by LJ Swallow
“How was I to know the damn Horsemen would be here?” retorts the woman.
“Deal with them too.”
“Oh sure, go ahead. The other two will be here any second. Plus—,” she pauses, “—the other. And you don’t want her involved.”
Thoughts leap through my head, and my indecision freezes me. Do I attack them? Look at Ewan. Look at them. A knife won’t work. Would my power?
“Don’t try it,” she snaps as if reading my thoughts. “Your party trick won’t work on me.”
“Yeah, you would say that.” I lift my hands, ready to seize her neck between my fingers. She rolls her eyes and sighs, fingers on me the way the guy did to Ewan. I wince as a force pushes me backwards and my head hits the bricks on the wall behind me.
I can’t fucking move.
“Stop playing around and deal with the demon,” the guy calls.
Through the spots dancing across my vision, I see Breanna break from staring at events around her. The glowing wound across her neck spreads upwards, like a rash covering her neck and toward her face.
She shuffles backward.
“Not so fast.” The man moves to pick up his weapon.
A force launches across the ground, gathering speed past my feet. Both attackers are knocked backwards as if something slugged them in the chest. The invisible grip on me drops, but Ewan doesn’t move.
Xander charges past me and slams into the guy with more War force, who lands spread-eagled several metres away. Xander kneels and snarls into the guy’s face, “Who the fuck are you?”
“Yeah. Good question.” The man bucks against him. “Get the hell off me or I’ll take you with me.”
“Take me where?” Xander stands and keeps a foot firmly on the guy’s chest.
“Back,” he sneers. The man disappears, leaving an empty space beneath Xander’s foot. No sound. No light. No crack in the earth. Nothing.
The woman rushes forward and grips Breanna’s arm. “Get up!”
She drags Breanna to her feet and they disappear as if someone swiped a screen and wiped them away.
I stare in the direction Breanna faced, as if I might see her running away, but nothing. Nobody. What the fuck?
“Where’s Vee?”
“Here.”
This is serious. The pair had unusual strength against us, and Vee didn’t—or couldn’t—react.
Walking forward, Vee crouches down and touches the ground, palm outstretched and brow pinched. “I told you I felt something was strange about them.”
An uncomfortable silence drops, filled only by music inside the club and distant voices.
“Did anybody from the bar see what happened?” I ask Heath.
“I don’t think so. If they did, they probably thought it was a drunk fight.”
“There wasn’t much to see and it was dark,” adds Xander.
“Who were they?” Vee addresses her question to the ground, herself, and all of us.
“Are you thinking this could be something else Seth let through a portal?” Ewan hauls himself up. “They didn’t hit as hard as Seth, but I haven’t been knocked like that by an ordinary supe for a while.”
Something shines, close to the wall. Not as brightly as before, but large and long enough for me to see what it is.
Their weapon.
“The guy used that.” I point. “We should take it. Vee? What do you think? I can’t detect anything strange about it.”
I grab her hand as she reaches for the ornate silver handle. “Careful. Sometimes weapons can hurt in the wrong hands.”
“It’s okay.” Vee takes it and turns the blade over gently in her hand. “This is lighter than it looks.”
She passes to Xander and each of us take turns in examining. We see weapons often, but aren’t experts. The blade is long and thin, like a polished and pointed carving knife, and the faint white glow has gone. “We could ask Syv? She might know what this is.”
Joss takes it from Xander. “She’s not around.”
“Send her a picture.”
He shakes his head. “Dude, she needs to be near an item to be able to detect what magic affects it.”
“We can get her over here?” I suggest.
“She’s unsure about helping after the Paris scenario. Maybe if you ask her, Vee? We need to figure out what magic this is and who they were.”
“And why they killed Breanna,” adds Ewan.
“She might not be dead.” Xander strides away and I turn to watch him go. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to talk to fucking Ripley. I bet he’s involved.”
10
VEE
The meeting with Ripley took less time than expected, and the outcome wasn’t what we’d predicted either. Following Seth’s reveals, we expect someone or something could follow, but the attack on Breanna seems strange.
