Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Syke
Otis woke me because he’d injured the orc… or the orc had injured himself.
When I made it into the bedroom, Ilyas had already put the orc back in bed, but if he was well enough to run around growling like a beast, then I thought he was well enough to be back in the land of the living.
I sent out a brief shock to his system, and he gasped awake again. I held him tightly with my mind in case he woke up raging once more, but he struggled to regain consciousness and showed none of the aggression from a moment ago.
I could have delved deeper into his psyche, clawing around and finding the answers I needed, but not only was it unethical—something that hadn’t really bothered me until I joined this team of do-gooders—it was also bad for my own wellbeing.
Stealing something like memories and free will from creatures who didn’t invite it used far too much of my own light, and it was in desperately low supply.
Humans, on the other hand, barely took any skill or light to read. They were like a children’s story written in sidewalk chalk on the paved road to hell.
The human was freaking out, you didn’t need to be a demon to glean that tidbit, but it wasn’t just because she was in a room with a bunch of monsters or that she might have a mate bond with an orc.
No, she was freaked out because Ilyas was shirtless, and she was attracted to him.
She was freaked out because she found Eric’s little territorial display arousing.
She was freaked out because she looked at me and wanted to run away, but there was still a light frisson of attraction that made her want to come closer too. Amusing.
“Where am I?” Eric rumbled. He had a deep, clear voice that I didn’t expect. Orcs usually sounded like someone had throat punched them, rough and gravelly, not this smooth, refined tone. Interesting.
Otis squatted down so he was eye level with the horizontal orc, lessening the threat, although a minotaur on its haunches still stood close to six feet. “You’re at the Creature Crisis Center. Your neighbor, Hailey, called us when you didn’t turn up at the bus stop for a few days.”
Now he sat up. “Hailey!”
Interesting. His panic was yet another confirmation. I looked at the girl, and she was already moving toward him. Her emotions were a confused mess, but empathy shone through most of all. She was soft-hearted, this human.
“Eric,” she called softly. He turned toward her, and his relief quickly turned to panic.
His eyes bounced around from face to face, like he was trying to work out if we connected all the dots.
When his eyes landed on me, he flinched—a reaction I was used to—but when I raised an eyebrow, he gritted his teeth and dropped his gaze to the blankets.
Hailey reached out, placing a soothing hand on his arm. The amount of angst flying around this room could choke a horse or feed a demon for a month. I breathed it in and grinned. Another jolt of lust-coated fear. Interesting.
“If you feel up to it, perhaps we should speak in the living room,” Otis suggested smoothly, and Eric nodded. “Good. I’ll leave Ilyas to help you dress, if you’d like, or maybe you would like a shower?”
Eric took a deep breath and then screwed up his face. Yeah, he was ripe. “Perhaps a shower would be best.”
Otis put a big hand on the human’s lower back, leading her out of the room. A spike of jealousy from Eric had me smiling again. Maybe this week wouldn’t be such a waste of time after all. So many intense emotions would be like a smorgasbord.
I followed Otis and the human, and we made our way into the common room where the smell of whatever Louis had been cooking tempted even me.
He was a lot of things, my congenial team member—annoyingly sunshiny and irritatingly chatty—but he could really cook.
Being a werewolf, he was usually pretty into meat, but he always made something vegetarian for Otis.
Usually it was a salad or pasta, but he never left him out. So fucking annoying.
“Is Hailey okay?” he asked lightly, pouring some kind of citrusy dressing over what looked like a chopped salad.
The human in question peeked out from behind Otis’s shoulder. “I’m fine. Eric just woke up a little disoriented.”
Otis raised an eyebrow at me. If by disoriented she meant ready to tear off faces in defense of her safety, then sure.
Louis watched her with a careful expression, searching her for any signs of distress. Happy with what he found, he waved her toward the table. “You must be starving. You slept for a long time.” He walked over and pulled out a chair, and I rolled my eyes at his chivalry.
When she sat comfortably, he went back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water.
He didn’t open it, leaving it sealed so she could be sure it hadn’t been tampered with.
I could still sense her distrust, but I hadn’t realized Louis had been able to sniff it out too.
Were senses were impressive for mortal beings.
He made her a plate and placed it gently in front of her. Steak, chopped salad, and a baked potato crowded her plate. Fresh bread with butter he got from the shop down the street sat in a basket in front of her.
“Are you eating?” he asked me, and I shook my head. I was stuffed full of negative emotions right now, so I couldn’t consume a single bite of mortal food.
“I’ll grab myself a beer though.” Technically we weren’t on duty, even if we were still working.
He gave a massive bowl of salad to Otis and then sat down beside the human. “Does he remember how he got here?” Louis asked Otis, who shook his head.
“No, it’s all a blank, but I think he knows why he’s here.” Otis’s large dark eyes met Louis’s, and they had a silent conversation.
I didn’t see why it had to be silent. “He’s definitely her mate. The primal part of his nature protected her even when he couldn’t stand up, and his guilt was delicious.” My tone was bland, and Otis gave me a chastising look as the human’s anxiety ratcheted up a notch.
Rolling my eyes, I leaned back against the kitchen counter. Fine. No more needling the human for the emotions they just laid out there for the taking.
Louis gave her a sympathetic look. “It’ll be okay, Hailey.”
Mmm, I didn’t think so. Something about the orc and the situation didn’t add up. Not really. There was more to his story, and I for one was interested to know what it was.
“What do we do now?” she asked, looking between Otis and Louis, ignoring me entirely.
Well, pretending to ignore me. She couldn’t hide from me, no human could.
I could tell she was intensely aware of me, even if she didn’t look my way.
That primal fight, flight, or fuck instinct was riding her hard—almost as hard as she wanted to ride me.
It was how most humans felt after creatures revealed themselves. Some attacked, some headed to the hills—like the hills weren’t teeming with monsters—and some fell to their knees and begged to suck creature cock.
Most monsters had cocks. Some were just a little more unique than humans were used to.
Otis looked at her with what I liked to call his confident expression, the one that said he knew what he was doing no matter what.
“We’ll wait until Eric is here to discuss it, if that’s okay with you.
A lot depends on what he has to say. Although now that he is technically awake, I’m happy to have Syke run you home if you’d like to avoid any potential… awkwardness.”
Nothing more awkward than unrequited mate bonds.
Finally, she looked at me, probably wondering why I had to be the one to take her home. I raised an eyebrow at her. “I sealed that pathetic excuse for a door for you so miscreant humans couldn’t break in and steal all your worldly possessions.” Of which there were few.
She blinked at me with wide eyes—a long, slow fluttering of her thick lashes—before she cleared her throat. “Thank you for doing that.”
I ignored the warm feeling in my chest and gave her an impassive expression. “Just following orders.”
She nodded softly and went back to picking at her food. It was making Louis anxious, and I could see his fingers twitch with the urge to pick up her fork and feed her like a toddler. It was an interesting response in itself.
He resisted once more, but we were all silent as they ate, and I waited for the orc to arrive so we could tell him how badly he fucked up, and I could go back to bed.
This was supposed to be my week off. I’d intended on spending it balls deep in the sex club downtown, playing with willing humans who wanted to dance with the devil, or as close as they’d get to him while still walking around breathing.
I couldn’t lie though, the human’s turmoil was just as tasty a treat.