In the Beat of a Wing {boyxboy}

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Saturday 16th March 2013~

Eden knew he was going to invoke Malcolm's temper by walking to his house at night. Maybe that was exactly his intention. Malcolm was overprotective on a good day, Eden was interested in tapping into the other side of him after being so intimate with it. Lex was supposed to have driven him to Malcolm's house that evening but Eden insisted he could walk, not wanting to interrupt his date with Wyatt. He could always not mention to Malcolm that he had walked, but where was the fun in that?

He hummed quietly to himself as he rounded another corner, unable to pick up on any surrounding sounds due to his headphones blasting music far too loud in his ears. There was a time a few months ago when Eden would be on the verge of a panic attack merely at the thought of going out at night, unable to dispel of what happened to Archer repeating itself. Ever since he had gotten with Malcolm, however, he just felt more confident. Then again, maybe he should stop expecting Malcolm to save him all the time, he wouldn't always be able to get there in time.

"Evening, Mr Moir," Malcolm lived in a nice gated community with the rest of the guys, one that was probably overly expensive, but worth it. Security guards manning both entrances, all employed SNs, mostly demons and wolves, it was the safest place around.

"Hi, Felix," Eden took one headphone, smiling at the familiar night guard that sat in his little booth, "aren't you cold?" Eden was wearing a thick winter coat and still shivering in the freezing evening, Felix was only a button-down t-shirt.

"Our blood runs warmer than yours, Mr Moir," Felix smiled, his golden eyes glistening in the dim street lights around, "can I see your pass please?" despite Felix and the other guards having been informed of Eden and Malcolm's relationship, he was still technically only a visitor and, therefore, had to have a pass to enter the property. Only residents were allowed in without scrutiny. Eden didn't mind, it wasn't that much of an inconvenience.

"I'm a little early, I think," Eden admitted, taking his pass out of the back of his phone case and holding it out for Felix to examine. Felix looked from the pass to his computer, nodding after a second of quiet that always seemed to make Eden nervous.

"Yes, Mr Reed stated here that you would be being dropped off by an Alexi Spokes, he might not be pleased that you are on foot," Eden stifled a giggle when Felix used Lex's full name, knowing the man despised it. He had actually only recently told Eden that Lex was a nickname, with there being a Russian origin somewhere in his bloodline.

"Lex was busy, I didn't want to bother him, it's not a big deal," not in Eden's eyes anyway.

"Did you inform Georgina of your change of plans? She was on watch tonight, wasn't she?" Georgina was Felix's eldest daughter, both members of Slate very extensive pack, which Eden had only been informed of recently as well. Apparently, he was the last to learn of anything, which was more than annoying.

"I texted her, told her I'd be coming over here a little early so she could have the night off," Eden caught the dismay flicker through Felix's eyes, he wasn't supposed to alter the shifts of the wolves who protected him, it meant whoever was last on watch was responsible if anything happened to him. Eden was well aware that the pack was petrified of invoking Slate's wrath, or even worse, Malcolm's.

"Felix, I'm staying over all night, she doesn't need to watch me when I'm here. I'm perfectly safe."

"You walked here alone, Mr Moir, you could have been intercepted on the way," Eden suppressed the roll of his eyes, not wanting to aggravate Felix, it wasn't the man's fault, he just wanted to get to Malcolm's sooner rather than later.

"And yet I wasn't, so let's not dwell on it, yeah?" Felix hesitated for a moment, before pressing the little button on the control panel that unlocked the gate next to the booth.