Breanna’s powerful—she must be to associate with Ripley but not be under his influence. Was Breanna attacked due to her connection to us, or to him? Did she know who?
The guys’ reaction? Bewildered. And pissed off because more answers about us disappeared—or died—with Breanna. The four take different approaches to the problem. Xander and Ewan set about their usual obsessive need to find answers. Heath and Joss have other plans.
After washing away the evening with a shower, I head downstairs positive I’m about to walk into a tense meeting to discuss the night’s events. A familiar smell drifts towards me as I reach the hallway. Fresh popcorn. I follow the scent into the kitchen where Joss stands beside the microwave. He pours from a huge blue bag into a green bowl already half-full.
Ewan sits at the kitchen table nearby, focused on his laptop. I itch to push his unruly hair from his eyes and hug him, but the distance between us hasn’t changed since our chat at the bar. Xander behaves the same: distant but pretending not to be. Avoiding conversation. Staying on task. I know the pair need more time to process recent events than Joss and Heath, but it stings.
I tell myself they’re not deliberately shutting me out—the pair are closed off from Joss and Heath too. But it still hurts, and I’m wary of being rejected if I do approach them. Instead, I attempt to keep things light-hearted despite how heavy mine is.
Popcorn. My mouth waters and I head over to Joss who greets me with a smile and a kiss on the head. “Hey, beautiful girl.”
Just three words. One kiss. A Joss smile. Sometimes that’s all it takes to pull me up if I’m falling. Grabbing a handful, I shove the warm popcorn into my mouth and smile back at him. “Great idea for a late-night snack.”
Joss nods towards the doorway. “No. We’re watching movies. I’m too wired for bed. Joining us?”
“Movies?”
He thrusts the bowl at me and grabs beers from the fridge. “Ewan?” Ewan glances up, frowns at the popcorn and shakes his head. “You won’t say no to a beer, surely?”
“Piss weak beer? Not worth drinking. I’ll have a Coke.”
Joss pokes a finger in his ear as if trying to clear his hearing and cocks his head. “Did you just say no to a beer?”
Ewan mutters and doesn’t look back up.
“Vee? Movies?” Joss grins expectantly. “Heath’s choosing something.”
“His taste is bad,” I complain. “I’m not sitting through two hours of car chases and gun fights like last time. Let me choose. Please.”
“Fine by me.” He sets a coke in front of Ewan and grabs drinks for us. Placing a hand on the small of my back, Joss guides me through the door.
The lounge room is in semi-darkness when I walk in, lit by the massive TV screen and dimmed lights. Heath sits on the edge of the large sofa, flicking through the movies listed on the screen. He hits the preview for one and rests back, feet on the glass table.
“Nope.” I stand between Heath and the TV. Taking the remote from him, I pause the trailer.
“Hey! Bossy.” He pokes me in the waist, and I nudge him back with my hips.
“Can we watch something funny?�
�� I ask him. “Anything to make me laugh, Heath. I think we all need to.”
“Some more than others.” Joss sits at the opposite end of the sofa. “Ewan not joining us?”
“No, and Xander disappeared for one of his walks.”
“Probably a good idea.” Joss passes Heath the beer and pulls me onto his lap. He wraps his arms around me, and I rest back against his hard chest as I search the movies on the screen.
Joss rests his chin on my shoulder. “C’mon, then. Choose one. No chick flicks though, or I’ll vomit.”
Heath chuckles. “We’re narrowing our options here. No action. No chick flicks.”
My awareness switched away from movies to Joss as soon as our bodies met. I don’t understand what’s happening inside me, but something changed. The headaches become more frequent, and the random, disconnected feeling washes over me more than once a day. To be surrounded by his warmth, and aware of his body connected to mine helps soothe whatever causes the weird sensations. I relax against his chest and outstretch my arm.
Selecting the most saccharin sweet chick flick I can, I announce, “This one.”
