章 2: Chapter 1: "Excuse me,"

Zayne called over the loud music. Pushing past bumping bodies as they dry humped to the heavy beats that blared through the speakers. He was saying it sarcastically to the person who had just kneed him in the thigh, laughing loudly in his ear. He hated it in these places. Hated the unnecessary loudness, the writhing bodies, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to leave. Especially recently, there seemed to be something bubbling dangerously beneath his skin. But he always forced himself to come, because it was the only place he could find meaningless one-night stands. Avoiding another sharp elbow as someone pushed past him, he knocked on the bar-raising his glass. Sighing heavily when a girl shrieked piercingly her hot breath hitting him in the face. Zayne didn't feel irritation or even anger towards her. Mostly because he was incapable of it. Void of all emotion, from happiness to frustration. He craved companionship, but could not form emotional attachments even when he tried. It never ended well. This is why he was smiling at a brunette at the end of the bar who wasn't too drunk to talk to him. Faking emotion, on the other hand, was his specialty. Because you had to fake it to make it. Especially in today's world.

"Drink?" He nodded towards her empty glass wedging himself between the throng of people, "You work at the Dynasty Zoo. Right?" she called making him glance up from her overly glossed lips. Keeping his face in a casual smile he gave her a once over, "Ah. Yes." He tried to see if he could recall her face but she smiled largely at him, "I just got hired on as a ticket booth worker. I saw you when they gave me the tour. You're one of the vets?"Zayne nodded at this, pursing his lips. He had a strict no sleeping with anyone at work rule. Except for Eve. He took a gulp of the drink the bartender had just gave him not even wincing from the taste. Eve was the reason he made that rule in the first place. They had gone through vet school together, interned at the zoo together and both ended up hired at the same damn zoo together. At that point they had already been fucking, so why not? They still slept together from time to time even though she had a husband and two little girls waiting for her at home. But that wasn't Zayne's business, if she pursued him, that was her business to figure out. Unfortunately, Eve was going through a spell of faithfulness. So here he was. He could tell the girl was eager, her tits about to pop out of her tight little dress, and her eyes raked over him without shame. He could take her home, fuck her, and let that be that. But what about tomorrow? When she awkwardly avoided him, or heaven forbid wants to have more than just a one-night stand. Rules were rules.

"Get her a refill on me," Zayne called over the music to the bartender before smiling at the girl raising his glass, "I'm sure you understand." He feigned being sheepish, raising his glass at her disappointed pout before turning away from her.

Deciding to call it a night he slid the glass across the counter then asked to clear his tab when the feeling like someone was watching him made him rub the back of his neck. Casually glancing back, feeling a jolt of surprise. The feeling of surprise was more surprising than the initial jolt. His eyes were immediately drawn to her. A petite woman in stature, with a pear-shaped body, draped in a flattering open dress. Sunbathed skin complimented her dazzling green eyes and generous breasts spilling out over the tight material. Her full red lips quirked into a smile as Zayne stared. He hadn't even

realized that he had drawn closer. She stood stock-still watching him, looking eerie among the throng of dancing strangers.

His heartbeat so hard he could feel it in his face, in his feet, in his palms. everywhere. He swallowed the lump quickly rising in his throat, he had no idea how he was having such a reaction to her. He had never reacted to anyone like this before. To anything like this.

"Zayne," she said, her voice husky, thick. He couldn't place it, but the sound of it drew his eyes to her thick rosebud lips. As if she knew he was watching her mouth, she licked them, giving him another jolt.

"Have we met?" he whispered, but he knew they hadn't. Because he would never forget her. Even if she walked away from him right now, he knew he would always remember her. As if he had known her immediately. His Dad had always told him that he would meet a person that would turn it all around one day. But the enigmatic draw he felt from this stranger, made Zayne almost regret laughing at his Dad for saying that. Almost. He could also just be drunk. Right? Was this just a reaction to being drunk?

"I've been looking everywhere for you," she whispered leaning forward to touch his arm, his brain-frying out.

"Do you want to dance?" he leaned forward asking in her ear, shivering she smiled up at him nodding. She grabbed his hand leading him deeper into the writhing bodies. Turning to face him she drew close, her arms going around his shoulders something biting into his neck. Pulling away he looked down in confusion, her face looked apologetic as he staggered.

"What?" he rubbed the area, the room suddenly beginning to spin.

"Can you help me? He's drunk?" she said to a man who glanced at Zayne then nodded. Unable to fight, he could only stagger as they went outside, fading in and out as they struggled to get him into the car. Which made him laugh loudly, even when he slid to the ground, the gravel biting into his face. "Bitch" he laughed inhaling dust, the guy groaned cursing as he finally got Zayne's dead weight into the passenger seat. The world spun as he gripped the door handle, to get out, but his hand wouldn't cooperate. What was he doing again? Wait. A loud slam made him jump looking over wide-eyed at the woman from before.

