I grimace. "They can smell all that?" My face is glowing red. I scowl at Aleks. He tries to look innocently at me.
Ari fights the giggle bubbling from her lips. She covers her face where the piercing in her mouth used to be and nods.
I glare and purse my lips. "Great. Just great."
"We don’t really want to get involved in this. It's Rose's trouble, not a pack problem. What do you really expect us to do?"
I'm tapping my feet listening to them. I want to intercede and get this over with. But Lucas is diplomatic.
"We need your help sir."
"Lorri has asked this of us before. We told her what we are telling you. No."
"Uncle, be reasonable."
"No Lucas, you be reasonable. You and Ben are the first of the Fae to choose to become Roses. We didn’t support your decision then because we know what the Roses are, they meddle."
Ben slaps the table. "Our kind has been killing and raping and committing crimes against the humans. It's up to us to monitor that. The Roses are the law. That is all. We are the justice for all. How can you disagree with that?"
Their uncle looks savagely at them. "I am alpha."
"Uncle this is a pack problem. His father kills chaotically and indiscreetly. He leaves raped dead women and girls." Lucas's tone is strong but kind.
His uncle's face reddens. "What does this have to do with us?" His voice booms across the room. My jaw is clenched. Sparks are flying from my fingers like a sparkler.
Ben clears his throat, "Uhm, well, he does his attacking as a wolf. Sometimes part wolf." I gag. I turn my face away. The image of my mother splayed across the hood of her car, is forcing its way into my mind.
Ari puts her hand over mine and kills the sparks. I close my eyes and force in thoughts of happier times. Times that included Sam.
"If it ever got out that shifters coexist with humans, well I'm certain you can imagine how that would be. Experiments and all."
His red-faced uncle looks like he might process the idea. He nods and looks at Aleks, "We will help but we will need everything. Every offense, dates and locations."
Aleks nods and puts a hand out across the table. "Done."
They all stand and I can't help but feel lost. I lean into Ari and whisper, "That was weird."
She nudges into me. "I know right. They make it look like they are the ones making the choices and that they could deny you, but they don’t. Bravado."
I snort and stand to leave with Aleks, but Lucas and his uncle corner him. A silky haired blonde strolls up in short cutoffs and a tiny tank top. She smiles too much and stands too close to Aleks. My blood is boiling.
"Come on champ." A huge hand grabs my arm and drags me from the room.
Ben smirks and kisses the side of my head. "Down girl."
I relax my muscles and let him drag me from the building.
"Her name is Janine. She is always on the prowl. You know Aleks better than that."
I sigh and nod but the frown stays plastered to my face.
Ari is standing outside with the same haunted look on her face.
"What's up with her?" I whisper into Ben. "She seemed good a minute ago?"
"Sam," he whispers back. "Every time we go outside she starts to get that same haunted look."
I feel sick.
He pulls me the other way and continues, "I can't imagine what it's all been like for her. She changes things and then has to run around like the movie Ground Hog Day and fix everything she has undone."
I kick a small pebble. "I know. She doesn’t talk about it, but if you ever share a bed with her you know it bugs her. She has bad dreams still."
He shivers. "From the orphanage. She told me about them once. She tried to get Giselle to persuade the memories from her. She even got Dorian to try but they are imprinted to her soul we think."
I think. "Maybe, it's because she is part angel."
He nods. "Maybe. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask. How are you?" His eyes kill me. He is sadder than anyone. He and Sam were like brothers. Same as Luke and Sam.
I shake my head, gripping to my control. "Not so good." I don’t like vocalizing my feelings.
He shakes his head. "Me too. I just can't stop myself from missing them."
I glance back at Ari as we walk into the forest. "She must beat herself up so much."
He sits on a huge mossy log and looks lost, just like Ari. "She does. She constantly tries to think of a way to control the push. Her and O and Trist have been working on it."
I frown. "Why? Who would they push?"
He shrugs. "Not sure." His eyes tell me otherwise.
"You know."
He shakes his head. "I don't know." His words are firm and even if he does, he isn’t going to tell me.
He reaches over and grabs my hand and drags me to him. He pulls me down on the soggy log and wraps his huge arm around me. I lean into him and rest my head.
"We need to get them back, Ben." My voice is hollow.
