“Going real good.” Kyden hummed and lifted his pancake to his mouth. His fierce stare never left Drake’s as he chewed.
Nexi didn’t know where to look and ended up looking between them, each man appearing on the verge of pounding the hell out of the other. They were in a serious testosterone staring contest. It wouldn’t have surprised her in the least if they pulled their balls out and decided the winner that way.
Blessedly, after an incredibly long awkward moment, Kyden downed his orange juice, then stood. “I better go change.”
She exhaled a sigh of relief, which quickly turned to a gasp as Kyden yanked her from her chair and sealed his mouth over hers. The kiss lasted way, way, too long. And was a scorching hot, fingers-tangled-in-her-hair, type of kiss that shouldn’t happen in front a dad.
Once he broke away, leaving her breathless, he untangled his fingers from her hair. “Sorry to leave you to the mess.”
Kyden clearly meant his words for her, but he fixed his eyes elsewhere, and when Nexi followed his gaze she took a giant step back. It became quite clear whom she got her temper, because Drake looked ready to blow his lid.
He rose from his chair, sending it flying back and slamming into the wall as he stood. “I’ll join you.”
“Drake,” she said with hesitation.
Both men ignored her, staring daggers at each other, and a sudden burst of anger flooded her veins. First, they overlooked her as if she didn’t stand there. Second, Drake’s chair had put a humongous dent in her wall. “Pissed” took on a completely new meaning. “Look at what you did to my wall.”
Kyden winked at her, then left the kitchen. Nearly in the same second, Drake spun on his heel and stormed out of the room. The moment Nexi heard the front door slam behind them, all hell broke loose.
Pushing out of her chair, she rushed toward the front door, hearing yelling, loud thumps, and deep grunts from the other side of the door. Just as she reached for the handle, it got quiet. Opening the door a crack, she peeked out, but they were gone. Apparently, all the commotion had been the two of them fighting their way out of the Guardians’ House.
She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Cavemen.” She shut the door behind her, knowing there wasn’t much she could do about it. Even if they were fighting, she’d never jump in the middle of them. She wasn’t stupid.
Forgetting about the sparring men for the moment, she hurried to clean up the mess in the kitchen. After which, she had a fast shower and set to getting dressed. Oddly enough, she went straight for her guardian gear instead of normal clothes, as if that was every day business. Somehow, though, it all seemed like a perfect fit now.
Just as she finished clipping her kilt, the front door jiggled.
She made it into her living room in two-point-two seconds, and watched the door swipe open. Drake and Kyden entered, big smiles planted on their faces. She gave them both a quick look over, and neither had any evidence on them of a fistfight, but that didn’t mean jack around there. Zia could have healed them.
Eying them with suspicion, she asked Kyden, “Everything okay?”
He nodded, took her hand, and pulled her out into the hall. “The Council is sending us out on an assignment.”
“Like hell they are.” She yanked her hand back, pinning him with a hard stare. “They’re sending you out, not me.” At Kyden’s frown, she reminded him, “I’m going to hunt my parent’s killer tonight.” She narrowed her eyes on Drake, who gave her a measured look. “You said that once I joined the Council’s Guard I could go after the wolf. Remember?”
Drake looked at her reassuringly. “You have a responsibility to the Council now that you’re a part of the Guard. The matter in New York is apparently not over. You need to finish the assignment you’ve taken on first.”
She bit back a curse, turned to Kyden, and tried another approach. “It was really your assignment. You deal with it.”
He shook his head in clear frustration. “Honestly, Nexi, do you think I’d allow you to hunt that werewolf alone?”
She gave a firm nod. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“So it begins–” He sighed, exasperated. “Again.”
Her lips parted to tell him where he could stuff his plans, when he wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her to him. He leaned down, bringing his eyes level with hers. “Please don’t argue with me.”
Too bad for him she planned to argue. Before she could, he added, “We have a responsibility to deal with the matter in New York City. The first assignment was given to us—we are a team, get used to that because I won’t have it any other way—and Drake is right: we cannot abandon our responsibility.”
