By
N. L. Paradox
© 2019 N. L. Paradox
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews – without written permission from its publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright ©2019 N. L. Paradox
All rights reserved.
The Awakened Universe
Entwined Fates Series
Resurgence
Fugue State
Call of the Hunt
Convergence
Pilgrimage Series
Whispers of Temptation
Dark Odyssey
Finding Sanctuary
The Rising Storm Series
Marking Territory
Hazel Dorm, Tearmann Institute, Newfoundland
As usual, I was up at the exact same moment the sun was starting its slow creep upward from the horizon. What wasn’t usual, but at the same time unsurprising, was the feeling of the warm, cuddly form that was currently snugged up against my side with arms and legs entwined around me while the figure’s head was pillowed upon my breasts.
Unable to help myself, I smiled down at Ashley’s still peacefully sleeping form and very gently brushed a lock her brilliant, red hair off her face. I’d actually anticipated that we would be sharing a bed last night, and if she hadn’t come to me, I certainly planned on going to her.
Before you even think about it, there was no sex involved here. Ashley, and Kitty for that matter, might swing both ways, but I was strictly into guys. This was strictly platonic. No, that’s not quite accurate. This was a matter of pack, and the pack always took care of itself. While Ashley certainly didn’t possess the wolf instincts that constantly guided me through life now, she understood the concept far better than anyone else I knew with the exception of my parents. Maybe that had to do with the fact that she was considering a career in veterinary medicine, and that gave her a better understanding of the animal world. Hell, it could have been because she was the sweetest, kindest, and most giving person I’d ever met in my life, and she simply accepted me for who I was. Whatever the reason, there would be no kind of awkwardness between us when she finally woke up and found herself in my bed with me.
Not that I would be there when it happened. Given how upset she had been last night, I suspected it would be better to simply let her rest instead of waking her up for our usual morning run. That was fine with me; a good night’s rest would hopefully do wonders for her bruised spirit. So, I would let her sleep while coping with my own inner turmoil the only way I knew how to: physical activity.
Normally, I liked to do one of two things when something was bothering me: hammer away at a blade at my forge or shift into wolf form and go hunting. Since I seriously doubted anyone wanted to hear me banging away on my anvil at five in the morning and I still hadn’t received permission to go hunting yet, I needed an alternative. Thankfully, I could still just get out and run like every other normal person, albeit with a slightly different style. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was the best I could do at the moment.
Tiptoeing around the room, I quietly gathered up my workout clothes before slipping out of the bedroom and carefully closing the door so I wouldn’t wake up my slumbering friend. From there, I quickly slipped out of my nightshirt and panties and into the skin-tight workout shorts, compression panties, and sports bra. Thankfully, mornings weren’t cold enough yet that I had to start wearing leggings. It wasn’t so much that they were form-fitting, but I was always worried about them snagging and tearing. Considering my particular workout style, that was a very real possibility.
As I quietly padded down the stairs, a tiny sound reached my ears. Anyone else would never have been able to hear it, but that was the benefit of having wolf-enhanced senses. Not only was I able to hear it, but it was easy to figure out just what was causing it. Apparently someone else had the same idea as me this morning.
Leaning against the wall at the base of the stairs, I folded my arms beneath my breasts (I’d finally gotten used to doing that; only took a couple months) and waited with a small smile on my lips. It wasn’t long before an absolutely gorgeous girl with long, chestnut hair and a body currently packed into skin-tight workout wear that any guy would kill to get his hands on, tiptoed past where I was standing. It wasn’t until she had taken two more steps when she seemed to realize someone was standing right next to her.
Two things happened simultaneously at that point. The girl whirled about while her mouth opened to undoubtedly utter a startled cry, and I quickly clamped my hand over that open mouth. “Shhhhhh,” I hissed, “Ashley’s still asleep.”
When it was clear the girl wasn’t about to yell or shout, I lowered my hand and found myself the recipient of a firm punch to the shoulder that barely hurt. “What the fuck Aiden?” the girl whispered harshly, “You know better than to scare me like that. I could have chopped your head off before I realized it was you!”
“Relax,” I soothed, “I would have grabbed your hand before you could do that. I just didn’t want you waking her up.”
Her eyes narrowed as though she wasn’t convinced of my bravado and physical prowess before sighing and nodding. “How bad is she?” Kitty asked with clear concern in her voice.
Letting out my own sigh, I pulled on my shoes and socks before grabbing a piece of paper towel and a pen from the kitchen. “She was in her own bed for maybe five minutes before crawling into mine. She fell asleep pretty fast though,” I allowed.
“That’s because she knew you were there to protect her,” Kitty informed me as she pulled on her own footwear, and I scribbled out a quick note letting Ashley know we’d gone out for a run.
Something in my friend’s tone made me look over at her and raise an eyebrow slightly. “Kitty,” I asked with genuine concern, “are you jealous that she usually comes to me if she’s scared about something?”
