Alpha – Rise of Rakta Balii Ch. 02
Four Nights Later
Rafe walked into a rundown bar known to Nat’s as ‘The Dive’, barely managing to repress a deep shudder as every supernatural eye in the place fell on him, peeling him apart.
He really hated that.
He lazily scanned the length of the packed room for his brother. Jordan texted cryptically earlier asking for the meet up which got his attention because he only did kind of texting ‘specifically’ when he didn’t want to bring trouble home.
Cleaning up in the wake of a blood bath got real old after you spent an entire day mopping blood from quartz, like Bambi on ice.
Rafe bristled in warning when he caught a few hostile stares from some Were’s at a table packed with females who sized him up like he was on the dinner menu.
Seemed to be a shit load of them throughout the bar which was just… great!
Rafe stared them down with a sneer, daring some dumb fuck to make a move that would cost him everything.
He wasn’t in any mood to play with anyone tonight.
Shit, trust Jordan to lead him to the seediest part of the city to split whatever he had coming in two, just so Rafe could get half.
Whether it be females, a feeble attempt at an ass kicking or just a plain old business deal his brother took that, ‘sharing is caring’ thing too far sometimes.
He didn’t relax even when he spotted the back of his brother’s head at one of the booths near the bar and strode forward.
Rafe kept his guard firmly up because most Nat’s never knew what Talons were at first glance or second for that matter, that shit made just about everyone uneasy.
They couldn’t ‘feel ‘, Talons the way they felt other species in the supernatural community and in their world that usually meant.
“KILL IT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS AT THE BURIAL.”
Were’s were completely different from wolves, if you made a gesture perceived as being threatening which spanned from reaching for a ringing phone, tensing to sneeze or staring at them too intently etc…
They got their panties in a twist and started warring like some dumb males, all territorial and shit. For him being the level headed kind of male he was, this type of behavior was absolutely disgusting to witness.
He made Jordan’s head the focal point of his journey, not because he was afraid of them or anything…Ha! His mouth curled into a grin.
The mere thought was laughable. Rafe just preferred not to roll around with a couple of dogs over anything, at any time, if it could be helped.
Females attempted to catch his eye as he weaved his way through the tables and without pause, he ignored them. All the females were currently ‘taken’. Figuratively speaking.
If you walked into a bar sweating out wolves, you had better know that little nugget.
Any male with half a brain knew, as long as Were’s were kicking around with enough wolves to make up a hybrid pack, that unless you brought your own doggie bag to the party? The hands off rule applied.
This he’d learnt nary a month ago, about the same time they’d been exposed to the Supernatural community because Aiden the dickhead Alpha, was on a bender after that shit in Hallow went down.
Aiden and his trusty side kick Lucas apparently had serious hard on’s for Talons since that night. He got that.
If he recalled it correctly a wolf very nearly ripped his throat out, after he took a female shifter up on an offer to do more than ‘hit the head ‘in the men’s room, and boy… She’d given some damn good head, almost worth dying for. Almost.
A bigger grin quirked up one side of his mouth at the memory of a wild night which incidentally was the most fun he ever had with a wolf while half naked.
Stupid wolf hadn’t known what hit him.
Rafe slowed as he neared the booth, catching sight of black flat soled velvet boots, dangling off the edge of the worn leather seats stitched in a tanned brown.
They were wiggling around as though the owner was being tickled pink.
But thank god it belonged to a female. His heart lightened.
But…
It was the strangest thing he ever felt, it was a crawling awareness that became a warning simultaneously deep inside his brain, even as his feet kept moving.
Trouble Rafe, dead ahead.
The sound of glass smashing reached him through the din of noise, and his head whipped to the left where his eyes made four, with the very pissed off amber of Aiden Chekov.
Yup…Double trouble.
The wolf’s drink was smashed in his hand, glass and blood mixed with whatever he’d been drinking, dripped from his clenched fist to the table top.
“The fuck.”
He read the words as they formed on Aiden’s lips, even as he lurched to a stop at the booth. There was no doubt he looked shocked as shit to see the wolf as Aiden was to see him.
Rafe tore his eyes away from the gaping wolf who looked as if he’d swallowed road kill, looked down at his brother and froze like a block of ice. Everything locked up tight.
“Oh fuck no.”
Was the first thing out his mouth, the second?
“Oh, fuck, Onwin no.”
