Chapter 2 #2
She gave a heavy exhale before finally looking up. Her reaction was instant.
Eyes wide. Chair scraping back. Wings snapping into motion so hard they blurred as she stumbled over her words. “I—I’m so s-sorry, s-sir. I—I’ll get him r-right away.”
She bolted through the door behind her, and I saw her fly across the shop to a door in the back. I didn’t bother waiting.
Following her panicked trail at an easy pace, I didn't need to tell Rack to follow. His presence at my back was already a given.
The garage was dim and cluttered. Half-torn bikes laid in the center, and the stench of the tires piled in corners filled my nostrils. Red toolboxes were scattered around like they’d been kicked aside mid-thought.
For half a second, I was back in my own garage, gazing at my newly built car that hadn’t even touched the street yet.
I should’ve been driving it right now. Pulling up to Val’s place. Watching her light up like she always did when I showed her something new. Desert air flowing in our hair as we owned the open road. Taking her to a cliff overlooking the Strip.
Rack’s voice shattered my daydream. “This way, sir.”
Closing my eyes, I inhaled. Work first. Play after.
With renewed vigor, I crossed the space in a blink and threw open the door I’d seen the fairy girl fly through.
Music slammed into me—loud, heavy, unmistakably intentional. Soundproofed. Cute.
The room beyond was dark and sticky with heat.
Men in leather vests lounged at tables and booths, while half-naked women were draped over them like accessories.
In the far dark corner, a couple moved like they were dancing, but the moans and groans coming from their direction told me what they were really doing.
Across the room, a massive booth dominated the space. The lobby girl hovered there now, frantically whispering into the ear of a bald werewolf with a thick black beard. Two women in nothing but G-strings flanked him, hands roaming, bodies pressed close.
The door clicked shut behind me, and the big bald wolf’s eyes snapped up.
He did a double take then surged to his feet, shoving the women and fairy aside as he lumbered toward me like he was some big bad I should be wary of.
Since he was determined to come to me, I waited where I was with my hands in my pockets. A grin stretched wide across my face to keep me from laughing out loud.
“Nice establishment,” I said, letting my gaze wander. “Business, club, and pleasure all under one roof. Efficient.”
His brows drew together, suspicion burning in his eyes, even as his voice smoothed out.
“Mr. Winstale,” he growled. “To what do we owe the honor?”
A loud moan cut through the room as the couple in the corner finally finished. He squeezed his eyes shut for a beat, lips twitching as he sent a glare in their direction.
So he did have the ability to feel embarrassed. Interesting.
“How could I stay away,” I said lightly, “when you’re running something so… esteemed.”
His jaw worked. Fury flashed in his eye before vanishing behind a tight smile. He lifted an arm to my left, gesturing toward a hallway off to the side.
“Let’s take this to my office,” Fitz said. His tone was smooth, but his shoulders were tight, like he was already bracing for impact.
I nodded and waited for him to lead. If he thought I was going to let him have my back, he had another thing coming.
He gave me a nod and moved around me, gesturing for me to follow him while his men pretended not to watch.
Whatever game he thought he was playing, he wasn’t going to catch me flat-footed.
My fingers rolled the two cold metal balls in my pocket, round, heavy, familiar. The kind of comfort that meant I could turn this whole building into ash if I felt like it.
Rack fell into step behind me, but I needed to keep an ace in my back pocket.
“Stay out here,” I threw over my shoulder, sharp enough to cut. I didn’t look back. Didn’t give him the option to argue.
Fitz led me down a narrow hallway lit with sickly yellow bulbs. Doors lined both sides, some cracked open, some fully shut.
Moans leaked through the seams. A headboard slammed a wall somewhere up ahead. Someone laughed, high and breathless, then cried out again.
If Fitz thought any of it would rattle me, he’d picked the wrong guy. I grew up around clubs, around bodies, around sex being treated like background noise.
The only people on earth who could still make me uncomfortable were my parents.
A chill crawled up my spine, pure reflex, as a memory tried to claw its way forward.
Ten years old. Coming home. Hearing my mom scream and I freaked out.
My hand threw open the door as I called out for my mom. The first thing I saw was Papa Avery’s ass thrusting. Her scream being blocked by Dad Ax and Father Falcon next to her, whispering in her ear.
My stomach lurched.
I blinked hard and shoved the image down so fast it left my throat raw. I could still feel Ezra’s shadow-hands covering my eyes, her low, steady voice telling me to stop trying to tear my eyes out.
