Dead stars. “Right.”
He took in every inch of me in that way of his, that greedy way where I always felt like I was being robbed of a piece of myself.
“What do you want, Colin?” He was so handsome, strong, defo the ultimate silver fox. He liked to be called daddy.
And he was the biggest cunt this side of the world.
“You’ve already asked me that.” His voice was silk.
Shit.
Stirrings.
Fuck me and fuck him! “You didn’t answer,” I said.
“I did, silly.” He went to prod my head with a finger, but I backed out of his way. That made him chuckle. “Always such a silly boy. I told you, I was part of the—”
“Yeah, okay.”
“It’s rude to interrupt, Akira. You know I don’t like it.”
The shudder down my spine caught me off guard. “I don’t give a fuck what you like nowadays.”
He took a step closer. I tried my best not to shrink, but his wolf was dominant like the High Alpha’s.
“I’m not scared of you, Colin.”
“You used to be.” He was getting too close. “So much hotter when you are.”
Inches apart, dangerously close. Hunger in his eyes, his actions on full display for all to see. What did he care? No one would believe it. He was a laugh a minute, loved a practical joke, and was probably teasing me. What a wind-up merchant, blah, blah, blah.
Fists as balls at my sides, I stepped back. “Get out of my face.”
“Didn’t you just get out of mine?” He exposed his perfectly white teeth. “I miss you. Don’t you miss me?” He licked his lips again, those lips that’d…no. No!
“No way,” I answered, sounding so weak.
“You sure about that? Remember how I used to make you scream?”
Another shudder, a painful memory of the nights…no. No! “Fuck off.”
He titled his head. “Pathetic as always.” The wanker stepped back. “But such a nice arse.”
“Get the fuck away from me.”
Colin winked and stepped back. “See you around, Akira.” He turned and left, heading the way G and my dad had gone.
It took everything to keep standing, to actually breathe. Every intake of breath was fiery air.
Shit.
No one seemed to notice either. That was Colin’s gig. His superpower. He could be who he was in plain sight, and no one would ever see him as anything but a sound bloke who deserved a good wife, a family. So unlucky in love, maybe even fussy. Who would ever be good enough for him?
I should be thinking about poor murdered Beth and Carl, who didn’t deserve to die like that. Why not him in their place? Why not him with his blood all over the ground, leaking silver from every orifice.
“Akira!”
Phi’s shriek broke me out of myself.
She ran over, throwing her arms around me. “Oh, Akira! This is a lie! All a lie! Zach would never hurt anyone. I know you’ve only just met him, but you know I’m telling the truth. Look at him at the pub the other night. A big softy giving that girl his prize.”
Yeah, the big gold chocolate teddy. Man, that’d been one fun shindig. No one knew quiz night was on. We’d had such a good night and no hangover the next day. Bonuses all round.
“I know,” I said. I didn’t for sure, but I also just knew. This wasn’t Zach. “I’ll get to the bottom of this. Wait here. I’ll get access.”
“Can you?”
“Don’t worry. This will all come out in the wash.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Nothing.” Not the time for trying out turns of phrases on elves.
She took my hands. “Please, help him.”
“Before I go in, tell me what happened.”
She blew out a trembling breath. “We…had an argument. He stormed off.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Over parsley. So stupid. So stupid!”
“It’s okay. These things happen.”
“But it’s not okay, is it? Look where he is! Look what happened. He went for a walk. That’s all he did and found the body, tried to help the poor woman. She was still alive when he found her.”
He put his elven hands on the victim…
“Why didn’t he just call the ambulance and wait? Why does he have to be the good guy?” She wiped her eyes with a tissue she fished from her pocket. “He called me when the ambulance came. Then the…wolves showed up.”
“Have you told them all this?” I asked.
“Yes. Of course. But they’re not listening, and they’re not letting me leave until an elven detail comes to pick me up. Not that I’m going anywhere until they let Zach free.” More tears. “He’s so scared. This isn’t right. He would never…”
“Wait here. I’m gonna talk to some people.”
“Thank you, Akira. Thank you so much.” The sobs took over her, and she went to find a seat, her head in her hands.
This totally sucked!
* * *
“You have to let me see him!”
“No way,” the SCU agent protested. “Not happening.”
“This isn’t right!”
“Got a problem, talk to your dad.”
This guy wasn’t gonna budge, and I wasn’t gonna waste any more time.
I left him at his post, the prick, and went to where my dad had gone, stopped by a wolf guard. Another newbie. But she didn’t give me grief, just let me into a room with bars on the windows, grubby white walls, black floors, and a load of chairs and desks. Looked like a really grim classroom.
My dad, sitting at the bigger desk at the front of the room, lifted his head from whatever he and G were studying. The Beta was standing next to him, bent over the paperwork.
“Yes?” Dad asked.
“I need to see Zach. His girlfriend is beside herself. Let me in to talk to him. Please.”
“So he can tell you the same he told our interpreter?”
“What?”
“And the same his beloved girlfriend so hysterically explained?”
