Chapter 8 Riley
Riley
Beau rested his head on my lap while I stretched my legs out on the floor, leaning my back against the front of Corrin’s couch. An awkward silence had settled over everyone when we’d all sat down to eat this morning, but I didn’t know what to say to ease anyone’s mind, so I just kept quiet.
Jax purred on Corrin’s lap while she sat cross-legged in her dad’s recliner. His eyes were trained on Beau just in case my familiar decided to do anything spontaneous. I looked over at Corrin, who was watching me with a tiny smile on her face.
Beau rolled over, showing me his belly. Can we go home to River? Beau had taken to River quickly and it was nice that he thought River was a sense of comfortability.
Before I could think up an answer, the front door opened revealing Mateo and Jade. Corrin squealed, jumping out of her chair. Jax screeched and scurried across the floor, jumping all the way to the back of the chair and holding on for dear life.
“Venaqui, mi hermosos bebe.” Jade bent down and stretched out her arms for Beau to run into.
She smushed his face and rubbed along his body, making his tail wag.
Her thick, spiraled curls were tied up in a loose bun and she wore a strapless top that showed off the large shoulder to shoulder tattoo that decorated her light brown skin.
A moon sat on one shoulder blade and stars cascaded towards the other.
A wolf was delicately drawn, its nose turned up so that one of the stars was perched on its snout.
Jax hissed over at us. Mateo kissed Corrin on the cheek and nodded to her cat. “Hola, Jax. I see you are still as pleasant as ever.” Their hair was combed back, away from their face, but tiny curls peeked out and around the sides.
I stood there watching them and the easy way they all interacted.
If my life hadn’t imploded, I would easily be full of energy and a glowing personality.
Currently, I really didn’t know how to do much of anything except overthink and attempt to reevaluate something I didn’t even understand in the first place.
Ike came from outside, the sound of the back door slamming startling me out of my own head, bringing me back into the present.
“Hey, estámos aquí para apoyarte, but I’m personally here to play with the cutest perro ever.” Jade squeezed my arm, patting the side of her thigh so that Beau would trot along after her.
“Support me how? There isn’t much you can do. I’m pretty fucked.” I didn’t mean to sound like a downer, but it wasn’t like the words were a lie.
“Well for one, we are here, so that’s something, right?” Ike pointed out, taking Corrin’s spot in the recliner.
Corrin walked over, smacking the side of his head. “Can you please stop being such a grouch?”
“How was that grouchy? That was an honest answer! Don’t forget I told mom and dad that anger management should be a very real possibility for you.” Ike rolled his eyes, poking his sister in her side.
Mateo started to step between them. “Time out, okay? As much as we all enjoy your bickering, that’s not the priority. Can you please settle down, por un minuto?”
“I think that is an excellent idea.” Corrin’s mom walked in with a tray of snacks. Everything from basic potato chips to candy to corn on the cob that was smothered in what looked like mayo and cheese with bits of chile.
Jade gasped, nearly crawling over to the coffee table to grab the messy corn treat. She started taking full bites without another thought. Her hands were instantly messy and so was the surrounding area around her mouth.
“What is that?” I asked, grabbing the snack by one of the skewers and examining it. It smelled delicious, but I placed it back on the tray knowing my stomach could only handle something as simple as chips.
She giggled. “It’s Mexican street corn. Our Mam? used to make it for us all the time when we lived at home. Nothing rivals hers, but this is a very, very close second.” Jade praised.
Corrin’s mom sat on the arm of the couch, letting out a laugh, but then the room settled into that familiar quiet. We each got some food, but once the small amount I’d consumed was gone, all I could do was fidget.
“Like I said last night, you don’t have to say every single thing that happened, but…” Corrin’s mom started, easing herself onto the couch near me.
I looked over at her daughter, who was now seated on the floor between Mateo’s spread legs. She gave a little shrug and a nod of encouragement.
“I can only tell you what I know.” I continued to fidget, twisting my fingers together over and over. This would have been the time I reached for my necklace but instead I found Beau’s head pushing against my hands.
“That’s all I ask, sweetheart.” Corrin’s mom leaned back against the couch, prepared to listen intently.
I told them what I had told Corrin last night, watching as her mom’s eyes widened and the way she placed her hand over her chest at certain parts.
I stuttered a bit when Grayson came up, so I moved past that as quickly as I could.
