Archaic

by Lexy Timms

  “Yeah. One more attribute to add to the running list.”

  “Are you sure this is smart? Posing as Sebastian’s mate and going into a den of alphas?”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  “You do,” he says. “You could stay behind with me. Let Sebastian go gather what we need and come back to report.”

  “I haven’t sat anything out now, and I won’t start simply because you’re jealous.”

  “Jealous?” he asks.

  “Yep. I can smell it on you. You reek.”

  I catch Toshi’s falling face in the reflection of the window, and I sigh.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “You have no reason to be sorry.”

  “I do. I’m on edge, and I’m angry, and I have no idea what to do with all the emotions flooding my body. I want to rip someone’s head off, but the second I do I know I’ll regret it. I feel tugged in so many different directions, but they all lead to one thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “Killing the Primals who killed Kyle,” I say.

  “So you don’t want to kill to get there, but you will kill once you are?” he asks.

  I bite down on the inside of my cheek as the plane begins to bounce with turbulence. I can sense everyone’s wariness as my hands grip onto the arms of my seat. Toshi’s hand wraps around mine, and I take it, thankful for something to grip onto. A low rumble flows from between my lips as the plane dips and groans.

  I can remember the plane crash. How badly the plane jerked and swayed before we came crashing down.

  Before Sebastian saved me.

  Before he locked me away and forced my abilities into the light.

  Toshi is holding my hand, our fingers threaded together as the plane levels out. I can hear the collective sigh of the relieved passengers on the plane, though I wish we were on a small plane by ourselves. Territorial Primals cramped in a small space is not the ideal way to fly anywhere.

  My fingers release Toshi’s hand, but he is hesitant to pull away.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  My eyes wander over to him as he leans back into the seat. He seems uneasy. Nervous. His eyes are cool, but his scent is changing. From curious and fearful to hesitant and unsure. It’s unlike Toshi to smell this way.

  I don’t like it.

  “What’s on your mind?” I ask.

  “Why did you sleep with Theo?” he asks.

  I swallow the growl bubbling in my gut as I close my eyes.

  “I don’t owe you an explanation for that,” I say.

  “I just want to know. Have you taken him as your mate?” he asks.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “So you’re searching for one?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Then why sleep with Theo?”

  “Like I said, that is between him and me. And he would tell you the same thing if he was here.”

  “I don’t want to upset you. But it’s grating on Sebastian and me.”

  “Don’t bring me into this, Cat,” Sebastian says.

  “Don’t start. We’ve got a plane full of humans.”

  “Then tell that Cat to shut up.”

  “Do you feel that way? Does it bother you that I slept with Theo?”

  I physically feel Sebastian shove me from his mind, and it physically hurts. My head pounds and my vision blurs, and for a moment I think I’m going to be sick. I feel Toshi’s hand come down between my shoulder blades as I blink away the pain.

  Pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes in an attempt to gain some semblance of control.

  I have a dire, seething need to control.

  “Clarissa, are you okay?” Toshi asks.

  “No, Toshi. I’m not okay. My husband was murdered in cold blood on our wedding night. I have no idea why they didn’t come after me if he wasn’t the target. We’ve found out there’s a secret race

  of warriors ready to wipe everyone off the face of the planet.

  And I’m stuck on an airplane with two men who can’t keep their urges in check.”

  I glare over at Toshi, and he promptly removes his hand. I can tell he’s about to say something, but the plane intercom comes alive with a voice. A disembodied voice telling us we are about to land. I buckle my seatbelt and toss my gaze back out the window as Toshi gets up from the seat beside me. I can hear him shuffling back to his seat.

  I can hear his footsteps.

  I sigh at the sound of his footsteps.

  He wants me to know he’s complying with my wish for him to go away. And it stings a part of my heart I’m not willing to admit to yet.

  The path to the hotel is a blur. We each have a small bag, and I can feel Sebastian’s protective hand on the small of my back.

