Exile

by Rylee Winters

  And I liked it – the warmth of him seeping into my skin from where we touched.

  “Just relax.” Nodding a third time, I took a deep breath heavy with his smell, and Derek released my wrists to grab the handle.

  The noise became incredibly loud incredibly fast, and I tensed even as I walked into the house. My eyes widened at the splendor that met me, flooding my sense of sight with light and marble that swirled with a dark orange color that made up the floor and the walls. Two sets of curved staircases led up to the second floor, and my neck ached as I struggled to take it all in.

  “Welcome!” Loud and abrasive, the greeting rattled my spine, and the weight of dozens of eyes rested on my shoulders. Twisting to watch Alpha Jackson stride confidently towards me and away from whoever he was previously talking to, I held my breath. My wings bristled and ruffled, stretching slightly with the urge to grow and spread and relieve the tension thrumming through me with magic.

  “Alpha Jackson.” Returning the greeting, Derek shook hands with the Alpha male, but Jackson’s gaze never left me. Gnawing on my inner cheek in uncertainty, my eyes darted around at the shifters around me, taking in their unchecked curiosity.

  “Linne…” Snatching my attention, Alpha Jackson smiled while his eyes sparkled in amusement. “I’d like to introduce you to some people, if that’s okay.”

  “Yes.” Speaking slightly, my answer was overly loud, and I winced as it bounced around the room in an echo. Turning on his heel, Alpha Jackson led us through a high archway and away from prying eyes before I heaved a breath of relief. My shoulders slumped heavily, and I rubbed my palms together to get rid of the tingling in my fingertips.

  “I won’t keep you if you’re uncomfortable, but I thought you would want to meet the people that would’ve fought if you hadn’t intervened. We would’ve had no choice but to fight in a situation like that.” Talking over his shoulder, Alpha Jackson led me into a room that was small compared to the house, but still bigger than my own living room. Peeking around his broad shoulders, I pursed my lips at the many people idling and talking. Women sat on couches, conversing with familiarity, and men stood rigid, with keen eyes that missed nothing.

  They certainly didn’t miss me, and I laced my fingers together when quiet swept the room.

  “Everyone – this is Linne, the cause of events that most likely saved your lives.” Strong and commanding, Alpha Jackson’s introduction sent heat up my neck even as he stepped to the side. All eyes were once again on me, and I shuffled closer to Derek while the silence stretched in both observation and discomfort.

  “Are you sure? She doesn’t strike me as a murderer.” The first voice to speak up was soft, obviously feminine, and my eyes widened as they whipped to one of the long, lounge couches. Skepticism spread across the faces I saw there, and I clenched my jaw as the other women murmured in agreement. “We don’t even know how she supposedly saved our lives. I find it hard to believe she’s so nervous, but could wipe out a pack of wolves as the rumors say.”

  “Are you not grateful? Is that not the point of this feast? Why do you ask such questions?” Confusion coated my tongue thickly, and my slow questions only reflected my slow mind. Turning to Alpha Jackson, I frowned deeply at the annoyance splayed across his expression. “I do not want to be here, and yet – your people are interrogating me. Maybe I should not have intervened. I only did so for the miniature humans – I would not have otherwise used such magic. Certainly, I did not do it for you.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Linne.” Derek’s harsh rasping caressed my brain, and I turned my attention to him as he lifted his lip in a snarl, his eyes blazing with offense. “She’s just jealous because her place as the top female has been threatened by you.”

  An involuntary bark of laughter burst from my throat, and Derek glanced down at me to crack a smirk – the first, closest smile I’d seen thus far.

  “I do not understand – she is not competition. I am much stronger.” Turning back to the woman to find her face red and pinched angrily, I furrowed my brows. “You are just a shifter. You are no match for me even without my magic – especially with my magic. Do not try to compare yourself when we are not in similar affiliate.”

  “League – when you’re not in the same league, Linne…” Mumbling in my ear, Derek squeezed my hip as his pride laced his voice, and I nodded firmly. “Besides, she’s not in the pack, Rachel. You’re being a bitch for nothing.”

