Striking Souls

by Erin R Flynn

  “You’re as fucked in the head as I am,” I growled, completely exasperated with him.

  “Does that mean I can have you? I’ve been dying since you changed into a tiny fucking skirt, Soraya. I know you did it to mess with me. I love it.”

  I unzipped his fly as my answer, as I was going commando.

  And we had sex on top of the Tokyo Tower.

  We were both so fucked, and I didn’t mean the sex.

  Which was awesome.

  Twice.

  Idiot.

  “That is one way to deal with a fear of heights,” he panted when we were spent. “Anywhere else you want to have sex on top of? Oh fuck.”

  I moaned when I saw in his head what made him swear. He now had a new fantasy of screwing me in the middle of the arena at the Colosseum. He was just as bad as I was.

  “Zip up before I cave and teleport us back with your dick out.”

  “Glad we worked this out,” he chuckled as he did while nibbling on my ear. “Anything else you want to yell at me about? Was this my treat for being a good dog?”

  I popped us back, throwing my hands in the air. He was more incorrigible than I was and sex seemed to only make it worse. No, that wasn’t the treat I’d had planned, but apparently we both needed an appetizer.

  “Hey, could you do all of this for appetizers for the tribunal?” he asked when I stopped to buy some BBQ seared scallops.

  “That’s actually not a bad idea,” Jerome admitted as he moved up next to me. “I mean, we were going to buy a ton of everything at the wholesale market, as it’s crazy good and not stuff we can get if we just order from normal providers. But this starts at like six in the morning, which is four in the afternoon.”

  “How would we handle the logistics of that?” I asked, not dismissing the idea but not seeing it.

  “Give some of the wolves here a bin like you have in your apartment where if people put stuff in it, it teleports it to another bin. Have that bin in the kitchen and servers loading up plates from those. It’s like super awesome and fancy food,” Hunt answered, nodding to the massive scallop.

  “I don’t know if I hate him less that he keeps being helpful or it makes me want you to torture him more,” Helen admitted as she joined us.

  “I know, right?” I sighed, shaking my head. “Every time I’m a bitch to him, he just asks for more. It’s sort of infuriating.”

  “Because your idea of ‘abusing’ me is seriously hot sex on top of Tokyo Tower because I dislike heights,” Hunt drawled, accepting the scallops for us. “You punish me with blow job spells because my reaction amuses you, but I get a blow job out of it. Do you want to smack me all around before I get to touch you again? Because that’s not a punishment. I get to touch you again.”

  He was so focused on the scallops he’d forgotten we were in a hugely crowded area and he had a translator spell on him. His cheeks flushed as he realized everyone around us was listening in and blatantly staring as he just ran his mouth like that.

  “This is why it’s fun to have you as my dog,” I admitted as I took two scallops from him, immensely enjoying his embarrassment. I gobbled those up, and we moved onto fried wagyu beef cutlets, and I really agreed with Hunt’s idea after that. “He’s right. Even if they don’t serve this full thing but cut it up into six pieces and top it with a dollop of some type of cream potato, that would be perfect and high quality.”

  As if to drive the idea home, the next shop was selling steamed king crab legs. Like huge ones that just… Oh. My. Gods.

  “Can I be fed like this all the fucking time?” I groaned, ordering twenty orders when it was my turn.

  “Enchantress, there is a stall here with eel that is above all others,” the Alpha told me as he moved closer to guide me.

  “I do like eel,” I muttered, giving him a look saying I knew what he was doing when his hand moved to my lower back.

  He cleared his throat. “I was hoping to maybe have a discussion about working together again and becoming closer.”

  “By which he means sex and lots of it,” Hunt warned me.

  I gave him the look he deserved. “Yes, Hunt, I know that. I can see his aura, but thank you.”

  The Alpha didn’t deny it. “I apologize for being forward. I was under a false assumption you only took interest in men over two hundred or elders, but the pup with your collar is younger than I am.”

  “I don’t allow virgins in my bed, as I don’t take responsibility for them and the attachments that can happen.” I turned to order before winking at him over my shoulder. “And not just men. I’ve had lots of fun with women over my centuries.” I paid and stared into his eyes as we waited, trying to remember his name but drawing a blank.

  “Does my interest step on any toes?” he asked me, glancing at Hunt.

  Hunt sighed when I looked at him as if daring him to say anything. “This is where I don’t know how to behave. Do you want me to get jealous so you get to smack me around, as that amuses you? I mean, which way do I act to make you happy?”

  “How about the truth? I don’t get it from you as often as I should,” I snapped, ignoring when his eyes flashed shock that I admitted that in front of others.

  He bobbed his head and then shrugged. “My toes are fine. I’d love to watch it because I enjoyed watching last time, but I don’t care if you sleep with all of Tokyo.”

  Keegan dropped his crab sticks, swearing as he hurried to clean up his mess before someone knocked him over with all the people there. He shot me a look that the answer shocked him, but we both knew Hunt was telling the truth because we could see his aura.

  “Good dog,” I muttered, not sure what else to think about that either. I did however catch Helen’s thoughts where she was practically screaming the Alpha’s name at me. “Anything else yummy you recommend, Makoto?”

