by KT Strange
“Never again,” I promised her. “I will never do that again. He… I’m just grateful you answered the phone.”
“Well I almost didn’t. You know I hate unknown numbers. But I’ve been freaked out you might call and I’d miss it… I’ve barely slept.” She was laying it on thick, but I deserved it. I’d put her through hell. I was a dick.
“I’m gonna go to Nashville,” I said. “I’ll go to the venue… maybe… maybe you shouldn’t’ call Willa yet.”
“Seriously? Are you… deranged? Do you want to get kicked out of your program and your internship and… and everything?”
A pair of headlights slid across my vision, cutting in from the parking lot outside. I squinted and looked down to avoid the brightness.
“I… I just want to see them first, before… before she has a chance to talk to them,” I finished lamely. The dull twin thuds of car-doors slamming shut made it hard to hear her response.
“—but whatever,” she said.
“What?” I asked. But I didn’t hear what she said next. Because across the restaurant, I saw my father walk in, Creston Hailward at his side. I dropped the phone, my fingers going numb. Mary swept up to them, a smile on her face. I could see my father’s distaste from across the restaurant. Fear gripped me, and I couldn’t move. Creston lifted his chin, and as he was about to look over in my direction, the lightning inside me burst out. My hand, resting on the metal edge of the table, crackled, and the power in the restaurant died, sending us all into darkness.
There were gasps all around me, and for a second, I was dumbstruck. Another breath and I was up out of my seat, turning left and running down the hall toward the gas station part of the complex. The hum of electricity followed me, buzzing in my ears, but the station was still dark. I didn’t look behind me. Light streamed into the station from outside, making it easier to avoid several customers who were standing still, confused, in the blackness of the power outage.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled as I bumped into a tall trucker, before stumbling out the front doors and into a deluge of rain.
I could almost hear Creston’s voice whispering my name, the ghost of his fingers on my skin…
There was a cab by the far pump, waiting there with its light on. I bolted to it and threw open the back door, scrambling in.
“Airport, please,” I said to the startled driver, who dropped the hamburger he was eating.
“Uh, it’s pretty far, it’ll—"
“Please!” I pulled out a stack of twenties and his eyes went wide.
“Okay, okay, kid, okay,” he said, turning back to his steering wheel and putting the car into gear. I turned around, staring at the gas station. The lights flickered and came back up. I let out a breath as we rolled out of the parking lot.
“Seatbelt,” the driver reminded me, his voice hushed.
“Uh huh.” I reached for it and clicked myself in. At any moment, I expected my father to come storming out, red lightning around his fists.
The gas station disappeared behind me.
He never arrived.
I closed my eyes and slumped down against the seat.
I was never going back ever the fuck again. Ever.
Twelve
Finn
I was fucking everything up, and I didn’t care. The other guys were pissed with me, except Ace, who had taken to dogging my footsteps and sitting next to me as if he could shelter me from the anger of the rest of the pack.
He may have been the youngest, but sometimes I thought he was the wisest. He knew I was sick from missing her, because she wasn’t just some girl or our manager, or even the girl we’d hoped would be our pack-mate. She was my bond-mate, she was mine. If the other guys had gotten close to her, enough to bond her like I had, they’d be feeling it too. But they weren’t there yet. They didn’t understand. Ace got it and he did his best to make me feel comfortable during shows.
We pulled into Nashville around the middle of the afternoon. Glory Rev’s bus was already in the lot outside the venue. The guys decided to load-in and head out to some comic book shop that was apparently famous or something. I was listless and didn’t want to go, but Ace convinced me with his big damn eyes and his pleading voice. He didn’t want the pack to get separated.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that without Darcy, the pack was already separated. She was our heart, our center, even if she hadn’t fully clicked into place yet, she was ours. Without her, I, and the pack, were nothing.
Faking an interest in comic books I didn’t really care about, I hung out by the door of the shop until it was time to head back to the venue. There was a soft buzz of chatter as we got about half-a-block away. Eli frowned, my twin’s forehead creasing. Charlie even lifted his nose from his phone.
