Marks and Scars

Upside Down

"Hey," Tyler greeted.

My eyes widened in surprise. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

Tyler was staring in the direction of the entrance, where Jeremy had disappeared only moments ago.

"Where have you been? I noticed you never made it back last night," I prodded, when he still didn't say anything.

Tyler looked down at Jeremy's food, picked up a fork, and started taking bites out of the eggs. I leaned back in the booth uneasily, as he quickly finished Jeremy's eggs and stared on the bacon. 

"Everything okay?" I tried again to get him to speak.

Tyler swallowed audibly before looking up at me, his eyes wary. "No." He looked back down to the plate, picking up another piece of bacon.

I gripped my coffee mug with one hand, Jeremy's car keys my lap with the other. Tyler paused, holding a fresh piece of bacon in between his thumb and forefinger, pointing it at me.

"Everything is not okay, Kara. Why is Greystone still hanging around?"

I looked at him in surprise. Although I had only known him a short amount of time, Tyler had always been protective of me in a pseudo-adoptive brother kind of way. Maybe even more protective of me, than Cathleen, because of my history. But this was a whole new level. He really didn't like Jeremy.

"We were just having breakfast?" I offered, my voice thick with confusion.

Tyler snorted, biting off a large chunk of the bacon before pointing it at me again. "Did you sleep with him?"

"We haven't had s*x, if that's what your asking," I answered dryly.

"Did he mark you?"

"Did he-" my question died in my throat. Mark me? I had heard Jeremy say something about marking me before. But that was a wolf thing.So what did Tyler mean?

Tyler lowered his eyes, and I felt as though he were peering at the top of my chest and my neck. I hunched my shoulders defensively, staring at him still. Was he looking for a hickey? But he just nodded, seeming satisfied with my unblemished skin. He finished off the plate of bacon and moved onto the hashbrowns, drowning them with ketchup before taking the first bite.

"Is he coming back?" he asked, his mouth full.

"Well I assume so," I answered quietly.

Tyler was stabbing the hashbrowns with his fork, using more force than I thought would be necessary. "He hasn't rejected you?"

The noises of the restaurant around us faded almost instantly at his words. I stared at Tyler's unblinking face. Does he know?

"Do you even know what I'm talking about?" Tyler ventured when I didn't answer.

Do you know what you are talking about?

I still didn't answer, I just looked down to the tabletop and took a sip of my coffee. Staring into the half empty mug. "He hasn't rejected me."

Tyler's face blanched, and he pushed away the half empty plate.

"Then reject him."

"Why?"

Tyler didn't answer. He just waved his hand in the air, flagging down the waitress, and asked her for the bill. She raised her eyebrows when she noticed Tyler, rather than Jeremy, accompanying me, but said nothing. Tyler took the bill to the register and paid it. Filled with confusion, I trailed after him when he left the restaurant. He turned to face me when we were halfway across the parking lot.

"Reject him, Kara." His voice was a desperate warning.

"What do you know?" I asked quietly, stepping closer to him.

"I know a lot more than you do," he lamented. "Greystone is bad news."

"Because..." I waved hand in the air. "Why? He's a..."

I couldn't say it out loud. Evidently, neither could Tyler.

"It's more than just what he is. It's who he is."

You mean the Alpha? Are we even talking about the same thing?

I shook my head. "Tyler..."

"You have to end it, Kara. It has to end. I wasn't even able to sleep in my own bed last night because of him!"

He saw my brows furrowed in confusion and ran his hands through his chestnut hair, looking up at the sky with wide eyes. He looked back down at me, and suddenly, he looked very haggard, very tired.

"Tyler, what's wrong?"

I need him to spell it out for me.

"You are a human, why hasn't he just rejected the mate bond?" he asked, sounding defeated.

I stilled, my thoughts racing. After a few seconds of tense silence, I hurried around Tyler to Jeremy's Jeep and climbed into the driver seat, slamming the door shut behind me. Tyler had followed, climbing into the front passenger seat.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. For some reason, I felt like Tyler shouldn't be in Jeremy's Jeep. It wasn't right. Jeremy wouldn't be happy about it.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Kara," Tyler sighed. "Greystone isn't just... what he says he is. He's the worst kind, the worst one."

What does that even mean?

I couldn't answer. My phone was in my back pocket. I felt like I should get it out and text Jeremy to come back. I wondered if Tyler would notice, or even care, if I pulled it out.

"How do you know?" I asked him. I didn't know what to think - how to feel- but for some reason, the uneasiness I had felt before was beginning to blossom into fear. This wasn't the Tyler that I thought I knew This was a complete stranger that knew all about his other world I had suddenly been thrown into.

Finally, the memory of something Jeremy had said to me the first night we met rushed to the front of my mind. The snippet of a conversation had been shoved to the back of my subconscious, my alcohol muddled mind overwhelmed with every other thing that had happened that night and the following day.

"How do you know Tyler?" I had asked Jeremy. His answer was vague.

"Tyler was a member of one of our rival... clubs..."

I felt every muscle in my body tense up. How was that even possible? In the last three days, my entire world was turned upside down. Not only was the impossible real, it had been so much closer than I'd previously thought. It had been sleeping on my couch.

"Tyler," I began, my throat was suddenly dry and speaking was almost painful. "Are you and Jeremy... the same?"

Tyler snorted, something I was growing tired of. "Greystone and I are not the same."

"Then how-"

I was cut off when the door on Tyler's side swung open and he was suddenly yanked outside. The sounds of a struggle soon followed. I quickly slid across the bench and jumped out the open door, my feet landing on the pavement with a soft thud. On the ground, just outside the Jeep, a full on two-man brawl had erupted.

