Chapter 28 Wyatt
Wyatt
“Okay, I can see what she likes about you. Demons are packing some interesting junk. I bet that flared head feels nearly as good as my metal.” I announce my presence to the Head Guard my girlfriend is also seeing.
Yes, I consider her my girlfriend.
I guess we didn’t really discuss labels but she will have to get used to it. She’s mine now. Milo’s too. And apparently, this guy’s as well. I meant what I said to her, I accept our little polycule, but I realised I needed to really suss out whether this dick is actually worthy or not.
My girl isn’t going to have her heart broken by some jackass.
“How the fuck–” he startles. “No, why? Why the fuck are you in my room?”
“Because we need to talk,” I say like it should be obvious. Pushing out of the shadows I move across to the little sofa he has in his room. These are much nicer than ours, go figure.
The king-sized bed for a start is something I’m immediately eyeing. Whilst I love snuggling with either of my partners, the single beds we have in our rooms are tight, to say the least.
“And you thought it appropriate to break into my room? Need I remind you of who you are, and what I am?” His growliness is actually kind of endearing. This is the most I’ve spoken to the guy and yet we’ve shared the same girl.
“I think you and I are a little past the point where you’re this big scary guard and I’m just one of your prisoners.”
“Cut to the chase, Thirty-Nine,” he says, adjusting his towel.
“First, we can use first names. Mine is Wyatt.”
“I know that.”
“Well, use it, Garrick.”
His eyebrows raise and he gets this stormy look in his moss-coloured eyes.
I take him in fully, and more slowly, than when he’d walked across the room.
He’s certainly well defined, cut abs, nice pecs and very well endowed in the dick department.
He’s also got the whole dark and broody thing going on.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he growls. “I’ll only tell you this once, just because we are seeing the same female does not mean I am interested in fucking you as well.”
I roll my eyes. “Just because I’m bi doesn’t mean I am into every guy I see.”
He huffs a laugh.
“Okay, maybe I’m not that fussy, but I do respect boundaries. You’re straight. That’s fine. There’s no expectation. I’m just appreciating what you’ve put on view. You can’t blame me for looking when you look like that and walk around naked.”
“You broke into my room.”
“Unimportant details.” I swipe a hand through the air, dismissing his snarkiness. “What is important is whether you’re leading Tacita on. Or whether you intend to stick around and make her happy?”
“What the fuck does that have to do with you?”
“Well, she said she told you about me and Milo.” My bravado has a momentary blip. If Tacita lied to us about telling Garrick then my arse might be about to get beat by a demon.
“She did. I am still failing to see the point.” He folds his arms across his chest.
“Good, that’s good.” I breathe a sigh of relief. “That means you know that her well-being means a great deal to me. I want to make sure she’s not some fling to you.”
It's subtle but his posture softens, just a tad.
“You know, she’ll hate that you’ve come over here. She doesn’t need a knight in shining armour.”
“I know, and I’ll deal with her rant about it. But she’s mine and I protect what’s mine.”
He bristles once more and I swear his eyes shift to a golden yellow for a second. “She’s not yours.”
“She is. And she’s yours too.” I huff, placating him. “And Milo’s as well.”
He remains a glaring statue of a prickly asshole, but one wrapped up in a delicious, muscled package.
“Fine, I’ll lay it out for you more simply.
I plan on ensuring all three of us–that’s Tacita, Milo and me–walk out of this whole recruitment process alive.
And we’re going to start a life together.
I have no idea what that looks like, as you lot love being quite vague on the details, but I know I need both of them in it to be happy.
“I didn’t expect it, but my heart has chosen them and I won’t give them up. If Tacita wants you as well, that’s cool. I get how easy it is to love two people. But I want as much of her as I can, so I guess what I’m asking is this; Let us be friends.”
“Friends?” Those brows of his knit together this time.
“Yes! I’ll be honest, I’ve never done the poly thing before, never done a relationship before either, but I don’t want it to feel like shared custody. I don’t want her to have to keep us and you separate. We should be able to hang out, live together, figure out a dynamic where we’re all happy.”
“Live together?”
“Yeah, why not?”
He pauses like he’s really thinking this through and only now fully understanding the relationship he’s signed up for. Fucking eejit, I hope I’ve not scared him off. Tacita will kill me.
“How much has she told you?” It feels like a trick question but I roll with it.
