Night Calls - Nyx Slaughter Book 1 (12 page)

“And what if I were the one to just
reject you now. That would mean we don’t have to go through with
it, right?” I ask.

“Do you know how to reject a mate?
It isn’t something they teach in school sweetheart, so I don’t
think I have anything to worry about.”

“I hate you!” I yell at
him.

“We cannot all be as perfect as
Sebastian. Maybe if I didn’t have such a problem with sharing you,
I would be a little bit more sympathetic. Mates are supposed to be
instantly connected and all lovey dovey I have heard, but you not
being single natured is causing a strain on that easy relationship.
It isn’t like I can just run out and pick a willing girl to fill my
bed when you aren’t around,” Alex retorts.

“Maybe you should try it. It might
take the edge off a little for you,” I suggest.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? Too bad, it
isn’t possible. If I were to do that, as my mate, you would feel it
and feel like your heart was being stabbed with very sharp knives.
The thought of you being hurt, for some odd reason, is distasteful
to me. Believe me, if I could find a way around that fact, I would
be out having fun at all hours,” he says with a look that would
probably knock over most women and children. “Your 'feedings' with
the vampire don't have an adverse effect because we are all somehow
connected, but don't think I haven't felt you kissing someone else.
It isn't as bad as it could be if you had full intercourse, but I
still feel it.”

“You don’t have to be so cruel
about it,” Sebastian says. “We can work something out. We are all
adults and you and I are leaders in our species, there is no reason
to be childish.”

“You want to see childish, watch
this,” Alex says and then moves so fast that I don’t see him grab
me, instantly locking his lips on mine.

As big of a jerk as he has been, I
don’t open my mouth for him, even though the contact itself is
increasing my body temperature dramatically. He realizes he isn’t
getting any further and sets me down. His release of me doesn’t
help my overheating and I feel myself start to shake. I slowly fall
to the ground in pain.

“Sebastian?” I call
weakly.

“No, he isn’t helping you this
time. This time we get to see what you really are,” Alex
interjects.

I close my eyes trying to find a
calm place somewhere in the pain. I feel arms wrap around me and
know they are not the evil wolf’s. “Shh, love,” Sebby says
smoothing my hair back from my face. “It will be okay. It is
probably best to have your first change in his company, even if he
is going to be a jerk about it and not guide you through
it.”

“She thinks she knows everything, I
figure she knows what to do,” he replies.

“Way to make an already difficult
situation worse, Alex. I am not trying to keep her to myself. I
could have and she never would have made the bond with you.
Instead, I am letting her make up her mind on where her life will
go after the Collective, but you are being a grade A ass about it.
You really need to grow up and think about someone other than
yourself,” Sebastian yells at him.

Hearing him stick up for me makes
me extremely happy to have him by my side. “What do I do?” I ask
still weak.

“Sorry, love. This is a case where
I cannot help you. I would if I could. Just try to let the process
take over. Don’t fight,” he says still caressing me.

“Why didn’t she just change? I
initiated the process; it should have been pretty much
instantaneous,” I hear Alex say in the background.

“She isn’t a full wolf, idiot. Who
knows how things are supposed to happen for her? She is one of a
kind and needs to be handled a lot differently than I have seen
today,” Sebastian snaps at him.

“Here step away. Let me see if the
scent of the wolf doesn’t calm her more.” I feel shuffling and then
feel my head lifted, so my nose is in the curve of a neck. “Inhale,
Babe. Breathe it all in.”

I do as the voice says and
instantly I am hit with the smell of baking bread. “Hmm. Smells
good,” I mumble.

“It does, doesn’t it? You smell
real good too. Now think of a wolf. You saw me change last night,
think of me in my other form. Think of what it would feel like to
run your fingers through my hair. Think of running through the
forest chasing the moon beams floating to the forest floor,” he
instructs.

His voice has changed from the
harshness I have heard since we entered the room. It is like a soft
serenade that is drawing images in my head. I can vividly see him
in his black wolf form, standing proudly and running through the
trees. As I am imagining it, I start to feel pressure in my mouth
very similar to what I feel when Lil and Bebe make an appearance.
This feeling is more, though and it is like someone has put their
hand in my mouth and it trying to tilt my head past the point of my
jaw hinge.

“Hurts,” I say not sure if I am
really speaking. The next thing I know, I have been released and I
am sitting on my hands in knees as my body starts shaking even more
violently. Bones seem to be realigning themselves and I can feel my
form shifting. If this is what I have to go through to shift into a
wolf, I am hooking up an IV between me and Sebby, so I never have
to do it again.

After a few more moments of
shifting bones, the pain stops. I collapse down, so I am lying flat
on the floor. A gasp is sounded in the otherwise dead silent room
and I direct my head to Sebastian where it came from.

“Love, I have to tell you, you are
the prettiest wolf I have ever seen. Since I don’t particular like
the wolves, you should take that as a very high compliment,”
Sebastian says affectionately.

A wolf howl echoes through the
small space and the next thing I know Alex, in his black wolf form,
is pushing his snout into my side trying to get me to move. I stand
up and say, “What do you want?” I don’t think any words actually
left my mouth, though, which kind of bites.

“Oh good,” Sebastian says. “I was
worried only another wolf would be able to understand you, but I
can hear you too.”

“I just need to scent you,” Alex
says. “Sorry, this is probably weird for you, but when you finally
changed I couldn’t stop myself from changing as well. I won’t
actually bite you to mark you as mine until January, but until then
I have to ensure that you carry my scent.”

“What exactly does that entail?” I
ask suspiciously.

