Seductive Awakening

***

Weeks Earlier...

In the midst of a fierce battle, two pairs of eyes...one so grey and the other so blue, meet and hold. For one, it is clear...the blue-eyed kid is his mate. But he's so young, he can't help but think even as everything within him...most especially, his practically salivating wolf urges him to go to his mate and claim him as his, right there in the midst of the battle raging around them. He fights the urge and holds back because he knows that it isn't the right time. Lives were at stake. Being there for his pack was his ultimate priority. He decides to concentrate on the battle at hand, and hope that he finds his mate after all was calm...

Blue eyes, on the other hand, isn't that knowledgeable. He doesn't understand why the heated gaze from the handsome grey-eyed man was causing his heart to flutter within his chest, and his body to shiver so deliciously. The man was the enemy. After all, he was the one giving orders to his murderous, bloodthirsty wolves, to massacre his family. So why did he feel a sudden urge to go to him of all people? Too bad he couldn't stay around to find out. To save his own life, he has to flee from the man and the chaos that surrounded them.

***

Present Day...

"Oh, shit..." The dark-haired boy of about twenty looked pale with fear as he turned to the gorgeous blonde male standing behind him. "Troy, do something." He squealed as his eyes moved almost frantically to the entrance of the bank. "The police will be here soon."

"Patience, Paul," Troy muttered as he opened beautiful blue eyes and fists which had in them some dried leaves. "Patience." He whispered, his eyes fixed on the street in front of the bank.

"But the sirens are getting closer...oh fuck, here they come." Paul gasped as about four police cars appeared on the street. "Troy, it's too late." His fear-filled eyes moved back to Troy who was calmly blowing the dried leaves out of his palm. "They will be caught. Then they will blame us for..." Paul trailed off when the sounds of sirens suddenly stopped. He turned to look at where the police cars had been mere moments earlier and saw nothing. "Oh, my god you did it." Paul breathed with relief as he wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. "That was close." He panted as he watched Troy get to his feet. "Those guys would have killed us."

"What is taking them so long?" Troy grumbled as he stared at the entrance of the bank.

"Come on, come on, come on..." Paul chanted beside him. "Yes!" He fist-pumped when four masked men rushed out of the bank with sacks of cash and jumped into the waiting BMW which immediately took off. "Wow! Did you see that?"

"No wonder they took so long." Troy scowled. "Come on, Paul." The two young men started for the bus stop. "They said they were only going to take something small. Did you see all those sacks?" He was clearly miffed. "That wasn't necessary."

"We will just take our share and go our way," Paul said as they got onto a bus that would take them to the hideout of the leader of the gang. "Those guys are dangerous. Please don't challenge them to their face when we get there. They can hurt you."

"Well, I can hurt them too if I put my mind to it," Troy muttered.

"But you won't," Paul said firmly. "You said yourself that doing dark spells is bad for the soul. I'd rather that soul of yours remain pure." He said softly. "Maybe you could turn them into babies or something?" He grinned.

"I don't think I can pull something like that off." Troy chuckled. "Turning bad men into babies was not one of the spells I was taught."

"Well, too bad." Paul sighed. "I don't think they will ever let you go though. They need your skills."

"We'll see about that," Troy muttered as he turned to stare out of the window with a dejected expression on his face.

Troy couldn't believe he'd been reduced to helping criminals, steal. He blamed those wicked, rabid wolves who had destroyed his home weeks earlier. It had been almost a month since those animals had killed all the people in his home and caused him to flee for his life. But for the timely intervention of their handsome but equally wicked leader, those wolves would have killed him too. Troy still saw those beautiful grey eyes in his sleep every day. Strangely, even in sleep, those eyes brought him some peace. But in as much as he liked seeing the face of the man who had saved his life in his dreams, he couldn't help but hate him and his wolves for what they'd done to his clan. If he ever came face to face with that soulless monster again, he was going to burn him alive if it was the last thing he did, Troy vowed silently. He still couldn't believe that everyone he knew was gone. He was pretty sure that some had escaped just as he had been able to. But so far, he didn't know of any other survivors besides himself. He needed them...any member of his clan, Troy thought worriedly.

