Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
ORION
Ishot up, chest a tangle of knots. “What was that?”
Miko was on his feet, hurrying onto the platform, his pack behind him.
Flabbergasted, I got up, staring at the gathered wolves.
Trev’s heavy footsteps approached. “What’s happening?” He crouched, leaning against a row of seats to watch the wolves.
“Drama,” Basil said from the far side of the carriage.
The pack spread out, Miko moving toward the escalator, keeping low.
My instincts got me moving. Miko’s head snapped around as I reached the train door. He lifted a hand, ordering me to wait.
A horrible, crawling sensation moved across my skin. I shuffled an inch forward as the alpha turned his dark eyes back to the escalator.
“Better do as he says, mate,” Trev whispered behind me.
It went against all my instincts. New, Miko-related instincts.
“The pack have got this,” Trev added.
He was right. If we were needed, we’d act accordingly. But me rushing out there because every part of my body wanted to help and protect my mate would be careless.
I didn’t enjoy careless. If I’d learned anything over these past two years, it was that rash actions often led to drama.
I stayed put, listening for any further sounds and instructions.
Silence followed.
Had it been a building issue? A panel collapsing? Maybe even something to do with an animal?
Commotion shattered the silence. Raised voices followed by a second crash. The pack fanned out around their alpha.
What was going on?
Red spots danced across my vision, a dirty metallic taste rising on my tongue. My limbs went limp, my body sliding out of my control.
Be still, fae. Be still.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
This was—
Ice and heat collided in my veins, a taint in my blood.
“Lance!” Miko roared.
“Down you go!” the werelynx’s voice boomed.
A body tumbled down the escalator with sickening thud after sickening thud. Miko jumped back at the last moment, Joseph landing in a broken, bleeding heap at his feet.
The vampire opened his mouth, blood oozing out, his teeth broken.
Stars!
The three of us aboard the train hurried onto the platform.
“Move and I’ll blow your head off!” Lance barked.
Many footsteps clanged on the metal steps.
A sensation like threads of cotton moving through my veins prompted a gentle squeak from my parted lips. They clamped shut, the blood magi controlling me laughing in my mind.
Chantelle was right. A male voice rolled inside my skull. You do taste like cherries.
Chantelle. The previous blood magi to take over my body and sample my blood.
Release me! I thought back at him.
Why would I do that?
Blood magi were dangerous. They didn’t have the power to exert control over shifters, but they could me. My blood was ripe for manipulation, for whatever games they wanted to play.
“Orion?” Trev said. “What’s wrong, mate?”
Basil moved in front of me, scrutinizing my face. “Blood magic.”
Miko growled.
Lance laughed, finally showing himself with a shotgun pointed at Miko. He exuded a rock star’s energy, though he looked much more disheveled this time, his clothes torn, his dirty blond hair hanging in greasy tendrils around his faded, bronze-tanned complexion.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” he said. “Together again for round two.”
Three men followed him—shifters wielding guns—with the red-robed, bald-headed blood magi behind them.
Hello there, fae. His red eyes, so bright against the ashy grayness of his complexion, bore into me. I’m Pete.
I didn’t offer the assbug a response.
We’re going to be great friends. Pete waved blood-stained fingers at me.
Basil touched my cheek. “You don’t have to worry.”
Miko!
“Did you really think I’d let you run?” Lance asked with dramatic flare. “Never, Miko. We will never be done.”
Miko’s heart thumped in time with mine, the anguish in our bond as hot as lava. This werelynx threatened to break us, to end everything. I had to do something, to break out of this magical hold and help him.
The alpha folded his arms, his aura resolutely icy. “I thought you wanted me dead.”
“I do.”
“Then how can we never be done?”
Lance sniffed the air. “Despite your cockiness, I smell fear.”
Miko shrugged.
“Feign indifference all you like. You’re fucked. There will be no running away this time.”
Another four minions joined the line on the escalator, aiming their weapons at the other wolves. Those bullets were probably silver laced with wolfsbane. Again.
Nine against seven. Well, six seeing as I’d been rendered as useful as a cream cracker floating in water.
Curse Lance and his guns and his sadistic nature!
“Sir, may I go to my toy?” Pete asked from the middle of the congregation of assbugs.
“Of course you can.”
The blood magi clapped his hands together, brushing past the shifters. He paused in the space between Lance and Miko, giving the latter a little wave.
Miko snarled. “Touch him and—”
One of the other shifters fired a warning shot at the glass barrier on the eastbound platform, the glass shattering in a cascade of shards, the sound echoing through the station.
My ears!
Joseph twitched on the ground, trying to speak.
