Unnatural Conduct

Chapter 4

My breathing halted, and I saw red. I didn't know if it was because of instinct or rage, but my magic flared to life. It wanted out; wanted to fight the threat that had been at war with it since the beginning of time. And though I tried to fight against it, to suppress it, my true emotions weren't helping much either. No, it so happened that my subconscious had had enough of sick bastards insulting me.

My rational side began to tremble with fear, not wanting to unleash the beast, and remembering the last time it had escaped. My mother...

The magic took over, and I could see nothing except pure hatred as I spoke for the first time in years. "I hope you rot in hell."

Some very distant part of me heard a warning growl sounded, but paid it no heed as I whispered an incantation that sent whitehot flame toward the werewolf. The blast shook the room, and a loud roar filled my ears. Startled, I glanced around, but I still couldn't see a thing beyond the rage.

Suddenly, time stopped, and I could do nothing as I heard a voice float through my head. Sorry dear, but I simply can't allow you to kill the Alpha... yet. What fun would that be for me?

Time resumed, and the world went dark.

----

I came to sometime later, but I didn't dare open my eyes. Instead, I spent the time trying to rationalize what had happened earlier. And couldn't possibly believe it.

Surely it had all been a bad dream. There was no way that I'd allowed myself to have another anger flare; not after I'd sworn off magic forever. My mother had died because of it... because of me. Since then, I'd sworn to never again touch my power. Then Xavier had waltzed into the picture.

Xavier. I'd forgotten all about him. He'd claimed I was his mate, and that he was a werewolf... The later was believable, but the former? Not at all possible. I was a Fae, and though Fae had mates, there was no way one could be mated to a werewolf... Or was there? Even I couldn't deny that strange pull that I'd felt at his camp earlier. And if he really was my mate, I'd hurt him. Yes, he'd brought it upon himself, but what if I'd killed him?

And then there was that little issue of the strange voice I'd heard in my head. The voice was familiar; I heard it often in nightmares and dreams alike. But dreams were just dreams, and had no influence in the real world.

Realizing I had many questions and no one to answer them, I used my enhanced hearing to survey my surroundings. The closest and most obvious sound was that of deep, steady breathing. It was a few feet away, but I could tell the owner wasn't moving. If anything, they might have been asleep. I could hear the distant chirping of birds and the sound of a cantina... which meant I was probably still in the hotel room. With Xavier. Who, by the sound of it, was still very much alive.

Slowly, I peeled my eyes open, and glanced toward the source of the noise. Fear and relief coursed through me when I saw that it was Xavier. Relief because he was still alive and someone hadn't kidnapped me, and fear because I'd attacked him, he was a werewolf, and... and he was staring right at me, a wicked half-smirk playing at his lips.

We just stayed there, our gazes locked, me laying on the bed and him leaning casually against the doorway to our hotel room. He spoke first, but didn't break the stare.

"It's not very polite to attack someone, Quinn. Or tell them to go to hell."

I shot him a look that said something along the lines of 'You're one to talk about politeness. You deserved it.'

Xavier just chuckled. "Back to your silent self, I see. Fine with me, I like you better without you running your mouth. I think my body does too."

Ignoring the insult, I shot him a questioning look.