It was almost that time of the month. He needed a warlock to cast a spell to stop his monthly ailment. He could already feel the beginnings of the restlessness within and it scared him. At a particular time in every month, he felt restless and had some really terrible bodily pains. Mary, a very powerful warlock and wife of the Jackal, who had been his guardian, had always healed him by casting a spell. Troy feared that in the absence of the healing spell, the ailment was going to get very bad. And that was one of the reasons he'd thought he needed that money from the bank robbery that he and his friend Paul had just helped pull off. In the absence of a spell, he could use some of the money to see a real doctor.

Troy had never stepped foot outside the fortress that he'd called home since he could remember before it was destroyed. He'd been, therefore, so confused and overwhelmed when he found himself in the boisterous outside world. He'd gone without food for the first two days, then he began to beg for food on the streets. After being advised by an elderly homeless man to find a job since he was young and energetic enough to earn himself some money, Troy had started doing odd jobs for money. It had been during one of such jobs that he'd befriended Paul, a lively friendly cute twenty-five-year-old who looked younger than his age. The two boys had bonded with each other and become fast friends. Troy loved two things about Paul. One was the fact that Paul saw every misfortune as a blessing in disguise...which actually gave Troy some hope. Secondly, he loved how Paul could make him laugh even when he was worried.

Troy, who had no idea he was supposed to keep his magic-filled life a secret, had told Paul all about his background. Paul had initially thought that Troy was narrating a movie he'd watched or a book he'd read. He'd laughed and applauded Troy's brilliant narrative. When Troy insisted that he was serious, Paul had demanded to see a demonstration. Troy had obliged. Paul's eyes had almost popped out of their sockets in shock when Troy conjured a cat out of thin air after reciting some words for about three minutes. Troy couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he recalled the gobsmacked look on his friend's face on that day, weeks earlier...

"Oh, fuck this is...how did you...whose cat is that?" Paul looked shocked, excited, and completely freaked out.

"It's a stray." Troy laughed as he reached out to touch the cat. "It's our cat now." He said as he gently stroked the purring cat.

"Dude, we can barely feed ourselves." Paul laughed breathlessly. "You expect us to feed a cat? Whilst living in an abandoned structure? Come on!" He crouched beside Troy and began to pet the cat too. "It's beautiful." He whispered. "What should we call it?"

"Thought you said we couldn't keep it." Troy laughed softly. "How about...Jer?"

"Why that name?" Paul asked curiously, looking at Troy.

"I don't know." Troy shrugged. "That name has always been in my head. I like it."

"Maybe you were called Jer in your previous life as a...vampire." Paul laughed, making Troy laugh too.

Knowing what Troy was capable of had made Paul place him on a certain pedestal. Although at twenty-one Troy was four years younger than Paul, Troy acted as though he was older by always looking out for Paul. It wasn't easy getting by but the two young men were okay because they had each other.

All was well until Paul was accosted by a gang of five as he was going to get them some food, one fine afternoon.

***

After waiting for nearly two hours with no sign of Paul, Troy had gone looking for him only to find him in the clutches of a muscled black man. Four other men stood around, looking at Paul with anger and resentment. When Troy demanded to know what was going on, the leader, a man of about thirty with about ten piercings on each ear, sneeringly told Troy that Paul owed them...

"Please let him go," Troy said urgently. "You're hurting his arm."

"His arm." The leader's eyebrow shot up in bemusement. Then he turned to look at his men. "He wants us to let him go because..." he paused for effect, "...we're hurting his arm." The others erupted into laughter.

"Please..." Troy wished he could free his friend from the clutches of the muscled man. Too bad he was just an ordinary slender young boy with no muscles.

"And who are you?" The leader sneered. "The boyfriend?"

"I'm his friend," Troy responded, not missing the shamed look in Paul's eyes.

"Yeah right." The leader chuckled. "If that's what you want to call it. Tell you what..." He leaned against a red BMW. "If you can cough up the three grand that your 'friend'..." he gave the word air quotes, confusing Troy even more, "...owes me, you can have him." He gave a devilish grin.

"Paul, is it true?" Troy looked at his angry but terrified friend. "Do you owe..."

"I owe them noth...ow." Paul's words turned into a gasp of pain when the big man holding him delivered a quick jab to his stomach.

"Hey..." Troy started forward but one of the guys blocked him.

"A month ago, your stupid friend here agreed to make a delivery for us for a fee." The leader said with a dark scowl. "We gave him half of the fee with specific instructions to follow. Deliver the package, take our money from them, and then bring it to us for the rest of your fee. Simple." He gave a humourless chuckle. "What did the moron do? He made the delivery alright but ran out of the place before they could give him my three grand."