"Hey," Zayne tried but his head just lolled against the headrest, looking back at the door he slurred, "Kidnapped? Man-napped" then he laughed loudly before the car went black.

The sweet sound of a woman humming lulled Zayne awake, his face pressed to the cool glass of a car. Drool soaking the blanket, his shirt, and neck pillow that had been put on him in an attempt to bring him comfort. Unfortunately, being drugged did not allow your body to stay in upright positions. Being drugged. Zayne sat up straight with a sharp intake of breath looking around wide-eyed. The woman from last night was even more staggering in the light of day, her long honey-colored hair done in some elaborate braid, her dress gone, the silky material replaced with short high-rise blue jean shorts, and a bright pink tie-dyed shirt. Zayne blinked at her for several minutes as if to be sure he was seeing her. "Good morning." She said finally, "What the fuck?" he croaked, she glanced at him again then reached in the cup holder tapping a bottle of water. "Sorry, I didn't have time to do the back and forth thing by asking you to come with me." She admitted in a flat voice. "Well, I am so sorry that the conversation would have been such an inconvenience for you." Zayne drawled unscrewing the water chugging it, the coldness making him breathless. Panting he crushed the bottle, before looking for a place to put it. "Just throw it in the back seat." Zayne's lip curled at this but he did as he was told, then stretched as much as he could in the small car. "And to be fair, I did send several," she enunciated the word glancing at him pointedly, "Correspondences to try and get you to come willingly." She finished looking back at the road. Zayne wasn't sure what emotion he should feel right now, because he had thrown all of those thick-ass manilla envelopes in the trash. The ones that said 'In regards to Aethalia Pois's property.' Every single one now sat in a local dumpster somewhere in downtown Alabama. He felt that bubbling sensation again, making him almost dizzy.

"Did it occur to you that I possibly have a job-" he started but was cut off as she pointed to

the thick manilla envelope on the dashboard. Scowling, Zayne opened it neatly looking at his forged signature on the bottom of a time off request sheet. "This is for all of my time" Zayne scoffed and she nodded, "It's a polite measure, your resignation letter is in there as well. It will be mailed out in about three months. He stared at her with disbelief before his eyes trailed down to his father's contact information.

"Hey!" he yelled making her flinch, "He's safe, you called him and told him you were going to take care of your mom's estate in Alaska. He begged you not to, but you know how stubborn you can be." She glanced up at him, her face still stoic. For someone wearing such a bright color shirt, you'd think she would be more eccentric. "The fuck I called him. And the fuck I'm going to Alaska!" Zayne looked out the window to see nothing but forest on either side of him. "I know it's a lot to take in. But you kept ignoring the,"

"Yes, I kept ignoring the fucking encyclopedias you kept sending me about my dead Mom's estate. Because I don't fucking want it." Zayne interjected making her wince again. Taking a deep breath, he tried to lower his tone. He didn't feel angry but felt like he should, and he was so used to acting how he felt he was supposed to react.

"There is no estate." She sniffed, rushing to get the words out. Zayne looked over at her, nostrils flaring "Then why the fuck am I going? What is this?" His stomach started to churn again.

"I'm Rebekah. And I need you to be ok with a lot of things at once. Because I don't have time to fight with you. You're coming to Alaska." Her tone said no whats, no butts, no coconuts.

Taking another deep breath, he leaned back looking over the contents of the folder. A month ago she had told his landlord he would be moving out. He flipped to the next page finding his bank statements showing his bills paid in full.

That was everything then. Dad knew he wasn't missing, work knew he had taken off, and his house was taken care of. That was his whole life. He tried to figure out how to feel, but the only word that came to mind was impressed. He glanced back at Rebekah, saw her picking her cuticles and biting her lip, and realized she expected him to yell more.

"So, if there is no estate then why am I going to Alaska." She glanced at him nervously squirming. "I was instructed to only tell you so much at a time because your brain can only handle so much. I don't want you to go crazy." She admitted making Zayne force a laugh, "You drugged me, and put me in a car, man-napped me, and are taking me across the country against my will." Counting off his fingers he continued "And now you're worried about me being crazy?" he grinned, staring at her incredulously, then glanced at the GPS.

Chewing her lip he could see she was debating on what words to use. Blowing her bangs up picking at the steering wheel, "Your Mom was a very powerful person Zayne. You know that. I know you felt it when she died. I know you haven't felt right since then. I know that," she took a breath glancing at him before finishing "You took it really hard."

