Witch's Sorrow Page 2

  “What are you wearing?” he asked, voice clipped.

  Alice looked down, seemingly confused by his comment.

  Oh shit. She bit her lip, heat against her cheeks as she only just noticed what she had thrown on. Her shirt was pure white, tucked into her black jeans. Two strategically placed avocados were the only pattern on the front. Luckily it was one of her politer shirts, he was fortunate it was relatively clean.

  She folded her arms over her chest, trying to hide the design as if nothing was wrong. That gets her a small, familiar smile, just the tip at the corner of his mouth. Dread had always moaned about her choice in clothing, ever since he took over as her legal parental guardian all those years ago. He still moaned regularly even though she constantly reminded him she was twenty-three.

  He thought she was acting up.

  She thought the shirts were cool.

  The smile vanished, his face immobile once again. His eyes were something he often used to scare people, the creepiness of them enough to get anyone to behave. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. Debating whether to ask a question the door at her back opened, allowed some extra light to creep into the still too dark room. She fought not to turn, Dread holding her gaze until the door shut once again.

  “Now Alice, you will remain quiet until asked a direct question. Do you understand?” Dread betrayed no emotion, he had become the Commissioner of Supernatural Intelligence, leader of the Paladins. Not her parental figure.

  She just nodded back, deciding it was better not to open her mouth at all. She didn’t always have a conscious thought on what came out.

  “Okay then, when Mr Wild takes a seat we can start this meeting.” His obsidian eyes broke their connection, allowing her to breathe for a second before Mr Wild sat in the seat beside her.

  The man was tall, around six feet with long light brown hair that hid the expression on his face in a straight curtain. She looked back at Dread in confusion. Why was I here? She asked silently while his eyes stayed blank. He knew what she asked, had refused to respond. She huffed to herself as she chanced another glance to her right. Piercing blue eyes met hers for a fleeting second before she forced herself to look away. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She had recognised those eyes, eyes of a shifter, someone that was part man part animal, one that was pissed.

  “Let’s get on with this then.” The man next to her complained, his voice deep but emotionless. Monotone even.

  She turned to look at him again as his irises changed, the brightness dimming to a darker blue, ones that showed no emotion what so ever.

  Alice observed him as he swept his long hair over his shoulder, revealing an unusually narrow nose compared to his broad chin. His facial hair was messy as if he was used to being clean shaven but hadn’t had the time. She continued to stare at him even as he looked at Dread expectantly, ignoring her for the moment. He had been the wolf shifter she had tagged a week ago, the one who wrecked the bar and had got her banned.

  “Let’s begin then shall we.” Dread tapped once more on the desk. “Agent Alice Skye, do you know why you have been asked to attend this meeting?”

  Bloody hell, he used my full name and title.

  “No.” This was serious.

  “Do you remember the gentleman next to you?”

  Alice gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

  “Then can you explain to me why you arrested the Alpha of White Dawn?”

  “White Dawn?” Alice opened her mouth in a silent gasp. Oh shit. She cursed herself. White Dawn was the largest wolf pack in London if not Europe. She had royally fucked up. “It was a contract, amber level retrieval.” She strained to remember the exact details.

  “Who gave you the contract?” Dread asked as he studied her carefully.

  “It was emailed across to me. Nothing suspicious about it.” She tried to shrug without moving her arms from her chest.

  “How did you even find me?” The Alpha next to her growled. His irises flashed the brighter blue, barely a second before returning to the darker shade. From her experience with shifters it was his animal’s response, their emotions and instincts rawer than the human counterpart.

  Alice refused to face him, not wanting to aggravate his beast. “I’m good at my job.”

  “What happened Alice?” Dread leaned forward, the light from the chrome lamp giving him an ethereal glow.

  “I was waiting outside the bar where I had tracked the wolf…” A small snarl to her right. “I mean, Mr Wild.” She corrected. “He held a man up by his throat, against a wall.”