“Noo!” Joss tries to take the remote from me.
I hit ‘play’ and hold the remote control high in the air. Keeping one arm tightly around my waist, Joss reaches up. We tussle but his grip on me is too strong, and I can’t stand. Refusing to let him take hold, I wriggle from side to side moving the controller each time he almost reaches.
I lean forward in an attempt to escape Joss, laughing, but he holds tighter. The movie intro music lilts across the room. “Heath, help me out. Don’t let her subject us to this shit.”
Heath leans across the sofa, and we engage in a tug of war over the controller while Joss holds my other arm. Normally I’d be annoyed, but I'm amused the two guys aren't easily beating me.
Heath’s lips purse when he doesn’t succeed after a few tries, and I smirk at him. “You forget how strong I am, don’t you?”
He yanks hard and pulls the remote from my hands. “Ha!”
I pout at him as he clicks and the music and picture disappear.
“Unfair, you’re ganging up on me.” I slap Joss’s hand where he still holds me. “You can let me go now.”
Joss places his lips on the back of my neck. “Why would I want to let you go?” His mouth tickles as he moves gently upwards before nipping my ear.
Twisting around in his lap, I wrap my arms around his neck and place a kiss on his mouth. Resisting Joss takes a lot of self-control recently, thanks to his refusal to follow through with the dirty sex he hinted at the other day. Was leaving me wanting more that day part of his plan?
Joss slides a hand beneath my shirt and runs feather light touches along my back with his soft fingers. My light kiss is rewarded with a harder one from him, as he holds me tighter, deepening the kiss. He tastes of beer and the popcorn, and I savour our moment.
He understands, like Heath, that his love and affection help me hold on to who I am. I hate the label placed on me and the effect it’s had on us all. They understand. Whatever lies ahead of us, I need them to treat me as their girl.
Something hits my cheek. “I thought we were watching a movie,” complains Heath. “You won’t see much like that.”
I reluctantly end my kiss with Joss as something else lands on my shoulder. Popcorn drops onto the sofa beside me. “Heath!”
Is he pissed off I’m making out with Joss in front of him? Heath bites on his lip, eyes shining and flicks more popcorn at me. If he is annoyed, Heath’s not showing it.
“Dude…” Joss picks the popcorn pieces from beside us and throws them back at Heath.
I should’ve expected what happens next. Heath stands and dodges Joss as he tries to grab a handful, but Joss succeeds the second time. Popcorn flies between Joss and Heath, Heath at an advantage as he has the bowl. The weight on me lightens as I laugh at the pair playing around like the big kids they are underneath all their Horsemen seriousness.
In the centre of the storm swirling around our lives, we let go. I wrestle the bowl from Joss and dance from side to side avoiding each lunge at me. Popcorn litters the soft carpet and expensive sofa as we take handfuls and toss it at each other.
The room becomes infected with laughter as we thrive on the fun created.
I bump against the glass table, and a bottle crashes over. “Shit!” I hand the almost empty bowl to Joss and set the bottle upright. Beer spreads across the table and towards the edge.
With a laugh, Joss places the bowl beneath where the beer drips down. Heath wrinkles his nose. “Ugh. Beer flavoured popcorn.”
I pick some stray popcorn from the sofa and pop it into my mouth. “Maybe we should watch the movie. Disney? There must be one we all like. Suitable since you’re behaving like big kids.”
“We are?” Joss touches his chest in mock horror. “What about you?”
I grin before grabbing the controller again. “You’re a bad influence. I’m very mature.”
He snorts, and I take the controller from the table. “I’ll choose.”
Heath chuckles. “Isn’t the idea here that you don’t?” He arches a brow at me.
I arch one in return. “You hope.”
“Tangled!” interrupts Joss. “Have you seen that one?”
“No,” says Heath. “It’s not one with princesses in, I hope?”
Joss chuckles. “She's another girl who doesn’t like rescuing. At least Vee hit you with her car and not a frying pan.”
Confusion crosses his face. “Huh?”
