Heavenly Poison

Damien Gray

“What is that?” Emilia asked, just as Sebastian stepped into the living room carrying a black leather suitcase.

“How was it?” I asked, taking the case from him and heading to the study.

“It was fine. We should visit more often. Natalia and Alvin miss us. They wish you well,” Sebastian replied, grinning at me.

“What are you two talking about? And what is in that case?”

Emilia kept eyeing the case in my hand, and Sebastian seemed amused with her curiosity.

“What about the trip?” I asked, ignoring Emilia’s questions.

Sebastian had been gone for three days. He was only supposed to be gone for one day. I had been anxiously waiting for him to return. It had been a while since Sebastian and I had been separated, and never for more than a day or two.

“What is going on here?” Emilia snapped.

Sebastian chuckled, and patted Emilia’s head, which earned him a loud growl from her.

“I went on a trip,” Sebastian replied to her, vaguely.

“I was out longer because Natalia and Alvin were worried about us. We usually visit together. You didn’t tag along this time.”

“We can’t leave now,” I reminded him.

“We hadn’t been there since July,” Sebastian told me.

“Are they okay?”

“Natalia didn’t want to let me go. Alvin finally convinced her. I promised you would call her as soon as I arrived.”

“Who are those people? And seriously, what are you carrying,” Emilia asked, her eyes looking down suspiciously at the suitcase.

I hadn’t opened it yet. I was more worried about Natalia and Alvin.

“Natalia and Alvin are friends,” I slowly replied.

Emilia cocked an eyebrow at my words, but she still seemed confused.

“We met them a few years back, after we got kicked out,” Sebastian answered.

His words made more sense to her, although Emilia didn’t let up.

“Like family?”

“They are humans, and they were the only people we ever really talked to. Alvin and Natalia are a few years older than us, but very mature. They watched over us whenever we gave them the chance,” I tried to explain.

“You lived with them?”

I shook my head, and Sebastian snorted at her question.

“Damien and I live alone. Nobody else can be trusted,” Sebastian smoothly replied.

I nodded my head in agreement, until I noticed the hurt look in Emilia’s face.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

I put the case down, and stood in front of her. Emilia slapped my hand when I reached out for her, and she growled at me.

“Oh,” Sebastian muttered.

“What?” I asked, feeling confused by Emilia’s reaction.

“Nobody can be trusted?” Emilia repeated in a mocking tone.

It took me a while to understand what she meant, and when I did, I couldn’t help but grin at her. She had gotten offended with my words.

“Seb didn’t mean it like that. We never settled down in an area. We never made friends, and we certainly didn’t trust anybody. If we did, Natalia and Alvin were as close as it got,” I replied.

“Why?”

“Why what?” I asked her.

I thought my explanation should have been enough.

“Why don’t you trust anybody? If you say these humans are good to you, why don’t you trust them? You said that they’re a few years older than you. They could’ve taken care of you. You never talked about them before. You don’t talk about your parents either. Why keep it all bottled up?”

Her questions went from calm to full on exasperated with Sebastian and me. Her behavior left me stunned, but her words had caused the opposite effect on Sebastian.

“We don’t need parents or people bossing us around, Emilia. Damien has me and he doesn’t need anybody else, not even you. Some of us are self-sufficient and don’t depend on a damn pack of dogs to protect them!” Sebastian snapped, standing right in front of Emilia.

The way Sebastian was looking at Emilia gave me the feeling he was going to attack her. I slowly pushed Emilia a few ways back and slid between the two. My eyes didn’t leave Sebastian, and I focused on any little movement from him.

“We should go out,” I told him.

I could already feel the electricity coursing through him. If I didn’t take him out of there, he was going to create a lighting storm inside the house.

“Sebastian,” I insisted.

Sebastian was still glaring at Emilia, who was smart enough not to keep asking anymore questions.

“Let’s go,” Sebastian said, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the office.

“Damien…” Emilia started to say.

“I’m fine, we’ll be back soon,” I cut her off.

Emilia looked worried, and I didn’t like that. But I had to keep in mind I could calm her down later. Her worry was nothing compared to what Sebastian could do if he got seriously pissed off at her.

