by KT Strange
The doors of it closed in front of us and we were halfway to the ground floor when he tried talking to me again.
“You okay?” he asked. I glared at him and shoved my hands into Cash’s hoodie pockets, stirring up a waft of his scent, linen and evaporating water, all around me. Charlie whistled softly and decided that silence was the better part of valor.
He was right. If he’d tried to talk, I was probably going to give into the very unreasonable desire I had to punch him in the nose. He led me down to the parking lot and into a sleek, black van, the kind bands used for touring in before they hit the big-time.
I had misjudged him. He hadn’t decided to not talk. He only decided to wait until I was belted in and we were rumbling down the freeway to ask,
“So you and Cash, huh?”
I hunched my shoulders in response.
“Don’t be like that, kid,” he said, and I felt my cheeks flush dark at the nickname. Cash had said I was too young. Too young compared to him?
“I’m not a kid,” I spat. Charlie held up one hand in apology.
“You’re right, you’re not. You’re... powerful. We all sensed it, and I guess it got the better of Cash even though Eli warned us all off of you—”
My head jerked up and I looked at him, properly, instead of just glaring at him out of the corner of my eye. Up until then I’d felt like a naughty child being sent to her room for getting her hands all up in Cash’s cookie jar.
“Warned you all off of me?”
Charlie let out a sheepish, hesitant chuckle.
“Well uh... you know, right?”
“Charlie, do I sound or look like someone who knows what the hell you’re talking about?”
“Cash shouldn’t have made a move on you, and don’t tell me otherwise, cause I know it was him who pulled the trigger. He’s got no self-control, for all he tells me I have none. We’re a small group, Darcy. We’re all that’s left of our pack. There’s no... females like us, for us. We wouldn’t want a human, she wouldn’t understand, and we might hurt her... but a witch...” he let his words die in his throat and laughed softly. “I shouldn’t say anything.”
“Too late, Charlie,” I growled. “Spill, right now. I don’t get what you’re saying.” He sighed, sounding frustrated.
“Don’t freak out. I don’t think you know about this, because as far as I’m aware, witches aren’t exactly well versed in how pack dynamics work, or about how werewolves breed except the big stuff. Like how small packs are usually a group of males and a single female mate.” Charlie’s hands were steady on the steering wheel, but he was holding his breath.
I stared at him as the math added up in my head, and I felt my cheeks turn hot, red-hot.
“All of you?” I squeaked, a noise I’d made twice that night now, “At once?” The image clouded my mind, taking me back to the hot kisses Cash had given me on the couch in the dressing room, but this time Finn crowded beside me at the same time. I inhaled sharply.
“Well not all the time…” he snapped his mouth shut. “See this is why I shouldn’t have said anything. You’re a witch, for all that you’re playing at being a mundane, and witches are the most stuffy, stuffed up, puritanical—”
“I’m not a damned witch,” I cut him off, still reeling with the image of Cash’s fingers wrapping around my jaw, turning my face so that he could capture my mouth in a searing kiss.
“Uh, evidence would suggest otherwise,” he said, wiggling his fingers at me. I glowered.
“I gave that life up.”
“That’s sweet. But that’s not something you can give up. It’s baked into you, blood and bone. Just like I can turn into a howling, very large and friendly wolf. It doesn’t matter what kind of fancy smartwatch I wear, or that I like to shower twice a day, I’m still a wolf, deep down,” Charlie said, sounding perfectly reasonable like he argued with people all the time about their magical heritage. I eyed him, silent.
“So this whole... thing, the pack, taking a single mate between you, were you guys planning—I mean, with me?“ My voice came out in a squeak, but Charlie smiled instead of laughing at me like he probably wanted to. I felt dumb, like I was fumbling around in a situation that was way over my head. Hell, the idea of me, and the guys? It was way over my head.
