Warning: vague descriptions of corpse disposal.
Dru was impressed, but he would never say as much.
It had been obvious from the moment he met Lan that this poor undesirable wasn’t going down without a fight. He’d heard Nyx mutter as much before, so it wasn’t as if this latest stunt should’ve surprised anyone.
Maybe the surprising part was Li being taken down? Dru wasn’t shocked though. He had been vigilant during his guard duties so someone as sharp as Lan wouldn’t dare. Nyx was definitely off the list for obvious reasons.
That only left Li.
It was his own fault for being an absolute fool. Who would trust someone with eyes practically burning with hate? The round face and obedience were just ploys.
“There’s no more room.”
Dru stifled a sigh, turning around to see Shaw standing outside the den. It was one of many scattered hideouts outside of London. Nyx kept them for his own purposes and Valentine was simply too trusting in his vanguard to say anything.
It wasn’t like he did particularly nefarious things. The morality among vanguard members was also lacking though, so perhaps these dens were sinful hovels. They were assigned to do the dirty work for the pack, after all. There was no getting around having body dumping sites.
“Then we’ll have to move.” Dru nodded toward the two remaining garbage bags. The smell was getting stronger. Time’s running out. He didn’t like having to change locations. It would be better to simply attract wild animals here.
But now they had to prepare a second hunting scene?
Shaw silently acquiesced, picking up the bags with ease and following Dru through the trees. It was somewhat unsettling to have Nyx’s mate aiding them. There was no one else trustworthy though.
The other vanguard members would let it slip to Valentine and Nyx wouldn’t allow it. He had been personally slighted by not one, but two outright acts of defiance. If punishing Lan directly didn’t work, then he was willing to try something new.
“You’re fine with this?” Dru asked. It wasn’t exactly small talk, but it was better than stifling silence.
“It’s my duty.”
He adjusted his coat, tugging at the fur fringed hood. “Right. Guess that’s enough.”
They walked a bit further before Shaw said, “You still don’t have a mate or claim.”
Dru hid a grimace, trying to draw strength from the crescent moon above. There was nothing he hated more than discussing mates. Claims too, for that matter. Maybe this was why he didn’t feel one way or another about Lan’s seething anger toward Lycan law.
He wasn’t going to openly defy it or befriend outcasts like Lan, but maybe he understood the mind numbing constraints. Just a bit.
“I figured Nyx was such a handful that you didn’t have time to gossip.” Dru glanced back, flashing a smile that was too sharp.
Shaw’s gaze flickered away. “Handful? He spends most of his time away with the vanguard.” In a voice almost too soft to hear, he muttered, “It’s clear where his interests lie.”
Dru paused at that. Was he delusional or had Shaw said something amazing? Choosing his next words carefully, he said, “Freedom or possession? Which one do you prefer?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
He shrugged. It was the answer he expected. Any Lycan of sound mind would know the answer. Freedom provided you with nothing. A lifestyle without restrictions invited danger, unstable conditions, and centuries of suffering. What joy lied in roaming lands alone?
The correct answer was possession. Every time.
Find a bond. Mate and produce. Care or be cared for within the pack and move as a unit. Such measures ensured survival and a fairly comfortable existence. If it didn’t, why would they continue? As for those like Lan, they were misfortunes from the moment of conception. It was a privilege they could be claimed by anyone.
How could anyone snub a life of fucking, food, and shelter? What more was there? And in return, they were merely asked for loyalty and a willingness to lay down their lives. Everyone in a pack had to be willing to die for the collective though.
They weren’t special and were perhaps too privileged.
At least, this is how Lycans spoke about them. Dru didn’t much care for their mental acrobatics and steely resolve for ancient order.
He was lucky to be born normal. Even if people scowled and scolded him for lacking a mate and offspring, they weren’t so offended that they’d do anything. After all, he was part of the vanguard. That automatically gave him leeway.
“So? Nyx isn’t possessive enough for you?” Dru asked dryly.
“He’d rather possess someone else.”
Dru watched his breath rush out in white wisps, trying to decide if Shaw was foolish or courageous. Maybe it was his own fault for continuing the conversation. They could’ve hedged around this issue if he had simply dropped it.
Now though, they were here. Cards on the table and staring idiocy in the face.
“Nyx doesn’t fuck him. Never has.”
Shaw audibly scoffed. It was a surprisingly ugly sound. He had a great deal of pride and poise that was to be expected of his rank, but apparently, even he could experience immature jealousy. Or he really doesn’t know anything about Lan and Nyx.
“What makes you think I’m lying?” Dru laughed mirthlessly. He had stood guard enough times while Nyx tore Lan apart. He’d listened to the crunching of bones and the snap of limbs until he worried there was nothing left of the poor little wolf.
But then Nyx would come out of whatever hovel he’d dragged Lan into and dump his limp body on the ground. The smell of blood, vomit, and despair were the only things that clung to him.
“Days and weeks spent away from the pack?” Shaw muttered. “Who else would entertain him?”
“Your mate’s interest in Lan isn’t fueled by lust.”
“Something more then?” he returned, soft and flat. It was so emotionless that Dru could only rely on his sense of smell to confirm that Shaw was simmering with disgust.
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It seemed pointless to describe at length the torture Lan experienced in Nyx’s hands. Violence could be construed as simply passion. The line between beating and fucking was razor-thin among their kind and perhaps in Shaw’s eyes, that level of attention was something to envy.
His mate, regardless of the true nature of it, had chosen to pour all his possessive—obsessive—energy into someone else. A claim of all things. Even if it wasn’t happening yet, eventually that relationship could lead to fucking, and by then, the only thing Shaw lorded over Lan was his ability to bear offspring.
If not for his breeding functions, how could he match up to someone that could hold his own against Nyx? Challenging and defying him to the point that from the outside, Lan probably looked like an attention-seeking—
“Believe whatever you want,” Dru grunted, steps halting by another cave. He brushed away overgrown moss and waved Shaw forward. “Let’s just get this done.”
The stench of rotting flesh was really such a bother.
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