Tyler was rolling on the ground, trying to throw the other man on top of him off. I had only just recognized Trevor as his adversary, when I felt a warm hand tighten around my upper arm.

"Get in the car," Jeremy growled quietly in my ear.

I turned to look up at him, surprised, and shrunk back at the look in his eyes. They were cold and deadly, completely devoid of warmth and unrecognizable from the ones I had just gotten used to staring into. He was glaring down at the tussle in front of us.

"Jeremy?"

"Get in the car," he repeated through gritted teeth. But he didn't wait for me to obey, he turned me around and picked me up, placing me in the passenger seat, before slamming the door shut.

I looked out the glass, staring as Trevor stood, dragging Tyler across the pavement and into the grass against the curb. People had started to stop and stare. Jeremy didn't stay to watch, he threw the Jeep in reverse, swinging out of the parking space, and then shifted to drive, leaving the restaurant behind us. I turned around in my seat, watching Trevor throw one last punch before jumping up and running off. Tyler staggered to his feet, watching us leave in the Jeep.

But he didn't move.

I turned back to Jeremy and saw that his anger hadn't let up at all. He was on the main road, heading South, the opposite direction of both my apartment and the island.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Somewhere we can finish our talk," he answered me stiffly, throwing the Jeep into a sharp left turn. I was slammed against the door. Further up the road, the city ended. Marsh blended in seamlessly with the forest here. The road became a highway, leading to the next city over. But Jeremy made another sharp turn, taking us off of the main road onto an unpaved dirt road. Jeremy drove us deep into the woods, making several turns onto makeshift roads I hadn't even noticed.

"Is Tyler a werewolf too?" I asked Jeremy, my voice small.

"Yes," Jeremy growled. "A rogue."

I had more questions, but I decided it was best to keep them to myself for the time being.

Finally, the last road we were on came to a dead end at a small cabin. Any other time, I would have thought it cozy, were it not for the stone cold werewolf sitting next to me.

Jeremy opened the door and climbed out without a word. He walked around to my side and opened the door for me, waiting. I climbed out, watching him. It wasn't that I felt unsafe, but I had yet to see this side of Jeremy. Who was I kidding, though? I barely knew Jeremy. This could be all of him.

Why else would Tyler have tried to warn me?

Jeremy grabbed my hand and started leading me to the cabin. He wasn't harsh, but he wasn't gentle either. Something told me if I had stopped moving my feet, he would just drag me.

For some stupid reason, I decided to test my theory. I planted my feet firmly into the ground. Feeling my resistance, Jeremy stopped and turned around, seeming mildly surprised. He didn't let it slow him down though. He just bent down, wrapping his arm around my knees and threw me over his shoulder. I let out a surprised yelp. He straightened and continued his walk to the cabin.

"Jeremy!" I protested, trying to right myself up by bracing my arms against his back.

He didn't stop until we were inside the cabin. He set me on my feet, where I stumbled, wandering further into the cabin as he closed the door behind us. Dim sunlight filtered in through the two windows near the door, showing me a small kitchenette on one side, a brown leather couch and stone fireplace on the other side, and a bed in the back bedroom.

Jeremy was standing against the closed door, regarding me with the same expression he'd had on his face since he ordered me back into the Jeep.

"What's going on?" I finally asked, unnerved.

"What were you and the mutt talking about?" he asked me coldly.

Mutt?

"I thought you didn't know anything about our kind. I thought you were just a human."

I stared up at Jeremy as he closed the distance between us, trapping me against the wall near the bedroom door.

"What exactly is making you think that I was lying?" I asked him, my voice surprisingly steady compared to my nerves. "I told you, Tyler is a roommate - Cathleen's brother."

Jeremy lowered his head so that his eyes were level with mine. "Tyler is a rogue, Kara. He's nothing more than a rabid dog as far as wolves go. Now, what were you two talking about?" he demanded, his tone sharp.

"He wants me to reject you," I whispered, unsure of why I was even admitting it.

Jeremy's lips formed a thin line, his eyes growing colder.

"I don't know why though," I offered, seeing his reaction and wanting to coax out the warm Jeremy from the night before.

The wood wall behind me was rough, but I pressed my back against it regardless, trying to put just a bit of space between Jeremy and I. But, Jeremy bent his head down, placing his hands on either side of my head, his lips only a fraction of an inch from mine. His exhale hit my lips and I shivered, pressing myself further into the wall.

"There's a lot that you don't know," he whispered, before roughly kissing me. I tensed at first, but then immediately melted. Even though he was still angry, my reaction was the same. I had my hands on his shoulders, my fingers wrapped in his shirt.

He broke the kiss, pulling away to look me in my eyes again. "Would you lie to me?" he asked me as I struggled to even out my breathing.

"No, Jeremy..." I stared up at him, willing him to come closer, that now familiar fire that only he could ignite burning wildly in the pit of my stomach.

"You are mine," he growled, his eyes captured mine possessively.

I nodded, breathless.

"Do you plan to reject me?" he asked me, still refusing to give me what I wanted.

My heart clenched and I was surprised to find that the idea suddenly pained me. I let out a whimper, curling my fingers tighter into his shirt as though to convey that I didn't want to let go. The corners of Jeremy's lips curled upward, his eyes still cold. "Good."

I blinked. Jeremy had lowered his head to my neck. I heard an audible growl come from somewhere deep in his throat and he took my upper arms into his hands, gripping firmly.

Before I could question him, I felt his breath on my skin right where my neck met my collarbone, and then a sharp pain. I yelped, my hands kneading his shirt. The pain let up and Jeremy straightened up, only something was different. His canines had grown longer, more wolf like, and something red covered them. He loosened his grip on my arms and I instinctively touched my neck where the pain had been, drawing my hand back in shock when I felt a warm liquid. I looked down at my hand.

Blood.