  “Lots, Enchantress,” he answered, heat in his gaze.

  “Lead the way,” I purred, taking his arm. “Tommy was impressed with the job you’ve done and suggested we add your pack to the list of security we hire now and again for extra events.” Relief flashed in his aura, and I nodded. “You guys could use the jobs, got it. Okay, well, let’s talk some business before we discuss if I will take you for a ride or five as long as you understand I don’t keep anyone.”

  Makoto coughed and nodded.

  “Never a dull moment,” Jerome muttered under his breath, and I simply shrugged. I didn’t always want so much crazy, but normal was boring.

  And I was anything but boring.

  And the fish cakes he showed us were yummy, so that made me happy.

  “My pack would be more than willing to help with your event,” Makoto offered. “One of ours has a small but popular shop and has a few machines that could be used for catering. Their gyoza sells well and could be made ahead to be cooked by your chefs.”

  “That would be a good contrast from the Spanish chefs we hired to do a spread one lunch and one dinner,” Helen said, taking over.

  Makoto shot me a look, and I shrugged. “I’m not the best at the details. She is. I handle the big stuff like taking on his ancient when she was mistreating him.” I gestured to Haru who was showing a stall to some of the older kids who were still with us and helping them get food. “I’m working with an angel to help fix the veil. There’s another dirty elder the tribunal is for. Oh, and a huge government conspiracy we’re fixing.”

  “I think my head would explode,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I can barely keep up with my pack and their needs most days.” I heard a thought he’d like the type of help I had, but he couldn’t afford them with the problems his pack had with getting jobs and people not trying to start shit because they were wolves.

  Unfortunately that was typical.

  “We’re building a new factory that we might be hiring workers and security for,” I told him since ‘porting people back and forth was no big deal. We did it all the time as good workers was more important. “And we’re having some problems with g
roups and Alphas getting uppity with us, as we’re just enchanters, and if I handle it, they might piss me off and end up dead, so Jerome is trying a better approach.”

  “Tokyo is a strong and well respected pack,” Hunt informed me. “Every wolf I ever talk to agrees it’s in the top list of packs to be at or deal with. Working with them and letting any problem packs see that would handle the situation without escalating it.”

  Makoto blinked at Hunt and then dipped his head. “I thank you for your kind words. I did not know that was the case, and I am honored to lead my pack and do my best every day. It heals my fears to hear people speak of us that way.”

  “It’s the only reason we risked hiring security for something like this when we didn’t know you or your pack,” Tommy told him. “We don’t always get to do this when it’s local, as everyone promises the moon and stars and few deliver anything but trouble.”

  “When we went to Belgium, a pack and pride there thought it a good time to try and kidnap all the coven’s children, as they’re magical little batteries that carry a high price.”

  “What happened?” he asked, concern in his eyes.

  I smiled at him, knowing it was my cold one. “They found themselves needing new leadership and with less people. Never can my coven appear weak in that way or the children vulnerable.”

  I saw the same ruthlessness in his gaze, seeing why he was Alpha. “Anyone who harms children deserves nothing less. We had a similar situation about a decade ago where some humans thought it would be fun to have pup fights instead of dogs. They ended up finding out how it felt to be thrown into a cage and forced to fight.”

  “Good.”

  And we left it at that, both of us knowing how to make the hard decisions and calls. That might have been cruel, probably was to many, but it sent a powerful message to any others who might try for his people.

  “My wolf who has the shop also has a regular pass to the tuna auctions, so he can get you in if you need and his contacts he buys from directly,” Makoto said as we walked through the inside of the market, checking it all out.

  “That would be nice even for regular purchases, as we don’t have the access to seafood like you would,” Helen interjected. “There might also be something we can offer to your wolf that would sell at his shop you don’t have access to here.”

  “There are many things we cannot get or produce is more expensive, as we do not have the vast land for farms,” he agreed, and we didn’t have the heart to correct him as to how a chunk of America’s produce actually came from out of country and was not all ours. “There was much talk about the sponges and if there was any chance to purchase them when you do not have a store here.”

  I wasn’t the only one who groaned, Jerome taking that one. “Your government gets heavily involved in any not Japanese business having stores unless they’re McDonalds or some chain that will have tons of stores. They were also unwelcoming when they learned we wouldn’t only hire locally. We can’t as we have a healer at each store at all times. The healer is trained by us and our coven.”

  “I might know someone who could help at least explain that part and jump some of the red tape to keep out just any foreign company coming here to sell what might not be good quality.”

  We nodded. We knew it was to keep out the riffraff, but it also hurt the chances of any decent businesses opening there and bringing good stuff.

  He moved our group inside to see the wholesale markets now that it was after the super busy rush before most were at work or buying for their own shops to open. I vaguely listened as the wolves played tour guides for us, getting that would be welcome instead of being silent protectors. There was something a bit more distracting, and I found myself popping over to a human whose aura was flashing funny.

  There were lots of exclamations and people yelling at me, worried for the man, but I threw out my hands and froze all the humans, chanting the spell to calm his nerves. I moved my hand to his arms and got him to focus on me.