“Eli said no, and we all listened, although if you ask me, he’s just protecting himself because I’ve never seen him so attracted to anyone.” Charlie took the exit for my university as I sat in the passenger seat and tried to make sense of what he was saying. Eli? Eli was attracted to me? Like hell he was. Charlie was smoking something. “Here you are, kid,” Charlie said as he pulled up in front of my dorm.
“I didn’t tell you where I lived,” I said, my voice sounding faded and dreamy to even my ears. Charlie gave me a smile and shook his head.
“You’ve got a lot to learn, witch-child,” he said. “Go to bed.”
I took a gulp of air and nodded.
“You okay?” he asked.
“It’s a lot to take in.”
“Yeah well, five guys is a lot to take in.”
“Charlie!” I stared at him, shocked, and appalled, and for some inexplicable horrific reason, also really turned on. He smirked at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“If you stay, I’ll have to take you back, and trust me, if you thought the fight they had in the recording studio was bad...”
I unbuckled myself and slipped out of the car.
“Oh, wait,” I said, unzipping Cash’s hoodie.
“Keep it,” Charlie said. “Serves him right for getting hot and heavy with our manager. Idiot. Plus it’ll smell like you when you finally give it back to him, and that’ll drive him crazy.” He smirked and waved at me as I shut the door, the window rolled down. “Be good. See you tomorrow?”
“Right. Tomorrow,” I said, and took a step back, then another. I turned and ran to my dorm, confusion, hurt, and hormones pushing my every step. I hoped Max was back. I desperately needed to talk to her.
Ten
Max still wasn’t back when I got in, and for a moment I pushed aside everything that had happened at the party and actually called her.
“Hey you’ve reached Max. Don’t bother leaving me a message, I don’t check them. Yes, even for you, Craig.”
I stared at my phone in my hand. How many days had it been now since I’d even seen Max? Other than weekends when she went home, or holidays, I’d never seen her gone for so long before.
A knock at the door startled me, and I went up, pulling it open.
Zahrah Varma, our floor’s RA was standing there, a worried look on her face.
“Hey Darcy, have you seen Max at all? I’m friends with one of her professors and she’s been missing all her classes for the last two days. She’s usually so on top of everything,” Zahrah said, playing with the loose ends of her headscarf out of nerves. Dread came roaring up inside of me.
“She went to visit her dad, some sorta emergency. I just called her because she hasn’t been answering my texts, and the call went straight to voicemail. I’ve got her boyfriend’s number though, he lives back in her town...” I fished out my phone and found him in my contact list.
“Craig’s Auto Repair and Improved Performance. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you same day or next business day.”
Zahrah stared at me blankly as I cancelled the call and bit my lip.
“I can call her dad,” I said, and turned, searching through the pile of papers on my desk. I had his number somewhere...
“She’s not in trouble, but if she needs a leave of absence,” Zahrah paused.
“I don’t think it’s that serious, just you know, her dad’s like a cop or whatever, so if he said it was urgent, it probably was.”
“Isn’t he a sheriff?” Zahrah stood just inside the door as I dialed Mr. Morgan’s number.
It rang once.
“Hello?” Max sounded groggy and stuffed up.
“Max, oh my god, finally. Where have you bee
n?” Relief flooded through me as her voice came on the other end of the line, and a small amount of annoyance that she hadn’t called.
“Darcy, I... I can’t talk right now. I was sleeping.” There was a hitch in her voice, and I turned away from where Zahrah stared at me with curious eyes.
“Are you okay? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
“No I was sleeping, I’m—Craig got arrested.”
“Arr—hang on. Are you sure you can’t talk? One sec.” I turned around and smiled at Zahrah, putting the call on mute. “She’s fine. I’ll see when she’s coming back to class and get her to email her professors.”
“Uh huh,” Zahrah said, looking suspicious and not at all like she believed me. I took a deep breath, and decided to risk it. Using my powers of persuasion, which was the most basic skill, sometimes backfired on witches like me who weren’t that good at it.
