When the Wolves Cry (Twin Flames Duet #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

TALA

Anxiety has its claws in my chest, slowly ripping it open. I can’t get a full breath of air, and my palms are way too damn clammy. I wipe them on my sheer tights, noticing my left leg bouncing.

I didn’t realize I was doing it. But the large, tattooed hand sliding up my thigh did. Not only does it make my stomach flip, but it also subsides the nerves coursing through my bloodstream.

He gently squeezes my inner thigh, running his thumb back and forth. It gives me a sensation to cling to outside of the malicious hands of anxiety.

Nightcall is playing through his speakers, light enough to still hear the engine rumbling through the trees that are blurry in passing.

I shudder, his hand skating farther up. He teases the frayed hem of my oversized sweater, and my cold, nervous cheeks grow violently warm with the crimson kissing them.

I finally look over to the eyes that have been searing into my side since we got in the car. There’s no mistaking the look of unholy enthrallment he has for me. It’s intense, like he wants to get to know my vessel from the inside out.

He straightens his neck, cracking it both ways, giving light to the silver that peeks out from his black long sleeve.

I lean over, hooking my fingers into his shirt. My cold fingers are melting into his skin, stinging from the rapid temperature change. It’s no match for the way my face is on fire with his hungry gaze, mapping out everything he can see from the closeness.

Our eyes briefly connect as I pull it out, and I can’t help but stop on his lips as I start to pan down. They’re smooth, aside from a little, white scar that slashes down on the right side of his top lip. It’s barely noticeable.

But I notice it.

“What happened?” I ask, then divert my eyes down to his dog tag.

I start to grin, but my lips part for a sharp inhale as his large hand firmly grips the inside of my thigh.

“I was just a kid and wasn’t paying attention to my proximity to one of the dogs. So, when I bent down to grab his water bowl, he lunged and just barely snapped me. Wasn’t his fault though. They were starved and abused,” he explains sedately.

Stopping the car outside my parents’ house, he turns his head and wets his lips right in front of my face. I stare at them again, lightning rippling in my chest and throat. “I have a lot of questions about you, Mr. Scythe,” I whisper, looking back up to his hellish eyes that are pulling me in.

Before I have the chance to slip away, his hand squeezes through my thighs, and he runs two fingers over the sheer material that harbors the thin silk covering my aching clit.

I mewl into his ear, knowing what his fingers are capable of doing in under two minutes.

Still running his fingers over me, he tilts his head and nips my jaw. A pleasant sting smarts over the small area, and he kisses it. Slowly. Always so fucking slow, drawing it out and building up tension that would fill an entire room.

Remembering where we are and what we’re doing has me snapping away and scurrying to try and open the door.

“Stay,” he orders, and I freeze up.

He opens his door and steps out way too goddamn sexually, fetching a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He takes one out, and I bend down, watching him put it in between his lips and light it.

I’ve smelt the warm,herbyaroma on his breath, but I’ve never seen him actually smoke before. I’ve never found cigarettes appealing—until now. It somehow adds to his savage, wet dream appearance.

He releases the driver seat, cranking it forward to let Sirohi out. While intently watching him round the front of his car with pointy ears at his side, I grab myoversizedbag from the floor.

It’s massive, but super cute and shaggy. Nads and I filled it with two bottles of wine, eight packs of candy, and two family-sized chips when we went to the movies last.

Digging around inside of it for my phone, I hear muffled, masculine shouting. My forehead crinkles and my eyes fly to the windshield, looking at my dad absolutely beaming over the sight of Satan. He’s walking the fastest I’ve ever seen him go, Echo dutifully at his side.

I’ll let myself out.

I open the door, barely touching the gravel with my boot, before Jax whips his head around and glares at me through the crack.

I roll my eyes, yank my foot back in, and close the fucking door so he doesn’t crack a molar.

Tucking the cigarette in between his lips, he opens the door with warning eyes. “Thought you forgot about me,” I quip, stepping out and around the giant

Dad is bent over, loving on Sirohi like he’s never seen a dog before. I get it, Sirohi is cute as hell. But I got in trouble earlier and never got to finish my love. It makes my eyes thin to hateful slits, and I look back at the demon who has impure thoughts of me right now.