Where was Daria?
Miko remained unbothered, completely unwavering. Definitely a man worthy of the name of Mr. Robot. Not to say he wasn’t afraid on the inside, but what amazing courage he possessed.
Wow.
Pete shuffled toward me on red sandals, his mouth hanging open.
My mother often told me not to leave my mouth open for fear of catching bugs. What a pity a swarm of aggressive wasps didn’t show up to fill that gaping maw, getting those blood-stained teeth out of my sight.
Trev and Basil blocked him. He whined like a wounded dog on the other side of my troll-fae wall.
“Move,” Lance retorted. “Or we start popping heads. Try coming back from that, Paige.”
Trev side-stepped to the right.
Pete reappeared in my eyeline, clapping excitedly.
“We’ll get out of this, mate,” Trev muttered.
Basil stayed put. “I’m not moving.”
Lance nodded. “Then enjoy Paige’s brains painting these floors.”
“Unnecessary.”
“Interesting response,” Lance said. “Why is that?”
“Because we have things to discuss.”
“We do?”
Miko growled.
Lance rolled his eyes. “Be quiet, you miserable bastard.”
If the pack went in for the attack, they’d be dead. They might all be strong and quick on their feet, but so were the other shifters in this room. And they had firearms to give them the upper hand.
What were we going to do?
“I’d like to negotiate with you,” Basil said. “But without this silliness.”
“Silliness?”
“All this cock measuring.”
The werelynx chuckled. “There is no comparing my penis to his.” He nodded at Miko. “A tree trunk and an acorn respectively.”
Not true at all.
The invading shifters chuckled like good little minions.
I raged inside, trying to come up with a metaphysical rebuttal, but failing miserably.
Negotiate what? What was Basil up to now?
You resist such pleasures, Pete said.
Chantelle had said the same thing about making me feel good—or bad if I didn’t comply with her wishes.
Before she’d died.
Hopefully, Pete would be joining her soon.
I don’t want any of it! I countered.
Let’s sneak off together and have some fun, he replied.
This world doesn’t have to be so gloomy for you.
It can be joyous, your days spent in constant bliss.
I can make you cum without laying a finger on that pretty head.
What do you say? Come with me. Leave this rabble. Ride the pleasure train forever.
His laugh swirled in my head, red lights exploding across my vision. His magic coursed through me, calling to my desires, sending a flush of heat between my legs.
No! I screamed back him.
A preview, Orion. The sensation faded before it went anywhere. That’s nothing compared to what I can give you. But you have to want it. What do you say?
I didn’t answer, looking for the slightest hint of a chink in his magic.
The blood magi winked at me. Think it over. The other option is pain. A lot of pain. Maybe you like that sort of thing.
My stomach roiled in answer.
Basil stepped to the side, allowing Pete to come within a few feet of me. The creepy man licked his bloody lips, drinking me in as if I were a bowl of melted chocolate.
Miko went to speak.
Lance hit him in the stomach with the butt of his gun. Miko bent over, falling to his knees.
“Don’t fucking move!” a man yelled at the pack from the escalator.
“Stay where you are,” Miko bit out, his forehead lowering to kiss the ground.
Lance flicked his hair. “I like you on your knees. You were a good cock sucker. I’ll always give you that, my acorn friend.” He strode past Miko and the pack, his gun slung casually over his shoulder.
Basil moved forward to greet him, Pete flicking his tongue perversely at me.
“Fuck…” Trev breathed.
I want to puke.
Not just yet, fae… Pete drawled in my head.
“Talk to me,” Lance said.
Did Lance really want to hear what he had to say? Why wasn’t he killing us all? Miko’s life thwarted his plans. Not that I wanted him to start spraying us with bullets, but why would someone like him want to listen to a stranger?
Curiosity killed the cat, I supposed.
Basil introduced himself properly. “Basil Tristan Angelwood.”
“Lance Forest.”
They did not shake hands.
“I need Orion,” Basil added. “I made a promise to take him back to Faery and get him out of this mess.”
“Right. But why?”
“Because he’s important.”
“To who?”
Basil folded his hands behind his back. “Fae in high places.”
“And this affects me how?”
“Without Orion in your life, you can concentrate on your goals.”
My blood went colder than it already was.
Lance ran his tongue across his teeth. “Not what I expected to hear when I came down here.”
“It’s nice to be surprised sometimes.”
“I suppose. But why should I listen to you? I don’t know you, and you’re flitting around with my enemies.”
“I never flit. And Orion isn’t really part of this.”
“Yes, he certainly is. He’s Miko’s mate. His blood is valuable to my blood magi. As is your blood.”