Chapter 4
Fowlynn’s laugh echoes around my mind. I can imagine what my face looks like. Sure, I want mates …. One day. Today, however, is NOT that day. I’m
covered in blood, stinking of that man’s room, and I’m not exactly in the mood to run into my mates.
I mean, that there is a group of guys about a mile away from us that have a tie to us. Well, technically they are tied to your soul, but seeing as we share a soul …
He flutters his wings as the words die off in my mind and for a split second, I think about smothering his feathery ass. He sounds so excited at the prospect of finding my mates while I’m anything but. My eyes swivel around the trees as I keep walking towards my house. Fowlynn is rambling on and on about my supposed mates but I’m not listening to what he is saying. My focus is on the woods around us.
When he lets out a loud caw! I about jump out of my skin. I whip my face around to glare at the obnoxious bird, but he just looks back at me with a mischievous gleam in his black eyes. His talons dig into my shoulder, a move I know he does on purpose. As I open my mouth to ask what the fuck he is doing, the rustle of trees stops the words in my throat. Before I can spot anywhere to hide behind, a group of four guys come walking out of the tree line into the clearing I’m standing in.
A familiar face at the back of the group notices me immediately. His eyes focus on my face and grow brighter. Silver magic under his bare dark blue skin like stars shooting across the sky and his legs dissolve into smoke-like wisps that keep the top half of his body floating off the ground. His face would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the two large ivory tusks protruding from his upper lip. Though, even with the tusks, he is handsome. His lips are full and really brings focus to his strong jaw. I know, when his magic isn’t acting up, that he is a burly man; or at least he was when he was bossing everyone around at school. His silver hair is shaved on the sides, but pulled up into a sexy man-bun on top. His bright, neon green eyes stare into mine as if he is trying to see into my soul and unearth all my secrets.
I have a hard time pulling my gaze off the blast from my past, the same one I’ve felt a strong pull towards since I met him. Movement in the corner of my eye has my body twitching, my eyes falling onto the other four men that crashed into the clearing, and my dagger is grasped in my hands before I consciously thought about pulling it out. As soon as I see them, I feel a tug at my center. Something draws me to these four men, just like with Glavior.
The first one I see isn’t just one man, it”s two. Identical twins with goofy matching smiles take a step closer to me, drawing my full attention. Their long black hair hangs down their backs, almost all the way to their butt. They are both dressed in an outfit almost like mine, but they are missing the gloves and head wrap. Their skin is as black as the night surrounding the clearing, almost making them disappear, if it weren’t for the bright orange lines running through the back of their hands and up their necks, onto their faces. It”s as if lava flows through their veins instead of blood. Their eyes draw my eye the most. One has solid black eyes, and the other has eyes as red as metal being forged into knives, bright and stark against his darker skin. Their white teeth seem to glow in the night, sharp canines protruding down past their other teeth, and the lines on the corner of their big round eyes say this smile is an expression they wear a lot.
Beside them is a man that is clearly a druid. His exposed arms and legs resemble the bark of an ash tree and his hair stands up around his head, strands of curly locks almost seem to spring from his scalp like flowers blooming in Spring. His half open eyes are the greenest I’ve ever seen and he seems to be playing with a weed in his fingers. His clothes look like they are made out of grass and flowers, and really shouldn’t be classified as clothes at all because it”s only a loincloth that waves as the gentlest of breezes passes through the clearing. He isn’t wearing shoes, but the dirt seems to form around his feet as if it wants to be closer to him.
The final guy is so unassuming, he is nearly on top of me before I really register what he looks like. His skin is a mix between seafoam green and bluish gray, but it”s very pretty. His hair is a dark green that almost looks black and seems to move around his shoulders. It doesn’t hang in strands like normal either, it falls down in long blades. It almost looks like seaweed but darker in color and softer looking. His fingers and toes are webbed, but long. Almost like there is extra skin between his fingers, but he can still function as anybody else would. His lips are nearly nonexistent, but for some reason, I can‘t hold that against him. When he smiles, his teeth are all pointed and serrated. Clearly, he is a water shifter of some kind, but I can’t tell what kind, which is odd for me because my secondary study in school was Supernatural Being Studies.
Fowlynn ruffles on my shoulder again and I have to actively stop myself from reacting to the movement. His lazy drawl travels through my mind and his words make me regret not actually cutting his ass just a second ago.
Astrate, these are our mates. Play nice now!
The annoying bird flies off with a caw that sounds almost exactly like the laughter ringing in my mind.
“Stupid fucking worm breath!” I shout out, probably convincing the men around me that I am insane. All the better to be honest, because if they think I’m insane, they’ll leave me alone … Probably … Maybe …. Hopefully.