  He’s leading me, and for once, I allow it. I’m in no position to dictate where we should be going or what we should be doing.

  Sebastian is the one who understands this more than I do.

  Understands the Wolves we’re about to interact with.

  Though him telling me what I should wear isn’t going to happen again.

  I stand in the mirror, taking stock of my form. My hair is down, and I have a bit of makeup on, and I’m wearing very tight clothes. Jeans that cling to my legs and a shirt that leaves little to the imagination. Is this what mated female Wolves wear?

  Clothes that showcase their bodies so their alphas can boast?

  It’s sickening. I’m not a prize to be won. I’m not an object a human or a Primal can sling around or gawk at. But this is what I have to do in order to go on this mission. So it will be done.

  But I’m not happy about it.

  “Clarissa?”

  I turn at the sound of Toshi’s voice, and his eyes run down my body. Staring at the swell of my breasts and the clothes clinging to my curves. He stands up straight as his eyes rush back to meet mine. I can see the vein throbbing in his neck. Speeding up with the rushing of his heartbeat.

  “Yes?” I ask.

  “I wanted to come and apologize before you and Sebastian take off,” he says.

  “For what?”

  “The plane ride over here. What I said. You were right. I have no business inquiring into why you did or didn’t do something with someone else. Especially when the other party isn’t here to defend themselves.”

  I nod, but my mind is elsewhere. I can hear Sebastian calling for me.

  He’s ready.

  And so am I.

  “Please be safe,” Toshi says. “Come back. Okay?”

  He takes a step forward but resists the urge I know he has to reach out for me. It’s getting easier to read everyone around me, and I’m not sure why. I don’t know if it’s because my senses are heightening. Strengthening. Or if it is because I’m getting to know them better.

  They all deserve better than me.

  A knock comes at my hotel door before the knob turns. In scurries Penny, and she curls up on my bed. Her eyes take me in, and she wiggles her eyebrows, and for the first time since Egypt, I allow a giggle to slip.

  “Looking good, hot stuff. I won’t be shocked if the alphas try to pounce anyway,” she says.

  “If they do, I’ll kill them,” Sebastian says.

  “Ready?”

  I look over at him and nod as I made my way to the door.

  “Clarissa.”

  Toshi reaches out for my arm and grasps it. I stop in my tracks as Sebastian bristles. I turn my head toward him and take in his beautiful green and yellow gaze. In any other world, and at any other time, it would’ve melted me. Like our moments in Japan and our exploration of the countryside.

  But that was a different time, and I’m not the same woman I was before.

  I’m not even the same woman I was yesterday.

  “I know,” I say coolly. “I’ll be careful.”

  Then I’m released into the care of Sebastian as we head for our destination.

  “How will they know I’m your mate?” I ask. “Is there something we sho
uld engage in before we go?”

  Sebastian and I walk into the elevator, and I watch as the doors close in front of us.

  “Don’t worry. It’s already been taken care of,” he says.

  And I furrow my brow in confusion as the elevator roars to life.

  Chapter 19

  ~ Sebastian

  “W hat does that mean ?” Clarissa asks. “What’s been taken care of?”

  “Do you ever stop asking questions?”

  “Let’s get one thing straight,” she says. “You might have to treat me as your mate in front of them, but I’m not. And you won’t speak to me that way as long as we’re not around them. Got it?”

  “You really don’t know how to not be a pain in the ass, do you?”

  “At least you have the balls to say it out loud now,” she says.

  “All you have to do is act enamored with me. That’s it. Think you can do that?”

  “Didn’t realize this was going to require an Oscar performance.”

  “Didn’t know it was so hard to enjoy being around me.”

  “When you’re like this? I’d rather be in Hell.”

  The tension between us is thick. I still can’t get the image of Theo and Clarissa out of my mind. And I know she senses it every time it pops into my head. Like now, with her eyes trained up toward mine and her eyes bulging from her face. I can’t stop thinking about his hands all over her. With his musty scent and his fumbling hands.

