Chapter Sixteen - word count 2990 - Download the PDF
16.
      Curiosity made Drew look towards the sound of fists hitting a punching bag as she entered the gym.  Seth was beating the bag as if he had a grudge against it.  Barefoot and wearing only an old pair of faded black sweat-pants low on his hips, his body was coated in a fine film of perspiration as he took his frustrations out on the bag. So he must have been at it for a while already.  She quietly watched him.  He held his fists high blocking his face as he bounced on the balls of his feet, jabbing at the bag then retreating. Only to move in and kick the bag solidly.  He moved with a predatory grace that made her insides feel like they were going to liquefy.  There was no way to describe how sexy he looked.  
      Drew realized that she was biting her lower lip as she watched his mussels flex with each punch and kick.  This was pure torture.  She had to do something to get him to stop before she turned into a pool of lava.  
      “What did the bag do to you?”  
      He stopped, reaching out a hand to steady the swinging bag as he turned towards the door.  
      Seth just looked at her.  This was going to be damn hard.  Trying to pretend that he didn’t want her with everything in his being was going to just about kill him, he could already feel his body responding to her presence, but he had to do it.  
      Giving in to lust would only cause trouble down the line when she betrayed him like all women do eventually.  A small voice inside him tried to tell him that Drew was not Veronica and that Drew would never do something like that.  He squashed the voice.  When attraction was in the equation no woman could be trusted.  Someone would end up getting hurt if he got involved with Drew.  
      Look at Darius, Seth suspected Dar might be developing feelings for Namara, and because of that he was going into a situation that was incredibly dangerous.  He’s need to protect Namara might just get him dead.  When a woman was involved you couldn’t think logically.  
      So he stowed any urges she might be causing and motioned her closer.  
      “Time for your first lesson in shifting.  Are you ready?”
      “As ready as I’m ever going to be.”  
      “Great, lets get started.”  He bent down and picked up a towel off the floor, wiping his face then draping it over his shoulders.  
      “We are going to start with a partial change then later we’ll try a full one.  The easiest thing to change is your eyes.”  
      Drew stepped to stand in front of Seth.
      “Okay, watch my eyes.”  
      He leaned forward so she could see properly, looking straight down at her.  
      Drew watched the violet of his eyes bleed into green his pupils lengthening and becoming vertical slits.  
      “This gives you much better night vision.”
      “And when your eyes glow?”
      “The glowing is part of the animal.  You’ll find that your eyes will glow, especially when emotions are very strong.  This can be a problem if you need to hide or if you are on recon or something along those lines.  That is why it’s a good idea to learn to control your emotions.”
      “Okay, got it, now tell me how to do it.”  
      “Close your eyes for a second, and find your creature.  Feel for the cat inside you.”  
      Drew closed her eyes and called out to the beast that had taken up part of her body.
      It came ready screaming to the surface.  
      “Whoa, hold up.”  Seth steadied her by grabbing her arm.  “Don’t let her take over.  Just connect with her.”  He didn’t let go of Drew.  Drew could feel him, a separate presence inside her helping her to keep the cat leashed.  
      She closed her eyes again and reached for the creature, not allowing her to surge to the fore, but letting her trickle in bit by bit.  
      “Have you got her?”
      “Yeah.” Drew opened her eyes to look up at Seth.  
      “Ok now think of her eyes, and ask her to blend with you.  This will eventually come a bit easier you wont have to ask, she’ll know what you want, but for now ask her.”
      Drew did as he suggested and it seemed to be working her eyesight suddenly became much sharper.  
      “Did my eyes change?”
      Seth was staring at her, her eyes were a light green almost yellow in color, and stunning, they glowed with bright golden color.  Was it even possible for this woman to be even more beautiful?
      “Yeah, they changed.  You seem to be a natural at this.”  
      She grinned, overjoyed that she’d gotten it right.
      “Ok we are going to try and load some claws for you.”  
      Drew was trying had to stay focused, but he was close and he was a sensual distraction.  
      When Seth slid his hand down her arm to grasp her wrist, she felt her heartbeat speed up.  
      Then she noticed what looked like a small tattoo peeking out the top of his sweats, just above his hipbone.  
      Trying to distract herself from what she was feeling she reached out with out thinking to touch the tattoo.  
      “What’s this?” she asked as her fingertip grazed the color on his skin.  
      He hissed as if she’d burned him.  
      “I’m sorry did I hurt you.”  She looked up at him.  
      “No.” he shook his head.  Damn he had to get control of himself around her.  It wasn’t going to be easy and it was even harder because he could sense she wanted him as much as he wanted her.  
      “It’s the symbol of Omega.  Everyone in the Omega team has one above his right hip.”  
      He pulled the edge of his sweats down a little so she could see the small mark.
      It was the omega symbol with a cat paw-print inside of it.  The paw-print was a blood red, with a black outline.  The omega symbol itself was all black.  
