Wild Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary Book 4)

“This is bad,” I hissed.

“As bad as a sinning lemon in a church full of pious melons? Lemons are the anti-melons by the way,” Sin whispered back as he shuffled closer beside me in the long grass.

We were up on a hill, looking down into the town that swept away towards the sea in a narrow cove, a dock full of boats sitting there and waiting to be claimed. But unlike the quiet village we’d been expecting according to Jerome, this place was hosting some kind of wild party. A party that had gotten so out of hand that the FIB had shown up and were handcuffing a bunch of teenagers who had set a bakery alight.

“Any thoughts, love?” I asked, turning from Sin to Rosalie on my other side. The deep red of her hair caught my attention, the change making her look older somehow, or perhaps that was just the pain in her eyes. I liked the red but I preferred the black of her natural colour, the darkness suiting her best, dressing her up in swathes of night sky even on the brightest of days so that she could always appear close to the moonlight.

“Maybe we have no choice but to kill them all,” Hastings said darkly just beyond her, flicking his head so his fringe swept to the right then fell back over his eyes.

Rosalie clucked her tongue at him. “Don’t be an idiota,” she hissed. “The FIB aren’t here for us. We can sneak through the town.”

“I say we head for the cliff and travel via the water,” Cain suggested from beyond Hastings.

“The moustached fruit loop has a point,” Sin agreed in a rough voice, still wearing the face of the long-haired man with the apparently small cock. “But the thing is…”

“What?” I turned to him, finding him springing to his feet.

“Distractions are more fun!” He raced off down the hill, shooting blasts of fire towards the sky and yodelling at the top of his lungs.

“Holy fuck,” I cursed.

“A plan’s a plan, even if it is one dipped in insanity.” Rosalie shoved to her feet, directing us after her down the right of the hillside while Sin skipped away to the left, causing more and more of a ruckus as he went.

“Can’t catch me!” he yelled, dropping his disguised form to reveal his true face and hurling something from his pocket at the group of FIB which looked suspiciously like a lemon. It whacked one of them in the head and they turned form the teenagers they were apprehending, finding Sin cartwheeling their way, his hands and feet on fire, setting light to the grass as he went.

“He’ll get himself caught,” Cain said gruffly, and I was surprised that he didn’t sound entirely hopeful about that prospect. More concerned if anything.

“He’s got this,” Rosalie tossed back at us. “Now keep close.”

“I’m ready to die,” Hastings gritted out, flicking his fringe again with a toss of his head. “Chaos calls my name.”

“Sure it does, bud.” I slapped him on the shoulder, shoving him ahead of us because his legs weren’t moving fast enough for my liking.

We made it to a busy street of partying Fae where banners with an image of a black sun hung around them on the walls. Rosalie slowed her pace, snatching a cup of wine from a woman’s hand.

“Hail to the moon!” she howled.

“Awooo!” a few random Wolves howled in agreement, looking her way and recognising an Alpha in their midst.

I snatched a cup too, blending in as we moved through the crowd and chancing a look over my shoulder to try and catch sight of Sin. The hillside was going up in a blaze and I could just hear the shouts of FIB as they tried to capture him. It was a risky plan, but of course Sin had chosen this route instead of the subtle one. It was his ass on the line so I wasn’t complaining, but the thought of him being caught did tug on something in my chest.

He had become a friend, unlikely as that prospect had once been. But his brand of madness was growing on me, and a wild creature like that didn’t belong in the depths of Darkmore. Sure, his victims might say differently, but from what he’d told me of his ethos, they tended to be of the nasty variety, so all the better that he was out here killing Fae like that anyway.

“What are they celebrating?” I muttered to Cain and as he shrugged, a woman with her tits out and the planets painted around her nipples leapt towards me.

“You must know! It’s Earth’s Aphelion! We’ve been partying since dawn!”

“Oh, that’s tonight?” I said, though I’d had no idea it was even coming up.

I’d spent too long in Darkmore and tracking astrological events had been kinda lost to me. It wasn’t like the guards bothered to let us know when they happened anyway, but Earth’s Aphelion had once been a big cause for partying in Alestria. It was the annual day of the year when Earth’s orbit was farthest from the sun. It was often called the day of the Black Sun and was a day of possibilities, potential and vitality, but it could also summon chaos, and that could go two ways for us. Good or bad.

“Keep it moving,” Cain urged, nudging me along and Rosalie nodded, guiding us forward, weaving through the crowd and hurrying down the winding streets.

We passed one road where people were taking it in turns attempting to ride a giant replica of the sun down a hill, the ground altered by earth magic to create a sort of pinball machine while air elementals blasted the ball in all directions. It was the kind of thing I would have enjoyed once, and I longed for a time where we could bask in peace again.

If we got Roary back, I didn’t know where we would go next. We would always be on the run from the law now, hiding in the shadows, moving from place to place. How could we ever settle anywhere for long?

I thought of my family, longing to return to them too, but I couldn’t risk being caught at their door. I needed the heat to die down before I made my approach, but in all the adrenaline building up to the breakout of Darkmore, I’d never considered that the dangers would be far from over once we made it out. I’d been so caught up in the dream of freedom that I’d forgotten the price it would come at. I would be an outlaw from now until I died.

I made to turn away from the street where the sun ball was being rolled back to the top of the hill ready for the next participant, but stalled as Sin came into view, racing along tossing fireballs and lemons over his shoulders at the FIB officers chasing him.

