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Chapter 24: Cold shoulder
The bar was empty as usual. Only a few people littered throughout the floor. Mostly after work crowd stopping by to de-stress themselves and eat snacks with friends. Avery walked ahead of the other two as they walked past the bar and towards the spiral stairs leading to the pool room. He didn’t stop to look back to make sure the other two weren’t too far out of reach. He always checked on them, he always made sure they were okay. But not that night. He had been cold and distant the entire day. It was unusual for him to not dote on the others, it was in his nature. It was his role in the group, he was the leader, the caretaker. Now he was just their leader. Everything he said to them was an order. Mike did as he asked because she knew that this would all pass. Brooks did what he said because he wanted to fix everything in any way that he could. Ruining things with Avery, he could lose more than just the relationship, he could lose his new home, his new life, his new famil
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Royal Chapter 25: Close Call
The wolves spread out with their claws already retracted ready to attack. It was hard to distinguish where the other things were going to come from, their screeching sounded like it was coming from all around. Robin came up behind Avery and pulled him closer until they were standing with touching sides. Stormy had done the same to Mike. The siren could almost taste the distain coming from Brooks when he saw the large, dark skinned wolf acting protective over Avery. Brooks was always the one who pulled Avery away from danger, he was always there to protect him, Robin was stepping on his territory. The blonde wolf shook the thoughts from his head and instead focused on the oncoming attack.“I'll be fine.” Avery whispered to Robin stepping away slightly. Avery was confident in his ability to defend himself, if he needed protections he’d ask for it. He kept eye contact with the hideous thing in front of them. He reached back and stepped forward throwing one of h
Royal Chapter 26: Neutral Ground
The group slept in shifts, just because the things outside had not attacked yet it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t. Avery skipped his sleep shift to make sure that Brooks was not left alone. He watched over him diligently throughout the night. He watched the sunrise through the sheer blinds, the creatures ran away into the woods avoiding the sun like it was death itself. Even with them gone he didn’t want to go to sleep. The poor wolf had not stopped shaking. Wren was in worse shape, her skin pigment had faded to a sickly white, the dark veins from her wound were branching out farther and farther. The skin looked like it was decaying, she was dying slowly, piece by piece. Ivy sat on the ground next to her sister. The hunters had offered her Brook’s room to rest but she refused to leave her side, even if she was going to be asleep. Robin however didn’t hesitate to take Avery’s room. Stormy took Brooks’s since Ivy wasn’t going to. He sat
Royal Chapter 27: Engraved Initials
He could feel his senses coming to. He was waking up, he didn’t want to but it was happening anyways. To be fair it was actually Mike that woke him up. His body felt stiff, and slightly sore. He wanted to keep sleeping but there was too much noise. “No! No! No!” Avery could hear Mike repeating and running down the stairs quickly. He had told her not to do that multiple times, she had fallen down them just as many times. He blinked his eyes open slowly. He was prepared for the sunlight to stab his eyes. Thankfully the curtains were still closed so the living room was dimly lit. He hummed lazily and rubbed his eyes to try to wake up. Several people were speaking angrily from the other room. It was probably Roz and Ivy butting heads finally. He had hoped that they could play nice for a few hours without him to buffer for them. Hoping had not really worked for him lately. He grunted and pushed himself up. The weight of Brooks’s arms kept him down. He had not noticed that the wol
Royal Chapter 28: Shimmering skin
The restaurant was filled with people eating their lunch. The dining area was loud, people laughed and spoke with each other over various foods. Avery was the first in the door since he was the only one who actually knew where everything was. He smiled at how well the business was doing even without him and Mike there. He knew he had made a great choice leaving Jerilyn in charge. A family of four walked past them and out the door. The parents smiled at Avery, they were regulars. An elderly couple sat at the first booth arguing over the menu prices. Avery quickly moved to them and showed them the senior menu. That seemed to calm them down. One of the bad things about working with the public was that they had a lot of emotions, emotions a siren could pick up on and feel. He hated feeling their anger and annoyance, it was best to make them happy. He continued moving forward and took the girls to the bar stool area, it was in the middle of the dining hall so it was perfect for them to k
Royal Chapter 29: Programmed Reactions
Roz pulled the SUV as far into the driveway as she could. She put the vehicle in park and looked out the window. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day, she would have usually admired it but the coming events had her thoughts elsewhere. She stepped out of the SUV and looked over the yard. The other vehicles had been moved into the garage. The wolves were all outside moving the pieces of outdoor furniture that lay in the yard. They had decided that if those things were going to attack them they needed a clear area to do it in. Brooks led them to the shack in the backyard so that they could lock it all up out of the way. Avery sat in the passenger seat motionless. His eyebrows were knitted together in deep thought. The pheromones swirling around his office replayed in a constant loop in his mind. He stared at the wolves as they stacked the furniture on top of each other. Just being within eyesight of Brooks made his anxiety start to rise. He had dreaded arriving home, all he had
Royal Chapter 30: 21 Questions
The group was not very fond of the idea of Avery being outside, especially his sister. They may not have been aware of what Jerilyn was but they were unsure if the arachnes would attack him in broad daylight. Avery kind of hoped that they would so that Jerilyn could see that he was not the one behind them. He was more worried about the things that a piasa was capable of rather than an arachne. He closed the door behind him ignoring the death glare from his sister. He turned to face the perky redhead waiting for him a few steps from the last step of his porch. Her body was not tense and he didn’t sense any negative emotions from her.“I’m not here to fight you, Avery.” She said putting her hands out in a sign of defeat. The siren stood still at the top of the steps waiting for her to continue. “I am sorry for attacking you at the restaurant.” He was inclined not to believe her since she rolled her eyes as if it physically hurt her to say the
Royal Chapter 31: Rekindled Hostility
Avery couldn’t move much with how fast the manticore was hauling him through the meadow. Despite having the manticore’s spiny tail hostilely bound around him he no longer felt any ache from the puncture in his torso. He mentally kept count of how long he had been dragged and what was around him when the manticore turned. He knew that as long as he followed the bended grass they left behind he could find his way back home and to the safety of the others, but it never hurt to have too much information. The grass around him was growing taller. He couldn’t see anything past the abundant blades. The different shades of greens from the pastures were becoming nothing but a blur to him. Any other time he would have already been wielding his throwing knives and attacking. It was hard to pull them out with the monster’s tail wrapped over it. The blurred greens came to an abrupt halt. He felt the tail slither away from his body and disappear into the tall grass.
Royal Chapter 32: Under Control
When the two arrived back at the house the others were still busy fighting off an army of the arachnes.Roz and Brooks fought back to back at the front of the fight. Brooks slashed low at the arachnes’ legs while Roz swung her silver chains like a mini helicopter. The length of the chain created a small perimeter of safety around them. Avery hadn’t expected to see Brooks and his sister working so closely together. Nobody had noticed the two hunters approaching they were too busy battling amongst the chaos. Rei was on the porch kneeled in front of convulsing Bea. There was a large gash on her leg covering her jeans in blood, even from afar Avery could see the skin around it getting dark and deathly looking. Mike held her still as Rei tried to bandage her. Maja wielded two pieces of the broken porch to keep the arachnes from ambushing them. The other wolves ran back and forth growling deafeningly to intimidate their enemies. The arachnes didn’t hold back from
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