“That she’s slept with you a couple of times. And that she talked to you first about all this. Got to say, that stung a bit but I trust her, and I want her. We’re all new to this so I can forgive her a few minor mistakes.”
“Is that everything?”
I rack my brain but think I’ve covered it all. “Yeah.”
He brings his fingers up to rub his face and rubs his eyes.
“Thirty–” he cuts off when I hook my eyebrow this time.
“Wyatt. This is a sensitive matter, with the games going on. I am the Officer in charge of this whole thing. I had zero expectation that I’d find myself in a relationship but I am happy it’s happening.
And we’ll be able to discuss the after when we get there.
But for now, we have to be quiet about our relationship. ”
“But you’re open to it?”
“Yes.”
A weight lifts off my shoulders as I step forward. I’m about to wrap Garrick in a hug when there’s a commotion outside his door just before someone starts pounding on it.
“Garrick! We need you, it’s an emergency.”
“I’ll be down in a minute,” he calls in that snappy tone of his, half growl half laced with frustrated annoyance.
“No, you need to come now. It’s Ninety-Eight and Nineteen.”
My heart falls through my stomach, down my legs and out onto the hard flooring. Garrick’s eyes are still locked on mine and I can see the same pure terror ignite in him.
I’m launching for the door as Garrick lunges for a pair of jogging bottoms on his bed. He’s quicker, however, and has the clothing gripped in one hand, towel discarded, as he slams the door shut before I can get it open more than an inch.
“I need to go to them,” I plead.
“You can’t be in here. Go out the window.”
“You think I’ll give a fuck about the camera’s if you send me out the window? I may have given you that courtesy on my way in, but I won’t give a damn on my way out.”
“Fine, but let me open the door,” he huffs.
I allow him an inch of space to pull the clothing over his lower half and then he’s opening the door. Standing on the other side is Officer Blake. He’s looking stricken and I immediately zone in on the blood on his hands.
No. No, no, no. Please tell me this isn’t theirs.
His face changes to shock as he registers me standing behind Garrick.
“Where are they?” Garrick really growls this time.
“We are talking about him later.” Officer Blake, Tarron, points to me. “Dominic’s taking them to the infirmary now. There was an incident with the game, I couldn’t get much sense out of Tacita but Garrick, you should know…” He trails off as his eyes dart to me.
“Just fucking say it, Tarron. And tell me whilst we’re moving.” Garrick marches out into the hall after hastily pulling on some sneakers. He stops after a couple of paces to face me. “You repeat anything you hear, see, or if you get in the way at all, I will kill you. Got it?”
I’m in too much of a panic to care about his threats. I’ll agree to anything right now if it gets me to my partners quicker and tell me what the fuck is going on.
Officer Blake still hesitates with another look at me. “Garrick, she had wings. She’s a demon.”
My heart catches back up with me and slams into my ribcage. What. The. Fuck?
“Is she on the CCTV? Who else knows?” Garrick orders, his tone completely dead.
“I don’t know. I opened the door and she was there, Nineteen was bleeding out.
She was hysterical. I got one of the juniors to fetch Dominic.
She was rambling about getting ambushed, that there’s a group with trapped souls in the woods.
As soon as Dom lifted Nineteen to take him to the infirmary, I came to get you. ”
“Milo, is he… Is he dead?” I barely get the words out but I have to know.
Officer Blake looks at me with pity before he answers. “I don’t know. It’s not looking good.”
“What about her? Is she injured?” Garrick asks.
“No, not as far as I could tell. And she shifted back to her human form before Dom arrived.”
“Tarron,” Garrick pauses as we reach the front door.
I want to scream at him to move faster. “I need you to make sure any CCTV footage of her is wiped. Check the ones covering all the entrances, and the sky facing ones too. Any officers that saw her need to be told to keep their mouths shut. I will address them all later.”
“But why? You’re acting like this isn’t a surprise.”
“It’s not. And I’ll tell you later.”
He opens the door and immediately freezes again. The step is covered in blood. A feral snarl leaves his lips and then he’s taking off. I jump over the red stains, useless to do anything but jog after him.
We burst into the infirmary and are immediately faced with Tacita. She’s sat on the floor, legs pulled up, her torso only covered by her sports bra and copious amounts of blood.
I nearly gag knowing it’s Milo’s.
She jumps up as she hears us and flies at Garrick. “Those fucking pricks! The ones you had in for questioning. They ambushed us. Sixty-Two stabbed him, used magic to wield a knife and stabbed him.”