“She’s telling the truth.”
“Is she now?”
“Dad—"
“Leave us,” he told Gabriel. “I wish to speak to my son.”
“Yes, sir.” G made a quick exit, casting me a worried look over his shoulder.
“Please. This is—”
“What a fine mess we’re in, Akira.”
“Yeah, but—”
“There is going to be a lot of comeback from this.” He shook his head, standing up. “No matter. Any actions against us will be shut down quickly.”
“Please—”
“You will not be seeing the suspect, Akira. That is not your job here. You’re not an investigator.”
Only when you want me to be!
“Drop this,” he added.
“We’re connected,” I blurted. “I don’t know how.”
“What did you just say?”
I started to explain, but he cut me off again for the umpteenth time with, “Nonsense.”
“It’s true. I felt it.”
I tried to explain, but he kept shaking his head. “Akira, I’m not interested in this foolishness. There is no connection between you and him. It is impossible.”
“No secret lovers?”
His eyes darkened. “How dare you. I would get off the thin ice while you can, Son.”
“Then, you explain it.”
“Nothing but elven trickery. He got in your head, didn’t he? Not exactly hard to do.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. Tell me. Go on. I’d love to know.”
He shook his head. “Enough.”
But my blood was boiling, my anger a solar flare. “‘Cos I’m weak, right? ‘Cos I let those wankers kick the shit out of me, let them make me bleed and humiliate me, let me—”
“I told you this was enough.”
He didn’t know about Colin, and I didn’t let it come out. But there were the memories again, the f
ists and the head fuckery.
Actually…did he know? Is that what his comment meant? Was he saying everything that’d happened with me and Colin was all my fault?
“You’re the biggest piece of shit to walk this fucking planet,” I seethed. “You know that? I hate you. I’ve never hated anyone so much in my life.” He knew! He must! “Kill me now, then. Why not? Go on. Take my head and smash it against the wall. Go on!”
The way he’d hit me too, how he’d belittled me, scalded me, made me feel like dog shit on his shoe had more worth.
“You will be silent,” he said in Japanese.
The anger was boiling now. Too much to hold back. So much darkness swam in my head, filled me up just by looking into his face.
“Call yourself a father?”
“Enough.”
Why wasn’t he coming for me? “Come on, Dad. Hit me! You forgotten what it feels like, have you? Hit me, you prick!”
I did something, then, that was shameful, no matter how much I hated him.
I shoved him. Hard.
He barely staggered back, but it was enough to get his hands on my throat.
I’d laid a hand upon my father.
Shameful.
The ultimate in disrespect, even worse than the names I’d called him, the poisonous emotions I had. My anger had got the better of me. Only with him, only with him. He knew about Colin, had sat by, and let me be tortured to tears and dreams of running away.
I still had those dreams.
It was his turn to shove me, all of his force driving into my windpipe. I flew backward, slamming into the wall. My head cracked on the brick, and I slid down to my arse, seeing stars.
He loomed over me, forcing me to look up at him without a word.
“I-I’m so-sorry, D-dad,” I struggled. Man, my head! I touched the back. There was blood there.
“You are hereby relieved of your duties, Akira. Not that they amounted to much. I must have lost my wits to assume you could be anything more than what you are.”
I didn’t answer.
“Fraternizing with the elves. Now you see what they are. Murderers. So much shame you bring to me, Akira Murakami.”
Still didn’t answer him.
“I will send someone to attend to your head, then Gabriel will take you home. This is no longer your business.”
“Make sure y-you relieve h-him of his duties too,” I managed.
He paused at the door, said nothing, then left.
Shit. My head was full of drills and hammers, and something hot was leaking from my eyes.
Tears.
Tears?
Tears for him?
There they were, hot and heavy.
The rage had cooled, leaving me to my leaky eyes and bad head, alone in this crappy room. That was until the door opened again, and Gabriel walked in. He was carrying a first aid kit.
“Aki,” he said. “You okay?” He came down beside me. “Your dad told me what happened. Let me look at your head.”
He didn’t mention the tears, and neither did I. My lip was zipped as he inspected the damage. Good. Wanted it to stay that way.
“Nothing major,” he said. “Just a small cut. I’ll clean it up, and we can leave. Painkillers and rest will do the trick.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
He got to work silently, the alcohol wipes stinging. Then his thumbs wiped at my tears, and I shrank back with surprise, meeting his gaze.
His smile was so gentle, so lovely that I wanted to kiss him again.
Without a word, he pulled out some tissue and wiped my face with it, inspected my throat—which would bruise. I hated the vulnerability of the situation, this surrendering to someone else. At the same time, I could’ve sat like this for hours. Minus the headache, of course.
“Too much murder in one night,” I said.
“I know, Aki.”
“What’s this year coming too?”
“Are you ready to go home?”
“I pushed him, G.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I need to say sorry.”
“Let’s just get you home, Aki. Don’t worry about that now.”