“It’s fine,” I said, and Zahrah blinked once, slowly, and nodded. My gamble paid off, and I tried not to let guilt eat at me for using a hint of power on a mundane. It wasn’t that it was against the rules, only that I felt like a bag of assholes for doing it. It was sort of against my personal values, but it was harmless and whatever was going on with Max was none of Zahrah’s business.
“Alright, sounds good. Tell her I miss the strawberry popcorn she makes, and hope she’s back soon.” Zahrah closed the door behind her and I unmuted the call.
“Sorry I had to get rid of Zahrah. What’s happening?”
“She’s nice, but she likes to gossip too much, so thanks.” Max sighed heavily and I could hear her taking a sip of water. “Craig tried to break into my dad’s place, and my dad was home, and he arrested him.”
“What the hell? Seriously?”
“Yeah, so I’ve been dealing with that, and Craig won’t talk to me to tell me why, but he’s not an idiot, and it’s not like he’s hurting for money, his garage has been doing really well the last few months... so it’s not like he was trying to rob us... but I’ve been trying to convince my dad to drop the charges and just say it was a mistake cause Craig thought I was home and forgot to answer the door.” She let out a long, slow, shaking breath and I heard her burst into tears. “I’m just terrified...”
“No shit, oh Max... do you want me to—”
“To come? No. Stay there. I’ve almost got my dad convinced and then I’m telling Craig to stay the hell away from my house. My dad hates him so much, Darce,” her voice dropped down low and I heard her hiccup a sob. “He wants me to dump Craig.”
“What?” My knees gave out and I thumped down onto the edge of my bed in shock. “What? Why? You guys are like, high school sweethearts. If he’d had a problem with Craig, he’d have said something way before this? Or is the whole cat-burglar thing?”
“He never did like Craig much but I figured it was that old macho ‘that’s my baby girl’ kind of crap, and he pushed me to date other people, but I love Craig, I love him so much and I don’t know what I’ll do without him—” she broke into another sob and all thoughts of my problems fled.
“Max, come on, without him? You aren’t going to be without him.”
“I have to do it, Darcy, I have to, or Dad’s—he’s seriously, he’s losing his fucking mind, and I have to save Craig. He doesn’t need a record.”
“But... but... you can’t, I mean, you love him, you’d be a mess without him, Max, and I’m sure your dad will come to his senses,” I said. My phone buzzed against my ear signaling an incoming text message but I ignored it.
“You don’t know him, oh—” She paused and whispered, “I gotta go. I’ll text you later.”
The line went dead and I sat there for a moment, wondering if I should call her back or just let her be. My instincts were screaming at me to go visit her, but I was pretty sure she’d be upset if I did that.
I shot her a quick text, I’m here if you need me, anything, anytime, and left it at that. She’d message me if she needed something, and I’m sure Willa would understand if I had to take off for a day. I hoped she would, anyway.
Willa, fuck. The show had been a disaster, at least in terms of me as a manager. I’d crossed so many lines. Curling up on my bed, I tugged the blankets over my head. It was probably best to hide from the world. What had I been thinking? That’s right, I hadn’t been. It’s not like I asked for werewolves to sing and turn me into some fourteen-year-old mess of hormones and bad attitude.
“Oh god, I’m an idiot.” The room was empty, but saying the words out loud felt like it was bleeding the poison a little. A creeping sense of loneliness overcame me as my memories from earlier that night came rushing back. I’d been counting on Max being at the dorm when I got back. The world seemed like such a vast, scary place, and I was lost in it. Would watching the band perform be like that every time? Swamping me with feelings and desires I could barely fight, and honestly didn’t want to fight?
This was a path that was too dangerous for me to go down. It had been one thing to make peace with working with werewolves, it was only for a few months before it’d be over. Graduation wasn’t that far away, really. Sticking it out would have been possible but not if...
Not if I wanted to rip the clothes right off my body and have Cash’s hands all over me, or worse...
My face reddened and I felt the building heat between my thighs, a subtle ache of need pulsing there.
