by Mary Martel
*****
Ian is stacking empty pizza boxes on the desk in front of the window when Riley stands up and announces he’s leaving to go flirt with the desk clerk.
“Be careful,” Ian solemnly tells him.
“Always, brother, always.”
Ian taps his forehead, “if you need me let me know.”
Riley’s eyes go wide and his face fills with shock, “You want me to use my magic?” He carefully asks. At Ian’s nod he asks, “Just like that?”
“Magic,” I scoff, “people don’t have magic. Please.”
“Right,” Riley says with a smirk on his face, “just like there’s no such thing as Vampires.”
I open my mouth to say something, what I have no idea, but I’m sure it will be good, but Ian gets there first.
“Leave her be. This is all new to her and she doesn’t know anything about magic or Vampires. Go. Be careful and let me know if you need me.”
I like that he’s always sticking up for me with his brother. I don’t think I need him to do it for me, but I most certainly like that he does it.
Riley doesn’t say anything he just shoots me a dirty look and leaves. I guess he doesn’t appreciate his brother sticking up for me as much as I do. Ian and I don’t say anything for a few minutes, we both stand there, lost in our own thoughts, staring at the door.
Ian is the first to break the silence. Thank god, because I’m at a complete loss here, words having failed me. He clears his throat. When I look at him he asks me, “Would you like to watch a movie or something on the television?”
Would I like to watch a movie or something on the television? Uh, no, I would not. Not when there’s so many things he has yet to explain to me. “Maybe you could explain things to me now?”
Subtle, Shayne. Real subtle.
He opens his mouth and closes it a few times before he cautiously asks, “What do you want to know?”
Your every little secret. Your heart’s desire. Shit like that.
I find myself fighting an eye roll. Really? Like he even had to ask me such a stupid question.
“Everything. I want to know everything.” I rush out before he can change his mind and tell me I have to wait longer for him to give me my answers. “I want to know if that thing in my apartment that attacked me was really a Vampire. Why are there no longer any marks on my neck from him biting me? What happened to him? Why did I have to leave my home and Anna May? Why do you think it’s not safe for me? Who you are? Why do you keep calling me your mate? I want to know everything. You told me you would explain it to me and I think now is a pretty damn good time for you to do it. I don’t like being kept in the dark. I want to know what you’ve involved me in here.”
When I’m finally done speaking I suck in a huge lungful of air. I tend to ramble when I’m uncomfortable.
Please, I think, don’t brush off my questions this time like you have every other time I’ve asked.
“You’re right.” He says, sounding defeated. “I did tell you I would explain everything. Sit. Get comfortable. I have a feeling this may take some time.”
I sigh in relief. Finally. I am going to get some answers.
Thank god for that because I totally threw my plan right out the window.
Chapter 9
Ian
She scrambles onto the bed and scoots up to the headboard, getting comfortable. Sitting with her back to the headboard with a pillow behind her and her legs stretched out in front of her, she smiles up at me, letting me know she thinks she’s ready to hear what I have to say.
I’m uncomfortably nervous, so very nervous. Not an emotion I’m familiar with.
What if she hears what I am and is disgusted, or thinks I’m a freak and hates me? That worries me because I can’t bear to lose her not now when I’ve decided to keep her. I cannot live my life without her in it. Shit, what am I going to do if she freaks out on me?
“Where do I begin?” I murmur to myself.
“The beginning is usually a good place to begin,” she tells me.
“Smartass.”
“Seriously, any day now.”
With nothing for it, I blurt out, “I’m a shifter.”
She stares at me blankly, giving nothing away.
“Ooookkaay,” she says, drawing out the word, “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
She’d never heard of a shifter before? Christ, didn’t she watch television?
“I can turn into an animal at will.” I clarify. None of that forced full moon bullshit for me.
“Are you on drugs right now?” she asks me in disbelief.
“No, I am being very serious.” And dammit, I was.
“That’s not possible. People do not turn into animals.”
“Normal humans, no. But shifters, yes.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I’m telling you the truth,” I say. I feel relief because she seems to be handling this alright so far. She’s not screaming, crying or trying to get away from me. All of which would seriously suck for me if she decided to do.
“Okay. So show me.”
“I can’t.”
She laughs at this, “Of course not because it’s not possible.”
“Riley is a shifter as well.”
“Of course he is. He’s a shifter that turns into an animal but can’t actually turn into an animal because, ya know, that makes perfect sense.”
“Supernaturals can only sense shifters when they are in their animal form and I don’t want anybody else to know where we are.”
“Let me guess, you don’t want others to know where we are because it would be dangerous.”
“Yes,” I calmly tell her. Although, I’m feeling anything but calm at the moment.
“And why is this exactly?” she asks, quirking an eyebrow and grinning at me.
“Because my Uncle wants Riley and me dead and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I’m sure he has people all over the world looking for us.”
She’s still looking at me in disbelief, grinning like a mad woman, only now there’s a little bit of suspicion in her eyes.
“Like the Vampire dude who was in my apartment? He said he was looking for you.”
“Exactly like that,” I say.