“No,” the girl denied immediately with an accompanying shake of her head. A second later, she huffed out a breath and nodded. “A little,” she admitted. “I mean, I know the two of you have a pretty tight connection since you became friends before you really met Angie and me. And you’ve got that whole wolf thing going for you, which is pretty damn impressive when it comes to being a protector. But…”
“You can make knives that can slice through probably anything on the planet,” I finished for her with an understanding nod since it was a perfectly reasonable line of thought. Ashley was… I don’t want to call her the ‘damsel in distress’ of our little group because she definitely wasn’t that. It was more like she was fragile. Considering everything she’d gone through the last few years, losing her parents, getting stuck with a couple of psychopathic foster parents, getting kidnapped just after Awakening by a psychopath that wanted to dissect her… that was enough to have anyone develop some pretty serious mental and emotional issues.
Maybe it was because of my ability to shift into a wolf… and by extension a giant wolf/(wo)man hybrid that was an unstoppable killing machine… that Ashley had looked at me as a protector more than Kitty. My ability was much more visible in that I went through a complete physical transformation, whereas Kitty simply generated glowing energy blades in her hands. I knew that our redheaded friend considered Kitty a very close friend and protector as well, but there really wasn’t any point in denying that we were closer.
; “You know that she loves you, right?” I reminded Kitty.
“I know,” the girl replied with a sad little smile, “but I also know she loves you more, and I’m okay with that,” she said quickly when I opened my mouth to argue the point. “Besides, I’ve got Angie and lord knows we love each other more than anything. I don’t mind being second fiddle in our friendship.”
I wanted to try and tell Kitty that she was wrong, that Ashley was more than capable of loving both of her friends equally, but something in the girl’s eyes told me it would be a waste of breath at the moment. Instead, I just nodded and pinned the note to the door before the two of us stepped out into the crisp, morning air.
Ashley’s need for close, physical contact last night was largely… okay, completely... due to the rather significant bombshell that had been dropped on us via the news. Actually, it was a pretty big bombshell for the entire fey race currently living within the United States. The CEO of Westlake Industries, Harold Westlake himself, decided to hold a press conference where he labeled every fey in the country as a threat against the human population and should be dealt with accordingly. Oh yeah, and he announced he was running for president as well. Needless to say, all of us were more than a little shocked by this, but Ashley certainly seemed to take it worse than anyone. That’s actually a bit ironic since Kitty had a much closer connection to Westlake than any of us.
It was that irony that had me glancing over at Kitty as we jogged down the marked path that traversed the circumference of the school grounds. “Tell me something,” I asked, “why weren’t you more upset about Westlake?”
Glancing over sharply at me for a second, the brunette’s eyes quickly returned to the path before us. She didn’t answer right away, and I knew it wasn’t because of a lack of breath. While not as physically capable as I was, Kitty was still in excellent physical shape, and the speed of our run was easily slow enough to have a conversation without gasping. “Who says I wasn’t?” she fired back with a slight snap in her voice.
I didn’t say anything in response, since I suspected from her tone she had more to say. Instead, I just continued to silently run at her side and allow the girl a few moments to collect her thoughts. “I wanted to throw a knife through the TV,” she admitted after a brief lull in the conversation, “and not because I was angry. No, I was angry, but that wasn’t what I was really feeling.”
“So, what were you feeling?” I coaxed gently, which isn’t easy to do in the middle of a fairly brisk run.
“I was scared, almost terrified,” she said in a quiet, gasping breath that revealed just how much of a strain the combination of the run and the topic was taking on her. “I know better than anyone what that man and his company are capable of,” she said, looking over at me with a haunted look in her eyes. “They basically created me for Christ sake, and I’m not wholly convinced they didn’t know about or come up with that conditioning procedure that almost made me a sex slave.”
“But Angela said…”
“Angie’s a genius hacker,” Kitty interrupted me, “but she’s not omniscient. Just because she couldn’t find anything in the systems she had access to at Westlake when she was undercover doesn’t mean that it isn’t there somewhere. There could have been a secure site that wasn’t connected to the building’s internet. It could have been worked on at a completely different location. Hell, Westlake could have it on his computer system at home for all we know,” she said in an increasingly agitated voice.
Without any warning, Kitty suddenly veered off the path and streaked into the woods that surrounded the Tearmann Institute. I adjusted my course and easily kept up with her, but I suspected our conversation was over. Apparently, my friend decided she would rather go wolf running than simply jog around campus.
That was fine by me, considering I’d basically invented the damn thing. Well, as far as I knew anyway. It wasn’t really all that much of a novel concept. Basically, it was free running through the woods, only without all of the stupid acrobatics. The focus was on speed and fluidity rather than showy jumps, tricks, and flips, just like when a wolf went after its prey.
