Knox takes a long drag from his drink and begins peeling off the label on the bottle. He starts talking but doesn’t look up as he does so. “So, this morning, before school, Dad called a meeting for special ops. The report read that a girl, a student, was killed last night on the edge of the woods. Steinbeck did the autopsy. The poison left behind was from a Deathweaver. Since they are extinct, they believe a Necromancer is unaccounted for and is running rampant.”
The room goes silent as everyone processes what Knox just said. An unaccounted Necromancer? Here? Shit! Unregistered Necros are usually in hiding for a reason. It’s probably only a matter of time before this one goes berserk and has to be put down. A spike of nervous energy along with fear hits me, while everyone else is still feeling the shock and awe of the news.
“Okay. Who has something to say? You know I can feel your unease,” I say in a no-nonsense tone. I hate being the one to do it, but I’m not the unofficial leader for no reason. Anger replaces the nervousness and I catch Knox’s jaw clenching, while the others just look as lost as I was earlier. “Knox?”
“It’s not my secret to tell,” he growls out, slamming down his drink and shattering it, before getting up from the sofa. We all watch as he tries to shake off the rolling anger building up inside of him while he paces back and forth. JP gives him a wide berth and Moni moves to the kitchen where she pulls out her phone, typing out a message.
“We’re not supposed to be keeping secrets, Knox. That’s what got us into this mess with Rez in the first place. Do we need to learn that lesson again?” Ryker leans back, spreading his arms across the back of the sofa and propping his feet up on the coffee table, not worrying about the shattered glass.
“Fuck off, Ryker! I’m warning you,” Knox growls. He clenches his jaw so tight I swear he could crack his teeth as he clenches his fists.
“And I’mtellingyou, Knox. We’re family and we don’t keep secrets, so spill. Unless you don’t consider yourself family anymore, brother?” Ryker’s patronizing tone does nothing to calm down Knox. He just keeps on talking, not even looking in Knox’s direction when I see the change.
Oh shit! Ryker is gonna get himself killed.
Knox bursts into his wolf form which isn’t unusual around here, but what’s staring out from those deep windows of the soul isnotKnox. He’s no longer sporting his unusual green eyes, instead they are blood red and his emotions are empty. I slowly get up out of my seat and walk behind Exile.
“Knox. Take a deep breath and calm down,” I calmly order, keeping my eyes on him. The tone of my voice is what makes Ryker shut up and finally take notice that this is more than a Knox outburst, seeing the mistake he’s made.
“Fuck me,” his words come out in a hushed whisper. The room pauses as Knox tilts his head in Ryker’s direction and bares his teeth. The problem that we face is that Ryker has pushed Knox over the edge. Knox is an Alpha with rage issues, and when I can’t feel his emotions like this, I have nothing to try and control. Therefore, we’re fucked. He’s either going to have to work out his rage, which is what the blood matches are for, or we need an Alpha above him to set him straight. And I’m not sure which one is worse because neither of those are available at the moment.
“Ry, you might want to get up and move away from the sofa,” JP offers helpfully.
“Gosh, you think?” he says sarcastically as he slowly stands up. It looks like Knox will let him until Ryker foolishly reaches for the knife he’s been carrying around lately. In the blink of an eye, Knox is leaping through the air and no one can stop him.
ChapterThirty-Four
FLUFFERS!
Rez
Why am I coming over here again? It’s like willingly walking into the lion’s den.Here’s a juicy steak for you to nibble, shred apart and drool over, said no one ever. I was in heaven, sitting in my comfy spot, curled up with Knots while he filled me in on the news around campus until Moni begged me to leave my hunky, hunky doormat—her words, not mine—and come over for an emergency. Her saying it’s an emergency is the only thing that could have pulled me away. But who really knows what her definition of an emergency is.
I’ll admit I’m a little nervous seeing everyone again, especially since things have progressed with some and others are still at a stalemate. But I can fall back on my faithful training of denying shit and act like it didn’t happen. It’s been working okay so far, right?
Thankfully, the ride up the elevator is quiet and I didn’t have to worry about seeing anyone. I’m assaulted by Timber’s panicked voice as soon as I walk down the hall towards their door though. I’ve only met and talked to her the once, when I came over to see Levi two weeks ago.Holy shit, has it only been two weeks?She didn’t talk much beyond introducing herself, which was a treat after dealing with Knots up to that point, back when he was a snarky Door Knight confined to his door.
‘Rez! There you are. Hurry up and calm those monsters down! They are going to tear the place apart.’
‘Hi, Timber! What do you mean?’
Without answering me, she swings the door open, ushering me in and slamming the door behind me, efficiently locking me inside.Okay?But I don’t even have time to worry about that because it sounds like there’s an amusement park going on in the living room. Jogging down the short hallway, I freeze at the end and take in the room.
My mind tries to process what I’m seeing. The first thing I notice is a wall of water separating Ryker and a black wolf. As the wolf swipes and bites through the water, Ryker slashes out with knives. I didn’t even know he knew how to use them, let alone be proficient with them. If it wasn’t so horrifying, I would find it kinda hot. Levi, is throwing spells and garments at the wolf, trying to tie him up, but he’s just snapping through them with mere force. A flashing light draws my attention off to the side, and I see Moni yell out something before fainting and crashing to the floor. All the while, everyone is yelling and I can’t make a sense of anything.
What did I walk into?
Apparently, yelling over this mess isn’t going to help so I try to focus on the only person I can. It takes a few seconds to pick up on the wolf's distress. Slipping on the wet floor, I slide head first into the wolf with an ‘oomph.’ Suddenly, everyone screams “Rez!” like I’m Norm walking into Cheers. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Google ‘Cheers and Norm.’
“Nerezza, please, carefully step away from Knox,” Levi begs me.
Before I can give him a sassy reply, a low menacing growl vibrates through my body and Levi’s eyes widen in fear. Slowly rolling over, I look up and see piercing red eyes staring down at me. Trusting my gut and praying I’m not making a mistake, I throw myself around his neck and yell in my most annoying baby voice, “Fluffers!”
I feel his body stiffen and a pin could drop in the room as everybody holds their breath.
“Fluffers, I’ve missed you so much. You’re so cute, but why are you so wet? Did you decide to take a bath and not dry off? Do you want your ears scratched?” I start rubbing my face along his neck and digging my fingers into his wet fur.
“Is she…cuddling Knox’s wolf?” I hear Ryker whisper to someone.