  “It’s perfectly acceptable to want a damn explanation, Derek…” Disgust dribbled from Rachel’s voice, and I stiffened as she glared hotly at him. “No one knows what happened, and we’re all curious to know how someone afraid of small talk could do what she supposedly did. I honestly won’t believe it unless I see it.”

  “You want to fight me?” Amusement replaced my confusion, and I finally felt that tickle of confidence that had I lost until now. Fighting – I could do that. It was much easier than small talk. “I will fight you, and when you lose, I will kill you.”

  “Linne, please don’t kill her…she’s my only avian shifter.” Resignation lay heavy in Alpha Jackson’s tone, and I glanced at him as he ran both his palms heavily down his face. “Alright – round everyone up. I guess I should’ve expected this.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Derek

  “This is a damn disaster. I thought it’d be a good idea to introduce her to other shifters.” I couldn’t hide my smirk at Alpha Jackson’s grumbles, but my gaze stayed glued to Linne as she stripped out of her clothes. Her scarred back glimmered under the lights of the grand foyer of the pack house. Leaning heavily on the bannister, I clasped my hands together as she flexed her beautiful, raven wings.

  “It’s not a disaster. Linne was a slave, Jackson – she was forbidden from talking to anyone ever unless it was a report to her master.” Honestly, I thought it was hilarious that Rachel thought she could use brute force to get the answers that Alpha Jackson had denied everyone. Of course, people wanted to know what happened, but our considerate leader didn’t want them to get agitated.

  Which was an entirely accurate worry on his part because this clan was used to being the best. Knowing there was someone in their immediate vicinity that was so incredibly more powerful than them would mess with some minds.

  “I’m sure I spared Linne discomfort, but this confrontation won’t do me any good. Either I end up with a bunch of shifters that want her dead, or I end up with a bunch of lazy assholes that grow complacent under those tiny wings of hers.” Grunting absently, I shuffled on my heels as my cock strained against my jeans. Only barely did I managed to process what Alpha Jackson said, too focused on watching Linne’s tits tighten when she arched sharply in a stretch.

  “I am curious as to why you believe you can beat me.” Humor laced Linne’s voice, and I clenched my jaw as she wagged her ass in those infuriating booty shorts. She only owned five pairs of jeans – one for each day of the work week. Saliva pooled under my tongue, and she glanced up at me to flush pink. Blood rushed in my ears at the lust that threatened to ignite the air around her and which sparkled brightly in her eyes as they scanned me slowly. Maybe it was from the fight, or maybe it was me; I didn’t care which because at least it was there.

  Oh yeah – she felt the fucking bond alright.

  “It’s not about beating you – it’s about proving a point. Either you did what you’ve said to have done, or you didn’t. And I, personally, don’t think you have it in you to kill.” The entire clan was gathered, and Rachel’s grave misjudgment bounced off the columns holding up the stairs on either side of the foyer. People lined the balcony of the second floor, and a wave of murmurs, ranging from disbelief to agreement, surged to converge on Alpha Jackson and I. Down on the first floor, Linne cocked her head without looking away from me, and a muscle in my cheek twitched.

  She knew – this time, she was able to grasp some slight understanding of the mate bond, and her movements weren’t curious. They were the beginnings of a dance of sexua
l attraction that was going to fucking kill me. She was exploring that feeling that weighed down her eyelids and parted her lips even as it slithered up my nostrils to seep into the crevices of my brain.

  “…You do not fight to prove anything. You fight to win – to kill your enemy or create the circumstances in which someone else can kill them. I have killed innumerable enemies, and if you do not believe me, I have many ways to show you.” Finally tearing her eyes off me, Linne held my attention captive even as hers turned to Rachel. She spoke so confidently, so assuredly, that it was hard to believe that she was the same person that had acted so childish only hours ago. “Your Alpha has requested that I do not kill you. Even he acknowledges how inferior you are. Why is that not enough for you?”

  “Linne – ” Speaking up as a wave of animosity flowed like a waterfall over the balconies, I grimaced when Linne’s narrowed eyes met mine. “She’s not going to give you the answers you want.”

