by Gray Holborn
The corners of Raifus’s lips twitched up and he took another two steps closer to me. Too close. I could feel the heat emanating off of him and if I breathed too deeply, our bodies would brush together. “Supes?” He said the word slowly, like he was familiarizing himself with the way his tongue formed around it. “I like it.” His piercing eyes held my own and he reached a hand out towards my chest.
“Hey back off, perv.” I took a quick step back from him, crossing my arms to cover my chest.
“The necklace, Odessa. My apologies, I wasn’t trying to be forward.” Raifus smiled, closing the distance between us again. He gripped the dark pendant that was the sister to El’s ring. “I will be able to find you now. Your energy register is currently blocked, but I will be able to find you through the necklace. I will come to you for the next step, once you’ve tracked the neutralizer. Your necklace will guide you to it once you enter Rennix’s house.” Without breaking eye contact or letting go of his grasp on my pendant, he pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket with his free hand and handed it to Soren. “The address.”
“You’ve had the address with you this whole time? This deal was always your plan?” My eyebrows drew together and I sent my own version of a Soren-glare towards Raifus.
He only smiled again, a dangerous and twisted smirk. “We’ll meet again soon, Ms. Black. I’m looking forward to it.” His lips brushed my hand, which was suddenly encased in his own. “And be mindful. While your sight is useful, not all supes are what or as they seem. Your companion included.” With a quick nod to Soren, he turned and walked away, quickly disappearing into the cage of trees.
Soren and I were silent for several very long minutes, until I became uncomfortably aware that we were still surrounded by three shredded bodies. And that I was staring at a very shirtless Soren. And really, I should be way less flustered by the latter than I was the former, but something in my brain was clearly very poorly wired. I was totally fine with blaming it on shock. For now.
I cleared my throat, willing myself to hold it together until we were back home. Between potentially signing my life away to Raifus and witnessing so much death, I wanted nothing more than to get drunk with El and forget about the entire day. “We should get home,” I mumbled.
Soren nodded, grabbing the scraps of his clothes that had torn when he shifted. Luckily, he wasn’t wearing his jacket at the time since we had been sparring, so he had something to cover up with. I couldn’t quite reconcile the steamy thoughts I was having about a shirtless Soren with the bloodthirsty panther he’d been less than half an hour ago. He tossed me the bag of supplies he carried with him. “Drink some water and then start heading back to the bike. I’ll take care of the—” he nodded his head towards the dissected supes. “Of, you know. Them. You can find the bike on your own?”
Shuddering at the thought, I sent Soren a silent agreement and set off on the twenty minute hike back to where we parked. I took a few drags from the water bottle, allowing the liquid to act as a calming elixir, focusing on the sensation of it cooling my body. After a few minutes, I could no longer pretend that the scent of burning flesh was coming from some nearby campers having a barbeque. Somehow, I mustered up my remaining strength, like a mother lifting a car off her newborn, to sprint back to the car—needing to put as much distance between myself and that smell as I physically could.
Soren caught up with me just as I reached the bike, and he handed me a helmet before slamming his own on his head. He wordlessly climbing onto the bike and looked back expectantly at me. My mouth was dry and I struggled to form the question I’d spent the last mile wanting to ask. “Soren?”
“Spit it out, Black. I want to get home. It’s been a long day.” He turned the bike on, warming up the engine while I tried to find the words and the courage.
“You killed them.” I cleared my throat.
He lifted the helmet off his head and raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“Well, it’s just. Raifus pointed out—you didn’t have to kill them. Right? We could have just, like, seriously maimed them maybe? So, you know, we could question them and what not. It’s just, did they really have to die?” My eyes were locked firmly on my feet. My courage quota for the day was evidently expired.
I waited over a minute for Soren to respond. And I knew it was this long because I focused on counting the seconds in order to take the nervous edge off my breathing.
