by K. C. Hamby
“I mean,” he continues, unfazed by my glare, “you’re the Alpha of your class and you’re Chosen.” I don’t say anything. I’m trying to ignore him. “I just don’t get it.” He’s trying not to crack up, but failing miserably.
Chosen. There’s that word. The memory of the burning at my side pops into my thoughts.
I’m Chosen by Hecate. That’s really the gist of it. Only a select few Lupi are Chosen and it’s a great honor. Or, it’s supposed to be.
When I was little, I had a dream Hecate came to me. She told me I’m special to her and she needs me to carry out her rule. She said I’m destined for great things. It was the most surreal—and awkward—experience I’ve ever had. Who wouldn’t want their Goddess to tell them they’re special? I remember it like it was yesterday.
I have Chosen you, Falen.
She touched my right side and purple flames scorched over my skin. I woke up screaming in pain and ran to tell Ash. He checked my side at my insistence. That’s when we both saw what Hecate had branded me with.
On my ribs, Hecate’s wheel is marked forever on my skin, branding me Chosen by her. The circle is branded in all black. A labyrinthine serpent surrounds a spiral which looks to me like a six-blade throwing star. By that point, we had only known three others who had been Chosen; our Pack Alpha, Cosma, our awful father who left us, and Mom.
Ash swore me to secrecy. He told me I’m not allowed to show anyone and I didn’t understand why then. I thought I was broken. But now I do. Chosen have many responsibilities I’m nowhere near ready for. I silently thank Ash every day for making me keep my mouth shut.
However, being Chosen means everything a normal Lupi can do, I do it ten times better. I’m stronger, faster, deadlier, and more intuitively advanced with better sight, smell, and hearing. It’s probably why I’m the Alpha of my class, but I also trained my ass off to get the title too.
I snap myself back to reality.
“Okay, even I’m not perfect. Hard to believe, I know.” I sneer at him. “She had speed on her I wasn’t expecting.” I shrug my shoulders, shoving the thought out of my mind. Poachers aren’t normally that fast. They are humans for goddess sakes.
“Yeah, okay. Sure,” he jokes back. “Anyway, it’s been awhile. Where have you been?”
My face heats again. “You know, I’ve been doing jobs around town. Usually easy ones, so I just call whoever is closer.” He looks hurt, so I change the subject. “I missed a deadline.”
His eyebrows shoot up impossibly high. “I’m sorry, you did what?”
I know it’s a rhetorical question, so I don’t respond.
“Wow.” He leans back on his stool with an incredulous spark in his eyes. “The Great Fal misses a deadline. Are we dead? Because I’m sure the world had to blow up for that to happen.”
“Ugh. Shut up.” I drop my head in my hands, exasperated. “There were complications. I had to save someone from my target and he got away in the process. It was not my finest hour,” I admit, annoyed at the situation again. Nina pops in my head for the hundredth time today.
That’s what’s really annoying.
“Well, at least you saved someone, I guess?” He shrugs. “Did Cosma build your pyre or did she have you do it yourself?”
“I had to do it myself,” I groan and roll my eyes. “In fact, it’s what I’m doing right now and I’m definitely going to need your help.”
“Oh?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and smirks. “I’m always up for a good ass-kicking,” he chuckles. “Go get some sleep, though. We can talk about it in the morning.” He pushes himself up and heads to his room past the kitchen. “Night, Fal Pal!”
I cringe. “Night!”
I walk back past the front door and living room, turning right down a hallway. I’m almost past the guest bathroom on my left when a musky/fruity smell assaults my nose. I take a step back and peer into the bathroom.
Another Lupi. Normally, this wouldn’t be strange, but I usually only smell a Lupi this strongly if they were just here or if they come here way too often.
I peer around the bathroom and notice a lot more feminine hygiene items than necessary for Ash to have, unless he needs to explain something to me.
This must mean he’s been seeing someone. I’ll have to talk to him. I really hope it’s not an assassin he’s been dating. I care about him, but I follow Pack Law and assassins aren’t allowed to date at all.
