Eight
'Dom, you can't walk away from me.' Came the nasally whining voice behind me. I could hear the click-clack of her high heels and to be honest, the sound was pissing me off.
These days, or weeks, I couldn't remember as everything was starting to blur together, being pissed off was normal. I was kicking myself for leaving Belle, not only because of the fucked up mystery I was facing now, but because I was being stalked by some warrior princess who was adamant in finding a mate. Well, she'd found one in me, but it wasn't going to happen. It didn't matter that I was attracted to her, I didn't like her, despite my mori who practically purred at the sight of Callie, I wasn't going to turn my back on the girl I loved.
I'd die first.
'Dom get your sexy ass back here. We have to get this over and done with.'
If my mori started screaming 'Solmi' on more damn time... Without seeing it, I sensed the dense woman was reaching for me, so I whirled around so fast she stumbled back. 'If you touch me, you're going through the wall.' I snarled at the dirty blonde haired female who was becoming my worst nightmare. Belle's fears had manifested into some sort of reality that I was trying to find a way out of.
The worst thing was, my whole family knew about it and they were all giving me advice. I wished they'd just have my back and keep this woman away from me, but the slippery eel always found a way past them.
'Dom, please we need to talk.'
'Actually, we don't, at all. I don't want any part of this.' I shot back, striding away from her, yet she kept pace with me. Gritting my teeth, I made it to the room I was sharing with Brody and Devon and shoved my way into the door. Like always, Devon's hulking body made her freeze at the doorway before he slammed the door shut in Callie's astonished face. I turned, surprised that my family were filtering in from the joining room. Along with Drew who was leaning against the doorway, his eyes on the ground. With a jolt, I remembered that this girl wasn't the only threat we were facing.
'Girl needs to take a hint.' Devon growled resting his back against the door, just in case the psycho blonde decided to barge her way through the door.
Brody was sitting on the bed fiddling with his phone looking worried.
'You called for a family meeting?' Dad asked as he sat in the arm chair, mum trailed after him looking worried.
'Yeah...' He trailed off looking lost.
'What?' I barked impatiently. I had things to do and breaking a damn bond connection was at the top of my list.
'Belle, Abby and Allie, have been in Seattle for the last three days. Guess she got tired of us all ignoring her so decided to jump ship. Luckily Desmond's there too.'
My stomach would have dropped to the ground but knowing she had gone straight to her uncle mystified me. I looked at Drew and I realised why. She'd reconnected with a brother she never knew and now he'd disappeared. If one of my brothers went missing, I wouldn't sit on my ass either. Which meant she had been planning this for a while. Slippery little Slytherin. Shoulda known she would act out like this especially if she figured out that we were all together.
I smirked. 'What?' Devon asked.
'What do you want to bet Belle's figured we've teamed up?' I asked watching as Drew paled. The door opened and Nikolas Danshov and Chris trailed in with their mates. Chris shut the door giving me a worried look. Goddamn it, he knew too, which meant everyone knew about me and Callie. Had she bitched to everyone? Swallowing hard, I reminded myself that I didn't want to think about her right now. I needed my head in the game.
'So, our baby warrior teamed up with Matt,' Brody muttered, 'wonderful.'
'I told you we should have brought him in.' I countered while Devon placed a warning hand on my shoulder.
'My mother could be a serial killer. Matt and Belle need to be kept out of this.' Drew spat viciously.
'We don't know it's her yet.' Mom reminded us all from her seat.
'Keeping Matthew out of this could make matters worse. We should get to New Jersey, set the command center up and figure the rest out as we go.' Dad said. 'We've done what we can, visiting the scenes of every murder site and we've come up with nothing.'
'I wanted to see where everyone died, and we did learn something. This murderer is no vampire.' Drew spit out looking daggers at the ground.
'The more people who are involved means more leaks. Who do we trust?' Heath asked looking at us.
'Family,' Ian replied from his spot near the window. 'We get Matthew and Belle to haul ass and we team up like we should have done weeks ago, like I suggested.' His eyes were flashing at me.
'I know she thinks she's ready but both Bell and Allie aren't ready for this.' I replied, knowing how badly Belle would react being taken from her friends and Belle would need them when she found out about my bonding with someone.
'Desmond won't let her go,' Mom replied.
'So, we bring him in. I trust him.'
'Or he'll get in the way.' Brody interjected.
I let out a snarl that had him backing off. Devon's hand squeezed my shoulder until I threw him off. 'He knows the people on the council. He could be an asset. I trust him more than Hamid.' I spat. 'He had one fucking job to do and he couldn't even keep Belle away from this shit.'