  “You’re wrong. He fucked me better than you ever could.”

  “Now who’s in whose head?” I ask.

  The elevator doors open, and I take Clarissa’s hand. There’s no reason to take a cab to go anywhere around here. The scent of Wolf is overwhelming. I take off with Clarissa at my side, our legs carrying us quickly from small town to small town. The snow is thick, and the roads are icy, and slowly but surely Clarissa

  inches out in front of me. I watch her curiously. Picking up speed when she should be getting winded.

  If we arrive at the village, and she is in front of me, it could blow everything.

  “Back off. You’re running too fast.”

  “What? Can’t stand a woman beating you?”

  “Not when she’s trying to pose as my mate, no.”

  I watch her back off, slowing her pace so I can get back out in front of her. I hate this. Enjoying the presence of a woman who’s stronger than I am. Faster than I am. Angrier than I am. An alpha without a pack attaches himself to the one female better than him.

  I really am a disgrace.

  “No, you’re not.”

  I look over at Clarissa as our eyes connect. Her thumb rolls around on top of my skin, soothing me as we approach our final destination. We slow down as the stench of Wolf overwhelms us.

  It’s hard to breathe, and the wind is harsh against our skin. The snow is kicking up, creating a wall-cloud of vicious cold separating us from the entrance into Lord Wesley’s claimed land.

  “We’re here. Remember, you’re my mate.”

  I can hear the alphas approaching us. Feel their electric heat vibrating through the snow. Five men approach us, vicious. With weapons hanging off their belts. I guide Clarissa behind me, and I feel her run her hands up my back. Fuck. She’s really going to fall into this role well.

  But I can’t react.

  It’s a sign of weakness in Lord Wesley’s world.

  “Who goes?” a man asks.

  “Sebastian,” I say.

  “I smell a woman.”

  “Sniff harder, and you’ll know she’s mine,” I say.

  “Wanna bet?”

  Another man emerges from the cold with the look of blood in his eyes. I feel Clarissa’s hands bear down into my back, and I want to let out a howl. She has no idea what she’s doing. No idea the

  electricity coursing through my veins from her touch. I know the Wolves can smell my lust for her.

  And I know what he’s about to call us out on.

  “I don’t smell you on her,” he says. “Curious, for a mate.”

  “I’m here to see Vlad,” I say.

  “Oh, we know. But you know the rules.”

  “What rules? I thought you had this figured out?”

  “They smell my want for you but not your want for me. He’s questioning our union. I knew it was going to happen. Stay behind me and don’t intervene. No matter what.”

  I take a step forward, parting myself away from Clarissa. I growl at the men surrounding me, making sure they understand I’m marking my territory. My eyes lock onto every single one of them.

  My back hunches, preparing for a fight. The Wolf in front of me bares his teeth, his sharp teeth dripping with saliva.

  “Have you proven yourself to her?”

  “I’m about to,” I say.

  “What does that mean?”

  But I shake Clarissa’s thoughts away as the man charges me.

  He slips into his animalistic form halfway through his jump, but I can’t change into mine. I have no clothes if I tear these apart, and I curse myself for not coming more prepared. I clamp my hands down onto his massive jaw and pull his jowls from his teeth, causing him to skid around in the snow. He tries to bite down, but he’s off balance. I swing him around in the snow, catapulting him into a tree.

  But he scrambles to his feet and charges me.

  “Sebastian! Look out!”

  If Clarissa isn’t really worried, then she sure is doing a good job of acting like she is.

  He pounces on me, digging his claws into my chest. I roll him over and straddle him, then punch him across his jaw. If there’s one thing a Wolf hates more than anything, it’s a Wolf in his human form getting the best of him.

  And I can see the anger rising in this Wolf’s eyes.

  He throws me off, and I slide across the snow. My head crashes into a tree before I feel a pair of claws digging into my calf.