"Why don't you go to them for your money?" Paul rasped stonily.

"Because that's not how it works." The leader snapped. "If the person we send doesn't take the money...as you refused to, we can't make demands. There are rules, you little shit."

"Well, I didn't know it was drugs." Paul snapped as he struggled to get away from the man who was holding him. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have agreed to deliver it for you."

"What the fuck did you think it was?" One of the members of the gang asked with a look of disbelief.

"My problem is that you caused me three grand." The leader growled. "And you have to pay."

"How?" Troy asked quietly.

"I don't care how." The leader spread his arms and gave Troy a blank look. "I just want my three grand back. Maybe we can pimp out your friend to the highest bidders. His faggy ass can fetch me a lot of money." The leader said with a thoughtful look. "Know what?" He turned to face Troy with an excited glint in his eyes. "You could actually help. I mean two twinks can pay up faster than just one, right? In fact, that sweet face of yours will fetch me more than..."

"Where did you make the delivery, Paul?" Troy asked his friend, cutting off the gang leader.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't." Paul scowled. "They are very bad people. You can't..."

"And what exactly are you planning on doing, boy?" The leader asked with a laugh as he looked Troy up and down. The other four men burst into laughter.

"I'm going to take your money back." Troy shrugged, not missing the incredulous looks on the faces of the men. "Just tell me, Paul."

Before Paul could speak, the leader rattled off the address of the house to which Paul had delivered the drugs, which was on the very next street. "You can't miss it." He added with an amused grin. "They have heaps of cash in the back room. Just grab my money and bring it to me." He said with mock seriousness.

"Troy, don't." Paul's warning earned him a slap from his chuckling captor.

"Hey, don't hit him," Troy growled. "Give me thirty minutes." He told the leader quietly. "I'll be back with your money." With that, he broke into a run.

"Damn." The leader breathed with incredulous amusement as he watched Troy go. "Your boyfriend is one of those nut cases huh?" He laughed uproariously. "You must be giving him that arse real good."

"He's not gay," Paul growled.

"Really? Then he must be really enjoying your handjobs and blowjobs." The leader chuckled. "I mean I'm straight but I enjoy nutting down a twink's throat once in a while. It's a known fact that you faggots give the best head. Anyway, you know you're not going to see him alive again, right?" He asked Paul who looked like he wanted to murder someone. "What a waste." He breathed. "I guess I just have to make do with one twink. You're not as gorgeous as your friend but you're damn cute so..." He looked in the direction that Troy had disappeared and shook his head with an amused chuckle. "Give me thirty minutes." He comically repeated what Troy had said before running off, making his men laugh. "Idiot."

Troy was back in twenty minutes. And he had exactly three thousand dollars in his hand. "Here's your money. Now let my friend go."

The leader, his men, and even Paul looked extremely stunned as they stared at the money that Troy had in his hand. The leader took the money and slowly counted it. Then he just stared at Troy in utter shock.

"Who gave you the money?" The leader asked, his voice low with astonishment.

"I took it." Troy shrugged. "You said they wouldn't give it to me so I didn't bother asking. I went to the backroom as you told me. Fortunately, they were counting money so I took the three thousand and left."

"Wait, wait, wait..." The man holding Paul let him go as he gapped at Troy. "You did what?"

"I took the money and left," Troy repeated.

"How?" The leader croaked.

"I cast a spell on them," Troy revealed, innocently. "They couldn't see me. You have your money. Don't bother Paul again. Come on, Paul." The two friends started to walk away from the still dumbfounded gang.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Paul said quietly.

"I don't blame you." Troy sighed. "Those men looked so scary. And the heaps of drugs I saw... I would have run too."

"Not that." Paul wouldn't meet Troy's eye. "About the fact that I'm...gay."

"You are?"

"Yes. Couldn't you tell from their comments?" Paul murmured.

"Oh, right." Troy chuckled. "I don't care that you're gay, Paul."

"But the other time, you told me about how your family hated homo..."

"You're my friend, Paul," Troy said firmly. "And that's all that matters. I don't care about..."

"Hey hold up..." The two friends stopped when they heard the leader of the gang calling out from behind them. They waited until he caught up with them. "You...you cast a spell...as in used magic to steal from the Stones?" He looked both shocked and impressed.