“You’ll see.” Movie chosen, I sit on the sofa and curl up between them. My heart still races from Joss’s kiss and the popcorn battle. I sit still and attempt to calm down.
Not happening, now that I’m between two men who have, and always did have, crazy effects on my body without touching.
At times like this, I realise how spoiled I am to have four men devoted to me. Two struggle to show me their emotions sometimes, but their care and protection are unwavering. I pull snuggle between the two. Resting my head on Joss’s shoulder, I wrap an arm around his waist. Heath sits the other side and rests a hand on my leg as he shifts closer to me.
I can never sit still for long and struggle to keep focused on the movie. The guys' distraction isn’t helping. Heath strokes my leg which should be comforting but is having other effects on me. With one beer finished, and the spilt one empty, Joss wanders to the kitchen for more. I move positions to press my body closer to Heath’s, and he looks around.
His darkened eyes tell me he’s as distracted as I am. Heath runs a finger along my nose and across my lips. His touch buzzes through, and a tingle crosses my scalp. Heath tips my chin with his thumb and forefinger and the tingle spreads through me as his lips meet mine. He’s gentle, but I sense he doesn’t want to be. Our kiss is slow and sensual, tightening my stomach and pulling me far away from events on screen. I could lose myself with Heath. If this evening were just him and me, I would.
“Bloody hell, I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.” Joss’s amused voice joins the sound of bottles placed on the table. I break away from my kiss with Heath. “And you could’ve paused the movie.” He shakes his head with an exaggerated sigh. “You obviously weren’t watching.”
I ignore my thudding heart and arousal from Heath’s kiss as Joss sits back with us. Or attempt to. Switching positions, I lie propped up against Heath’s lap and my legs are outstretched on Joss’s.
“Omigod! All this attention and she expects a foot massage. Demanding much?” Joss flicks my toes.
“You have magic hands, Joss.” Our eyes meet, and I sigh inwardly at the double meaning I just dropped.
His mouth twitches into a smile as he takes hold of one of my feet. “Oh yeah, I know. You told me that before.”
Oh god, now I have images of him and me.
“Watch the movie?” I suggest before anybody suggests something different.
Heath strokes my hair and I close my eyes, no l
onger interested in the movie. I shared a bed with both men last night. Well, for a few hours before Ewan interrupted us with the news from Seth. We were exhausted and draw comfort from each other after a hellish twenty-four hours. But in moments like this, we’re synchronised. There’s something different between the three of us. An energy different from the bond between our powers. We’re becoming aware. Where will this lead?
My imagination already went there. Has theirs?
11
XANDER
An evening where I thought I’d find answers ends with more fucking questions. I walked back into the bar, and Ripley wasn’t there anymore. When I called him and heard girls’ voices in the background, Ripley told me he was busy now and asked why I called.
I didn’t tell him.
So, I’m no clearer about whoever the fuck that couple were, and whether they’re connected to that demon arsehole.
We have a truce, but once this shit is over we won’t be buddies anymore. Every day I toy with the idea Ripley may try to get onside with Seth, but tonight I sensed he's as worried as we are.
I’ve expected Portia to contact someone again, but Joss told me about his conversation with the Collector. Well, the part about her, anyway. I stopped him when he started rambling about God and angels again. My head can’t deal with anymore of Joss’s obsessive shit right now.
The news the Collector stopped the storm shocked us all. How the hell did he do that? I’m worried now. Anybody with that kind of power can cause major issues. What if he suddenly decided to step into the world? Seriously, I can’t deal with anymore right now.
So, he’s looking for something capable of opening the fae portal? How? If Chaos created them, he should be the only one able to open it. I joked I'll happily push Portia through that portal, along with her haughty, bitchy attitude. But we all know the main aim is to stop her—or him. The slightest sign, and I'll be there to deal myself.
At least this keeps her distracted.
We need to concentrate on what happened tonight. Who took Breanna away, with answers we might never find now. I need to hang onto the hope we can figure out more alone. Or that others out there may know how to help.
