Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale (MxM)

Chapter 12: The White Stag. [Edited]

Nathan Underhill.

I was driving down a winding road that led out of town, heading toward my house. Joshua was fiddling around with the SUV's window, lowering and closing it repeatedly, much to my annoyance.

"Will you stop that?" I groaned.

"Fine!" He whined. "What's gotten into you?"

I glanced over at him for a second before returning my attention to the road. "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about picking a fight with Riley. I know that he's a dick most of the time, but I didn't think you'd stoop to his level."

What did he want from me? First, he ranted to me about Arno, and the way I treated him. Now, it was Riley. I couldn't get a break. "How did I step down to his level?"

Joshua shook his head. "You could have ignored them and walked out of the building without causing a scene. If he wants to, Riley can get you kicked out of college before you know what hit you. The dean has a no-tolerance policy against fighting on campus. That means no shifting and no use of magic, period."

"I didn't use magic against him and I didn't hit him. I just shoved him against the wall and let him dangle about." I defended myself.

"You do know that humans, even witches and warlocks, don't have superhuman strength and you just showed them another unique abnormality that might make them more suspicious of you."

"He has you there, Superman," Fenrus muttered.

"Ok! I fucked up." I shrugged. "But it's just so hard when the idiot rubs me the wrong way. What's Riley's deal anyway?"

Joshua opened the window and allowed the fresh air to whip through his face. "He's mad since his sister was chosen as beta instead of him. He always thought that he was going to become the next second-in-command, but Adam kicked that dream into the dirt."

"So he's throwing a hissy fit that his life isn't working out as he hoped it would be... what a drip. Life's not fair and we just got to—"

"Watch out!" Joshua cried out as his body became ridged. His nails dug into the sides of his seat while his legs slammed down on the imaginary brake pedal in front of him.

I slammed down on the brake pedal just in time as a white stag ran out of the trees and over into the road. The SUV's tires screeched across the road until the car came to a shaky stop. My heart hammered around my chest as I breathed out a sigh of relief. The white stag stood inches away from the bonnet of the car, staring intently at the two of us.

"What's wrong with it? Why is it just staring at us? Hasn't the creature learned that the road is a dangerous place? It'll end up as roadkill." Joshua said shakily. He was trying to get his breathing under control.

"It seems to me that this one hasn't got the memo yet. Let me see if I can't get him to move along before he gets killed."

"What are you about to do?" Joshua asked me.

"I'm going to link up with its mind."

I closed my eyes and reached out to the deer. But just as I made the connection, a skull-splintering pain ripped through my head. "Fuck!" I clamped down on my forehead, hitting the horn by accident. The stag flinched and then darted off into the woods.

"Hey what's wrong?" Joshua grabbed my shoulder.

I rocked back and forth, trying to wait out the throbbing in my head until the pain died down. I tried to open my eyes but I flinched as a streak of sunlight caught me directly in the eyes. I reached out and yanked the sun visor down.