At the part of her lips to lay down her side of the argument, Kyden placed a finger over her mouth. “If we don’t stop this, more lives will be lost. Do you want that on your conscience?”
She stared down the two determined faces and finally accepted defeat, glaring at both of them. “I hate you for using that to make me agree.”
Kyden grinned, brazenly. “Worked, though, didn’t it?”
“Maybe,” she muttered.
Drake kissed Nexi’s forehead and said to Kyden, “Be sure she stays safe.”
“Always,” Kyden said, with a firm nod.
Nexi scrunched up her nose, wondering if she’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. What in the heck had made these two so tolerant of each other? Had they beaten the testosterone out of their caveman bodies?
With a smile and a wave goodbye, Drake spun on his heel, heading down the hallway toward the Guardians’ Hall. Nexi followed his every step and once he vanished from sight, she jerked her head to Kyden. “Drake left a raging lunatic and returned not one. What the heck happened?”
Kyden’s mouth curved as he urged her forward with a hand along her lower back. “We had a discussion about my intentions.”
Nexi dug in her heels. “You cannot be serious?”
“Very serious.” He inclined his head, urging her forward again, and this time she obliged him.
She nearly laughed. As if she needed Drake to ensure Kyden was an appropriate suitor, or to kick the shit out of him if he wasn’t. “He obviously approved of you, considering you’re not dead.”
Kyden gave his arrogant grin, and smacked her ass. “Of course he did.”
She studied him, not blind to the mischievous hint in his eyes. “Are you going to tell me what you said to him?” A slow smile spread across his lips and he increased his stride, moving ahead of her. “Kyden…”
His low chuckle echoed in the hallway.
…
Talk about déjà vu.
The large parking lot, located only a block away from the last scene in New York City, had a factory with a loading dock to the left. The only light in the area came from a few parking lot lights above Nexi, which hindered her ability to see the body.
With Foley and Haven beside her, Nexi kicked a rock with a hard thump, sending it rolling toward Kyden, who strode ahead. She watched the rock hit his boot when he stopped dead, then she heard him curse.
Glancing over his shoulder, he stared at Nexi with troubled eyes. “Prepare yourself.”
“Prepare myself for what?” She hurried her steps, and as she drew near where he stood, her stomach churned, understanding his concern.
Next to the loading dock, a woman—or the pieces left of her—was scattered around the parking lot. Holding her breath, Nexi refused to inhale the scent of decomposed flesh, laced with the sordid odor of blood and internal organs. She scanned the area and found the woman’s head to the left and her torso to the right.
“Fuck, look at this.” Foley grunted a low, wolfish sound. “When Myers said it was a bad scene I thought he was gettin’ soft.”
Kyden’s jaw clenched as he turned to Foley. ”You weren’t first on the scene?”
Foley shook his head, looking grimly at the pools of blood beneath his feet. “Myers worked the day shift. I arrived mere seconds before you did.”
A soft cr
y sounded behind Nexi, and a dark emotion coursed through her body, causing her to gasp. Spinning around, she spotted Haven, who gawked at the torso, tears rushing down her cheeks. “Haven?”
Haven blinked slowly, then she ran into Nexi’s arms, embracing her tight. Her body trembled uncontrollably. “Who would do this?”
Before Nexi had the chance to think up a good answer other than a psychopath, Kyden approached. He took Haven from her arms and said to her in an unusually soft voice, “You have to be strong.”
Haven’s stared at the torso, and a blank, faraway look settled over her face.
Kyden gave her a firm, but gentle, shake. “We can’t let the one who did this get away. Recreate the scene and I’ll make it all disappear.”
Haven blinked again, slow and distant, and the trauma drifted from her eyes. “Oookay.”
Keeping Haven in his arms, Kyden helped her walk toward the torso, taking slow steps. He maneuvered around the scattered body and dodged the puddles of blood. When they finally settled over the woman’s torso, Haven raised her shaky hands to the sky.