“The hell…” Cash squinted as we sauntered up to the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn. There was a crowd of kids at the venue gates, maybe a couple hundred. “Did someone drop a wad of one-dollar bills or something?”
Our van was just beyond the crowd, and I could see the security guards, three of them, eyeing the teenagers with frowns on their faces.
“Glory Rev’s new single dropped last week and it’s doing well,” I said, my voice dull even to my ears. Even a crowd of happy fans, waiting to see their favorite band, wasn’t enough to raise my mood.
My phone buzzed and then the other guys twitched as theirs did too. Charlie already had his out and he answered it.
“Willa? What’s up?”
“Should we go around, so we don’t make the fans mad they can’t get in. They might think we’re fans too, and if security lets us in, they’ll be pissed…” Ace murmured to me as Charlie talked to Willa.
“Seriously?” Charlie’s voice was incredulous. “No, I had my notifications turned off, I wanted an afternoon with the guys. I didn’t see the socials on that…” He looked at us and then motioned to his phone. I rolled my eyes and pulled mine out, checking our Instagram.
Notification after notification scrolled across my screen. Our Instagram had blown up, and our Twitter too. Ace was staring down at his phone. Eli didn’t have his phone out, but he was looking over Cash’s shoulder to see the screen.
“Shiii—" The curse died in Ace’s mouth as he gawped up at me.
“We’re going around,” Eli growled, and crossed the street, away from the crowd instead of toward it. We tagged along after him. I shot a questioning look at Charlie who waved a hand at me to say just a second you impatient jackass. I only know because he’d actually said that out loud to me in the past.
“Got it, alright, thanks. Yeah, we’ll thank her. Talk to you later, Wills,” he said affectionately and ended the call. Cash shoved his hands in his pockets as we walked around the long way to avoid the throng of fans.
“So, I’m gonna take it those kids are actually there for us?” he drawled. Eli sighed, and Charlie shook his head.
“Chelsea tweeted out our single, except, like, not just our single? She tweeted out a clip of her playing guitar and singing along to it,” he said.
“Chelsea what?” Cash’s eyebrows kicked up and Ace jogged fast to catch up to Charlie. “So, all those kids…”
“Yeah, we would have known if we were more on top of our social media, and normally I am but…” Charlie shrugged. We crossed the street and walked up to a break in the fence where there was an entry gate to the back the side of the venue. Eli knocked on the door. We could get in through there, and then go back out to the van without having to walk through the crowd of kids.
Given my mood I wasn't in the place where I wanted to be swarmed by fans, especially new fans, or whatever was happening. They weren't probably even just our fans, at that. I hated myself for being so ungrateful when it sounded like Chelsea had just given us a huge break, but without Darcy, nothing felt right.
The security guard opened the door and we flashed our passes at him. He let us in with a grunt. Cash fell in beside me as we walked through the cool back halls of the venue.
"Dude, are you alright?" His voice was lined with concern as he looked at me. Charlie was talking a mile a minute to Ace and Eli about his plans to leverage this new attention we were getting. I just wanted to go sleep in the van for a week.
"Fine." I pushed open the door that led to the loading bay and he followed me closely.
"That's bullshit," he replied. The door shut behind him and I realized the other guys hadn't followed us. Smart of them. I wasn't in the mood.
"Alright but you gotta know that I didn't want to fucking talk about this." I glared at him. "You get that?"
"Oh, I get it. But I'm done with your shitty mood. Day after day, you're miserable."
"What, you think I don't have the right?" Anger flared in my gut. How fucking dare he. Half the reason she was gone, probably all the reason she was gone, was because of him. I hadn't brought it up, hadn't made an issue of it, because fuck, who was I to judge? Of course, I'd wanted Darcy to make us a heartstone, she was a witch and she could. But that wasn't why I loved her.
I loved her for who she was, the perfect person she happened to be, and I didn't give a shit if she'd never make us a heartstone. Just having her was enough. But nah, Cash had to go and fuck that up, convince her that the only reason we wanted her was because of what she could do for us. That wasn't true either. I knew in his heart, he wanted her because she was Darcy, not because she was a witch.
"Yeah you have the right, man, just..."
