Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Byron
Letting Wilder get into my car was a bad idea. He was all I could smell. It invaded every inch of the car and settled deep in my lungs with every breath. I was having a hard time not pulling the damn thing over so that I could pull him into my lap and lick his skin.
Wilder was dressed in one of those baggy, oversized hoodies he liked to wear and now that I knew what he looked like mostly naked, all I could see were those lithe lines and defined bones.
I wanted to mark him, to bite every inch of him.
I wanted to hear him scream my name while I pushed him way past the edge of sanity and then I wanted to catch him and hold him close.
Fuck.
Bishop was right.
This was totally going to change our dynamic.
Could I handle that? Bishop had always been the only person I have ever come close to feeling anything like love.
If you could call it love. I was feral without him which is why I’d spent the last few years with eyes on him.
He always knew, but that was just how we worked.
I barely held onto my sanity when Bishop was far away from me and even thinking about a relationship with someone was impossible.
I barely had the capacity to function beyond my base needs.
Not that I’d ever really functioned beyond them, anyway.
Hunt. Kill. Fuck. Eat. Sleep.
That was pretty much it. What did I need more than that?
Bishop kept me straying too far into the darkness. Without him tethering me to some sort of moral existence, I’d be lost. So how the hell was Wilder supposed to fit into that?
I’d always shared everything with Bishop, but the thought of sharing Wilder with him made me feel positively savage. Wilder was mine, and that was that.
So where did that leave Bishop?
“I didn’t think you’d drive a Ferrari,” Wilder said, his voice soft and quiet. Like a little mouse.
“This one isn’t mine. It’s Damyr’s, but he’s not using it today.” He’d be pissed when he found out I’d taken it without permission, but if you didn’t want people to drive it, you shouldn’t leave your keys where anyone can grab them.
“You stole Damyr’s car?” Wilder gasped, his jaw dropping in horror.
“Borrowed,” I replied. “I have every intention of returning it. Besides, he’s got so many he probably won’t even notice it’s gone.”
“You’ve got a death wish.”
I shrugged and accelerated harder, ignoring the speed limit and cutting off other road users. “I don’t have a death wish. I just tend to take what I want and today I wanted to take you out in style. I thought you’d enjoy this car.”
Wilder hit me with a look I couldn’t decipher. His violet eyes were intense and determined and something else I couldn’t place but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the road long enough to figure it out.
“Why me?” He asked sharply, his arms folded across his chest.
“What?”
“You heard me. Why me, Byron? Why not some other schmuck off the street? What have I done to earn this level of attention from you? I thought your obsession ran to your twin, not other people.”
I gripped my hands tighter on the steering wheel. “I don’t know.”
“The fuck?” He snapped, dragging his hands through his hair. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’m not wired like you, Wilder—”
“I know that much, psycho,” he huffed, interrupting me with all the attitude of a bratty teenager. It made me want to spank it out of him.
“When I see something that I want, I take it. Regardless of anyone else’s feelings.”
He turned away and looked out of the window at the passing scenery. “That must be nice. To just not care at all.”
I placed my hand on his thigh and squeezed gently. “I care, Wilder. Just only about the things that matter to me.”
He didn’t reply, and I took my hand back. He just continued to stare out of the window and watched the scenery as it passed by.
The rest of the journey passed like that. With me worrying about how to get his attention and him completely ignoring me.
For the first time, I felt unsure of myself.
Some part of me knew Wilder was going to be mine the moment I saw him—even if I didn’t realise it until recently—and yet, I didn’t know how to help him.
He felt unreachable, like he was tucked safely behind all those walls he’d erected to protect himself.
I understood that, but maybe that was why he interested me.
He didn’t need someone gentle. He needed someone who’d be brutal.
And I definitely excelled at that.
“We’re here,” I said as I pulled up outside a luxurious apartment block. I slipped out of the low car and went around to open Wilder’s door for him.
“I can do that myself, you know,” he said with a scowl as I held my hand out to him. He batted it away and climbed out on his own. I tried not to be disappointed, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted him to take my hand. I wanted him to need me.
I chucked the keys at the valet and smiled at him. “Don’t scratch her or I’ll skin you alive and turn you into a lamp.”
