Half Blood (11 page)

Sabel’s wolf stared out into Rhett’s mismatched eyes for a very long time. When the eye-fuck was finally over, he growled, ‘I accept.’ Releasing Rhett, Sabel took a few steps backwards; giving each of them a little more room for the battle.

‘Fists or fur?’ Sabel asked in a rumbling growl.

Rhett smiled sadistically, squeezing his hands into tight balls of pain. ‘Fists.’ And it was on. Rhett landed the first blow, slamming his fist into Sabel’s jaw. His head snapped back, but his recovery was quick. Rhett landed another two jabs to his face before he was slugged with a right hook.

He fell and when he was down, Sabel kicked him in the kidneys. Pain cascaded through his body, jacking up his wolf that was pacing impatiently now; snarling and snapping in warning. Sabel was lining up for a kick to the face; Rhett rolling out of it before the blow could land. He was up on his feet again, slamming his fists into Sabel’s ribs and belly. A punch to his nose snapped his head back, blood leaking from one nostril as he levelled his gaze on Rhett. His piercing chartreuse eyes promised more pain as he wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

‘Had enough?’ Rhett asked; his voice rough from his wolf’s influence.

Sabel snarled and lunged for him again, driving him to the ground and straddling his hips. He landed punch after punch after punch, sending Rhett’s head left and then right over and over again. He felt his nose break and laughed maniacally, causing Sabel to pause just for a moment.

Rhett lurched to the side, taking Sabel with him. Rhett pounded him in the face until it sounded like he was just hitting a side of beef. Sabel’s face was a bloody mess—barely recognisable—when Rhett crawled off him. He dragged in deep breaths; the cold air shooting down his lungs. Testing his nose, he pushed it back into place and looked up to find Sabel standing over him.

‘We’re not finished yet,’ he ground out.

The desire to fight was still a fire burning white-hot in Rhett’s belly. And the opportunity to piss Sabel off was just too good. ‘I won’t fight you.’

‘We’re done when I say we’re done!’ he roared, yanking Rhett up by the collar of his t-shirt. With his arm wound back, his fingers curled into a tight ball ready to punch.

‘Enough!’ a new voice yelled. The rush of pins and needles on Rhett’s skin told him all he needed to know. Yet again, his uncle had come to help. ‘This challenge is null.’

‘Alpha, he challenged me. I accepted. We must finish this,’ Sabel hissed.

‘No. We will
not
have dissension in the ranks after what happened tonight with Marcus. We will be seen as weak if we keep fighting amongst ourselves. He is simply looking for a reason to get the Seer to side with him. A pack unsettled is no place for a félvair.’ He turned to Rhett. ‘Go inside and clean yourself up. You should go back into town to check on your charge. Sabel. In my office. Now!’

Rhett spat onto the ground, barely missing Sabel’s feet and stalked off. Sure his body felt like it’d been run over by a Mack truck, but it felt good. Up in his room, Brax was playing Xbox.

‘I’d like to think whatever doesn’t kill me better start running,’ he said with a shrug. ‘I need a shower and then I’m going out.’

Indi stopped at the entrance to her building; her hand resting on the handle of the door. On the outside, she schooled her expression carefully—seeming calm and cool. But on the inside, she was barely holding on by the skin of her teeth. Her sleep last night had been plagued by a nightmare she hadn’t had to endure for five long years. It kept playing in her head—over and over—until she had forced her eyes to stay open. Her body was begging her for sleep now, but there was no chance of that happening.

She pushed open the door and shivered. There was a light layer of sleet on the footpath. It crunched under her boots as she made her way to the café. Burying her face into the collar of her coat, she tried to push the memories of her dreams away, hating how debilitating they still were.

The streetlights were still on, casting speculative, one-eyed looks over her head, causing her shadow to bend and writhe under their harsh glare. The streets were empty, quiet to the point where Indi needed to hear some noise just to know that she wasn’t completely alone out there. Arriving at the café, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her set of keys, fumbling around until she found the right one for the front door. Sliding in through the door, she locked it behind her and went to the storeroom to get started on the opening up checklist.

Jerry showed up half an hour later; his long, strawberry blond hair still wet from his morning shower. Shucking his coat, he threw it into the store room, tied on an apron and went straight to the coffee machine. She didn’t want Jerry to know that the dreams were back, so she pretended that everything was okay; that she hadn’t just stayed up all night watching infomercials and eating crackers just to keep her eyes open.

‘Morning Indi,’ someone said. Indi looked up into the eyes of the delivery girl from the bakery. Her name was Sarah and she kind of reminded her of another foster kid she’d lived with for a while.

‘Hey,’ she replied. ‘Just put them there, thanks.’

Sarah grinned at her and dumped the load of pastries where Indi had said. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she waved, walking out of the café door with a
ding
chaser.

She picked up the box and began sliding the contents into the cabinet. But as she worked, her temples started to throb. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger and waited for the pounding sensation to pass. It looked like the lack of sleep had finally caught up with her.

‘Are you alright Ind?’ Jerry asked from above her head. She hated it when he loomed. All tall people loomed, even if they didn’t mean to.

‘I’m fine,’ she replied, rubbing her temples like a death metal band had now set up for band practice behind her eyes.

‘Are you sure?’

Indi’s eyes opened and looked straight into the crashing blue waves of Jerry’s. ‘I just didn’t sleep so well last night, so now I’ve got a headache.’

‘Bad dreams again?’

She groaned inwardly. ‘Kind of.’
More like the past coming back to haunt me
.

