by Joyee Flynn
I pulled up and parked by the garage at home. I turned off the truck and stared at the house that wasn’t mine. But it felt like the closest thing I’d ever had to a real home. Even the house I had on pack lands never felt like home because I wasn’t safe there. In this house I felt safe, but now it was missing a part of me in the form of my mates. And I didn’t want to be there either. I didn’t know where I wanted to be.
I got out of my truck and went inside, sighing when I saw Ayden waiting for me. “Please don’t. I can’t handle any more shit.”
“I just got a text from Barnabas that you ran from your mates,” he growled, stepping in front of me when I tried to move around him. “Why would you run, Tyler? Barnabas said the one is freaking out and the other is passed out. What the hell happened that you ran?”
“You don’t know anything, okay?” I shouted, not caring when we started to draw a crowd. “They hurt me, Ayden. But your lack of confidence is heartwarming. After everything, you think I would do something to them and just leave? What the hell, man? Haven’t I always had your back? Haven’t I thrown myself time and time again in the way of the Alpha to save you? Now suddenly you assume I did something wrong when there’s trouble. I came back for some clean clothes and to get a little space. I think I’m allowed that!”
“Tyler, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said gently.
“Yeah right. I saw the judgment in your eyes. You’re growling at me when I walk in like it’s all my fault. Whatever. Why would anyone care what I’m feeling? Everyone just uses me for what they want, but I’m the one everyone blames. The Alpha blamed me for you leaving, Asterio blames me for the way I am, you blame me because they screwed up. Well, fuck all of you!”
I turned and stormed up the stairs. Fuck it. I was so out of here! I was taking a shower and a nap and then packing my shit and hitting the road.
“I didn’t mean it was his fault,” Ayden said from downstairs just as I got to my room. I assumed he was talking to Darcy. Yeah, he had a mate that would be there for him and comfort him even when he stuck his foot in his mouth. Me? Oh no. Mine shoved me off the couch and the other one demanded that I change who I am.
Great. Just fucking great.
I yanked off my clothes once I was in my room and jumped in the shower. I scrubbed my skin so hard that I was surprised I wasn’t covered in cuts and bleeding. It was like I thought if I washed them off me I wouldn’t break down crying.
It worked until after I finished and dried off. The instant I crawled into my cold bed alone, I felt their loss and all the pain from my life seemed to drown me. Tears burned in my eyes as my despair seemed to build. I just wanted some sleep, not that I cared if I ever woke up again. After all, what did I have to look forward to?
Chapter 7
Asterio
I was sitting at the back of what I heard someone call the media room and mini theater. I didn’t know what media even was or a theater? We had a theater back home for plays, but it was outside with a stage. So all around, everything in the world confused me. I just wanted my mates’ calming presence. I didn’t want to know more about this world and explore it without them.
After Tyler had left, no one would let me go after him. It’s not like I could just walk around until I found him. And I didn’t know how to drive one of those metal machines. They wouldn’t let me call him on the phone, which was an ingenious invention, and said to leave him to cool off. I respected my Queen but right then I was pissed at her. I didn’t think she had any right to get involved in my mating.
I mean, what if all Tyler wanted was for me to come after him and make things better? What if giving him space just put more space between us that I couldn’t fix later?
And what the hell was I going to do about Mav? The Queen said she put him to sleep until my blood worked itself out of his system and he returned back to normal. How long would that take? And how did I ever explain that I upset Tyler so badly that he left?
The show started and I felt overwhelming sadness. Tyler came up with this idea to help me and my people. Now he wasn’t even here to see if it helped because I drove him away. I was a horrible mate. I had no excuse, but I did have a few reasons that I handled things poorly. I really prayed to the gods that if I just got a chance to explain to Tyler that he’d understand.
As lost in my own thoughts as I was, I couldn’t take my eyes off the show. They had the coolest inventions in this world. These TVs that showed pictures were fantastic. I felt like I was standing right there at the places it showed. It moved to show the whole Earth and I heard gasps around the room. That’s where we were? That huge planet?