It was also very strenuous. While I could do it and not even end up breathing hard, most people didn’t possess the stamina of a wolf that I did. The speed and effort to dodge around, over, or even under obstacles in our way tended to make any kind of conversation impossible. Trying to have a friendly chat was pretty stupid when your attention needed to be completely on your surroundings so you didn’t trip over a root or run face-first into a tree.
Still, the fact that Kitty had suddenly chosen to do this was more than enough to tell me there was a lot going on in that genius brain of hers. Between the sudden need to push herself like this and the mixture of anger and fear blending into her scent, it was pretty clear Ashley wasn’t the only one who had been strongly affected by Westlake’s announcement yesterday. So, I gave Kitty her metaphorical space and just ran with her, giving the wolf inside of me just a little bit of control so I would be able to easily navigate the forest while also keeping an eye on my troubled friend.
It was that small, almost insignificant decision that probably saved her life. Because I’d given myself over to my other senses to guide my movements through the woods, it had freed up my vision that remained firmly on Kitty. That was the only reason why I noticed her lose focus of what she was doing. It was only for a second, but that was enough to have the toe of her shoe catching on a dead branch that had long ago been torn from its trunk.
Normally, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, and more than likely, Kitty probably wouldn’t have even tripped. However, my friend had put on a burst of speed that had her practically sprinting through the forest. Considering when she really pushed herself like this, even I had trouble keeping up with her (I was made for long distance, not insane speed in short bursts), that tiny little catch of her toe was enough to have her practically go airborne. Ordinarily it would have been kind of funny, seeing my friend go flailing moments before face-planting in the grass. It had happened before and we’d all gotten a pretty decent laugh out of it.
No one was laughing this time when her flight sent her careening straight for a fallen tree trunk with a spear-like branch aimed directly at her rapidly approaching throat.
I reacted without even thinking. Planting my foot, I pivoted hard enough I could practically feel my bones scream in protest while the tendons just gave up the fight and snapped almost instantly. Gritting my teeth against the pain that shot up my leg like liquid fire, I threw myself at Kitty as hard as I could and wrapped my arms tightly around her the moment I felt the two of us collide. Somehow, I managed to twist us around in the air a split second before pain exploded through my shoulder and collarbone, ripping a scream out of my throat.
“Aiden!” Kitty screamed in horror, scrambling out of my arms and looking at me in shock.
I tried to stand up, but the combination of lava tearing through my shoulder and chest as well as the odd sensation of feeling completely pinned, kept me right where I was. “Owwww,” I moaned in a voice that tried to hitch with tears. “Son of a bitch!”
“Hang on,” my friend ordered, moments before a knife of glowing white/blue energy suddenly appeared in her hand. An instant later, I could feel the tug of whatever it was that had me pinned from behind release its hold on me, allowing me to sit up. “Be careful, it’s still in you.”
‘It’ happened to be a section of that branch-spear that had punched through my shoulder and collarbone instead of Kitty’s windpipe. “How bad?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“There’s enough for me to get a grip on and pull it out, but it’ll probably hurt like hell,” she warned me.
“Do it,” I ordered her an instant before a howl of pain flew from my lips as I felt like the inside of my shoulder was being torn out of my body along with the tree branch. “Fuck!” I yelled before gasping for breath and uselessly grabbing at my wounded shoulder.
“I warned you it would hurt,”
Kitty reminded me with a hint of a smile in her voice.
“Shut up,” I snapped before taking a deep breath and just letting my body do its thing. After about a minute of me growling and panting against the white hot pain, it gradually reduced down to a low, dull throbbing that was pretty tolerable. Ten seconds after that, the pain itself had pretty much vanished and the wound that the branch had left behind collapsed in on itself before disappearing altogether. Anyone who hadn’t been with us in this very moment would never even know that I’d just suffered what in all likelihood was a very serious or possibly even fatal injury. I’d even managed to take the injury in a way that hadn’t caused my sports bra to get torn, so no one would be the wiser. Ah the beauty of being a werewolf, having an absolutely sick healing factor.
“You okay?” Kitty asked as I slowly got to my feet, which had healed long before my shoulder wound was taken care of.
“I think that’s my line,” I told her, pinning my gorgeous friend with a knowing look. “You wanna tell me what that was all about?”
“What are you talking about?” Kitty exclaimed, though I could hear the faint thread of uncertainty in her voice.
Taking one step towards her, I lifted and placed my hands on my friend’s shoulders while looking her directly in the eyes. “Kitty… pack.”
It was all I said, and the only thing I needed to say. Even though she didn’t have the spirit of a wolf living inside of her guiding her through life, Kitty had spent more than enough time around me to learn and understand my more feral idiosyncrasies. Kitty, Ashley, and I were a pack. Yes, I had my parents, Ashley had her mother, and Kitty had her lover Angela, but there was a closeness, a bond between the three of us that really did transcend basic human familial connections.
Marking Territory: An Awakened Novel (The Rising Storm Book 1) Page 1
