Whispered Warnings, Part One (Broken Ashes #2)

Chapter one

Neith

I admit that this must be a shock for them; I mean, I was dead, and there was no mistake about it. I had a knife sticking out of my chest, out of my heart, if you want to be really precise about it. Having said that, I don’t really know how to handle this situation, and I am really fucking hungry.

So hungry, that it is pretty much my main priority right now, and the only thing that I can focus on. No one can ever tell me I don’t have my priorities straight.

“Here,” Winston says with a happy smile as he hands me a fucking pizza.

I sit up and take it, eyeing the gooey, cheesy pepperoni goodness. I might be in love. Taking a huge, unladylike bite, I wait for the guys to say something and stuff my face.

“Dude, I am so keeping you. I could have done with food this quickly after the last time,” I tell Winston since the guys are still staring at me, and Winston is grinning at me like a proud parent.

I don’t miss the shock in his eyes though and it makes my heart beat quicker, he is a spirit guide, so old that he is practically ageless, he has most likely seen eons, and yet something about what just happened has shocked him. I don’t want to think about it for too long because the implications are massive and scary.

“Last time?” Evander manages to grit out, panic still in his eyes from witnessing the whole ordeal.

I wince. I need to come up with something to reply because I don’t think that we have the time for me to explain how I really arrived at their house, at least not right this second. If I am being honest with myself, I am absolutely terrified that when they hear what really happened, they aren’t going to want me around anymore and are going to kick me out of the house, their team, and their lives.

I’m trying to delay that for as long as I possibly can, thankfully before I have to reply, my eyes catch on Reed, “Oh my fucking god, you are stunning.”

Reed’s eyes widen, “What?”

“Your wings, they are fucking awesome,” I tell him. I really wish I could come up with a better descriptor, but they have stunned me into silence, which is evidence enough of how magnificent they are.

His wings are enormous, and I mean truly massive. I can tell that even though they are folded against his back. He must have a really strong glamour on him all the time because I had no idea that he had wings. Although the guys did say I could see through glamour, so maybe he is some kind of supernatural that shifts? Even though I can see his wings, I don’t think he is entirely shifted. I don’t know why I feel that way, but something tells me that there is even more to Reed than maybe even Reed knows.

I roll my eyes at my inner thoughts. Apparently, I think a lot of myself now, and I’m now thinking I know shit that I have no way of truly knowing other than a feeling. Apart from the leathery-looking wings that have barely visible patterns on them and sharp, deadly spikes on the tips of each wing, he looks the same. Maybe a little bit bigger, if that’s even possible, the dude is fucking huge.

I tilt my head and stuff more pizza in my mouth as I study him, and he watches me like I am fucking terrifying. Which makes no sense.

“What is happening right now?” River asks, his voice edging on hysteria.

I drag my eyes away from Reed, the hysteria in River’s voice making me want to check on him. As soon as my eyes land on him, I see the pain in his eyes and the tear marks on his face and realize that he is a lot closer than I thought he was. I reach my hand up, cupping his cheek and almost melting as his eyes close and he takes a deep breath. His reaction to my touch shifts something in me, and I refuse to look too closely at what it is.

“I’m really sorry I scared you,” I say honestly, “I couldn’t let him kill Reed, and I knew without a single doubt that was what was going to happen.”

“Did you know that you would be stabbed?” Reed questions, somewhat redundantly since I pretty much just answered that.

“Yes,” I reply honestly, because at this point, what would be the point of lying?

“You knew,” he repeats and then explodes, “Don’t ever risk your life for mine!” he bellows, “You could have died!”

His power is more unrestrained than I have ever known it because as soon as he starts yelling at me, the guys hit the floor, apart from Winston, who just rolls his eyes. River narrowly misses face-planting my pizza.

“Dude,” I start, still munching on the pizza because, as always, I have my priorities straight.

“Don’t dude me! You panicked all of us. Don’t fucking do it again! Don’t ever move between us and danger. None of us want you to. You could have fucking died,” he repeats, still screaming at me as he stands and starts pacing inside; what I am only just noticing is a golden bubble?

Huh, that’s a weird one, oh it’s so pretty.

I wonder if I could pop it.

Probably not a good idea.

The longer I stare at it, the more I become certain that it was made by Ransom, just like with Doc and Reed, I can instinctively tell that this is his magic. It also contains insanely strong magic, even stronger magic than I thought Ransom had, and I thought he was pretty fucking powerful to begin with.

The more time that I spend with these guys the clearer it is becoming that these guys are hiding a lot of themselves and what they are truly capable of. I can’t be pissed at them though, because I’m doing exactly the same thing. Even though I am going to tell them about the dying and coming back, unless they explicitly ask me, I won’t be telling them how many times I have died, I think that is better kept to myself.

