Knightly
“I’m going to need you to bring her back, Midnight.” I scratch her chin when she comes closer to me. She huffs in my face and stands to kick sand at me with her hind legs. The pups haven’t shifted back either, and it’s been a little over eight hours since she neutralized the threat.
“We can’t take our eyes off them, Nathan,” my father says, rubbing his eyes. “You know how she gets.”
“Get some rest, old man. I’ve got it.” I wave him off.
“Wake me if you need anything,” he mumbles and walks away.
The words feel empty to me, but I nod anyway. Midnight lies next to me. The two of us watch the pups run around the beach a little longer before they come to join us. Ayrie is the first to fall asleep and shift back. Aizen looks up at me expectantly.
“I’m going to take her inside. Can I trust you to watch him?” I ask Midnight. With her snout, she bumps Ayrie gently. I look down at Aizen, who wags his tail for me. “Watch Mommy for me, Buddy. Yeah?”
He yips and spins around before jumping on her. She licks him, and I lift Ayrie to take her inside. I clean off as much sand as I can before putting her back in the jammies I left on the floor. I tuck her in and head back down.
Aizen has shifted back, asleep, and holding on to Midnight’s fur. It takes me a minute to pry his death grip off her. She huffs at him and licks him one more time. I take him in and tuck him in next to Ayrie. I make sure everything is secure and bring the baby monitor with me just in case they get sick. Pups that shift their age often do. They didn’t the last time, but I want to be sure.
“And you’re still here.” I sit beside the massive wolf. She sits up and shifts into her skin.
“Do you not trust me, Nathan?” she asks after a moment.
“That’s not the issue.” I shake my head.
“Then what is?”
“You’re unpredictable.”
“That’s another way of saying you don’t trust me,” she says.
“You are one of the few people I can trust. What I mean is that Phoebe isn’t like us. She‘
s not a killer. She’s what’s left of what made her human, and I don’t want her to lose
that. I’ve taken enough from her. I understand that there are times when this will be necessary, but I want to prevent it.”
“You want to be the one to save her.” she says after a long pause.
“What?”
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“You want her to need you. It has nothing to do with who Phoebe is. That has always been a very mortal concept. Good and bad. Right and wrong. Society teaches you division. Men provide. Men protect. I’ve been betrayed by my mates many times because of that. Envy is not the way of our kind. Dominance is.”
“I don’t need her to need me. I never did. I don’t envy you or her in the slightest. I worry for her because you are a fucking animal. I’ve seen what was done to you and read all the warnings about having you around. A few months ago, her biggest concern was getting the twins into a good school here. Now she’s the Rogue Queen, and we’ve accidentally triggered the final stage of human extinction.
“I know you’ve been betrayed. So have I. By my father. By my mother and her mate. My siblings and the people I’ve let in. You’re a cosmicly powerful being. I was created by my father long before Buddy came along. I trust you, Midnight, but that doesn’t mean I won’t watch what you do.
“You’re much less trusting than I am and prone to make decisions independently. Phoebe isn’t. Maybe it’s one thing she can teach you. How communicate. What you did last night, without telling me know what was happening, is an example.”
She stands up and starts to move toward the house.
“I actually learned that from you,” she says. I turn around to face her. “Now you know how she feels when you try to protect her without her knowing. The only way wolves protect one another is by staying together. I’ll see you around, Nathan.”
I laugh, hating the condescending way she says my name. I go inside to clean up, knowing I won’t be able to sleep anytime soon. I wash the two Star Wars cups in the sink and clean up the pups‘ mess in Phoebe’s study. When I check on her, she’s sound asleep. I check on the pups to find them in the same spot I left them in.
I head out to my recording studio and start everything up. The date on the computer comes up, and I sit, remembering how I spent this night last year. Perry was looking to get herself killed, and I was trying to find a way to keep her alive. On this night, I discovered that the Lycan King was looking for a wolf mate.
Maybe what I did was fucked and I deserve to go to hell for it, but in the very least it bought her time. How the fuck was I supposed to know that she would be compatible with a Lycan? It’s funny that this whole time, fate brought us together to be a family for a reason. She feels more like a little sister now than ever before.
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a guitar to get anything new out. I bring up every camera feed on the wall of monitors I’ve been putting together and stand in front of them, watching for any movement while I play my guitar.
The sound catches me by surprise. It’s violent and very dark. The words that come to mind aren’t those that should belong to a newly mated wolf. Yet, I can’t stop running them through my head once they begin to form.
I almost jump out of my skin when Phoebe claps as soon as I stop. I look back at her
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with a glare because how the fuck does she keep getting in here without me noticing or without the cameras catching any of her movements.
“How do you keep doing that?” I growl.
“That was so good,” she runs towards me, barely giving me enough time to set my guitar down.
“Phoeb-” before I can say anything else, her lips are on mine, and the rage all just drains away.
“I was starting to believe that you weren’t him,” she says against my lips.
“Who?” I pull away, taking offense.
“Knightly, the lead singer of Toxic Rose Thorns.” She searches my face and then leans in to give me a hard peck. “There you are. I thought you were letting the old man get to you.”
“You should be resting. You had a long night,” I say, setting her down.
“It’s almost noon, Hon. How long have you been in here? Aizen wants you to come inside. Want me to tell him you’re working?”
“You would do that for this?” I scoff.
“Yeah, the same way you distracted them when I was working on some new stuff,” she shrugs.
“What new stuff?” I ask.
“Hmm,” she hums and starts to make her way to the exit. I pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her. She laughs, making everything better.
“You don’t get to hear me play and then not tell me what you’re working on, Angel. That’s being a bad girl. You promised to be my good girl, always.”
“I’ll show you when you’re done,” she pushes back against me.
“Done with what?” I reach for the door to make sure it’s locked.
“Knight, I told your dad I’d be right back. Your mom is mad at him,” she tries to pull
away.
“She’s always going to be mad at him.” I press my lips to the mark on her neck, and she automatically stops fighting me.
“Perry might be watching,” she says breathlessly.
“Turn it off, Freak. I’ll turn it back on when I’m done.” I call out. Phoebe bursts out laughing when the lights all turn off and back on. “You knew exactly what you were coming in here for.”
I lift her flowy skirt and bunch it around her waist while I walk us to the table in the middle of the room. I stare down at her bare as and grip a handful of her hair to pull her back against me.
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“So?” she giggles. The sound that comes out of her when I crack my hand across her
ass is enough to get me hard as steel. She holds her hand out for me and drops a pair of pink panties on the table beside her. “I was going to throw them at you, but I got a little excited.”
“I see that,” I say, reaching between her legs. I press a kiss to her cheek. “I’m going to be a little rough, Angel. I’m afraid you’ve gotten me a little worked up.”
“Okay,” she giggles. “I love it when you get carried away.”
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