Bondmates

So here’s chapter 7!!!!

Sorry for the longer wait. I’ve been pretty busy…:(

…and people still aren’t giving me feedback…(minus tashery and Nathaniel) Is it good? Is it bad? Is it riddled with grammatical mistakes? Are the characters cool? Is it at least vaguely interesting?

Come on people, I need some kind of response. Otherwise I’ll get very sad and depressed and will lose interest in the story… T_T

Chapter 7

The first thing he notices when he wakes up is that it’s very quiet. There is a faint humming in the background—he recognizes it as the sound of air circulators doing their job.

This strikes him as very odd.

Usually he can’t even hear the bustling of the city streets over the yelling and screaming of his bickering parents…and whatever lovers they might have brought home.

No, everything is quiet.

Hesitantly, he opens his eyes, expecting to see the familiar water stains on the ceiling of his room.

Nothing. The ceiling is white, unmarred by generations of smokers and warring families.

It is only when he sits up and sees the brown-haired boy curled up, fast asleep on the couch that the memories return.

Reese Ferralan’s eyes widen. He was supposed to meet Max after school. But he had sensed the presence of that creature, that Reaper. Stupidly, he had gone to check it out and had been sniffed out.

He shivered as his body recalled the intense pain.

His eyes fell on the sleeping boy.

But then…then Max had come. He had given him the strength to make one last stand. It must have worked since they were both alive. But…

Where were they?

“Good morning. Or should I say ‘afternoon’?”

Reese’s gaze turned to the young man at his side.

He was surprised he didn’t notice him before. He was also surprised that he didn’t feel wary about this person at all.

The exotic dark eyes told him he was safe.

For the first time in longer than he can remember, he truly felt safe.

“Hello,” he said hesitantly, unsure what else to say to the unfamiliarly elegant person before him. He doubted he had ever met anyone before who had the kind of natural grace and beauty that the boy before him had.

The other smiled gently at him. He could call forth no coherent words to say to this pure being.

Luckily he didn’t need to.

“How about I make you some food? That’s the most important thing right now.”

He nodded mindlessly at the soft voice and watched the other effortlessly do just that. The delicious aroma of the food finally drew him into the kitchen. He spared a concerned look at Max’s sleeping form on his way by.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s fine. He’s the one that’s been worrying about you the whole day.”

Reese nodded. He couldn’t help but feel strangely detached about his current situation.

It seemed very unreal.


Taylor watched the younger boy at of the corner of his eye. The kid wasn’t shielding…but he didn’t really seem to be feeling all that much.

Numb.

That’s what he seemed to be. As if the events prior to his falling unconscious had completely burned him out.

This worried him.

Great healer though he may be, he had no experience with healing the mind.

Brrrriiiiiinngggg

The apartment phone’s ringing joggled him from his contemplations.

“I’ll be back, eat as much as you can,” he said to Reese before he hopped off the counter stool that he’d been sitting on, and picked up the line in the bedroom.

“Hello?”

“Taewoo.”

Taylor frowned. He recognized the voice. And even if he didn’t, there was only one person that knew the apartment number that ever called him by his given name.

And that person wouldn’t call unless there was something important going on.

“What’s up?” He tried to keep his voice as carefree as possible. Who knew when the government would be listening in these days?

“We’ve found the items that we’ve been looking for. We need you to come over and look at them. They seem to be broken. You know no one knows how to fix these things like you do.”

Taylor’s gaze flickered to the doorway.

“Sure. I’ll head over as soon as I can.”

“Hurry.”

He carefully ended the call, and returned to the living room. He noted that Max was still sleeping. That was good. Then he turned to the kitchen where Reese seemed to be finishing up the food.

“Hey, I have to go out for a bit. You going to be okay?”

The high schooler nodded. “Do you need any help?”

Taylor waved his hands in front of his body. “No, no. I’m fine. I hope I won’t be gone too long. If so, then I’m sure the other person who lives here will be home anyway. If you get bored, there’s some computer games and movies and other stuff on the computer over there. And if you get hungry, be sure to eat something. Oh, and make sure you stay inside. There’re some things we want to go over with you two before you leave.”

Reese simply nodded. Though Taylor was worried about him (what kind teenage boy easily agreed to confinement?), he had more important matters to deal with at the moment.

He grabbed his coat and all but flew out of the apartment.

Winter was not a little girl.

She hated when they cooed at her as such.

It was only natural for her to freeze the whole room. Too bad for those who were too weak to stand a little chill.

She disdainfully sneered at the former people, now ice sculptures that decorated the little room that she’d been so rudely confined to.

It was their fault for being so stupid.

Dumb humans.

She hated them.

All of them.

“So you’re an Ice Demon.”

Winter instinctively crouched into a defensive position and hissed at the one person that seemed utterly unaffected by her cold.

“Or at least partially anyway.”

The part of her that was weak was appreciative of the man before her. He was tall and lean, attractively proportioned for a filthy human. His shining long-ish raven hair was entwined with colored string, delicate glass beads of various shapes and sizes, and intricately carved wooden plates. He had an intelligent angular face from which his eyes bore into her. It was his eyes, so strange in their blue and red coloring that truly fascinated her in spite of her contempt of mankind.

“Who are you?” she demanded, not a little intimidated by this strangely beautiful man with uncommonly colored eyes. This man who stood stoic before her, completely unmindful of the arctic cold of the room.