“Yes, they could have survived, but they figured out too quickly that you weren’t affected by the feeder pull. It wasn’t worth the risk, seeing if they’d come after you or what they’d do with that information. We don’t know enough about your ability as it is, we definitely don’t need to leave room for fanfare. And I saw the look on Theonis’s face, he’d be back for revenge if I’d let him escape. And men like that, well let’s just say you don’t want to deal with their version of revenge.”
My stomach sank. His reasoning was sound, but that meant those three were dead because of me. I breathed in slowly, trying to tame the pounding of my heartbeat.
Soren shook his head. “Look, Black. Don’t put the blame on yourself. To be honest, in that form I’m not known to really leave survivors. I can’t turn off the predator instinct. Whether they figured out you could block them or not, they’d have ended up dead. The difference is just that the logical, non-panther, version of me agrees with their death knowing that they learned too much.”
I pushed my helmet on and climbed onto the bike behind Soren. “I don’t think you’re as bad as you say you are. The panther—” I paused, wiping invisible dirt off my thigh, “I mean you. You didn’t attack me.” In fact, I was fairly certain that panther-Soren had actually been trying to protect me.
He grunted in response to end the conversation. And then he started the engine and drove us away from the unexpectedly bloody afternoon. For once, I didn’t complain about him breaking the speed limit. Instead, I clutched onto his jacket, willing myself to hold it together until we were home.
In record time, we pulled up to the house. I closed my eyes in gratitude, not only for the comfort of home and El, but for the distraction. During the long drive, with nothing else to focus on, my mind kept torturing me with reruns of the fight, pointing out the things I did wrong and highlighting the gruesome killing blows. I’d never seen someone die before and today I not only witnessed, but participated in three deaths.
I stood as soon as the bike stilled. Weirdly, while I was still sore, my body didn’t feel quite as destroyed as I thought it would after the beating I took. Maybe I really did have the iron constitution of an action hero. I tossed my helmet to Soren, staring at the sunset over the lake while taking deep breaths in and out, when I heard a deep growl emanate from him. “What?”
When my eyes found his, I realized that he was glaring at me. Well, not at me but past me. I turned back towards the house to see what had his knickers in a twist when a huge gust of air was pushed out of me as my body lifted off the ground and was swung in a circle. My heart stopped. Another air-manipulator?
“I missed you, Odie.” The breath skated against my neck and the world stopped spinning when my feet were planted back on the ground.
“Luis?” My mouth dropped open and I returned his hug with just as much enthusiasm.
Chapter Eighteen
“Luis, what are you doing here?” I asked, a smile uncomfortably stretching the skin around my mouth.
He was dressed in a white V-neck and black basketball shorts, the slight scent of sweat mixing in with the warm woodsy smell I usually associated with him.
“How did you find this place?” Soren’s voice was low, ragged. I whipped my head back towards him, just to make sure he hadn’t turned back into a panther.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Luis ran his hands through his brown locks and I realized that it was longer than I’d ever seen him wear it. And judging by the dark beard that swept his face, he hadn’t shaved in at least a week or two, which was very unusual for him. “I stopped by
to see Sam this afternoon on my way home from the gym.” When I opened my mouth to interrupt him he added, “don’t worry, he’s fine. But when I left your place, I started driving around, getting more and more frustrated that you hadn’t returned. Sam had no clue where you were and those other two assholes knew but wouldn’t tell me. And I knew something weird was going on. Both your and Ellie’s phones went straight to voicemail and Sam was obviously not telling me something.” He paused, looking around at the cabin and surrounding land. “And then I just wound up here. It shocked the hell out of me when I knocked on the door and El answered.”
“If they didn’t tell you where to find us, why are you here?” Soren’s voice was closer than it was before. Startled, I took a step back and found myself practically pressed against his chest. I quickly moved to the side, so that we were standing next to each other and looked back towards Luis, encouraging him to continue.