Within seconds, the scene appeared, and Nexi used all her strength to keep her eyes open. Two wolves tore into the woman as if no one had fed them for months. The sound alone disturbed her. The horror in the woman’s eyes was much harder to accept.
It took way, way, too long before the woman actually died, and that only came when one of the wolves gnawed on her neck. The scene froze right after the wolves had shifted, and both wore big smiles planted on their faces.
Nexi didn’t hesitate, and she didn’t need Kyden’s direction. Raged burned in her blood as she approached the wolves, studying them from every angle. The first wolf looked like an everyday white-collar businessman, clean cut and shaven. The next guy, a little rugged, more of an outdoorsy type.
“Done?” Kyden asked.
Nexi nodded. “Very done.”
The sooner this scene vanished, the better.
Kyden drew his sword and slashed down into the torso of the woman. Then the evidence of this brutal killing vanished. The woman’s now joined body had a single wound at her neck.
“Cruelty at its finest,” Foley muttered.
“Nexi…” Haven inhaled a deep shuddering breath, then, she fell into Kyden’s arms, her emotions breaking wide open.
Nexi stood stuck on the spot and she fought to catch her breath under the sheer force of Haven’s despair. Her throat tightened, muscles tensed as she battled through Haven’s raw horror. Not only her sadness, but more so, her complete mental breakdown.
This, Nexi hoped to never feel again.
Kyden scooped Haven up in his arms, cradling her against him. To Foley he said, “Get the trackers on these wolves. Call in the location. We’ll meet you there.”
Foley nodded, reached into his pocket and grabbed out his phone.
Running forward, and without any explanation, since she didn’t one, Nexi followed on Kyden’s heels. He and Haven vanished first through the portal, and in a blink of an eye, she joined them. The dark night drifted away to a flash of light and the wind rushed over her body before her feet connected with the ground.
Nexi blinked, then spotted the Council’s Foyer around her.
Before she could even move, considering she still endured Haven’s torment, Zia ran out of the Council’s Hall. “What happened?”
Kyden knelt down, keeping Haven in his arms. “Bad scene.”
“Hush now, Haven.” Zia grabbed her hands as Haven sobbed. Not a second passed before Haven’s eyes fluttered and she drifted off to sleep. Zia sighed and turned to Nexi. “She’s fine now. I’ve erased her memory.”
Nexi shuddered at the release of Haven’s horror. If she never experienced that again, that would be a good day. Then she realized what had happened, and she narrowed her eyes on Zia. “You did what?”
“Haven has difficulty dealing with disturbing murders,” Zia replied, as if discussing a pair of shoes. “It’s in her best interests that I remove her memories.”
“Oh, you better not have,” Nexi retorted, enraged to her bones that they’d do something so intrusive to her soul sister. “You can’t go into someone’s mind and take things out, no matter that your magic says you can.”
Zia reached out for Nexi with a gentle expression, but Nexi jumped away. “Don’t even think about touching me again. How do I know you aren’t going to erase this from my mind?”
The Mistress of Witches studied her with a frown. “Haven’t you wondered how Haven keeps that darling innocence in our cruel world?” Her eyebrows rose. “What would you rather: she loses that or I intervene?”
Nexi didn’t like either of those choices.
She stayed silent as Zia continued, “It might not be right, but the truth is, difficult scenes don’t happen often.”
Nexi stared Zia down, and for the first time the power inside the Mistress of Witches showed through, as Zia went on, “I’m sorry you have an issue with my helping her, but if it means Haven can be without the trauma of what she sees then it’s my only choice.”
“So, you say,” Nexi countered.
Zia pursed her lips.
“What happened to her?” Finn rushed into the Council’s Foyer and once he reached Haven, he lifted her into his arm. Concern shadowed his normally light eyes.
Kyden jumped to his feet. “Gruesome death.”
Finn placed a kiss on Haven’s forehead, then to Zia, he said, “Thank you for taking care of her.”
Zia inclined her head.
Finn turned to Nexi. “Zia always gives Haven a memory of a night alone with me. Remember that if you’re talking with her.”
