Burns of Indigo

Chapter 2

  "KING! KING! KING!" the crowd chants. I duck, barely dodging the large fist that comes flying towards me, missing my face by an inch, followed by a loud c***k as it makes contact with the wall behind me. The crowd bellows after seeing the close call that almost had my head mush against that poor wall had I not moved. The King, also a lion shifter, turns around, smiling at me as he slowly advances. I dodge his punch again, sending a quick kick to his face before darting towards the side so his back is then facing me. Grabbing a hand-full of dusty cement, I fly it into his eyes just as he turns around before backing up against the other wall and adjusting into a good stance. He roars with rage trying to claw the dust from his eyes, that's my cue. I burst into a sprint, my feet kicking up dust until reaching a few feet away, I leap into the air, sliding my blade from the inside of my boot, and bring it down as hard as I can. The blade meets his skull with a loud slice just as the crowd goes silent, enough that I can hear my boots when I land back on the dusty ground. The King falls with a loud thump, lifeless, dead. I grasp my knife, pulling it from his skull as more blood pools onto the ground. 

    Then, the crowd starts to cheer "LEX-A! LEX-A!" they chant as I walk from the center of the pit. I collect my money from tonight's win before making my way out, wiping what blood that got on my face from The King. The Pit is where I come to train, or let off a little steam, the perfect distraction since learning of the Elite, and possibly my parents. 

    Now, its time to meet the team. Jeremy had called a couple of days ago with another assignment.

    "I have something for you but there's good news and bad news." he told me.

    "I'll take the bad news first."

    "Well... your gonna be working with a team on this one. But, before you say anything else I wanna let you know that I'll be doubling your regular payment." he explains.

    "Why a team Jer?" I question him. He knows I don;t like working with others. I work alone.

    "Lex... you need friends. I know you can keep your secret a secret so I'm not too worried about that. I just want you to try with them, if you don't like it then I won't bring it up again." I think about his offer for a bit.

    "Fine, I'll do it. What's the details?"

    "I've got a condo being set up in the city for you and the others, and you'll be meeting them there this week." he pauses.

    "Okay."

    "You'll be leadng the team with one of them. Then, in about a week or so I'll have the information on the assignment..." he pauses to talk to someone.

     "Listen Lex I've got to go, thank you for trying it out." then he hangs up.

    The last few days were spent going around town to get some things for this new job Jeremy's got for me and still no call from Nick. After that I made my way into the city, deciding I'd take a stop at The Pit to get in a few rounds before dealing with meeting the team, and to get rid of my anxiousness of waiting for more info on my parents whereabouts. The Pit is located in the lower part of the city, the area where they say not to go walking alone. A gust of humid city air greets me when I open the door of the warehouse to step into the alleyway, a young couple giggles while eating each others face against the brick wall of the next-door bar. The smell of w**d hits my nostrils when I walk past a few smokers near the alleys entrance, giving me a sense of calm, before reaching the opening of the narrow alley and walking directly into a wall, or more like a person.

    "s**t, I'm so sorry" I say. My nostrils flare when I catch a familiar scent, hard to recognize through the amount w**d attacking my senses. I caught a whiff of spice and citrus, it smelled fresh and clean, where did I smell that before. The night adds to the shadows under the hood of the mans leather jacket, making it difficult for me to see a face. The man takes in a deep breath, as if he notices something familiar as well. 

    Then I here a low chuckle "No problem." comes his deep voice before he steps around me, broad shoulders brushing mine. I stand there dumbly for a few seconds before turning around.

    "Do I know you from somewhere?" I ask to no one, he already went into the bar. What is with me and walking into random men.

    Shaking my head I walk the rest of the way towards my bike. Donning my helmet, I get onto my bike, smiling when I hear the familiar purr when it starts. Leaving the curb I join the city traffic, heading in the direction of the condo. I try to focus my thoughts on the gentle roar of the bike, or the colorful lights flashing past me, but my mind continues to flit back to the strange, familiar scent, and the deep, smooth voice, all the way until I reach the condo. 

    Jeremy's choice of places aren't too bad. The house is located on higher ground at the edge of the city, not far from The Pit. One side of the house has a balcony overlooking the city and the other side faces a grass clearing before it stops at the edge of a forest, most likely for the other's to shift freely without humans seeing. Not many humans know of our existence.

    The woman who greets me at the door of the 2-story house is really tall, with raven black hair pulled into a high pony tail. She wears 2-inch black combat boots with black leather pants and a cherry red tank top.

    "You must be Lexaniyah, I'm Fallon." I step inside after she waves me in, doing a quick survey of the space I'm in, a straight hallway leading to what seems to be the living room. 

    "Right, Lex for short." She steps around me.

     "Ok then, I'll give you a tour of the house and introduce you to the others." She beckons me to follow her down the hallway, "So what kind of shifter are you?"