“I don’t know how to explain it. I just kept thinking about how badly I needed to see Odie.” Luis paused, a blush creeping up his cheeks. “I mean, El too. I just drove, not really thinking about anything else.” He shrugged. “A few hours later, I wound up here. That’s really it. We’ve all been waiting for you to get back. El said you’re usually home earlier than this.” His eyes traveled from me to Soren, where they hardened. “Where were you guys anyway? Odie, what happened to you?” He pulled a twig from my hair before brushing some dried blood from my arm. “What the hell? Were you in an accident? I can’t believe this tool got in an accident.”
“Were you followed?” Soren took a step closer to Luis, the two of them squaring off and tensing up.
“No, of course not.” Luis paused, looking away from Soren for a second. “At least, I don’t think so anyway. Like I said, the whole thing was just weird. Why would anyone be following me?”
“It’s okay, Luis. I’m glad you’re here.” I walked over to him and squeezed his hand. “We should go inside, we have a lot to talk about.”
“Jax made dinner.” Luis turned to follow me, but at his words I instantly stopped.
“Jax? Why?” I couldn’t prevent the look of disgust that crossed my features. Jax was good at many things. Cooking, especially for a vegetarian, was definitely not one of them.
“Don’t worry, Odie. I supervised.” With a wink, he jogged past me and opened the door.
When I made it two feet in the house, El came running up to meet me with a huge hug. “Isn’t it great? Luis finding us? It’s totally destiny. Definitely didn’t feel right not having the final leg of our group here with us. Well, not final leg. Sam still isn’t here.” She pushed back from me, giving her time to catch her breath, and then her brows scrunched together dangerously tight. “What the hell happened to you? Did Soren do this? He’s pushing you way too hard.”
“It wasn’t me.” Soren joined us in the house. He kicked his boots off and walked over to the table. “We’ll talk about everything once we’ve eaten. I’m starving.”
“Jeez, he’s grumpy,” El whispered before grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the table.
“Let me go wash up first. At least my hands and my face. I’ll be back in a second. Feel free to start without me.” Without waiting for an answer, I locked myself in the bathroom to furiously scrub the dirt and blood away from the visible parts of my body. I’d definitely be taking advantage of a shower or long, hot bath after dinner; but I needed to wash as much of the fight off of me first, if I had any chance of keeping food down.
When I made it back to the kitchen, everyone was staring off in an awkward silence while Soren shovelled mashed potatoes and turkey into his mouth, barely allowing himself to come up for air.
I cleared my throat and grabbed the only available seat, across from Luis and next to Soren. “Smells good, Jax. Color me impressed.”
He beamed up at me, his happiness at the compliment shattering the tension. “You haven’t even seen the best part, Desi-girl. I found a recipe for baked tofu and it actually looks edible.” He hopped out of his seat and over to the stove, shoving something onto a plate before returning and placing it in front of me. The tofu looked and smelled great, which was actually pretty difficult to accomplish. I found myself chuckling, not only did he make tofu but he used a cookie cutter so the pieces looked like miniature turkeys.
“This looks amazing, Jax. Thank you.” I piled mashed potatoes and salad onto my plate, suddenly hungrier than I’d been in a long time. I guess near-death experiences did that to a girl. Warm food, combined with the cozy feeling that Jax had gone to so much trouble for me, and with the fact that Luis was safe and here did wonders to thaw some of the ice running through my veins since the attack. And then it sunk in, Luis had somehow found us. What did that mean?
As if coming back to his senses at the same time, Soren pushed away his plate and looked up at Jax. “So, anyone want to fill me in on what the hell happened while we were gone. Why is he here?” Soren nodded at Luis, eyeing him like he was the chartreuse-wearing manipulator.
El exhaled and stood up, not that the gesture made her seem any more imposing. “Look, he doesn’t know how he found us. He just did.”
“Don’t be naive El,” Soren said, his jaw pulsing with tension.
“Soren, I need you to calm down for a second,” her anger dissipated a bit as she turned towards her brother before continuing. “I’ve known Luis for six years, he’s a terrible liar. He’s not lying to us about this.” She pressed her hands into the wood of the table, grounding herself, “and I’ve decided it’s time he knows.”
