Redux, p.12
Redux, page 12
“You’re not going to sleep on the floor like a pet dog,” I said with a scowl. “I’ll buy another bed for you to sleep on.”
“I have my own money now,” she reminded me as I toed my sneakers off and lay down fully clothed on top of the blankets. I took up pretty much the entire mattress, so there was no way my bestie would be able to sleep next to me.
Kye resolved the problem by carrying the cushions from the couch downstairs. “I thought you could use these to sleep on,” he said shyly.
“Thanks, Kye,” Aurora said with a sweet smile. “You’ve been a big help tonight.”
“Anything you girls need, tell me and I’ll make it happen,” he vowed.
“Great,” I said morosely, closing my eyes. “Can you kill Drake’s fiancé for me?”
“Um, I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
“She was just joking,” Aurora said. “Right, Saige?” I cracked one eye open to give her a flat stare. “She’s not joking,” she said with a small sigh.
“No one is killing Lord Gilden’s fiancé,” mom said sternly as she descended the stairs carrying a glass of milk. “Drink this,” she ordered me as if I was five years old. “It’ll help you get to sleep.”
Grumbling beneath my breath, I sat up long enough to gulp it down. “Thanks, mom,” I said morosely as I handed her back the empty glass. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Taking my hint that I wanted to go to sleep, mom and Kye headed back upstairs.
Aurora arranged the couch cushions on the floor next to my bed. I knew she wanted to hold me to comfort me, but there just wasn’t enough room. Her small hand reached up for something to hold onto, so I lowered my arm. Her fingers wrapped around my hand, then the treacherous sneak knocked me out with a sex fantasy.
Like always, Drake featured in my dream. I wasn’t in the silver dragon form that he longed for. Instead, I was in my human form. We danced together beneath a full moon on a beach somewhere, with waves gently lapping at our ankles. Then we were suddenly naked and were lying on a huge bed. He held himself up with his hands so he could watch his shaft sliding in and out of me.
Groaning with need and longing, I knew this was the last time I’d ever get to see the man I loved like this. My hands wrapped around his wrists and our eyes locked. It wasn’t just lust that I saw in his golden orbs. Love flowed from them, basking me in warmth as smoke drifted from his nostrils. Pleasure was already building inside me at his slow, sexy rhythm. “Drake,” I moaned, urging him to go faster.
“Tell me how you feel about me, Saige,” he said, obeying my wish and speeding up his thrusts.
“You know how I feel,” I said breathily.
“I want to hear you say it,” he demanded, smoke issuing from his lips with each word.
Breathing in his aroma, I squeezed him with my internal muscles and it was his turn to groan in need. “I love you, Drake Gilden,” I said boldly. “I’ll always love you, even though you can never be mine.”
Collapsing his arms so he lay on top of me, he kissed me deeply. I breathed in his smoke and swallowed it down as our hips collided in a frenzy of need. “I love you, too, Saige,” he whispered into my ear, nipping the lobe and making me jerk in response.
Heat flared inside me and I grabbed a fistful of his hair. Tilting his head to the side, I sank my teeth into his neck. He roared in pleasure and went wild, pounding into me and sending me spiraling into ecstasy. He came as hard as I did and we lay chest to chest, breathing hard and still locked together. Lifting his head, the dragon smiled and touched the tear that spilled from my eye. “We were meant to be together,” he said.
“But we can’t be,” I said sorrowfully. “You belong with your true mate and I’m not her.”
The fantasy ended, but not before I saw his grief. I pushed Aurora’s power out of my mind, then disentangled our fingers. My bestie sobbed quietly, proving she’d witnessed at least some of my dream. I now knew what it felt like to have my heart ripped out and for my dreams to die. It was a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I rolled over to face the wall, feeling cold, empty and alone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I SLEPT A LOT MORE than usual for the next three days after the ball. Aurora bought a queen size bed so she could comfort me at night. My old single bed was taken away and had probably been tossed in the dump.
