“Oh.” Her eyes widen slightly. “Well, that’s… definitely not what I had in mind.” She fastens her pants and smiles slightly at me. “You know you’re gonna have to talk to him, right?” She grabs my arm and lays her head against my arm, peering up at me as I groan. Her blast of calm and love flows down our shared link as she continues. “Just be gentle and sweet like I know you can be and ask him what’s going on,” she coaxes me.
“Fine, but do you mind if we take a walk around while I do this instead of going straight back to camp?” I ask, not feeling up to socializing with the netherwraiths while I’m dealing with my own sulky murder kitty.
“Not at all.” Rez squeezes my bicep before she wraps herself underneath my arm and around my waist.
“It’s nice spending time with you. Just remember to be nice,’she reiterates.
“Not a problem.” The sun has completely set, and I allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness as I hear commotion off to our right. That’s where our group must have settled our camp. To take a longer path back to the group, I decide to head straight and loop around to meet them later. As we start walking, I reach out to Slayer.
‘You okay, Murder Mittens? You don’t seem like yourself,’I ask.
‘Oh. Ah, yeah.’He jerks up from lying on his paws to look at me in shock.
‘Okay, good to know, because what’s up with these netherwraiths calling you the Black Death? And where’d the fuck you come from anyways?’
“Hey!” Rez shrieks and digs her fingernails into my arm. “I saidnice.”
“What?” I shrug innocently. "That was my ‘nice’,” I exclaim. ‘There was no growling, barking, or using my Alpha aura. I consider it a win. I should have had this talk ages ago, but I’ve just been preoccupied with saving Hell first.”
‘Facts, but there were breaks in there that we could have talked, but whatever helps you sleep, Alpha,’Slayer interjects.
‘He does have a point,’Barren agrees.
‘Stop helping him,’I growl.‘Shifters are limited to three animals. Why do I have you, Slayer?’I insist.
‘Oh, that’s simple. I’m War’s secret weapon, his personal assassin, his left-hand man. He had the angel on his right shoulder, in person, and I was the devil with teeth on his left, in shifter form.’Slayer gives me a toothy grin, and Rez giggles as she gets the visual also.
Well, that explains why I have Slayer, and I must admit, it’s pretty cool. I know I probably should have, but I never took the time to work on theories about how or why I have Slayer. I figured if I was supposed to have them, then may the Fates bless me.
I’m sure he was caught on the Gauntlet cameras, but not many would know what they saw. Shit, even I didn’t know what he was when I discovered him in Hell. I’ll keep what I know of Slayer a secret from the public for now. Hopefully, the ones that saw him will think he was an illusion or a spell.
‘So, you’re a secret weapon? That doesn’t explain the Black Death comments the netherwraiths were making,’I point out.
‘True, but the fact is, I’m not sure how to explain that one. I’m more of a myth to them, I think.’
‘What? How is that possible?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine. It’s something they’ll have to tell you, cause I don’t know,’Slayer sighs.
Rez
I’m a complete limp noodle as Knox leads me out of the secluded glen and back into the woods. I wouldn’t even fight him if he walked us right off a cliff, I’m that far gone into LaLa Land.
But listening to Slayer explain his origins quickly sobers me up. It seems as though the Horsemen were strong in their own right; they had strong and unique animals at their service as well. A stormshifter as a versatile protector, an angel as their right-hand man, and an assassin in the form of Slayer, the shifter.
And speaking of shifting, I still remember how Slayer shifted into his‘human’form while we were on the Road of Worth. I wonder if he can still shift like that or if it was just a specialoccasion. He was the complete opposite of my dark, brooding, strong, and built like a wall, Alpha. Slayer had a smaller, ripped body, ear and septum piercings, wispy white hair, and blueish-gray eyes.
They’re both hot as fuck.
I shake my head. His lame excuse for ‘nice” as an Alpha still has me baffled somehow, but I let him have it because I knowwho he is, and Slayer doesn’t seem to mind. I swear he’s great at making me see stars, but his Alpha instincts need work.
What doesn’t need work is his swagger. That man can fuck, and having Ryker watching us added that voyeurism kink that apparently I have too. I should have asked for the brain-dead package, where I get round two or had Ryker join in, but I’m sure there was a reason he only watched this time. What am I thinking? If I had round two, I wouldn’t even be able to walk; Knox would have to carry me out of here as I drooled myself to sleep.
“You know, I can hear everything you’re saying, right?” Knox chuckles. “You’re thinking those thoughts,” he says, squeezing my hand.
“I said what I said.” I look up at him with a smile. “I’m not ashamed.”
“You should be,” an unfamiliar voice calls out, and we turn to see three figures walk out from behind a tree.