“I am not going to pee on you if
that is what you are asking. I am just going to bite down gently on
the back of your neck. It won’t leave a mark, but it will hold my
scent on your skin, even if you shower, for a couple weeks,” he
explains.

“Sebastian is that okay?” I ask. To
me, he is as much a part of this as me or Alex. From how Alex has
acted today, him getting close to me with his wolf fangs is not
exactly appealing.

“Always your choice, love. It may
help the situation. You smell strongly of me right now, so it has
probably been difficult for him. I can acclimate myself to the
combined scents without too much misery,” he responds.

“Okay, you can do it,” I instruct
and feel Alex shift to lower me back to the ground probably for
easier access to my neck.

When I am lying back down, I feel
him hover over me before lowering his head and clamping his jaws
around my neck. His teeth make contact with my skin and he holds
the position for a few moments and then steps away.

“Thank you. I feel more at ease
now,” he tells me. “I am sorry for making this change hard on you.
I hope future ones are not as painful. I cannot promise I will stop
being a dick. It is really hard knowing I have to share you and
that will take some getting used to, but hopefully Sebastian is
right and we can find some kind of happy medium.”

“That is a total one eighty from
what you have been like so far. I am not comfortable with the
situation myself. I have had years to reluctantly fall in love with
Sebastian. You were kind of just thrown at me and every time I turn
around you are a jerk,” I say.

“I know we didn't start out very
well. Feeling your pain just then broke my heart. Like I said, we
will work on it. Sebastian has my number, when you get things
settled, give me a call and we will try to get together. I think we
both have a lot to learn about one another,” he says.

“So, fences are being repaired, how
about someone answer the important question for me? What color wolf
am I?” I ask. “The room is too dark for me to really tell and I
don’t think my vision has quite adjusted to
things.” 

Chapter 13

A little tale about me

“Gold,” Sebastian says with a
little bit of awe and whisper to his voice. “It isn’t a shade I
have ever seen in a werewolf or natural wolf. It is really quite
beautiful. If there were more light in here, I imagine it would
reflect the beam making you sparkle.”

“He is right, gold, at least that
shade, is not an expected color for a wolf of any kind. It is
something we should probably keep under wraps. You are already
unique enough with your triple nature, adding this may cause others
to become concerned,” Alex adds.

“Darn, I was hoping I was somehow
purple. I imagine that would really get people talking. So, now
that we have gone through the painful shift, how do I change back?”
I ask.

“I can shift back and bring you
with me, if you want. I really didn’t know you weren’t going to be
able to do an instant shift earlier, or I would have tried a
different method to calling out the wolf,” Alex replies.

“As little pain as possible would
be preferred,” I impart.

“One, two, and three,” Alex says
and we are both back in our humanoid forms fully
dressed.

“That was a way nicer experience,”
I claim thankful I didn’t have to feel bones reshaping again. “So
where do we want to go from here? Now that you have calmed down,
let’s try to talk about some things like adults.”

“Got it, practicing my yoga deep
breathing exercises now,” he replies.

“First, on the very top of my list
of things to work out, is nicknames. I hate the term babe, so
unless you want to lose testicles you need to come up with
something else. Love and Cheeseburger are already spoken for. Nyxie
has been used by others, but it currently saddens me a bit, so I
don’t suggest it either,” I explain.

“Really, it offended you that much
that with the chaos between us, you made it number one priority?”
Alex asks sounding a little offended himself. “Fine, I will come up
with something different. As we spend more time together, I am sure
I will come up with the perfect name.”

“Thank you. As for the rest of our
personal issues, I really don’t know where to start. I only
started, what I see as my first romantic relationship within the
past two days, so I don’t even know how to make it work with one
guy, let alone two. I kind of feel like a child whose parents are
going through a divorce. I mean do you guys get me every other
weekend or what?”

“If you want, I cannot stay with
you at the penthouse,” Sebastian suggests. “At least for the time
being, when Alex is in town. I will be in the building, but not
sharing a bed. That way you can be independent and be allowed to
date us both without the weirdness of me being there when he walks
you home.”

“Sometimes you are just way too
understanding, Sebby. I am still nervous about this, but that seems
like a way for us to all start getting used to being around each
other. If I am going to for sure need to eat every once in a while
and at least once a year turn into a wild women, we need to find a
happy medium where we all coexist,” I say.

“As long as you are still offering
phone calls before feedings, I am game with us taking it slow and
becoming accustomed to each other’s company,” Alex says.

“See that wasn’t that hard. So, for
today, me and Sebby are going to head back and try to piece a life
together for me post Collective. I need a storefront I think. I am
imagining me being like a private detective or something. I don’t
really want to just go around killing people for no good reason. I
want to first substantiate the claims made against them and then
hack them to little bits,” I declare.

“I can see that. Previously, you
have had the Collective making the choices on who should die and I
am sure you realize now, like in the case of Alex and your father,
not all of their execution orders are legit,” Sebastian
says.

“Really? I heard rumors they sent
you after your old man, but that is really harsh,” Alex
offers.

“Thankfully for him, when I asked
if he had any last requests, he had a really good one,” I
reply.

“Now that is a story I would love
to hear. Why don’t we all sit down and you can tell us what
happened,” Sebastian suggests.

“I second that. It sounds like you
let him live, so I would love to hear an answer that moves killer
Nyx Slaughter to spare a life,” Alex adds.

“Fine. I am not really that great
of a story teller, but if you guys insist we can go over the tale.
This is a secure location, right? I don't want to endanger the man.
At some point, I am going to want to sit down with him and figure
out how I came to be on this planet,” I say.