On the fourth day of moping around and gaming nonstop, the niggling feeling that it was time to return to the underworld crept over me. I knew Aurora felt it as well. She kept giving me sidelong looks when she got home from work.
“What’s going on with you two?” mom asked while we were eating dinner. Kye was at work, so it was just us girls tonight.
“We need to leave town on one of our special missions soon,” Aurora said.
“Nope,” I said and shoveled more food into my mouth. I’d put on a few pounds sitting around on my butt all the time.
“This isn’t something we can get out of,” my bestie said in a chiding tone. “It’s our duty.”
I gave her a flat look and didn’t bother to respond.
“Saige,” mom said in the beginnings of a lecture.
“I’m not going, mom,” I said to cut her off. “Fate screwed me over. She let me think Drake would be my reward for saving the world. He chose someone else, so he can get another minion to do his dirty work for him.” My tone was so bitter that they shared an uneasy look.
We subsided into silence, but the nagging feeling didn’t go away. I’d blocked Ruen’s number after he kept trying to call me for the first two days after I’d quit. He even came to mom’s house to try to talk me into returning to work. Mom had turned him away without giving him an explanation for my decision. None of my colleagues knew I was in love with our boss. Drake had apparently wiped their memories of my reaction to finding out he was engaged. It was a mystery to them why I’d quit so suddenly.
The feeling that I needed to continue our mission to save the world from disaster grew worse. It kept me awake at night so I tossed and turned. Aurora got as little sleep as I did. She was cranky when she went to work and was sullen when she got home. Ruen called her several times to say we needed to head back to the underworld. She took the calls where I couldn’t hear her, so I didn’t know what she was saying to him.
Mom had finally had enough on the seventh night. She waited until after we’d eaten dinner before she levelled a hard stare at me. I flinched at her stony gaze, knowing she was about to hit me with a truth bomb. “You’ve felt sorry for yourself for long enough, Lil Bish,” she said sternly. “You have a duty that no one else can take over from you. Fate chose you to be her champion, so you need to suck it up and get your butt to the fifth realm of the underworld.”
My lips quivered at the hint of disappointment in her tone. It was the one thing I couldn’t bear and she knew it. “Fine,” I grumbled in capitulation. “I’ll put my life in danger for the entire world again despite the fact that I couldn’t care less if every single person in this world dies horribly.”
“We know you don’t mean that,” Aurora said with an eyeroll at my dramatics. “You don’t want your mom or me dead.”
“You two can live,” I said grudgingly. “And I suppose Kye and my relatives can live, too.”
“That’s very generous of you, kiddo,” mom said wryly. “I’m glad you included my fiancé on your list.”
My face crumpled at the word that I’d come to loathe. It wasn’t easy to suppress the tears that were always hovering just beneath the surface. “I’ll go and pack a bag,” I said dully and pushed my chair back from the table.
“Sherlock and Watson will be here in ten minutes,” Aurora said. She shrugged at the betrayed look I gave her for setting this up behind my back. “Ruen will be with them, so prepare yourself for the nagging of a lifetime.”
I almost snickered, but depression killed my momentary amusement. Aurora had packed a few days ago. I’d stubbornly refused to prepare for the inevitable. Now that the time was upon us again, maybe it was a good idea to get away from Nexus for a few weeks. At least I’d be too busy trying to stay alive to think about Drake and his beautiful fiancé in bed together.
I had no idea what sort of creature I was going to turn into this time, or what would happen to the clothing I took with me. Stuffing t-shirts, jeans, underwear and spare sneakers into my backpack, I took a couple of empty bags as well. I shoved some knives, sheaths and straps in next. Aurora and I had bought faux animal skin waterbags from a camping store. We wouldn’t know if they would make the journey or vanish until we reached the underworld.
Aurora and Kye had brought our clothing, TVs and games home, but had left all of the furniture behind. They’d brought my weapons trunk and it was sitting at the end of my bed. Hesitating for a few moments, I wasn’t mean enough to deprive Ruen of his beloved knives. They went into my backpack, then I headed back upstairs.
