Chapter Seven - word count 2468 - Download PDF
7.
      “Dude!”  The word was echoed the minute it left Dante’s lips.
      “Dude!”  The man behind the counter leaned over it to tap his fist against Dante’s.  
      Sorcha looked around, they were in a surf shop on the beach.  Every available space was stacked with surfboards and other surfing paraphernalia.  The shop was colorful and smelled of salt and the ocean.  
      “Seriously been long Dude, what you been up to?” The man behind the counter asked Dante.  
      “Hey, you know me, just flowing.” Dante made a wave motion with his hand.   
      “Sweet!  So what can I do you for?”
      “I came to have a convo with Mikey.  He around?”
      “Yeah, he’s chillin’ in the back.”  The guy behind the counter pointed over his shoulder.  
      “Go on through, the dude will be mondo stoked to see you.  He asked my yesterday if I’d heard anything from you.”  
      Dante nodded his blond bangs bobbing over his eyes, and hanging past his sculpted jaw line.  That he could see through his hair amazed Sorcha.  He dipped his head to the left to show Sorcha and Ross to follow him.  
      Kyle nearly bumped into Sorcha when she didn’t move fast enough.  She glared at him over her shoulder.  He’d insisted on coming with, something which had irritated Sorcha to no end.  
      She’d been worried that Kyle might touch her by accident and suddenly become corporeal when needed him to stay invisible.  That had nearly happen because he was in too much of a hurry and it made her grit her teeth in frustration.  
      When Sorcha went to get her bag in her room Kyle had followed her, she’d taken the opportunity to try and explain her concerns to him, he’d blithely ignored them.
      “Don’t care, I’m not letting you go hunting without me.  I want to be there to protect you if you need it.”  
      The sentiment was so sweet she wanted to hug him, but it still didn’t mean that it was a good idea for him to go with.  
      “Kyle, just listen…”
      “Nope.”  He’d grinned impishly at her as he collapsed back to lie across the bed, his hands behind his head.      
      Sorcha sighed and rolled her eyes, doing her best not to get distracted by his position on her bed.  
      “Could you at least manifest a shirt to wear, why do you have to walk around bare chested all the time?”  She asked exasperated.  His bare skin was driving her to distraction.  She’d find herself staring at his chest and imagining what it would feel like to run her hands over the ribbed abs of his stomach or over his pectorals, and after running her hands follow with her mouth.  Her fingers itched to trace the dark lines of the tribal tattoo on his shoulder, to see if the needles had gone deep enough to cause gentle scaring under the ink.  
      Sorcha shook herself and frowned at Kyle, waiting for an answer to her question.  
      “No, this is what I was wearing when I died.  So this is what I wear now.”  
      “So you’re telling me - ” Sorcha raised a brow in challenge. “that you can’t manifest a shirt.”  
      If she thought that would work she was wrong.  Kyle had started laughing, a deep rumble in his chest.  
      “Nope, I can manifest a shirt easy, I just don’t want to.”  His grin was positively evil.
      “I’ve got a feeling that all this bare skin...”  Kyle ran his hands over his chest and down his stomach, his grin stretching when he saw her eyes widen and follow his hands. “makes you all steamy, and I like the thought of you getting all steamy from looking at me.”
      Sorcha felt her breath quicken, and did her damnedest to get it under control.  The man was positively sinful.   
      “In your dreams it makes me all steamy.” Sorcha tried for bravado but failed when her voice broke.  
      Kyle burst out laughing.  
      “You keep telling yourself that Darlin’.”  
      That had been the end of the argument.  Sorcha was scared if she pushed him more he might start walking around bare assed naked, and that she would not survive.
      “Fine, you can come with.” She gave in, but then threw out the words.  “You should have unbraided your hair before you died, now that would have been mouth watering.”
      She walked off leaving him speechless, as a smile played across her lips.  Then she frowned.  Damn, she’d just given him more ammo against her.  So much for witty comebacks.  
      
      Kyle grinned sheepishly at Sorcha when he nearly bumped into her.
      “Sorry, ladies first.”  He waved his hand out from his body, showing her to lead the way.  
      Sorcha raided a brow but didn’t comment, it would look fantastic if she started talking to thin air, she might as well reserve a rubber room.  
      She followed Dante to the back rooms of the shop, down a short passage.  Dante stuck his head around a doorjamb peeking into a room.