“Just what? Don't be pissed off? The best thing that's happened to us in... how long? And you run her off. You and the other guys, acting like assholes—"
"Hey, Ace never did anything, and Charlie... he's good too. In the clear," Cash defended the two wolves and I growled at him. He held up his hands. "But you're right. Me and Eli? We didn't do our best."
"No shit."
"Made her feel un-welcome."
"No shit times a million." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well now she's gone and guess what asshole? You gotta deal with my shitty ass mood. So deal with it. You made this problem and you're gonna suck it up and cope." I clenched my jaw and spoke through gritted teeth. "I'm not above making you deal with it." I saw Cash's eyes widen. Eli and me could go toe to toe. We were twins, cut from the same cloth, but I had a little bit of muscle on Cash. Plus, I was pissed off. I dared him to fight me. I was done, worn out, and over being on tour. I just wanted to be somewhere, anywhere, that wasn't the tour van that still had the faint hint of Darcy's scent, taunting me and driving me crazy.
"If I could take it back I would," Cash said, his voice soft. He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "I fucked up bad with her. I... I know you bonded her and I know it's gotta hurt like half your heart is missing."
"You don't know, but I appreciate the sentiment." I tried not to growl at him. He was sorry. I had to start forgiving him. Maybe.
"I just wanted us to be a pack and be complete. With a heartstone we could protect her, and all of us, from hunters."
"Seriously? Even before when we had a heartstone, they still wiped out half the pack while the three of us were off playing gallant warriors in the Europe," I said. "Do you not remember? How many of our pack they killed? We had a heartstone. It didn't make a fucking difference." I stared at Cash. How could he think having a heartstone would make a difference? The hunters had come for our pack while we had been gone. We were lucky there'd been enough surviving mating pairs, triads, quads, and quints that Charlie and Ace had been born decades later. And now they were all gone, except for us, the last five.
Cash didn't say anything and so I spoke for him.
"If they want us dead, they'll do it, even with a heartstone."
"There's fewer hunters now."
"How do you know that?" I challenged. He lifted his chin and glared at me.
"If there weren't, we'd already be dead. All the other old packs are. When was the last time you heard of Kelpie-pack, or Griffin-pack?" Cash rattled off two of the mythic packs. Just like ours, they were named for the mythical creatures they were supposedly protected by. Or something like that. I didn't want to think about what'd happened to Unicorn-pack, because there were apparently unicorns still running around the world when the pack had been annihilated. So much for any protection alliances we should have had from the old times. But then, from what I remembered from our lore, those deals had been done over a millennium ago. A lot of things had changed since people were still shitting outside in holes.
"They've probably gone underground like us," Cash argued. "Anyway—"
A sharp whistle interrupted us as Cash stepped outside the van. Our argument time was over. Behind him was Chelsea Sawyer, her curtain of blonde hair sparkling in the sunlight. She was like a rainbow come to life, pastel colors on her knee-length dress that floated around her, and translucent, sandals on her feet. She smiled and waved at me and I had to smile back.
She was sweet, and I couldn't be moody around her. It wasn't polite. Not just because she was a more tenured, famous musician but... there was something of a hierarchy between mythical creatures. It went something like dragons, unicorns, griffins, mermen and their maids, kelpies, phoenixes, and then the rest of us less 'sparkle and glitter' types like werewolves, fae, and the demon-types. But screw those guys, cause I didn't even want to think about them.
Anyway, I didn't want to be rude to Chelsea. She didn't deserve it and she'd done our band a huge solid.
"Hey guys," she said with a short wave. None of her, ahem, herd was with her, but she was imposing enough on her own. Now that I knew what she really was, I couldn’t miss it. She radiated comfort, elegance, and grace. The rest of the guys in Glory Rev were the same, but to a lesser degree.
"I guess we need to say thank you, for what you did today.” I gave her a smile. She shook her head.
“I know I could never make up for what I did with Darcy.” Guilt suffused her features. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair then pointed at the security guards and the group of fans that were just on the sidewalk outside the parking lot. “So, I thought… it might help, maybe, if I recc’d your music.” She held her hand up to her eyes, shading them, and gazed across the lot. “Looks like they got the memo that I’d be here at the show tonight.” A wry smile crossed her face. “Not to hijack your show.”