I tried to force Marianne’s name out of my mouth, but it wouldn’t budge.
That part wasn’t important to them, but she was important to me, so why was that part so fucking hard to open up about?
“That’s what was happening with your coven, mi amor?” Mateo asked Corrin, taking her chin in their grasp and forcing her to look at them.
“Yeah, but I promise I didn’t know all the insider details until last night.” She turned to her mom, pointing her finger. “And don’t start. If I had known her evil bio dad was in charge, I wouldn’t have been insistent on staying in.”
“Damn, a Celica legacy….” Ike trailed off, blowing out a breath. “That man takes ‘I’ll do anything for my family’ way too far.”
Corrin’s mom shook her head, her twists hitting her cheeks. “I knew something was off with that whole thing. I can report him, and seek the witch’s council's help. You’ll be under the council’s protection seeing as you are one of us now.”
I pulled at the ends of my braids, the tension at my scalp giving me something else to focus on.
“No, doing anything like that would likely anger him and I don’t want to d-do t-that…
” I shut my mouth the minute I found myself stuttering.
I wouldn’t talk to the man that night after the meeting and he’d murdered someone right in front of me because of it.
“I’m sure he’s skated his way by the council for years now.
He isn’t stupid so doing something like that would be too obvious. ”
“He still siphoned powers. He’s probably still doing it, despite finding you,” Jade pointed out, wiping her hands on a napkin.
“Your boyfriend’s dad is also a piece of shit, by the way, just in case we weren’t clear on that.
You trust that boyfriend of yours? Where exactly is the shadow wielder that was helping them? ”
Mateo threw her a look. “Yes, we are all aware of how awful these men are so slow your questions. You are just as bad as Mr. Metal Magic over there.” Ike threw them a middle finger.
“Yeah, I trust River completely. And no…I don’t know where Grayson is.” A part of me wanted to know, but I couldn’t let myself go there, not yet at least.
Mateo gave me a sympathetic expression. “If not the witches council, then what? I, myself, and a few other wolves can watch you from a distance.”
“I don’t need bodyguards,” I grumbled, placing my face in my hands.
“You wouldn’t even know we’re there. Stealth is like wolf 101.” Mateo nodded to their sibling, who nodded as well in her agreement.
I scoffed. “You say things like I’m going to just go back to school. I can’t do that.”
Ike placed two of his fingers against his temple. “Do you plan to just stay here? Be a hermit? Chancellor Fowler expects you to submit, so you’ll just go against him by doing…nothing.”
Corrin grabbed a bunch of chips and chucked them at her brother. “Can you give her a fucking break?”
Ike grabbed a chip from his lap and popped it into his mouth.
“Am I wrong?! The man wants you to take over his legacy—he isn’t about to, like you said, let the council get in the way of that—but with everything that happened you just think that he’s going to let you sit and rot away with your thoughts and not lash out on anyone who is associated with you? ”
I flinched at the last thing he said. I knew Chancellor Fowler would do just that, which was why this entire thing had no right answer.
“Ike! Just shut the fuck up!” Corrin screamed, the sheer volume of her voice sending Jax into a panic. He jumped up at Ike, clawing at him, which caused her brother to leap from the recliner. He swatted at the orange cat, yelling at Corrin to discipline her fucking animal.
A deep rumble erupted into the room. It sounded like a growl, but not the kind that Beau let out when he sees a squirrel, The kind of annoyed, frustrated kind of growl. Jax hissed, but pranced away from Ike as if nothing happened and Beau picked his head up, staring right at Mateo.
“Way to set the tone, alpha.” Jade stuck her tongue out at her sibling.
Mateo vigorously shook their head. “Do not put that on me. Alpha tendencies, yes. Actually alpha, I am not.” They rolled their eyes, getting up from the floor and pulling Corrin along with them. They held their hand out for Jade to accept.
Ike rubbed the back of his head, a few claw marks showed on his forearm, tiny blood droplets falling along his dark skin. I swallowed hard when I looked at it, feeling a little dizzy. Just the smallest droplet had me seeing more, suddenly the droplets were a pool of thick, red, liquid.
“Riley, I’m sorry if I came off harsh, I just—” I could hear Ike’s voice, but it was becoming background noise to the loud static that went off in my brain. I clutched the couch, trying to breath, but it was like air had no way to enter my fucking lungs.