Page 14 of Wild Wolf

I kept hold of Ethan’s hand, leading him away from the music and the party, heading back to the TV room where Cain, Hastings and Sin waited for us.

“Jack,” I said as I moved to stand before them again and Hastings raised his head to look at me, all lost lamb and still a touch besotted. I sighed. “You should go back to the FIB. You don’t have to return to Darkmore – I’m sure they’ll accept your resignation. We could wipe your memories of this place so they won’t be able to tell that you ever came here-”

“No,” Hastings said, more firmly than I had ever heard him address me. “I’m not who I was before. I’m…I think I’m a criminal now. My soul has been darkened and it won’t ever turn pure again.”

I glanced at Cain who rolled his eyes unhelpfully.

“You haven’t broken any laws,” I said slowly. “You aren’t a criminal-”

“It’s in my soul,” Hastings replied, running his hands through his blonde hair and tugging on his fringe so that it fell forward to shadow his eyes. “Look at me. I’m a completely different man now.”

I did look at him. I looked and I saw my choir boy with messy hair and a shit heap of trauma which would hopefully lessen once he got over the shock of all he’d witnessed. But a hardened criminal I did not see.

“Right…”

“Aww, can we keep him?” Sin cooed, slinging an arm around Hastings and squishing him to his side. “Look at how cute he is. And he wants to play dress up with us. I bet we could train him up to be our sub too – he already has the moon eyes for you, kitten, and he is pretty nice to look at.”

“Stop appraising him like he’s a cow come to market,” Ethan snorted and Jack’s cheeks reddened.

“I really think you should go home, Jack,” I pushed.

“Let him be,” Cain grumbled. “He’s had his eyes opened to that place and the truth of it. If the shit that was going on down in Psych is anything to judge by, then maybe this is the better side of the law to be on.”

I arched a brow at the Vampiro bastardo then gave in. “Fine. We need to move and this conversation is wasting time. There’s a safe house in Kalia, which just so happens to be where Pike’s penthouse is too, so we can head to that before making our next move. You can stick with us, Jack, and see if you really do like it on this side of the law – just let me know when you’ve had enough though and I can ship you right back home in the blink of an eye.”

Hastings straightened as if accepting a challenge and I shook my head at the sweet fool before leading the way out of the house.

Of course I couldn’t just slip out quietly; countless Oscuras including my aunt waylaid us and embraced me or slipped us supplies, lucky charms and offered out well wishes.

Mournful howls followed us down the long drive when we finally made it beyond the house and I led our band of miscreants to the edge of the magical wards which guarded this place from outside influence. Tomorrow, the FIB would show up with their shiny warrant and Dante and Aunt Bianca would graciously allow them through the wards to search to their hearts’ content. We’d be long gone by then.

My magic buzzed in my veins as the wards recognised me and I parted them for the five of us, stepping into the dark lane beyond the vineyard and taking the stardust from my pocket.

I tossed it over us, letting the world whip away as the stars claimed us for their own. I tried not to dwell on how many hours had now passed since Roary had been ripped from my arms. I was on my way to reclaim him. And nothing in this kingdom or beyond it would stop me.

CHAPTER SIX

The back streets of Kalia reminded me far too sharply of those I’d lived in while growing up in Benjamin Acrux’s care. The memories of my friend Merrick were closer than ever, haunting me and reminding me why I had found a twisted kind of solace in dedicating myself to my job at Darkmore Penitentiary. There, I had found a purpose, and in that place, I had found nothing familiar to ring the bells of the past. When I’d been awake at least. Sleep was a different matter. The dead of night was where demons thrived and regrets evolved into beasts with sharp claws. Perhaps they were why I had been so doggedly determined to see Rosalie escape the clutches of that hell.

My heart hadn’t attached itself to anyone since Merrick, and yet now she held it in a way no one ever had. But where had following that insanity-draped path gotten me? Cursed and hunted for by the FIB. Though it seemed they currently believed Jack and I had been kidnapped, a simple Cyclops interrogation would set the record straight if we were caught. So it seemed my life was on track for self-destruction with one potential option of redemption left to me.

I looked to Sin Wilder who was walking a few steps ahead of me, swaggering along at Rosalie’s side, a silencing bubble around us all keeping our approach quiet. On her left flank, Ethan Shadowbrook stalked along, muscles primed for any attack that came our way, the mate mark behind his ear glinting faintly silver as the moonlight touched it. He was off limits because of his bond to Rosalie. But Sin…he was fair game. If I managed to chain him and return him to the FIB, I might just be pardoned and escape Cyclops interrogation for the act of clear loyalty.

Hastings had remained back in the safe house, given instruction by Rosalie to guard it for us, though as we crept through the dark like a stalking shadow, I had to think she’d really left him behind so that he wouldn’t be implicated in whatever happened once we found Pike. She’d offered to leave me with him too but I hadn’t graced that with a response and she’d only smirked at my silence, taken my hand and drawn me out the door. I hated the jolt my heart had given at the touch of her hand, hated the way my eyes remained pinned on her even though she’d long since released me, hated the truth of what she’d become to me because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her while knowing she wasn’t mine to lose.

“Old long Johnson had a farm,” Sin whisper-sung under this breath. “E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a Cain.” He tossed a glance over his shoulder at me, a wicked glint in his eyes. “E-I-E-I-O. With a bitch-bitch here, and a bitch-bitch there. Here a bitch, there a bitch, everywhere a little bitch.”

“Shut it,” I snarled, and he sniggered. Yeah, handing him back to the authorities wouldn’t cause me any remorse. But as Rosalie turned an amused smile his way, the curse itched under my skin, warning me that she might not feel so forgiving if I took her crazy boyfriend away.

I was caught between a rock and a hard place, but still my feet kept following Rosalie wherever she went. Tonight was testing the limits of my loyalty to her. If Warden Pike saw me among her group, then tomorrow, the news would report it and out me as the true traitor I was.

Somehow, despite that knowledge clawing at me, I didn’t slow my pace, didn’t even think about turning back. I was a damn fool, following a woman I knew would never choose me, but my devotion to her ran deeper than I’d ever let myself acknowledge aloud.

“Here,” Rosalie announced, turning down a narrow alley between two high rise buildings that stretched away towards the glittering night sky.

The three of us followed her into the shadows and Sin hung back a little to rub shoulders with me.

“She’ll know your face, that Pikey Pike,” he whispered, offering me a twisted kind of grin. “Or will she know your ass better from all the whipping she did on it to keep you in line? Bet she got you to pull down your knickers and bend over like a naughty school girl every time you fucked up. Tut tut, what will she do when she sees her little school girl playing with the local bad boys?”

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