“Oh,” Sidney said. That was just like him, annoying. Making her feel guilty for an off hand comment. “Well, I guess it suits you.”
“I’ll take any compliments I can get,” he put his hand on the small of her back to lead her away from the picnic table, “especially from such a pretty girl.”
She felt the tingle starting to spread from his hand across her back and she jerked away from him. “Hey, no funny business, I’m just here to see if we can figure out this whole touching thing.”
Demon held his hands up in front of him, “Look it was an unconscious gesture, and I was just returning the compliment. Jesus, get the stick out of your ass.”
She glared at him, “This was a mistake.” She turned to go but Demon jogged in front of her.
“Wait,” he said and she just kept walking, with him jogging backwards in front of her, “I made food and everything, you could at least come eat.”
She stopped, “I said I’d come on the condition that you wouldn’t be a jackass, and yet the jackassery has already begun.”
“Sorry, sorry, I’ll be on my best behavior from now on.” He held up the scout sign and gave her an innocent expression. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Demon had never been a Boy Scout. She rolled her eyes but turned to go with him anyway.
He led her to a shady area near a willow tree, where they had a good view of the pond, but were also very secluded. No one would be able to see them from the road or the more heavily trafficked areas of the park. She again had a feeling that this had not been the best idea.
“So what do you think is causing these…” she searched for the word she wanted as she found a spot on the blanket he’d laid out, between a small cooler and a tool box, “strange feelings when we touch.”
“Let’s eat first, I’m starving and I can’t think on an empty stomach.”
Sidney didn’t say anything, she was hungry too. She hadn’t eaten anything since early that morning when she’d rolled out of bed feeling more tired than she had when she’d gone to sleep.
“Here, have a drink while I get everything ready,” he handed her a wine glass and fished an unlabeled bottle out of the cooler, pouring her a full glass of the golden liquid.
She was hesitant to drink so early in the day but she took a sip anyway as Demon sat out several tin foil covered bowls and plates.
“Oh my god, this is delicious. What is it?”
“Mead,” he replied as he piled a plate with tiny little filled croissant sandwiches, long green beans, and some sort of yellow mushy looking stuff.
“Mead?”
“Yup, I had some in Asheville and had brought home a case along with some fancy fucking beer that costs a ridiculous sum of money. Dirty fucking hippies. Obviously mead is making a 300 year overdue comeback.”
“Well good, because this is amazing!” Sidney drained the rest of the glass, the sweet mellow taste had hardly even a hint of alcohol and it was divine as it slid across her tongue. “I’m going to need to know where you got it and order it by the crate.” He handed her the bottle so she could pour herself another glass, which she did.
“No worries, I’ve got their business card in my pocket, you can order enough to bathe in,” he settled back with his own plate and glass of wine. “Ah, this is the good life. Good food, good drink, and a pretty girl to share it with.”
Sidney frowned, “That’s enough of that, Demon. Not being a jackass means no flirting either.”
“I don’t think that’s what it means at all, I think a jackass would be someone who wasted such a beautiful day in such a beautiful spot not flirting with the beautiful woman sitting across from him.”
The sun highlighted his jet black hair and made his eyes look even lighter than normal against the planes of his ruggedly handsome face. Sidney took another long sip of her mead, upgrading the situation from ‘not the best idea’ to ‘probably a big mistake’, “The thing is Demon, I’m kind of still with Red.”
His eyes darkened. “Oh, I think you’ll find that you are not. Red isn’t a very forgiving soul.”
“But I haven’t done anything that needs to be forgiven. He just needs to stop being so bigoted. As soon as I show him that there is no difference between who I am now and who I was before I found out what I am, I’m sure he’ll come around.”
Demon shrugged, “Well you can try, but I doubt you’ll like the results. Probably easier to save yourself the heartache and move on.”
“With you?” she asked incredulously.
“And why not, we already seem to have some kind of connection. And I know you don’t find me repulsive.”
Sidney felt her cheeks heat and hoped he didn’t notice, “I find you infuriating and rude and self centered.”
“Ah, but not repulsive?”
She couldn’t help it, she had to laugh, “Shut up and eat your food Demon, that mouth always has something to say.”
“Mmmm unless I’m doing something else with it,” the sexual purr in his voice sent unwanted shivers through Sidney and she decided to give up on conversation and eat, as she’d advised him to do. He was obviously better at banter than her and her mouth might be the one that got them into trouble.
Instead of letting herself think about the sexy dangerous looking man across from her, who seemed perfectly fine with the fact that she was a witch, she concentrated on the food. The delicate croissants were filled with savory Carolina style barbeque that almost melted in your mouth, complimented by the tangy potato salad, and sautéed green beans. It was all delicious, she wasn’t sure if she’d had a better meal since she’d been in town, and she couldn’t believe he’d gone to such trouble for a picnic. He shouldn’t be that gorgeous and be able to cook too. The talents needed to be spread out a little more fairly than that. Then again, he also had that irritating personality, so maybe it evened out.
“This is all very good,” she said, the silence had become a little awkward, though Demon seemed perfectly content lying on his side, propped on an elbow and enjoying his food.
