the tavern

Laziel Brahm

The wind picked at my hair, blowing it wildly around the sides of my face and eyes until I crossed my hands over my chest.

The towering building of the throne room looked gargantuan from where I stood at the foot of the steep stairs.

Red-uniformed soldiers barricaded my entrance with their spears crossed over each other like a make-shift fence.

How dare that little shit keep me waiting out here like I was some sort of bloody errand boy?

“Our apologies, M’Lord, but the Alpha has insisted we not let you in. Perhaps a better time would be tomorrow?” One of the plain-faced men commented, and I thought about sending him to a better time in Hades.

Who the fuck did he think he was talking to? Fucking snow white?

“Tell your minions to let me pass, Milburn! I know you're bloody well in there!” I cupped my hands to my lips to roar, but only the noise of crickets and the crunch of guards pacing the battlements echoed back to me.

“Asshole.” I cursed under my breath, glaring hard at the dark mouth that led down the red carpet all the way to the throne and imagining tint bullet ants on their way to take a chunk out of Dante’s ass.

How could he admit Selene back into the pack without telling me?

That woman had wrecked all the better years I could have had with a decent mate.

And instead of exiling her, here he was welcoming the wolf to the sheep pen with open arms and a bloody rose bouquet!

I fixed my hands on my hips, gritting my teeth before turning on my heel and heading toward the neon strobe lights that flashed from the large cabin in the distance.

#

The place was packed when I managed to take a seat in one of the high leather chairs, catching the eyes of a group of nude women who flocked to me.

I recognized the leader, Cassandra, by her high tan breasts and the burgundy-colored feather boa she was strangling herself with.

“Your Grace! Goodness, what a surprise to see you here,” she purred, tracing one claw over the center of my chest before dipping it into her mouth as the other ladies giggled.

Only two seconds in and I was already feeling the effects of the music and the rut of sweaty bodies.

Finally! Somewhere I was wanted!

“Missed me ladies?”

“You know we always want you around here. Anything you want handsome, we’re always ready to satisfy you,” She purred, hooking one neon black talon around the gold chain on my neck before I flashed her a grin.

“I don't doubt that, Dahlia, but tonight, i’m only interested in one mistress,” I drawled, holding up the thick whiskey bottle before her red lips widened and she bowed, slithering back into the shadows with her posse.

The smile dropped from my face like diarrhea from a clenched bum before I turned back to the young-looking bartender.

“Wise choice, M’lord. Your brilliance is simply…astounding,” He echoed with a hint of sarcasm that made me smile.

“You’re lucky your booze is good, or that would have been a fine and five night in the dark cells for impunity,” I snickered, watching him puff like a peacock before he brushed his rag more vigorously on the marble tabletop counter.

Time made the edges of my consciousness blur in and out of focus and I felt the resplendent him of serotonin as it fizzled in my veins.

The pump of the bass and the flash of neon lights…all the nude, glorious and sweaty bodies of the dancers swinging from the poles, shifting in and out of their wolves spontaneously.

The tavern was the sin city of the fortress where I was King. The one place with sins so sordid even the moon goddess would cross herself.

I downed shot after shot until my eyes crossed over and my wolf buzzed happily inside me, my rage from earlier now forgotten.

Any other night, and I would have ended up in bed with one of the exotic courtesans eyeing me like I was the last piece of meat on a slab.

But tonight was different. Tonight, Selene was in the fortress, and I had the sinking feeling she wasn't so far away from me either.

She had developed a habit of stalking when we were still dating. Hurting women and vanishing maidens who even dared to breathe my way.

It had been toxic. I wasn't looking to cause any one else any harm until the Confessor was safely out of the fortress.

Doctor Eddie’s blood would have to see me through until then.

“Any luck with your boyfriend?” The bartender’s sarcastic quip came with a knowing smile this time, and I wrinkled my face like I had just tasted shit.

“Dante? Boyfriend? Ha! I would rather be reborn as a duck.” 

His silvery laugh reminded me of a bell in the way it completely changed his sour face into something more boyish.

Something cuter. We had become friends over time. The bar imp and me. No one else would have dared talk so casually to me.

“If I can't get him at his fancy little court, I’ll just wait for him at his royal chambers,” I hissed determinedly, taking another gulp from the sweaty whiskey bottle before staggering to my feet and holding up my thumb to him.

“Goodnight, Your Grace, sleep well,” He sighed with a hint of gratitude before I pushed through the thick wooden doors, inhaling the fresh airy scent of the night.

It had gotten quieter since I was last out. What time was it?

I stumbled across the shadowed row of birch trees that made up the fortress meadow.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight almost immediately, as if someone had been watching me from the darkness before I stumbled out of the way in time for a shadow to breeze past.

Who the hell was that? 

My nose burned at the sweet acrid scent of the wolf before familiarity rose through the fog and I realized it was the blond Casanova.