Looking away from her he wondered how she knew that. He wondered if she knew that at three a.m. he had woken up with a cold sweat, his chest feeling like it had split apart? That without a thought, he had gotten up and had started to drive. Even though he hadn't seen his Mom in years, hadn't even heard so much as a whisper since the night he was taken from her. But he still sped towards her, the sun had risen and had set by the time he made it to his old driveway. How he walked past her gardens, through the woods, and found her lying in the empty field. And he could only stare at his dead mother, a small secret smile on her pale bloated face. Flies going in and out of her parted lips. How he had gone down the trail they had taken every morning, rain or shine, and stood at the edge of the cliffs. Feeling nothing. About to step off, but then he just sat down at the edge. Too much chicken shit.

Swallowing hard at the memory he glanced at Rebekah now, searching her face, maybe that's not what she had been talking about? How could she know? His gut told him she did. But if she didn't want to talk about it, neither did he. Instead, he took in her features, the same effect from last night was there. She was past striking, a breath of fresh air on a crisp morning. He had never seen eyes that shade of green before, like oak leaves with the sun filtering through. Her profile was sharp, her jawline defined. And he couldn't stop looking at her body, she was lithe like a runner. Her thick thighs strained against the blue jean material, the swell of her breasts when she breathed. He wanted to unwrap her, peel each layer from her until she was bare beneath him.

"What did you do to me, to make me so drawn to you?" he asked pulling his gaze from her body to realize she was chewing her nails. Rebekah looked up in surprise when Zayne pushed her hand away from her mouth, he wanted to hold it. To put it to his lips and kiss the soft skin of her wrist. But he shouldn't feel that way about her, she had completely uprooted his life. And has barely given him any explanation. She lowered it slowly to the steering wheel answering "That part was unexpected for me as well. But I am assuming it is because I am a part of you in a sense. And even though your abilities are sealed, you can sense that." Zayne stiffened at this, eyebrows raising. "You don't remember?" she whispered glancing at the gaslight coming on. Zayne shrugged, feeling like he knew what she was talking about, but didn't know. Like the memory was there, but he couldn't remember. His only memories of his childhood were brief and fleeting like he would remember a whisper here or a place there. Then when he tried to remember more it flitted away and he forgot what he was trying to remember. The only vivid thing was when Officer Yemocha came and took him, and adopted him as his son. That he had been crying and screaming for his mom, but she just sat on the porch smoking a cigarette. Her hands shaking. He remembered feeling nothing towards his mom, every memory he tried to pull up he couldn't find one emotion to feel. After that night he couldn't find any emotion to feel. He was just gray static at all times, nothing ever phasing him. Glancing down at his arm at the familiar scar on the inside of his elbow. A strange symbol that always felt cold to the touch, the raised skin sensitive. He knew his mom had put it there, but every time he remembered that she did, it was like his brain bounced off a wall.

"You said you couldn't tell me a lot or my brain would break or whatever." He answered her, finally making her nod. "But I need to know something, anything. Because this cryptic aloof bullshit is just not me. I'll go crazy from that before anything. Just be straight up with me."

"Your Mom was an Auromni, does that name sound familiar?" when Zayne shook his head she nodded, "It means she could see energy, and manipulate it. The world, as you probably know, is made up of nothing but energy. They are of nature, and it is an ability only women possess." Zayne watched her face as she explained noticing how she thinks about every word before she says it. How she is constantly in motion, moving her knee, chewing her lip, scratching at her non-existent cuticles.

"Because you are the son of an Auromni you are very rare. And normally are killed at birth." This raised Zayne's eyebrows, "Rude," he states making her lips quirk upward. He liked that he would have to earn her smiles. She would not give them up freely. "So, I'm an Auromni?" he asked, smirking at her expression as he turned in his seat so he could watch her fully. "You are considered a Seior. And are considered dangerous because you absorb energy, you cannot manipulate other energy, only your own. Meaning there is no cost. You also inherit the ability that your Mother was best at." Zayne's brow quirked at this, "And what ability is that?" Rebekah took a deep breath flicking on her turn signal, pulling into a gas station. "She could see the future." She started shutting the car off. "Oh, I already knew I had that ability. Cause girl I see you in my future." Zayne said slyly wiggling his eyebrows, smiling at his joke. Rebekah looked surprised at first, then her face slid into a frown when she realized he was messing with her. "Can I get out, or will you," before he could finish talking Rebekah smiled at him, a needle already in her hand. His eyes widening, he held up a hand to say wait, but she pushed the tip into his thigh. "I wasn't going to run!" he trailed off his skin heating as the drug pushed through him. "I couldn't take the risk. I'm sorry." She said meaning it. Zayne fought it as long as he could, watching her slide slowly out of focus.

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