At least, I should for now.

So you see, I can’t be mad at them for keeping things from me because I am keeping things from them, and I’m going to continue to do so.

Reed is still yelling at me, and it's starting to piss me off now. I mean, where is the gratitude? Also, the guys are clearly uncomfortable being smooshed to the floor with Reed’s power, and that’s just not fair.

Pushing up to stand, I notice that the worry in the eyes of the guys on the floor increases; I decide to wink at them. I don’t know why, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t help, if anything it makes it worse, but hey, I tried. Taking another bite of my pizza, I refocus on a still-ranting Reed, who is so into his argument that he hasn’t even realized that I have stood up.

“Oi!” I yell, and he grinds to a halt, his eyes widening with disbelief as he sees me standing. He takes a step toward me, but before he can utter a single word, I let it rip. “A couple of things, one, I do not regret saving you, and I will put myself between you and danger every single fucking time,” I tell him firmly, and I will admit loudly, as my pizza smacks him in the chest, when he got that close I have no fucking idea, “two, I will do the same for all of you and there is fuck all you can do about it and three, I did fucking die Reed, so maybe some gratitude? A thank you? Or better yet, more fucking pizza!”

He is literally towering over me, we are now close enough that our chests are touching, I no longer have my pizza in my hand, and I am one hundred percent certain that it is squashed between the two of us.

Whoops.

His wings have opened and arch behind him, threatening to distract me. They really are breathtaking. Even up close, I still can’t make out the patterns on them, it’s really strange. I know they are there, but I couldn’t tell you what the pattern looks like, whether it’s words or pictures or abstract, the only thing I can say for certain is that there is some kind of pattern on them.

Reed’s eyes are blazing, and he slowly lifts his hand, gently cupping my cheek.

“You really aren’t scared of me, are you?” he asks, his voice considerably quieter than it was and a direct contrast to the blazing fire in his eyes.

I shrug, which probably looks weird since we are so close; I have definitely squashed the pizza even more and most likely rubbed it in and made an even bigger mess by shrugging, but it’s not like I can take it back now.

I am also trying to ignore the fact that my heart is trying to pound out of my chest from the feel of his giant palm gently cupping my cheek. That shit is fucking magic, and I swear it’s sending small zaps of awareness to my needy vagina, and he is only touching my cheek. Not even my ass cheek.

Remembering that he asked me a question, I reply, “Why would I be?”

His lips tilt up ever so slightly before they fall, and he adds, “I’m terrified of you.”

I feel like there is more to that statement than the surface reason because he can’t actually be scared of me and my yelling.

I don’t think I can handle the real meaning behind it right now, so instead, I say, “You should really let your friends up off the floor.”

His eyes widen slightly as he glances over my shoulder. His power snaps back to him as he returns to normal, his wings disappearing, and I am still none the wiser about whether it is a glamour, or if he shifts.

My eyebrows pull down into a frown. The lightness that he had around him has gone completely, and I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must be to conceal and control such a big part of you. I don’t understand why he couldn’t just pull his power back only a small amount, enough to let the guys get up. I also don’t know why it affects them so much and not me. I can feel his power; I know how strong it is. He is by far the strongest here, but I am unaffected. I think that whatever kind of supe I am, which I still haven’t processed, by the way, is super weak. I try not to snort at my internal joke and then roll my eyes because am I seriously joking right now? Yes, I am because I’m fucking hilarious and because if I don’t, I might break down or actually have to deal with the revelations from earlier and then break down.

Fuck, a lot has happened in such a short amount of time.

Anyway, I think that my supernatural side is weak, so it’s not affected by Reed; it’s the only explanation that I can come up with. I am glad that I’m not effected by it though because it means that Reed gets to relax a little bit around me, and I like to think that helps him feel less different.

Of course, I could just be seeing things that don’t exist and that my exhausted and just back from the Darkness brain has decided to latch on to because it doesn’t want to focus on anything else.

“Oh fuck. I’m sorry, guys,” Reed apologizes immediately and casts his eyes downward for a moment, but not before I see the guilt thrumming through them.

“Not your fault. I think you pretty much summed up what we were all thinking,” Van says, staring at me.

I chose to ignore that because I can and I realize that I am still pressed against Reed, and I’m finding myself liking it just a bit too much. Before I have to have a word with my vagina and remind her that we literally just died, so our performance wouldn’t be on top form, I start to move backward. Rolling my eyes at myself when I realize that is obviously not the most important problem with me being so comfortably pressed against Reed.

Note to self: Don’t fuck your team members.

