Chapter 29

NATHANIEL 

“I am fucking dead on my feet. I didn’t know that was possible until now,” Ayra groaned, throwing herself back on the bed. “Did you know Kimberly has a weird obsession with flowers?” She asked, shutting her eyes.

“What did she do?” I asked, whipping my sweatshirt off my head. 

She opened her eyes, eager to tell her story. “She wanted these enormous bouquets around the table, and I told her people wouldn’t be able to see each other if it was too much. She almost swallowed me, and she came out with the ‘I am an interior decorator’ shit. Long story short, we had to tie her down to remove the excess flowers. If you find my dead body, look no further for a suspect. Kimberly did it.”

I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Also, I heard there’s a pre-ceremony tonight. How many parties do you guys throw around here? It’s just one freaking ceremony. I don’t understand the extra shit going on.”

I chortled. “My uncle loved parties. When he formed this pack, he used the Blood Moon Festival as an excuse to throw excessive parties. He’s dead now.”

“He formed the pack? I thought you did.”

“No. He formed the pack, and it only had three people in it; him, his girlfriend, and an errand boy. He only stayed for a week after the Blood Moon Festival before he left me in charge. He hated pack life, but he’d always return for the ceremony. The next day, he was off again.”

“How did he die?”

“I don’t know. I just got the news from his girlfriend, and she never contacted us after that. We do not know where his body was buried.”

“He sounds like a fun person. Too bad he didn’t give you some tips before he passed on, bless his soul.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“You have a hard time loosening up,” she replied, parting her thighs as I climbed over her. “You think I should tell the girls that I’m not supposed to be a werewolf?”

Her question reminded me of the conversation I had with Ishmael at his place earlier.

*"She is a vampire," I said to Ishmael.*

*"I know," he replied, holding a glass of whiskey to me.*

*"How do you know?"*

*"I’ve been doing some research. She is a Staxton, and her family has been looking for their daughter for a year now."*

*"She is a Staxton?"*

*Everyone knew who the Staxtons were, but I never heard of a daughter before. They were Bloodline vampires, which meant they possessed abilities the average vampires didn’t. Generations have passed, and the family still held power over their specie.*

*"Yes. A successor to the throne, if I’m not mistaken. Zachary has been looking for her." He smirked at the look on my face. “No need to be scared. He’s her twin brother. She is the older twin, so that makes her the heir. Well, the rumors were she fought her grandfather tooth and nail for the position. According to her, she was the oldest, and it didn’t matter if she had a dick or not.”*

*"How did Zachary react to that?"*

*"I know what you’re thinking. He didn’t have a hand in Ayra going missing. He loves his sister a lot, and if I know him as well as I think I do, he’s going to be pissed if he finds out she’s here."*

*"You’ve met him before?"*

*"No. I’ve met his companion. She’s a powerful sorceress. We were both trained by Odin, but she has been with Zachary for a while now."*

*"The right thing to do would be to tell her brother we have her, right?"*

*"The stupid thing to do would be to tell her brother you have her. Ayra doesn’t remember her family."*

*It was more of a statement, but I answered him, anyway. “I don’t think so. She only remembers how she got kidnapped, Turned, and tortured by some men.”*

*"I thought as much. Zachary doesn’t give an audience to anyone, but if Ayra goes herself, he’ll listen to her and not act out in rage. I know you want to do right by her, but you also have to do right by your pack members. Zachary could attack in anger. You have a powerful pack, but I don’t have to tell you how Staxtons work."*

“Nathaniel.” She snapped her fingers in front of my face, bringing my attention back to her.

“If you feel comfortable, you can tell them. It all depends on if you trust them.”

“And you?”

“What about me?”

“You’re more than just a werewolf.”

“I am,” I admitted.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “What are you?”

“What do you think?”

“You’re a demon?” She asked.

“You don’t look scared at all.”

“Well, are you?”