There was no way I was considering all five of them, like Charlie had lewdly suggested. The answer came to me, rushing through the fog of my confusion.
I picked up my phone. There was a text message from Cash. I didn’t bother opening it, but instead sent off a short email to Willa.
I must resign from my internship at XOhX immediately.
Thank you for the opportunity,
Darcy Llewellyn
Eleven
The ghost of Cash’s hands haunted my dreams, and I woke up feeling overheated and uncomfortable. I dragged myself to my professor’s office as soon as he had opening hours to plead my case and ask for a reassignment.
I used Jake Tupper and his blatant interest as my excuse. My professor was immediately sympathetic, and thanked me for telling him but there was nothing he could do other than mention it to Willa if that’s what I wanted.
I didn’t want that, I said. I’d left abruptly after two days and that was enough to give me a bad rep in the indie label scene. I didn’t need any whispers about my other reputation starting up. My professor assured me he would look to finding me another placement, and in the meantime, I could help him with some office work to prepare for the first year program students’ first major projects.
Every time I stayed still for too long, I remembered the press of Cash’s body into mine. To shake it off, I went to the campus gym, and panted out my frustrations on the treadmill for half an hour.
It didn’t help that when I left the gym, I had to pull on Cash’s hoodie. I’d grabbed it first thing in the morning without thinking. The sweet, hot petrichor scent lifting off of it chased me back across the campus to my dorm. My fingers touched the front door and I heard my name.
Turning, I nearly dropped my backpack when I saw who was standing there.
“Was it Cash?” Ace stood there, looking angry. I’d never seen him mad before. “Did he hurt you?” He stalked up to me, his shoulders stiff under his denim jacket. He looked me up and down.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “How do you know where I live?”
“Charlie told me,” he answered and that should have been obvious. “Why did you leave? Cash? Want me to deck him? He’s older but I can take him.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you... did you not want... that? Him?”
“This really isn’t... I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, looking around me as a few students going into the dorm eyed us both up. Ace followed my gaze and his cheeks pinked up.
“Right, I guess, this isn’t the place,” he said.
“There won’t ever be a place. I’m sorry, Ace, but it’s not li
ke I’m some big-name manager. I’m just an intern. You guys don’t need me,” I swiped my fob at the entrance.
“Please,” Ace said, stopping me in my tracks. I heard the door click to unlock, but I didn’t open it. Something in his voice, not command, or his natural power, made me feel like I needed to listen to him.
“What?” I asked, not looking at him.
“There’s something about you—”
“Yeah, you know what it is about me,” I interrupted. “And that’s an even better reason for us to never see each other again, professionally or personally.”
Ace growled, low, sounding irritated.
“Just give me twenty minutes of your time,” he said, “please. And if you still don’t want... us, then I’ll go. I’ll go without argument.”
Turning to look at him, I eyed him suspiciously.
“You promise?”
“I swear. Please, Darcy, let me get you a coffee or something.” He pulled out his wallet. “We got paid bank last night and it’s the least I can do. Just coffee between acquaintances. Not even friends. We don’t have to call it friends.”
My better judgement vanished. He was so unassumingly sweet, and I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face.
“We can be friends, but just for now, for coffee, all right?” What compelled me to even offer him that small crack in my armor? The relief that flooded onto his face warmed my heart, and even though I knew my answer would still be ‘no’ after coffee, it felt like I was doing the right thing to hear him out. “There’s a coffee place around the corner,” I offered. “Let’s go there.”
Sitting across from Ace reminded me of last night’s show, but everything was reminding me of last night’s show. Like an infectious song, it was stuck in my head on repeat, over and over again. I shut down the memories as fast as they cropped up, but it didn’t seem to be enough. My skin itched, aching to be touched. Cash had woken something up in me, something dangerous and dark that wouldn’t be put back to sleep now that it had gotten a taste of freedom. Not thinking about it was the only way I was going to get through coffee. Ace set two cups down on the table.