Pausing in my backward movement, I glance at his wings again and tilt my head to the side, “I wonder if he can fly and fuck at the same time?”

My eyes widen as someone chokes, and Reed’s eyes flame and I mean literal fucking flames. I have no idea whether that is a good thing or not.

“Fucking hell,” Raiden mutters, “even just back from the dead, she is fucking lethal.”

“Ah shit,” I mutter. That was one of those things that I shouldn’t have said out loud. Finally, moving away from a statue still Reed, I wince as I realize the pizza I was eating is squashed to the front of his chest and smeared from my earlier shrug. “I’m sorry about the pizza stain; that’s probably not going to come out.”

“I’m fairly certain that isn’t even close to being on his radar right now,” Doc points out, sounding amused. However, I also detect a thrum of tension in his voice.

I decide to own it, I shrug, “Er, it’s a valid question.”

“Okay, Trouble, you come and stand near me for a moment and let everyone calm the fuck down,” Van says as he pulls me closer and tucks me under his arm. It doesn’t escape my notice that he holds onto me extra tight.

“Why is everyone still staring at me?” I ask after a moment of silence.

“For fuck sake, this is going to be harder than I thought,” Winston exclaims, throwing his tiny hands in the air. Giving me an unimpressed look, he adds, “I’m out, you need to call people and take this bubble down before it gains the wrong sort of attention, oh, and Neith, your boob is out.”

With that parting statement, he disappears. It’s only once he has gone that what he said registers. I glance down at my exposed boob, which has pizza smeared on it too, and I frown, “It’s not completely out, it's still in a bra.”

“Someone get her a fucking shirt,” Doc groans, and I glance up from jiggling my own boobs, because boobs are fucking fun, to see that his eyes have gone gold. “Oh, your eyes are gorgeous. How is it fair that you all get pretty eyes?”

“Shit,” River curses. He rummages around in the bags that they all have and pulls out a large shirt, handing it to me and studiously keeping his eyes on my face.

There are a lot of emotions hidden in those eyes.

I pull it on and immediately lift the soft grey fabric over my nose, inhaling deeply. River’s eyes spark with heat as he realizes that I’m smelling him. I’m not embarrassed about being caught; it takes a lot to embarrass me; I just had my boob out in front of hot as fuck supes and ones that are my team members.

I also can’t help it. Weirdly enough it seems instinctual that I learn his scent and that is just strange on a whole other level. However, the voices who are still subdued, seem to agree as the mumbling gets louder before quietening down again.

His throat bobs as he swallows thickly and glances away.

I have no idea how we have gotten here. I died, and so far, all I have done since being back is eat and get horny. To be honest, that tracks, and I don’t know why I’m surprised at my own behavior. I have had thirty odd years of me, I should be used to my own behavior by now.

“I think we should probably focus on what Winston said and get out of here, and we need to call this in,” Ransom says, still staring at me.

I have a feeling that he is going to be doing that a lot, I did die and then came back to life, that’s got to be a shock.

“We need to talk about what the fuck just happened,” River exclaims.

“Yes, we do but I imagine that coming back from the dead is quite draining, and Neith needs to get home,” Evander says, and then adds, “we can talk about it at home.”

I nod, they still want me to go home with them, that’s a good thing, right? They aren’t going to kick me out now that they realize just how weird I am, right? Fuck, they still don’t know all of it.

Speaking, or well I guess I’m thinking, of weird, the voices are still there, still present although they seem even further away now, and more of a hum, like they are as exhausted as I am and that brief murmur of excitement when I sniffed River’s shirt has worn them out even more.

“Food,” I mutter, “I’m going to need more food.”

Griff nods, “We can do that.”

He shocks the shit out of me when he tugs me away from Van and into his arms, hugging me tightly.

I wrap my arms around him and lay my head on his chest. Well, sort of, he is so much bigger than me that my head barely reaches his nipples.

Stepping back, he looks down at me and demands, “Don’t do that again.”

I don’t reply, because I can’t promise him that. I die often, none of them need to know that though, so instead I just smile tightly, neither confirming nor denying his request.

“We need to get this shield down and see what we are dealing with. We have no idea what is happening outside of it,” Doc says, getting us back on track but shooting me a curious look.

Yeah, the doctor of the group is bound to have a lot of questions. I do too, and if he can answer some of them then maybe I might get some of the answers that I have been looking for.

“Betty!” I suddenly exclaim, completely derailing the conversation that was going on that I had accidentally tuned out of.

“We can look for her once this shield is down,” Ransom reassures me, and I feel his magic build in the air.

“Wait!” I exclaim, and everyone looks at me, the others looking confused about why I just yelled whereas Ransom’s expression looks pleased. I’m not sure why.