They didn't stop. When I saw them later, there were no apologies or explanations. They just shrugged and told me to think twice before coming into their room again.
Yeah. Nothing Fitz had behind these doors was going to top that, so I kept walking.
“Oh, fuck!” a voice shrieked. High. Sharp. Familiar.
My feet stopped. The hallway blurred at the edges as everything in me snapped to attention. The music from the main room faded. The moans from other doors vanished.
All I could hear was that one room.
“Y-yes—yes! Right there!” the voice cried again, breaking into soft, helpless little sounds. “Fuck me—right—there!”
My blood went cold.
No.
I’d heard wrong.
It was just a voice. Plenty of people sounded alike.
My pulse hammered anyway, hard enough to shake my vision. I listened, catching the rustle of sheets, the wet rhythm of movement, the low, guttural growl of someone taking what they wanted.
My fingers curled in my pocket around the metal balls until the edges of my nails bit into my skin.
It couldn’t be. There was no way….
“Mr. Winstale?” Fitz’s voice cut in behind me.
Ignoring Fitz, I tapped the side of my watch. My phone started ringing in my pocket. Once. Twice.
I held my breath so hard my ribs ached, waiting for her voice, sweet, familiar, loyal, to cut through the noise and prove to me that I was losing my mind.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
The sound came from behind the door, but that didn't mean anything… yet.
“Shit. My phone. Put me down.”
My breathing kicked up as I gripped tight on a shred of hope. It was stupid. Desperate. I knew that, but my mind wasn’t working. My heart had taken the reins, and it kept telling me it wasn't true. Couldn’t be true.
A man’s voice, low and amused. “Don’t pick up, baby. Remember what I told you? If I don’t come, my wolf won’t know if we’re mates.” A wet sound. A hitched breath. “Don’t you want to find out?”
My throat tightened until it felt like swallowing glass.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
“I have to,” she whispered. “Just—just give me a second.”
Sheets rustled. Bare feet padded across the floor, getting closer.
“Hey, babe!”
The words echoed from the room and my pocket at the same time, and my heart dropped. I grew sick as my stomach soured. My whole world was crumbling right before my eyes.
“Calie?” Valentina’s voice came again, muffled by the door and my pants. “Are you there?”
The hallway tilted. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything else. The lights overhead blurred. My lungs forgot how to work.
Behind me, Fitz’s voice sounded far away. “Mr. Winstale… Are you okay?”
I couldn’t comprehend his words, and my own weren’t coming out at all. I could hear was the blood rushing through my skull and one thought burning through the fog.
How could you?
Nine years. Nine. Fucking. Years.
All that time. All that effort. All that trust. Everything was burning up in front of me. My mouth was dry with the ashes of my future choking me.
Behind the door, the man chuckled. “Get your sweet ass back over here and let me fuck you good, mate.”
Something in me snapped, and I moved before I decided to. The door flew open so hard it ripped off its hinges and crashed into the wall.
I stood there in the frame, chest heaving, hands clenched, the air around me thick and hot.
“Hey! Get the fuck out! Who the fu—”
A big, broad, naked werewolf spun toward me, half-risen from the bed, but I didn’t truly see him. I saw her. Valentina.
My Val.
She was yanking filthy sheets up to her chest, eyes wide, face drained, fear bright and sharp in her stare.
“Calix!” she screamed.
The sound hit me like a punch to the gut. For a second, the hurt was so raw it made my vision shake.
“Why?” The single word tore out of me, but it was all I had left to give. The only word that overtook my thoughts and feelings.
Her lips parted. Closed. She swallowed.
“I just…” Her eyes flicked to the wolf beside her. “I just wanted to see if he was my mate.”
My stomach hollowed.
She rushed on the second she saw my face change.
“I wasn’t cheating on you! I love you… I just felt something, in here.
” She put her hand over her heart. The move cut me to ribbons even if she didn't know it.
“If he was my mate, I was going to talk to you. To tell you I still wanted to be with you because I love you, and that maybe, just maybe you would accept him.” Her voice climbed, becoming frantic.
“You know, just like your mom has your dads, right?”
Mates.
That word again.
It crawled under my skin, setting every nerve on fire.
My nostrils flared. Heat surged through my veins so fast my hands shook.
She knew. She knew the only reason my parents made that type of relationship work was because they were all my mom’s mates.
She knew I couldn’t handle that kind of arrangement.
I’d admitted that. I’d told her in confidence how I could never do what my dads did, knowing how obsessive and possessive I got.