Nexi tried to stay angry—hard, in fact—but seeing that Finn was okay with it, what could she say? They weren’t hurting Haven. They were keeping Haven…sweet Haven. She sent a glare Zia’s way. “Don’t you ever do that to me, got it?”
Zia flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I won’t ever need to. You’re not having a breakdown, are you?”
Yes, good point. Why wasn’t she?
Kyden rubbed his jaw, his eyes dark and cautious. “The number of werewolf deaths is rising and they’re only intensifying in nature.” He looked at Zia and sighed. “Undoubtedly, more is going on here. The killing tonight was nothing I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t a random act of violence. Those wolves killed for pure pleasure.” He hesitated, his brows drawn together, then he asked Zia, “Have you heard from Briggs at all?”
She shook her head. “Nothing except that he’s in Texas and they’re digging deeper to find out what’s going on there.”
Silence settled in around them.
Nexi couldn’t take it anymore. “So, we have nothing to go on. No reasons for why it’s happening since werewolves are supposed to be friendly—which by the way seems a bit hard to believe, even if I have seen a few nice ones—but what do we do now?”
Kyden’s eyes glinted dangerously. “We go with what we have, and that includes hunting the wolves that killed without mercy.”
Chapter Fourteen
In the slums of New York City, Kyden examined the rundown house in front of him, and wondered why the werewolves picked this place. The paint peeled off the wooden planks on the exterior, and the home needed a person who cared about its appearance. He scanned the area and down a ways he spotted a group of teenagers, but they paid them no attention. Exactly how he wanted it.
He turned to Foley. “How many wolves are in there?”
Foley lifted his nose and took a deep sniff. “I believe there are four.” He sniffed again. “Yes, four.” At Nexi’s parting mouth, Foley raised a hand. “I have no idea if they are all from the Texas pack or if they’re members of the New York pack—I’m not that good.”
She nibbled her lip, and then added, “Let’s hope they’re the New York pack and aren’t looking for any trouble.”
For their sake, Kyden hoped the same.
While he always loved a good fight, especially if he was outnumbered, since it gave him a
fine challenge, he didn’t like those odds with Nexi involved. However, he knew to keep those thoughts to himself, since it would only anger her. Besides, he spotted the fire in her eyes for the fight ahead. Guardians needed to protect and defend, a desire bred into their very veins, and he wouldn’t refuse Nexi that right.
She studied the house for a second before she asked Foley, “The werewolves that killed the woman earlier are in there? You know this without a doubt?”
He nodded. “The tracker pinpointed them at this location, and I recognize their scent, too.” He gave Nexi a long look, then his gaze locked on Kyden. “Seeing that you’re outnumbered, let me help with this.” He cracked his knuckles. “Been a while since I’ve had a good fight. It’ll be good to raise the hackles.”
Kyden wouldn’t dare refuse the offer of help. He understood Nexi’s desire to fight. Hell, the same desire drove him, as it did all guardians. But he wasn’t confident he’d be able to watch over her, which didn’t sit well. She might want to face her own battles, prove her strength, but he already knew. He only wanted her safe.
Cupping Foley’s shoulder, Kyden smiled. “Thank you.”
Foley inclined his head.
Brushing past him, Kyden strode toward the house with Nexi in tow. Once at the front door, he glanced over his shoulder. “Bravery is good. Stupidity is not. Yell if you need me. Clear?”
“Gotcha,” she replied with a firm nod. “Now you listen to me.” Staring him down with a serious look, she added, “Bravery is good. Stupidity is not. Yell if you need me. Clear?”
Foley barked a laugh.
Kyden didn’t.
Frustrated, he shook his head. “Nexi, will you listen to me for once?”
“I am listening.” Her eyebrows rose. “Are you listening to me?”
Irritation tightened his muscles, so he glanced at Foley, knowing she’d never agree to what he set forth. “Stay by her.”
“That’s not necessary,” Nexi stated.
Foley jerked his chin, a move that Nexi clearly didn’t notice because she didn’t comment. But it was enough of an agreement that if she got into trouble and Kyden was too busy in his own fight, Foley would look out for her.
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