Then it changed views to show how the sun moved around, but that wasn’t what the woman was saying. She said the Earth and other planets moved around the sun and that was just one solar system. I’d have to look up what that was later, but it sounded big.
I liked her voice. It was soothing. I heard one of my friends ask who she was.
“That’s Sigourney Weaver. She’s an actress who plays characters in movies,” a vampire warrior, Ferris, explained. That had a bunch of people asking more questions. “Okay, maybe we need to get some notebooks in here so you guys can just start writing questions down and we can address them after the show so you don’t miss it.”
I thought that was a great idea since I already had a dozen questions on my mind. He made the show stop, saying that he was pausing it. Wow! They could pause shows? How could he have the power to do that with that thing in his hand? Of course, someone then asked about that and he explained that the show was recorded and could be watched at any time. The thing in his hand was a remote and controlled the machine that played the recorded show.
In other words, I was learning a lot in the span of a few minutes and not all of it made sense. Several others came back with pads of paper, which they called notebooks. It made sense, they were books for notes. We just called them writing pads, but it was basically the same thing. They also handed out writing instruments they called pens. We had pencils in our world, but I found these pens fun.
I was delighted when I went to write down my first question and saw mine wrote in purple. If I could just get a grasp on this world and everything worked out with my mates, I thought I could be happy here. Their world was magical in its own way. I mean, here I sat, waiting for Ferris to unpause the show on the TV with my notebook and purple pen. If that wasn’t magic, I didn’t know what was.
He started it again and I was fascinated even more than earlier. There was so much land in the world. We watched these adorable animals called penguins fight a snowstorm. Oh, how I would love to see snow someday. It sounded wonderful. I wasn’t sure I wanted snow like they had in this place called the Arctic, but one of the warriors explained that it didn’t snow like that everywhere.
Everyone gasped when the scene changed and a large animal called a polar bear was struggling to get out of the snow. It was truly beautiful. It rolled down a hill of snow, and the soft-voiced woman said it was cleaning its fur. I didn’t think I ever wanted to bathe in snow, but animals were very adaptable like that.
Her cubs popped their heads out of the hole in the snow and another larger wave of sadness hit me. I missed my cub. Granted, it might be a strange nickname to give to our mate, but it worked for us. Tyler wasn’t a child by any means of the word, though he was really young to us.
But then again, we were really, really old. He’d been through a lot from what I already knew. Just in the grand scheme of things he was young. He was our cub, just not in the sense of a child.
“Hey,” Mav said quietly as he sat down next to me.
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried about his state of mind.
“I am now, but I owe you and Tyler a huge ass apology. I don’t know what happened.” He looked distraught and I knew he needed me. I waved Ferris over and he leaned in.
“Can I leave to tend to my mate and watch this show later? You said it was recorded and could be played anytime, right?”
“Yeah, Mav can cue it up for you later. Go be with your mate,” the warrior said gently, his eyes understanding. I thanked him and took Mav’s hand as we quietly left the room so as not to disturb the others.
When we got to the foyer, he asked the question I was dreading most to answer. “Where’s Tyler?”
“Tyler left,” I whispered, shaking my head in grief. “He drove his machine off the estate and I didn’t have any way to follow him.”
“Is–is he,” Mav stuttered and then swallowed loudly. “Is he coming back?”
“I don’t know. He was upset about both of our reactions after we had sex with him. You for pushing him off the couch and not caring and me for putting a blow job in front of his feelings. Then I tried to make up for it while you were out. I found him on the terrace, naked, talking with one of the warriors and I freaked out. He was distant and upset but said I could fuck him in front of everyone.” I started to get choked up.
“You didn’t realize that was a wolf thing, did you?” I could tell Mav wasn’t judging me, simply worried that I added to the problem. I nodded.
