Chapter Eight - word count 3107 - Download the PDF
8.
      Seth pushed open the swing door of the dining hall.  He felt like hell, his eyes were gritty and sore, and his head ached.  He felt hung-over, which was impossible since he hadn’t had a drop to drink. This was nothing more sinister than sleep depravation.  If he’d slept an hour the whole night he’d be surprised.  He’s spent most of it staring at the connecting door leading to Drew’s room.  Trying to convince him self it wasn’t a good idea to get up and open that door.  He was sorry this morning, he should just have given in to the urge and crawled into bed with Drew.  The way she had devoured him with her eyes the day before made him think she might welcome him.  Just the thought of slipping into her bed had him hard again and he gritted his teeth.  Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d spent the whole damn night tenting the sheets?  Was he going to have to walk around with permanently over-tight jeans?  Maybe Ross was right, maybe he needed to get her out of his system.  One night should do it.  The sound of her musical laughter drifted through the room and he winced, no way in hell would one night with her ease what he was feeling.  
      He eyes scanned for her automatically, she was sitting at the end of one of the bigger tables with the rest of the group.  They were laughing at some joke Darius had made. She was truly beautiful, her face shining with humor. The sunlight that was pouring through the window made blue highlights in her black hair, and her cheeks were pink from laughing.  Just looking at her made his stomach clench.  
      He mentally scolded himself, he needed to stop thinking about the woman constantly.
      The last time he’d even been with a woman it had cost him his brother.  He didn’t want anything to do with females and the games they played.  
      He looked around the table to see who else was up this early for breakfast.  
      Seth wasn’t surprised to see Namara at the table as well.
      Usually dragons were very aloof, they tended to look down their noses at the rest of the mythos, but from what he’d learnt of Namara so far she wasn’t your average dragon, sheltered maybe, but not stuck up.  
      Darius and Marcus were there too, those two should have been born as twins - they were attached at the hip.  But then he supposed the same could be said about him and Ross.  
      Drew sat at the end of the table and Marcus sat to her left, Darius sat next to Marcus across from Namara.  The attachment Dar was forming to Namara had Seth a little worried.  He knew the dragons would not look kindly on a werelion courting one of their own.   Seth had a feeling things might get bumpy where those two were concerned.  
      Ross sat holding a cup of coffee next to Darius.  Selphie was next to Namara and Jesse sat on the table top on the other end of the table.  What was it about angels that made them always perch, they could never sit in a chair like a normal being.  
      Time to man-up and actually go to the table.  
      He made a valiant effort to get his body under control before he moved over slide into the cafeteria table.  Making Marcus shift up so he could sit next to Drew.  
      “Morning everyone.”  
      “You look like shit, did you take a bottle of tequila to bed with you?” Darius grinned at him.
       Drew didn’t think Seth ‘looked like shit’, he looked heavenly.  His hair tousled and his violet eyes dark with something, she wasn’t sure what.  She’d watched him walk to the table over the rim of her coffee mug and felt her stomach tighten and the graceful saunter he pulled off so effortlessly, his every move a dance.  Her only complaint was his Rammstein tee shirt, it was too long falling to mid thigh and hiding those gorgeous legs, sculpted so nicely in tight jeans.  She’d spent most of the night wishing she had the guts to knock on the connecting door.  She’d almost gotten up a couple of times but in the end she’d chickened out.  Watching him covertly now she wished she had knocked.  She mentally rolled her eyes at herself.  Yeah as if knocking would have gotten you anywhere, the man isn’t interested – get it into your head girly.  
      Seth twisted his mouth at Darius’ comment “Yeah, I love you too.  Go to hell Dar.  Not everyone can be as pretty as you in the morning.”    
      Darius just grinned. “Of course I’m prettier than you, you thought you could compete?”
      Seth rolled his eyes and shook his head.  
      “Why Tequila, you could have taken…Ouch! Damnit.” Marcus pulled his foot onto the seat and rubbed his shin.  “Who kicked me?”  He scowled around the group.  
      Selphie gave him a gammon smile “Learn to keep your mouth shut and you won’t get blue shins.”  Then she changed the subject before he could reply.
      “Drew asked me about the team yesterday, I told her you needed to explain it to her.”  
      “Yes,” Drew took a sip of her coffee.  “What’s the deal?”
      “I’m curious about that too,” Namara reached for a bread roll in the center of the table
      “I first thought you were all working for Sandamar, but now I think you were sent to get me out – you know like special ops in the movies.”  
      “That’s a pretty good description of what they are.” Jesse said from his perch on the end of the table.  He got off and slid in next to Namara.  
      “I’m not a expert on what goes on in my brothers mind, but I think Gabriel knew he was sending them in to get you out.”  
      “So you guys are special ops?”  
      “Even better,” Marcus supplied “we are the only group of Du’call lycos.  That makes us far more bad-ass than your average special ops.”  
      Drew frowned,  “I’m not with you.”  
      Ross explained.  “Lycos in general tend to be territorial, Du’call are the worst of them.  We don’t play nice when forced to play together.”
      Seth smiled and said thanks as one of the cooks brought him a cup of coffee.
