The True One

Chapter 26

Alek

My knuckles ached from where I connected with Chip's jawbone, but it didn't stop me from getting another punch in before Verity and Flora grabbed onto my arms and pulled me away from him. Chip slumped against the wall next to the front door, heaving in and out as he held a hand up to his cheek.

"Just wait until I transform." He winced at the effort to get out words through his swollen face. "My bite's a lot bigger than your fist."

"Did that make better sense in your head than how it came out?" I asked him. "Besides, I don't think you'll be able to open your mouth wide enough to bite more than a stick of gum anytime soon."

I let the tension in my muscles relax. The fight was gone now that Chip had been subdued. It was nice to have the upper hand over that prick, but the moments leading up to our confrontation were a blur of emotions. I had been a few steps behind Verity in the hallway... and then something had put me on autopilot. "Pick yourself up and go sit next to Norvin on the couch of shame. I assume you two are acquainted."

Chip scowled but did as I asked, mumbling "just you wait," under his breath before walking into the living room.

Flora released me and followed Chip, but Verity kept me back. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"What was what?"

"Don't do the whole answering a question with a question thing again. You know what I mean. I open the door and three seconds later, you're dragging Chip inside and using him as a punching bag. Why?"

"He has a punchable face."

Fighting a smile, she forced herself to frown instead. "While true, that's not an adequate reason."

"He and his pack ambushed us. Isn't that reason enough?

"Maybe. But he might have useful information for us. Info we can't get if he's unconscious."

To be fair, I hadn't been thinking logically when I'd attached Chip. Something else had been at work. Something raw and undeniable. I'd acted on instinct, as though I'd been compelled. Compelled by Verity.

"I felt what you felt."

She pursed her lips. "You what?"

"You saw him, and the fear was immediate. I felt that. I had to do something."

Verity stared at me a long while, her eyes flickering, gold specks reflecting the light from a nearby wall sconce. "Damn you, Alek. What am I going to do with you?"

Not sure if that statement boded well for me or not, I stayed silent and let her lead me towards the others, the touch of her hand on my arm a white flag in the middle of a battlefield.

There, situated next to Norvin on the sofa, Chip sat with his arms folded around his stomach. A large bandage stuck out from the arm of his t-shirt. He glared at me and I realized today's scrape was hardly the worst injury I'd dealt this guy. My mood lightened a bit.

Don't gloat, Verity thought-spoke to me.

Sorry but I think I will.

The daggers Chip kept trying to send my way with his angry glances fell in a metaphorical clatter when they hit my armor of smugness.

Verity left me to my swagger as she and Flora got to the task of grilling our two assholes.

"I still need to know where my mother is." Flora, armed with a poker from the fireplace, jabbed it at Chip, right where my bullet had struck him back in the mountains.