Page 8 of Chosen: The Lenkov Journals

Theo

Thunder rolled overhead as Theo hurried across the campus, hoping that he would beat the rain that was threatening to fall. Even though it was early afternoon, not quite two, the darkness that covered the campus was oppressive.

The static charge in the air should have just meant a storm but Theo couldn’t fight the dread that traveled down his spine. All he had to do was get safely inside the library and he’d be with Wylder. He cut through a path of trees, hoping that if the rain did start, then the leaves would keep the worst off him.

With his backpack on, Theo hugged the messenger bag with the journals inside to his chest. They’d be ruined if they got wet!

Lightning streaked across the sky with another rumble of thunder that shook the ground. Theo skidded to a stop when the first drop of rain began to fall.The cloaked figure that had stepped in front of him was vaguely familiar. The memory hit him quickly and he thought about the night he’d run from the arena to see the same person. Or similar person, as two more cloaked figures stepped from the side to join the first.

Theo had no idea who these people were or what they wanted but nothing good, in his opinion. The middle figure lifted his hand and pointed one long finger at Theo. It looked like bone but that couldn’t be right.

“Look, I don’t know what you want but you need to leave me alone!” This was bad, really bad. He could run—that was one thing he was good at—but what if they caught him?

The cloaked figures didn’t respond. Just like the last time, Theo couldn’t see anything under their hoods but blackness. How was it possible with his cat’s vision that all he could see was black? He stumbled back, but another crack of lightning behind him had a scream escaping as he fell forward.

Each time he tried to step the way he’d come or off the path, Theo could hear the lightning getting closer. The rumble of thunder was so loud now that he could barely hear his own words as he yelled in terror. Were the three things controlling the weather? They had to be.

Theo was soaked with rain now, on his knees, and he stared in fright at the figures.

The middle person stepped forward and drew a long, wicked-looking dagger out of his sleeve.

Hellcats! What did Theo do now? He’d already dropped his backpack and Aleksander’s messenger bag—he could run. Yes, running sounded good. He took off. Lightning arced and landed beside him, throwing Theo off balance. The heat from the strike burned the grass and Theo knew he was screwed.

He still tried.

Theo wasn’t a quitter, and he picked himself off the ground, trying again to run. The cloaked figures moved in front of him time and time again. The middle one still held the dagger as the other two waved their arms as if they were directing the lightning and furious wind. Theo was pretty sure they were.

He was bleeding from the palm of his hands, the knees in his jeans were ripped, and he was out of breath and energy.

Another lightning strike landed in front of the toe of his shoe and Theo yelped in pain. He hit the ground hard. His tears mixed with the heavy rain that fell. He didn’t want to die! He didn’t even know why these people were after him. Theo had never done anything wrong, but he was certain this was the end for him.

On his knees, Theo regretted that he’d never see his mates again. He wished he’d been braver, had been open to the three men. Maybe his end would be much different. He struggled for breath as the middle figure floated closer to him.

The dagger. Theo could not look away from that wicked weapon, even if he wanted to close his eyes and pretend everything would be okay.

Between him and the middle figure moving quickly toward him, there was a flash of purple and blue swirls before a large man stepped out of nowhere. Dressed in black leather, the new addition also swung a large sword over his head in the direction of the cloaked figures. Lightning flew from the fingers of the figures as they turned toward the new man. He batted the lightning away with his sword, throwing it back at the cloaked figures.

Lost in the battle in front of him, Theo rooted silently for the leather-clad man as he strained to volley shots from all three figures now. He didn’t seem to be tiring and Theo thought he might even be winning. A stray blast of lightning got past the newly arrived hero and hit Theo’s shoulder.

He cried out and his cat was done taking a backseat. Theo’s transformation was instant and although he knew he should fight it, he allowed the animal inside him to take control.

His shirt and jeans covered him and while he wouldn’t mind staying buried in the cloth protection, Theo wanted to get away from the action. He carefully climbed out from beneath the layers of clothes. It was probably a good thing that he was smaller in his shifted form as his clothes just dropped and he often picked them up later when he did an impromptu shift. If he were any bigger, he’d have to worry about his clothes ripping, and walking around naked like they did in romance books.

Of course, in the romance books that he read, that nakedness usually led to sexy times.

Another stray lightning bolt whipped past his would-be savior. Theo needed to get out of the firing range. He did not want singed fur. He didn’t know if it would grow back.

In his cat form, he hissed and bared his fangs at the cloaked figures before loping away.

