The Devil's Wolf

"I want to bathe, f-k, and sleep," Cael interrupted their argument. "I have had enough of this conversation, it achieves nothing."

Raiden snarled at him, the Other vivid golden in his eyes.

"Don't snarl at me, dog," Cael snarled back.

"Alright," Alatar finished his soft drink and set it aside. "I think things are getting a little heated. Everyone needs to cool down. I am going to need to go to my shop anyway, Rai, before I can do anything useful. I need spell components, and if I am to reach out to my coven for aid in shielding the building, I am going to need a scrying mirror. I will portal us from the shop, by-passing the human's barricades."

"I will take Ashlynn to Elior's apartment," Cael decided. "We will bathe and rest whilst we await your arrival."

"We will just have to hope that Caleb Roth does not attack in the interim," Ashlynn said with reservation.

"If he does, we will fight him," Cael replied with a grin.

"I would be happier if you went back to pack lands, Ashlynn," Raiden said darkly.

"The vampires are relying on us, dad, we need to be in the Vampire Square in case Caleb Roth attacks," Ashlynn leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I love you, but I am not a cub anymore. I can handle myself."

"You will always be my cub," he replied, softening. He cupped her cheek. "I love you too, Ash."

They left the werewolf and warlock to go to Alatar's shop and stood on the curb watching the car retreat down the road.

"Well, that was fun," Ashlynn sighed heavily. "Not. At least they are safe, and Alatar will come and help us with protecting the vampires..." She was tired, she thought, her eyes heavy and her brain dull with her exhaustion. "I need to sleep." "Me too. Let's go back," Cael caught her up against him and lifted into the air. She was sure she was not imagining that his leap was less spritely and the strike of his wings against the air was heavier.

"You are tired," she touched her devil's cheek. "We will shower and catch a couple of hours of sleep in Elior's bed."

"And f-k," he grinned brightening, the expression chasing away the exhaustion from his face. "I am not too tired to f-k."

She laughed.

As they passed over Vampire Square, she could see smoke billowing darkly out onto the street from several of the buildings, pushing the humans back away from the intersection. There was a lot of movement as they regrouped, but she could not tell if they were simply retreating from the smoke, or if they had successfully taken the main building.

"Shit," she groaned.

Cael landed them on Elior's building, and she took the phone out of her pocket, dialing the number for Serena, her heart racing whilst she listened to it ring.

"Serena," the vampire woman answered briskly, and Ashlynn sighed in relief. There was noise in the background, but far less than would indicate a fight underway, and the vampire woman would not be answering if she had been captured. "We have returned to Vampire Square," Ashlynn told her. The wind caught her hair, blowing it over her face and she pushed it back impatiently. She could smell the bitter magic as the wind carried the smoke upwards. "We saw smoke as we returned."

"There have been several attempts to breach the foyers of various buildings. We have blocked off the subterranean passages to all but the one building, as we discussed, and have concentrated our forces on the final building. So far, we have held the human forces at bay. Were you successful at retrieving your warlock?"

"Yes, he has gone for supplies and to recruit help before he comes here, but he is coming, and hopefully not alone," Ashlynn replied.

"Let us hope he is swift in doing so. By process of elimination, they will know which building we occupy soon."

"Agreed. My mate and I need to bathe and rest. Call me if they attack this building and we will come to your aid." She disconnected and sighed. "I feel bad leaving them whilst we shower and sleep."

"They are many, we are few. They will be rotating those on guard, so they can feed and rest." Cael led the way down the stairs, his wings whispering against the walls. "I am looking forward to washing. The blood grows stiff as it dries on me, and my skin itches."

They entered Elior's elegant and pristine apartment, and Cael began to strip off his filthy clothing, discarding it in a trail from the entrance to the bedroom with relish, she thought, enjoying leaving his mark on the vampire's home. He started the shower whilst she flicked through Elior's closet, looking for clothing for them both. Every detail was luxurious, she thought, from the interior lighting that activated as she opened the doors through to the velvet lined glass display case of his watches and cufflinks. Shoes were neatly arranged on a shelf, in a range of colours and styles. Their vampire liked his clothing, she thought with a fond smile, and had excellent taste.

"The man owns an extensive range of suits," she observed, amused by the immaculate presentation of them, the crisp creases in the trousers and stiff collars. "But I don't see you as a suit sort of person." There was a drawer of tracksuits. She laid two sets of trousers and two t-shirts on the bed before leaning in the bathroom doorway.

