Royally pissed

{Two pairs of leather boots, my size fourteen shitkickers and Tory's nines crushing the plush pile of the rug outside Wrath's study. Sox cap tugged down low over my eyes to camo the fading bruises from the all too fucking public beat-down with  in  Zerosum.. not that the King could see the damn injuries, but when Wrath went majesty on your ass, he had a way staring at you from behind those wraparounds, something felt, not seen..piercing..and fuck..scrubbing a gloved palm over the nape of my neck.. I was pretty sure the King was all fired up to read  and me the riot act over what went down. Diamond eyes lifted to Tory with a half smile} I know you're not big on authority, Tory.. just remember, threatening the King is tantamount to signing a warrant for your own execution, true {hide-bound knuckles stroking down your cheek} and I kinda like you alive..

*Cutting a sharp glare to Vishous and his acute ability to shut down my plans...not that regicide had really been on the table but if I got any more twitchy I'd be a jitterbug, fingers clenching a furl and unfurl routine that ache to be wrapped around a hilt, 'cause fuck knows I could be pulled up on so many fucking charges, not to mention patricide...my breath huffs out on a growl, if the King calls, you answer, apparently...And the only reason V let me leave the Penthouse armed to the goddamn teeth was because he never would have got me out otherwise. Emerald eyes flashing up to V's face, I can’t stop the guilty sympathy wince...not even a ninja mask could conceal those bruises...a soft 'I'm not going to threaten your King, nallum' bitten out through defensive fangs as my hand slowly answers the low growled command from within, pushing against solid, polished-so-damn-much-I-could-see-myself wood to lead the way into the..holy fuck...fancy ass French kingly study...it was...pretty...like delicate spindly furniture and pastel blues pretty...If my jaw drops and a snigger rises it's quickly shut and shut up at the warning on V's face, turning to a heavy exaggerated eyeroll, that gifts me a full span of light woods, and effeminate decor, and allows me to precede  in a slow edge of tension lined curves...the only remotely comforting thing about the large figure testing out the delicate furniture with a ton of warrior weight was the beautiful golden canine at his side, a smile lifting my lips at the fast wagging beat of a happy tail. At least he didn’t want us dead...Really not my place to talk, my fingers lace with V's as we move onto the stand of an uncertain future*

{A surreptitious squeeze of Tory's hand keeps her tight by my side as we square up in front of the King of the race. Damn, Wrath might not be fighting with the Brotherhood any more, but he was still one big, bad motherfucker sat behind that desk..a six foot nine mountain of hard, glowering male, the chair under him creaking in protest at his weight and despite the roaring fire in the hearth, the atmosphere in the King's study was most definitely frigid..yup.. Wrath was all kinds of pissed off .. lips set in a hard line, the dagger letter opener stabbed into the desk with a growled <<Sit the fuck down>> shooting a 'let's just stay cool' look to Tory, the glare she fires back speaking volumes..suppressing the urge to bark laughter..instead I pull up a pair of spindly legged blue satin covered Louis Quatorze chairs and in one fluid movement, Tory and I plant our asses before the King, who glowers from behind those wraparounds, voice hard gravelled <<you know why I've dragged your sorry goddamned asses in here?>> confusion creasing my brow as Wrath pushes a bundle of photographs across the desk in our direction.. yeah we knew why we had been hauled in, but it wasn't like we needed the photographic evidence, there must have been two hundred witnesses in the club when Tory lost it with Caith...Caith...FUCK!! the picture trembles slightly in my gloved hand, diamond eyes narrowed, focusing in on what I'm looking at..hearing Wrath breathe in deep before he speaks again in a tight voice <<The female in those photos look familiar to you two?>> fuck, a grenade could have gone off in the room and neither Tory nor I would have flinched, the words hanging in the air like daggers} <<Phury and Z pulled her body out of a dumpster in downtown Caldwell tonight>>

*I cant drag my eyes away...clear as fucking daylight, the photographs slide over wood in a flurry of blood-stained shots, and grey mottled skin...and it's as though all the blood from my face is pooled in those shots, a slight tremor bringing the closest one closer, the heavy weight of the King's glare a growl in the air as silence reigns over his implied accusation...no fucking wonder Vishous and I are under suspicion...this wasn’t some quick stab kill, time had been taken to work the poor female into a figure of muscle deep welted stripes struck through to bone in wide lacerations and, as my finger traces the pattern of burns over her face, skin still marred with the thick red splotches of candle wax, the King's words are a haze in the buzzing space of my head, eyes drawn to the uniform latex ball gagging her silent screams*<<and there's a whole peanut gallery of witnesses who saw you slow-dancing around Zerosum with a dagger in her fucking ribs>>

*hell-fire emerald snaps from the macabre stills to pin the King in the pit of my anger, wraparounds pushed to his forehead as fingers seek to relieve whatever tension builds behind his sightless eyes. And I dont give one fuck. If he thinks V is capable of that shit...hell if he thinks I could do that, after everything...My fingers are closed over a dagger hilt, my body half risen fangs bared in a snarl as the temperature plummets* Fucking bonded males KILL other males who get near their females, I threaten another female and you think I'm going to play Sadist and Pet with her? I. Dont. Torture. Females. *probably best not to add that V had been fucking me senseless..or back to sense that night and neither of us had been in a state to do anything but collapse after* fucker!