“I said I wouldn’t treat him like a whore and that being our slut in private was one thing but I wouldn’t have some slut for a mate. I have no excuse. I was upset about what was going on with you, I’m adapting to this world, and I seem to always be one step behind on everything. I didn’t know and I didn’t like seeing someone else touching him. I regret how I handled it more than you can ever know, but he was gone before I could tell him that.”
“Then you tell him that when we find him,” Mav said gently as he stood on his toes and kissed me. “We both screwed up but we didn’t mean to. He’s emotionally fragile after the shit life he’s had. We’ll fix this.”
“I’m so sorry.” I hugged him to me, a moment away from bursting into tears. I never wanted to hurt my mates. I wanted to love them, but I screwed it all up.
“Hey, you guys okay?” Ferris asked as he stepped into the foyer. “I heard Tyler’s gone, and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”
“Yes, actually,” Mav answered as we broke apart. “You’re staying at Darcy Burke’s house on assignment, right?”
“Yeah. You want a ride there?”
“Yes please.”
“Okay, let me tell the others that I’ll be back.” Ferris jogged off as Mav slid his hand in mine.
“Can you tell me what happened after you drank my blood?” I was curious to know how he felt about the whole incident.
“It’s hard to explain. It tasted weird, almost as if it was laced with some chemical. Then the next thing I knew I felt frantic, this need clawing at me to please you. It was like there was nothing else I could focus on and nothing else mattered. It was so strange, but I couldn’t stop it.”
“The Queen is looking into how it happened. We have no knowledge of our blood affecting vampires that way.”
“I’m glad someone’s all over it because the vampires need to be warned, and I’d like to be able to feed from my mate when I need blood.” He smiled at me as Ferris came back and led us out to his driving machine. I stared at it apprehensively then glanced over to Mav. He smiled reassuringly when he saw the look on my face. “They’re safe, I promise. It will be scary for the first few minutes, but I promise it’s fun.”
“You guys don’t have cars where you’re from?” Ferris asked, his eyes wide. “God, the culture shock you all must be going through. No wonder Tyler thought it best to start you out slow. I can’t even imagine the roller-coaster ride you’re on.”
“What’s a roller coaster?” I got into the car as Ferris called it and Mav showed me how to put on the seat belt. I gave a very loud squeak as it moved, swallowing back my nerves.
They explained to me what a roller coaster was and about a place called an amusement park that housed them. I had a feeling I would like an exciting place like that. Mav was right. After a few minutes, I found myself rolling down the window and leaning my head out so the wind blew through my hair. It was very invigorating. I was so impressed that the people of this world had invented such a thing.
Then they told me how this vehicle, or SUV, worked. Mav explained how there were also cars, trucks, and Hummers as well. He told me he had a sports car back in Greece that he’d have to get Caleb to send over. But when he taught me how to drive, he said maybe I should start in Tyler’s truck. I wasn’t sure why he thought that, but I would do as he wanted. Mav knew best when it came to matters in his world.
“Shit, we’ve got problems,” Ferris growled as he pointed down the road. I saw dozens of people running toward us from several miles away. “Where are they heading?”
“Who are they?” I asked, unsure why he was so upset
“Demons,” Mav answered and pulled out his phone. “Barnabas, lock the house down. We’ve got demons closing in.”
“Tell them they’re about ten miles away from Darcy’s house but we don’t know where they’re heading,” Ferris barked out before making a sharp turn into a driveway. Now I understood the purpose of the seat belts.
“I’ll contact Darcy to let him know and send help,” Barnabas said on the phone, and I was amazed I could hear him as if he was right there.
“You won’t make it in time,” Mav replied as the SUV skidded to a halt. He quickly got me out of my seat belt and then we were out of the vehicle and racing to the house.
“Oh, yes we will,” Barnabas growled and then there was a beep. Mav slipped the phone back into his pocket as we jumped up onto the front porch. Ferris opened the door and we went inside before he closed it and locked it.