  “Yes.” Her gaze flickered to Alpha Jackson, and she pursed her lips thinly before addressing him. “I will show you what I did. I do not owe you anything.”

  Linne’s sleek, shiny feathers twitched, and my cock ached fiercely as I watched them grow. Easily spanning thirty feet, the wings shimmered just the same way Muss had done, and when they solidified, she stretched them high. The tips reached the balcony railing, but they were too far for me to touch. Clenching my hands into fists, I licked my teeth as shock assaulted my fingertips.

  I wonder if I could choose between her ass and her wings.

  “Those are impressive…I – ” Cutting Rachel off, Linne tilted her chin with a sharp smirk. She was so incredibly sexy when she was in her element, and it took me a few seconds to get over the way the light played off her feathers.

  Flickering to Rachel, my eyes widened slightly as she just stood there, staring with horror into space. Her fingers twitched, cheek spasming, and shoulders tensed, but she couldn’t move any more than that.

  And then she started itching her thigh where her fingertips could reach.

  “What’s she doing?” My ears barely caught the murmur before Linne flung her arm out in that direction. Whipping over, I couldn’t help but scowl at the stupid expression on my clan-mates’ faces. Twisting to find Alpha Jackson just as out of the loop as me, I turned my gaze back to Linne to find her already staring at me.

  “I am not going to kill them.” Slow, serious, Linne’s declaration sent a hard breath from my lungs that I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “This is not bad.”

  “What are you showing them?” Gesturing with a sweep of her arm gracefully to the second floor, she blushed bright red before even opening her mouth to answer me. Arching a brow, my scowl lightened some as affection wiggled into my chest.

  “The human entertainment.” Only she knew what that meant, but I nodded anyway, and Linne rolled her lips between her teeth before spreading her wings wide. They dominated the foyer, and the shifters around me snapped out of her induced visions to send a thick plume of discomfort and confusion into the air. “Now, I will show you what I did to the wolf shifters.”

  All eyes, including my own, turned to Rachel, and tension thrummed just above my head. The eagle shifter was slower than everyone else in recovering, and I pursed my lips together tightly. She must’ve seen something different than the rest of the clan. Holding the bannister, my palms ached slightly from the force as realization slammed into me.

  Linne could make anyone see or feel anything, and it didn’t necessarily have to be the same scene. The amount of finesse, the training required even for someone not of this realm, was mind blowing. I wonder how old she is…

  Snapped from my thoughts by a shriek, my gaze flew to Rachel as she crumpled to the ground. Holding her abdomen, she banged her forehead against the marble floor twice, and the stench of her blood filtered through the atmosphere to curl my nose hairs. She rolled, writhing as she clutched her belly and red bubbled up from the gash across her head. Her screams echoed around me, and she flopped onto her back to scratch at herself with her sharp, artificial nails.

  This wasn’t the same as the other night, though. Rachel wasn’t consumed by pain so fully that she couldn’t try to stop it. She itched and threw herself, desperation leaking from her pores as blood seeped from her self-inflicted wounds.

  “As you can see – ” Drawing my attention, Linne gestured calmly to Rachel and spoke above the sound of her pain. “I have warped her senses to think she is in the extreme pain of insects eating her – I understand this is one of your favored methods of torture.”

  I couldn’t stop the grin that stretched my lips at how nonchalant Linne was – as if she was just giving a presentation and not ruining someone’s mentality. It was beautiful to behold, and she perked up when her gaze met mine. Triumph blazed from her eyes, and I nodded a bare tilt of my head before the screams suddenly stopped.

  “Are you able to mind control people?” Alpha Jackson was the first to speak up into the stunned silence, and Linne shook her head to send her hair whipping across her cheeks. I couldn’t tell if she wanted these shifters to like her, or just to understand that she wouldn’t use her gifts on them unless they did something to deserve it.

  Like Rachel’s dumb ass.

