Irritated was an understatement.
I’d been in the lab not two hours ago, and Luca had looked me over. He called me in for my daily check-up anyways, sticking me up on the table and running through the usual physical and bloodwork, just in case I had changed in the two damn hours since he had seen me.
I puffed up my cheeks and held my breath as he ran his fingers lightly along my naked body.
“Alright. Your calorie intake for the day is a little high, but I bet you’re still hungry, aren’t you?” Luca asked with a grin. I gave him a blank stare in return, until he gave in with a sigh. “You’re good to go.”
I hopped down from the table, ready to leave. Bad enough Luca had called me in, but the rest of the team demanded I take an escort with me, since Devin was passed out cold; I had been able feel Jack’s eyes on my body the whole time, jealously following Luca’s hands along my skin.
“Ready to get outta here?” Jack asked, grinning at me from where he leaned against the wall.
I collected my clothes, and I could get into them much faster when I wasn’t trying to be neat about it. I left my shirt unbuttoned and the tie on the table- useless social niceties I wasn’t worried about. “Hell yes. The smell of bleach is burning my nose.”
“Well, how about we burn your throat instead?” Jack dangled his silver flask in front of my face.
I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment. “What’s in it?” I always made sure to ask, ever since he snuck into the lab to steal one of the labcoats’ serums and got us all put in isolation for a month.
“Don’t worry, little bird, it’s just rum,” he assured me. Rum was his drink of choice, so it had to be of a good quality if he’d bothered to put it in a flask instead of just bringing the bottle.
I took the flask, and sipped carefully from it. A pleased sound came out of my mouth before I took a deeper swig. “This must have been hard to find,” I said as I passed the flask back to him.
“Hell yeah it was. The amount of lonely old ladies I had to bed to get my hands on it...” Jack shook his head, clucking his tongue. “But hey, it’ll be worth it if I get to see my little bird drunk.”
He winked at me, pressing the flask into my hands.
“Tch. Don’t be an ass. You know it’s no fun getting drunk alone,” I said, shaking the flask and listening to the rum slosh inside; the flask was nearly full, enough for three of us to get drunk at least. A wicked smile curved my lip at the thought.
Jack raised an eyebrow at me. “Damn it, there’s that face again. What stupid thing are we doing this time?”
“I’m not making a face!” I punched his arm, hard enough to make him wince, but he just laughed it off. “I think we should go tease the kitty.”
Jack’s laughter turned into a smile that was almost as mischievous as mine. “Are you sure? Last time he damn near clawed my face off.”
“You pulled his tail too soon,” I said reproachfully.
I was still irked with him for that. He had ruined a night that could have ended well, his teasing going too far to soon. You had to know when to pull a cat’s tail or he would sink his claws into you. Jack had learned it the hard way, and pouted for a week after.
“Fine. I’ll let you be the director this time, little bird.”
“If you wink at me one more time, I’ll pull your eyes out.” I grumbled the words, but there was no hiding my smile as I raised my arm. The comm came to light under my fingers, and I tapped into the communication system.
Little bird? Is something wrong?
I was always surprised by how different Ren sounded through the comms; his voice was always rough, halfway to a growl even when he wasn’t mad, but through the comms it was sweet, a purr that made me want more.
Yeah, something’s wrong.
Alarm flared through the connection, and I smothered a giggle. The alarm turned to suspicion as Ren realized I wasn’t frightened or high on adrenaline.
What do you want from me, little bird? That time he sounded exasperated. Jack, who had his hand on his comm next to me, didn’t bother to hide his laughter. The drunk is with you? Jesus, Eli, you better not be about to ask what I think you are.
Come o-on, Ren, I promise I won’t let him yank your tail again. At least... not until you’re ready. My suggestive smile was relayed through the comm, and I knew I had him when the connection suddenly dropped.
“So, back to your cage, little bird?” Jack slid an arm around me, under my wings with his hand resting on my hips. His fingers teased my skin, and every time I took a step my shifting wings would brush his arm, making me bite my lip and fight to focus so I didn’t push him against a wall and have my wicked way with him.
I elbowed him in the ribs, trying to get him to knock it off- at least until we were back to my room, where we wouldn’t get caught by Devin or Narissa or, god forbid, Belle. “Quit that, or I’ll change my mind and go out for ice cream,” I threatened.
“You just had ice cream with the rest of us!” Jack exclaimed, acting appalled.
“Tch,” I put my nose in the air, “You can never have enough ice cream.”
Jack heaved a sigh, slipping his arm up my back so he could play with my feathers. He laughed softly when I cut my bottom lip with my teeth while trying to hold in the small, pathetic noise I made.
“Stop, Jack. It’s not fair to get me worked up without Ren,” I scolded, butting his hand away.
Jack skipped back out of my reach, grinning; I understood how he could be compared to a fairy, with that vibrant purple hair that matched his pale purple eyes, standing just barely over five foot. He was a delicate little thing despite the ridiculous strength that came with being a Vital. I could have easily crushed him, if I didn’t like the flirtatious little fool so much.
Jack smirked at me; my thoughts were always clear on my face, and he enjoyed them too much. Sighing, I stalked down the halls ahead of him, using my longer legs to my advantage.
“He-ey,” he whined, scurrying to keep up.
We froze at the same time, pain blazing into our heads. My hands came up, to hold my head together, because I was certain it was going to explode.
“What the hell, Eli?” Jack accused through gritted teeth.
I was panting, leaning against the wall as pain was relayed through our comms, blazing, blinding pain that made me feel like I was being burned from the inside. “It’s n-not…it’s not m-me. I swear, it’s n-not…”
It’s Kameron. That was Gale’s voice, strained with the same pain we felt, barely coming over the screaming in our heads. God damn it, what the hell is happening out there? It was supposed to be a routine check!
I gritted my teeth, my fingers digging into my scalp as the pain intensified. Whatever was going on out there… didn’t bode well for the rest of us. Routine check my ass! Where are they?!
Section four, East End. We need to get out there twenty minutes ago.
Right. I’ll get Devin, and I’ll meet you there.
I let my connection with Gale fall. “Go, Jack. I’ll be right behind you. Move your ass!” I commanded.
He listened. They always listened to me. I stumbled to a halt; it was astonishingly hard to walk properly when you were in so much pain you couldn’t see straight. Get to him. Now. It was a plea, sent over the comms, and I prayed that somebody would be able to listen to my demands. That somebody would be able to save him.
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