Chaos

by Taylor Longford

  "Nay, that's not quite right," Reason kept interrupting.

  "He's an art major," Simpson explained to the artist, looking apologetic.

  Eventually, the artist got annoyed. "Well, maybe he could do better," she snipped impatiently.

  So Reason commandeered the drawing board and took over, quickly producing two sketches. The drawing of Force wasn't what I expected. He looked bigger than the rest of the guys in the pack. I don't mean taller, just heavier and more muscular. Kinda like Brawn the Berserker.

  "These are good," the FBI's artist admitted, looking a little awed by Reason's skill while Defiance approved the drawings with a nod.

  "I probably have one at home that's better," Reason suggested.

  "No, these are good," she insisted. "I'm sure they'll help us find your cousins."

  And Agent Simpson circulated the sketches among the local authorities in the Limon area, asking them to be on the lookout for the two young men.

  So while we're waiting for some sort of news out of Limon, the pack is looking for a house to buy in Boulder. Chaos was hoping to find something in my neighborhood. But right now the rest of them are leaning toward a huge old mansion on the edge of town. It's been empty for years and needs some work but there'd be plenty of room when the rest of the pack comes down from Pine Grove. And maybe we could all live there, eventually.

  Yes, I said we. The pack has admitted me into their ranks. It was so killer. Even Defiance voted for me, which is evidently kinda rare. But everyone says he's changed since Whitney joined the pack. And he said my gargoyle powers made me a huge asset.

  Me. An asset. Things are changing so fast I can hardly keep up.

  They took the vote right after Havoc told everyone about Alexa's visit to the house and her warnings about the magic. Evidently, wood is the source of a witch's power. And because of the red in her hair, Alexa could become a threat to the pack. So they're keeping their eye on her.

  But it's great to feel like I belong somewhere. Even when I'm eating lunch alone at school, I still have this great warm feeling of connection. It makes a huge difference in my life. And the pack is already starting to feel like family.

  'Course I don't spend all of my time alone anymore because Chaos is staying with Reason and Elaina in their Boulder apartment. So he's always nearby. And he's taken up skating with me. One evening as life returned to normal I was showing him some skating tricks down at the empty park and I noticed that even though it was dark I could see all the way to the other side of the parking lot. I'm not saying that it looked like daytime. It looked dark. But I could see in the dark, if that makes any sense. And I mentioned it to Chaos.

  He nodded. "The color of your eyes is changing too."

  "It is? I didn't notice."

  "Aye. They glow. Like Valor's. And like mine."

  So for a few seconds I was pleased because now I had this really good night vision. Then something occurred to me. "Wait a minute," I said slowly, and turned toward him.

  He was sitting on his board with his elbows resting on his knees. "What is it?"

  "What do you mean, like yours?"

  "It looks like you inherited my night vision when you took my venom."

  "You can see in the dark?" I exploded, my eyes widening as I remembered the times I'd bathed in front of him.

  He didn't say anything. He didn't even have the decency to look guilty. He just smirked back at me.

  A wash of heat spread across my cheeks. "But I undressed in front of you."

  "Aye," he answered.

  "But you saw me with no clothes on!" I shouted, hoping he'd correct me and tell me that maybe he'd closed his eyes while I'd washed.

  A distinct look of pleasure crept into his expression so it didn't look like there was a correction coming any time soon.

  I stomped over to him, shouting. "You watched me while I bathed? How could you do that?"

  He just kept smiling up at me. "Are you serious, Torrie? A guy would have to be crazy not to look at you if you took your clothes off. Crazy. Like, there'd have to be something seriously wrong with him." Chaos snickered. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"

  Well, no I wouldn't want that but…

  "It was the only bright spot in the whole ordeal," he said softly, standing and pulling me into his arms. "Well, besides holding you."

  So I had to forgive him even though I wasn't happy about it.

  And last week, MacKenzie brought Havoc down to Boulder, dropping him off to join us at the park while she went shopping with Mim. By then, I was getting a little more freedom from my paternal dictator. After his employee review, his supervisors suggested he sign up for their in-house anger management seminar and he has to attend twice a week. There are more than a dozen people in the class with him. Evidently, the bureau has a lot of employees with "issues". Who'd a thunk?

  As we scuffed through the parking lot, we passed a young couple arguing in their car. Even though the doors were tightly closed, we could hear the guy shouting at his girlfriend, saying some really ugly things. Havoc and Chaos both gave the vehicle a dark look.

  "What?" I asked.

  Chaos tightened his grip on my hand. "It surprises me when modern guys don't value their lasses more. I guess maybe it's because they've never experienced loss and don't understand how tenuous a hold they have on the things they love. How it can all be lost on a bad afternoon."

  "That's how it was when we lost Dorrith," Havoc murmured, surprising me with his serious tone because Havoc is almost never serious.

  I slanted a look up at him, questioning him with my gaze.

  "My little sister," he explained quietly.

  I nodded without speaking, feeling sad for him as we made our way toward the park, thinking the guys were right and realizing how close we'd recently come to losing Sophie. But the solemn mood was thankfully broken when Chaos pointed to the chrome lettering on a big black truck with off-road tires. "What does that say?" he asked.

  "Sound it out," I insisted, because by now he'd had several reading lessons and was making good progress.

  He gave me a dirty look. He wasn't too happy I was making him work for the answer. "Doggie?" he guessed.

  "Dodge," I corrected him, while Havoc and I exploded with laughter. It was just so funny the way he said it.