“But, I am worried.” Angry and worried and sore. The Colin thing had tipped me over the edge. If my dad knew about me and Colin, then he was even more of a prick than he already was. Would he have let it all happen, though? Any of it? I mean, he hated the fact I liked guys, wanted me to marry a woman. As far as anyone knew, Colin was a ladies’ man, a bachelor at the age of fifty. Not one person had any idea of our past.
“Okay,” I said. “Home is good.”
G helped me to my feet, then caught me as I almost went to kiss the floor.
“Shit!” I hissed. “D-dear Papa did a n-number on me.”
Talk about a turnaround. Weren’t that long ago I was helping Gabriel to walk. Now, it was my arm slung over his shoulder, one of his arms wrapped around my waist.
He’s so close…
So close…
“I need to see Phi.”
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
“Your dad.”
“Shit.”
“The best thing is for us to go. The elves are on their way. She’ll be okay, and your dad wants you out of the drama.”
“Drama he’s caused.” Man, did my head pound. Funny how the car crash hadn’t left me in this state. My dad was worse than a road collision, it seemed.
“I have to follow orders, Aki. Can we just go?”
“What choice do I have?”
He didn’t say anything.
“We’ll need to swing by Mama Rita’s first,” I said.
He nodded. “The swords.”
They were stuffed with power, and I couldn’t have them going crazy on me, along with everything else.
* * *
It was gone three in the morning, the night cool with a brilliant full moon, and I’d had enough painkillers to push the pain away.
I was fine. Knackered and feeling as useful as a candle in a wind tunnel, but fine. At least I was full of beef lasagna Mama Rita had given me from her fridge, with chocolate raisins for pudding. It took a lot for me not to stuff my face.
I ached with fatigue in my bones and in my head. Life had kicked me in the balls, rendering me slouched in my armchair, trying to find a way to help Zach. Any other son of a powerful man would have sway. Not me. I just got shot down and delivered a headache.
Beth and Carl.
Zach.
Paul.
This was bullshit. This wasn’t happening.
Now and again, Colin would pop up in my head, but he was shoved down hard by everything else. Irrelevant until he came to burn me again.
I wish I could forget him, pour salt on all of it and just be…what? Fine?
“I’m going to bed,” I announced to G.
“Probably a good idea.”
“You good here?”
He looked the furthest from tired, on high alert. “Yes. Sleep well, Aki.”
I nodded and padded to my bedroom. Outside, I could hear voices. There were two photographers on the street, along with some wolf guards. Wankers. How long would it be until the press forgot about me again? Unlike then, the stories didn’t have any juicy potential. This had murder, a family in crisis, and tenshi knew what else they could get their grubby hands on. Me being friends with the suspect?
I crawled into bed. Dad still saw me as a screw-up. Didn’t even have faith in my hunting skills. Well, fuck him! He didn’t know my life, didn’t know what I could do. Where was he when I went on my cases? Nowhere. Not involved. He had his precious Sarah and that kid in her belly. He could take all of it and stay the fuck away from me.
Man, I needed sleep.
I got my wish.
* * *
The snow and the petals.
Stupid dream. It was one of those waking dreams that you could feel, but knew you were defo asleep ‘cos why else would you be out in the snow in your boxers with p
ink petals falling on your head?
Things were a bit different this time, though. The darkness that’d blocked out everything beyond the cylinder of light was less thick. On the horizon, I could see the shape of a mountain. Didn’t reveal a thing, though, ‘cos how many mountains were there in the world? A shit load!
The other thing that was different was the radio crackle. The white noise. A walkie talkie on the fritz.
“Hello?”
Was someone trying to get in touch with me? With a walkie talkie in the snow? Was I eating too much sugar? Rather than rotting my teeth, was it sending my brain on some wild trips?
Okay, the dream wasn’t exactly wild.
Crackle, crackle.
Nothing.
Rinse, repeat, and the petals continued to float.
“You on the wrong setting?” I tried.
More crackling.
“Turn the dial, yeah?”
Nope. Not happening.
“You listening, whoever you are?”
This was pointless. Old cloth ears in the dark must love the sound of static. They could shove it up their arse. This was boring as shit. Roll on wake-up time.
Chapter Seventeen
I shot awake at the sound of my name, my heart skipping a beat.
“What?” I yelped. “What’s wrong?” I rubbed my eyes, which felt wider than they needed to be.
It was still night. How long had I been out? Not long enough clearly.
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” G said.
“What? Tell me.”
He took a few seconds, the worry on his face scaring the shite out of me. “It’s morning, past sunrise.”
I looked at the window, really stared through the open curtains into the night. “It’s not. Did you bang your head too?”
He passed me his phone. It read: 07:32.
“At first, I thought it was the weather like it was going to be a grim, rainy day. But there are no clouds. The night is clear, the moon still out. But it shouldn’t be, Aki.”
I rubbed my eyes again. “Am I still dreaming?” I reached for my own phone.
07:32.
“The hell?”
“I know.”
“I’m still asleep.”
“No. You’re not.”
“Prove it. Slap me. Go on.”
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 17