    "Wolf, and my abilities haven't shown yet, but I make it up with combat and weapons training" I answer. At least half of that answer was truthful, I hadn't actually gotten my abilities yet, or they hadn't shown at least. "And you?"

    "Cheetah, and my ability is speed" she says then stops at a doorway to the right, before the living room. "So this is the biggest bathroom, mainly for anyone to use." turning to the left, "and this of course if the living room." she gestures. The rest of the downstairs is pretty simple, two rooms towards the left of the living room, a kitchen on the right.

    "So that's your bike out there right, I like it" She gives me a smile.

     "Thank you, it was a gift from Jeremy." I inwardly smile, well I guess we have similar tastes with that. Voices drift into the kitchen from the doorway on the opposite side, growing louder as we get closer. 

    "So this is our dining room, we'll probably be using it a lot.." She says as we enter. The chatter stops immediately. Looking around I find two other people. One is a girl, a little older than me, judging by the laptop sitting in front of her and the other devices sprawled out on the table I'm guessing she's their techie. The other is a man, also a little older than me, with a mop of black wavy hair sitting on his head, looking down I find him with a crooked grin staring at me in surprise.

    "This is Lex guys, Lex meet Jess and Dash." she says. "Jess takes care of any surveillance, background checks, tracking, and all that fancy stuff."

    "Wow, your hotter and younger than I thought you'd be" Dash smirks, making sure his once-over of me is obvious. I roll my eyes.

    "Oh my god, Dash shut up, she just got here!" Jess scolds before looking at me.

    "I wish I could say the same for you." I counter, returning the smirk, Fallon bursts into laughter beside me. 

    "Damn girl, I think I like you already." she says as soon as her laughter dies down.

    "I am so sorry Lex, don't worry, Dash does that to any girl in site, don't mind him." Jess says, before making a face at Dash. She gives me a big smile, "So I heard your like bad-a*s at pretty much everything."

    "Yeah I guess you can say that" I give an awkward smile.

    "Okay, enough with the fan girl s**t Jess." Fallon stops Jess from asking more questions.

    "So Dash here is a griffin, his ability is like really good eyesight, and Jess here is a shape-shifter, her ability is something to do with all of that, as you can see." she gestures at the mess of wires and weird devices sprawled all over to the table. 

    I nod looking at Fallon, "And Jeremy said I'll be leading this team with one of you, which I'm taking a wild guess it's you" it comes out sounding more like a question. 

    "Uh no" It's Dash who answers, I look at him, the stunned look replaced by his cocky grin. "That particular person, is Spade, who isn't here yet. Although he should be getting here later tonight, unfortunately, he had to make a stop somewhere to conduct some business" emphasis on the 'business' part I notice.

    Jess snickers, and I look at Fallon confused, she just rolls her eyes towards Dash.

    "Yes, you'll be able to meet Spade later, but let's get on to touring the rest of the house, these two are getting annoying" she leads the way towards the stairs and I follow, but not before hearing Dash tell Jess, 

    "Well it should be a good show when those two meet, I'm basically choking on the dominance coming off of that one, imagine when Spade gets here." 

    "Will you just shut it Dash" I hear Jess.

     "What?!...." I get to the top of the stairs, now following Fallon down the hallway. 

    We stop at a closed door on the right, "this is Spade's room, yours is on the other end of the hallway, and mines is the one before yours" she points past the opening towards the two doors on opposite sides of the hallway.

     "What's this?" I ask. Before reaching her room the hallway opens up to a large area with a mat spreading across the floor and a rack holding various weights set up against the wall. 

    "I wanted a place to do my training, so I told Jeremy to set one up" she explains. "And now I actually have a partner to practice with" she smiles.

     "It looks great, Jeremy didn't do too bad" I say as I observe the space. A few feet on the opposite side of the mat is a large, floor to ceiling window, with a sliding door on the right, leading onto a balcony over looking the city below. 

    "So anyways..." she continues walking "...the upstairs bathroom is for us three, and the downstairs one is mostly for Jess and Dash, so sadly we'll have to share", we stop in front of my room door. "this is your room, and I'll let you do what you've got to do." 

    I nod opening my room door. "Oh ya and Spade told us, which I'm sure you already know, that Jeremy will contact us in a few weeks with more info, which leaves us free to do whatever." 

    "Thanks, I think I'll take a shower and catch some rest, it's been a long day."

    "Yup, no problem, I'll see you later, let me know if you need something." She winks before turning to leave. 

    Closing the door, I toss my backpack in the corner, and notice my suitcase is here, already brought over from one of Jeremy's people. Finally finished showering and rinsing off the dried blood from earlier's fight, I take a seat on my bed, exhaustion finally coming to kick my a*s. 