      “Mikey Dude, how goes it?”  
      “Dante, damn, it’s been a while.”  A voice answered him.  
      Sorcha, Kyle and Ross followed into a small office.  There was a man behind the desk, his feet up on it as he stretched back his arms folded behind his head.  He stood when the others entered the room.  He was short only about five foot six, but he looked incredibly strong, his biceps bulged under the tight sleeves of his shirt.  
      “Yeah it has.  Mikey I’d like to introduce you to Ross and Sorcha.”  
      Then he told Ross and Sorcha “Mikey is a one of Cole’s wolf pack.”  
      Mikey walked around the desk to greet them.    
      “Is he going to introduce me?”  Kyle asked.  
      Sorcha did her best to ignore him.  
      “Hmm, I like your name Sorcha, you’re quiet the hot whaini huh?”  Mikey flirted outrageously, holding her hand longer than he needed to after shaking it.  Sorcha wanted to roll her eyes, she’d noticed that Dante was a charmer too, she could see why they were friends.  
      Sorcha heard Kyle grumble under his breath, just before he leaned forward and laid a hand on her arm, making himself visible.  
      Mikey jumped back “What the fuck!”  
      Kyle leaned over Sorcha, dwarfing her with his size, he scowled down at the shorter Lycos male.  
      “You better stop with the come on, else you lose a limb.”  His voice depended to a growl.  
      Ross stifled his bust of laughter, turning it into a cough.  “Um, Mikey, meet Kyle.”  
      Oh he was in so much trouble when they got out there.  Sorcha was furious!  How dare Kyle do that?  He had no right at all.  
      Mikey stepped away from Sorcha, completely thrown by Kyle’s sudden appearance.  
      “Can someone explain what the hell is going on?”
      “Not really brah,” Dante grimaced. “but we do need some info, I think you’ll be able to help us out, it would make Gabe happy and that in turn would make Cole happy.”  
      “Sha, what do you need to know?”  
      “In the last six months, a lot of Psy have been taken.  We need to know by who and where?”
      “Dude, I know nothing about any Psy disappearing.”  Mikey shook his head
      “We got a bead on them, they are somewhere in the area.  Has anyone said anything about seeing anything weird going on.”  Ross asked.  
      Mikey shook his head.  Then paused “Wait.  I was talking to Murdock the other day, he said some weird ass dude kept coming to his store and asking Murdock to get strange herbs.  I wouldn’t mention, except this dude freaks Murdock right out, and Murdock don’t freak easy.”  
      “Thanks Mikey, we’ll pay Murdock a visit.” Dante smiled.
      “Dante, brah, you are going to come explain all of this to me at some point right?”
      “Sha, no worries.”  Dante tapped his fist against Mikey’s as the others left the office.  
      
      The sun was bright as they stepped out of the shop.  Kyle still hand a hand on Sorcha’s arm, he was determined to stay visible.  It had bitten his ass bad that Mikey had come on to her.  Something that surprised him, Kyle had never been the jealous type, he loved in the bundle never expecting monogamy when he never gave it.  The one exception to that rule had been Veronica, he’d been faithful to her, but then he had thought he loved her, what a glorious fuck-up that had been.  So why he felt the urge to rip Mikey’s arms off and play the bongo with them he didn’t know, all he knew was that he didn’t want other men near Sorcha.  Pretty unfair to her – he had to admit, since he was a ghost.  Kyle mental shrugged, tough shit, she was stuck with his overbearing and currently jealous ass.  
      As if Kyle thinking her name got Sorcha’s attention she looked down at his hand on her arm and raised a bow.  
      “Don’t even ask.  I’m not moving my hand.”  
      She frowned up at him, getting ready to argue, she was itching to shit him out for his theatrics in the shop, but she didn’t want to do it in front of Ross and Dante.  So she turned her head and looked at the people on the beach instead.  
      “So who is this Murdock?”  Ross asked Dante as he turned to the lycos.   
      “He’s one knarly dude, has a shop down the way here, but it only opens at night.”  
      “Dante, can I make you a deal?”  Ross asked with a raised eyebrow.  
      “Sure Dude, what it be?”
      “If you don’t use surfer lingo, which gives me a headache to translate, I wont use rock muso lingo on you, copy?”
      “Sorry Ross, I just get caught up in it, haven’t been surfing in a while and its easy to slip back in the talk.”  
