Upside Down (COMPLETE) Inside Out, Book 2 [BoyxBoy]

Keith

His instincts were usually reckless, so this one surprised the shit out of him. Ivan was a psychopath all along, giving that suspicion the benefit of a doubt was a hell of a wrong move.

Even though he clearly had been given the picture of her aunt being knocked out completely.

Ivan laughed maniacally, and this time around, Keith felt really, really stupid. There was no way in the fucking world that he'd ever fall for an animal like this, ever.

"You know what you're holding, boy? You know what's inside? Silver bullets! You know what silver bullets destroy? Your kind!"

He hadn't even had the chance to say anything to Ivan. The moment he'd stepped into Tessa's house, Ivan ambushed him from behind a dark corner, kicking hard into his shin. Keith retaliated, putting all good of his good moves; he twisted around swiftly to slide behind Ivan in an attempt to destroy his neck with his own arms. This could have knock Ivan unconscious; in fact, Wren had allowed him to demonstrate it willingly just to prove its effectiveness.

But Ivan pulled that fucking wand out, and the next thing he knew he just couldn't move his limbs.

Nor his mouth, for that matter. He had no words being locked there on the floor, right near his aunt, his jaw felt all contorted at the wrong places at every attempt of enunciating his thoughts out. All he could do was scream. Especially so after seeing his mate looked so much in pain, being under influence of the magic spells casted by that bastard.

Keith cried, because Nathan looked like he was in so much pain. Hearing his voice was a stab in his chest, because even until now, he had no clue of the agony that his mate was going through. He'd known for a fact that a kiss had saved him, right in their disrupted tender moment in the middle of the vast, sunshiny vineyard, and the kiss let him see things he couldn't understand.

Keith could see all the dark, nasty things in Nathan's head. Keith could also feel it dissipated slowly the longer they touched ...

But Nathan was out of reach now, and there was no way to have him in his arms this time. Please don't hurt him, was the words that escaped Nathan's mouth, were also the things that Keith wanted to say. Leave him alone, Ivan. It's all my fault.

"Hey ... Keith," Ivan started to approach him back, "you know what's funny? Your man and I have connected! It's really funny that he probably understands why I'm here more than you do."

He felt the fire of rage burning inside him, but none of enough to make him move, not even a bit.

"Oh! How could I forget?" Ivan pressed further, roaming around in circles in the big space in front of him. "You and your mom are a bunch of fucking strays! Dirty, nasty animals! Outcasted! You know nothing about your kind! All you know is losing your shit and you take everything that belonged to others!"

Ivan spat and it landed right in front of Keith, barely an inch from where his knees stood. He tried to move again but only finding his movements lagged from what he willed in his brain. His own existence felt slower than real time.

"I didn't think there's so much work to get to you, you piece of shit," Ivan continued. "Didn't know I had to cast so many spells to your Regular friends, just to get to your head."

Keith pushed harder, and he croaked out a voice that was supposed to be a scream. It didn't sound like one.

"Oh! You want to know why I thought it'd be simple? Because thinking about you since that night has been simple all along!" Ivan screamed, his voice sounding coarser the more he spoke. He advanced forward in sharp steps towards Keith, pointing somewhere in between his neck and collarbone, over a scar that shouldn't look familiar, but it did. "You see this? I can even fucking smell you ever so strongly from this alone!"