“Yes, because I made it instead of you.”
Sidney opened her mouth to make a biting retort and ended up laughing instead, it was true she was a horrible cook. “I can make a decent macaroni and cheese now.”
“Good, glad to know you won’t starve if you run out of microwave dinners.”
“How did you get to be such a good cook?” she asked, genuinely interested. You wouldn’t think life in a werewolf biker gang would lend itself to much interest in the culinary arts.
“The real question is, ‘How do people not learn how to cook?’ Because everyone has to eat, you’d think people would want to eat good stuff, so they’d learn how to cook it.”
“Well I don’t know about everyone else, but it just never interested me,” she said.
“What does interest you?” he was looking at her again with those eyes. It made her feel all quivery inside.
“Nothing that would interest you probably,” she said wanting to turn his attention to anything but her.
“Why not? I find you very interesting so what is interesting to you, also interests me.”
“You shouldn’t,” she said, looking down at her now empty plate.
“I shouldn’t what?”
“Find me interesting. I’ve got so much going on right now, my life is a mess. And not to mention Red. I mean we are practically still together and…”
Demon moved lightening fast, taking her plate out of her hands and tossing it to the side, placing his hand behind her neck and pulling her roughly to him.
“Fuck Red,” his lips were inches away from hers as he looked into her eyes, she was sure he could see her deepest secrets there, one of them being that she wanted him to kiss her in that moment more than she would ever admit to herself.
And he did. His lips caressing hers, tongue sliding gently between her lips as he explored and tasted her.
She felt the energy building. Not the fiery flashes that had happened before but a slow simme
r that made her whole body feel electric, matching the desire that was also rising within her.
This wasn’t right, her mind screamed inside her as Demon drew her even closer, holding her body in his strong arms. What about Red? Her mind asked. But her body didn’t care about morals, or boundaries, or anything else. Her body wanted this man, and it was more than apparent that he wanted her too.
His hand slipped up the back of her shirt and she felt him undoing the clasp of her bra. She should stop him. They were in public, this was moving too fast, she was Red’s, she didn’t even like Demon, and there were about a hundred other reasons she should stop, but she didn’t. She felt the trail of fire as it moved with his hand, down her back, around her side, and up her belly, until he finally pushed bra aside, cupping her breast, his thumb playing over the nipple.
She moaned against his him, all fears and questions flying out the window, her body was ready and her brain was just going to have to get with the program. Sidney’s hands found him, hard and ready under his jeans and she rubbed the length of him, hoping he felt the same need that was exploding in her. A deep guttural noise came from him as she teased him through his clothes with her fingers, the sound making her even bolder. She pushed him down on the ground and straddled him, enjoying the feel of him between her legs.
His hands came up and under her shirt to hold her breast and tease her nipples as she ground against him, his eyes on her watching her movement with appreciation. She was almost ready to explode and neither of them had shed any clothes.
Thoughts of how far she should take it in such a public place had long since been left behind, all that was left was need. Her hands came down to his waist to unbutton his pants, all her inhibitions pushed away, ready to feel him move inside her, ready to get lost as the strange energy surged through them as they joined.
His eyes watched her hands as they worked at the button and it finally slipped free. She could see that he was as anxious, as needy, as she was. She started pulling down the zipper, sure she was going to burst with anticipations… and the phone rang.
They both froze. She could feel the phone in his pocket, vibrating against her thigh.
“Goddamnit. Ignore it,” Demon swore, sitting up to hold her tighter, trying to capture her lips with his again.
But she pushed him away. The sound had broken her out of whatever spell she’d been under, brought her back to reality.
“No, you should get it, it might be important,” she swung herself off of him and began straightening her clothes, mortified that she’d let things go that far. In a public park.
Dear God there could be children around. She put her forehead in the palm of her hand, unable to believe what had just happened. She could feel Demon’s eyes on her but she didn’t care. His phone stopped ringing.
“Sidney, listen – “
“Stop, Demon we don’t need to ever –“ she was cut off by his phone ringing yet again. “I guess someone really wants to talk to you.”
He pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at the display, she noticed that he still had a very noticeable hard on underneath his pants and she flushed an even deeper. There was no way she was ever going to be able to explain this to Red, or to herself.
“What the fuck do you want?” His tone told whoever was on the other end of the line exactly how annoyed he was at having gotten their call.
Desperate to do something so she wouldn’t just sit there agonizing on what had almost happened she began to clear away the plates and utensils off the blanket, pouring out unfinished mead, collecting the trash, and packing it away as best she could as Demon silently listened to whoever was on the phone.
“Are you fucking shitting me? I told him what they were up to and he still tried to go alone.”
Sidney was all ears, something was going on with the Dogs.
“Oh, he took two prospects, both who are now also being held prisoner, and a guy who just switched team mid season. Yeah, I see your point. Real smart of him.”
She wanted to interrupt, to ask what was going on, even if it wasn’t any of her business. If it involved Red she needed to know.
“Goddamnit. I’ll be there in a few. Get everyone else together because we’re leaving in an hour.”