The valet paled a little but managed to stammer out a “Very good, sir.”
When I turned to look at Wilder he was watching me with a cocked brow and his hands buried deep in his hoodie pocket.
“What?” I asked as I strode past him into the building.
“You could try to be nicer to people.”
I scoffed. “I’ve never been nice. Where’s the fun in that?”
Wilder trudged behind me, dragging his feet all the way to the penthouse and his sister’s front door.
I waited for him to ring the doorbell, but he’d buried himself in his hoodie. I rolled my eyes at him and jabbed my finger against the doorbell. “This is only going to help.”
“We’ll see,” he huffed and then walked past me into the penthouse, leaving me watching his ass walk away.
I didn’t know much about the Rowan Coven. I only knew it was small considering how old the Rowan name was which was unusual. Had I done the right thing bringing Wilder here? Or was this going to open a can of worms that we wouldn’t be able to get the lid back onto?
Only one way to find out, I guess.
“Good morning, you two,” Genevieve said brightly as we walked into the main reception area.
She looked a vision in an emerald-green blouse and black pencil skirt but how she managed to walk on those heels, I’d never know.
Her soft brown waves framed her delicate face, and her blue eyes were clear and perceptive.
Wilder grunted in response and the temptation to slap the back of his head for being rude to his sister-in-law was almost too hard to resist.
Genevieve arched a brow in question as she turned to face me, but I shrugged. If Wilder wanted to be an ass, he could go ahead.
“Hello Genevieve, where is Dara?” I asked, wanting to get this over and done with. I wanted to take Wilder home where I could keep him away from the world.
“Straight to the point as usual, Byron,” Genevieve chuckled as she put her blazer on. “She’s waiting for you in the spell room. I’m sorry I cannot stay; I have an important meeting this morning with a client. I hope it goes well for you both and you find the answers you’re looking for.”
Then she brushed past us and left the penthouse.
I pursed my lips and watched her leave. It would have been better if Genevieve could have stayed.
For Wilder’s sake. She could have at least run interference between the siblings if things got heated.
Which was likely considering the mood that Wilder was in.
“Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled and headed deeper into the apartment. This place was large and encompassed the entire top floor of the building. There were floor to ceiling windows along the length of the outer walls and there was a terrace with a pool as well. This place was fancy.
I followed Wilder into the spell room, and it was like I’d stepped back in time.
The rest of the apartment was all modern but in here, it was dimly lit and smelled like the earth.
Everything was made of a dark wood and in the centre of the room was a large wooden table that looked like it had come straight from the medieval period.
Above it hung all manner of tokens, symbols and swathes of herbs and plants.
The far wall was stacked with jars and books and there was a large open fire on one side with a cauldron bubbling away.
“You really give ‘witch aesthetic’ a whole new meaning, Dara,” I said as I approached the table. I’d seen plenty of spell rooms in my lifetime, but this one was by far the most impressive.
“Good morning, Byron. I’d say it was a pleasure, but I really don’t like you,” Dara said, her arms folded across her chest and her green eyes sparking in the low light. “Care to tell me why I got a call from the Morozov number two saying I had to grant this visit?”
I looked to Wilder, but he’d disappeared into the shadows of the room. He radiated nervous energy, hopping from one foot to the other and his breathing was erratic. Something wasn’t right, and I didn’t like it.
I strode over to him and pulled his hood down. He flinched when I touched him so I held my hands up so he could see them. His eyes were wild, darting all over the place and his bottom lip was red and swollen like he’d been biting it.
“I can’t do this,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “I don’t—I can’t…”
“It’s okay, Wilder,” I said softly. “You’re not on your own here. We can figure this out together.”
He held my gaze for a long time, searching for something within the depth of my eyes. I wasn’t sure what he found there, but it was enough to have him nodding with determination and taking a step towards the stupidly large table.
I wonder what it was that he saw.
Dara watched the pair of us closely, curiosity in her gaze as I stood next to Wilder.
“Is there something going on here between you two?” she asked.
“No,” Wilder said quickly, a blush creeping over his cheeks.
I shrugged but didn’t answer. It wasn’t her business.
She settled her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Fine, be weird. Now, what are you both doing here?”