He rubs my arm. "She's working on it."
I glance over to the huge house next to the patch of forest we are sitting in. Aleks is walking across the grounds looking for something. My heartbeat picks up, until I see the silky blonde greet him with a kiss on either side of his face. My insides clench.Ben laughs. "Wow, awkward."
I frown at him. "Who is she?"
He shrugs. "Janine. She's one of the elders. She's really old."
I roll my eyes. "You'd think she would have out grown those shorts by now."
I see Ari walk past them to where we are sitting. She looks back at them talking and rolls her eyes. It makes me smile. She huffs over to us and sits next to Ben. He wraps his arm around her as well.
We sit, staring at Aleks and the blonde of doom.
"You'd think she would notice her vagina is longer than her shorts."
I burst into laughter. Ben chuckles but Ari just gives us a look. "Really though. Look at those things. She could die of exposure if she were a human."
A jealous growl rumbles through my throat. "I could help her with that."
Ari nods. "Dude, if she keeps pawing your man, I would for sure be showing her how the hands work."
Ben squeezes us and shakes us. "Down girls. Your petty is showing. Jeesh. Aleks is a smart guy. He won't fall for the sultry ways of Janine."
I sigh. "Her hair is awfully shiny and glossy."
Lucas walks up to them smiling. He gives Janine the up-down, after she greets him with a hug and looks back at Aleks.
Ari's jaw tightens.
Ben is gripping her for dear life. "That was a wolf move. We can't fight it. The up-down is a wolf move Ari." He lets go of me and holds her to him.
The blacks of her eyes have eaten up the whites. She shocks Ben with her skin. He twitches but holds on.
I jump up and grab her face. "Hey."
The black floats back to just her irises. She shakes her head and looks at me. "Sorry." She turns and hugs Ben. "Sorry."
He shakes his head and twitches again. "No. It's cool. I'll kick Luke's ass later."
She looks back at him staring at Janine's legs and slumps. "Cool."
Janine paws Aleks and then turns and paws Luke. They stand there with dirty grins on their faces. I grab Ari's hand and lift her up. "Let's walk." I glance back at Ben, "Rio?"
He puts a hand in but then pulls back. "I better not. Be back soon. The wolves will be ready to leave once they're done going over his dad's priors."
I nod and wink us to Rio. The warmth in the air and the chaos in the streets is exactly what I need. Ari grips me tightly.
We slip into a dark alley and lift our faces to the wind, looking for a fight.
I catch a smell and pull her down the alley. My boots click, my long thick hair feels like my cape, and my heart is racing.
I point to a building. "You ready?"
Her eyes gloss over, the black inky looking color fills the whites up. Her powers have developed into something frightening.
We drop hands and sneak around the side of the old brick building.
The front of the business looks like every other seedy establishment. Rio is a haven for Vampires and Succubus's to hang out.
Greasy looking men stand out front when we get to the front steps.
"Olá, meninas bonitas." The other men in his small group nudge each other and laugh.
I lean in close enough to taste his sweat in the air and whisper, "escapar."
He chuckles and grabs for me. Ari shoots her push at him, not the real push. The push she has learned to do to humans. It knocks him back on his ass on the filthy street.
His face is a mixture of shock and anger. He points and shouts, "Essas meninas são putas do diabo."
Ari looks at me. "Did he call us devil bitches?"
I laugh and nod. "Yeah no, more like devil whores."
"Devil whores?" She looks offended and then shrugs, "Surprisingly accurate."
I laugh.
The small group of men backs up, like we are wild animals. I fake forward. They run.
I look at the man and point. "I told you to run away."
He struggles to get up and runs after the others.
Ari nudges me, her eyes are still jet-black. "Dude, your Portuguese is good."
I shrug. "All apart of the life I was going to have. You know. Doctors without borders and shit."
She pats me on the back and steps up into the doorway. "Let's do this."
I lift my leg and kick the door in. As we enter the sparks from my fingers fill the dark hallway with flashes of light.
A man jumps at me, stabbing his knife into my torso. I rip his soul from him. His black blood sprays me. Ari has pushed several of them against a wall. She holds them there.
"You know that blood brothels are illegal," she speaks softly.
The eyes flash on our rings. I pull the knife out and shiver from the pain of it.