Before the aggravation can make me climb him like a tree, I yank my bag up to my shoulder and storm away.

I’ll go talk to my lovely mom.

Stepping inside my childhood home, the rich aroma of coffee smacks me in the face. She brews so much the smell is permanently etched into the walls.

My head is on a swivel looking for her, walking around and helping myself to a chocolate covered strawberry on the kitchen counter. The chocolate shatters in my mouth, the sweet juice bursting over my dry tongue. I make some noise of contentment and lick my lips, tossing the stem into the trash.

I walk out the back door, targeting Mom as she tosses a blanket into the double egg chair by the fire pit, Void tumbling around in the grass next to her.

She grins. “Hi, honey. I know it’s on the tip of your tongue, so I’ll go ahead and answer. Your dad and I sent the Dresden chest to you. Your grandma knew how much you liked it and sent it in to be refurbished two months ago, but it didn’t get done until last week.”

I pick Void up and sit down in the egg chair, using my feet to swing us. “That was sweet of her. Did you know about the photo?”

She nods. “That was for you too. I’ll let Dad speak his peace though.”

Void plops his head into my chest, cloudy eyes searching over my face. The gash on his nose already looks better. It still makes me really sad to think about, and I cuddle him in closer.

“How’s Void been doing?” I ask, raking my nails through his soft fur.

Taking a seat on one of the logs, she smiles brightly. “He’s doing really well. He’s getting along with the two others in quarantine, eating and drinking enough… He’s good.” She looks around like she’s about to share a secret. “Why’d you decide on Void?”

Watching his little eyes struggle to stay open, I contemplate making something up. But I think it’s very clear to them that Jax and I are… whatever we are.

I pop my lips. “Seeing Jax was… I don’t know… It felt celestial. Like, our fate was destined to be intertwined. Like, we’re twin flames intended to have two paths lead into one. He started filling the void in my heart with just an intense look in my direction,” I explain sincerely, a slight grin forming over what a creep he is.

Tears well in her brown eyes. She lets them fall, little sniffles filling the silent pause. “That’s beautiful, Tala,” she squeaks. “He’s a good man. A troubled man… But good.”

Swinging a bit more aggressively, I drop my hand back down to Void, feeling Jax’s fire scorch my face. My heart skips, tracking him coming around the side of the house with Dad, Echo, and Sirohi.

His predator eyes find me, looking at me like it’s been weeks since we last saw each other.

My hands shake with nerves as he stalks over to me. I don’t know if he’ll actually fit, but I stop the swing and scoot over to make room. He sits, grabbing my legs and draping them over his as he leans back. Sirohi sits regally by his feet, keeping even attention on his surroundings and Jax.

After Dad kisses Mom, he gives me an awkward smile. “I’ll go grab the stuff for your s’mores, sweetheart. Then we’ll talk.”

“Dad, I’d prefer to just get right into it so I can take a damn breath,” I blurt. The obsidian boring into the side of my face makes me catch my attitude. “I’m sorry. This is just really confusing and it’s making my brain feel like scrambled eggs.”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” he insists, taking a seat next to Mom. “A really long time ago, shoot, way before I was born, your grandparents gave asylum to a couple from Russia. Not just any couple, sweetheart. I’m talkin’ a couple that was exploiting and murdering the rapists of the Federal Assembly.” He stops for a beat, making sure my shocked face is following. “Do you have any questions so far?”

Jax rubbing my leg is too distracting.

“How did they even come across them?” I ask.

“They stumbled onto their farm while on the run. And you know how your grandparents were. They never passed up the opportunity to help someone, even if it meant putting their lives on the line. Well, they ended up falling in with them.”

“Doing…”

He nods. “Yeah, kiddo. Long story short, they moved here from Nome, changed their names and started a family. But around five years ago,KaterinaandAdrik, the couple, reached back out and quite frankly scared them. They got worried that the spies would start swarming them again and built the safe house… Your house.”

“So, Pyro is a complete coincidence? You don’t think they’re linked somehow?”

He nods for Jax to speak.

Jax looks at me, sun catching in his obsidian pools and turning them to coffee. “Pyro’s name is Brutus Tuffin. The bastard moved here from Savannah, Georgia and has no ties to anyone in Russia, baby. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence. But you’re really smart for thinking ahead like that.”

