10 comments/ 38084 views/ 6 favorites Animal Instincts Ch. 01 By: Keme Author's Note: Hi everyone, here's the first chapter of the main part of Animal Instincts. Still mostly plot and character building, but this I hope will allow for a much more believable and accurate story in the end -- so once again if you were solely looking for a quick fix then I sadly apologise and hope you will decide to stick with me as I continue to bring you the best story I can create. Please keep in mind that all of the characters, landmarks and businesses used in this story are purely fictional and similarities of appearance, nature and name of said characters to any person, landmarks, or business are coincidental and have no relation whatsoever. The events portrayed wherein are of a fictional nature and have not been based on real world events. All characters participating in any relationship of sexual nature are to be considered the legal consensual age, if I haven't mentioned their ages prior. Animal Instincts Ch. 02 Author's Note: Oh my! I have been so overwhelmed by the support and advice I've received thus far, it's been amazingly helpful. Hopefully I have covered a few of the concerns expressed after the release of the previous chapters. The central figures in this series are Skye and James -- I hope to develop additional stories for the other couples at a later date so I won't be developing them much further than is necessary here. A point of interest that I wanted to make note of is that there is a LOT of jumping between points of view and scenes in this chapter; I hope I've managed to do a decent job and not made it too confusing to follow. Again I apologise if there are any blatant errors with spelling or grammar, I've tried to weed them out as best I could. Hope you all stick with me, enjoy! Animal Instincts Ch. 02 "Margaritas!" All three shrieked together and laughing made their way towards the bar. "What can I get you girls?" The unexpected question seemed to jolt Natalie out of her reverie and daze her for a split second as the handsome young man before her casually wiped down the bench surface and smiled at them. "Umm..." She stammered clumsily. Sydney and Skye glanced at each other then back at her stunned mullet appearance, "six margaritas please" Sydney broke in. "Sure coming right up" he replied. "What the hell was that about?" Sydney asked while giving Natalie a big cheesy grin, she had never know Natalie to ever be struck speechless, let alone show any amount of awkwardness. "Hey he kinda looks like the guy who was driving that car" Skye commented, she hoped that it would provide a distraction to her friend's discomfort, and was pleased when all three broke out into giggles at the memory of Natalie's earlier comment. "Here you go" the barman announced as he returned with a tray of drinks, to find the girls hopelessly trying to stifle their laughter, "it's on the house." All three girls glanced at each other, collected their drinks and flashed beaming smiles at their new friend. "Nice car by the way" chimed Sydney with a wink as they turned and walked away leaving the young man deeply confused. "What car?" But the girls were already out of range to hear his question. Shrugging it off, and he turned toward the next patron and grinned as he saw his brother make his way toward the bar, with a scowl on his usually pleasant features, "Ah... that car." Nathaniel's presence was enough to suggest that those three had been outside when he'd arrived, and his ostentatious sports car was clearly the car in question. Nathaniel sighed as he made the last few steps to the bar; as a particularly exuberant group of young women had stepped out into his path and in their haste to move away, a slender brunette had almost doused him in one of her lime green cocktails. One of her friends, a petite red head ushered her away from his scowling face and into the darker recesses of the room. Myles chuckled openly as Nathaniel leant against the bar, "Nice work I think she's utterly terrified of you now." Nathaniel opened his mouth to retort and instead spun on the heel of his shoe, much to the surprised gasps of those on either side of him. Myles watched his brother's strange behaviour and clutched the cleaning cloth til his knuckles appeared a deathly grey, a combination of his grip and the flashing strobe lights. He hadn't been certain he'd heard them at first, but there hidden between the resounding thud of the bass of the song that was playing and the yells and shrieks of the other club-goers, was the distinct chime of bells. The sound seemed somehow muffled but then every few moments would ring clear and precise, seeking the source of the delightful peal Nathaniel scanned the room his eyes clearly making out aspects which would have gone unnoticed by those around him. Myles tentatively reached out and touched his brother's shoulder, dragging him back from his quest. "Nate what's wrong..." "Did you hear that just now?" there was a feel to his words which set Myles' nerves on edge; he didn't like the sudden desperation he heard in his brother's voice. Not one bit. Closing his eyes, he stretched his own heightened hearing out over the open space picking up frequencies and nuances that normal people shouldn't have been able to hear. Myles focused further looking for anything suspicious or unusual, but there was nothing. Opening his eyes again he found Nathaniel watching him hopefully before the look crumbled with the realisation that his little brother hadn't found anything. "Maybe I'm just tired or perhaps