Cinderellas

Cinderellas Chapter Eleven (NC017)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather gets a nap! ;) Readers/Reviewers: *G * Thanks! And *edges away slowly * I’ll try to update sooner next time… *eyes readers warily * ;)

The first thing people notice about the Boardinghouse is the smell. You can smell it before you get to it. Kitty says she doesn’t notice until about the mailbox but I could smell it from the end of the block. It smelled like decay and mildew and unwashed bodies and rotten food and trash and a hint of motor oil. I wanted to gag but couldn’t because of bundbundle of clothes I carried. Logan didn’t seem to have followed me—I listened and smelled and listened again, but I never heard him. I ran as fast as I could to get to the Brotherhood’s house but I felt like it was not fast enough. If I do this, I kept thinking, Jubilee will want to get back together. She’ll stop worrying so much and everything will be fine. It became like a mantra to me as I ran, my paws hurting, my jaw cramping from carrying the clothes. I considered hiding the bundle and coming back for it later, but facing Pietro aanceance and Toad naked was not something high on my list of fun things to do before I die. I stepped on something sharp in the bare yard as I slowed and yelped, dropping the bundle. I was bleeding and was sure I would get an infection before all was said and done. One more thing for me to be mad at the Brotherhood for. I limped on three legs to the side of the house, the smell almost overpowering now, and scared a raccoon into running away as I dropped my bundle and sat on my haunches near the trash bins. I gagged again and this time threw up, my senses far more keen in my lupin form and the smell overwhelming. The shift to a human body did not take as long as the shift to wolf and it hurt a lot less, which I was glad for because I needed all of my attention on the matter at hand and not on why my calf hurt or the spasm in my back. I got dressed quickly and listened hard for any sign Logan might havllowllowed me or that the Brotherhood was up at this ungodly hour. Nothing. Good.
I wondered about the ethics of praying to a saint to protect me from harm while breaking into a house, but I wasn’t struck down so I guess it’s okay. The inside of the house smelled no better than the outside. In fact, layer a strong rotten cantaloupe stench and something that might have been old socks over the previous smell and you have the idea. I had no idea who slept where or even who was there at all. For all I knew, some of them had friends they could stay with. Or less painful enemies. I made it up the stairs with little incident, save for a painfully loud creak on the top step which nearly sent me into paroxysms of fear. No one seemed to hear, though, and after a shaking moment, I went on. The first door was locked. The second yielded Blob, snoring like a buzz saw and unfortunately for my eyes and sex drive, naked. It took months to get that image shoved to the back of my mind… The third room was empty but I could see a ton of make up and a bra scattered about the place so I guessed it used to be Tabby’s room. The fourth door gave me what I wanted. Pietro, asleep on the bed. I nearly pounced on him from the door, nearly grabbed him and throttled him then and there, but I restrained myself. I shut the door quietly behind me and pd ovd over to his bed. The smell in here wasn’t so bad, but the cologne stench made me stifle a sneeze. He was twitching in his sleep, his eyes working beneath his lids, his muscles looking like he was hooked to electricity. “Pietro,” I whispered. He didn’t respond. “Pietro…” A little louder and he groaned. “Hey.” I poked him hard in the ribs. “Pietro, there’s a naked woman in bed with you.”
He snuffled and rolled onto his back from his side. “Jean?”
I stared, almost forgetting why I was there for a long moment. “No, you dick! Wake up!” I yanked the pillow out from under his head and hit him with it. He snorted and suddenly, faster than I could track, sat up. “You are fucked,” I growled. Actually growled. I love the effect it has on some people.
“Rahne! What the hell are you doing here? Is this because of the picture because I didn’t get it from anyone I just…”
He was talking so fast it made my ears ache. I slammed him with the pillow again to shut him up. “Listen to me, Pie Pie and don’t talk till I’m done. I want to know where the fuck that picture camem, wm, who’s doing this to us and what is going to happen next.”
“I don’t know anything.”
He looked smug and that pissed me off more than I was before. “That’s beside the point. Tell me or I’m going to bite you.” I concentrated and let just my face change for a moment, looking like one of those damned movie werewolves, and I think he might hbeenbeen on the verge of wetting himself then. “Talk.”
“No.” He swallowed hard, so hard I could hear the gulp. “Fuck off, Sinclair, or I’m kicking your freak ass!”
“Oh…that’s going to be it, then?” I smiled as best as I could and leaned forward, pressing him against his bed. I don’t know why he didn’t fight me—he is much faster than I ever could be and could have easily done something. Instead, he just stared at me. “Fine. I know you’re in this. One more thing happens to Jubilee, I will make you sorry you were ever born!” It occurred to me then that I had not planned a good exit. I hate tur turn my back on him but his room had no balcony and no way to just leave by the win I I nodded like I was sure of myself and turned to leave, walking sort of sideways to keep my eyes on him.
“Rahne…” He sounded thoughtful almost. Not like someone who wanted to kick my ass.
“What?”
“So…do you…do you really love her?”
The question took me so off guard I tripped over my own feet when I turned. “What business is it of yours?” I was not embarrassed but I was annoyed he thought he had the right to ask me that.
“None,” he shrugged. Unlike my expectations, he was not confrontational. He looked, I thought, upset. “I just wondered…”
“Yes, I love her. I love her with all my being. And if anyone,” I paused for emphasis, “hurts her again, even a little, I’ll hurt them worse than they ever imagined pose.” e.”
Pietro didn’t try to stop me again as I retraced my steps to leave. I very nearly held my breath the entire way down the walk, expecting someone to come rushing out of the house or worse… I made it to the thick stand of landscaping on the corner of the block, a place I decided looked safe to shift, but I screamed sharply as Logan emerged from the shadows. “You’re in serious trouble, Rahne.”

A/N Smut will be back! I promise!