“Okay. Can you expand your wings for a moment please?” she asks and we gladly spread our wings and even do a small bow. “Very beautiful and commanding. How about Baron?” she suggests with a thoughtful grin after studying us for a few moments. Letting out a shriek, he nods his head, agreeing to his name.
Before I try to switch back to my human self, Baron offers up an idea to spend more time with her. Laughing, I switch back and find her eyes bright with mischief. “He’s definitely grumpy, but that was fun,'' she admits.
“Yeah, I’ll agree with you there. But at least he likes you.” Rez gives me a doubtful look. “Really! He’s pretty adamant about asking you if you want to go flying.”
“Really? Does he offer to take people flying often?” she hesitantly asks, biting on her lower lip.
Baron urges me to get her on board. He wants to be closer to her and wants a chance to impress her.
I will. Sheesh, give me a break, Baron. I swear she should have called you shit for brains.“Never. You’re the first, well besides the guys out of necessity on occasion.”
Her eyes flutter in surprise, but she doesn’t take long to think it over before agreeing.
“Sure, but before we take off, do you mind if I use the restroom and send off a quick text?”
“No problem. I was planning on doing the same.”
She runs back into the menagerie while I pull out my phone and send out a group text explaining that I’m gonna be late.
ChapterTwenty-Three
FANGLESS
Zeke
“Dude, you look like shit. Here, drink a smoothie,” JP instructs, setting the drink down before me and taking a seat.
Pushing it away, I throw a glare his way. It’s better to just suffer, like I should. I knew deep down that my father simply asking me to help the new girl was gonna bite me in the ass. I quickly agreed to it since I had just met her an hour before he asked me, but I should have known better. I had already planned on helping her out so I thought of it like a two-for-one deal. I could get Dad off my back finally, and I got to spend more time with Rez and not have him harp on my ass for “chasing tail.”
Not like I’m the one in this group he had to worry about. Ryker is naturally our resident man whore. Or maybe that’s JP? Nah. JP is just our flirt.
With a soft smile JP reaches for me but I pull away.
“Zeke, you need to drink the smoothie. The guys said you haven’t been eating enough and you’ve all but shut down and won’t talk to them,” he pleads with me, but I just feel empty inside.
Getting up from the table, I start my trek out of the room. I don’t even know why I came down here today. I guess I just wanted to see her again. It’s been seven days. Seven fucking days, and I feel like it’s been years since I’ve seen Rez smile or even smelled her peach scent in the hallways. I’m a fiend and I don’t know how to get my next fix.
I haven’t even been able to see her in the one class we have together because Matt gave her time off to either mourn or look for her Familiar. Who apparently can shift into a man? That brings a whole other list of questions I have. Do the Rebels have him? Is he still alive? Is Lynx really a shifter or… ugh! What the fuck is going on? I need answers, and the only person that can give me those doesn’t want to talk to me.
“Zeke, man. You have to eat,” JP pleads again as he catches up to me. Shaking my head, I blow him off and continue on.
I wait until we get outside and put on a burst of speed, leaving JP behind. A little voice in my head—quite a big presence actually—whispers ‘You don’t need him. We are enough.’With that thought, I head to the one place that I can truly be alone. I haven’t been there since school started, but I found it one year as a child while playing hide and seek with the guys.
On my way to the woods, I notice Knox heading to the animal rescue center to no doubt check on his wards. He might look like a damn mountain with a permanent scowl, but really, he’s a softie at heart. The only thing he has to deal with is his anger issues, the rage that plagues all shifters, which makes him the lucky one.
He wasn’t born with a darkness inside of him that he has to constantly repel. I feel it eating at me daily and it’s only growing. It’s becoming harder to shut it down and ignore that voice. ‘But do you even want to?’The voice inside of me asks. ‘You need me as much as you need to drink blood. We are one.’
Shaking my head to dispel the thoughts, I easily find the fallen log and make a left towards the hollow tree. This part of the woods just seems to have a permanent darkness to it. Yes, the sun peeks through the pink and lavender leaves, but it doesn’t penetrate down to the ground. There’s no visible fog that seeps along the floor, but there should be since the temperature drops in this area from the knees down. Like wading into a cold lake and stopping once it hits your knees. Just a few more steps and I’ll find the underground passage. There, underneath the edge of the Greybeak tree is the entrance to the necromancers lab I found years ago.
Whoever made this was a genius in subtle camouflage. Reaching down, I pull at the dead root, opening the door to uncover the ladder. Slipping inside, I land softly on my feet on the dirt floor and wait until I hear the softswooshof the door closing. There’s no need to light the sconces that line the pathway, perks of being a vampire I guess, but I take my time walking down the dark passage to the heart of the lab.
I doubt our parents even know this place exists, because they probably would have barred me from coming here if they did. Scratch that, they would have demolished the entire structure. The only reason I knew it was here in the first place was because it called to me. That darker recess of my soul begs to follow the pull still to this day.
One day while playing hide n’ seek, I was trying to find a hiding spot. I came to the dark tree and just knew where the opening was. Of course, I didn’t use it that first time since Knox’s father—Jessup—wanted us home at a certain time. And he’s one man I wouldn’t fuck with. He would have no problem beating my ass and Knox’s if I made us late. It was days later when my father had a meeting and I was left on my own that I let the unknown pull me back. I told my father I was going over to Knox’s house and he didn’t question it. He didn’t question most of what I did until I was older and it didn’t fit the image he wanted me to portray.Typical prick.
I was told by Matthew once when I was little that my dad wasn’t always like this. Once he was a prankster just like me. Laughing, flirting, and cocky as hell. But that all changed when he separated from thelove of his life.
‘Maybe you and your father aren’t that much different?’The voice hisses in my head and my stomach sours.
