Lillian felt uncomfortable. Not just right now, with the two very arrogant, very handsy wolf shifters, that Lex had insisted they entertained because she liked how the big one looked like he'd let her... on his face while she... No. Lillian felt uncomfortable, but it was not because of that. It wasn't even the looks Lex had been giving her now that she suspected something was up or the awkward quiet moments they had been having.
Nope. The reason that Lillian was feeling uncomfortable was from something she'd never expect to happen. Kaeron had complimented her... and it freaked her out! Not that she had the right to say anything about it, but she had honestly thought he'd be foaming at the mouth, thinking of ways he'd tie her to the back of his car, and drag her through the streets until she was road kill. (The car he was currently retrieving from some shady mechanic, after they had to walk for three days to the nearest town, avoiding the main road, because Kaeron had no plans of trusting anybody until
They got into town, and when they did finally reach town, he had to go to some shady doctor, in some shady building, in a shady part of town, for some shady surgery). So when he was wrapping up the same blah blah speech he usually gave them anytime that he left, he pulled her aside and told her good job under fire... Outloud... Like it was nothing... And now she couldn't help but to believe that the sky was going to fall at any time now.
"No, fo real I'm 100 percent single, I'm telling you girl, I don't even play like that." The big guy whose name Lillian failed to remember, smirked exposing his canines.
Even in human form, wolf shifters had impressive knife sharp canines. She rolled the thought around in her head. She was doing anything but rolling her eyes at Lex, who was being as ladylike as Kaeron. She had been basically trying to climb on top of that wolf. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for Lillian, Lex would have most likely done something stupid already.
"Oh yeah, you just kiss your sister on the mouth for pictures, no yeah, totally." Lillian rolled her eyes.
Lex shot her a look, and Lillian shrugged.
"A funny misunderstanding that I explained already," he looked down at Lex, who was clinging onto him like he might vanish. "Your friend needs to lighten up."
"Yeah, Lillian, lighten up, we all know you know how to."
"Really, you want to talk about this now?"
Lex threw her hands up dramatically, backing off the guy. "What is there to talk about? You said it was a flashlight and a stun gun, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Then, theirs nothing to talk about... unless you're lying?"
"Hey, you wanna see the jacuzzi that I just got installed?" The one she had been ignoring this entire time asked from beside her.
She continued to ignore him.
"Lex, I'm not lying to you, but even if I were, why do you want to know? Will it change how you feel about me?"
Lex's shoulders relaxed a bit, and Lillian felt like punching herself for playing on her empathy.
"No." Lex responded.
"Ok, would it change the fact that I still need your and Kaerons' help, or that without you two, I would be dead in a matter of days."
"No, you are pretty useless." Lex giggled.
Lillian walked over to her, giggling back and punched her in the arm. "Than quit bitching, bitch damn."
They both started laughing, completely forgetting about the two wolf shifters they had been talking too.
"So, are we doing this or not?" The big one asked. They just looked at him, laughed, and started their walk back up.
******
Kaeron flexed his fingers, checking them for the fourth time since standing in this inferno of an office he had been waiting in for the last hour, filling out paperwork and counting down every mistake he made during the battle in the forest.
It had taken until they were only an hour away from making it to town before he made the rookie mistake of relaxing a bit, and the adrenaline from it all to finally vanish, and he felt everything.
The two holes in his body from where the bullets had struck him. The sleep deprivation from staying up for three days straight. The cravings he was beginning to experience from the phoenix ash. The Kirion that had been burning his insides like acid or the extraneous strain he had been putting on himself to keep watch on the girls.
He had had to lean on Lex... or maybe Lamb... He wasn't really sure. He had lost a lot of blood, and he nearly passed out before they made it to "The Happy Doctor."
Doc was an old necromancer who worked for Draefin. Kaeron and the Doc had become unlikely friends during Kaerons' time with Draefin. The Doc was a hard ass, and never let Kaeron leave his care without a lecture, not even this time, and back then Kaeron was a hot head who would get into fights with the other "Hell's Mob" members, so he was always getting lectures from the old bastard, and yet Kaeron had found himself becoming fond of the old man.
Even so, he never liked how he felt after one of the Doc's sessions. They always got the job done, but he could swear he could feel the bugs and other... things, every time the Doc made him eat them, still alive, swimming around in his body.
This time, it felt as if a group of ant's were crawling around his shoulder, and he was doing his best to ignore the sensation when the orc who ran this poor excuse of a business walked into the room head down in a clip board.
"883? your car is now ready; just need you to initial here. It says you've already paid, so after you sign, you will be good to go."
Kaeron snatched the papers the man was handing out, signed them, and let them fall to the ground behind him as he took the keys and walked away. He still had his check-up with the doc before he could get going with the girls.