I don’t want to have to turn him in.
Chapter 8
I usually hate waking up in a Voítheia’s house because of the lack of familiarity, but Ash’s house has always felt like home and I never mind staying over here. I even call the guest bedroom my bedroom. I prefer it to my own apartment even. I like Ash’s company, but I’ll never admit it to him.
I throw on some dark gray joggers with a black t-shirt and head to the kitchen to grab some breakfast, dreading this conversation I’m about to have with Ash about my discovery last night. He’s already in the kitchen cooking what smells like eggs and turkey bacon. I try not to let my mouth water, but my stomach conveys my level of hunger.
“Woah, calm down.” Ash no doubt hears my stomach growl from across the room. “I’m almost done, geez.”
“Yeah, well my stomach doesn’t know what ‘almost’ means, brother,” I joke back as I make my way over to the counter and sit down. Ash slides a plate full of turkey bacon and over-easy eggs in front of me and I almost faceplant into the plate. I’m starving. He grabs a plate of his own and sits beside me as I dig in greedily and groan because it’s amazing.
“Yes, you can give me tips in the form of compliments about how awesome I am.” Ash raises his eyebrows in a cocky kind of way. I scoff.
“Mhmm, here’s a tip for you.” I grumble in between mouthfuls of food. “If you’re trying to hide someone you are dating from me, you may need to get a stronger air freshener.” I bite down on some crunchy turkey bacon and Ash nearly chokes on his own piece.
“Fal.” He coughs. “I’m not trying to hide anyone from you. It’s…it’s not like that,” he stutters, his nerves clearly worn on his face.
I turn to him with an eyebrow raised.
“Oh? Then what is it?”
“She’s not an assassin. I know it’s the first thing that popped into your little cynical head.” He points at me knowingly and I relax. “I just know how you are about emotions and mushy things. I didn’t think you would want to hear about it.” He stares down at his plate and pushes his food around.
Well, he’s right. I don’t like to hear about things regarding relationships and goo goo eyes. I would honestly rather Ash punch me in the face twenty times than hear about some gross love shit, but now I feel like an asshole because he obviously wants to talk about it. He’s always there for me when I need him. I’m being a selfish dick.
I sigh. “Who is she?”
Ash instantly perks up and raises an eyebrow at me incredulously.
“Her name is Invidia. She graduated the same year as you.” All the blood drains from my face.
I suppress a groan. Oh, I know her. She used to follow me around all the time, asking me to help her train. She wanted to be an assassin so badly. She ended up being one person shy of the title because of me.
We were put into the fighting arena together for a grade. It wasn’t even based on winning or losing, but how many deadly hits we could get on each other without changing into wolf form. I ended up taking her out so badly, her score dropped too low for her to make up in time to graduate an assassin. I think I’m supposed to feel bad about it, but I never have. She hasn’t talked to me since, anyway.
“Uh, right. Invidia. Has she…has she said anything about me?” I’m trying not so subtly to gauge whether or not she told him.
“She doesn’t hate you if that’s what you’re asking. In fact, she told me she’s grateful for the Voítheia way of life.” I sigh in relief. “She said something about not being able to have children or love if she were an assassin. She sa
id she has you to thank for that.”
Huh. Strange. I shrug and continue eating my breakfast. I mean, I guess it’s true. Except for the occasional exception, assassins aren’t allowed to have children. It ties back into the whole we aren’t supposed to have emotions idea that can take us away from our duties. Children and romance changes that. She can have all of it. I’m not interested.
“Well, I’m happy for you. She better treat you right. I wouldn’t want to have to kick her ass…again.” I huff out a laugh and smirk. Ash rolls his dark amber eyes and chuckles under his breath.
Seriously. I’ll kill her if I have to. I hope they both know that.
“Yeah yeah. I know you’re so tough.” He laughs as he takes both of our empty plates to the sink. “Anyway, what do I need to help you with today?”
I sigh and fill him in on what I know so far. His jaw nearly drops to the floor.