  “You held a man against a wall in a human bar?” Dread’s unnerving eyes turned to the Alpha. His fangs punched below his bottom lip in a show of uncharacteristic annoyance.

  “Pack business.” Was the Alpha’s only response, his tone absolute.

  “The man had started to shift, bones were breaking, and his fur started to erupt from his ripped flesh, but it was wrong.” She knew it, she had seen enough shifts from human to animal and back again to recognise the difference in the transition.

  “Wrong?” Dread questioned her.

  “I have seen people shift, and this man was wrong, sick maybe. He changed into a half state, his legs bent at the wrong angle and half his body exposing muscle. He ran from the bar and the wolf,” Alice hesitated, deciding to correct herself. “I mean Alpha Wild, chased after him. So I followed.”

  “And because of you, he got away.” Mr Wild started to snarl before he caught himself, his face shocked before it relaxed back into its impassivity.

  “He wasn’t my target.” She observed him from the corner of her eye, wary.

  “It took me three months to track him. I needed the information he could give me. Because of you…” The Alpha started to stand, his voice deepening as violence threatened.

  “ENOUGH!” Dread slammed his hand down onto the table, rattling his pen onto the floor. The vein in his head pulsed violently, attempting to escape his porcelain skin.

  “I have heard enough.” He stared down Mr Wild until he had returned to his seat. “After discussing the details with both yourself and Agent Skye, I have come to a decision that my Paladin was acting correctly in these circumstances.”

  The Alpha started to protest until Dread held up his hand. “However, I will personally investigate how a warrant for your arrest was issued. We both know you’re not S.I. jurisdiction.”

  That caught Alice’s attention. The only authority above S.I. was The Council.

  “I’m not happy with this.” Mr Wild said as he settled himself into a more relaxed position. It looked forced. “It took all my resources to track that wolf and then your Paladin went and fucked it up.”

  “Be that as it may, she did her job correctly.” Dread caught her eye, showing her he was still angry.

  But I didn’t do anything wrong. Dread’s eyes glittered as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, which he probably did. His own eyes replied shut up and sit still. So she bit her lip, deciding to take his advice.

  “Now let’s turn to another matter at hand, Alice mentioned the wolf being sick? Is there a disease going around that we should be concerned about?”

  Alice turned to look at the Alpha once more, watching his jaw clench before he replied. “No.”

  Lie. Now that’s interesting.

  “Is there anything else you would like to discuss?” Dread reached down to his pen that had fallen, taking his time to line it back up with the grooves of the wood.

  “Not at this present time,” Mr Wild rumbled, annoyed but hiding the emotion.

  “Great, so that matter can be put to rest.” Dread pressed a hidden button beneath his desk. The door opened silently, allowing light to penetrate the tense room.

  “Alice, we need to discuss your recent assignments. However, I will wait until we do not have an audience.” He stood up before placing his hand over the breast pocket of his jacket, a sign of respect. It looked sarcastic.

  “Until next we meet Mr Wild. Please contact Supernatural Intelli
gence if you require anything further.”

  Mr Wild said nothing. Instead, he stormed out the door as a flustered Barbie spoke to him in hushed tones. Alice stood, but decided to wait, watching Dread carefully.

  “Alice, you should probably escort our guest down.” He didn’t look at her.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, confused. “You knew he was lying. Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “And say what?” He finally looked up, his eyes still angry but more composed.

  “If you think I’m doing an inadequate job, why don’t you tell me what you would have done?”

  Alice hesitated, thinking about her response carefully.

  “I don’t know, ask him more questions?”

  “He is the Alpha, Alice. Sickness among his wolves has nothing to do with us. Shifters, in general, have nothing to do with us unless they pay for our services. You know as well as I do they are self-governed ever since Xavier took over on The Council.”

  His forehead furrowed, his expression stolid. Alice didn’t know what to say, The Council being a subject she didn’t know much about. The Council of five, or technically six when counting the Fae twins stayed out of the media, reigning over Breed silently. Dread, on the other hand, had met them all, and he wasn’t a fan.