      “All four of us” he gestured to Ross, Darius, Marcus and himself.  “Are Du’call Lycos, we shouldn’t be able to, but we work well together, its made us an anomaly of sorts.”  
      “It doesn’t mean we don’t disagree” Ross unconsciously touched his lip where it had been split the day before. “but we accept Seth as the leader and work from there.  It makes us dangerous.”  
      “Very dangerous.” Jesse agreed, “Between them, this group of Du’call have enormous power.  Something my brother has not been shy in taking advantage of.”  
      “Yeah, we tend to get the dangerous assignments.”  Markus nodded, then grinned
      “Not that we mind.  Life if never cooler than when you’re wenching and wailing.”  
      Selphie rolled her eyes, “Wenching? You’re going to have me wailing on you if you carry on with your warped humor.”  
      Darius grinned at her, “The warped humor is a side effect of the work we do wench.”  
      “That’s the truth, when the world around you is going to hell, you either laugh or go insane.”  Ross took a sip of his coffee.  “I prefer to laugh.  So forgive us,” he made a mock bow from the neck, toward Selphie “if we have offended, great lady.”  
      “Sarcasm really is your native tongue isn’t it?” Selphie blew a raspberry at him.  
      “Okay, so you are the special ops unit of the compound.  But explain to me what exactly is your function.” Drew widened her eyes in mock horror “Or would you have to kill me if you told me.”  
      The last produced a laugh from the group.  
      “Every once in a while, more often than you’d think, one of the Mythos goes…” Seth searched for the right word “rogue.”
      “The Mythos, like any society, has laws that we all obey, when you have as much power as most of us do, it’s easy to become destructive.” Jesse added
      “One of our most fundamental laws is to protect those weaker than ourselves.  This includes weaker mythos, but law was designed to protect the human race, from those of us that would abuse the power we have.”  
      Drew nodded “Ok, I’m with you.  So you are like the Mythos police force?”
      Ross shook his head. “We are not that formal.  Although, you could say that, at a stretch.  Its more a case of we go in and do what needs doing to keep others safe.  If that means taking the bad guy out, then we do it.”  He shrugged
      “And Gabriel is the man in charge of sending you to take the bad guys out?”  Namara asked.  
      Ross nodded “Yeah”
      “Don’t misunderstand Ross, we aren’t hit men.  The monsters we go after really are monsters.  Creatures who wouldn’t hesitate to rip your heart out while you watched and hold it still beating in the palm of their hands.”  Darius added.
      Namara shuddered at the picture his description put in her head.  
      “Most of our assignments are recon, Gabe will get some information and we’ll go check it out.  Drew would you mind passing me the sugar.”  Darius smiled.
      She handed it to him asking.
      “Your accent, I’d say its British, maybe Australian, but it isn’t quiet.  Where do you come from?”
      He smiled at her.  “I was born on the African savannah.  I’ve spent most of my life in South Africa.  I only came here about sixty years ago.”  
      “Do you miss Africa at all?” Namara asked him, obviously fascinated with the information she was getting.  
      “Yeah,” he nodded with a sad smile “I miss the openness, you know, place to run and run till you are exhausted.  I miss the sunsets over the grasslands.  I miss the smell of Jacaranda trees on a warm spring evening. There is a lot I miss about my birth place.”  His eyes grew distant as if he was seeing all the things he missed.
      “Then why do you stay here?”  Namara asked.  
      “This is home,” he grinned, “these crazy morons are my brothers.” She indicated Seth, Ross and Marcus.  “I wouldn’t give that up for a hundred African sunsets.”  
      “I’m gonna beat you for that moron comment when we spar.”  Marcus promised.  
      “Yeah, speaking of -”
      Ross took the last sip of his coffee and put the mug down.  
      “You ready to go?” he looked at Drew.
      “Sure.”
      “What, wait, go where?”  Seth’s shifted his attention between them.  
      “Drew said she needs some exercise, so I offered to spar with her.”
      Seth didn’t like that idea, Ross was getting too familiar with Drew and he wasn’t going to allowed that, he was just about to tell Ross that he’d take Drew for a spar session when Drew stood up, slipping out of the bench.
      Seth’s eyes flew to Drew, she was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a tank top, cut off to show a nice portion of her stomach, his eyes reached he navel and stopped.  Nestled in the dip of her navel was a belly ring in the shape of a spider.  Light reflected off the facets of the jeweled abdomen of the spider, sending sparkles across the skin of her stomach.  He was transfixed.  
      “Breath!” Darius whispered in his ear.  
      Seth jerked his head, dragging his eyes away from Drew to look at Ross.  
      “I’ll spar with Drew.” He barked.  
      “I don’t mind at all Seth…” Ross started, an evil twinkle in his eye, he knew he was pushing it, and he was enjoying teasing Seth.  
      Seth growled low, the same sound he used to call to the rest of the lycos, though the meaning was clear to those who understood, it was a warning.  He was telling Ross to back off. Only the Du’call around the table should have heard the command.  
      Drew jumped as if something had stung her.  
      “What is that sound?”
      Every head at the table turned toward her.  
      “You heard that?” Darius asked.  