Rafe didn’t care that he was staring, his eyes were either failing him or, he was having one of those dreams where counting his fingers was required.
Of all the bars, why this one?
Of all the dumb males to latch onto and suck dry, why his brother?
Of all the times to be dragged into some fucked up sitch with the words, doom, death, torment, just to name a few stamped all over it, why this one?
And of course the most FAQ of late, why him?
Rafe nearly vomited on the floor as his heart seemed to leap into his throat when his eyes met the startling liquid blue, of one Kimoira Alana Peterson.
So this begged the question, what were the odds of their leviathan willingly coming to them?
Her lips stretched into a cold smile and this…silence, swallowed the place, everyone inside gone quiet as energy swelled from her before it detonated like a bomb. It felt like something slamming against his senses like a constant battering before it all went still.
She… holy hell, she just said hello.
When Rafe left the council chambers and took a portal home days ago, they’d well and truly lost track of the pesky UN currently making herself at home in his brother’s lap.
He doubted he would ever see the little gung-ho blonde again, hell! He’d been so sure about that, he even took an all odds against her bet online courtesy of Memphis Kostavic Belandrake, biggest supe bookie throughout the five realms.
“She’ll be dead inside a week with the wolves on her ass.”
They said.
“The A.U.N.N will pick her up like the rest of the UN’s roaming the streets.”
They said.
And like a bleeding Noob he fell for it. Why?
Because never in a billion years did Rafe foresee walking into some seedy little dive, to find her pretty as you please, and fuck him? But she was pretty, and warming his brother’s lap like a fucking electric blanket!
That shit wasn’t supposed to happen. Ever.
Reality moved on as she withdrew her power, and people turned away. She smiled up at him knowingly nudging Jordan, whose face was buried in her neck and giggled, almost uncontrollably.
“Hey, none of that look who’s here.”
Rafe sensed the joke was on him even as Jordan looked up, saw him and grinned.
“You made it, grab a seat.”
“Yeah Rafe, have a seat.” She urged, smugly.
He was rooted to the floor as she slid free of his brother’s arms, planted her elbows on the table blue eyes drilling into him while amusement swam in those liquid blue depths.
They stared at each other for countless seconds without blinking until numbly he slid into the booth and only because his legs seemed to be replaced with jelly, the aura she threw off made him weak, literally.
Throwing a frantic look at Aiden he clocked the wolf typing something into his phone with his undamaged hand and felt a small tinge of comfort that he had some form of backup. Great move.
Rafe was all for calling back up. Hell— given the chance, he’d send a fucking S.O.S via twitter.
A strained silence fell in the booth while the seconds ticked by as Rafe looked from his brother to the little blonde who was obscenely beautiful up close.
Her hair looked like silky threads of the sun, her skin was so perfectly unblemished, it was best described as smooth porcelain.
Not white, but the smooth perfection.
When her head tilted,her skin caught the light in a whole different way.
Fine china, no, more like, very fine fucking china.
That smile widened when his gaze skimmed her mouth. Fuck, beautiful.
No makeup adorned her heart shaped face and she wore that scrubbed, ‘I don’t need to try hard to be beautiful thing’ well.
Her eyes were a fluorescent blue he’d never seen before, It was almost neon.
Was she wearing contacts?
She toyed with the straw sticking out of her drink with a pink clawed finger and winked at him. “It’s all me, I know, mesmerizing aren’t I?”
He stiffened, O-Kay, what the fuck? Did she just read his mind?
Jordan looked between them and cleared his throat noisily to remind Rafe he was still there with them no doubt.
“Ah Rafe, hope you don’t mind but… Kimoira here, bumped into me on the subway of ALL places, asked if I knew you, we apparently bear a startling resemblance, funny co-inky-dink huh? I thought so.”
His eyes met Rafe’s for all of two seconds before they slid away.
Shitttt.
Jordan was too good to be played and had obviously figured out the blonde.
No wonder the text was so cryptic.
This was not going to end well for any of them.
Jordan D’ffeifer sipped his beer while looking between them, eyes narrowing shrewdly as they stared each other down.
His brother was guarded, Kimoira… smug.
He’d gotten the feeling sex on legs was a bit too good to be true. But he was the typical male and tail like that?
Once in a millennia a female like her appeared in the earth realm. She was Onwin giriş like a beacon, it was in the way she walked, the way she spoke…there was just something about her that called to you.
