From this angle, staring at the man’s face as he ran his eyes through the bar, Storm thought that he looked like the legendary Zofan hated the thought of using the guardian sword. His primary job was to be called in when there was no longer any hope, and that fact put a dark edge to his entire life. Not many people saw this, but she had noticed, as she had gone through the book.
Storm was close enough now to the man to sense his muscles relax as people assured him, they were all right. The people climbed slowly to their feet, shaken, but there was no one dead or wounded. They'd been lucky.
The floor was littered with glass and splintered wood, the smell of spilled alcohol was sharp, and bullet holes riddled the dark walls. Half the bottles and glasses behind the bar had been destroyed, and the one of the bartenders crawled shakily out from under a table.
A man zoomed in through the front door and stopped by a clump of people not yet brave enough to get up. Storm didn’t know who he was but he seemed to be looking for the man right beside her. They had the same built, just that her savior was a hotter version. She almost laughed out loud at her thought. The people at his feet looked up in terror. But what did the idiots expect if they hung out in a bar like this? This baffled Storm. She could recognize some people from her side of the town. Some of her classmates, then in high school, had been seen as being cool whenever they mentioned that they had taken a trip down here and had returned unscathed. They pretended to adore the crappy side of the town. They even dressed like the inhabitants sometimes, but when a gun is shot, or mafia clubs are at loggerheads with each other, they cringe in fear.
"Kaden," The new guy said over the crowd, eyes holding questions. Storm took her lips in. Kaden. Not bad for a hot savior. She thought.
"No one in here got hit. How's Liam?" Kaden asked.
"He'll live." The anger on the new guy's face mirrored Kaden's own. "Hunters, a carload of them. This place is getting unsafe for us, Kaden.” He mentioned, but Kaden kept quiet, taking inventory of the whole damage to the bar.
"Cowards," A beauty spat suddenly from nearby, attracting Storm’s attention. Eyes white with rage, the red head helped another woman to her feet. She was wearing a collar which she wore like a fashion accessory to her body-hugging gold mini dress; a collar emitted half a dozen sparks. "Let me go after them." She said, heaving in and out. Storm thought her mad there and then. What could she possibly do to a team of bulky men? Dance for them? Storm scoffed, thinking about it. False bravado seems to have reached this part of the town too.
"Easy." The new guy stated. His voice held such calm authority that the redhead backed off in spite of herself, and her collar went silent. Storm wondered why that was so. She noticed that the other new guy was wearing a collar too. But his Liam's didn't spark at all, although she felt the waves of anger from him.
One of the groupies raised his hands. "Hey, man, it had nothing to do with us."
The new guy forced a smile, stuffing himself back into his ostensible role as bar manager. "I know that, lad," he said. "I'm sorry for your trouble. You come back in tomorrow, why don't you? The first rounds on me."
His Irish lilt was pronounced. His voice tone aiming to soothe, but the people nearby didn't look comforted. The bartender which had earlier stormed out, staggered back in with few bruises all over his body. He was nearly seven feet tall, broad of shoulder and chest, and tight with muscle. His face was sheet white, his shoulder torn and covered with blood. Storm winced, especially when she saw that he was the exact man that had asked her earlier what she had been doing here. What the hell! Was he this tall? She wondered, trailing her eyes all over him. And when their gazes met and held, she shook off Kaden's protective hold and went to him.
"Damn it, what were you doing?" She asked, wanting to help him in any way she could.
"My job." He replied, and Storm scoffed out aloud. When had the man gone from bartending to fending off bullies? The amount of blood flowing down his torso would have had another person on the floor in shock. He merely looked embarrassed.
Kaden got to the man's other side. "In the back, lad. Now."
"I'm fine. It's just a bullet. My own fault." The bartender replied, but Storm was having none of it.
"Shut it." She said, before gesturing Kaden to help her move him.
Kaden and Storm towed the bigger man to a door marked "Private," and Kaden more or less shoved him into the office beyond.
The office was ordinary-cluttered desk, a couple of chairs, a storage cabinet, shabby sofa, and a small safe in the wall that only the bar's human owner was supposed to know the combination to. Storm knew good and well that Kaden knew it too.
A wooden sword leaned against the wall like an upright cross with threads all around it. Storm couldn’t help her mind from wondering if any of the guys had a child or children. The sword looked like something that was carved for a kid of perhaps five or six years old. Taking her lips in, she cast a short glimpse at Kaden who was more focused on moving the bartender across the room where a chair was. Could he be the one with a child? The thought left a bitter after taste in her mind and mouth, and she couldn’t for the life of her state why.
Kaden pushed the bartender at a chair. "Sit, Lent."
