to laugh and enjoy life. They were so caught up in running the pack, they forgot to live. It was slowly killing them. I did everything I could to cheer them both up. As the years have gone on, Luca and Cain have both started to be themselves again.

Although, I don't think Luca will ever be the laid-back playboy he was in his early twenties again. The massive amount of responsibility he had to take on has changed Luca forever. In some ways, the responsibility was good. It made him grow up and consider the needs of others. In other ways, it wasn't positive. Dealing with the aftermath of the attack hardened Luca and made him close himself off.

As for Cain, well, his issues started way before the attack. I'm not sure he'll ever be like he was as a boy…before everything. I sigh and rub my hand over the back of my head. Maybe our mate can help him.

Shaking my head to clear it of my worry for Cain, I focus back on our mate. "Ready to get the sustenance of the gods, sunshine?" I ask Izzy as I hold out my hand for her to take. She fights the grin that's trying to cross her full lips as she watches me for a moment. After assessing me, Izzy blows out a breath and puts her hand in mine.