He knew she was of Demon descent.

His face remained impassive, possibly scrutinizing her as she did him. “The name that I call my own is Xhaiden Odinu. And yours?"

She frowned at his politeness and restraint. It was so much easier to want to kill someone when they showed some kind of weakness. “Winter.”

He nodded. He didn’t drivel on about how fitting it was for her or such. No, he moved right to the point. “Please unfreeze the room, Winter. These people meant you no harm.”

Gritting her teeth, she found that she couldn’t resist the soothing quality of his voice. She released her frozen hold on the room.

“Thank-you Winter.”

And then he was helping the newly thawed humans out the door, probably to receive medical attention themselves.

Alone once more in the re-warmed room, Winter sat down and pulled her knees to her chest.

She wanted to ask him why he treated her like an adult, and not the child she appeared to be.

She wanted him to tell her all the things that other children were privileged to hear.

She wanted him to like her.

Xhaiden Odinu.


The moment the set of bulk-head doors opened, Taylor could feel the energy crackling in the air from the various spells being prepared to be thrown at him.

He narrowed his eyes in distaste.

He always forgot that these days most of them had no clue who he was. To them, he was simply an unknown intruder that had somehow gotten through six layers of defenses without setting off a single alarm.

He supposed it was commendable that they were so cautious.

But he wished they weren’t focusing all that offensive magic on him.

He felt Elijah’s sudden concern for him through their Bond. Though his lover had no clue of his situation, he could sense the aggressive magic that was aimed at Taylor.

Taylor sent back a vague comforting feeling. He hoped that Elijah would get that he wasn’t in any real danger…

Even if all the spells did go off.

He could feel his own power building inside of him, waiting to be released.

“Enough! All members of T.A.L.O.N. are to dissipate their castings and step down. I repeat, all members of T.A.L.O.N. are to step down.”

With puzzled expressions on all of their faces, the previously hostile greeters did just that. They still kept distrustful eyes on Taylor.

He released his pent-up energy as well. He was glad that it didn't come to an all out magic clash. He knew the moment Elijah sensed it, he’d be there in an instant, metaphorical claws unsheathed and all niceness gone from his demeanor.

Elijah tended to get unreasonable when his Bondmate was in danger.

Taylor, never one to back down from anything, grinned at the still suspicious clang of people in front of him. He made sure to show as many teeth as possible.

Predictably, they tensed, their gazes becoming even more guarded.

…And then those same gazes turned to stunned disbelief when a little ball of dun colored fluff all but propelled itself into the intruder’s arms.

As those around performed strikingly realistic fish imitations, with mouths gaping open, Taylor smiled into clear violet eyes.

The Siamese-seeming cat in his arms purred happily as he nuzzled at Taylor’s face.

It’s good to see you again, the cat seemed to say.

Taylor smiled endearingly at the little fur-ball.

“Well, that was a near disaster.”

Taylor looked up at the man for whom the crowd of T.A.L.O.N. members was parting.

“Xhaiden,” he acknowledged. With a challenging look in his eyes, he continued. “And that ‘near disaster’ you’re referring to isn’t my death, is it?”

Though his face remained immobile, Xhaiden’s red and blue eyes smiled in appeasement at him. “Of course not. Your abilities are on an entirely different level from them. It’s the potential loss of so many of my men that make up that ‘near disaster’ I mentioned.” He held up a hand to keep Taylor from interrupting. “Not that I doubt your ability to control your great power so as not to cause any casualties…of course.”

“Of course.” Taylor agreed, his face breaking out into a full grin. The semi-not-quite-bantering was so very familiar. “Fine, fine. Where are they?”

Xhaiden motioned him to follow. “This way.”

And the two—plus the cat—left the entrance of the T.A.L.O.N. base, leaving also the crowd of T.A.L.O.N. members to look confusedly at each other, wondering what had just happened between their leader and the (ex-?) intruder.

As he followed Xhaiden, Taylor worried for his lover. No doubt Elijah had already instinctively called on his energy resources, prepared to protect Taylor at any moment. He hoped he could get through this and reach Elijah before the model lost his mind.

Elijah…


His muscles were tight, energy humming within him.

Elijah struggled to contain the flow of magic within him. He bit back a groan as the energy tingled its way from his gut to his groin. His nails bit into his hands.

So far none of the other transport passengers had noticed the sexual tension enveloping their fellow public transport user.

That was good.

If only it would stay that way in time for him to get home, drag his beautiful Asian Bondmate into their room, lock the soundproof door, and then have his way with him.

He shuddered as the energy spiked, raging to be released.

Tae…


Mica nodded in acknowledgment at the figure before him. Clothed entirely in black, from head to toe, there was an air of mystery surrounding the figure.

Quite a contrast compared to Mica’s brightly bedecked form.

But behind tinted goggles, Mica’s eyes were emotionless. The information that he had just received was something that would have sent most men into a panic. He was not the type to run about in terror when he could be doing something useful.

“And the Clan?”

“Nothing. Things have been quiet on their end.”

Mica frowned. He knew them. He knew them so very well. Quiet? No, they were undoubtedly anything but. They were no doubt planning. Preparing.

They were the ones that he was most worried about.

“Keep watching them both. But in particular, don’t let your guard down around the Clan. They’re up to something. I want to know what. You’re dismissed.”

The figure nodded. “Yes sir.”

He vanished, leaving Mica to his thoughts.

This rather messes up our plans…