  I’m swung around in the air, and I can hear Clarissa screaming.

  Crying out for me as the other alpha wolves hold her back.

  One glimpse of them touching her and the walls are gone.

  I will kill this Wolf if that’s what it takes.

  I scramble to my feet as the alphas in the distance taunt her. I brace myself for impact as the Wolf throws himself at me. We tumble to the ground, and I grab onto his teeth, pulling his jaw back until I can hear it crack. The Wolf is whimpering and struggling. Trying to backtrack from me as teeth pop from his jaw.

  My body is shaking, and my vision is blurry, and I can feel myself about to change. About to rip from my clothes and lay my teeth into this pathetic Wolf’s jugular so his blood can paint the snow around us.

  “Enough!”

  I whip my head around and see Vlad standing at the open gate.

  “He is allowed,” he says.

  I drop the jaw of the Wolf and step off him as he morphs into his human form. He’s naked in the snow, holding his jaw and crying out for help. Pathetic. He’s no more worthy of the whores in the village. I see Clarissa running toward me, and I hold my arms out for her, encompassing her body as she trembles in my grasp. I stroke her hair, feeling her whimper into my chest as her hands clutch my shirt.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s not happening again. You stay near me. Within arm’s reach at all times. Okay?”

  I feel her nod, and it brings me a bit of relief.

  “Sebastian! Old friend. Come in, come in. Introduce me to this lovely woman of yours,” Vlad says.

  I escort Clarissa around the back of the failed alphas as we follow Vlad into the village.

  The snow-covered ground crunches underneath our feet as we head for the road. There are very few people out and about, what with the snowstorm that is hanging over the city. There are monuments erected to Lord Wesley. Statues of his likeness on more corners than I care to count. I hold Clarissa close to my side, my arm wrapping around her waist as she presses into me.

  I can still feel her tre
mbling with the last of her fear.

  “It’s been a while,” Vlad says. “What brings you to our corner of the world?”

  “Just wanting to see an old friend,” I say.

  “Forgive the men out there. You know my father’s archaic rules.”

  “I do. And rest assured that if anyone else lays a hand on Clarissa, I’ll kill them.”

  “Wait, they touched her?”

  Vlad whips around before his eyes land on her. I can see the want in his eyes. The way he’s taken by her. I watch his nostrils flare like mine had in the beginning. He is trying to distinguish her scent. Not quite Primal, but not quite human. No trace of me, yet she’s cowering at my side. She’s an enigma to him, and I can see the curiosity in his stare.

  Great. Another male to contend with.

  “Well, I might have touched her, too, if given the chance.”

  I can hear Clarissa growling in her head, and I hold her at my side. She can’t retaliate. She can’t show force against another alpha. This is how it goes. Female Wolves have no say in who takes them as partners. It’s their purpose to submit. Vlad knows she’s mine, but that isn’t going to stop him from wanting her.

  Like I know he does.

  “Come. You two must be hungry,” he says.

  “I could eat,” Clarissa says.

  “And I hope you have a voracious appetite,” he says. “Because the food of this village is succulent.”

  Vlad falls in line on the other side of Clarissa, and I feel her press deeper into me. I’m trying to shield her, but Vlad has his eye on her. He knows something isn’t right, and that isn’t going to play well in our favor. I wasn’t sure if the bond we made that night when I healed her wounds would be strong enough to mark her as my property, and apparently, it wasn’t.

  “Taken care of, huh?”

  I peer down at Clarissa, and I can see her eyeing Vlad curiously.

  “Shall we?” he asks.

  The scent of food sends my glands into overdrive as I escort Clarissa into the restaurant. It’s filled with alphas and their mates. Women sitting on their laps and crouching at their feet.

  Dressed in all sorts of outfits their mates prefer. Clarissa

  throws a look up at me, and I clench my jaw. I know what’s going on. I know what Vlad’s trying to do.