“Calm down,” I told Sebastian as soon as we stepped outside.

The wind had significantly picked up from how calm it had been all day. I knew that was Sebastian’s doing. The sun had been out before. The sky was now dark, and the clouds were a shade of gray and dark blue. It was filled with thin streaks of lighting which Sebastian was creating.

“Stop this,” I told him, keeping my eyes in the sky.

“I hate those damn dogs,” Sebastian said in a low voice, before shooting up in the air.

I followed after him. He was faster than me, but I could tell he wasn’t going full speed so that I could keep up.

The lighting didn’t let up, and I could feel it striking in several areas. I had never been worried about it before. Sebastian usually kept better control when we spoke about our family, but it was a subject that neither of us liked to bring up.

Whenever I was upset about it, Sebastian usually found a way to cool me off and distract me. I had never done that for him because he simply didn’t talk about our parents. We had lived with them, they had kicked us out, we had moved on, and that was the end of it.

I followed Sebastian through the air, swerving through trees most of the time. He didn’t fly high enough to disappear. It was where most of the lighting was spreading out through the sky. The lightening seemed to anger the sky, which hadn’t been prepared for an attack from Sebastian’s fury.

He finally slowed down when we reached the piece of land he had bought for us to fly in, before Emilia and I got together.

I allowed a light rainfall in the area. The humans were going to find the lighting storm strange as it was. Lighting went hand in hand with rain, and I hoped humans wouldn’t question the strangeness of the weather.

In my mind, I thought of the times Sebastian and I had messed with the weather and never worried about it. Now, I didn’t want anyone to find it suspicious. We had always moved from place to place. If we planned to stay in Mountain Peak, we had to be more cautious with our gifts.

Both our shirts had ripped apart when our wings came out. Despite how cold the rain droplets were, they felt soothing against my skin.

The water seemed to be calming Sebastian down as well. He was pacing in front of me, but I noticed the lighting was going away.

“Wolves are beneath us. They are beneath humans. Wolves have no control,” Sebastian said, in what sounded like a rant.

I nodded at him, and took a seat next to a tree, resting my back against it. I didn’t stop the rain from coming, but I kept it light.

“Emilia thinks that just because she has had everything, it’s the same for all of us. She had a pack all her life. She doesn’t know what being on her own means!”

I nodded once again, and kept my focus on Sebastian.

His pacing didn’t stop, but I could tell he was calming down. Both of us had kept our wings out. His wings ignited in white light whenever the small droplets of water touched them. It made his wings seem like they were glowing.

“Werewolves have a lot more than we do. They have a pack to count on. We were alone, Damy, and we had to take care of ourselves. How can she ask me why I don’t trust anyone, when she won’t ever understand?”

Sebastian slumped himself on the floor after he finished talking, and he placed his head in his hands. I quickly walked closer to him, and tried to get him to look up at me.

I felt like I was taking care of him, which was something I had never done before. I was the one who got angry, or broke down. Sebastian was always composed, handling the situation.

The fact that Emilia had caused that reaction in him angered me.

“Seb,” I mumbled, calling out to him.

He sighed loudly, and slowly hid his wings into his back. As soon as he did that, I hid my wings as well.

“I shouldn’t lose my temper,” Sebastian said.

When he looked up, I was relieved to see he wasn’t crying. It would’ve been strange to see him cry, but I would’ve understood it. Emilia’s questions had really gotten to him.

“You had a right to,” I told him.

“Your mate asks stupid questions!” He snapped.

“Emilia doesn’t understand.”

“You’ve explained what happened. I don’t like talking about our parents. Tell her not to bring it up in front of me again,” Sebastian warned.

“She’s an Alpha, whether the other Wolves acknowledge it or not. She is very demanding, just like you are. We shouldn’t get like this when people bring up our parents.”

I could tell that wasn’t what Sebastian wanted to hear, because the threatening look was now directed at me.

“But I will talk to her. I will tell her to back off,” I finished saying.

Sebastian nodded at me, seeming satisfied with my final statement. He got up from the ground, and turned to face up, letting the rain fall over his face. It appeared to be cooling him down, so I remained quiet.

“I’m sleeping at the apartment,” he told me, looking like he was about to shoot off into the sky.