going crazy?" Nathaniel muttered and rubbed wearily at his eyes, Myles continued to watch him carefully "I mean how else do you explain hearing bells in a place like this?" he gestured to the mass of writhing and grinding bodies on the dance floor. "Bells?" Myles cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, you know like the jingly ones you hear at Christmas time" he explained with a dismissively wave of his hand, "Anyway, I'll get James' and Dan's usuals and you'd better get me a bottle of water. Don't want to be pushing my luck if I'm beginning to lose my marbles" Myles' easy laughter at his brother's absurdity broke the tension and he quickly began to prepare the drinks order. Animal Instincts Ch. 02 Animal Instincts Ch. 03 Author's note: Hello again! I've been a bit slower at getting this chapter out, due partly to a bout of bad health and not wanting to a repeat of what happened with the last chapter. That brings me to my second point of address; I realised too late (due to my own silliness) that I left behind some errors in the last chapter which may have confused some of you. By this I'm referring to the mix up of names with a couple of characters. I had originally intended for the characters to be named as follows Nathaniel (Jackson), Jackson (Nathan), Chloe (Brook) and Brook (Chloe). However between starting to write chapter 2 and doing the final edit to chapter 1, I decided to swap them around and despite heavily editing chapter 2 I missed a couple of mentions of their previous names, thank-you to all the readers who took the time to let me know. I apologise if this has caused any confusion to anyone following my story -- rest assured that I don't plan to change any more of the names of the characters introduced thus far. Meanwhile I wanted to get a little more creative (adventurous?) with chapter 3. Rather than just giving you all the same old thing as other stories in this genre. I wanted to try and see if I could push the boundaries a bit more. Sadly I fear that I may just end up shooting myself in the foot while I attempt to breathe life into my ideas. Oh and since a couple of readers have pointed out that the change of POV was sometimes hard to decipher I will - from here out - be using an * to break the text when the POV changes between characters in the same scene, I will continue to use the ~ ~ for when the scene or group changes. Please let me know if this makes it easier or harder to follow. But without further ado - Here it is! Animal Instincts Ch. 03 "Yes and no." Sydney slightly blushed as Natalie gaped at her, "he took me home last night, but he didn't come up." "Syd, you have no idea who he is, he could be a serial killer!" Natalie was incredulous as her friend simply laughed off her far-fetched assumptions - okay so maybe he wasn't a serial killer, but that didn't mean he wasn't potentially dangerous. Just look at the way all three of those men had handled those rowdy guys who had been manhandling Skye. Speaking of which where the hell was she? "Did you see Skye before you left last night?" Sydney swallowed her mouthful and sipped at her coffee, before answering. "No, the last time I'd seen her she was with that James guy" Sydney frowned slightly as she tried to place whether she'd seen her friend any other time afterwards. Sydney retrieved her phone as another series of chimes rang out, skimming the message, "So did you get Nathaniel's number last night?" "No, I didn't" Natalie glanced out the window again, absently pulling her pastry into a million pieces, "it slipped my mind." "Well you're in luck!" Sydney beamed, again wearing her Cheshire cat grin. Natalie watched her for a moment with narrowed eyes, "why do you say that?" "Because he's a good friend of Daniel's, I can get you his number if you want" she smiled, she could easily read Natalie's expression as disbelief crossed her features only to be replaced with a hint of excitement moments later. "Or -- I could simply forward you the message I just got." Natalie sat stunned - speechless even - Sydney was literally bouncing out of her chair with glee and chattering away incessantly about how wonderful Daniel was and how he was such a gentleman; and she couldn't even piece together two words. Animal Instincts Ch. 03 Grumbling under her breath Sydney slumped down onto the waiting bench, grabbed a pair of socks from the stand beside her, slipped her feet out of her heels and tugged the socks on. Within moments she had the trainers on and done up, standing quickly she took a short walk and was pleasantly surprised to find that the shoes fit like a glove and weren't at all uncomfortable. In fact if she were completely honest with herself they actually felt great! With a broad smile etching its way onto her face she took a slightly longer test walk, startling Natalie moments later when she bounded into her side. "I take it they fit?" Natalie grumbled. "Yeah, I don't want to take them off now." She grinned at Natalie before taking back some of the items Natalie was juggling to maintain her hold on; heading toward the cashier she recalled that she had forgotten to send Natalie the message Nathaniel had wanted forwarded to her -- she hoped that he wouldn't be mad with her, then again he would never have to know. "Oh when I get use of my hands back don't let me forget to send you that message." Animal Instincts Ch. 04 Author's note: Hello again! Looooong time no see! Sadly I was forced to take a break from writing at the end of last year due to life getting in the way. But I'm back now and have been