“I called Mekhi and told him we’ll be going out of town for a while again,” Aurora said. “He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t try to guilt trip me into staying.” It had only been two months since we’d returned from the last trip, so it was understandable that he would be upset.
A car pulled up a couple of minutes later. Mom gave us a tight hug before she saw us out.
Ruen turned to scowl at me for a second when we reached the dark gray SUV. Aurora climbed inside and I slid in after her. The silence was heavy as my bestie and I waved at mom as the vehicle drove off.
Watson was driving as usual and Sherlock was riding shotgun. Slightly shorter than his partner, Sherlock had the typical blond hair of a werelion. Watson’s hair was brown, but just as thick and regal as his colleague’s.
Ruen’s shoulders were hunched up around his ears. He’d turned to face the window so he didn’t have to look at me. It seemed the nagging session my roommate had predicted was going to be postponed.
“Where’s the gate to the fifth realm?” Aurora asked after we’d been driving for a few minutes.
“It’s to the southeast of the city,” Sherlock said in a subdued tone. He shot me an accusing look, then turned to face the windscreen again.
It didn’t escape my notice that both lions were unhappy with me. I’d abandoned my job and had delayed our trip to the underworld out of sheer stubbornness. Only a few people knew why I’d walked away from being a bounty hunter. Drake hadn’t bothered to make up a story when he’d wiped the memories of the people who’d witnessed my meltdown. Either they’d been ordered not to ask me about it, or they didn’t want to hear my reasons. Neither of the shifters spoke to me during the forty-minute drive.
The gate to the next realm was hidden inside an auto repair shop. Shifters were working on a variety of vehicles when we pulled up. I could tell they were Drake’s employees from their alertness and the weapons I could see beneath their overalls. They would probably be closing for the night soon. It would be suspicious if they kept the shop open all the time.
“I’d like to speak to Ms. Sterling alone,” Ruen said as the lions got out.
“We’ll wait for you inside,” Aurora said as he climbed out to let her out as well.
He climbed back inside and slammed the door hard enough to rock the car. I braced myself for the lecture he’d been holding inside as he turned to me. “How could you?” he asked in a low, enraged tone, dark eyes flashing with near hatred.
“I’m going to need more information before I can answer that question,” I said dourly.
“How could you walk out on Lord Gilden when he needed you?” he asked accusingly.
“I killed the fairy and potentially saved his life,” I reminded him, unable to get angry myself. My anger had faded and apathy had taken its place. “He’s safe from her now, so he doesn’t need me anymore.”
He looked me up and down with all the contempt he could muster. “I don’t know what’s really going on inside your thick head, but you’ve proven yourself to be a pathetic, petty little girl. You’re not mature enough to be worthy of being on Lord Gilden’s team of bounty hunters. I’m glad you left and that we’re no longer partners. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t need you.”
With that final stinging jab, he opened the door and climbed out. I sat there in stunned, hurt disbelief. I was the one who’d had my heart broken. Drake had strung me along and had played me for a fool. All the while, he’d been courting a weredragon behind my back.
My rage resurfaced and I shoved the door open. I slammed it so hard that the frame warped and the door became wedged in place. Sherlock and Watson intercepted me when I entered the shop. A door at the back of the room was opened by someone on the other side. Aurora and Ruen stepped through it.
“What?” I snapped at the lions.
“The code you’ll need to use when you return is three knocks, a four second pause, then two knocks,” Sherlock said icily.
“I’ll brand that into my memory,” I said sarcastically, then stalked after my companions who’d left me behind. I forgot the combination before I’d taken five steps.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A WEREWOLF OPENED THE door to the back room for me and I strode past her with a nod of thanks. She gave me a sympathetic smile when I saw the thick metal door over to the right was standing open a few inches. Bright blue light blazed through the opening. I couldn’t sense Aurora, which meant they’d already passed through the portal.