His cat was not happy being stuck in the rain again, but he quickly spotted the perfect hiding place. He ran toward the closest tree and leapt for a low branch before carefully making his way up higher. The thick leaves shook as he stepped on and around them, but the camouflage would help cover him. He found a branch about halfway up that was wide enough to hold his weight but was still leafy enough to hide him.

From his vantage point, Theo went back to watching the battle.

How had no one else noticed the fight that was happening between a couple of patches of trees? It wasn’t like he was in a secret forest or something. Theo was literally in the middle of campus. And he couldn’t see another soul around!

The strong hero swung his massive sword, beheading one of the cloaked figures. The hood and what Theo could only believe to be a head inside rolled toward the tree Theo hid in. Theo ducked his face down and hid his eyes under his paws. He didn’t want to see that.

There was a long, loud screech before a giant pop exploded.

Dang, he had to look. Theo peered over one paw but kept one over his nose in case he needed to hide his eyes again.

The rain stopped. Blue skies returned as the weather took a sharp turn back to how nice it had been that very morning. The sun beamed down at the flooded grass and sidewalk like it was the sun’s job to dry the area up.

The cloaked figures were gone and standing along on the path was the man with the sword lowered at his side as it dripped with black…something. Theo didn’t want to think about what exactly that would be.

His savior was looking right into the trees where Theo was trying his best to make himself as small as possible. Surely the man, or whatever he was, couldn’t see Theo. Right? Right!

The man raised his arm with the sword before doing something that had the sword sliding into some kind of cover on his back. Oh, Theo could see a leather strap across the man’s chest. Must be there to hold that big ol’ sword.

He was going to leave now? He had to leave? Theo really wanted to climb down and go find Wylder, but there was no way he would do so with the giant of a man still there. Where had he even come from? He’d just popped into existence. Theo’s knowledge of this other world was limited, but did people just pop in and out? Apparently, they did. Or this man did.

The stranger walked forward until he stood under the branch that Theo rested on.

“Hey,” he said in a deep low voice. “Are you okay?”

Well, he obviously knew where Theo was hiding. Theo nodded just in case the man had really good vision. It wasn’t like he could talk in his cat form.

“Good. I’m glad you’re not hurt.” He looked around and spotted Theo’s discarded clothes. He walked over and picked them up before returning to stand under Theo’s branch. “They’re gone now. I don’t think they’ll be back for a while. I killed one of them and it will take a lot of preparation before they’ll be able to cross back into this realm.”

Realm? And he thought they’d be gone for a while? How long was a while? And they would be back? Theo had a lot of questions.

‘Meow. Me-ow .’ He voiced his displeasure.

“I’m not sure why they were after you. I’ve been tracking the dark elf triplets for a couple of weeks, since they first crossed into this realm. The campus seems to be where they’re crossing into, so I figure you were the one they were after.”

“ Mer.” Why would they be after Theo?

“I am hoping you can tell me why they’d use so much power to enter this realm and take the chance just to attack you.” The man lifted his clothes. “Can you come down so we can talk?”

‘Meow.’ Theo really didn’t think that was a good idea.

“Really?” He received a scoff. “I just saved your life.”

‘Meow, Meow.’ Yes, the man had saved Theo’s life but that didn’t mean Theo trusted him.

“You’re welcome but I’m not really fluent in cat and we do need to talk.”

‘Mer.’

The guy sighed as his shoulders slumped. “I really can’t leave until we talk. I have…bosses and since I had to portal into the realm, there will be a record. Plus, I killed a dark elf. That means so much fucking paperwork.”

Theo gave a small snort. Paperwork? This guy was talking about paperwork? What about the dark elf? What about realms? ‘ Yowl! Me-ow, me-ow .’

“I really could answer your questions if you’d climb down from there.” The big guy froze. “Wait! You’re not stuck, are you? Ah, fuck, man. Don’t make me climb up there. This body was not made for climbing trees. I’d probably get stuck with you.”

Theo sneezed. Like he’d get stuck up in a tree. How insulting!

“Theo! Theo!” Wylder yelled as he ran onto the path. He stopped and picked up Theo’s abandoned backpack and messenger bag before he whirled around. “Theo!”

The big stranger froze as Wylder came into view.

It took a moment, but Wylder spotted the stranger and stomped toward him. “Where is he? What did you do to him?”