"No suits," Cael stepped under the water, letting it wash over his wings, the water beading on the feathers. The water ran red around his feet like an ill omen from legend. "Come and wash my wings for me," he demanded as he scrubbed his

arms.

"Is there room in the shower for me too?" She undressed and edged into the generous space that seemed overfull of feathers and naked man. She poured a liberal amount of soap into her hands and worked it thought Cael's hair and across his face and hands taking the loofah from him and using it to loosen the blood. "Elior's going to have to chuck out this loofah after you have used it," she observed. "Blood is sticky."

"Yes," he took the loofah and discarded it onto the bathroom floor carelessly and drew her hands down his torso to close around him with a groan instead, his priorities not focused on getting clean.

"I thought you wanted me to wash your wings," she smirked as she complied stroking over him.

"After," his eyes smouldered.

"Let's wash quickly, and then f-k in Elior's bed," she told him. "I think if we try it in the shower, we will end up breaking something. Your wings take up a lot of room."

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"I want you now."

"Very quickly, then." She shampooed her hair vigorously, whilst his hands smoothed over her breasts and across her stomach. She laughed breathlessly. "Not helping, Cael. How do we wash your wings?" "Rub the feathers until the blood runs off," he closed his eyes as she did as he instructed.

"Feels nice?" She smiled, amused by the expression on his face.

"Not as nice as your hands on my c-k," he replied opening his eyes again. "But it is pleasant."

She shut off the water and passed him a towel. "Come on then."

He flicked his wings as he exited the shower, shedding water like a duck, and then scowled as he retracted them, rocking his head from side to side, stretching out his back muscles and shoulders to disperse the pain of doing so before taking up a towel.

"Elior will want to turn you to a vampire," he commented as he dried himself.

"I don't think it will work any better than turning me into a wolf did," she said as she wrapped the towel around her chest and rolled the top to hold it like a sarong.

"Your mother turned into a werewolf."

"Yes, but that was after she came into her power. She thinks it was your attempt to kill her that did it. When she fell, she opened her wings, and became stronger. She thinks that falling triggered an instinctual response."

"Which is why your werewolf lover tried to drown you?" He had been reading her diaries, she thought, bemused by how much attention he had paid to the contents. She had thought when she had found him doing so that he had just been trying to provoke her, but his comment proved otherwise.

"That was the theory. I just ended up with pulmonary edema and had to go to hospital."

"Falling might trigger wingspread," he was thoughtful. "It is what we do with babies to get them to open their wings."

"You think it was trying drowning, rather than falling, that was the problem?" She considered it. "I can't believe your people drop babies," she added as the image developed in her mind. "What if their wings don't open?" "Their wings always open," he was amused. "We will try dropping you and see what happens."

"Right now?" She stared at him, her mind blanking. On one hand, the ability to turn, and the potential to have wings like his was very appealing... But being dropped from a height in order to obtain them was distinctly unappealing. "What about sex, or sleep?"

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"I am curious," he shrugged. "We can have sex and sleep after we drop you."

"If I don't die."

"Your mother's wings opened."

"Yes, but that's my mother," she pointed out. "The all-powerful font."

"Why did you not ask your mother to shield the building?" He pulled on the tracksuit pants.

She paused; a t-shirt gathered at her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess, she rarely leaves pack lands, and dad would go nuts if I suggested she come into the Vampire Square. The font, surrounded by vampires, could you just imagine?" "Your blood is the same as hers," he replied. "And you are here."

"My blood isn't the same, not really. Mum's is like super-charged, because of her magic."

"Did Elior say that?" He wondered, taking her hand, and pulling her out of the bedroom and across the living area following the trail of his discarded clothing back to the doorway into the hallway where the stairwell and elevators opened. "He has drunk from you both, he would know."

"Well, not precisely," she frowned, trying to remember what he had said as they took the stairs up to the roof. She shivered, her wet hair catching the chill unpleasantly as they stepped out onto the rooftop. "Elior said that it was different, but he also said that it might be because we were mates. He gets very horny after he has my blood," she explained, her teeth chattering as he opened the door. "And he doesn't with my mother." Thank god, for that, she added. That would just be weird.

"But did he say that the other effects were different?"

"I guess not. I'll have to ask him, I guess."

"Hmm," he encouraged her across the roof.

"You are awfully eager to drop me, Cael," she was wary and unwilling to simply let him throw her off the building potentially to her death. "Are you sure that you haven't changed your mind about wanting to be free of the tie between us?" He laughed, and pulled her to him, kissing her passionately, before releasing her. "No. I do not want to be free of you, my mate. I love you."

He pushed her.

She screamed as she toppled over the edge.