“You’re from Savannah,” I point out, connecting the dots in my overloaded mind. “Did you follow him here?”

His pretty, white teeth barely show through a grin. “Yes, ma’am.

Almost forgetting about my parents sitting there, I snap out of his compulsion and return to my dad. “Okay, so what about the storage unit? What’s that about?”

“That’s yours. You’ll see what’s in there when you open it.” Slapping his knees, he looks down at my mom while standing. “She’s going to start getting cranky. It’ss’morestime.”

“I’ll help,” Mom chimes eagerly.

They both flee the scene and disappear inside, leaving me with two wolves, Sirohi, and—the Devil.

Stitching my eyes to his, he tracks the arch movement of my tongue swiping over my top lip. “I’m hungry,” I rasp.

His jaw tics, and he runs his hand up to my thigh. “Yeah?” He leans in, warm tobacco fanning over my lips. “What are you hungry for?”

I shudder under him, his deep voice flowing through my veins. “Something I’ve never had before,” I whisper, and sweep my tongue over his full and insanely defined lips. Slowly. Playing his own game and drawing out the sweet andherby flavors popping on my taste buds.

His fingers dig into my thigh, prompting a searing noise from my sheer tights. I gasp, eyebrows pinching loosely, and look down to the three rips that trail halfway down my thigh. “Jax,” I whine.

Pressing his lips to my temple, he quietly says, “I’ve never felt so goddamn desperate for someone, and I don’t know how much longer I can control myself.”

My eyes zip to my gleeful parents walking out the back door with s’mores ingredients, Dad’s guitar strapped to his back.

Moving his big hand over the rips, he tenderly kisses my temple and looks away from me. The cold air dances over the little wet spot he left. It feels like it’s hugging it, searing it into my flesh to remind me of his touch.

After getting so lost in the sensation, I jump blindly into their conversation about guitars.

“I was playing my Harley Benton up until I recently got this slick, satin blackShecter,” Jax says modestly.

I catch my mom bumping her eyebrows at me, roasting two marshmallows over the fire that I’m considering jumping in.

Of fucking course Jax Scythe would know how to play guitar.

I can’t hear what anyone is saying over my heart thrumming in my temples. Apparently, Void can hear it too, his cloudy eyes are wide open and staring at me now. I use it as my escape, and slowly slide my legs off Jax’s lap. I feel his intense eyes on me the entire time I get up and walk off to the side.

The strumming starts as I set Void down in the grass, and I can’t help but check over my shoulder to see if it’s Jax playing or not.

“I’ll teach you one of Tala’s favorite songs. Her grandpa and I used to play it together for her,” Dad says, strumming the tune of Keep the Wolves Away .

I look down at Void, pesky tears trying to well in my eyes over the memory of Grandpa playing alongside Dad, singing with so much heart you could feel the emotions swell in your body. I blink them away until the knot doesn’t choke me anymore and walk back over to sit next to Jax.

He’s intently watching the chords, greeting my presence by running his hand over my thigh. It helps ease the raging waters wanting to spill. My mom helps too by passing a s’more to me. She bends down with a wrinkled nose, and knowing she wants a bunny kiss makes me wrinkle mine on instinct, lightly rubbing the tip of my nose over hers.

She offers a smile whileboopingmy nose, then returns back over to the logs to watch my dad.

Bunny kisses are something she started when I was very young. We kind of stopped doing them the older I got. So, when she randomly wants one, I don’t have the heart to tell her no.

Planting my hand on his thigh, I lean up to his ear and hold the s’more up. “Do you want a bite?”

He licks over his teeth, briefly volleying between the guitar and me. He finally caves and tilts his head, and I watch porn as he takes a lascivious bite. The marshmallow stretches and sticks to his bottom lip. I suck on mine like it will do much to clean it off, and somehow end up using my finger to wipe it away.

I pop it into my mouth, funneling my tongue around the little band of sweetness, and a faint, aggravated growl rumbles in his chest. Not wanting to distract him anymore, I sit my ass back, cross my legs, and enjoy the world’s greatest combination.

Cold chocolate and warm, toasted marshmallow, sandwiched in between honey graham crackers.