The big guy took a step back which put him against the tree. He held his hands up but must have forgotten he still held Theo’s clothes. Theo’s blue underwear fell out of the pile and Wylder screeched. He came at the bigger dude with fists flying.

“I’ll kill you. If you hurt him, I’ll tear your heart from your chest!” Wylder screamed as he landed a very good punch to the stranger’s chin.

Ouch, that looked like it hurt. ‘ Me-ow !’

Wylder stopped his next swing. “Theo?”

‘Mer. Meow .’

Wylder narrowed his eyes on the stranger. “What did you do to him?”

“Me?” The deep voice sounded confused with a little bit of awe. “I saved him.”

“Did you?” Wylder didn’t sound like he believed the stranger. “Theo?”

‘Meow .’

“Okay, can you come down?” Wylder asked.

Now that Wylder was there, Theo did feel much better climbing out of the tree. He began to creep slowly down, being careful not to lose his footing on the wet branches.

The stranger growled. “Really? You’ll come down for the crazy human?”

Theo stopped long enough to hiss at the stranger.

“I am not crazy,” Wylder said for him.

“You attacked me!” the stranger exclaimed. “You punched me. I’m, like, a foot taller than you. And I have a sword!”

Wylder’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t noticed the sword. “Huh. Why do you have a sword?”

“To save him!” The stranger pointed toward Theo.

“He was attacked?” Wylder questioned.

“Yes! But I came to his rescue.” The stranger crossed his arms over his chest. “And he wouldn’t come down from the tree for me.”

“What do you expect? You just said he was attacked. And he doesn’t know you.”

“He doesn’t need to know me. He smells like mine!” The stranger breathed deeply then frowned. He shook his head before breathing deep again. “Wait, you smell like mine too.”

“Jesus! This is just great,” Wylder complained. He sent a glare at the man before pulling out his phone. Theo took in the stranger in a whole new way. If this big hottie thought that Theo was his, and Wylder too, did that mean that they’d found their final mate?

“Hey,” Wylder barked into the phone. “Get to the campus right away. Theo was attacked and there’s been…an interesting development. Call Dario and get him here too.”

They were all coming? That would make Theo feel better. He crept farther down the tree branch.

“He’s okay. I think he’s okay. He’s up a tree.”

Wylder listened to something.

“You’re not stuck, are you?” Wylder called up to him.

‘Me-ow !’

“Yeah, he’s not stuck and I think I just insulted him, thank you very much. We’re in the patch of trees a little way from the library. And, Alek, get here fast.” Wylder shoved his phone back in his pants before eyeing the stranger.

Theo was almost to the lower branch.

“What’s your name?” Wylder asked. “I can’t keep calling you Leather Daddy in my head.”

The stranger laughed and Theo almost fell out of the tree. Wylder couldn’t say that! Okay, he could, but he shouldn’t!

“Shit!” Wylder moved under the branch Theo clung to with his claws. “Sorry, baby. I really was calling him that in my head though.”

“Wow.” The stranger sounded amazed. “My name is Micitian Yates. I go by Mitch in the human realm.”

“Human realm?” Wylder asked.

See? Theo didn’t need to shift back to human to get answers. He had Wylder there.

“I…” Mitch said. “You’re not quite human, are you?”

“It’s a long story. Just one of many that you’re going to hear about tonight. You might want to get comfortable.”

“What?” Mitch asked as he peered around.

“Come on, baby.” Wylder motioned Theo down.

He leapt and Wylder caught him easily. He was bigger than an average housecat, but Wylder had no problem handling his weight.

“Hello, beautiful.” Wylder nuzzled under Theo’s chin and his cheek.

Purring, Theo wrapped one arm around Wylder’s hand and nuzzled right back. He loved the affection he was getting, and his cat was very pleased to have his mate doting on him.

“He’s gorgeous,” Mitch said as he stepped next to Wylder. “May I touch him?”

“Theo?”

In answer, Theo threw his head back and stretched his neck. He liked chin scratches.

"I’ll take that as a yes.”

Wylder cooed to Theo and he rubbed their faces together and Mitch scratched his chin, neck, and chest, which was how Dario and Aleksander found them as they raced up.

In total kitty-cat heaven, Theo didn’t move an inch as his other two mates joined them.

“Theo?” Dario questioned as he watched the loving Theo was getting.

“He’s okay,” Wylder assured them. “This is Mitch. He saved Theo.”

“Saved him from what?” Dario demanded.