  “You’re about to have a heart attack. I need you to believe me when I say this, stay calm, and tell me where the hospital is. I will take you straight there and help, but you need to trust me.” I sighed in relief when he gave a nod and I pulled from his mind where the nearest hospital was that could help. “Jerome, follow with whatever healers we have here and make sure we don’t lose any kids.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  I released all the humans and teleported us to the emergency room. I bypassed the front desk—much to their annoyance—and went right in back, finding the doctor who looked the most seasoned and in charge. “This man is about to have a heart attack. He needs help I cannot give him.” When he opened his mouth to object, I made a bespelled piece of glass appear and held it over his chest to show the doctor inside like an echo.

  His eyes went wide and he nodded. “I understand. We can help him.” He started yelling orders, and the confused and scared human was taken over to a gurney and they did whatever humans did in hospitals. Honestly, it all looked scary to me too, as it wasn’t something I’d ever seen.

  I was relieved when Jerome and three healers appeared, heading to where I pointed. The doctor looked like he might object. “They are high level healers who specialize in working with humans. They will do nothing they aren’t sure they can.”

  They hooked something up to his chest that showed what I had but in a better, clearer way, and the healers got to work, letting the humans watch. After several minutes, the aura of the man changed and the distress to his body was gone.

  “How can we not know you do things like this?” the doctor whispered as he watched in awe. “How can you not do it all the time?”

  “How can you not walk the streets and just help people?” I tossed right back, knowing the argument well. “Every good deed is punished, and someone could try to abduct enchanters just to use them this way and attempt to often. Drugs you use to heal can also be used to hurt. You could lose your license and be blamed for much if you don’t help within certain guidelines.”

  “It also takes a good deal of energy and power,” Hunt defended. “It’s taxing on them physically, but most wouldn’t care about that and hurt them.” He gestured to the one healer who stepped away and leaned against the wall, panting. “It’s not just them on the line but the coven and children people could try to hurt. The answer is never simple.”

  “No, not it is not,” the doctor agreed before stepping away. He read some readouts and moved a thing over the man’s chest, smiling brightly at what he saw. “You now have a heart of a twenty year old man without any buildup or any deterioration.”

  The man thanked the healers, and so did the hospital employees, looking happy to tell someone they were okay instead of how much bad news they normally had to give. Then they had to work out what they actually did because they couldn’t just pretend we’d never come in or they could get in trouble.

  “You did all of this and you’re backing away to stay out of it,” Hunt muttered, shaking his head. “You really don’t ever take the bow, do you?”

  I shrugged, glancing around the huge room curiously, as I was never at places like that. “You see someone choking, you help them. You see someone hurt, you call the authorities. It’s just what you do if you’re a decent person. I simply see more than others. It’s not something to get a pat on the back for, but I do wish I got shit on less. His reaction was normal. Why don’t we do more? You thought the same about bulletproof charms for cops.”

  He didn’t answer at first. “It comes out more accusatory than I think most people mean it. For me, it was knee jerk like ‘how did I not know about this?’ My mind was racing like I’d missed something or was in danger when others weren’t. I get it’s hard, but I think the initial WTF reaction is understandable. It’s when they don’t let it go that I would be upset, and I’m not saying that just because I had the same reaction.”

  “Fair enough,” I accepted after a moment.

  “I feed you,” the human sai
d after he signed everything for insurance or whatever the hospital required.

  “Thank you but—” I started, but he interrupted.

  “They need calories, yes? I have fatty tuna.”

  I shrugged and, after thanking the doctor and staff, ‘ported us all back to the fish market. I checked in with Helen and Tommy that everything was fine and they had been buying too much to fill the coven’s freezers since it was all at such a good price. Relieved, I noticed something about the people around the human and how they were reacting.

  He was the big boss. They were acting like my coven would if it had happened to Helen or the others. I glanced around and gave Makoto a confused look.

  “He’s known as the ‘tuna king,’” he explained. “He is the owner of this market, and it is the best tuna. The best restaurants only buy from him. He sells to over a thousand different places, and no one is better. Lots depend on him for their livelihood.”

  “Well, that might have just helped my karma,” I joked. The human waved me over to introduce me, asking my name. “Soraya Devil.”

  Yeah, that got us a lot of wide eyes.

  “Wait, so is this where we need to come to get the tuna and fish we need?” I asked Makoto. “Or you said your guy can get us into an auction?”

  Needless to say, there was a lot of confusion at that, so Makoto and Helen went into explaining as the healers stuffed their faces to recharge. I saw how much Keegan and the others were buying and sending back, making more money appear and giving it out to the kids.

  “Um, you might want to watch that,” Hunt muttered. He sighed when I frowned. “Soraya, you make it appear like, hi, magic, and counterfeit is what most people then think.” He gestured around at the people watching us.

  I winced. “No, we exchanged a bunch of US dollars last week before this outing and have it in the vault with other currencies we need now and again. Well, actually we exchanged gold, I think, but it’s in the vault, and Tommy and I can make it appear. Oh, Helen too.” I frowned and glanced at Jerome. “Do you have access to the vault?”

  “Yeah, boss, Keegan and I can do it too,” he chuckled, shaking his head.