  “I’ll escort Mr Wild out of the building.” She turned toward the door.

  “Oh, and Alice,” he started, forcing her to pause. “Make sure Mr Wild doesn’t break anything on his way down.”

  Chapter 2

  The lighting in the hallway blinded as Alice walked past Barbie, the receptionist glaring as she adjusted her top to show more of her breasts.

  “Mr Wild, if you are finished with the show would you please follow me.” Alice said politely, not needing to explain what she meant by the show.

  She felt his tension behind her a second later, an ominous presence that stormed past her towards the lifts at the back of the floor, easily manoeuvring through the maze of drab grey cubicles spotted around in a confusing labyrinth. The only way to distinguish each cubicle from one another was the bursts of colour pinned to the walls, people trying to personalise their little space in a sea of grey.

  The Supernatural Intelligence Bureau, also known as The Tower, was on constant speed, everyone having something to do or somewhere to be. The forty-second floor was the main operation for the Paladins, a small desk to prepare for contracts as well as their boss, Commissioner Dread Grayson’s office. The other floors contained I.T. technicians, weapons specialists, mailmen, just to name a few. There were even a whole five floors dedicated to a specialist hospital team who work alongside the London Hope Hospital, England’s biggest medical facility specialising in holistic magic as well as general medicine.

  Alice stood for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Well, it wasn’t awful. She groaned, covering her face with the palms of her hands. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The only good thing that came out of that meeting that was, A: Dread admitted she actually did a good job. Sort of anyway. B: He didn’t mention any warnings or disciplinary meetings. Which was always a bonus.

  “Oh Alice,” a sing-song voice called to her.

  She spun to look at Barbie, a feral smile on her pink painted lips.

  “Just to let you know your disciplinary meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at 10:30 am.” Her eyes twinkled as she smiled. “Make sure you’re here on time.” With a last giggle, she turned back towards her desk.

  “Great,” Alice whispered to herself. “Just great.” A lump in her gut, nerves attacking. “Maybe I could get a job with Sam at the bar?” she muttered to herself.

  “You can’t do that, you hate people,” a chirpy voice replied.

  Alice smiled when she noticed two people hanging around her cubicle.

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  What sort of friends hang around to see if she was fired or not?

  “I thought you guys were both out on a contract?” Rose and Danton (or D as known to his friends) looked at her expectantly, waiting for the gossip.

  “We were ma petite sorcière. But I missed your beau smile.” D sighed dramatically, his long black hair scraped back off his face.

  Rose elbowed him in the chest. “Ignore him, we finished it up early.”

  “Mon amie you wound me.” He feigned hurt, his pale hand draped dramatically over his heart.

  “As Roselyn was saying, we finished our expèdition early. But enough of that, I would like to know how ma petite sorcière is doing?”

  “Yeah Alice, are you okay? Isn’t that the Alpha? Oh my god, are you fired?” Rose asked in her usual cheery voice.

  At a tall five feet, eleven inches, topping Alice’s mundane height by a good seven inches, she looked like a cheerleader, one that could rip your throat out and smile sweetly the whole time. She was a panther shifter, a sleek cat the same dark shade as her hair.

  “Oui, how are you?” D asked, as his dark eyes turned towards the Alpha on the other side of the room. “Why is that wolf storming around? You piss him off, non?”

  “How did you guys even know about that?”

  “You know how nobody here can keep secrets.” Rose fluffed up her dark hair. “So is it true? Did you arrest the Alpha?”

  “Maybe.” The Alpha in question paced in front of the lifts, his eyes flicking towards her every few seconds.

  “Well then ma petite sorcière, in case you have to leave the tower in a more permanent fashion I would like to say how edible you look. Dèlicieux,” he said, with a sensual curve of his lips. “I’m sure there are things we could do to cheer you up? Non?”