  "Thanks," he muttered, and the corner of his mouth tightened like it does when he gets pissed. "What would I do without you?"

  Havoc snickered. "Well, if you take Torrie's shopping list to the market, you'll probably bring home toilet paper instead of toothpaste."

  And that just got us laughing even harder.

  "I'd like to have a truck like that one day," Chaos growled, ignoring the way Havoc and I were cracking up.

  "And when you do, we'll drive down the road blaring country music," I suggested as a peace offering because he still looked annoyed at us.

  "And Led Zeplin," he muttered.

  "And Johann Strauss," I added.

  By now we'd reached the edge of the skate park and dropped our boards. He stopped behind me and pulled my back against his front, his arms around my shoulders as he nuzzled my ear. "And we can waltz around when nobody's looking," he murmured huskily.

  "You know how to waltz?" I exclaimed, curling my fingers around his strong forearms.

  "Nay," he answered. "But if I get to hold you, I'll figure it out."

  I elbowed him playfully in ribs. "Sorry dude, but nobody waltzes nowadays."

  He sighed dramatically. "Just born a hundred years too late, I guess."

  "You were actually born early," I pointed out. "You just slept in."

  And that earned me his tongue in my ear. Why does that feel so good, anyhow? I squirmed and squealed and pretended to elbow him away but not very hard. And after my short act, we broke apart laughing.

  "Hey piglet," a familiar voice called out from the footpath near the road.

  I turned and waved at Joey. His arm was draped around the shoulders of a short blond girl who wasn't me.
He looked happy and I was happy for him. "Hey Blaz."

  "Who's he?" Chaos growled, and pulled me back against his side like he was thinking about getting jealous.

  "Just a guy from school," I answered soothingly.

  "He seems like a nice guy," he muttered as if he wasn't very happy about the fact.

  I nodded. "He's okay. Nicer than some," I muttered as my gaze caught on the blond skater dude rising out of a bowl. He turned his board on the coping and dropping back down out of sight. Seconds later I saw him on the other side, kicking the board up into his hand.

  "Well, if he comes over here, tell him you're with me," Chaos rumbled.

  "Not a problem," I answered.

  Havoc pushed his board over to the edge of a bowl and leaned over to check it out. "Alas," he murmured. "I think I might break my neck today."

  But as I rolled to his side, I knew it wouldn't be long before Havoc and Chaos were better than me. They were both so athletic and quick. 'Course I was getting more athletic now, too. But I still fell, several times. Only now, Chaos was right there, helping me up and fussing over every little injury like it was the end of the world. It was really cute. So I probably fell down a few more times than I needed to.

  While he was kneeling beside me and checking out my knee, I noticed a pair of jean-clad legs standing beside us. Slowly, I lifted my gaze to the blond super skater's dark green eyes.

  Even though I could now sense that he wasn't a nice person, I was expecting a different reaction from him because of all the attention I was getting at school, the way the boys in my class turned and stared when I walked by. I didn't know if it was the weight I'd lost or the venom in my bloodstream improving my looks or the golden glow in my irises. But I was prettier and people were noticing.

  So I was surprised when the skater's lip curled into a familiar sneer. "Hey Loser," he snorted, his gaze sliding critically over my shapely white legs. "Why don't you just give up?"

  So yeah, I guess some things don't change. And some people are just plain mean. And I'll probably just keep on expecting them to be nice because I'm an idealist and I can't help it. But Chaos wasn't as forgiving as me. He shot up to his feet and got right in the skater's face, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "Why don't you just piss off?" he snarled.

  He was acting way over-the-top macho. Sometimes he does that. And sometimes he's more introspective, like me. I like both sides of his personality but when I saw his barbs creeping out from beneath his knuckles I jumped up and stepped between the two guys. Planting my hands on Chaos's chest, I backed him up a few paces. "Whoa. Down boy. Are you forgetting I can take care of myself?"

  His scowl deepened as he looked away across the baseball field next door, and I could tell he was fighting a silent battle with his emotions. Slowly, he returned his eyes to my face. "Let me make this clear," he gritted softly, his gaze burning down on me with fierce emotion. "I take care of you, Torrie. Only me. Always."

  "Okay," I murmured, and patted his shoulder. "Okay, big guy. You got the job."

  But when I turned away from him, he stopped me with a hand on my wrist. "What time is it?" he rasped.

  I dug my phone from my pocket and checked the screen. "Time for you to tell me you love me," I said with a soft smile.

  "I do," he said gruffly.

  "I know," I answered, knotting my fingers with his and chewing on my lower lip while I watched the ground.

  "And how do you know?"

  I lifted my head. "Because you're Chaos and you're my boyfriend," I whispered, going up on my toes for a kiss.

  "That's right," he growled against my mouth. "Now close your eyes."

  I knew what would come next but it was my favorite part so I closed my eyes and smiled up at him.

  "I'm here," he murmured, the warm touch of his lips traveling across my cheek to my ear. "And I'll be here when you open your eyes. I'll always be here."

  ###

  About the Author

  Hi! I'm Taylor Longford and I live with my family in Colorado. I don't have red hair but I do drive an old Jeep Cherokee with 300,000 miles on it. I've rolled it once and it looks like crap but it still goes fast! If I can make a living as a writer, I’ll buy something a bit nicer and write some more stories.

  You can find Taylor at:

  Website: www.taylorlongford.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Taylor-Longford