Chapter Two

“You should keep your dog on a tighter leash,” Michael yelled from his table as we entered the cafeteria.

“Oh boy,” Jax said as Preston laughed. Rev eyed Michael as we walked directly toward them skipping the lunch line completely.

The look in Rev’s eyes told me everything. He was going for Michael. They were laughing at us and more of his cronies joined in. Other students stared at us in fear and Carson chose that time to stand on his seat and point to me.

“Did you beat up more juniors?” he asked loudly.

“Unlike you Carson, we pick on people our own size,” I said to him as Rev launched himself at Michael and tackled him off his chair.

They landed with a thud and Rev wasted no time in slamming his fist into Michael’s face. I could smell the blood and I heard his nose crunch as Rev didn’t make a sound. Girls were screaming as Jax and I tried to get Rev off of Michael. Preston stood with his back to us eyeing Carson’s friends and making sure nobody could take a cheap shot at us.

“Rev, let go,” I said close to his ear and he stopped hitting Michael.

“Payback’s a bitch Grey!” Carson yelled from where they were helping Michael up from the floor.

“Bitch,” Rev said and spat on Michael’s face. We left the cafeteria and I took Rev to the bathroom to rinse his hands and wash the blood off. There would be retaliation for this fight and I smiled at the thought.

“You did good Rev,” Preston said and slapped him on the back. Rev only looked at him and didn’t smile or frown.

“The look on Michael’s face was priceless!” Jax said loudly as he leaned against the wall.

“He asked for it, shouldn’t have called Rev a dog,” I said as we walked out of the bathroom when the bell rang.

We didn’t see Carson or his friends for the rest of the day and I was impressed that we had actually stayed the entire day. I knew that Jesse would get a message from Joseph about this but I could care less. Michael can have his retaliation fight with Rev one on one. This was one of the ways we sorted out disputes.

My birthday present from Jesse stood in the driveway when we arrived at home and I smiled. It was exactly what I wanted, the Ford Mustang GT in all black. Even Preston was quiet as I stared at the car. It was sleek and gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to hear the engine roar. Jax was basically drooling and I pulled him away before his drool could touch my new car.

“I’m so jealous right now,” Jax said as he opened the door.

“Don’t even think about it, you’re never driving my car,” I said to him.

“Or touching his sister,” Preston chimed in as Rev smirked again.

“My birthday’s next week, maybe if I ask nicely,” Jax said and I laughed.

“Stop drooling and get some rest for tonight,” I said to him as I walked into the house.

Chris had gone shopping with her friends and I knew that Jay would follow her. That was our arrangement. Chris had agreed to one guard, moving unseen and only doing something if her life was in danger. Although we kept our relationship private I was sure that Joseph knew who she was and I wouldn’t put it past him to do something.

Contrary to belief Carson and I had never actually fought each other. It was always Rev that jumped people and it was only my small circle that knew the extent of my dislike to the McIntyre’s and that had only changed the last year, before that Carson and I used to be friends.

I closed my eyes as I lay on my back on the bed and I thought back to Carson’s conversation with his friend, JD. He really was an asshole and he’d gone through the whole cheerleading squad, he kept his girlfriends for a maximum of a month before moving on to the next one and I really wondered why the girls in our school were so gullible to be his next conquest.

I was walking through a forest of trees, the wild grass reaching up to my middle. I didn’t recognize this place and I felt dread fill my senses. I could smell wildflowers and the trees, I swear I could even smell the grass.

The breeze was calming and made the smells twirl in front of me as I followed it. It felt like I had walked for hours as I reached the end of the forest and found a girl standing on the edge of the cliff. The river below was raging in anger and I could physically feel her sadness.

I was trying to reach her before she jumped. Somehow I just knew that she wanted to jump and I had to save her, because… I wasn’t sure why, I just knew I had to. She had auburn hair and it fell down her back in waves as the breeze blew through it, carrying her scent to me.

“Hey, wait!” I yelled out to her but she ignored me and didn’t even turn around.

In my mind’s eye I could see the single tear escaping and making its way down her cheek. I tried to run but as I reached her she jumped and my hand missed hers by inches. I had fallen forward onto my stomach as I reached for her and she didn’t even scream.

I woke up as her body hit the river and I gulped for air. My heart was beating erratically and I could still faintly smell the lemongrass. It smelled like summer almost. My t-shirt was soaked with sweat and I pulled it off as I looked at my watch. It was six pm and time to get ready.

Tonight we were all fighting and I was glad that I’d have the weekend to recuperate. We healed faster than humans but depending on the injury it could range from a day to a week. We changed into boxing shorts and we fought barefoot. Any style of fighting was acceptable except the use of weapons.