“Wow. Cosma must have been pissed at you. What do you need me to do?” He leans against the counter and cracks his knuckles obnoxiously.
“Right now, I just need you to take me to the place I tracked the van to last night.” I pause. “I have to do some recon before I can really form any sort of escape and execution plan. If I think of anything before then, I’ll give you a call.”
“Sounds like a plan and not-plan to me.” Ash smiles and makes his way to his room to get ready and I head to the bathroom to shower and get in the frame of mind to take on day two of this impossible mission.
Goddess, help me.
Chapter 9
Ash drops me off in front of a building that looks like it’s a squatter for druggies and homeless people. The red brick crumbles in certain places and is boarded up in others. The windows aren’t windows at all, but slabs of wood screwed into the frames. Weeds and grass spring up everywhere and I think I see a Condemned sign on the entrance door. Sure enough, there’s the kidnapper van parked on the side of the street.
I scan the building. There’s no way I can look inside and get a general idea of where to go since the windows are boarded up tight. It seems like I’m going to have to sneak in tonight to do my recon. I’m stealthy enough. I can sneak in and out without getting caught easily. It’s not smart for me to go in blind without knowing where the girls are located anyway.
I glance at the face of my watch. Ugh. I have hours to kill. I search the area for a building I can stash my bag on for a while.
Across the street is a building with a roof I can easily access via fire escape. I’m so glad fire escapes are still a thing. They’re the real MVP of my missions.
The building is only five stories high. It won’t be out of sight for everyone, but it’s the only option I have. I quickly jog across the street when there aren’t too many cars around. To my utter annoyance, cars still honk at me and the drivers yell obscenities out of their partially rolled down windows. I do my best to ignore them and make my way over to the fire escape. Looking up, I smirk at the distance between me and the ladder. I glance around, making sure no one is watching and push myself off the ground with a leap, reach up, and grab the ladder. My hands catch the rusty rung and my bodyweight drags the creaking ladder down with me. Making sure my bag is securely on my shoulders, I climb up to the roof and heave myself over the ledge of the building.
The cool wind immediately hits my face and my eyes water, burning and blurring my vision. I wipe away the tears and pop the cover off a vent, stashing my bag securely out of sight of anyone who would be stupid enough to come up here and mess with my stuff. I quickly make my way back down the fire escape to find the ladder has pulled itself back off the ground. I look around, checking the area for nosey humans and drop from about a story and a half when I find no one. I squat when I land, taking the shock from the cement away from my feet. I stand up, fix my black North Face jacket, walk out of the alley, and head in the direction of a coffee shop I can see about ten blocks away.
That should occupy some of my time.
***
Sitting at a coffee shop for hours on end becomes absolutely boring. I have even resorted to making stories about people walking by.
For example, there’s Jane who has three children but thoroughly regrets that decision and longs for a divorce from her husband she just caught doing the dirty with his secretary.
Actually, I’m not totally sure that’s fictional. I can sort of see it all over her face in the way she resentfully glares at her children and keeps spinning her wedding ring around her finger.
Then, there’s Adam. He is secretly a spy for the government and came to make sure this coffee isn’t being poisoned by the coffee shop. I got the story by the way he wore a black fedora and trench coat and glanced around with shifty eyes while he sniffed his coffee suspiciously.
Basically, I’ve been bored out of my mind. I already went through a giant cup of black coffee—which I don’t usually drink—and I’m seriously thinking about getting another one even though I’m already jittery as hell. I’m trying desperately to find another person to create a story about before I lose my mind and decide to descend into the wired damnation that is another cup of hot caffeine.
Suddenly, the scraping of a chair against the ground across from me makes me jump more than I care to admit. I look up at the perpetrator after I compose myself and lock eyes with none other than the chipper Nina. She has that eyebrow raised at me again. Her hair sits in a bun on top of her head and small, wavy strands fall around her face. Her black, floral kimono cardigan thing sits over black skinny jeans and a black top.