      Ross nodded then pointed at a bench on the sidewalk.  “Let’s have a seat while we plan the next move.”  
      The group walked over to the bench, Kyle put a leg on the seat, and leaned it against Sorcha’s arm as she sat down, so he was touching her and stayed corporeal.  
      Dante sat on the ground in front of the bench leaning back with his hands behind him on the sandy edge of the beach.  
      Ross sat down next to Sorcha. “Okay, so we need to go see this Murdock.  Its not much of a lead.”
      “Yeah, that’s gospel, but it’s the only lead we have.”  Dante tucked back a strand of hair that the breeze was blowing across his face.  “I’ve got a feeling it will help us out, some at least.”  
      Ross turned his fact to Sorcha.  “What do you think?”  
      “Honestly, I’m not the expert, you’re the Omega, I follow where you go.”  She answered a little distractedly.  She’d noticed that they were being noticed, more to the point the men she was with were being noticed.  Sorcha was pretty sure that every female eye on the beach was trained on the three men Sorcha was sitting with, and Kyle still didn’t have a damn shirt on.  Sorcha tried not to glare at the supermodel types on the beach ogling the Omega.  
      “Kyle?” Ross looked up at the wereleopard shielding his eyes from the sun with a hand.
      “Right now any lead is worth following, we got squat so far.”  Kyle leaned forward, crossing his arms on his knee as he spoke.  
      The movement brought his broad chest into Sorcha’s line of vision and she took a deep breath to ease the sudden swirling in her stomach.  Damn the man deserved the title Mr. Hot.  
      “Hi boys.”  
      Sorcha snapped her head around to see a gorgeous woman in a tiny bikini standing one hip tilted on the edge of the beach.  
      Sorcha snorted, last time she checked she wasn’t a boy, that told her this chicky-bo was going to be bitchy.  The woman may have greeted the ‘boys’ but her eyes were trained on Kyle.
      Sorcha felt the icy hands of jealousy clench in her gut.  No way could she compare with this woman.  
      Dante had dipped his head back and was grinning at the woman.
      “Hey baby.  What’s up?”  
      Sorcha wished she could throw something at the ass.  She didn’t want the woman hanging round and Dante was encouraging her.  
      The woman glanced down at Dante but looked back up at Kyle, heat in her eyes as she spoke.
      “My girls,” she pointed over her shoulder at a group of women on beach towels “want to know if you boys would like to come spend some time with us.”  
      Sorcha felt her fists clench, as she looked up at Kyle to gauge his reaction.  
      He had a smile playing on his lips making the dimples in his cheeks dance.  
      “Thanks, but no thanks.”  He said in his warm voice and Sorcha felt a shiver pass over her skin.  
      The bikini clad woman looked disappointed.  “Are you sure, I could show you a great time?”  
      Oh god, she was going to hit the bitch.  
      Behind the woman the sand started swirling, a small sand funnel forming on the ground and grew, getting bigger by the second.  
      Sorcha didn’t even notice it, but Dante and Ross did, Kyle saw it a second later.  
      Oh shit.  He could feel Sorcha’s jealousy radiating off her body, that was the reason the smile wouldn’t leave his face, but he didn’t think that she’d react on such a level that her Psy abilities kicked in.  Maybe it was because she sat there with her teeth gritted not saying anything to the bimbo that was flirting with him.  
      “Sorcha.” His voice was low as he warned her, just before Ross put a hand on her knee drawing her eyes to him.  He shifted his eyes to the dust funnel without moving his head, Sorcha gasped when she saw it.  She closed her eyes felt for her telekinetic powers and put a rein on them in a hurry.  The dust funnel collapsed to nothing.  
      Dante rose fluidly from the ground, in one movement.  
      He slipped an arm around the bikini wench and turned her away from Kyle.  
      “He’s got someone baby, but me, I’m all free.  Why don’t you spend a little time with me.”  
      She looked longingly over her shoulder at Kyle but let Dante lead her away.
      Ross breathed in a sigh of relief.  
      “God the last time there was this much concentrated jealousy and this many over reactions was when…”  
      He looked at Kyle and Sorcha, a frown furrowing his brow.  
      “Lets go find a quiet place so you can teleport us home Sorcha?” Ross decided it was better to let that subject drop.
      “Dante?”
      “Is a big boy, he can catch up after he’s had his fun.”
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