Aaron stepped out from inside, the rest of Glory Rev, and my pack, following him.
“You don’t hijack anything,” Aaron said, slipping an arm around her waist. I needed to ask him how they coped, their little group, considering they were all with her but only Aaron was with her, publicly. That had to be hell. I don’t know how the other guys handled just me touching Darcy, when they’d all wanted her as bad as I did. Even Eli, stubborn bastard. But we’d agreed, the five of us, that we’d ease Darcy into our pack slowly and I was the least grumpy and most relaxed and probably the one she’d connect well with first.
I couldn’t imagine having Darcy and letting just one of us be public with her. That felt… wrong.
“Thanks, Aaron,” she said, gazing at him with such raw affection that my breathing shuddered out at me. She looked back at the crowd. “I guess I should go sign some auto—" her words died in her mouth. Aaron frowned and followed her gaze.
We turned.
At the gate, her curvy figure visible as she elbowed her way to the front and started arguing with one of the security guards…
But…
How…
I didn’t even think. I was running, Ace chasing at my heels, Cash next.
“Darcy!” I yelled and her head jerked up. She looked past the security guard who was shaking his head at her.
It was our girl. She was filthy, covered in mud, up to her waist, but wearing an oddly clean and new-looking Reagan National Airport sweatshirt. Her hair was up in a bun, she looked exhausted and like she’d fought a war to get to us.
I didn’t care. I barreled right up to the barrier, reached across it and, despite the security guard’s curses, I grabbed Darcy and hauled her up a
nd over, into my arms. Her scent overwhelmed me, her presence bowled me over. I clung to her, staggering when Ace slammed into my side, his arms slinging around us both. She was so small, so fragile in my arms… my breath hitched in my throat. I burrowed my face in her hair and just inhaled her scent. Ace was trembling against me and she was shaking too.
“I’m sorry,” her words were almost lost into my chest. I felt Cash beside me, and knew he was dying, just dying to wrap her up in his arms as well, join in the embrace like Ace had. He could wait. Right now, we needed to greet our girl and he had some serious penance to pay.
Charlie cleared his throat, and I looked up. Eli was behind him, and a pissed-off security guard.
“Let’s take her to the van,” Ace said.
“Hey,” she protested weakly, “I’m right here. Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here.”
“Then let’s take you to the bus,” Ace said again, firmer this time. He tugged on my arm. I didn’t want to let her go. She was back. She’d come back to us. A million words wanted to escape me right then, but all that mattered was letting her know how much she meant to me, to us.
I looked down at her, and she tilted her head up. I wanted to kiss her. Her beautiful eyes, everything about her, I’d missed them so much. I ran my thumb down the curve of her cheek. She looked… tired, haunted. I wanted to kiss away whatever was hurting her. I wanted to kiss her better.
“Finn,” my twin growled, and I looked at him with narrowed eyes. He knew exactly how I felt, how bad I wanted this. I felt the faint vibrations of his own need, barely under control. One day he’d snap. Today wasn’t that day, but one day, what he wanted, with Darcy? It’d all come out.
“Let’s go to the bus.” Darcy pulled away from me to hug Ace tight. He hugged her back, eyes closed tight. I let him. She needed to reconnect with us, each of us, and I couldn’t be selfish. Honestly, I didn’t want her all to myself. I put my hand on Ace’s back and he let go of her enough so she could walk to the bus. That’s when I heard the chattering behind us. I looked over my shoulder. Girls, and guys, were staring at us with wide eyes, watching the scene we’d created. A lot of them were wearing Glory Rev, or Chelsea Sawyer t-shirts, but I saw a few Phoenixcry tees in the mix. My heart gave a squeeze. We’d just made a huge, big deal of hauling a fan over the barrier, or what to them probably looked like a fan. I saw a lot of confused and sad, faces. Torn, I was about to turn back, figure out some words to explain. Cash exchanged a meaningful look with me. Darcy needed to get cleaned up, and we needed to talk to her, but work… work had to happen too. Charlie let out a slow breath and took a step toward the barrier.