{SHIT! FUCK!!..the fury shimmering around Tory is palpable, the curl of fingers on steel caught in my peripheral vision, the slow-motion displacement of cold air as she moves to rise against the King.. my arm shoots out, a barrier of iron muscle derailing Tory's attack, instinct throwing me between the rock and the hard place. Wrath and I are on our feet in a synchronized heartbeat, mirror images of male aggression braced across the desk, grille to fucking grille..man, this was what you called divided loyalties true, wedged between your King and your shellan, throwing off waves of dark bonding scent that hang like a treasonous fog in the growled breath that separates Wrath's cruel lips and the bared ivory blades of my fangs, the words ground out through clenched molars} Tory did NOT kill that female Wrath and I sure as fuck didn't either, feel me? {Wrath's voice is glacial} <<you know damn well threatening me will get you more than that busted nose of yours rearranged, my Brother...>> {my own words to  flung back in my face like a bucket of fucking ice-water...threaten the King..death warrant..execution...fuck..reining in the leash on my fury, yanking the choke-chain on the bonded male instinct coursing adrenaline through my veins and hammering my heart against my ribcage, slowly backing off the King, forcing my lips to close over fully extended fangs, breath ragged with the effort of containing my rage..Wrath speaks} <<Smart. Fucking. Move>> {drawing breath before he continues} <<Christ on a crutch, Vishous, I don't need this fucked up shit pitching up on my desk.. you're the damn genius, my brother. This Caith is..was.. one of yours, just like all the other missing females.. and the MO? Hard-core BDSM torture written all over it. You two were the last people seen with her alive..and you weren't exactly cozying up for afternoon fucking tea, feel me? You all left Zerosum at the same time. Don't need to be fucking Einstein to join the damn dots here.>> {another deep in-draw of breath, wraparounds pushed up his forehead to rubs his eyes} <<By the fucking Scribe Virgin, I want to believe you, V. But you're compromised>> {Wrath's arms cross over his chest with an air of unshakable finality} <<You're off rotation until this mess is cleared the fuck up. You're both on house arrest at the Penthouse..and you'll be guarded by your brothers>>

*And isn’t that just the most ridiculous thing ever? My body fired up on fight instinct, the King a threat,  Vishous forcibly reigning in his anger, but I have no such control. I don’t owe the King shit. Sure, I'm not stupid enough to test whether he'll execute us but the accusations are insane. The evidence all lined up pretty and fitting together like a puzzle, and yet nothing rings true. Nothing fits with our MO. Obviously not taken into consideration. Freed from the restrictive block of V's arm, my palms plant flat on the desk, my body a tense stance of agitation and hostility, mirroring the audible growl of the King as I sneer out* Such a strategist your Highness...Take a warrior off the field in the middle of a fucking war. Or have you forgotten? The Lessening Society is getting more organised...there is a murderer on the loose and you are taking V out of the running? I know you don’t care for me and trust me, the feeling is fucking mutual, but you just lost a tank on the battlefield and you'll see the difference, your Highness *your assholishness* that one warrior less can make. *the icy glare from behind those wraparounds would cut any other person to shivering shreds of piety...but if he is ice, I am fire in my anger, this suspicion sliced too close to the bone* you're an idiot, stacked up behind your paperwork and making the wrong fucking calls on the field, suspending V is...<<idiotic? You think I haven't considered that, female? *a snarl curls my lip, jaw clenched tight, silencing myself from answering as he continues* I've got the fucking Glymera breathing down my neck on this...turns out, one of the missing females? The estranged daughter of a Princeps Councillor *ahh shit* And the asshole is baying for blood. Those fuckers would get a hard on like you wouldnt believe at just a sniff of Brotherhood involvement in this shitpile. This is for your. Own. Fucking. Protection. Feel me?>> *Scoffing, lips twisted into a dark reflection of a smile* you mean it's for your protection? No one wants to be on the bad side of the Glymera, right? You think I care about what they want? You can’t take V off rotation to appease those stuck up fucktards...*and my voice is drowned out by the low growled warning, I over stepped some bounds ordering the King around, maybe...but his next words are short and sharp and get my hackles raised right up even asI zip the fuck out of my lips, and Wrath pulls rank* <<As your goddamn King, I have spoken my last words on this, female>>

{Closing a strong hand around Tory's upper arm to drag her attention onto me, a slow shake of my head the non-verbal signal that it's time we back the hell off} Godfuckingdamn..{the curse an exhaled mutter of resignation, the analytical, cerebral part of my brain acknowledging the logic of the sitch, the futility of arguing with the King..given the damning nature of the evidence and knowing the kind of screw the Glymera could put on Wrath's balls over a shitstorm like this..fuck..yeah..yanking the Sox cap from my head, gloved hand raking the fall of hair from troubled diamond eyes .. shit added up, true.. but fuck, it hurt like a twisted blade in the heart, cut bone fucking deep to know my own Brothers believed me or Tory capable of torturing and murdering those females.. and while the Brothers sat home babysitting me and Tory, that sick fucker was free to carve and kill.. turning to Wrath, head inclined in a curt bow to the King, a respectful 'My Lord' uttered as I tug gently on Tory's arm, Wrath's final decree our cue to leave}

*my mouth snaps shut, any retort quieted by V's touch. A warning in the tentative pressure on my arm, in the shake of his head...the King isn’t my authority as far as I am concerned, but I do listen to V ...and I'm guessing this is a battle we can’t win. Gently easing my jacket from the soft grip of V's fingers, my attitude is a glare in the room and a giant 'Fuck You, asshole' to the blind king, a fiery hostility you don’t need sight to read pouring from my skin, and with all the curses running through my head, I manage a bitten, sneering* My Lord..*before allowing Vishous to usher me from the study*