'So, lets haul ass out of Sunny Tasmania, shall we?' Devon asked sarcastically as he smacked me on the back of the head hard enough to make my scalp sting. I glowered at him, rounding on him but my older brother stood firm, in fact his eyes were daring me to start a punch on.
'What are you going to say to blondie out there?' Devon asked bluntly.
'I'm freeing myself. What does it matter?'
'Trust me it matters. It's going to hurt. You'll be torn for weeks if not months. You know how messed up I was with Ellen.'
I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to move aside. I got it, now, he'd told me once that being bonded with someone that you didn't want was rough, it was even harder being the one being rejected, and Ellen had rejected my brooding brother without telling him why. Finally, he shifted to the side and I exited the room. Walking down the hall, I took a deep breath summoning my courage as I knocked on Callie's door.
Three beats later, her door was flung open and a beaming woman was grinning at me.
Shit.
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Matt was wiping his computer as I stumbled into his apartment at two in the morning. We'd been working in here a lot, pouring over reports. So far, we found fourteen couples that fit the MO. The earliest one had been in Tasmania, December the seventh, 1972 and then there was a five-year gap in between 2002 and 2007. I'd been born in 2002 but there could be many reasons why no one was killed. Maybe my parents weren't even on the list and it was just a coincidence. Still, we couldn't rule it out. The main question was, whether it was the Master, or something else. I'd rather not be hunting two monsters, but heck I had all the tie in the world now.
My mori stirred and I whirled around as the door shut behind me. I wasn't expecting Drew but I reached for him as soon as he entered my sight, holding me close. I was too tired to get angry at him for his disappearing act.
'I'm so sorry.' He whispered clutching onto me like I was a lifeline.
'Drew, what's going on? Where were you?'
'I...Belle...god you're so smart you know that? And I'll let you know what's going on the plane, just go get your stuff, please.'
'Um...my dad and Abby...'
'They're already packing. Get your stuff and tell no one what's going on.'
I looked at Matt who shook his head. 'This is where I'm needed most. I'll call you later.' He promised as Drew bustled me out.
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I wasn't expecting to land in New Jersey since everything had been all hush hush and not even the pilot knew where we were going until departure. Before Drew could tell me what the hell's going on, I was fast asleep against his shoulder.
I'd woken up in a bed beside Abby and I'd left her and Gemma sleeping.
Now the salty air beckoned to me as I paced the veranda of an off-white mansion that the council had bought. Staring down at the freshly mowed green grass and the lush green gardens, I waited for Dom to find me, and waited, and waited. My mori was more alert and seemed to want out but I decided not to meditate until later.
Finally, I got tired of waiting for him to grovel to me about why he had disappeared, walked inside, closed the glass sliding door, crossed the room and walked out. Following the bare honey, wooden paneled hallway, I found a wide staircase with a gentle curve to it and followed it down. I was downstairs, in the large foyer. Through a wide archway I saw a large dining room and the beginnings of a large kitchen but a sound to the right made me turn. So, I walked down stopping short of the first room. I heard a female voice that made me recoil. I don't know why it did, but something about the nasally, Australian accent repelled me as if I'd hit an invisible forcefield.
'Come on Dom, we need to talk.' The girl was pleaded.
'How did you even find me?' Dom growled savagely. Taken aback, I kicked the door open and stared. A tall bimbo warrior was holding onto my guy's arms. The worst thing was, I saw it in his eyes, the attraction, hidden behind layers of surprise and anger.
What. The. Fuck.
'Belle...' Dom trailed off.
'What's going on?' I asked trying to sound normal, but I know I failed. He knew he was in deep trouble. Yet, I decided to be polite, for now. There had to be a logical reason why this cow was touching my guy.
'Who the hell are you?' The girl demanded flicking her fake blonde hair over her shoulder.
'I'm his girlfriend, you daft bimbo. Who the hell are you?' So much for being polite, I thought to myself.
The warrior stared at me loftily before she smirked, her eyes glinting maliciously. 'Well, it wasn't your name he was screaming two nights ago while we were in bed.'
'What the fuck?' Dominic spat at her looking dangerous while I absorbed what the barbie just said. Dom, a cheater? Yeah right. Yet I recalled the attraction I'd seen in his eyes and a minuscule amount of doubt seeped into my mind. 'Belle, nothing has happened, I promise.'
'Nothing has happened? We're mates.' The blonde pouted.
I stared in silence for a few seconds before I burst into a sudden bout of fake laughter that rocked the floor, shocking everyone except me. 'Good one, you almost had me.' I choked out laughing so hard tears leaked out of my eyes. Wow, I was a good actress, in another life I was probably a Hollywood actor.
'I'm not lying, he's mine.' The girl declared over my laughter.
'I'm not yours.' Dominic spat but the girl wasn't listening. She only grabbed his head and kissed him and for a second he moved away before he reluctantly kissed her back.