      Drew tried to ignore the exposed skin and pay attention to the omega marking.  Way easier said than done.  
      “That’s a cool tattoo.” She remarked as she tried to get some control over her rebellious body.  
      “It’s not a tattoo, or at least not one done with needles.”
      “Oh?”
      “We don’t really know where it comes from, but its how we know if someone is supposed to be a part of the omega group.  The marking just appears, one day there is just skin and the next the mark is there.”
      “So your telling me the mark just magically appears?” She was fascinated.
      “Yeah, I was the first one to get the mark.  Freaked me out and then some.  Kyle got his next, then Ross.  But that’s a story for another time.  How about growing some claws?”
      He took her hand in his again.  
      “Sure.” She was having trouble concentrating on it anyway.  She’d ask him about it again when she wasn’t so distracted by his skin.  Drew forced herself to look down at his hand again and pay attention to what he was saying.  Even that didn’t help much because she remembered him spreading that hand across her face.  
      Frigging hell, why did this have to be so difficult?  
      “Okay,” she mentally kicked her own ass and told herself to behave.  “How do I make my hand grow claws?”  
      Seth had to force himself to focus on the lesson he was trying to give Drew.  He could hear her increased heartbeat and respiration and it was driving him nuts, he knew what was causing it – he knew because he was feeling it as well.  The urge to take her was almost overwhelming.  It was taking all his will power not to give in and do just that.  
      “Call your cat again, but at the same time create a mental image of the claws then think of your hand as clay that you are going to shape into the form of claws.”  
      Drew knew it was vital that she got this lesson over with as quickly as possible before she threw herself at Seth like a sex starved nymphomaniac.  So she felt for her cat and asked it for help.  
      She pictured the clawed hand and forced her hand into the same form.  
      “Wow.” Seth was amazed at how fast she changed.  There were only a few who could blend a change with that speed or faster.  It seemed Drew really was a natural.
      “That was fantastic.” He still held her hand in his and he roamed the newly clawed shape with his fingers as if trying to prove it was real.
      Drew closed her eyes and tried not to moan.  This was not working, she had to get away from him.  The man was just touching her hand and it was driving her wild.  
      Seth felt her tense and saw her close her eyes, when the smell of her desire reached him he was nearly brought to his knees with need.
      “Oh gods, would you just stop it!”  Seth hissed, he moved away from her as if she had burned him.  
      Drew’s eyes flew open.  “Stop what?”
      “I’m a lycos Drew, I can smell your arousal, I know you want me.”
      Drew gasped, her face going up in flames of mortification.  
      Seth was immediately sorry that he’d blurted that out.  It wasn’t like him to humiliate others and he’d just shredded Drew.  His gut clenched with guilt.  
      “Drew…”
      She held up her hand to silence him. “Don’t!  Don’t you dare apologies.  So I want you - So frigging what!  I wouldn’t be feeling like this now, if you hadn’t started something last night, that you didn’t finish.”  That was a lie and she knew it.  Seth had had that effect on her from day one.  
      “But since my traitorous body’s reaction to you seem to be upsetting you so much, I’ll just leave.”  She flicked her wrist morphing her hand back to human shape – a feat that damn near bowled him over.  No one, not even he, could change back that fast.  
      She got to the doorway of the gym then turned to throw a parting comment at him.
      “If you don’t want anyone getting all steamy over you - try wearing more clothes.”  
      Seth stared at the doorway for a long moment after she was gone.  Then found himself grinning before laughter burst from his lips.  
      “Damn, that woman’s got balls!”
      
      Dusk found Drew in the massive rear grounds of the compound.  Walking in the manicured gardens with Khettah playing like a kitten around her.  Early evening had always been one of Drew’s favorite times of day.  She loved watching the sunset, the golds and purples of the clouds soothed her.  Right now, she needed all the soothing she could get.  
      Drew was still seething over her earlier encounter with Seth, and has spent the day diligently avoiding him.  Her face glowed with color every time she thought of what he’d said.  
      What the hell did he expect, she was human – okay scrap that, she was mythos.  But that didn’t make her an ice-block.  She couldn’t just tell her body not to get excited around him, all because he’d decreed that it had been a mistake to get near her.  Well she could try and tell her body.  Only problem with that was, when it came to her reactions to Seth, there was no way her body was listening.  
      Khettah, sensing Drew’s aggravation, rubbed along her legs before darting off to chase imaginary prey.  
      Drew was too new to this whole lust thing.  She had never felt anything like it before.  Maybe Seth could flip a switch and feel nothing, but Drew wasn’t going to get that lucky.  
      She’d do her damnedest though.  There was no way she ever wanted to hear Seth say something that humiliating to her again.  
