Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 41

The lighting in the colosseum-style facility teeters on the edge of a boiling summer sun and a drafty fall breeze in the shade. I can't quite get comfortable as I cross my arms over my chest and tug at the light turtle neck. It was a hard-line, between mortal and lycan. I wasn't quite familiar with being overtly warm, but dressing to lightly drew more attention than I was comfortable with. It was one thing to be stared at for fame, another to be judged as a creature by the public. 

 With my magic just below the surface, my body was stuck in a constant state of limbo. I was burning under my skin, or attempting to thaw out from a deep freeze. I think about the bite mark my turtle neck hides, my body shivers with the delicious reminder. What was wrong with me? I'd been lustful before but today I found myself truly out of sorts. 

"Nic. How's it sound?" The voice echos into my earpiece, I would have jumped if my wolf wasn't already on high alert. With my new found Alpha side, there wasn't much that startled me anymore.

I listen to the sound of my soul mate, closing my eyes I absorb the tune of the more modern style Tiberius had encouraged him to sing. We needed more people on our side, doing that would mean appealing to humanity by any means possible. Even if it meant masacareing his gorgeous voice with modern droning about sex and violence.

"I'm not sure what I'm listening for," I respond, striding slowly through the stands. 

My body aches to be out of these clothes, after last night I was clawing out of my skin to be with him again. Catching my lower lip in my teeth, the light breeze billows a variety of scents in a swirling vortex of the walls in this dome. Yet, his is the only one I can focus on.  Deep, masculine and potent, it sends my senses through the roof and my wolf scratches at the door of my subconscious. 

I needed to get out, to run. Trapped in this realm of 'normalcy', I could not respond that way in public, I must suffer in silence. 

Humanity catches my nose like an intoxicating lure, wafting me to tilt my head towards the noise of the city. Curiosity made small crowds lume in the distance, perhaps I was on high alert with the concern that 'they' lurked among the innocents, to close to the man I claimed as my own. Standing on end, my hair tingles with every fiber of the universe pulling at my senses. 

"Nic."

I'm too easily distracted up here. I note the light eyes watching me, tightening my stance as I rein in my senses. My mouth floods with anticipation of an ancient yearning for the taste of humanity and the longing of fulfillment. My wolf was an odd one, sometimes I wondered if it did such things just to torment me or if every Lycan felt this way. 

Biting my tongue in quiet discipline, I halt my stalking to gaze out one of the open-air windows. 

Was Helen out there? Was it possible that's why I'm so tense?

"It sounds fine. I can hear him clear as day." I respond with a grumble.

"Well, you are also a lycan, so maybe consider that." K steps off stage to climb the stairs and listen for herself, as I knew she would. 

Landon fiddles with the security system, I flinch at the low whine of the inner workings attempting to scan through the interference Artifice pushed out. An attempt to knock Gospel offline, it was a near constant duel to keep Artifice at bay. Thankfully, Landon had designed Gospel to entertain the passive AI. Overriding their conversations would be troublesome on the other side.

"That was good PR last night." K comments, holding a tablet in her hands as she scans the area and listens to the next song, this time involving Tiberius and his band of Sirens. "The news is buzzing about how 'normal' you two are."