“I’ll let you find out yourself.” I slid off her body, pulling her up. “Get ready. We need to attend the party. We’ll spend one hour max, and you can head home.”

“It’s funny that you think I care about keeping up public appearances. I am not your mate, remember?”

“You will be by tomorrow. Then you’ll have to worry about keeping up appearances.”

“An awful lot of confidence you have, huh?”

“Get dressed, Ayra.”

“You’re lucky I’m not in the mood to argue tonight,” she said before heading out of my bedroom.

*** AYRA

“Have you seen Nathaniel around? He brought me here only for him to leave twenty minutes in,” I huffed, accepting the shot Nikki passed my way.

Reese and Kimberly shared anxious looks that said they were hiding something from me, and Nikki didn’t seem to be in the loop.

“What are you two hiding?”

“Nothing!” Reese squeaked. “Sorry,” she said when Kimberly shook her at her like she was disappointed. “Sorry. I just don’t deal with pressure really well.”

“She wasn’t even pressuring you,” Kimberly said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

***

NATHANIEL 

“You really shouldn’t have done this, Sandra,” I said with disappointment. 

“Oh, please, don’t come at me with that ‘I care about you' bullshit. You don’t. If you did, you would’ve never left me for Ayra,” she spat, her eyes alive with anger.

“Am I hearing you correctly? You think your worth is only in the bedroom. Fuck, Sandra, stop degrading your self-worth like that. I’m disappointed.”

“Face it, Nate. You only wanted me for my body.”

“No. I did more than that with you. I know it was a few times, but I confided in you, and how did you repay me? You stabbed me in the fucking back. Your plan to sever the bond between me and Ayra ended up almost killing me, even though there was no fucking bond between us.”

She turned her head away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I knew you’d say that. Bring him in, Kai!”

I kept my eyes on her as Kai brought Seth into view. Her eyes widened slightly, but she quickly returned her face to the passive mask it was before he came in.

“And what is this nonsense?” She asked.

“You may leave now, Kai. As for you, Sandra, I want you to backtrack on all your lies, and tell me the truth. I’ll make your death easier if you do.”

“Acheron is gone.”

“You’re wrong. You just made him take a break,” I snarled before allowing the Change to come upon me. 

My claws elongated, and horns pulled out of my head. My skin turned scaly as I heard my shirt rip to give way to my wings.

Seth gasped, backing away from me. “You’re a demon.”

“Too bad you won’t live to tell the tale.” A ball of fire formed in my palm, and just as I was about to throw it at him, I heard my name.

“Nathaniel?”

AYRA

“You’re not allowed to go in there,” Kai said, blocking my path as I tried to walk past him.

“Why not?” I asked. “What the fuck is even this place?” I queried, looking at the weirdly shaped building.

“You shouldn’t be here. Nathaniel is taking care of some things.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here to talk to him.”

“Kimberly told you, didn’t she?”

“Told me what, exactly? How you all made a plan to kill an innocent person?”

Kai laughed humorously. “Seth isn’t innocent. The fuckhead was working with Sandra. Sandra was impatient, so she stole the potion before Ishmael could give it to Seth.”

“Still, I need to speak with Nathaniel. Please.”

He stepped to the side, pulling the door open. “Fuck it. Go in.”

“Thanks.”

The first thing I saw when I walked into the building was the narrow stairs. It was dark, so I had to use the walls to guide me as I walked down the stairs. 

*Weren’t vampires supposed to have enhanced eyesight, or was it just a werewolf thing?*

Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard Seth gasp. “You’re a demon.”

“Too bad you won’t live to tell the tale.”

That was freaking Nathaniel’s voice. I made a turn to the right, following the voices I heard.

“Nathaniel?” I called out, shocked and scared at the same time. This room was lit, allowing me to see him completely in his demon form.

His eyes were completely black, while horns grew out of his head. I hadn’t been imagining things in the hallway the night we had sex. He had real horns. His bat-like wings stood proud and wide behind him, while his normally smooth skin was scaly.

