Chapter Five
Theo woke suddenly. He was drenched in cold sweat and what was worse was that he knew it hadn't just been a nightmare that had roused him in the middle of the night. He leapt from the bed.
Call the shift.
No, it would be too easy. He needed to beat this by himself while he still could if there was any chance of having a future with Faith within the pack. The images he hadn't seen since he'd made the decision to live in his life in his wolf form started. He needed to find a way to remember they were just that: waking dreams, scenes in his mind, not real.
The room spun and he hit the floor. When he sat up he was in Faith's room but it was daylight and she wasn't there. In her place on the bed was the creature from his worst living nightmare: the flying demon.
It had been months since he'd seen one. Living like a wolf had protected him from having to endure it. Colored like russet potatoes, the creature's wingspan must have been about eight feet wide; the non-winged parts much shorter maybe something like three feet. Its face was a mixture of a lizard and a snake and most of it looked slimy. Every four minutes, the facial features dissolved, only to reform seconds later. It was at this time the creatures were vulnerable and could be killed, but you had to be careful. As he'd learned from personal experience, the creature had a gland on the back of its hands that secreted an acid that was so potent the second it touched your skin you begged for death.
But in his case, the end had not come. Instead he'd gotten to live with it infecting him every day since even after it burned off one side of his face.
"Hello, Theo, I've been waiting for you."
Theo growled. Once he was confronted with the talking version of the beast, there was no shifting, no speaking to his wolf at all. He was completely on his own in these situations and he had no idea why and wasn't sure there was even anyone he could ask.
"I told you the last time I saw you that you could run but you could never escape us. We're always with you."
"You're a figment of my imagination, a hallucination brought on by the lingering presence of your acid in my body."
"Perhaps...that sounds so reasonable. But how about this explanation?" The creature took off in flight, breaking through Faith's ceiling. Theo ducked and rolled to miss being hit by large chunks of plaster coming down, as the demon hovered outside the hole in the ceiling "You've always been of two natures. One you could control, one you fought to not have control you. This is true of all shifters. Now you are also more than you were before. These days you have three inside of you, not just two."
Theo shook his head. The longer he stayed in here in this waking dream and let this thing infect him, the more his behavior in the real world would become unpredictable and dangerous. His body could be doing all kinds of dangerous, horrible things there while he did nothing more than talk in here. He'd left Faith sleeping. She had no way of protecting herself from him and he'd be unreachable, there would be no way to reason with him.
This was why he couldn't be around anyone or spend any time in his human form.
"Eventually, you'll have to face this in your wolf form too. As a person who grew up with two natures, you'd think you wouldn't be so afraid of a third one."
Theo's ears rang. "If that were true, Cullen would have told us about it. We would have known that was what happened to me."
The creature had the audacity to snort as he landed directly in front of Theo. "You rely so heavily on what your elders knew or what they should know. It's nonsense. You're the first person to survive one of our attacks in five centuries. Everyone your Cullen knew who got hit like you did died within twenty-four hours. I guess we could call you...us...something of a miracle. Now, why do you suppose that is?"
If any of this was true, there was no way in hell Theo was going to let this thing exist inside of his body. He'd rip it out himself if he had to.
"I don't know, maybe it just wasn't my time to die or you were having an off day when you struck me."
The demon laughed, a long series of snickers that sounded more like a hisses. "Oh, I think I'm going to like being inside of you. When you're not hidden away as a wolf you're rather amusing."
"So what you're saying is I'm going to turn into you?"
He needed to wake up and get away from Faith immediately. The single most grotesque creature he'd ever seen lived inside of him. It was a terrible situation and his heart pounded just thinking about it.
Shaking his head, the demon laughed heartily now. "No, but I'll always be with you now. Tell me Theo Kane, how much control do you have?"
A sharp wrenching pain pierced Theo's body and threw him onto the floor. He stared at the demon in shock but the demon looked confused as if he hadn't just caused what happened to Theo.
The same pain struck him again and he rolled over onto his stomach in agony. Colors swirled in front of his eyes in a circular pattern and he felt as though he was sucked into a long tunnel filled with every color he'd ever seen and some he had never noticed before.
His head felt like he was on fire. He groaned and pulled his hands to his face to grab his throbbing temples.
"Come back to me."
Theo thrashed back and forth, desperate to avoid the demon and whatever game it played by doing this to him.
"Come back to me."
Seconds passed before he registered the voice. Faith? He tried to open his eyes but the light in the room blinded him.
"Don't look until I tell you to."
He nodded, unable to do anything else. Slowly the swirling colors and the white light faded. A moment later, he was back in Faith's calm, dark walled bedroom, he didn't have to open his eyes to know, he could smell it. Everything about it screamed Faith from the scent of lavender on the sheets--also present on her skin--to the vanilla candles he knew she burned from both their scented presence on the walls to the vague remnant of them on her hair.