We fought against humans, our own kind and other supernaturals although we tried to keep humans with humans. Tonight we had no humans fighting and I was looking forward to testing my skills against others.

I entered the enclosed ring and looked at my opponent. He was about twenty-five or so and he looked tough. The bell had barely rang before he lunged at me and cracked two of my ribs. Rev’s face held no emotion as he looked at me and Jax was yelling something.

I lifted my arms and blocked his next two punches before grabbing him in a clinch and hitting him twice with my head. He was dazed for a few seconds which gave me enough time to turn the tables and started assaulting his abdomen and ribs, wherever I could land a punch.

We kept at it for the next ten minutes, exchanging kicks and punches and I could see it in his eyes. He wanted a knock out and the win and I hated losing. I took a step forward, placing my foot slightly behind his and faked with my left. He moved backwards as I anticipated and lost his footing as I removed my foot.

I was on top of him and now I was hitting him at will, breathing hard as my ribs kept reminding me of their cracked status every time I took a breath. I stood up as the bell rang again and he was bleeding and unconscious. The referee held my hand up and for the first time I heard the crowd cheering me on.

“That was your best fight to date,” Preston said after we had showered and collected our winnings.

“Good,” Rev grunted and I smiled at him.

“We should definitely celebrate, we all won tonight,” Jax said as we walked to the parking lot grinning like idiots, except Rev, he never smiled unless it was for Hannah.

“I’m hungry,” Preston said as we laughed. He was always hungry.

“Fine, we’ll stop for pizza on the way,” I said and climbed into my car.

Preston and Rev followed behind us as we drove to the little Italian corner shop that served pizza per slice. We laughed and joked as we ate and after an hour, Mario, the owner chased us out so he could close. He chased us out of his restaurant about twice a week but I knew he had a soft spot for us since the day we beat up the crew that demanded protection money from him.

We were back at the house at half past nine and I quickly went upstairs to shower and change into a suit. I heard Jesse downstairs with three other strange voices. I had never met the Elders before which in our society was a good thing. You usually met them for the first time before your ceremony.

“Ah Lucas,” Jesse said with a smile as I walked into the meeting room where they were all seated.

“Evening Uncle Jesse,” I said refraining from just using his first name in front of them.

“This is Elder Gareth Wineston, Elder James Hitchenson and Elder Peter Phillips,” Jesse introduced them.

“Welcome to our lair Elders, I’m Lucas Grey, son of Geoff and Luciana Grey, future Sire of the Grey Lair,” I said and shook their hands.

“Shall we be on our way?” Elder Gareth asked as we made our way out of the meeting room.

I climbed into Jesse’s SUV next to him and watched as two Elder Warriors climbed into a vehicle behind us. The Elders climbed into another vehicle and we followed them down the road. It took us just under an hour to make the drive from Aurora to Chicago and they headed to their headquarters.

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” Jesse asked and I smiled slightly as I looked at him.

“Are you referring to Rev hitting the shit out of Michael Black?” I asked him.

“Shit Lucas,” he said and laughed.

“Technically it wasn’t Rev’s fault,” I said to him.

“It never is. What happened?” he asked me.

“Michael called Rev a dog and said I should keep a tighter leash on him,” I said.

“Is he slow?” Jesse asked me and I laughed aloud.

“Probably, everyone in our society knows Rev,” I said.

“I’ll sort it out, don’t worry,” he said.

“If Michael wants a retaliation fight, Rev’s ready,” I said and he grinned at me.

“I doubt he wants a repeat, Rev cracked four ribs, broke his wrist and dislocated his shoulder,” Jesse said.

“Nice,” I said and Jesse just shook his head.

We drove in silence for a while and I felt the emotions starting to take over. It should be my father driving with me. My mother would have planned a celebratory dinner before the time and after the ceremony she would’ve waited up to listen to every detail.

My father would have been proud no matter what beast I got and I wanted that. I missed them, especially tonight. I felt his absence and it threatened to choke me. I blinked my tears away and I saw Jesse looking at me.

“He would’ve been proud of you,” he said to me.

“You think so?” I asked him.

“He was always proud of you,” he answered.

“Do you think he’s watching?” I asked him.

“I’m pretty sure he has a front row seat Lucas,” he said with a smile.

“Thanks for everything Uncle Jesse,” I said.

“I love you kid and don’t be nervous, you’ll do great,” he said.

All ceremonies are held in your district’s headquarters by the Elders that watch over that region. The vehicles stopped next to a building and we climbed out. It didn’t look like much, basically just a warehouse from the outside although I knew the inside would be completely different.

“Just do whatever the Elders tell you to do, don’t have any fear,” he said and I looked at him questioningly. What would happen that could possibly frighten me? Nobody tells you what to expect and the ceremony itself was a well-kept secret from everyone.