“What about the case?”

“We’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

“You shouldn’t be alone like this,” I told him, not exactly pleased that he was taking off again.

He had been gone for three days and he was leaving again. I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel right.

“I’ll get Tania and tell her to sleep over. She’ll be happy with skipping school.”

“You’ll be careful?”

Sebastian cracked a grin at my question, and he walked towards me.

“You’re growing up, Damy,” he said, holding the back of my neck, before messing up my hair.

“I’m only a few months younger than you,” I reminded him, but I still smiled.

Sebastian shrugged, and his grin grew wider.

“I’m still older, kid,” he said.

I chuckled at his words, and he joined in for a moment.

“I’ll keep it dark for the rest of the afternoon. Keep the rain as well. It won’t be suspicious if the weather stays like this for a few hours,” Sebastian said when he caught me looking up at the sky.

Emilia was a worried mess when I arrived at the mansion. Wayne, Randy, and a few other Wolves were with her.

When the pack noticed the lighting, they knew something was wrong. Wayne had ordered all the Wolves to stay indoors. The rounds had been stopped, and they had found shelter.

The rain hadn’t been coming down hard, but Wayne told me lighting had struck in several places of Mountain Peak. Thankfully, nobody had gotten hurt.

“Where did he go?” Emilia asked.

Every Wolf around us was looking at me expectantly.

“He went to cool off, but he’s fine,” I replied, and noticed they all heaved a sigh in relief.

They had been worried about us, the rest of the pack, even though they didn’t have to be. They cared.

“Will you be fine?” Wayne asked, giving me a determined look.

“I’m okay. Sebastian usually doesn’t lose control. This won’t happen again,” I assured them.

“The rain…” one of the men asked.

“I will keep it going for the rest of the afternoon. Sebastian thinks the humans won’t find it suspicious if it rains for the rest of the day. Sebastian will stop the lightning though. That can be dangerous,” I told them, and I could tell they heard the edge in my voice.

The patrols were going to stop for the night. I wanted all the Wolves indoors, just in case Sebastian did get angry again. I was hoping that Tania would keep him calm.

Once the men were gone, I went back to the study where I had left the suitcase. I took a seat in the chair behind the desk.

“Are you okay?” Emilia asked.

Her voice was shaky, and she was running her hands through her hair nervously. She looked guilty.

“I’m fine, and Sebastian is fine as well.”

“He was angry.”

“He was,” I agreed.

There was no point in denying it. Sebastian had made it pretty obvious when he darkened the sky and stormed out of the place.

“I didn’t think it would upset him. I actually thought you were going to be the one to get angry with my questions. You get mad when I bring them up.”

“I have you now. Sebastian thinks he just has me, but he has everyone in the pack now, including you.”

Emilia nodded at me, and she closed the distance between us. I wrapped my arms around her when she crawled into my lap.

“I’ve never seen Sebastian this angry. Even when he got mad before, he usually jokes about it. Today, I thought he was going to attack me,” she said.

I had never seen Emilia scared of Sebastian, and I didn’t like that she was. The bond between us was projecting her emotions straight at me, and I hated how she was feeling.

“He doesn’t talk about our parents. He didn’t like that you asked about it,” I shrugged.

“You two are so weird,” Emilia said, as she snuggled into my chest.

I sighed, and let my head fall back. I was enjoying our contact.

“Will you finally explain who those people are?”

“I don’t talk about Natalia and Alvin because they are friends, but they also take care of our…” I paused, and looked down at Emilia.

“Take care of what?” Emilia asked.

Natalia and Alvin were people we usually kept quiet about. They were friends, but more than anything, they were business associates of sorts.

I tried to explain that to Emilia, but she only kept asking more questions. When I couldn’t answer her properly, she began asking about the suitcase.

I didn’t want to tell her anything, at least not without Sebastian there.

“It isn’t just my secret to tell.”

Explaining Natalia and Alvin would mean telling her about the suitcase, and how Sebastian and I made our money. I didn’t have a problem with that, but Sebastian did. He didn’t trust her yet. After today, I wasn’t sure he would ever trust her.

“You know everything there is to know about me, and about Mountain Peak. Why can’t you just share this with me?” Emilia asked, sounding hurt.