She makes black look fashionable.
“A little jumpy, aren’t you?” She giggles at me and I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
“What are you doing here?” I ask haughtily.
Yeesh, I didn’t even try to hide the bitchiness that time.
“Wow,” Nina scoffs. “If you didn’t want to hang out, why did you come to The Bean? It’s the coffee shop I told you to come to if you wanted to talk.”
Wait, what? I ask myself and scrunch my brows at her. I look up at the shop window and sure enough, ‘The Bean’ is painted big and bright for everyone—except me, obviously—to see. Talk about perceptive, Fal. Way to go.
“Uh..” Wow, I’m truly intelligent. “Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention. I wouldn’t have come if I would have known..”
Nina jerks her head back like I’ve slapped her and gets up, making her chair scratch against the cement again, hurting my sensitive hearing. I cringe at the sound and the hurt manner in which her sapphire eyes squint at me.
I really need to learn how to turn the asshole switch off.
“Ugh, Nina. Wait,” I call after her retreating form. She stops about five feet away from the table with her back facing me. She sighs and turns around.
“What?” she clips and it’s her turn to cross her arms over her chest.
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you.”
What the hell am I saying?
“It’s just…I’m in the middle of work and I don’t need to be distracted.”
Why is this flying out of my mouth? Mouth, I did not give you permission to spew out whatever you want! Shut the hell up! My eyes widen when I realize I’ve said too much. So, I simply finish with a, “It’s not that you’re bothering me,” and promptly close my traitorous lips.
A mask of confusion washes over Nina’s freckly face and she slowly walks back over to the table, putting her hands on the back of the chair she occupied moments ago.
“You’re flustered,” is all she says. I think it flusters me more.
“What I’m getting at is, I just don’t think I’m the best person to talk to.” I stop and look down at my arms still folded defiantly over my chest. I glance back up and Nina has concern wrinkling the skin between her brows.
“May I sit?” She eyes me cautiously like I’ll bite her any second if she moves too fast. Something in me stirs and tells me I don’t like her being scared of me. Odd.
I nod my head and she sits ba
ck down, but in the seat next to me instead of across the table. Lavender flows in the air and my nerves calm.
“Why would you think I wouldn’t like talking to you?” Nina quietly asks, trying to get me to look her in the eyes. I’m suddenly extremely aware of my scar, but I don’t find fear or judgement in the pools of blue staring at me when I lock my gaze with hers. No, it’s something softer..
“I’m just not a very nice person,” I almost whisper. She smiles and wrinkles move from between her brows to the corners of her eyes. “Which, I guess you’ve already gathered that I’m not exactly the winner of the friendly award.” I sigh and try to prevent the corner of my mouth from tilting up in even a half smile.
“Yeah, you seem to be a regular ray of friendly sunshine.” She laughs, causing a lock of hair to fall into her eyes which she promptly shoves behind her ear. I can’t stop my mouth from smiling this time. I’m apparently not in control of it anymore.
“Ha!” She points at me. “I actually got a smile out of you. I consider this a huge win for me. I’ll wait while you provide the proper amount of applause.” She tilts her chin up and closes her eyes, seemingly waiting for me to actually provide her with applause. I already gave her an accidental smile. I’ll pass.
“You already got a smile from me. You’ll have to work harder for applause.” I huff and roll my eyes. She studies me for a second and shrugs.
“Fair enough.” She grows quiet and watches my face. I’m about to tell her to take a picture because it will last longer or something when she suddenly says, “So, I never got the name of my dark hero.”
“Oh, for the last time, I’m not your hero.” I seethe momentarily. Whatever. “My name’s Falen.”
Stop it, mouth. Stop.
“But you can call me Fal.”
Why can’t I shut up?
“Fahh-len,” she draws out slowly and I shake my head, exasperated with a sly smile. “Yeah, I’ll stick with Fal,” she relents and smiles. Her eyes grow wide and this evil grin takes over her features, transforming her into a devious little thing that makes my stomach drop. “Faligator.”