Sobering up, my laughter died away and was quickly replaced with white hot rage, okay so this wasn't a joke after all. My mori surged forward. For once, I gave it complete control. My mori rushed at the pair, throwing my hands out, shoving the blonde out of his arms. Snarling at her, my mori rushed at her in a fury, throwing punch after punch, kick after kick, before turning on Dominic who tried to stop me, to protect her. My mori, Buddy, smashed my elbow into his face and it was satisfied, not once looking at him since we were still trading punches with the bitch who looked frantic.
'What the hell is going on?' Someone demanded from behind me.
'Belle's in a rage. I can't...' Dominic muttered through a bleeding nose while Buddy kicked the bitch through the window. Finally someone shoved me face first to the wooden floor and landed on top. The shrieks of rage were cold and malicious, so unlike my own. I froze as my Mori tried desperately to dislodge whoever was lying on top of us.
'Shhh Belle, it's me, you don't want to hurt me honey,' Sebastian whispered. 'You want to take control back, come on girly, you know you don't like it when your mori takes control.'
It's true, I didn't want to hurt him at all. His son though...my mori snarled in annoyance as I pushed forward. It wailed but finally realised I wasn't messing around and slowly faded. Like being under water, the fogginess in my mind faded and I gasped in a deep breath tasting blood.
'There she is.' Sebastian said getting up. Flipping to my feet, I winced checking my body. The warrior my mori had attacked had been seasoned and despite buddy's best efforts, I was definitely injured and in desperate need of gunna paste. Stalking to the window, I shoved it up spitting blood before turning to the blonde-haired woman who was whimpering about her hair. I spied clumps of blonde hair on the floor that had been yanked out.
Good one, I thought to my smug mori although its thoughts went dark as Dominic entered my vision and my rage began to simmer.
'Belle?'
'Don't talk to me ever, again.' I muttered, striding past him. He went to reach out to me but I saw the moment he cringed away from my touch and my heart broke. Dad appeared and pulled me from the room.
'What happened?' He gasped touching my face tenderly.
'He bonded and mated with some bitch,' I spat viciously as I bolted for somewhere safe to cry.
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Belle had done everything I had expected and more. Bruised and bloody, the warrior had been twice her strength and speed and she still hadn't been able to best Belle, a novice. Hell, not even I had been able to stop her. I was still sporting a concussion and a broken nose as I stared at the blood and hair on the floor. My girl's face was all bloodied up but she'd stalked out of the room without a backwards glance. Dad gave me a disgusted look before following after them.
'Belle, he didn't mate with her.' Sebastian said as he trailed after them.
'Don't care.' Belle's voice was so hollow, so defeated, it hit me like a punch to the gut. Not being able to touch her without feeling revulsed was killing me. I stared down at the cow I'd broken the bond with, wanting nothing more than to throw her into a pond full of toxic waste. Instead, I turned and walked out trailing after them. She must have heard me, because suddenly a vase threw inches past my head, smashing into pieces against the wall. Pieces stabbed my bare skin, but that didn't stop me until dad sent me an icy glare that could freeze a zombie.
My dad had never hit us, but I could see in his eyes that he wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of me.
Whimpering, I turned to glare at Callie who had exited the room, checking her bleeding scalp. 'Devon will see you out.' I told her coldly.
'Please Dom, don't do this.'
'Oh, but I am. You lied to the girl I love and you tried to manipulate her into causing a fight with me. I feel nothing for you but contempt and you need to get the hell out.'
'I'll tell everyone what you're all doing.' She wiped her face but only managed to smear more of the blood on her face.
'We were on vacation.'
'I checked your travel plans. You went all over the world and no demons were killed. You're all up to something. I know it.' She declared glaring at me heatedly. All over the mansion the low voices paused before continuing.
'Callie, you need to leave.' Ian warned as he appeared at the door.
Like a stubborn child she stomped her foot and then whimpered. 'I won't, I'm not going anywhere.'
'Wow, and I thought Devon can't take a hint.' Ian mused to himself.
'I heard that,' he growled from the kitchen. 'Get rid of her, but if you can't I will...' He threatened. Finally, Callie realized he wasn't messing around and with one last reproachful look at me, she limped out crying.
'Where's Belle?'
'Heath and the girls are with her. I'd stay away from Abby. I heard she wants to kill you and not even Brody is gonna save you.' Ian said peering down at me.
'Wonderful,' I muttered. Could this day get any worse? I heard a noise and looked down to see Gemma had taken a dump on my new Converse.
'Thanks, Gem.' The Mew she let out was so uppity, her eyes were slits, and if her tail, poker straight as she strutted away wasn't a big F-U, I didn't know what was.