Oh, Dario was upset. He sounded like he needed loving too. With a bat of his paw to Wylder’s arm, Theo gave a soft. ‘ Meow .’

“Alright. Here, Dario. Your little one wants you.”

The tension immediately melted away as Theo curled up against Dario’s chest. Aleksander peeked around Dario’s body and Theo rubbed his nose against Aleksander’s.

“He’s so cute,” Aleksander said in wonder.

Theo agreed. He really was cute. In cat form. Not that he was ugly in human form but definitely not as cute.

“What is going on?” Mitch demanded. “First I thought I found my mate.” He pointed at Theo.

Theo tried to bat at Mitch’s finger, but Dario tucked him deeper inside his suit jacket. Oh, it was warm there. His fur was still wet. With just his nose and eyes out of the suit jacket, he was as snug as a bug in a rug. He liked that saying but had never gotten to use it before.

“Then this one comes along.” He gestured toward Wylder. “And now you two.” He waved his hands frantically.

He looked silly.

“What is going on!” Mitch demanded.

“It’s alright, big guy.” Wylder patted Mitch’s arm with his touch lingering on the muscles. “I can explain.”

“Explain that I suddenly have four mates? I didn’t even think that was possible!”

“We blame him.” Wylder pointed at Aleksander with the hand that was not feeling Mitch up.

Dario cleared his throat.

“Right!” Wylder whipped back his hand. He waved at himself. “Wylder Carter, enhanced human.”

“Enhanced?” Mitch repeated.

“Hold your questions for the end, please. It gets better.”

Wylder wiggled his fingers in front of Theo’s face, so of course Theo had to try to catch them. “Theo Bailey, shifter, very limited knowledge of his shifter abilities or this other world in general. Never knew his parents and had no one to explain things, like mating scents, to him.”

“Oh.” Mitch turned sad eyes toward him.

“Our golden dragon, Dario Foster.” Wylder fanned his hands around Dario.

Mitch’s mouth dropped open.

“But wait! Not to be outdone, let me introduce you to Aleksander Lenkov.”

“Lenkov?” Mitch actually paled.

“Did you have to introduce me like that?” Aleksander complained.

“Oh, come on, snookums! It’s all because of you and your freaky genetics that Mitch here gets four amazing mates!”

“Pretty sure he’s about to pull a runner,” Dario murmured.

Mitch’s eyes were huge as he looked over all of them. Theo felt kind of bad for the guy. Theo might have gone through his own panic, but he’d not had to meet four of his mates at once. Mitch was being thrown into the middle of them with no warning. “I…”

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in. Trust us. And hey, we’ve technically only known for a few days ourselves, so you’re not that far behind the curve. So tell us…what are you.”

“Oh.” Mitch rolled his shoulder before he gave a slight bow. “Micitian Yates, demon warrior, and prodigy to the demon Micitian, or death as he’s more commonly known by.”

Demon? Death? With a yelp, Theo buried his face farther in Dario’s jacket.

“It’s okay,” Aleksander said in his calm voice. “Demons are nothing like humans believe. They live in the hell realm, but they are very much like the rest of us.”

“But demons!” Wylder exclaimed.

Yeah, demons! ‘ Mer .’

“You’ll see that demons are nothing like you imagined,” Aleksander told them. “It might be prudent to share that the first vampires came from demons, so I have demon blood as well.”

This was not information that Aleksander had previously told them.

“If we could please get to Theo’s attack,” Dario requested firmly.

“Well, I now have a pretty good idea why the dark elves were after Theo. Killing one of the chosen, especially before he’s mated, would wreck our world and supply them with unbelievable power.”

“Dark elves?” Wylder voiced for both of them. “I think I need to sit down.”

There was a plop and Theo lifted his head. Had Wylder fallen?

“Perhaps we should take this somewhere more private?” Aleksander suggested.

“Well, my dorm room is too small, and Theo has a roommate.”

“I could portal us anywhere you want,” Mitch offered.

Theo dug his claws into Dario’s chest.

“Ouch! Okay, little one.” He extracted Theo’s claws from his chest. Oops. Theo had left little holes behind. “I think using a portal at the moment is out. We can go to my apartment. It’s not far and we can order dinner. It’s getting about that time.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aleksander agreed.

Everyone else must have agreed too because Theo was suddenly being carried off.

“What about his clothes?” Mitch asked.

“Here, I’ll put them in his backpack. Do we need to do anything…you know…to clean up here.” Wylder was awesome as he asked all the questions that Theo had. Theo might never have to talk again.