“We’ve got demons a few miles away,” he shouted loud enough that it hurt my ears. “Get the wolves down to the basement!”
“Tell me,” a vampire demanded as he came barreling down the stairs with a very small man, Tyler following after them.
“We saw at least three dozen about ten miles out on the main road,” Ferris said as he opened a door to a hidden room under the stairs. I saw various weapons and grabbed a large broadsword. “There could be more, but we don’t know what their target is.”
“These are the beings that you are at war with that the Queen told us about?” I asked, the pieces falling into place.
“Yes,” Ferris answered, not even glancing at me as he handed out metal weapons. Those the Queen had showed us, and she had explained how guns worked to the warriors.
“Fire kills them, right?” Mav nodded, and I turned and raced back to the front door.
“Asterio, wait! There are too many,” Tyler shouted.
“Trust me now, my mate,” I said gently as I unlocked the door and threw it open.
He nodded and ran after me. I chanted a protection spell as I ran a perimeter around the house as quickly as possible. When I got back to the front, I saw the enemy approaching fast as Ferris, Mav, Tyler, and the man I assumed to be Darcy were standing on the porch.
“No one must cross that line. It will disintegrate anything that touches it,” I said quietly as I joined them. I didn’t know how well the enemy could hear.
“Well, that’s a nifty fucking trick.” The man chuckled as he held out his hand. “Darcy Burke and you saw my mate Ayden when you got here.”
“Pleasure,” I said, shaking his hand.
“Everyone is downstairs,” Ayden informed us as he stepped out onto the porch.
“You’re not,” Darcy growled. “Get to safety.”
“Kiss my ass.” He snickered, checking his gun. “You taught me how to shoot just in case something like this happened. I can move faster than you guys and I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Warrior or not, I will not leave my mate to defend our home alone.”
“You have a warrior’s heart,” I said approvingly, earning me a nasty glance from Darcy.
“No one has to die here today,” one of the demons snarled as they slowed down. “We just want the Kappa wolves.” His evil red eyes were full of hatred as his gaze darted to each of us before resting on
me again.
“Come and get them,” I taunted as I raised my sword. “It will be you that dies here tonight.”
“What is he?” a demon whispered to their leader.
“So they know about the wolves and Kappas but not that the fae are here,” Mav mumbled so only we could hear. “Interesting. I would love to find out how they know anything.”
I nodded my agreement. We needed to take at least one of them prisoner for interrogation. There was a flash of light behind us and I turned just in time to see the Queen step out through a portal.
“Your highness,” I growled as I stepped toward her. “We warn you of danger and you come here? I laid down a protection barrier. Get to safety.”
“And miss the first battle I’ve been around in a millennium?” she asked, almost giddy with excitement. “You must be crazy, Asterio. Besides, you know my power is great.”
“Yes, but you are too important to let into battle.”
“Nonsense,” she said with a dismissive wave and headed onto the porch. Well, at least I saw a few dozen fae warriors had come with her through the portal. We took up positions around the porch, mine next to the Queen when I saw Mav was standing in front of Tyler. “You are, as they say here, outgunned, demons. Surrender now and I will make sure your deaths are painless. Fight us and you will suffer.”
“Oh, we’re just the first wave,” the demon sneered. “Give us the Kappas and we will leave.”
“Why do you want them? Tell me that and maybe we can make a deal,” she countered. Darcy growled, but I knew full well that she would never hand anyone over.
“We were told to get the wolves who were helping the vampires,” one called out.
“You idiot! She’s lying,” the leader snarled as he punched the other demon. “Give us the Kappas or you all die!”
“Come and get them,” she replied with a smirk.
“I said that before you got here.” I chuckled, shaking my head. Good to know that the woman who’d been like a mother to me had influenced me. “We want one for questioning. Mav says they shouldn’t have the information they do.”