He leapt onto the sun ball, landing on his feet before hurtling down the hill towards us, the thing bouncing off of the obstacles while he used air magic to keep himself upright.

“Dalle stelle,” Rosalie swore as Sin waved at us and the FIB officers came hurtling down into the obstacle course, slipping on some slick substance on the flagstones and stumbling all over the place.

Sin leapt off of the sun ball and landed in front of us, twisting around and using air to send the ball flying back at the officers. It crashed into them, knocking them to the ground as they scrambled to avoid it.

“Take that you ball-chafed sunfuckers!” he bayed, then he shifted as he darted into the crowd and the FIB officers cried out in confusion as they lost sight of him.

“Go!” Sin cried, wheeling around and shoving me on. He currently appeared as a busty blonde with legs longer than mine and pink glitter staining her skin, indicating a Pegasus shifter. But that chaos in his eyes was easily recognisable so I had no doubts that it was him.

Rosalie howled as she took off ahead of us and Sin powered along beside me with a feral look in his eyes and a twisted smile on his lips. The dock came into view as we turned down another street and Rosalie led us up a jetty, leaping onto a decent sized yacht called The Wave Wanderer.

“Untether her!” Rosalie called and Cain and I split apart to release the ropes holding the boat while Sin jumped onboard and started hoisting sails with Rosalie.

When I had the rope released, I looked around for Hastings, finding a couple of the FIB officers tearing down the street toward us. The ex prison guard stood at the end of the dock, his black hair blowing in the wind and his hands raised.

“Stay back!” Hastings cried. “I am the dark in the dead of the night!”

Water magic exploded from his hands and slammed into the officers, sending them skidding into a wall where he froze them in place.

I gaped at what he’d done, his stand against the authorities shocking me. He might have made declarations about being one of us now, but I hadn’t truly believed the dude until that moment.

More FIB agents appeared, racing down the street, looking all around in confusion and calling out to each other in search of Sin. Rosalie flicked a hand out, casting an illusion of him further up the hill and sending it racing away along the cliff path with a raucous giggle. The FIB spotted the illusion and took chase with yells pouring from their lips and magic spilling from their hands.

“Come on,” I barked at Sin and he wheeled around, smiling gleefully before slapping on a more serious look and nodding to me as he ran by.

He leapt onto the boat and I followed with Cain and Hastings close behind me just as Sin blasted air magic at the sails and we went flying out into the cove.

I hurried to the back of the vessel, wielding the water and forcing it to drive us to sea even faster, the FIB none the wiser about the rest of us being present and now fully occupied with chasing the false Sin along the cliff path.

The land was shrinking away and my heart rate settled at last as the town became nothing but a glittering slit between two long cliffs.

I turned, finding Rosalie leaping at me, her lips pressing to mine as I caught her.

“How’s that for a night of chaos on the day of the Black Sun, love?” I murmured against her soft lips. She lingered against me a moment longer, pulling back and leaning into Sin who had closed in behind her, once again returned to his true form, his eyes blazing with victory.

He nuzzled her neck and nipped at her, making her smile gleam. She thrived here in the wildness, and I guessed that was why she wasn’t angry at him for the plan he had concocted back there. I could see how the pieces of her fit us all in different ways. Even Cain brought out a side to her that was different to the one she aimed at me. But there was a part missing now and we were finally on our way to returning it to her, making our girl whole once again.

“How far to the island?” Cain asked, slinking out of the shadow the sail was casting.

Rosalie moved to him, her fingers winding between his and he pulled her close as if instinctively. I didn’t know when I’d accepted Cain as one of us, but perhaps I’d known it for a long time now. It was that look in her eye when she turned her gaze on him. Even when she had been furious with him, there had always been something underpinning it. Like she had claimed him long before she’d realised she’d done it.

“At this pace, we should make it in no time,” she said.

“The moon will keep my magic recharged, I can run laps of the boat when my power starts to wane,” I said. “I can keep us moving like this if you want to stop casting air, Sin.”

The Incubus inclined his head. “I can keep casting too so long as someone’s sucking my cock. We can make a disco of it. Cain can hum a tune.” He looked from me to Rosalie as if one of us was about to volunteer to go down on him then even tossed a sideways glance at Hastings.

“No cock sucking,” Rosalie decided firmly.

“A ball rub?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

“A finger up the butt?” he suggested, glancing my way. “You can do it to Ethan while I watch, you might find a trinket or two up there. It’s how he carries his coin purse around.”

“I do not,” I snipped.

“Sure you don’t,” Sin said, tossing me a wink and I scowled.

I moved to lean against the back railing, guiding the ocean beneath our boat and pushing us onward while Sin headed off to swing on the boom of the main sail.

Rosalie stayed with me as the others peeled off too and I noticed Cain pressing a hand to Hastings’ shoulder. I caught a snippet of the praise he handed his guard buddy for dealing with the FIB and Hastings’ neck turned red, his chin lifting as he smiled at Cain.

Rosalie climbed up to sit on the rail, her legs swinging beneath her as she tipped her head back to look at the stars. “Do you think they’re on our side tonight?”

“I think any creature that is watching you would be compelled to assist you in any way it could. The stars included.”

“You’re a sweet talker, Ethan Shadowbrook,” she said with a dry look. “Full of the best kind of bullshit.”

“No, love. I say it how it is. I call the sky blue and the grass green. You’re the reason this plan has any hope of working. Because I believe the stars can’t help but play favourites sometimes, and right now, you’re their most prized treasure.”