busy writing like a mad woman in order to get something posted for you all. Back to the story, I hope you all enjoy reading chapter four as much as I had fun writing it. We'll start to see some branching off from here with regard to the other girls, so don't worry if you don't see them much for a little while. All loose ends will be tied up...eventually. I'd like to send a HUGE thank you to Wolf_girl13 for doing a fantastic job of editing for me. You really are a lifesaver! Oh and if there are any errors I take them wholly upon myself as I tweaked a little bit after she looked over it. Don't forget to comment and vote, if you have any questions feel free to contact me - if you leave me an email address I will try my darnedest to answer them all. On with the story! Animal Instincts Ch. 04 Kenneth Adams had been struck dumb from the moment that James Wolseley had arrived unannounced on the doorstep to his office. He was not a stupid, nor an ignorant man by nature; he knew damn well who the younger man - or should that have been older man? -- was, which influential family he belonged to, which organisation he worked for. Hell if rumour was to be believed, then James was the current leader of that particular organisation. At his own insistence, James had invited himself into Kenneth's sanctuary, instantly filling it with a thick, raging energy that pulsed around his muscular body. The energy itself left an acrid taste on Kenneth's tongue, until his entire mouth was so dry he could barely swallow, let alone think straight. He swallowed hard enough that it left his entire frame shuddering with the hacking cough. With an unsteady hand, he reached for the water jug and tried to fill one of the glasses on the coffee table in front of him, splashing more on the table top than having managed to get into the glass. He clutched it between both of his large hands in an attempt to stop them shaking. Kenneth wondered if he should risk making eye contact with the man sitting so peacefully in his broiling ball of energy. Taking a sip of water, he let the chilled fluid slowly coat his mouth and throat. Keeping his eyes firmly down, he took another, larger sip and painstakingly began to reinforce his shields. If James Wolseley could rattle him this badly with his shields already tightly in place, he never ever wanted to meet the man under different circumstances. With each small mouthful Kenneth's shields grew and strengthened around his mind and body, until there was not one seam or crack to be found. Blinking slowly, he concentrated and focused on the calmness he now sat in, pulling more and more of himself out to put on display. It was only then with the confidence to keep James' burning energy tightly locked on the outside, that Kenneth met the other man's eyes. James Wolseley's face held a nearly perfect blank gaze; only the vibrant emerald eyes belied the powerful emotions playing just under the surface of that calm exterior. Not for the first time since he had arrived, Kenneth wondered at the cause of such a display of power. He knew from his business dealings as an information broker for various groups that the Wolseley's were an influential family, both in the mainstream community and amongst Others. It was not until this point that he realised just how lucky he had been to have never crossed paths with them, if James was anything to go by then he was certain that he never wanted to again either. "Would I be correct in assuming that you have a connection to my daughter?" As an Other himself he was a firm believer that words held essence - an element of power - all their own, and bandying them around carelessly under any circumstances could be very foolish indeed. "You assume correct, Mister Adams." Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kenneth leaned forward to place his glass back on the table. It was still unclear exactly why James was in his office but at least now, he knew with certainty that his daughter was involved somehow. "Please, call me Kenneth." He said calmly as he leaned back again in the chair. "Alright. Kenneth." Kenneth couldn't help but stiffen ever so slightly as James allowed his name roll off of his tongue, before continuing. "I have no doubt that by now you are probably wondering how exactly your daughter and I are as you say, connected." James' careful use of his own wording was not entirely lost on Kenneth, as he nodded his agreement to the statement. James sat comfortably in his chair and faced off with Skye's father, he had been hoping to meet the man under better circumstances. However, there were far too many question marks hanging around Skye for her own good, and the fact that she was so obviously in the dark it was almost too painful to watch. He had sworn to himself that he would not leave until he had the answers to those questions, during the car ride over to her father's offices. He was pleased to see that Kenneth had seemingly recovered from his initial panic, and now sat calmly across from him. Nothing in Kenneth's posture or features gave any inkling as to what he was thinking; and with that James allowed his mind to open to the room. At first he assumed that the quiet static -- like muted white noise on a television screen -- to be his mind adjusting to all that surrounded him, until he realised with a sharp breath that he could hear nothing from the other man. Just like he had been unable to hear Skye, when he had first encountered her at the graduation ceremony! Instantly Ka'tah, fully alert and agitated, urged caution through their bond.