“Fuck me,” I cursed, backing away to the stairs. This was my first time seeing a demon, and the other times I’d come in contact with demons, darkness masked them, so I didn’t get to see their true form.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting when I’d envisioned demons in my head, but the look in Nathaniel’s eyes was far from welcoming. He looked terrifying, like he was a second away from tearing my head off. I wasn’t about to stick around to see if he’d do exactly that, seeing as I did not know how demons worked.

I got to the bottom of the stairs, and he remained fixed to his spot, watching my every move with his head cocked to the side. When I knew he wasn’t about to make any move, I made a run up the stairs, only to collide with a muscular chest.

*How did he get here so fast?*

“Where the fuck are you running to?” He growled, sounding very much like himself.

His eyes were the only things I could make out in the dark, and they were red. “Outside.”

“Why? You came here to stay something, didn’t you?”

“Um, yes, but… “

“But you’re fucking scared now.” He sounded hurt. “I get it.”

I shook my head, knowing he could see me in the dark. “It’s not that. I-I don’t know how demons work, and you looked like you were going to murder me.”

He snorted like that was the most asinine thing he’d ever heard. “Why are you here?”

“I heard you were planning on killing Seth.”

“And let me guess, you’re going to beg me not to.”

“Yes. He did nothing.”

“He was working with Sandra. That’s big enough of a crime for me.”

“But we… “

I paused when I heard Seth’s screams coming from down the stairs. I took off down the stairs, and when I stumbled upon the scene, he laid still on the floor while Nathaniel had a beating heart in his hand, blood dripping to the floor.

When I looked down at Seth's chest, it didn’t have a gaping hole, so my gaze immediately traveled to Sandra, who was slumped against a wall, and she was, in fact, missing a heart.

I couldn’t stop the bile as it fell out of my mouth. How the fuck was he able to do that? I looked at Sandra’s body again, and much to my surprise, a thick cloud of black smoke flew past Nathaniel’s head, heading for the stairs.

Nathaniel dropped the heart to the floor, changing back into his normal self. “Fuck.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“A demon possessed her.”

***

“Well?” I asked when Nathaniel refused to meet my eyes.

He sat on the edge of his bed with his forearms placed on his thighs, his eyes glued to the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Well, what?”

“Are you going to keep avoiding eye contact, or are we going to address the elephant in the room?” 

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Ayra.” He laid flat on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

“How about we start by you looking me in the eye? What are you scared of?”

“Why would I fear you? That’s like the most asinine thing I’ve heard.”

“Okay, we’re gonna pretend like you didn’t just insult me right now. Back to the topic at hand. When were you ever going to tell me?”

“I wasn’t hiding it from you. I said something about it tonight.”

“You said you were going to let me find out for myself,” I shot back, doing my best impression of his voice.

“I was right. You found out for yourself.”

I pushed away from the dresser, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him. “You’re acting very much like a child right now.”

“I’m far from a child.”

“Then stop acting like it. Say something.”

“What do you want me to say? Come up with an excuse for you to stay? I’d much rather go to sleep.”

“Why would you come up with an excuse for me to stay?” I laughed when I caught up on what he was trying to say. “You think I’m going to leave?”

“Doesn’t everyone else?”

“You still have your pack members with you.”

“Yeah. The same way I had my lair members with me until they learned the truth. It all happens so fast. One minute they’re worshipping you, singing praises of your name, and the next second, they’re casting stones at you, calling you a monster.”

“What happened to you, Nathaniel?”

He chuckled bitterly. “That’s always the question. What happened to you? Then, when you tell them, they run for the hills. Other times, they use that as ammunition against you later on.”

“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?” I asked.

He reached out for me, pulling me against his chest. “I’m not talking about you. I’ve lived long before I got into this pack life. First as a werewolf, and later on, a demon.”