And Then There Were Four (Lilith Carrie)

James.

Sitting at the kitchen counter the next morning, I stared off into the abyss, thinking about everything that had happened last night. Ivy had come into my room and rocked my world as she usually did, but she said something I couldn't explain. A feeling that overwhelmed me, and like a passenger in a car, I was forced to take a back seat while something else moved forward. Thinking of it now, how whatever it was moved with Ivy in sexual pleasure all night long, slightly haunted me. My Lycan was brought forth, awoken from its slumber, and I wasn't sure how it had worked for my brothers, but for me... it was completely done in a sexual nature.

And now that it was awake, I could feel it underneath my skin.

Waiting to break free.

Cackling in the back of my mind.

"Hey, James," Talon exclaimed happily, causing me to jump six inches off my chair as I spun around, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Don't do that."

Laughter escaped him as he stared at me with an odd smirk, furrowing his brows. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied quickly as I tried to divert my attention back to the soggy cereal in the bowl in front of me.

How was I supposed to explain to my brothers what had happened? How Ivy was acting was completely unnatural.

It was like she was her, but also not.

As Talon stared at me, I tried to ignore his gaze, but then Hale came bounding into the kitchen with a smile upon his face and an empty bottle in his hand. He had taken shifts this morning with Ivy to feed the twins. We kind of rotated it just to make it fair, seeing as I spent most of my time with her and them, and they didn't get to that often.

I was grateful, though, for the rotation this morning because, honestly, I didn't think I could face her. After what she had done with me last night... I was in shock.

Whatever was inside me, she put it back to sleeping and just left, and I lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, trying to wrap my head around whatever the fuck had just happened.

"What the hell is the matter with him?" Hale replied, causing me to glance up as he and Talon exchanged curious looks.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I came in here and said hey, and he jumped out of his seat as if the boogeyman was after him."

As their eyes both turned back towards me, Hale stepped forward, raised a brow, and placed the bottle down on the counter. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Why would you think something's wrong? I'm perfectly fine."

"Cut the shit. I can tell something's wrong with you. I haven't seen you this fucking nervous since the day you lost your virginity," Hale replied, causing Talon to snort with laughter as he crossed his arms over his chest, giving me an amusing look. "Fuck you. Tracy Ann was a complete fucking psycho bitch, and you, Talon, were the one that set me up with her," I snapped at him, narrowing my gaze as I crossed my own arms over my chest, trying to show him he couldn't get underneath my skin. Not that he'd be able to.

There was something else lurking beneath there now. Something that laughed in the back of my mind at the current situation.

"Oh, stop it," Hale snorted. "I can tell that something is wrong with you, so either you tell us now, or else Ivy will worry when I explain to her you're not yourself."

Mentioning her name, I froze and both of them stared at me and then looked at each other, seeing how I reacted upon saying her name. "There's no need to tell her."

"Did something happen between the two of you?"

Shaking my head rather quickly, I was doing a horrible job and trying to show them I was perfectly fine. So, deciding to avoid the conversation, I quickly stood from the chair, taking my bowl to the sink and rinsing it out. "No. Why would you think that? I just had a bad dream, that's all." "A bad dream?" Hale replied. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head, but I refused to look at him.

"Oh look, here she comes. Now, why don't we ask her?" Talon said, making my heart lurch as I spun around, only to see an empty doorway and Talon and Hale, looking at each other with smirks on their faces.