“What happened to him?”
“The Vampire?” I ask, seeking clarification.
She nods.
At this, I hesitate. What happened to the Vampire was not pretty. I don’t want to scare her and make her afraid of me. Not that she believes anything I have to say, but with my luck that would be when she became a believer.
Oh, what the hell.
“I ripped his limbs off one at a time and then I ate his heart.”
“You are crazy,” she tells me. The horror plain to hear in her voice. Plain to see etched across her beautifully expressive face.
“I am not. Everything I’ve said to you has been nothing but the truth.” I probably should have omitted out the bit about eating the Vampire’s heart. There were some things she wouldn’t be ready to hear at this juncture. Or, maybe not ever.
Damn it. Why had I been so brutally honest with her?
“You just told me that you ate a man.” She shouts at me while drawing her knees to her chest protectively and wrapping her arms around them.
Fuck.
I’ve messed this all up.
Now she’s afraid of me.
“I did not say I ate a man,” I slowly tell her, afraid of doing anything, saying anything, that might further spook her. “I said I ate a Vampires heart. There’s a difference.”
“Okay,” she says, her voice back to her normal volume, “you’re right. You did not say you ate a man, you said you ate part of a man. Is there really that big of a difference? Is this a shifter thing? Cannibalism?”
Good Christ… Cannibalism?
Did she seriously just fucking ask me if I’m a cannibal? If my people were into cannibalism?
I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and for
efinger and take a deep breath in through my nose.
This is proving to be more difficult than I ever thought it was going to be. I almost wished she’d scream at me instead. Maybe throw something at my head, something soft, like a pillow. Anything but accuse me of being a cannibal. That was just plain nuts. And wrong. And offensive. Not only was I offended for myself, but for my brother and my people as well.
Christ almighty.
“I’m not a fucking cannibal and no, it’s not a shifter thing. And, honest to God, I don’t know why you give a shit about the damn Vampire. He was going to drain you dry. If not for me you’d be dead right now,” I snap at her, still pinching the bridge of my nose, my eyes aimed down at my boots.
She holds up her hands in gesture meant to placate me but I think I’m beyond placating at the moment.
“Calm down, I didn’t mean to offend you. Try to look at it from my point of view.”
I don’t acknowledge that, “What else do you want to know?” I ask her in a snide voice.
“Why do you call me your mate? What does that even mean?” she asks me hesitantly. I hate that she hesitates. It’s my fault, I know it. I’m not handling her, this whole situation that I’ve put her in, very well and I’m acting like a total dick but I can’t seem to stop myself. I’m unused to answering to anyone for anything. I grew up thinking such things were beneath me, but for her I had to try. I needed to remember she had no knowledge of Supernaturals until a few days ago, this was all new to her. I needed to ease her into it, real gentle like. Yeah, that’s what she needed, gentleness. From me. And only me. For the rest of her fucking life.
Before I can answer her there’s a knock on the door. Unwrapping her limbs she jumps up off the bed and rushes towards the door.
“Riley must have forgotten his key,” she says to me over her shoulder.
Riley would never do such a thing.
“Shayne stop. Don’t open—“ I warn, reaching out to grab ahold of her arm.
But it’s too late. She already has the damn chain unlocked and is swinging open the door. She doesn’t even bother to look through the fucking peep hole.
“Can I help you?” she asks just as I come up behind her. Grabbing ahold of her by the arm l forcefully shove her behind me.
Honest to God, I think I could strangle her right now. Did she not listen to a fucking word I’ve said to her in the past forty-eight hours?
Once I had her behind me I look to the open doorway to see who had been knocking on our door. I probably should have done this first but getting Shayne out of potential harm’s way was foremost on my mind. After I fought the urge to strangle her, that is.
I am shocked to my core by the sight of the woman standing before me.
“Collette,” I breathe.
“It is true,” she whispers in awe, “you are not dead after all, but alive.”
“No, Collette, as you can see, I am not dead.” I whisper back, still shocked by her sudden appearance.
“He said you were de-ad.” Her voice cracks half way through the word dead.
“He lied.” I tell her, voice strong, no longer whispering. I could easily guess who the “he” was she referred to.
“Riley? What about Riley?” she rushes out.
“Alive,” I say.
“Leland?” she asks.
This is where I hesitate and she doesn’t miss my doing it.
Tears start to stream down her face.
“Dead,” I say, “Uncle Roland cut off his head with a sword in the throne room.” I don’t pull my punches, giving it to her straight. She deserves to know.
She draws in a breath through her nose, her chest suddenly expanding with the effort. The tears immediately stop pouring from her eyes, like she’s flipped an internal switch, shutting them off. Abruptly leaning into me she lowers her voice and hisses, “He’s told everyone that you were all dead. That Vampires came in and killed you all. No, not killed, but slaughtered the three of you. Nobody saw the bodies because he said they were so gruesome he felt it would be a dishonor to your father, to our King, to allow his people to see him like that. We have been mourning the loss of our King and our Princes for ten years. Ten long years of that depraved motherfucker sitting on your fathers’ throne, your throne. Where. Have. You. Been?” When she is done speaking she is out of breath and her chest is rising and falling frantically, her eyes are bright and shining fiercely.