"That's what I said." Troy nodded.

***

"Wow! And you saw them counting money and took only three grand?" The leader was beside himself with shocked excitement.

"That's what Paul caused you to lose, right?" Troy asked.

"Yes...no. Actually, we lost more than just the money." The leader said, licking his lips as if he'd seen something juicy.

Troy turned to face the greedy-looking leader. "I hope you're not talking about interest because..."

"No, no." The leader shook his head. "We lost one of our friends. When we tried to reason with the Stones to give us the three grand, they killed one of us." He explained. "So Paul caused us the life of one of our friends."

"Is that true?" Troy asked Paul.

"I don't know." Paul shrugged with a dark scowl. "I know they were six but I don't know about one of them getting killed."

"That's because you ran so you have no idea what went down, you chicken shit." The leader snapped. "I have to give Shatta's baby mama money for his baby's upkeep all the time because Shatta is no more."

"Those men killed him just because you went to ask for what was rightfully yours?" Troy looked shocked.

"Can you imagine?" The leader gushed. "They are very wicked people. Hey, my name is Blaze by the way." He reached out and gave Troy a quick handshake.

"Troy, I think we should just leave," Paul mumbled.

"Hey, you did this," Blaze growled at Paul. "Let your magician here make something right."

"And how do you expect me to make things right?" Troy folded his arms across his chest. "Raise your friend from the dead?"

"Oh no." Blaze gave a sheepish laugh. "We wouldn't want to start no zombie apocalypse. It will be nice to...have some money...for Shatta's kid."

"And where am I supposed to find that money?" Troy frowned.

"Oh, I don't know... Anywhere we can get some cash...some shops, a bank maybe..." Blaze said with an expectant look. "The kid needs it." He made a sad face.

"Troy, let's go," Paul muttered beside his friend. He knew that his friend was a bit naïve when it came to the real world. And he could tell that Troy was buying the bullshit that Blaze was spewing.

"How about I go for more money from those murderers for the baby?" Troy asked quietly. "After all they killed its father."

"Troy..." Paul growled under his breath.

"That would be great." Blaze gushed, excited.

"Troy, you really don't have to do this," Paul said angrily. "You don't own these people any..."

"I'll just go in, grab a few more, and be out of there," Troy told Paul gently. "They killed the man after all. That wasn't right. Now the poor baby has to suffer."

"Yes." Blaze groaned with a hand on his chest. "That poor, poor child."

"I'll be right back," Troy promised his friend and took off for the second time, towards the house from which he'd already taken three thousand dollars.

Just as Troy got to the residence of the Stones, he saw a van he'd seen earlier in their driveway, moving away from the house. Inside the van were the six men he'd seen counting money inside the house on his first visit. Since the door to the house was locked, he didn't have any choice but to go back to Blaze, emptyhanded. The gang leader couldn't hide his disappointment and anger. He came up with an alternative solution quickly enough.

"How about you help us pull a bank job then?" Blaze asked.

"As in rob a bank?" Troy stared at Blaze.

"He will do no such thing." Paul spat with a look of disgust.

"Shut up, you moron." Blaze snapped at Paul before turning his eyes back to Troy. "Just once. All you have to do is...repeat whatever you did at the Stones'. We get in, grab some cash, get out, give you your cut, and then we go our separate ways. What do you say?"

"I took that three thousand from those people because Paul not taking the cash from them didn't mean they should not have paid you," Troy said quietly. "Robbing a bank is different."

"We're not going to take much." Blaze implored. "Just a little to get by. We will give some to Shatta's baby mama and you. Surely you need money." He cajoled. "The bankers steal the cash all the time anyway. We need the money more than they do. Come on..."

And that was how the plan to rob the bank had been hatched. At Paul's insistence, Troy told Blaze and his men that he and Paul couldn't be inside the bank with them. He, however, assured the gang leader that they would stay outside and stop the police from catching them if they should show up. They just had to be fast and take just a little bit of cash. Well, from the look of the sacks that those men had gotten away with, it looked like Blaze and his pals had taken a whole lot more than just a little. No wonder they'd been in there for so long, Troy sighed. He and Paul would simply take some of the money for their trouble and go their way, Troy thought as the bus got to their stop.

"Remember, we'll just take whatever Blaze and his men give us, and leave," Paul said as they made their way to the gang's hideout. "No argument. This is survival."

"Survival," Troy repeated under his breath.