The Druid smirks, moving his hands around and petting the tree he is now leaning against. Glavior seems to have gotten his magic together because he is standing on two thick leather covered legs now instead of flying on a mini tornado. The twins share a glance before the red eyed one stares at the sky where Fowlynn just left and the one with black eyes goes back to staring at me. The sea creature simply rests back against the same tree with the druid, their arms brushing against one another as the ocean dweller pulls out a leer and starts to strum.
“What are you doing out here, Astrate?” Glavior’s deep voice seems to rumble the earth under our feet.
I suddenly don’t feel like dealing with any of this. Not Glavior, not figuring out what the others are, and certainly not mates. I glare at Glavior as I walk forward, intent on leaving them in the clearing and disappearing into the darkness. Before I get two inches out of the clearing a solid wall of vines sprout out in front of me. I smack right into the foliage and bounce back to land on my ass in a thicket bush. I jump up, howling in pain as the tiny thorns rip from my ass.
Behind me, I hear a few soft, lazy chuckles and one deep growl that has my blood rushing through my veins. Glavior storms towards me, crushing bushes and leaving thick footprints in the soft dirt. His huge arm wraps around my waist and he lifts me high in the air so our faces are practically touching. His large tusks cup my cheeks as his light green eyes peer into mine.
“Where are you going, Little Pixie?”
His sweet mint scent surrounds me and I have to grind my teeth down to keep from leaning into it more. Now, I’m a badass, I kill wicked men for a living and feel no remorse for it when I go to sleep at night. Even knowing all that, I’m practically shaking with nerves around these men. They are so beautiful, unique in their own ways. Their magic is strong, almost as strong as mine and Ahazu’s, which is impressive. I find myself more and more curious about them, their stories, and their magic. Which is not a good thing!
“Home.” I give him the simplest answer I can while still being honest.
Snatching my head back out of his tusks, I flip backwards and land on my feet, facing the vine wall again. With a flick of my wrist, I go through the wall and use my magic to teleport me home. Usually, I hate to use teleportation because it can leave a trace, but right now, I don’t particularly care. Anyone that would trace the portal would have no clue that I was connected to the murder, and a small part of me wants the men to follow me.
Yes, I know, I’m a twisted bitch.
I don’t want mates. Not at all, and certainly not one giant, sexy, Orc Genie Hybrid. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to want me. Just because I don’t want mates doesn’t mean I don’t want my mates to hunt me down and make me want them. That I don’t want to be pursued or persuaded. I want them to get me flowers, chase me around and beg for my attention. I want them to earn my love instead of assuming that they have it because the universe decided we were perfectly fit to be together.
Yeah, Astra, you’re insane.
You know,Fowlynn says, his voice echoing in my mind making my teeth grind hard enough to crack. If you would go claim them, you wouldn’t be struggling so hard right now.
The smug tone in his voice is grating on my already fragile nerves. It”s been days, six fucking days, and I still can’t get that giant orc asshole and the other four men from the woods out of my head. I try to sleep, only to be plagued with thoughts of the guys iin my dreams. And they are not dreams of torture and death like I wanted. No, these dreams are the kind that make you wake up in the middle of the night to grab a vibrator.
I’ve tried literally everything; reading, staying up for two days straight, running myself until I’m so exhausted I can’t breathe … and nothing works. The men stay on my mind, they haunt my thoughts while I’m awake. Every moment of the last week has been focused on the group of men that my annoying ass familiar says are my mates.
Honestly, at this point, I have no other choice but to believe him. When I walk through the town, I get distracted because I swear I can smell their scents on the breeze. I’ve burned more food than I’ve eaten because my mind gets lost conjuring their faces, trying to remember every facet of their features. Ahazu Facetimed me last night, and I had to cut the call short when he asked me why I kept getting a dopey look on my face. Fowlynn was laughing so hard, he tumbled off his perch. Az told me he was coming home tomorrow and he was bringing the rest of his Healing Group. He also told me he has exciting news.
I wish I could say that the anticipation of my brother coming home and the frustration of not knowing his news was enough to distract me, but it definitely isn’t. I’ve been praying to the Goddess every night for an assignment or something to take my mind off the distraction of my annoying so-called mates, but nothing has worked yet.
Giving up after my third attempt to make scrambled eggs, I head to my room thinking I could lie down and go back to sleep. However, when I go to my desk to put my dagger down, a simple black card is waiting for me. A smile lights up my face and I don’t even look at the information before I pierced my fingertip with my dagger and let the drop of blood fall to the glossy black card. A smile forms on my face as my blood spreads wide on the black surface, then the edge of the droplet sizzles, the card slowly burning until puffing away into a white cloud of smoke.
This is just what I needed. Finally the thoughts of those men scurry from my thoughts as information about my newest target floods my mind. A new target, one that seems to be an actual challenge. There is very little information to be had about ‘the Dragon’, which means that I get to do a bit of research before going hunting.