      The sound of a Requiem ballad called Forbidden drifting over the lawns caught her attention.  This version seemed to be unplugged with just the intricate picking of an acoustic guitar and the vocalist, Leo.  She was sure of it, she’d recognize Leo’s vocal’s anywhere.  She moved towards the sound hoping to find the source and find out where the person playing the music had bought the CD.  She didn’t have this version of the song and she wanted it.  Drew hadn’t been kidding about Requiem being her all time favorite band.  She owned all of their music.  
      She followed the song to the back steps of the compound and stopped dead.  Drew knew her jaw had to be gaping, there was no way in hell she was seeing what she thought she was seeing.   
      On the steps his head bent over the sensually curved body of the acoustic guitar was Ross.  He was singing Forbidden and he was singing it with Leo’s voice.  
      Drew sank down to sit on the steps in awe.  She watched Ross in utter silence.  He was so absorbed in the song he hadn’t noticed her arrival.  
      He sat a few steps higher, his button down shirt open, head bent forward the longest part of his blond hair hanging over one eye as he concentrated on the picking.  One bare foot tapped out the beat of the song on the stone step below him.  
      A lot of clues dropped into place for Drew.  Ross having more money than he knew what to do with.  Bastien asking him about the release date of the new album.  The DJ saying that he’d just found out they didn’t have a release date for Requiem’s new album yet.  Gees, she must have been deaf, dumb, blind and stupid to not put that together before now.  
      Ross finished the song and looked up.  
      “‘I think they suck’?!” Drew threw his own words back at him.
      The grin that appeared on his face was the definition of naughty.  
      “Well I couldn’t wax poetic about Requiem now could I?”
      “Just let me make sure that I’ve got the right conclusion here.  You are Leo, the front man for Requiem?”  
      “Yeah, I am.” He nodded “Clever don’t you think, Leo as in Leopard.”  
      “How?  Why? Am I shooting to many questions at you here?”  
      Ross laughed at her playful scolding.
      “How, that’s easy, when we have to make a public appearance I use a shimmer, an illusion, to make us look different from what we really look like.  One of the perks of having an angel as one of my parents.”  
      “That’s why no camera’s and such?”  
      “Yeah, a camera is not as easy to fool as the human eye.”  
      “The rest of the band?”
      “Other mythos who love music and sharing it, but not the spotlight that comes with it.”  
      “Have I met them?”
      “No, well, you might have passed one or two of the guys in the hallways at the compound but you haven’t been introduced to them, no.”
      “Am I going to meet them?  They are the members of my favorite band after all.”  
      He laughed again.  “Sure, now that I know you are going to be sticking around I’ll introduce you.”
      “Good.” She ignored the part about sticking around.  The way she felt about the whole situation right now, she would not be staying here any longer than she had to.
      “Why – I suppose you’ve answered that already.”  
      “Ah huh, I love music but I don’t like the idea of Paparazzi and hordes of crazy fans following me around.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, jokingly putting her in the category of crazy fan.  “Plus the fame is bad enough if you are a normal.  If it were common knowledge that Requiem consists of five mythos – well can you imagine it?”
      Drew nodded understanding completely  “Yeah I could, but I should still punch you.  I was carrying on like a star struck moron and you just let me!”
      Ross laughed. “What made you think I was a nice guy?”  
      Drew couldn’t help sharing his laughter.  
      “Play another song.”
      “Gods, you just found out and you are already demanding performances.”  
      Drew blew a raspberry at Ross and leaned back on the step.  
      “Just do it.”  
      He grinned, dropped his head and began to play Setting Sun to Midnight.  
      Drew closed her eyes and tried to loose herself in the beautiful elegance of the song, and forget her current situation with Seth.  It was all but impossible.  His words kept haunting her.
      Ross stopped playing suddenly and tilted his head to look at her.  When Drew looked over at him to ask why he had stopped he said.
      “Give him time.  I know he’s being a walking anal cavity at the moment.  But give him a little time, he’ll get his act sorted out.”  
      Drew just gaped at Ross.
      “Drew,” he rolled his eyes at her.  “Didn’t I just get done telling you that I’m half angel?  You are upset enough to be broadcasting your thoughts.”  
      Drew tried not to be embarrassed that Ross had just heard what Seth had said to her all because she was broadcasting, then something else occurred to her and a bark of laughter escaped her.  Ross raised an eyebrow in question.
      “It’s ironic.  I’ve always maintained that Leo sings like an angel.  Just never thought he might be half angel.”  
      Ross just rolled his eyes at her again and grinned.  
      He was quiet for a moment, strumming a few chords on the guitar before he spoke again.
      “For the record, I think what Seth did was wrong, and he’s being a dip-shit.  If I had someone like you around, I wouldn’t be such a moron.”  
      He didn’t give her chance to answer that last sweet sentiment, he just started playing the song again and let his voice drift over the grounds in soft harmony with the evening air.
 
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