Sapphire Bones

Catch-22

Updated: March 24, 2019

Corvo

Jax moved in front of me in a protective stance. Growls vibrated through his throat. I feared him lunging so I placed a hand upon his shoulder to calm him down but it did little to help the situation. My touch of reassurance did nothing to soothe the audible anger that came up in the form of snarls, but his shoulder relaxed under my hand enough for me to feel comfortable to move around him. Jax swiveled his head just slightly, not daring to take the two Council members out of his line of sight for a second despite my ability to see them as well. My silent confirmation was all he needed to relax and take a couple steps to the side so we were equal distance between the unknown people in the room. Bounty hunters didn't risk attacking anyone not on their list. Their jobs depended on their ability to follow the law without slipping. If either laid a finger on us, with force or not, their place at the Council was forfeited. I knew they couldn't touch me, and that minute fact kept the two people on their side of the room even though through those dead-panned eyes of theirs I could see them chomping at the bit to attack anything that moved.

"Please, we don't mean you two any harm," Lena's partner spoke up from his place by the window. He had these white teeth that were just a little too sharp for his own good. A couple scratches and pricks adorned his bottom gums, but they'd healed and grown over with scabs the color of dry dirt in the heat of the summer. I watched the two of them while they moved about the room. Benji's nose bulked at the end but stayed narrow through the bridge, and his skin blended in with the carpet. His curls were the same color as the scabs on his lips, a pale brown in desperate need of nourishment. Irish, most likely, but his accent was hardly noticeable. Lena took a seat in one of the leather arm chairs while her partner remained standing, just behind the chair with his hands on either back corner. His fingertips were dangerously close to her neck, the nails at the end of each finger pointed and sharpened like a knife on a grindstone. He couldn't have been just a werewolf – our grooming habits weren't as bizarre but to have a hybrid amid the Council proved interesting to say the least. Lena nodded for us to join her so I moved first. I sat across on the couch, my backside sinking into the soft, cold leather. Jax came to my right and sat, muscles still tense but his jaw softened with each passing moment I proved to him we weren't in any immediate danger.

Lena and I exchanged an enduring glare. Jax did the same with Benji until the only person left standing cleared his throat. I took the chance to start with a frown only to have both bounty hunters send a glare deep enough to penetrate my skull. I gulped and started.

"Why are you here?" I asked. Lena shifted uncomfortably in her seat, hands on either side of her thighs but ultimately she took the question like fish snatching bait on the end of a hook. "And where are Cole and Roddy?" I didn't bother playing dumb about who lived in the apartment. The argument otherwise would've been near impossible to play.

"It's come to the attention of the Council that Alpha Cole Jackson and Beta Roderick Phillips are alive and living in the city," she said. Her mouth barely moved while she spoke but her eyes flitted around the room as if waiting for someone to emerge from one of the surrounding doorways. "The apartment was empty when we got here so we've been waiting for their return."

"It seems we weren't the only ones with this information," Benji cut in before I could answer. "What business do you have here? If a couple of wolves from Emerald knew of their survival, that leaves you two in contempt with the Council as well," Benji snarled, his sharp teeth on full view, tongue glossing over them just once to give each tooth a new gleam of saliva. Benji's dismissal of my position in Emerald was typical for a council dog. They viewed themselves as higher than pack order, better than. They looked down upon the rest of us from their towers and compounds.