Caius.

“Woah, there buddy! Hell, if I didn't get out of your way in time you’d have knocked me right over!” I exclaimed, realizing that I might be shit-faced drunk when my voice came out entirely too loud.

I clapped my hand goodnaturedly on the taller wolf’s broad shoulders, snatching it away a split second before his fangs clanged metallically around his shoulder bone.

The crack of cartilage breaking made my jaw fall open and I stumbled back a step, watching him stare back at me with widened eyes.

“Winters?” I called, unsure what to do when his jaw unhooked from his shoulders and he cocked his head, more snaps of cartilage echoing before he ambled forward.

He had gone mad. That was the only explanation for it. It was strange of him to give me the silent treatment when I had done nothing wrong.

I would not stand for it. I wouldn't!

“Winters, come back here right now,” I snapped, instinctively lowering my voice before pausing in confusion, like my brain was struggling to catch up with my body.

Damned tavern wine, I’d promised myself I’d stay sober the entire month after what happened with our shadow mate, but it wasn't surprising that I was yet again slipping back into my old habits.

Drinking was all there was to do in the fortress. Either that or be half-mad with pent-up rage nd libido like the rest of my friends.

Just as the blond wolf spun, the overhead fluorescent shuttled over his face and I felt the blood drain from my head.

His clear porcelain skin had turned an almost pastel shade of blue, and his lips had pulled back around his teeth, all of his red gums now an unsightly shade of black.

He looked like one of the undead wolves that had ambushed our fortress nights ago.

“A-Are you alright?” I stuttered, wavering when bile rose in the back of my throat, almost forcing the dinner still whooshing in my belly through my mouth.

His blond hair looked tangled beneath the broad rim of his cape, sticking to the sides of his face in a way that made me hesitate.

I was frozen to the spot until he turned his back on me to stagger forward, only exhaling when his horrifyingly vacant eyes left my face.

“No, no Winters, what did you do?” I groaned, brushing a hand through my hair and glancing around the square tk make sure no one had caught our argument.

The tall black walls loomed around us before the deafening crack of thunder threw a flash of lightning down that illuminated the stiff silhouettes of the soldiers standing on the battlements for a split second.

Whoever that was, it wasn't the friend I knew. Something else had corrupted him. Spooked him senseless.

But there was something about him that I couldn't miss. 

Something that was as impossible to ignore as the stench of rotten flesh and dried blood wrapping around his hard body like a cloud.

He had been in The Darkness longer than he should have.

Any other wolf would have thought him drunk, but not me.

I knew the signs.

The way he staggered every so often like he had lost his sense of direction…the slurred speech and shaky hands, and the hunched form of his spine under the thick black coat where he hid it.

Those were all things our wolf’s regenerative abilities too ages to heal.

Heck, average wolves would have been lost in the dark mist, wandering around in circles until there was nothing left of them but mindless, blood-thirsty beasts.

It was only because he was horrifyingly string that he could walk given the extent of his injuries.

Caius Winters would go mad and lose his wolf. 

I could tell from the way his formerly beautiful gray eyes had become dim and unfocused, the reddish- yellow threads of The Darkness’ poison present in the whites of his eyes.

“Shit…shit, shit, man, what did you do?” I cursed inwardly, trying to clear my head of the fog the ale had spread around it.

I had to tell someone about this, but who? 

Dante had spared me when he’r walked into my chambers all those nights ago.

I was certain that I was on Hades’ door when I caught the suspicion in his intelligent blue eyes and the way he lingered for a beat after I’d yelled at him.

It was policy for infected wolves to be beheaded on sight, and yet, the Infinity Alpha had spared me, mentioning nothing of it the next time we had met.

It was just like Dante to compartmentalize like that. Use one problem to forget about another until shit hit the fan and what was left of his frayed patience went with it too.

I hated to see him enraged, but this was an emergency.

I couldn't be sure Dante wouldn’t put Caius to death. Hell, he looked worse off than I had been even then.

Ronan. 

I had to find Ronan. He had Dante’s calm without the Alpha authority and blazing need to protect and defend his pack.

“Goddess please…don’t let my friend die,” I muttered, pushing away from the slick black stone wall with quickened steps as my eyes narrowed on Ronan’s stone tower on the other end of the fortress.

It would be a big risk, what I was doing, if we were ever to be caught. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

What the hell had bloody Caius of all wolves been searching for in the Darkness anyway?

Had his repentance brought along a death wish?

No… there was something more than that here. There was something my best friend was hiding.

But that was okay. 

Friends hid things from each other all the time.

I would know, I had secrets of my own no one else would understand.

If I did nothing, Caius Winters would most certainly die tonight.

“Too much time,” I growled.

I’d wasted too much time thinking about what to do instead of just acting.

I could only hope I wouldn't be too late.