She’d called to Rafe the second he walked into her sight, everyone in the place felt it.
He wasn’t stupid enough to fall for her outright especially as she made it obvious that Rafe was who she wanted to meet and now… his spine was tingling like a motherfucker.
Rafe walked in and the Wolves, currently parked at a booth paces away went on high alert.
Jordan was well aware of who they were and that they knew his brother.
What didn’t fit was how they knew Kimoira and why the fuck did his brother obviously know her as well?
He focused on the two of them again, easily figuring the answers to these questions were gonna start coming if he paid attention.
Jordan watched Kimoira’s head drop forward, bangs shielding her gorgeous eyes, loudly sucking up the last of her drink.
Reaching up she signaled the waitress who came over immediately. No one got that much service.
“I’ll have another one of these, more kick to it though. My friends will have a round doll face.”
The female blushed from head to toes like a school girl before offering a flirtatious grin over her shoulder while sashaying off. His brother gaped when the female threw some serious hip on her way back to the bar.
He was male, but not even his looks would get him that much service in a shit hole like this one. She was calling alright and anyone was susceptible.
Jordan sighed dramatically and reached under the table knowing Rafe caught the move while deftly unsheathing the Flaming scorpion Bowie strapped there with practiced ease.
Rafe didn’t need to be told what Jordan was doing he knew it like the back of his hand. That knife had gotten them clear of many sticky situations.
This seemed sticky as hell now. She just smiled at him pleasantly.
“So, this is what passes as a sticky icky for ya? I remember one time I was tied up by a Phoenix, now that was some sticky.”
Rafe felt the blood leave his face pale while she laughed. She did read his mind.
Jordan gave no outward reaction to the under currents when he said.
“Come on bro, tell me she’s a friend. She’s too fucking pretty to kill.”
Rafe reclined eyes narrowed, his mind obscenely blank.
“She’s not. We’ve never met before now.”
She merely smiled vacantly, and rolled her head to look at Jordan, stopping him with just one hot look before he could strike.
“Rafe sweetie, you’re being unfair.”
Her head tilted back to him lazily but her eyes remained on his brother as if she was holding him in place. She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
Her brow arched. Almost like a dare.
“Didn’t we meet on 5th about… hmm four days ago?”
Her tone dared him to refute the claim. He kept his mouth shut and she went on.
“You had the most unusual friend’s… two wolves? That didn’t tell you they knew exactly where I was.”
Then a cute little frown creased her brow as she intoned cheekily.
“Those same wolves are presently staring me to death, it’s like being eye raped.”
She turned her upper body at the waist, leaned out the booth and announced in a stage whisper.
“They look like dogs eyeing a bone. Not it!”
She waved cheerfully at Aiden, who now looked like someone had broken his tail in two with a sledge hammer and the howling was coming. She blew a kiss to Just Michael who choked on his beer, his lean face going beet red.
Which may or may not have been caused by the beer flying down the wrong way, but induced by Aiden thumping him brutally hard on his back. It was kind of hard to tell which.
Rafe truly didn’t give a shit with bigger fish to fry and all that.
When they refocused, she gave them a toothy grin, her chin propped up in the palm of her right hand, Jordan’s scorpion twirling in the nimble little fingers of her left.
Over and over again.
Considering the size of the knife Rafe was impressed, also there was a Skinner between them on the table. Jordan looked down at his empty hand and barked out a laugh.
“Son of a bitch!” She sighed.
“Close Jordan but not quite, how bout I cut to the chase k boys? I’m a UN from basically a little backwater town.”
Now, why did she sound bored?
Almost as if reciting a story for the millionth time, what the hell was up with that? She smirked and inserted patiently.
“I know, bear with me.”
Fuck! She was inside his head, again.
“I came to this city to find some friends of mine, I admit…”
She broke off sniffling, eyes filling with sudden tears.
“I’m no good at this playing human thing, it’s so hard!”
She gritted that out and threw the knife without any apparent aim, yet somehow managed to pierce the wall between Aiden and Michael.
Buried the damn thing to the hilt in fact, just like a pro.
There was a stunned silence for a brief moment, in which Rafe felt his own jaw unhinge and Jordan sputtered, the wolves bristled, exchanging disbelieving looks and made to stand.
“Sorry, sorry!” She called out ducking her head. “Do you see what I mean?”