    It's around 9:00 AM when my eyes open the next day, my muscles are still a bit sore from last nights fight, nothing a hot shower can't solve. Grabbing my things I leave my room, heading towards the bathroom. I yawn while stopping in front of the bathroom door, then it hits me. 

    That smell. Again. Spice, citrus, fresh and clean. My hand reaches to open the door, only it's not there anymore. I stare down at nicely sculpted abs, a white towel hanging low on a lean torso. Wow, okay, eyes back up Lex. Water glints off of his tattooed chest as my eyes roam upwards, square jaw, full lips, almost familiar, like the smell. The his eyes, one green, and the other blue.....or gray, under full eyebrows pulled together in confusion, wet hair falling over his forehead, dripping.

    "You!?" I exclaim in shock, remembering his eyes from that day in the hallway. "Your the guy Jeremy says I'm leading with?"

    "And your Lex?" he gives me a once-over, confusion gone, then chuckles, "If Jeremy told me it was you I'd be working with then I would've signed up for the job way faster." 

    I give him a scowl, even though I feel the heat rise in my cheeks. What is it with these men and their flirting and what was Jeremy thinking when he set me up with them. I don't consider myself one of the prettier girls with my dark brown hair and hazel eyes. It takes me a few seconds to sort through my thoughts before I finally recognize all of it, that smell, the voice. "You were at the compound that day, and last night, you went to the bar, that was you right, are you following me or something?" I squint my eyes at him, watching for a reaction.

    He holds his hands up, feigning innocence. "I went to the compound to accept the job from Jeremy, as for the bar.... we were just in the same area."

    I stare at him for a few seconds before finally believing him. "Fine, and yes I'm Lex, now if you can get out, I'd like to take a shower." I am not a morning type of person. He steps out, a wave of spice and citrus pouring over me, giving me a strange feeling, almost comforting. I try not to stare as he slides past me, keeping my eyes straight ahead...mostly. 

    You aren't even gonna ask for my name?" He asks, giving me a hurt look. I turn to face him before stepping into the bathroom, giving him a bored look. 

    "Nope." I shut the door in his face. 

    The hallway is quiet when I exit the bathroom, feeling fresh. From the lack of noise that my ears are picking up, I'm guessing everyone is downstairs. After quickly changing into a white tank-top and black leggings I make my way downstairs, following the smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. 

    I find everyone in the kitchen, Jess is busy doing something on her laptop. Looking over at Fallon I find her cleaning an already shiny blade, with a few more laid out in front of her.

    It's Dash who acknowledges me first, "Morning beautiful" he gives me a cheeky grin, head tilted so his hair falls to the side. He kind of reminds me of a dog with it's tongue hanging out, waiting for attention. 

    "Morning to you to Dash" I greet, paying no mind to his flirting.

    Jess, sitting next to him at the kitchen bar gives him a quick elbow, he catches it giving her an innocent look "What? At least it wasn't like yesterday."

    I take a seat next to Fallon. "Got any plans today?" she asks, looking up from admiring her knives.

    "Nope, not till later" I reply.

    "Perfect, you, me , and Jess, we're going shopping, and not just any ordinary shopping." Then she gathers her things and stands. "We can leave at 12" then she winks and disappears around the corner.

    In the kitchen, Spade is finishing the rest of breakfast, I hadn't noticed him there, all silent and concentrated. He's mostly dressed now, on the bottom half anyways, sporting gray sweatpants and no shirt. It takes a little while to unglue my eyes from his bottom, his sweatpants snug.....focus Lex, I give myself a mental shake. Moving from my spot at the kitchen bar I make my way towards the cabinet, making sure to take a wide step around Spade, who is still cooking, seemingly lost in concentration. Judging by the amount of dishes left in the sink I'm sure everyone ate. After I finally found the cabinet with the plates, I just finished grabbing one from the top shelf before turning around and ending up flush against a hard body. Again. Why does this always happen. 

    I look up at Spade, trying to ignore the spice and citrus that invades my senses, enveloping me, to find amusement written all over his face. "You just love to walk into me don't you."

     I can feel a blush already creeping up on my cheeks as I give him the really-are-you-serious face. "Uh no, your just always in my way, excuse me." 

    He just stands there, giving no inclination of moving. Clenching my non-plate hand into a fist I press it against his rock-hard abdomen then give it a shove. Hard. In a movement so quick, he grabs my hand, swiftly sliding it from his abs before turning sideways and pulling me with him, and now I'm leaning against him. I stare up at him, knowing for sure I've gone into a full blown blush, fully aware of his body against me, all hard, lean muscle. He leans back casually, lower back against the counter, one hand holding my fist, the other on my hip, searing a hole through my leggings with how hot it seems to be. 

    Our faces are only inches apart, my eyes at the same level of his lips, making it hard for me to not look at it.