Soren stood, his arm sweeping his plate to the floor. I jumped as the crash of the plastic against the floor echoed throughout the room.
“It’s final Soren, and it’s my decision. I’m pulling rank here.” Ellie’s voice was low, softer than it had been moments before, but it held a quiet authority I wasn’t used to.
“This is ridiculous,” Soren looked between El and Jax. “You can’t be serious? He shows up here, where we’ve been hiding for weeks, with absolutely no explanation, and this is how you want to handle it? Revealing everything to him?”
Jax turned away from Soren’s accusing glare, suddenly finding his fingernails to be the most amusing thing in the room, while El stood firm.
“Fine. Rank pulled. Do you what you want. I’ll be in the shower.” Without another look, Soren left. The bathroom door slammed so powerfully that I was shocked it was still attached to the hinges.
I sat back while Ellie and Jax took turns explaining the energy-using world to Luis and the truth behind why we left Seattle, or at least part of it anyway. They left out some of the finer details about the Veil and Ellie’s situation, but they hit all of the major points. Their words filtered over me while I watched Luis’s face turn from amusement, to confusion, to shock, to denial.
Eventually, Ellie took off her shoes, jacket, and undressed down to her underwear.
“El, what the hell are you doing?” Luis brought his hands quickly up to his eyes, a soft slap sounding as he blocked his vision a bit too enthusiastically.
“Luis, this is the kind of thing you just need to see. I need you to look at me.” El was calm, like she was speaking to a child.
“Are you serious? Your brother already wants to kill me. Do you want to give him another reason?” Luis peeled one hand off of the other and finally opened his eyes when El pushed for him to look at her again.
One second, pixie-like El was standing before us, and then she was morphing and reshaping into a panther surrounded by scraps of what was likely a very expensive lingerie set. That was sacrifice.
Luis pushed back from the table, but he forgot to use his leg muscles and toppled over his chair. “Holy shit. How--how did you do that?”
Panther-El walked slowly up to Luis before plastering her tongue along his face and hopping around like a dog.
“This isn’t real, this can’t be real,” Luis whispered, his hand tentatively reaching out towards El’s velvety coat. “This isn’t real
, right?”
Jax glanced at me before looking back at Luis, a dangerous smile spreading across his face. “That’s nothing, wait until you see what I can do.”
I watched as Jax molded and pulled energy from Luis. And then I watched Luis blush fiercely as his eyes dilated in response to Jax, his breath coming quicker. My eyes caught the very visible evidence of Luis’s arousal about a second before he became aware of the same thing. He grabbed Soren’s discarded (and apparently unbreakable) plate to cover himself.
“Okay, I believe you. I believe you. Stop,” his breaths were coming out as pants, “for fucks sake—Jax, please—stop that. I get it. I believe you.”
With a smirk, Jax relaxed his, er, gift and turned back to the table, shoveling more food into his face with a very satisfied smirk.
I rolled my eyes, while Ellie walked to our room to turn back to human-El and get dressed.
Figures, the guy literally watched a girl transform into a panther. But it still took another man challenging his sexuality for him to believe in the supernatural. Typical toxic masculinity.
✽✽✽
After about an hour of Luis digesting the information and asking questions, Soren finally came out of his room. He kept throwing accusatory glances at Luis, but he knew he was outnumbered and that there was nothing to do about Luis learning the truth now. It was done.
I was amazed at how well Luis handled the information after his initial shock. When I first learned about supes, I wasn’t nearly as calm or rational.
“How are you not freaking out right now?” I asked, slightly jealous of his collected questioning.
Luis tilted his head, squinting slightly, while he stared off at the wall. “Honestly, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but it feels like I always knew about the—” he looked up at Ellie while his brows pulled together, “the Veil, you called it?” When she nodded, he continued, “or maybe it just feels like I was always supposed to know? I mean, don’t get me wrong, seeing you two use your powers was intense and took me off guard. But now—I don’t really know how to explain it, it just feels right. Like I knew already but also didn’t?”