  Alice couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m busy.” She looked up at D’s laughing face, his skin perfect, common among the older Vamps. The exception, like Dread, was when they had scars, wrinkles or skin imperfections before their turn.

  “One day I will own your heart.” He said this to her regularly, enough that she knew he didn’t mean it. D didn’t do relationships, didn’t like being ‘tied down’. Unless ‘tied down’ involved satin bed sheets and velvet rope. He really liked to talk after a few drinks.

  “Well, not any day soon.” A ding behind her, the lift doors opening as Mr Wilds patience wore thin.

  “I have to escort him down. I’ll catch up with you guys soon.” With a quick wave, she jogged to the lift, barely squeezing in with the Alpha as the doors closed.

  The typical lift music couldn’t drown out the tension in the small metal box. The picture on the wall showing ten people being able to fit into the small space, yet the air was thick with just the two of them.

  Well, this is awkward.

  Mr Wild didn’t seem to feel the same tension, his arms loosely hooked onto his forearms as he leaned against one of the silver panels, casually staring at her. Alice tried desperately not to stare back, instead counting down the floors.

  39. 38. 37. 36.

  “How long have you been a Paladin?” he asked, the question sounding genuine. Strange considering his face looked anything but, his brow low over his eyes.

  “Around five years.”

  “Not long then.”

  “Long enough.” Alice frowned, looking up at him then. His eyes flashed a pale blue as she held his gaze, his animal taking a look. She had never met someone who would change between their animals so quickly and so often. She held his stare, desperate to read him. He didn’t look angry anymore, more curious. The annoyance was still there, not that his face gave anything away. She just knew it, could feel the underlying pressure in the air. So she didn’t look away, just as curious as his wolf seemed to be. His nostrils flared, as if he was scenting the lift, scenting her. She finally dropped her eyes.

  “How long have you been Alpha?” she asked, keeping her tone light.

  He ignored her question. “Did you train as a Paladin?”

  “How is that any of your business?” she asked before she could think of something polite to say. She opened her mouth to apologise as the lift door pinged open on the tw
entieth floor, a group of three people looked at the tension in the small space, deciding to wait until the next one.

  Mr Wild waited until the door closed fully, and the lift began moving again before replying. “Just curious. Never met a Paladin quite like you.”

  She didn’t know whether that was a compliment or not. Probably not. Alice considered it for a few seconds before replying.

  “Yes, I trained at the academy.”

  “Not at the university?”

  “No.” Alice fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable, the subject a sore spot. She had been accepted into the University of London studying magic crafts, something she had been excited about. Dread was the one who convinced her to become a Paladin, to go to the academy instead. It meant her magic knowledge was basic and self-taught.

  “Don’t you have to gain a degree to become a recognized witch by the Magika?”

  “No.” Yes. Dammit. “I don’t see what point you’re trying to make.” She felt her cheeks begin to burn as she concentrated hard on the lights dancing in the seam of the tarnished brass doors.

  10. 9. 8.

  The lift finally creaked to a stop, opening to show the marble floor and columns of the lobby, a beautiful mosaic of crushed browns, golds and beiges. The metallic glittered as light reflected from the revolving doors, hitting the specs in the stone.

  Exiting the lift she walked towards the front desk, having to fish out her pass from her bag and scanning the screen on the turnstile to sign herself out. The front desk was large, almost the same width as the whole atrium apart from a couple of inches each side.

  There were four members of security on the desk at all times. Vince Cooker, the head of security was waving enthusiastically. He was a mage, a human touched with magic. While not as powerful as a full-blooded witch he could still do a few tricks, which he enjoyed showing Alice on as many occasions as he could.

  “Hey, Vince.”

  “Hey there, Alice. I didn’t get to say hi earlier, you seemed to be in a bit of a rush.” The old security guard chortled, his dark skin wrinkling even further. “Who’s the gentleman by the glass?” Alice chanced a look behind her, expecting the Alpha to have already left. He surprised her by waiting just outside the doors.