Lent dropped obediently, and the flimsy chair creaked under his weight. Lent was large and hard-muscled, his short but shaggy black hair looked uncombed. He didn't have an ounce of fat on him. Storm wasn't used to seeing as men as hot as this, having never really met one on her side of the town, except for her ex, who had left her to pursue his basketball career at a university, thousands of miles away from her.Curtis had been her high school sweetheart whom she could do anything, totally anything, even if included her right kidney. He had been a home of comfort to her whenever her step mother and step sister decided to turn on their devilish mode and wreak havoc on both her physical and mental state. Curtis had been her lifeline. He had transferred to their school in their eleventh grade, and they had hit off immediately. An act which was obvious to everyone since Curtis was the new hot male student and she was the most beautiful girl in their class, had been voted that way since
Storm pressed her thumb and index finger to the middle of her forehead, stepping back one bit, feeling a headache coming already. She wished she could unsee what she had just seen.“Storm, are you okay?” She heard Kaden ask, and shook her head.“What are you people?” She asked, wondering whether the likes of this people were why this part of the town was not deemed fitted for normal people. Does this mean that she should be staying here?“We...are...” Lent was saying when Kaden cut in sharply.“We are people with special abilities. If that pisses you off, you should leave, and of course don’t mention it to any one.” He said, meeting Storm’s stare.Storm, seeing his accessing gaze, shrugged.“You don’t have to send me away. Mr. Kaden. I also have some special abilities, and I think I can help Lent.” She stated, batting the surprised Kaden's hands aside and pressing her palm directly to the wound. Folding herself against Lent, she held her hand flat to his chest.“What are you doing, St
"The gift isn't that strong. It's not like I can cure terminal diseases or anything. I can boost the immune system, heal wounds and abrasions, and speed up the healing of broken bones. I couldn't have magicked the bullet out of Lent, for instance, but I could relieve his pain and jump-start his recovery." Storm replied, relieved that she was a bit far from his reach."And you don't think this is something we should know about?" Kaden asked, his eyes still stuck on her.Storm shrugged in reply.When she looked at Kaden again, his eyes had returned to that sinful, summer-lake blue, but his stance still said he could turn on her anytime he wanted. If Storm hadn't been intrigued by Kaden the moment she'd laid eyes on him for the first time in a bus station, the man would have terrified her. Yes. Their meeting today in Mr. Tim’s office had actually been the second time she had seen him. She remembered now. She hadn’t been able to recognise him when she had waltzed into the office earlier
Storm scoffed when she heard Kaden’s reply.Stick around? The man must be nuts to think that she would take up visiting this side of Shappy town as a hobby because of him. She thought.It was best she left here already before he started to talk about her working as a bartender in this crime infested bar. After all, he already paid in full, Mr. Tim’s debt.“Aren’t you a little curious about who or what we are? Some people are actually dying for this piece of information, and here you are pushing it away even though it is offered on a free platter.” Kaden mentioned, folding his arms across his chest, his blue eyes boring down on Storm. His reply caused Storm to snort. “Well, I am not interested. I will live just as fine as I was before coming into this bar today. I am not a journalist or among the paparazzi who would do anything for a piece of this juicy information you are offering me.” She pointed out, her eyes already scanning the room for the exit door, even as she asked herself if
It was true that Storm didn’t know who exactly Kaden was or why he was suddenly interested in hearing her problems, but it was heartwarming to know that at least someone cared enough to know about the nightmares that wouldn’t let her sleep smoothly and in peace for the last three years.Her father had found out about it at first, but his love for her step mother, Jess, had blinded him to the fact that she needed warmth, that she had needed his care more than ever. Her father marrying Jess had begun Storm’s misery days. It was like the woman was shrouded in ill fortune and bad news."I really don't want to talk about it right now," Storm finally said, shaking off the earlier feeling of pouring out her feelings to Kaden, who was definitely strange. Since knowing about the uniqueness of Lent when they had attempted to remove the bullet which had lodged into his arm, she had a feeling that her life was about to get a tad bit interesting.And she welcomed it. It was high time something o
After Kaden’s heroic words, Storm straightened and turned, putting her back against the door, her stormy eyes making him wild with wanting. “You know I’m grateful for what you did for me,earlier at the bar drinking room. Thank you for saving me.” She mentioned, deciding to express her thankfulness and curb her stubbornness for the now. If he hadn’t covered her with his body, perhaps, she would have been hurt, either by the gun or shattered glasses.“Aye, and your undying gratitude is what I live for.” Kaden said, his eyes never leaving hers.“Really?” She looked him up and down with a hint of a smile.“Sure it is.” He heard the amusement in his tone, but he couldn’t keep it out.Storm’s brows moved upward, her smoke-colored eyes looking straight into his heart. He had to wonder what she saw there.Kaden had pictured her as a submissive little human-shy and scared, before he’d met her today; for he had known about her living conditions with her step mother, and that she was coming to
Storm and the girl whose name Kaden had overheard, Lucy, said good-bye to Kaden in front of Storm’s house. Kaden pulled Storm into a full embrace, to the shock of the two females-unable to hold himself, inhaling her scent. He liked that Storm hugged him back, not fighting this particular way of saying good night. Her body felt good and warm, the strength and softness of her making him want to hold her for hours. Avery’s hug was not nearly as intoxicating, and her embraces were always accompanied by a flood of perfume. Thinking of Avery, a girl friend of his, made him disentangle from the hug and look around the environment waringly.Avery was very possessive of him even though they weren’t mates. But that hadn’t stopped him from sleeping with her even though she was Lent’s cousin. She had been among the few females who had followed him despite the cloak of shame that had covered him after he had been banished from the pack for a crime he didn’t commit. Kaden waited until Storm had
“Hey, Liam. Kaden,” Micheal said as he walked into the room where the other two men were. “Mako wants to know when we can go hunt down the hunters and kick some gobshite ass.”Kaden started to grin, doubting that Mako, a werewolf as they were but different because he was a rogue from some pack he had never heard of, who lived across the street, had used the term gobshit, but Liam growled. “Mako can keep his pants on and his mouth shut.” Micheal went to the refrigerator and helped himself to a chilled beer. His movements were restless, angry, a young werewolf impatient to make his place in the world. “They invaded our territory, or as well as. They put our females in danger. I say Mako is right. We fight.”“Since when do you listen stupid ass**les like Mako?” Liam’s voice had an edge to it. “We’ll get them, lad.”“By sitting around drinking Guinness?” Micheal muttered, taking a swig of his beer, swallowed, and wiped his mouth. “Fine leaders you are.”“I talked to the human cops before