He checked his pockets for his phone; he'd text Lex that he'd be back soon but remembered that he had lost it during the battle in the forest. He exited the office into the entrance where his car was now parked and mumbled a curse.
He opened the door, sat down, and then slammed it shut.
He took a deep breath in... out. What was going on with him. Twice had he not seen it coming. He was Kaeron Lucian Deitas, and no matter how that made him feel sometimes, he had a reputation to maintain.
He had acted like a rookie. He almost let his assignment get caught. He had allowed himself to get injected with Kirion, all of that, and yet the most surprising thing of all was that Lamb had actually been able to get his hysterical sister out of harms way.
He knew how his sister was when she was like that, determined... more like stubborn really, and sometimes even violent, so he knew it couldn't have been easy for her to have gotten his sister out of there. Honestly, even in the moment, he was afraid that it wouldn't work, but she had pulled it off.
Now he owed her, and he had decided that he could be nicer to her, even if he still didn't trust her completely. Her getting his sister out of danger did show, at the very least, that she cared for his sister, and that was enough for now.
He stretched, started up the engine, and just sat there listening to it purr before he took off down the road. He had forgotten that the orcs that inhabited the towns around this side of the forest were so fat, and he wasn't only talking about the men. They also smelled awful, so awful that he couldn't drive around with his windows down. He wanted to see the doc and then get out as fast as possible.
Kaeron hated how the Orcs civilization looked. Their houses were made of giant slain creatures that they hunted, and wood, and their was clearly no regulation on how the house was supposed to look because houses here came in all shapes and sizes, and like the freaks orcs are, they all only have one floor. No matter the length of the house or business... Theirs not even a rule against having more than one floor they just do it.
Parks had kids fighting each other with metal pipes, with their parents watching like it was normal, and there wasn't a market around for miles. If you wanted homemade, you'd have to go kill it.
There also wasn't a strip club, not that he minded, but he needed to see some titties now!
The orcs also believed in natural roads because, of course, they did, and it all just felt like too much.
He finally came to a stop in an abandoned alley and walked for a few minutes before finding himself in front of one of the goofy looking buildings. It was shaped like a tigers face and was no larger than a shed. This was one of the spots where Draefin stashed off his doctors, and anyone he needed tortured or he had disappeared.
Nobody was outside, nope, that would draw attention. The body guards were inside, but the camera staring him down was state of the art, and Draefin always kept at least one of his lieutenants on sights like these, and for most people going up against even one would be considered suicide, so people didn't fuck with it no matter how big of a group, and the police stayed away too terrified to incur Draefin's wrath.
That was real power, and Kaeron wanted it.
He stood in front of the door and stared into the camera. A click. And the door opened slightly. Kaeron pushed past it and headed downstairs, where he was flanked by two lackeys.
"Do you have any weapons on you, sir?" One said, avoiding eye contact. The other followed suit, and Kaeron smiled to himself. They knew their place, good.
"Just my beretta's." He yawned.
"Umm, you can't, bring, that inside."
"Are you telling me what I can't do." Kaeron growled.
"No, sir, but..."
"So what is the problem then? Get out of my way before I stop being so patient."
"Yes, sir." They said clearing the way for him.
He strode past them, going deeper into what looked like it came straight out of a comic book. Bright lights in a corridor with Coklien steel doors spread eight feet apart on each side. There were multiple corridors that all looked similar, and all intersected each other throughout the facility, and if you weren't careful, you could easily get lost. Kaeron knew that from experience. He'd gotten lost down here lots of times when he first started coming here.
He could now navigate the entirety of the sectors he was allowed to roam (and some of them that he wasn't allowed to roam) in a blindfold however.
He walked down the corridors, passing two guards down one, and a doctor who didn't look at Kaeron, but he got the feeling that the guy was watching him, down another. He took a few more turns and opened the door closest to the turn on the right.
"Where are you doc!? Let's get this stupid check-up over with so I can get going."
The doc appeared from his backroom, looking older than Kaeron had ever seen him. All necromancers that practiced the arts slowly lost the coloring in their skin. It was the price for their magic, so an old timer like the doc who had been practicing the art for over 7 dozen years always looked sickly, but something was off.
"Kaeron, I was just about to call... You have a visitor."
The mood dropped, and Kaerons mouth went dry. His body only reacted like this in his presence.
"You're not where I left you, and when I heard you showed up here looking like hell, I just had to know."
Kaeron stared into the eyes of the monster himself, and it was like looking in that mirror all over again. The bloody red eyes with slits, the scales that hung to skin on one side of his body like some kind of messed up armor, but he couldn't vomit this time, not in front of Draefin. The last time he had, Draefin had beat him within an inch of his life and had promised there would not be a next time.
"Where are you headed, and who is this girl I've been hearing about?"