“Idiots,” I muttered beneath my breath, glancing around the room to see it was a breakroom. I crossed to the metal door, yanked it open and stepped through the magical gate. All of the hair on my body stood up and I tingled all over. It wasn’t as bad as usual, since I’d passed through it on my own for once.
As always, my body transformed into a new type of monster as I was transported to another dimension. I felt stronger, meaner and hairier than I had in my other forms. That final thought made me shake my head as I stumbled away from the bright light.
I could hear fighting going on a short distance away. Ruen shrieked in rage and Aurora sent out a blast of demonic magic. With heavy, lumbering steps, I could barely see through the dense fog that surrounded me. Headstones impeded me and I realized we were in a cemetery.
“Saige!” my bestie shouted in despair. “We need your help!”
Hearing her in trouble enraged me. I snatched up a rusty metal sconce that had fallen from a crumbling old crypt. “Rarrr!” I shouted inarticulately, trying to tell her I was on my way.
“What the hell was that?” Ruen asked in alarm at my deep, guttural voice.
The smell of rot lay heavy in the air. My eyesight was weak, but my sense of smell worked just fine. Shambling zombies surrounded my friends. Aurora’s magic didn’t work on them and neither did the vampire’s shrieks. Ruen had torn a few of them apart with his bare hands, since he didn’t have any weapons on him.
“Troll!” the sex demon screamed when I lumbered into view.
“Warggh!” I replied, then swung the sconce at the closest zombie. The makeshift weapon smacked into its head, splitting it apart. I dropped my sack and let out my rage and frustration on the dozen walking dead creatures.
My companions gaped at me as I grabbed a foe with one hand and tore its head from its shoulders. I swung the sconce with deadly precision, beheading the next opponent as it shuffled towards me. Whoever had created them had done a poor job of it. They were pretty much just milky eyeballs and bones with bits of meat stuck to them.
Globs of putrid flesh and black blood splattered on my long dark brown fur by the time the final enemy went down. My chest heaved as I struggled to contain my anger. Ruen shoved Aurora behind him to protect her from me.
“Kill it!” my best friend in the world screeched when I turned to face them.
“How?” Ruen asked in exasperation and fear. “It’s a huge damn troll!”
“Grooog. Kwaagh,” I said in frustration, then bent to pick up my sack. I took one of his knives out and tossed it at his feet.
“Saige?” Aurora asked incredulously. “Is that you?”
I nodded and yanked at my hair, frustrated that I couldn’t talk in this form.
Ruen’s mouth dropped open, then he shrieked in laughter. Pointing at my fanged mouth and no doubt hideous face, he slapped his bony thigh, unable to speak from his overwhelming hilarity. Aurora giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth guiltily.
“Frug mal lenf,” I growled, throwing my hairy hands in the air. Somehow that came through and they knew I was saying a variation of ‘screw my life’.
Ruen collapsed to the ground, holding onto himself as bloody tears poured from his eyes. “I can’t,” he gasped. “I can’t even,” he added between sobs of laughter. Apparently, he was so overwhelmed with mirth that he couldn’t finish an entire sentence.
Aurora snorted out another laugh, then she lost control of her amusement. Sinking to the ground next to the vampire, they held onto each other and laughed so hard that they cried.
I glowered at them both, unable to retort. At least nine feet tall, I appeared to look like a cross between a gorilla and bigfoot. I smelled like an ape, but funkier. My clothes had vanished, yet the spares were still in my sack. They’d changed to black sackcloth and sandals as usual. My knives, sheaths and straps were still inside, along with the spare meat sacks. The waterbag had made it through and was now made of real animal skin.
Delving into my sack, I took Ruen’s second knife out and threw it at him. He was too far gone to try to catch it. The sheathed weapon slapped against his bony chest, then fell onto his lap. The fanghole laughed even harder as he used his ratty sleeve to wipe his streaming eyes. Rips in his shirt revealed that his tattoo had vanished when he’d taken on his true form.
Since my companions were too indisposed to be of any use right now, I decided to take a look around. I slung my sack over my shoulder and searched for a way out of the boneyard.