"Okay, I think that light is gone now." He heard both relief and astonishment in her voice.
He opened his eyes and sat up, shaking his head. "What happened?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You tell me."
"Did I hurt you?" He couldn't stand the thought.
"No." After a second she continued. "Did I hurt you?"
Okay, now he was seriously confused. "How could you have done that?"
"Some kind of...strange light came out of my body like it was burning its way through my skin...I started levitating you off of the bed and telling you to come to me." Terror lined the ridges of Faith's eyes and her voice shook. To his horror, he realized she thought she'd caused something to happen to him.
"I think I need to explain. I have no memory of any of that. I think, well, I think you saved both of our lives."
She shook her head. "What?"
"I wasn't here. I was...elsewhere." He needed to figure out the best way to explain to her about the demon living inside of him. Hell, he needed to figure out the best way to explain it to himself. "And you called me back."
She narrowed her eyes. "This other place you go. That's why you don't think you're safe to be around other people?"
"When I'm there, or when my mind is there, I have no control over what my body does here. The first time it happened, I was only out of it for mere moments but when I came back, I had torn up my bedroom. The next time, I destroyed a boat. What if there had been someone around who I could have hurt?"
She gave him a small smile that melted his heart. "You wolves and your protective instincts."
Raising an eyebrow, he grinned. "We take care of our pack and don't pretend for one second that you're not the same exact way as you are, in fact, a wolf yourself."
Her eyes got sad and he immediately remembered the way he'd heard her crying in the shower. Faith was not, he realized, without her own secrets. Maybe she'd understand his keeping his private for a little while longer.
"So maybe I should have said you Alpha wolves and your protective instincts. Those of us who are not Alphas do
n't spend as much time obsessing about every minute detail of every day and how it could possibly affect the pack."
He shrugged. "I don't know how much of an Alpha I still am."
The woman had the audacity to laugh. "Oh you're still Alpha, even if you don't acknowledge it anymore. Anyway," Faith made a dismissive gesture with her hand as if she didn't wish to discuss it anymore. "Your explanation, your trip to wherever you go where you can't control your body, that might explain a little bit what happened to me."
He'd just been told with nothing more than a hand gesture to drop the subject. His mate had given him a direct order. Not sure how he felt about that, he decided to go with the flow for the moment. Truth was he wanted to know what had happened with her but he wasn't sure he could stomach being ordered around. He'd been out of the pack too long for that now. It was going to take a little getting used to.
"Maybe I'm not the one who's Alpha here."
"Theo, I'm a woman."
"Anything is possible, Faith."
She sighed, a smile creeping in on the edges of her mouth as if she found something amusing but didn't want to show it. "Okay, I'm sorry I dismissed you. Would you like to continue discussing the Alpha status or move on to how the blinding white light shot out of my hands?"
He stood up off the floor. "Are you humoring me now?"
"There is nothing about this that you are going to make easy, are you?"
Theo sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to being around people."
She poked him in the chest. "You only get to use that excuse one more time. After that you better just get used to it again."
He really wanted to grin but thought he'd better maintain his composure since she was already pissed off. Faith was so impressive, no wonder they had made her security chief in his absence. She obviously didn't take any nonsense from anyone or maybe it was just him but, in any case, he was quickly becoming enthralled.
"Please tell me about your new ability."
She nodded. "So I woke up and I just knew there was something wrong with you." Reaching out, she stroked his wrist. His wolf wagged his tale in appreciation. The memory must bother Faith and whether she was conscious of it or not she had just shown her animal side--the part of Faith that would always need touch, no matter where it was, to be part of her life. The wolf needed it and so now she did too.
"Was I doing something that alerted you or was it some kind of sixth sense thing?"
"Sixth Sense? No. I don't have mystical powers like the other women."
Theo scoffed. "I highly doubt that. If white light streamed from your hands, I'd say that's pretty powerful stuff."
Faith ran a hand through her long dark hair. "If that's true then it's just shown up and all I can do is attribute it to your presence."
In the past, before the Westervelt downfall, the women had come into their powers all on their own with no help from their mates. His understanding was that Ashlee and Summer had each developed their 'other-worldly' abilities in ways that had nothing to do with their mates. It was probably only a matter of time until Faith would have too. Not that he didn't like her thinking it had something to do with him. Considering the explanation he was about to have to give her, he could use all the good will he could get.
He sighed. "Go on."
"I just knew that I could help you. My body started to heat up and white light flooded the room from my hands, my voice got kind of spooky sounding, and I started calling you back from wherever you were. I couldn't seem to stop it. You fell on the floor." Faith started to pace. "I thought I was killing you."
"Sit down." He took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her into a chair. "Where I was, where I go when that happens--it's very bad and when I tell you about it you'll be tremendously glad to be rid of me and consider yourself fortunate we didn't complete the mating ceremony."
Faith raised an eyebrow. "I highly doubt that. Just in the brief hours I have known you, I've gotten kind of used to having you around."