All I can see is rage boiling in the depths of her eyes.
Rage that is obviously directed at me.
And this seriously pisses me off.
“How fucking dare you speak to me like that!” I shout in her face.
“Holy shit,” Shayne whispers from behind me, her voice trembles a little. Great, now I’ve scared her again. Unacceptable behavior on my part.
A myriad of emotions flash across Collette’s face - shock, hurt, concern. Then her rage from five seconds before firmly settles back in her features.
“You abandoned your people,” she accuses me.
I draw my arm back so I can strike her down for her words, words she has no business saying to me. I am stopped when a small hand wraps around my forearm, causing me to pause.
“Ian,” Shayne whispers in horror, her small hand desperately clutching to my arm, “stop it. Haven’t you been telling us we have to be careful? You are causing a scene and it is bound to bring attention to us. You need to calm down. Please.”
Frantically she tugs on my arm, trying to pull me away from Collette. I don’t budge.
“Our Queen is very wise,” Collette murmurs. Her eyes are assessing and locked on my fucking mate.
That fucking assessing look in her cold eyes does it for me.
As gently as possible I remove Shayne’s hand from my arm. “Go and sit back on the bed, sweetheart.” I quietly order.
To my utter shock and delight she actually does what she’s told and she does it without saying a word.
Who knew my girl had it in her?
Before she knows what’s happening, I wrap my large hand around Collette’s slender throat and forcefully drag her into the room. Without bothering to look, I kick the door shut behind me with my boot.
I give her throat a slight squeeze before shoving her away from me. She stumbles backwards, landing ass first on the floor.
I watch her sit there, rubbing her throat, not saying a word, glaring balefully up at me in shock, hurt and, it pleases me to note, a little bit of fear. All traces of anger now wiped clean from her expression.
“Ian,” she croaks.
I hold up my hand to her letting her know I want her to be silent and she immediately complies. This, too, pleases me. You’re below me on the food chain, sweetheart, it’s time you acted like it.
Playtime is over, brother. We have a visitor. I use my telepathy to speak to my brother.
I’m on my way. No way are you hogging all the fun this time. He replies.
“Umm… is this another shifter thing? Throwing helpless women around? Like with the cannibalism?” Shayne calls out from behind me.
Christ.
I shake my head in exasperation.
“Quiet, baby.” I murmur, glancing at her over my shoulder, hoping she gets the gist of how serious this is from the stern look on my face.
Chapter 10
Shayne
After he called me baby the room fell into an awkward silence. No one moved. No one spoke. The woman, still on the floor, sits there, staring up at Ian speechless. Ian stands about two feet from her, hands on his hips, lording over her, a fierce scowl on his face, staring right back at her. I, personally, would hate to be on the receiving end of that look. No thank you, sir.
And me, well I had to try really hard not to piss myself. The way he grabbed her and threw her down scared the living daylights out of me. I’d never, not once in my whole freaking life, been witness to a man tossing a woman around like that before. And, if I hadn’t grabbed ahold of his arm, I know he would have hit her. That was not norm
al or acceptable behavior, and honestly, I didn’t think he was capable of doing such things, he had been nothing but sweet to me. Then again, I’d only been in his presence for a whole two days so what did I really know about him – nada.
I did not know what to think of his actions. On one hand, he scared the crap out of me. On the other, I didn’t think he’d ever turn on me like he had this stranger. It was odd, to think these things so soon after having met him, but here I was thinking it anyway. I think I might have hit my head a whole lot harder than I realized because my actions since had been completely out of the ordinary for me.
This silence, watching them stare each other down, clearly battling it out with their eyes, was making me extremely uncomfortable. Or, I should say, more uncomfortable because it was safe to say I was already really freaking uncomfortable. I sat there trembling, waiting for someone to blink.
Before I could get up and possibly lock myself in the bathroom for, oh I don’t know, eternity maybe, Riley barrels in to the room, knocking the door against the stopper with so much force it swings right back at him and hits him in the shoulder. It doesn’t even faze him.
Catching sight of the woman on the ground in front of his brother, his face goes soft and he whispers, “Collette.”
“Riley,” she whispers back, looking broken.
Oh boy.
Here we go again.
I wonder who this woman is to them. Going by their reactions, apart from Ian screaming in her face and throwing her around that is, I’d have to say she is someone who means a great deal to them. Or, at least she was.
I really hoped Riley wasn’t planning on getting physical with her like Ian had. I don’t think I could handle it.
I tuck my shaking hands beneath my thighs and wait.
“What’s she doing here?” Riley asks Ian, finally tearing his eyes off of this mysterious Collette.
“We haven’t gotten there yet,” Ian replies, “I was waiting for you.”
“Appreciate that, brother.”
They both look to the woman still on the ground, towing over her with their huge, muscular bodies.
“Well?” Ian rudely barks at her.
“I followed your trail here from the girls’ house,” she says, gesturing my way with a wave of her hand when she says girl.