Demon hung up and stuck the phone back in his jeans, “I’ve got to go, will you take care of all of this?” He indicated the picnic supplies.
“What’s going on?”
He ran his hand through his hair, “Well, if you must know, your dumbass ex-boyfriend managed to row all the way up shit creek, and not only did he forget a paddle, he forgot the whole damn boat. And as usual, little brother has to go drag his drowning ass up out the water. “
He was dehydrated. He hadn’t been given food, water, or any medical attention and Red was pretty sure the situation was on the verge of being dire. It hurt to be alive.
He’d tried to sleep, sitting in the wheelchair they’d left him in with his head propped against the wall, but the pain was too much. If they’d left him untied because they’d assumed he was too weak and injured to try to escape, they had assumed correctly.
At some point time had ceased to have meaning. There was no clock on the wall, no window to see the sun or moon, no way to tell how long he’d been there when every second felt like he were about to die.
Footsteps tromped down the hall every so often, and each time he hoped it was someone coming in to either kill him or relieve some of the pain. He’d have cried with gratitude if someone had just come in and handed him a glass of water.
Eventually, someone did come in. But they had no medical equipment, nor a gun aimed at his head, nor a glass of water.
It was Frederick again, dressed in a different version of the same suit he’d worn before, looking just as clean-cut and emotionless as before.
“So, I hope you’ve had time to mull over your options.”
Red tried to nod. He’d thought long and hard about the situation.
“Good, good. And what decision have you come to?”
He knew what his answer was, but he wasn’t ready to give it. “Water?” he croaked, the effort of speaking making his throat feel like it was about to crack open.
“Of course, how rude of me,” Frederick pulled out his phone and instructed someone to bring water.
They both waited in silence until a woman in the same kind of blue scrubs the man, John, had worn, brought in a pitcher of water, two glasses, and a small bowl of cut lemons.
“Very nice, thank you.” Frederick looked at Red, “Would you like a twist of lemon in yours?”
Red lifted an eyebrow. He wanted to take the entire icy pitcher and pour it into his mouth, he didn’t give any fucks about a lemon.
Frederick smiled as he handed Red a glass, sans lemon, “I think I like you. I don’t generally have an affinity towards many people, but with just a raised brow you made me understand exactly how you felt about my silly lemon question. I haven’t been so amused in a long time.”
Red ignored him and concentrated on the sweet feeling of the water sliding down his parched throat, filling the empty hole inside him he hadn’t been aware was there. “More?” He limply held out the empty glass.
“Why, not.” Frederick took the glass and refilled it. “Yes I think we’re going to do splendidly well together. Big Dog was just not bright enough for the task at hand, but I can tell that you’re a cut above. Just think Red, all of the shifters united together, under your leadership. No more squabbling over stupid turf wars, over someone cutting into your market. No, all of you working together with one goal.”
Red drank slower, licking his lips between sips. He could feel how dry and chapped they were.
“And when we’ve gotten the little problem of all the other ‘species’ under control, and our other plans come to fruition, your kind will be our… hmmm, what will we call you? Enforcers? No, that’d be a public relations nightmare. Lesser human task force? Probably not, the masses might balk at being referred to as �
��lesser’, no matter how inferior they actually are. Well we can think of a nice name later. Basically you’ll keep the humans in their place. I’m sure you’ve wanted to do that for a long time now.”
The man seemed downright jovial in his own detached way. He really thought Red was going to agree to all of this. Red didn’t blame him, he could see he was a man used to getting his way.
But Red had spent that time thinking, he’d tried to think of anything to get his mind off the pain, and it had wandered over Three Rivers. Yes, it was a town that had been built for shifters by shifters, but others had settled there too. He’d thought of the old man who liked to sit at the 24 hour breakfast house and drink coffee; silenus. At his death, thousands of years of wisdom and knowledge would die with him. Plus he was on the town council. He’d thought of the little fae girl who worked at the supermarket. She was silly but sweet and she always gave Morgan a lollipop when she went in with him. He’d thought of the vasily family that lived on a huge farm on the outskirts of town, they stayed to themselves but they donated to the food bank and to the First Baptist soup kitchen, a lot of folks ate well because of their generosity.
Then, of course, there were the witches. There was Demon and there was Sidney.
Three Rivers was theirs too, and his job was to protect Three Rivers. There would be no genocide under his command.
He set the empty glass in his lap, he really didn’t have the strength to hold it any more, and he didn’t want to drop it and show his weakness to Frederick, even though he probably already knew how bad Red was injured.
“No,” Red said.
“What?” Frederick seemed to mishear him.
“I said no,” he said louder, more clearly.
“That’s ridiculous. I’ve read your silly book of laws. It’s like the white power manifesto, except for shifters. There’s no reason for you to turn down this opportunity. And that’s what it is, Red, an opportunity. Shifters united, all supernatural creatures except shifters eliminated, your people would be the second most powerful group in the world, and you’d be leading them. Think of what opportunities you could give to your species. The possibilities are endless.”
Dogs of War Episode 5 Page 6