“I’ll call the hellhounds. They’ll take care of it.”

“Shit!” Dario howled as Theo’s claws went back into his flesh. “You won’t see the hellhounds, Theo. Not in this realm anyway. They’re invisible.”

That did not make him feel better. Hounds! From hell! They’d probably try to eat him. ‘ Mer .’

“I would never let them eat you,” Dario whispered to him.

‘Meow .’ Having mates was awesome. They sort of understood him without Theo even having to try!

“Are you sure he shouldn’t shift back?” Mitch asked as he walked beside him and Dario.

‘Me-ow .’ He climbed up Dario’s chest until he was lying over his shoulder. Wylder and Aleksander walked behind them and Wylder grinned and waved at Theo. Wylder was fun. Theo hadn’t been in Aleksander’s arms though. He should remedy that soon.

“I’ll say that is no,” Wylder shared. “I don’t imagine that Theo would be comfortable changing in front of us. You know, with the whole naked thing.”

“Shifters don’t normally care.”

“Raised human. No shifter family,” Wylder sing-songed.

“Right. My apologies. I’ve just never heard of shifter children being abandoned before. Even if shifter parents are killed, someone within the group takes the children.”

Theo huffed. He was right there on Dario’s shoulders. He could hear them!

“Maybe this is a discussion for another time. You are upsetting Theo,” Dario said. He patted Theo’s furry bottom.

In reward, Theo nuzzled Dario’s cheek before running his tongue over the same spot.

“No!” Dario tapped Theo’s nose. “No licking in this form. Sandpaper tongues do not feel good.”

Fine. If Dario wanted to be that way.

Theo stretched out until he sat on Dario’s shoulder, then leapt.

“Theo!” Dario called as he tried to catch Theo.

If there was one thing that Theo was good at, it was leaping in his animal form. He landed against Aleksander’s chest just as he planned. He hadn’t planned on surprising the vampire plus. Aleksander reared back. And even as Wylder tried to steady them, Theo dug his claws into Aleksander’s pecs, trying to hold on.

Aleksander yelled as he danced around. Which really wasn’t smart. That just made Theo try to cling harder, so he didn’t fall. His vampire plus should really be steadier on his feet. Theo didn’t even weigh that much.

“Come here, trouble!” Theo was plucked off Aleksander and wrapped him in strong arms. Mmm, Mitch smelt good. Like leather and spice.

Mitch wore a leather vest which left the V of his chest and his arms bare. Theo nuzzled into the opening at the vest. Mitch’s scent was really strong there. It was almost better than catnip. Almost.

The edge of his vest caught on Theo’s fang. He started to chew on it as they reached the parking lot. He could still hear Aleksander grumbling behind them and Wylder laughing and teasing him, but Theo closed his eyes and enjoyed his little chew toy.

“He is quite cute,” Mitch said as Theo was jostled.

Theo opened one eye to glare, only to find four sets of eyes looking down at him. Wow. Rude. He closed his eyes, chomping once again.

“I’ll take Wylder with me. You can drive the demon and the demon cat.” Aleksander was still glowering.

Theo yowled his displeasure, but Mitch found the perfect spot behind Theo’s left ear. His purr rumbled out of him.

“I have a feeling you’re going to pay for that later, vampire,” Mitch mused.

Oh, he totally would.

“I already did. My chest is still bleeding and there are holes in my four-hundred-dollar shirt,” Aleksander replied with a sniff.

“Showing your privilege again, Alek,” Wylder teased. “No one pays four hundred dollars for a fucking shirt.”

They walked off still bickering about clothing and Wylder teasing Aleksander about almost dropping Theo.

“You okay holding him?” Dario asked as he ran his hand down Theo’s back.

Double pets! Awesome.

“We’re good,” Mitch promised. “But I think he might be hungry. He keeps chewing on my vest.”

“I think he just wants to gnaw on you, but I’ll get dinner ordered on the way,” Dario said with a laugh.

Theo was all for getting an early dinner. That breakfast sandwich was a long time ago and shifting used a lot of energy.

“I do need help removing my sword.”

His new mate carried a freaking sword!

“I’ll help with that,” Dario said after a pause.

How was this his life again? Theo sighed as he watched Dario and Mitch together. Light and dark, they contrasted standing next to each other, but also seemed to go together perfectly.

Theo still had questions about his mates and how he would fit in but at least he had pretty scenery as he tried to find his place.