None of her arguments had worked as much as that one had. I was trying to make amends with her. I had hurt her in the past and I was trying to change that.

“You can’t tell anyone about this. Not even Wayne,” I warned Emilia.

“You know I wouldn’t,” she said, sounding offended that I had doubted her.

“I will tell Wayne about these,” I said, motioning at the suitcase, “but you cannot tell him anything else.”

“What is in here?” Emilia asked, looking down at the case curiously.

She was excited, I could tell. She had jumped off my lap, and was standing right next to the desk, closer to the case.

Emilia seemed confused when I opened the case and showed her what was inside. Ten royal blue pouches were neatly placed in the case, but she couldn’t see what they contained.

“What are these?” She asked once again.

“Diamonds,” I answered, keeping a steady gaze on her.

I didn’t tell her not to touch them, but she seemed hesitant to reach out and grab a pouch.

“Can I…?”

I nodded at her. She slowly moved to grab a pouch. I smiled when she looked into one and widened her eyes. It was more or less the reaction I was expecting. She kept gasping as she opened each of the pouches and found the same thing in them.

“Diamonds,” she repeated, breathlessly.

She poured a few diamonds in her hand, being careful not to drop them. The diamonds were small, and they had been prepared to be sold. Natalia and Alvin had taken care of that.

“You once asked me how Sebastian and I made money. This is how,” I said, taking one of the diamonds from her hand and holding it out to see.

The diamond glimmered with the light. It was a sight to see.

“How did you get these?”

“Sebastian and I own cave. Humans… or Werewolves would probably consider it a mine, but it’s a cave. We get them, Natalia and Alvin fix them up, and then we go pick them up,” I replied.

The process was more complex, but it was more or less what we did. Once the diamonds were ready to sell, we took them to safe deposit boxes we had in several banks. It was just safer that way. Rarely did we keep diamonds lying around and we never brought a case full with them.

This time, however, Sebastian had found it convenient. We weren’t as free to be going around picking up diamonds whenever we wanted. It was better to keep some at home, in case they were needed.

“I can’t explain it all, at least not right now. But this is where our money comes from,” I said, handing her back the diamond I took.

Emilia couldn’t stop looking at them, and she kept running her fingers over the diamonds she had on her hand.

“So Natalia and Alvin are more than just… humans?” Emilia asked, unsurely.

“They are humans we trust with our diamonds, yes. They have never stolen from us, but Sebastian is still cautious with them.”

“What do you mean?”

“We only take some of them to get fixed up at a time. They don’t know where we get the diamonds from. We are very careful with any transactions when it comes to the diamonds.”

“And they’ve always been loyal?”

I nodded at her in reply, while closing up the other nine pouches that Emilia had opened up. She was only holding on to one pouch, and she hadn’t let that one go.

“Natalia and Alvin are very attached to us. They like to baby us.”

“The feeling isn’t mutual?”

“To some extent,” I replied, getting annoyed that she was asking too many questions about them.

“Okay,” Emilia said, and she focused her attention on the diamonds she was holding.

“How many did you bring?” She asked, holding up a diamond to inspect it.

“There are fifty in each pouch,” I replied, looking down at them.

“Do you have more?”

I nodded, and smiled at the amazed expression on her face.

“How many more?”

“A lot more,” I replied.

I could tell that she wanted a straight number, but she wasn’t going to get one. Showing her the diamonds already seemed like it was more than Sebastian would have wanted to do.

“How did you find the cave?” She asked, curiously, putting the diamonds down for once.

I frowned at her question. I didn’t like her curiosity when it came to that. Asking about the diamonds in the case was fine. But I wasn’t ready to share anything else.

“Flying helped,” I curtly replied.

Emilia nodded at me, and went back to inspecting the diamonds she was holding. I didn’t think they’d get her attention so much. She was acting like if she hadn’t seen diamonds before.

“Do like them?” I asked.

“Do I like them?” Emilia repeated, like if it had been a stupid question. “They are diamonds!”

I chuckled at her tone, and the way she clutched the small pouch she was holding against her chest.

“You can have those,” I told her, because she seemed really excited with them.