"In the past, it's all been sort of vague, but this time was stronger and I'm completely convinced it was real."
"Theo, just tell me already." Her tone told him she rapidly lost patience with him. Note to self: Faith has less ability to wait than even you do. "I have a demon inside of me, it's as much a part of me as the wolf, and I have to get away from here."
He expected stunned silence, so when he got laughter he was shocked. "This is funny?"
"No, this is ridiculous."
"It is?" He felt so confused he wasn't sure what to do with himself.
"Theo, I'm sure our wolves could smell the demon." She paused. "Can't they?"
That was a good question. He searched his brain to see if he could recall a scent.
I don't remember a scent. It was all such a haze.
If his wolf couldn't remember one, then it was likely there wasn't one to remember. But how was that possible? Rocks had scents; blades of grass, even the smallest specks of dust could be scented. His head pounded. It was just too bizarre. He never let himself think about that day.
"Where are you going?"
He shook his head. "Nowhere, I'm standing right here."
"I can feel you leaving here. It's like you're travelling somewhere else."
He had no idea what she talked about. She reached over and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm going with you."
"Faith, I'm telling you, I'm not going anywhere."
Except in the next second, he was. He looked around for a moment before he started coughing. Next to him, Faith covered her mouth with her hands. He grabbed her and pulled her up against him. Where the hell were they?
Smoke filled the room around them. He turned left and right, trying to take shallow breaths as he deciphered what the hell was going on.
We've been here before. Remember.
Did you do this to us? Faith's wolf asked.
His wolf shook his head. Not me. The other one.
Great, so the demon had dragged them somewhere and this time Faith was stuck in it with him. But his wolf said they'd been here before. He sniffed the air but all he could scent was the smoke. Pulling Faith with him, he moved forward and stopped short. He did know this place.
It was the Institute--the place Tristan had built for the wolves to live on the island next to the hotel--before it burned to the ground the day he'd saved Braden and destroyed his own life. By the looks of things, they were right in the middle of the fire.
"Faith, we have to get out of here. This building is about to burn to the ground." A sudden thought struck Theo and for a moment, he froze. Reaching up, he grabbed the side of his face. It was still scarred, so that meant he'd already rescued Braden and been through the trauma. How could that be if they were back in the middle of the event?
"Theo, I think we were brought here for a reason. Is this the building that burned when you rescued Braden?" Her voice sounded muffled as she spoke with her nightshirt covering her face to keep out the smoke.
Protect our mate.
He had no intention of doing otherwise. "Yes, but Faith we don't have time to go play observer or whatever is happening here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I've already seen that, lived it in fact."
She nodded but pulled out of his hand. "That's true but I haven't and it can't be coincidence that I was able to come with you. Come on, I'll be safe. Which way was the event?"
"Down the hall." He had to admit, Faith was right, and if he was already injured it was not likely he would be again. Besides, the demons had protected them from the flames when they'd been with them. There was nowhere safer in the entire building than in that room with the evil creatures, as illogical as that seemed.
Taking Faith's arm again, he led them quickly down the hall as he tried to stay low and avoid falling debris. To his great relief, Faith didn't argue or pull out of his grasp as he found his way to the room in question.
He could already hear the shouting inside and he swallowed away the clenching in his gut, as it became les
s of a memory and more like reliving his personal nightmare.
As if reading his mind she answered. "Come on, you're with me this time."
Inside the room, the strange blue light that seemed to protect the room from the heat and the flames illuminated the scene. Two demons hovered over the floor. One of them held Braden in its grasp. Beneath them, Tristan and a less scarred, still somewhat innocent version of himself leapt into the air to try to reach him.
Tristan bellowed as only a father could and shouted orders at Theo.
"Hey there." Faith called out to the people in front of her but no one turned around. She swung her hands in the air and again nothing happened.
"Okay, they can't see us. We're just here to watch."
That made sense. "Then why do you suppose we had to choke on all that smoke out in the hall?"
"Just lucky, I guess."
Tristan's voice filled the room. "So help me, Theo, I will not let them leave with my son."
"Don't worry, brother, I will not let that happen."
Theo wished he could shake himself. "It won't be me rescuing him." His voice sounded harsh, even to his own ears. "In under five minutes, I'll be nearly dead on the floor after ignoring Cullen's warning about getting hit by the acid."
Faith looked around. "Cullen?"
As if on cue, the older wolf plowed through the door. This time, Theo was able to watch him. He hadn't registered the other man's fear the last time. He'd been too focused on Braden, too caught up in the horror of the demons, and the sound of Braden's wail to be rescued.
He closed his eyes. There was nothing for him to see here that bore remembering. He'd failed and he would suffer for it the rest of his life. What sick twist of fate thought his mate needed to witness his disgrace?
"No." He pulled on her arm. "We're leaving."
"Theo," Faith took a step backwards. "Would you do it again, knowing what you know now?"