  “No – no. Even in my realm, it is impossible to control another person’s mind. I can only control senses – eyes, ears, taste, feeling. I can not read your thoughts or memories.” Answering quickly, Linne rolled her shoulders as her wings shrunk once again, and some of the mountainous tension in my own shoulders slithered away. “You have nothing to fear.”

  ‘Unless you ask for it.’ Muss’s voice was becoming increasingly, irritatingly familiar, and I tore my eyes off Linne as he materialized on the balcony between my forearms. ‘I take back my earlier words. She is not becoming stupid like a human. Why did the female think this would not end disastrously?’

  “Because she’s a dumb bitch? I don’t fucking know, bird.” Ruffling his feathers at my grumble, Muss cocked his head as he blinked two of his eyes at me. The sight was unnerving, and my eyelid twitched in agitation before his voice echoed between my ears.

  ‘You should instruct your superior to kill her. She will not recover from Linne’s treatment, no matter how gentle.’

  “Why do you care so much?” Curiosity pulled up my brow, and the bird straightened to snap his beak. His own irritation leaked into my brain, as if the answer should’ve been obvious, and that he thought it was stupid to ask in the first place.

  ‘Dead enemies are less hassle than living ones, Derek the Lion. If not taken care of, the female will come back to haunt your waking times. I have seen it happen many times, and this is no different.’ Muss’ ominous, wise tone had me rigid all over again, and I swiped my hand through his shimmering body with a slight snarl. ‘Linne knows this. I am sure she agonizes over not being able to destroy the female along with the others. Do not let her childish antics in this world lull you to the fact that she has been trained to kill, with and without magic, since the time she could understand what killing was.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Linne

  Groaning softly in pleasure, I chewed my bite of whatever it was and savored the tingling of my taste buds. Rough fingertips kneaded my lower back underneath my shirt, and it only added to the sense of euphoria that swept through my veins.

  “I love the human food. So good.” Mumbling around my mouthful, I swallowed roughly as a smile stretched my lips. To my left, Derek sat and ate leisurely, and I grinned at the warmth that radiated from his gaze. “You eat this all of the time – surely you must find it difficult to maintain health?”

  “It’s all about moderation, Linne – eat too much, and you’ll regret it later.” My eyes widened at that, and I shoved my forkful in my mouth with a shaky nod before turning to Alpha Jackson. “I’m sure that’s the same in your realm, no?”

  “I was only allowed minimum sustenance. I did not have access to amounts that required moderation.”
Several pairs of eyes landed on me, but I ignored them as my mind turned back to my home realm. “Fatness is something I did not notice when I was instructed out of the Pen.”

  “The ‘Pen’?” Nodding again, I swallowed my bite roughly before grabbing Derek’s hand absently under the table. Alpha Jackson’s expression tightened, his mouth grim even as he chewed his bite. Rolling Derek’s middle knuckle between my thumb and forefinger, my smile dimmed slightly as images flashed in my mind’s eye.

  “Yes – where the slaves are housed. We are not allowed to leave unless we are on assignment. It is where we sleep and train. Kaslni – my master – is very considerate. Her Pens were very nice when compared to other Courtiers.” A pang twisted my heart, and I frowned as my brows came together sharply. “I miss her – I am fortunate that she became my master.”

  “How did she become your master?” Twisting at Derek’s question, I smiled at the troubled expression he wore, and my heart soared with happiness. Squeezing his hand, mine tingled from our touch, and heat flooded my veins when he squeezed back.

  “My magic is very strong, and my wings sprouted when I was very young. My parents did not have the money to send me to school, so they contacted Kaslni. She is known among the lower Unseelie for being nice to her slaves. I was not her favorite, but she still treated me with kindness. It is because of her that I was banished here, but I do not fault her for the decisions she made. If Bareiijnr knew that Kaslni sent me to spy on him, he would have her killed. I will protect her, even if it means I can never see her again.”

  “Why were you sent to spy on him?” The probe pulled down the corners of my lips, and I pursed them into a thin line. Glancing around, nervousness replaced the happy feelings in my belly; there were many people and many conversations. Bareiijnr couldn’t send anyone to the human realm without my sensing it. There wasn’t enough wild magic to hide.