Chapter 13 Wren #2
With a growl low in his throat, he opened his mouth and let his teeth rest against the pulsing vein in Teddy’s neck. He wanted to bite, to claim, to leave a mark somewhere visible.
He felt Teddy shiver against him, bucking his hips. Fed off of the reaction. Clamped down on the skin salty with sweat. His own hardness pressed into Teddy’s thigh, grinding there and sending pleasure straight through his system.
A shimmer of something green flashed in a dark corner just behind Teddy’s back. A little vial exchanging hands.
Reality came with the retraction of teeth, the somber pull of air extinguishing the flame of desire. The room itself came back into sharp focus, and Wren’s eyes locked on his target.
“Teddy,” he mumbled against his damp skin, making Teddy pull him closer still.
Wren forced himself to keep his eyes open and not sink into the feeling of being home again. He skated his mouth along Teddy’s neck, up and up to talk into his ear. “Behind you.”
Teddy’s fingers flexed, his shuddering breaths loud, even over the pounding bass. “What?”
Wren curled his fingers into the back of Teddy’s top, lifting the fabric slightly as he coaxed Teddy around as naturally as he could. “Guy in the red shirt. Red hair. Moustache.”
Teddy bowed his head, nosing at Wren’s cheek to whisper, “I see him.”
Wren didn’t know where the act began and ended. All he knew was they didn’t have time to work it out.
“He just slipped a vial to the girl in sequins.” He knew the vial would be long hidden, but two people seeing their faces was better than relying on Wren’s lust-addled mind alone.
“Let’s see if we can talk to them before they break off,” Teddy said.
“If you chase two rabbits, you’ll catch neither,” Wren warned.
“The guy in red. We want the distributor,” Teddy said decisively, pulling out of Wren’s arms and making him want to whimper and beg him to stay.
He swallowed the urge.
“I’ll go left,” Teddy said at the same time as Wren said, “I’ll go right.”
They both startled for a moment before a small smile curved Teddy’s mouth “Still a great team.”
That hit Wren like a punch in the gut. The words “are we still a team?” were on the tip of his tongue when a loud scream sounded from the gallery.
Glass sprinkled from above like raindrops, slashing exposed skin on those directly underneath.
“Saint!” Teddy gasped.
Movement was hard to make out between the strobe lights, shapes disappearing and reappearing in different places between one second and the next. People around them started rushing like a tide released from a dam, and the screams only grew louder in the confusion.
Wren couldn’t see Red anymore, and the seconds were passing too quickly as they were pushed to and fro. One look at Teddy’s face showed his dilemma. Stay with Wren, or help Saint.
Wren’s rational side finally joined in. Fighting against heartbreak, he pushed Teddy toward the staircase. “Go to him. I’ll follow Red.”
“Wren…” Teddy looked torn but there wasn’t any time for a lengthy discussion.
Wren pushed into the crowd in search of his target. He didn’t want to look back. He didn’t want to see Teddy saving Saint from whatever was happening.
The kind, life-appreciating side of him was worried for Saint, hoping he hadn’t been harmed in any way. He tried to convince himself it was the real him. That the jealous creature who just wanted Teddy back, regardless of what happened to anyone else was just a figment of his imagination.
“Get it together,” he whispered to himself, elbowing and stomping his way through the masses.
Finding slivers of space to slither through between panicked people, he kept the red shirt in his sights, watching him go for the back exit. He was so single-minded in his pursuit that he knocked into a person blindly, stumbling into a nearby table of drinks.
The stench of alcohol burned his nose as it splashed into his face and hair, and he cursed, wiping the liquid away and scrubbing it from his face and eyes.
Pushing off the table with a low growl, he raced for the exit door just as a red shirt slipped through it.
Wren hit it with force, sending it flying into the outside wall.
Heaving, panting breaths filled his small chest, the chill air of the night hitting the liquid drying on his bared skin as he searched the darkness of the back alley.
A familiar twitter drew his gaze up, and there was Blu on the closest roof. He had followed him all the way here and he was indicating a direction like he already knew what Wren was looking for.
Wren sprinted into the darkness, trusting Blu implicitly, and there, at the end of the alley, was a flash of red.
Hearing the unusual twitter echo through the alley, the red-shirted man glanced back over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he spotted Wren on the other end.
“Cursebreaker.” Wren heard the whisper on the wind.
Wren stumbled for a moment, wondering how he’d guessed before he remembered the wetness on his face. He looked down to see makeup smudged all over his hands from where he had wiped it.
Damn it.
The red-shirted man fled again, this time with more purpose.
Wren heard a door bang open behind him but ignored it. Picking up speed, he followed like a bloodhound, catching the guy in red just as he reached for the handle of a black van. With no other option, Wren maintained his speed and broke his momentum on the guy’s back.
He grunted as they both ricocheted off the van and landed in a heap on the ground.
Wren’s ears were ringing and he thought he could hear an echo of his name. His spotty vision settled, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar vial rolling on the pavement.
He reached for it at the same time Red did, seeing a tattoo on the back of the guy’s hand just before he snatched it first.
An eye.
Wren looked into the man’s face in shock and saw him grin. He had two gold teeth at the side of his mouth. “Gotta go, sweetheart.”
He jumped up but Wren grasped his leg, making him trip and curse. He booted Wren in the chest to try and free himself, but Wren held firm, opening his mouth and biting into his calf.
“Motherfucker!” he screamed, shaking his leg as his fist clenched, about to come down on Wren’s head.
Something connected with Red’s face first.
The disruption dislodged Wren’s grip and Red slipped away, Wren looking up to see Teddy standing there and shaking his hand out while looking furious.
“Two against one is a little unfair, dontcha think?” Red drawled, looking between them.
“Touch him again and see what happens,” Teddy growled, the sound coming from low in his throat like an animal.
The guy took a step to the side, closer to the van.
“Don’t even think about it,” Wren snapped, coming up on all fours. “You’re coming with us and answering every question I have for you.”
“Think about what, sweetheart? You caught me fair and square.”
They didn’t notice him dipping into his pocket until it was too late. It started as a wisp of smoke between his fingers and quickly turned into an all-out fog.
Teddy stumbled back, pulling Wren with him as the thick gray ash cloud grew larger, making their eyes stream and their lungs constrict. They began to cough uncontrollably.
“I don’t play fair though!” Red shouted over their coughing. “Toodles!”
The sound of the van wheels screeching prompted Wren to try and enter the fog cloud, but Teddy held firm to his arm, pulling him farther away.
“What are you doing? We need to follow!” Wren said between splutters.
“Not on foot,” Teddy said, already dragging him across the street to where Trace had parked.
They threw themselves into the car and Teddy started it, the engine roaring as he peeled away from the curb and into the night, chasing taillights.