Sebastian and I had had a similar reaction when we first found the cave, but it had been for different reasons. Finding the cave had been an accident, but finding the diamonds had saved us.

“What?” Emilia shrieked, like if she couldn’t believe what I had just told her.

“Five of these belong to me and five of them belong to Sebastian. You can have the pouch you’re holding.”

Emilia jumped into my arms when I finished saying that. I laughed, and wrapped my arms around her to keep her up. I hadn’t expected that reaction from her either.

“You’re not joking?” She asked, holding on tighter to the pouch of diamonds.

I smiled at her, and shook my head in reply.

“You can keep them. But you have to be careful with them. You can’t be throwing them around, and you can’t be reckless with them.”

The words had just left my lips, and Emilia was already shaking her head furiously.

“I won’t, I promise,” she said, as she peppered kisses all over my face.

I pulled her closer to me, while I made my way out of the room and up the stairs. I was holding on to her with one arm, while I carried the suitcase with the other.

Emilia giggled most of the way over any little thing.

“You seem excited,” she told me, laughing when I tickled her side.

I smiled down at her, and nestled my head in her neck.

“You feel good,” I told her, crushing her closer to me.

Emilia nuzzled her nose against my cheek, and kissed my jaw.

“We should stop this,” she said, as soon as I placed her over the bed.

I didn’t stop. I continued running my hand up her thigh, and kissing her neck. Her moans let me know she didn’t really want me to stop, although at times I felt her hands lightly shove me away.

If she really wanted to move me, she would’ve been able too.

“I like this,” I told her, while I pulled her shirt off.

She didn’t stop me, so I laid myself over her. I kept grinding my body against hers, and Emilia was tugging on my hair.

I didn’t think I could feel any better than I did at the moment. I had Emilia’s warm body under me, we were tightly pressed against each other, and my head was nestled in her neck.

It was why I got annoyed when she pulled away from me.

“I want to mate,” Emilia said, swallowing loudly.

She was getting nervous, and I felt her trembling under me.

“Are you scared?” I asked, completely pulling away from her.

I frowned down at Emilia, waiting for her to answer my question.

“I’m not scared, but…”

“But what?” I asked, harshly.

I didn’t mean to use that tone with her, but the situation was getting the best of my self-control.

“I don’t want us to mate until you claim me,” she replied in a small voice.

If it weren’t for my enhanced hearing, I probably wouldn’t have been able to catch her words.

“I’ll claim you,” I quickly added. “Just tell me what to do.”

I was willing to do anything she told me. I had never wanted a girl as much I wanted Emilia. Whenever we came close to being together was when I felt it the most. Being close to her made me feel the bond stronger than any other time, even if I wasn’t a Wolf.

“Damien,” Emilia whispered, placing both of her hands on either side of my face.

“What is it? Tell me, I’ll do it.”

“You know why I’m doing this, right? She-Wolves are meant to be claimed. My Wolf needs to be fully connected to her mate, to you.”

“I understand, just tell me,” I told her.

I knew something was wrong when tears started rolling down her cheeks. I cleared them away, but more followed.

“What’s wrong?”

“You have to bite me,” Emilia quietly replied.

My frown morphed into a grin when she answered my question.

“You’re scared I will hurt you?”

Emilia shook her head, and she threw herself in my arms. I hugged her tightly, but there was a smile on my face.

“You don’t have to be scared of me, Emilia. I’m not going to hurt you. I doubt my bite would even mark you for long,” I teased her, while running my hands down her back soothingly.

“It will,” she mumbled, kissing my neck and tightening her arms around me.

“It will?” I repeated.

“If you bite me when we mate, after you relief yourself inside of me,” she said in a low voice.

I tried to pull her away from me, so that I could look at her, but she wouldn’t let me go.

“What do you mean?”

She was holding on to me really tightly, but I somehow managed to pull her away, just enough for me to look at her.

“Explain,” I ordered.

Emilia looked down at her hands, which were resting against my chest. She was trembling, and I could feel her heart pounding too fast in her chest.

“Tell me what that means, Emilia,” I said in a firmer tone.

“The only way you can claim me is if you come inside of me. The bite will only turn into a claim if we conceive a pup. If we don’t, the bite will fade away.”