She gestured before snapping upright and smiling stupidly at the waitress who’d taken the order. “Thank you so much.”
The woman seemed to have gotten quite a personality makeover when she saw the knife in the wall. She gave the blonde a, ‘are you stupid’ look and looked ready to punch her lights out but just angry marched to another table instead.
The blonde ducked down again.
“Do-you-see-what-I-mean, it’s like I’m wearing one of them retarded sign thingies!”
Rafe ran his eyes over her again, by all the bad luck in the realms! She was UN?
He’d met UN’s who could pass for a regular human, but this one? Not the sharpest tool in the shed after tossing a fucking knife at an Alpha surrounded by his… shit, he glanced Aiden’s way again noting even more of his kind amounting to what had to be at least half his pack.
Either she had a death wish or, she had to be bat shit crazy.
Rafe felt his brain seize, cramping up in his skull when he attempted to figure out what exactly was wrong with her, because SOMETHING, was definitely wrong with her.
“Kimoira… its Kimoira right?”
She lifted her head from the table, momentarily ceasing the little banging thing she was doing with her forehead that made the glasses jump with each thud on the scarred tabletop and grinned at him, displaying cute little fangs.
“Actually, everyone calls me Kimoi.”
Then linking her fingers she dropped her chin atop them. “Proceed.”
Bossy little thing too.
“Kimoi then, about your friends, where are they?”
Her face crumpled up, eyes misting, shit, she was about to cry.
Please don’t let her cry he pleaded silently with God as she sucked in a deep shuddering breath, expelling the air through her nose.
There was a pregnant pause before she replied in a strangled voice.
“Dead… murdered…”
Ah hell! She’s gonna cry.
She sank back against the seat, small hands covering her face shoulders shaking violently before doing a complete 180, as seconds later she began to laugh, wildly, making the hair on his neck stand on end.
Jordan shifted away from her as she seemed to run through the whole gamut of grief, one stage at a time before dissolving into panting snorting giggles while waving her hands around.
“So, so, sorry. I get real hysterical… ha… ha… when I think about it, so sorry.”
She wheezed that out after a bit then just collapsed onto her side and out of view, giggling and panting in the dark beneath the table.
Rafe signaled Aiden and Michael to get their asses over because THIS SHIT, was not in his job description as an honorary enforcer for them.
By the time they were sliding into the booth, Jordan had managed to wipe the truly horrified look off his face and the little blonde Kimoi was topside again, rubbing at her red eyes like a sleepy child.
Just how in the hell had crying made her more beautiful?
How was that even a thing?
She cut across his thoughts. “Oh goody the whole gangs here, Hiya wolves.”
She then she blessed each with a toothy grin.
Michael said nothing, didn’t as much look in her direction. He just slid over Jordan’s knife retrieved from the wall. Aiden leaned over to Rafe.
“What-the-fuck Rafe! We lose her on the street then she pops up here making eyes at your brother, then you show up! Do you know the fucking crap she’s done in four days?” He spat the words at him.
The wolf was obviously losing his shit and Rafe could relate. If anyone was to lose their shit for a damn good reason this was definitely it.
“What the hell is this?”
Aiden grounded out in a barely restrained tone that hinted at the rage seething beneath the surface. Rafe shrugged out of his jacket calmly, draping it over his seat carefully, then picked up his beer and took a sip.
“Hell, if I knew Aiden, believe me.”
He was sure though when his eyes met hers, that a lot sooner than he knew, he’d find out. And he wouldn’t like it one bit.
The blonde flashed her fangs and all but purred.
“If you only knew, it would definitely be hell.”
Well… that didn’t sound promising.
Shit, some days… just weren’t worth getting dressed for.
Now all he had to do was wait for the other shoe to drop.
One hour later
Aiden rocked back in the seat, head shaking ever so often after watching the little blonde for a few minutes.
Damn! But the Talon was right, this female was trouble and not only that but…
She was about as dumb as a piece of wood. On top of that, terrifying.
The little snippets she pulled from his skull with gut wrenching ease was horrifying and sexy as a fat cherry on top a messed up sundae.
Last score on the board, totally – irresistible.
He cocked his head to get a better view of her, and one supremely pissed off wolf. Lucas Sinclair, his Beta/white knight.
He’d ridden in on his almighty high white horse a half hour ago to, “Save Aiden from himself.”