Both the tall, blonde man and the younger brunette react quickly, desperately reaching out to grab him, but it's so sudden and it happens so fast, that they can't manage to get a grip on him. Meanwhile, I stand motionlessly, holding my ground and only watching him with narrowed calculative eyes.

My power rolls off of me and rushes toward him with a vengeance, crackling in the air like a current of electricity. It's impossible to see, but it's easy to feel as it makes the air charged and heavy. It flows off of me, weaving between my surroundings and giving an overwhelming, foreboding feeling that can make your airway constrict and a chill run down your spine.

Just before he reaches me, without even lifting a finger, I let my power wrap tightly around him. It slithers and snakes over his body, halting his momentum and leaving him frozen in his tracks.

His eyes widen and his claws retract, once again turning into fingernails. Gutteral growls so loud and so deep that I can feel the ground vibrate under my feet, cut through the air from the others when they see the horror and panic written over Aiden's features. Dropping to his knees, Aiden grips at his chest and throat, gasping for air. My power only wraps around him tighter, like a vice, while his hands start to shake violently. The brunette bolts toward him, but my voice stops him before he can get within arms reach of Aiden.

"Take another step and I will kill him," I threaten, glaring at him.

Thunder cracks like a whip across the dark gray sky, punctuating my cold sentence. The brunette freezes, a film of sweat making brown curls stick to his forehead while his fearful eyes watch Aiden and I intently, silently pleading for me not to hurt him.

Truthfully, my words are nothing more than a bluff meant to catch his attention. Gabriel's already warned me against killing them, and even if he hadn't, I wouldn't kill an impulsive teenager just to make a point.

I release my hold on Aiden almost completely, watching as he drops on all fours, wheezing before coughing vigorously. My eyes slide over to the large blonde haired man going through a variety of emotions. Pain. Fear. Anger. Sorrow. Rage.

"What's your name?" I ask him.

He glares harshly at me, and I cock an eyebrow at him in return, a challenging gleaming in my eyes.

"Alpha Gage Beckett," he grits out.

"Well, Alpha," I emphasize his title, "I'll only be in town for a few months, so we won't have any problems as long as you and the rest of your pack stays out of my way." I say. His thick eyebrows pull together and his eyes flicker between Aiden and me. "That sounds like a more than fair deal, does it not?"

He stays silent for a moment, pressing his lips into a firm line while he considers his few alternatives. The struggle in his eyes is clear, making it apparent that he doesn't care for compromises. The faint battle scars littered across his chest and arms have obviously been earned by doing the only thing he's used to, which is fighting out his differences. However, his apprehension tells me that even he knows this wouldn't be a usual fight for him, against a usual opponent, where it's a guarantee that he would be leaving victorious. I'm sure that an Alpha as powerful as himself is not used to taking orders or dealing with ultimatums coming from threats that are stronger than him.

Out of impatience, I huff an annoyed breath and my power squeezes tightly around Aiden, who digs his fingers into the rough pavement and chokes out a tortured groan.

"The clock is ticking, Alpha," I warn, a threat hovering over my words. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"Okay, yes we have a deal!" he rushes out.

"Wonderful," I say with a light smirk that hardly breaks my usually cold expression. I release Aiden completely of my power and let it pull back, the current of pure energy falling back into me with a dangerous familiarity.

Aiden's head rises only slightly before his muscles suddenly go slack, eyes rolling back as he collapses, leaving him completely unconscious in the middle of the road. The brunette gasps, rushing to him and rolling him onto his back, grabbing his shoulders to shake him gently. When rewarded with no response, his eyes snap to me.

"What did you do to him?" the brunette asks me in a panic.

"Nothing permanent," I retort casually. "He'll wake in a day or two. Maybe a little confused, but alive nonetheless."

"Noah," Alpha Gage calls, swifty moving the boy's attention away from me. "Take him back home, tell his parents he's okay, but don't tell them what happened yet."

Noah, the curly haired brunette, nods and carefully lifts Aiden's unresponsive body to drape over his shoulders. His eyes linger on me cautiously before he bolts into the woods, disappearing in the thick plantation.

When the outline of Noah's figure is completely hidden behind a dense line of trees, I turn to the Alpha. "I hope for your sake, you keep your end of the deal and stay out of my way," I say, a warning laced into my voice. I can feel his eyes glaring holes into the back of my head as I make my way to the car and open the door.

With ease, I slide into my seat, turning the car keys and igniting the hum of the engine which starts the vehicle. The Alpha and the wolf with soft blonde fur, back away from the center of the road with their eyes fixated on us. Bits of gravel crunch beneath the tires as I drive past them slowly, allowing me to see the blonde wolf snarl, snapping her jaws one last time before leaping into the woods. As the distance between us grows, I eye the Alpha in the car mirror, who crosses his arms as he watches me with the same intensity. When we make a sharp turn and he's out of view, I allow myself to relax slightly and shift my attention fully onto the road ahead of us.

I glance at Gabriel as I speed down the road, only to see him looking at me with a pointed glare.

"I don't know what your so mad about. They're fine," I say carelessly.

"Did you really have to do that to the kid? Was that necessary?" he asks.

"He tried to attack me first," I answer, rolling my eyes. "And yes, it was necessary because now they'll hopefully leave me alone."

"Hopefully," he emphasizes. "What are you going to do if they don't?"

"Kill them." I shrug.

He whips his head toward me and glares daggers, ready to scold me at any given second.

"Alright, calm down. Don't get your wings in a bunch," I mutter. "I'll take care of it if they don't stay away."

"By killing them?" he retorts quickly, his voice laced with sarcasm.

I think i'm starting to rub off on him.

"No, it wont come down to that," I say, shaking my head. "I made that deal with the Alpha anyway, and I think he's smart enough to know not to break it."

He reluctantly nods his head after a moment, agreeing with me for once.

"You stress me out, Kid," he says with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well if I don't do it, who else would?" I say.

He shakes his head lightly with a small smile. In moments like these, it's easy to forget that he's one of the seven princes of heaven. I know him as Gabe or Gabriel, the person who has spent years raising me into who I am today, protecting me, and teaching me, not an archangel that has been around for more lifetimes then I can count.