Indi couldn’t talk to Jerry about what had happened. He carried the guilt he had for her life around like a weight around his neck. She didn’t understand why though. He couldn’t have stopped anything that had happened to her in the past, but he made damn sure that her future was going to be all red roses and fucking cute kittens.

She sighed. Even if Jer didn’t punish himself like he did, there was no way that she could tell him about what happened in the café yesterday, and definitely nothing about what had happened last night. If he knew what Wright had done to her, what
she
had done to
him
, there would be no going back from that. His guilt would kill him.

The memories that hunted her—haunted her every minute swirled dangerously in her head. They were so vivid that Indi clutched at her head again, trying to stop the memories crashing into her. When Wright had cornered her, it reminded her too much of being that helpless little girl again. Indi despised her thirteen-year-old self. She was weak. Like a sledge hammer being slammed against her skull, she was suddenly at that backyard party again …

‘
Come on Indigo. Just come and meet some of my friends quickly,’ her newest foster brother said. Although she didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to seem ungrateful either. She’d seen how they all stared at her like she was a piece of meat being held up in front of a hungry tiger. But Evan had thrown this party for her, to welcome her to the family. ‘So will you come?’ he asked again.

‘
Fine,’ Indi replied still feeling a little twitchy about coming face to face with Evan’s teammates. Evan had been so nice to her at the new school––sitting with her during lunch, walking her to and from school even though he was a senior and she was the new girl nobody wanted to talk to. She let him take her hand, leading her toward the house.

‘
Where are we going?’ she asked, nervously shifting her eyes everywhere, checking for danger like it was going to come out from the shadows.

‘
I told the boys to wait inside for me.’

‘
Why?’

‘
They wanted to be close to the beer,’ he smiled over his shoulder. Indi felt as if she wanted to stand up and give him a round of applause for his smile. It was just so perfect. He pulled a little harder on her hand, bringing her body closer to his. She felt the warmth of his body leeching out from under his tight tee. She looked around the living room filled with a mass of sweaty, grinding bodies.

‘
Where are they?’ she yelled over the thumping bass of the music that she could feel all the way through her chest.

Ducking his head down close to her ear, he said, ‘In there,’ pointing towards the kitchen. ‘Are you nervous about meeting them?’

‘
No, not nervous,’ she replied. Bringing her hand up under his arm, he curled her fingers around his bicep and smiled his million-dollar smile.

‘
Come on then. They really want to meet you properly.’

They walked towards the kitchen, pushing the door wide and looking inside. His huge, blue eyes scanned the space until he cursed. ‘They’re not here. They must be in my room. Come on.’

Indi’s feet planted on the linoleum.

‘
What’s wrong?’ he asked, bringing a warm hand to her cheek. ‘It’s okay. We’ll say hello real quick and then we’ll go. Is that okay?’

Indi looked in his eyes seeing only warmth and protection. After she gave him a sharp nod, he put her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her down the long hallway. She held her breath, trying to stop the tingle of butterflies from escaping her stomach.

When Evan pushed his bedroom door open, there were five of his football teammates standing around. Indi looked at each of them carefully; her heart beginning to pound violently against her ribcage. Her foster brother cleared his throat, getting every single male’s attention in the room.

‘
Guys, this is Indi, my new foster sister,’ he announced with pride in his voice. Indi couldn’t help but smile a little.
Maybe she would belong here
she thought. The boys all smiled at her, saying their hellos and how-are-yas. After greeting them, she turned back to Evan.

‘
Can I go back outside now?’

‘
Yeah. In a minute though. You don’t want to be rude and not talk to the boys do you?’

Indi swallowed down on her hammering pulse. ‘No,’ she replied in a small voice.

‘
Good,’ he smiled again and led her towards the bed. ‘Tom, make some fucking room,’ he barked at his mate. Tom shuffled up a little on the bed before Evan offered her the seat. She sat down, nervously playing with her hands in her lap. Her knuckles were twisting into strange angles as the boys talked and joked around, they all but ignored her.

After five minutes she stood up—intending to leave—but Evan stopped her with a hand on her cheek.

‘
Where are you going Indi?’ he asked softly. His head was only a few inches from hers. She could smell his cologne; a sweet temptation to her senses.

‘
I was just going to go outside again,’ she replied in a shaky voice, still wringing her hands together until her knuckles cracked. That sound was almost a signal to him because his face hardened, his smile lost in the hard lines of his mouth.

‘
No. You’re going to stay here and entertain us Indi.’

‘
What do you mean?’

His eyes shifted to his left, looking at the boy she had been sitting next to. ‘Well, Tom here likes you, don’t you Tom?’ Tom nodded slowly. ‘So you aren’t going to run away right now. Talk to Tom for a while.’

Indi looked down at Tom. His hazel eyes were soft and welcoming. She gulped down hard on her dry throat, trying to figure out a way out of this situation. The door was shut tight; one of the boys leaning casually against it. When she took too long to sit, Evan pushed down on her shoulders until she sat down again.

Tom shuffled a little closer to her, his thigh touching hers. Indi smoothed the fabric of her skirt down nervously, glancing at Tom from the corner of her eye. He smiled at her then ran the back of his finger down the exposed skin of her arm. Shocked, she shuffled away from him. He followed her and did the same thing. Indi shuffled up again until she hit a solid wall of muscle on the other side of her. Evan had sat down at the end of the bed and he turned to look at her with a sinister smile twisting his lips.

‘
Evan. I want to go now,’ she said in a whisper.

‘
No Indi,’ he replied in a deep voice. ‘You’re going to stay with us for a while.’