      “Yeah,” she rubbed the nape of her neck where fine hairs had raised. “it was like a growl, but, wow, the menace in that one sound.”  
      Darius opened his mouth to tell her exactly what the sound was and where it had come from but Seth spoke first.
      “Drew just take a seat and give me five, I just want to go change then we can head for the gym.”  
      He was up and gone before he could even hear here mumble, “Yes, boss.”  
      
      Seth stood legs apart and braced, opposite Drew on the hard wood of the gym floor.   He’d taken less than three minutes to go get changed and come back dressed in sweat pants and a loose t-shirt.  He’d practically dragged her to the gym and when Ross had tried to follow he’d scowled at him blackly till Ross, laughing, had held his hands up in submission and sat down again.  
      “You really want to fight me?” One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.  
      “You think I can’t?” she asked in reply getting a little irritated that he was so amused by the idea.  “What did you think I meant by ‘spar’ - jumping jacks?”  
      “Oh, we have a feisty one.” He chuckled flashing dimples and she felt the urge to hit him.  
      She crouched down into a fighting stance, her balance centered and her body loose and comfortable.  
      He just grinned at her sinking down to the same stance.  
      “Okay, little one, lets see what you can do.”  
      He came at her with a rapid series of moves.  She easily blocked each attack, surprised that she had moved that fast.  She must be getting some of the lycos abilities.  
      He tilted his head, raised an eyebrow and gave her that crooked grin again.
      “Not bad, but lets see if you can hit me.”  
      She didn’t wait for him to say anything else, she dropped sweeping her leg low and around knocking his feet out from under him, he landed hard on his back.  She dropped her knee into his stomach, satisfied at the grunt it produced and held her clenched fit above his face elbow pulled up ready to strike down and smash into his nose.  
      She tilted her head and did some eyebrow raising of her own.  
      “Want to apologies for your attitude yet?”  
      His grin was infections.  “I think I’m going to have to start calling you wild cat.  Where did you learn to fight like that?”
      She shrugged, moving off him and getting up. “I’ve had training my whole life.” She grinned, “Jackie Chan is one of my favorite movie stars.”  She tossed her long braid over her shoulder.  
      “Ready for more?”  
      He grinned and got up, dropping into fighting stance.  
      “This, I’m going to enjoy.”  
      He was surprised by her abilities, she was good.  And that was an understatement.  She moved with a speed that was impressive, even for a turning lycos.  He’d fought a few Mythos that were much slower than her and she wasn’t even completely turned.  
      They fought for twenty minutes and he had to admit he wasn’t holding back much.  She was keeping up with him.  She was good enough that he’d fight with her at his back and that was not an honor he granted many.  
      He called a time out.  
      Pulling his shirt over his head he tossed it to the corner of the gym.  
      “No fair!”  She tilted one hip putting her fist on it and glared at him.  
      He arched an eyebrow “What’s not fair?” he was genuinely puzzled.  
      “How’d you like me to pull my shirt off and see how well you’ll be able to concentrate on the fight?”  
      He frowned puzzled and looked down at his chest.  “But I’m a man.”
      “Your point is?” she asked sarcastically.  
      There was no way she’d be able to get even one hit with him prancing around shirtless.  That damn nipple ring was already drawing her eyes the whole time.  Not to mention the six pack, and the fact that his sweats were sinfully low on his hips.  
      He looked down at his chest again then slowly raised his eyes.  A naughty grin played across his mouth.  
      “Ohhhh, I get it,” he stalked towards her, “You like what you see, so you’ll get distracted.”  The idea that she was distracted by his bare chest made him want to grin like and idiot and jump her all at the same time. So he had been right about yesterday.  She was interested.  He’d had one hell of a time staying focused with that belly ring calling him the whole time.  In his opinion it was her turn to try and concentrate with that kind of temptation staring her in the face.  Ah hell, who was he kidding, he wanted to see if she’d taste as sweet as he thought she would and he was going to have a taste now, only a natural disaster of epic proportions would stop him.    
      She stepped back, flustered.  
      “No that’s not what I meant.”  
      He tilted his head, watching her eyes drop to his nipple ring then jerk up when she realized where they’d strayed.  “Isn’t it?”  
      His voice low and gravely, she felt a shiver climb up her spine.  God the man was seducing her again without laying a hand on her.  
      He moved close enough that she could feel the heat off his skin, she tilted her head back to keep eye contact.  
      He lifted one hand lazily and rubbed the ball of his thumb over her lower lip
      “So soft.”
      She heard him whisper the words, then he was dipping his head, if felt like her heart was going to slam out of her chest as he moved closer inch by painful inch.  She wanted to reach up and grab his head and force him down faster.  
      She felt his warm breath on her skin she closed her eyes parting her lips waiting for the first touch of his.  She wanted this kiss so badly it was like a physical pain.  
      They both jerked. “What was that?”  Drew asked.
      It was like the low growl she’d heard in the dining hall.  Only it felt like it was screaming “Alert – Danger”  
      Selphie burst through the door “Seth, come quickly, there is trouble.”  
      He sighed and stepped back “That, was a natural disaster of epic proportions.”
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