Jared was almost pleading with them, he knew they both needed a good night sleep, and she had already gone out last night without telling anyone, he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t do it again. “Please I can‘t take the chance she’ll go out again tonight on her own.”
They finally all agreed to go and let Miranda think things were going well; they would pretend to be in bed and would take turns watching the house and guarding everyone in it. They already had guards at all of the Concillium member’s houses and there were guards all over the back woods, they felt the place was covered for one night.
Jared hurried back into the hallway with Gage, they knew if Miranda caught the smallest signed that something was wrong she would looked into their eyes and she would be very angry with what she found. Jared also knew if she spotted any of the extra people outside she would go looking for the other two men herself.
Jared whispered to Gage, “Why do you think they came here? Why wouldn’t they try looking for Emina and Mical first? I would have gone with strength in number before grabbing at Miranda.”
“They went to the place that Mical took me first, that’s the first time they were seen, after that they,” Gage hesitated because he wasn’t sure how to tell Jared the bad news. “They went to your cottage Jared.” Gage was shaking his head, “the werewolves spotted them and try to catch them, but it was too late and the damage is pretty bad. We can go over there in the morning when Miranda knows everything and you’ve had a chance to calm down. I wouldn’t take her there because I don’t think it’s safe, I can’t tell you what it looks like, but I have six guards on it. After that the wolves chased them and lost them in the woods, and they were finally spotted here in the woods behind the house a half hour ago.”
Jared was extremely frustrated and enraged, that was the place where he fell in love with Miranda, and that was going to be their first home together. He wanted to scream and rip Celbris and Triu apart; this was the anger he needed during the first fight.
It infuriated him, “I need to go someplace, someplace she won’t hear me, Gage I’m going to kill them.” He walked to the living room door, “Tell Miranda my mother asked to see me.” He turned to go, then stopped and turned back, “tell her I’ll be back fast and watch over her for me. I need to get this out before I see her, I still want her to sleep tonight and in the morning if they’re not caught they’re mine!” He ran out the door.
Gage walked into the phone room and smiled at Miranda, she looked so innocent and happy, and she had no idea of the plots against her again.
“Hold on mom, Jared just walked in.” She whispered to Gage, “What’s up? Do you need something from me?” She quietly kissed him on the cheek.
“I just wanted to let you know that Jared had to go see his mother, he’ll be back as soon as possible, he doesn’t know it but she just wanted to remind him to be okay with all of the planning.” Gage smile again, “She’s looking out for you so he doesn’t get mad.”
Gage felt a little sad, he brought her into this world and it was becoming so cruel, all he wanted was his little girl back; he was starting to understand why the humans wouldn’t give her up, he didn’t want this for her either, he kept wondering as he looked at her was he being selfish. He shook off the thought and remember that Miranda knew everything before she decided to come here permanently. He also completely understood how Jared fell in love so fast, his was a different love but, he fell for her all the same; just as quickly and just as strongly.
Miranda smiled back, “Thanks. Oh nothing mom, he just wanted to tell me to take my time he’s going to go do something and he’ll be a little while.”
Miranda was already back involved with her conversation. “Can dad check the garden area, if he’s not too busy…” Gage walked out, quietly closed the door and headed for Sahen and Carma’s room.
“Sahen I need you to go find Jared. Miranda thinks he went to see his mother but he knows about the cottage. I’ve never seen anyone that angry before, not even Miranda, please track him and bring him back, I’m afraid he might go looking for them, and I’m not sure if he can defeat both of them at the same time.”
Gage was worried that either Jared would get killed trying, but more than that Jared would kill them, and would be punished for his actions. A punishment Miranda would be required to hand out and would have to enforce.
“Don’t worry Sir I’ll get him, calm him down, and bring him back.” Sahen turned to Carma, “I’ll try to get back as quickly as possible. Do me a favor will you keep Miranda company, tell her I snore to loudly or something.”
Sahen kissed her lips, turned to go, and then stopped short. “Don’t wait up for me because if they get to Jared, I’m going to take them out myself, I don’t care about rules or consequences.” He walked to the door and stopped one last time, “If I get Jared back here, and I can smell them, can I go back out after them?” He looked at Gage, “or should I just report it and come in here?”
“Just come back first, definitely report it, and then I will send you back out.” Gage turned to Carma, “I’m sorry Carma, but it has to be done this way, Jared can’t know and Sahen is the best. The quicker we catch them, the quicker everyone gets back to their lives.”
Gage brought his attention back to Sahen, “Go quickly and get him back! Sahen, if you catch those two, I will make sure no one stops you and Carma,” Gage turned back to Carma, “if that’s what you want.” Carma smiled from ear to ear, and with that Sahen took off.
“I think Miranda may get off the phone before they get back. I’m going to go hang out in her room, and I’ll just tell her that Sahen went to catch up with Jared so he wouldn’t be alone, this way I won’t be lying.”
Carma turned and walked out of the bedroom with Gage, “You know you didn’t have to bribe Sahen, he’s been itching to go on the hunt anyway, and he needs to catch Celbris and Triu. He keeps saying its part of him, once he has a job to do, and I need to understand its part of him. Do you understand what he means?”
Gage knew exactly what Sahen meant and he knew how to explain it to Carma, “Do you remember your last assignment?” Carma nodded. “That girl who kept getting away because there was always someone around her? Do you remember how your instincts just kicked in and how you felt day and night?”
“Yes I was restless; I couldn’t eat, sleep, or even think about anything else. All I could think about was that girl and the kill, she was never alone and that made it so much worse. Day and night all I could think about were ways to get her alone and how I could complete the kill.”
Carma’s eyes were glazed over, there was tenseness in her entire body, and her heart was pounding.
“Oh I guess I get it now, that’s what he’s feeling, and he wants me to understand there’s no way I could ever stop him. I can’t push that button and he doesn’t want our relationship to go bad over it. It makes sense, I guess I need to tell him not only do I understand, and that I get that way too.”
Chapter 23
It didn’t take long from Sahen to find Jared, “Man, I thought I was going to get out, and be able to run around somewhere in the woods. You got angry and went to the back yard? How lame is that, are you already bound or something? Come on Jared couldn’t you go someplace far away? Could you give me some running room?”
Sahen was a little upset with how easy Jared was to find, he wanted to get into the back woods and see what he could pick up.
“I couldn’t take the chance that they would pick up the scent and follow me back here. They are assuming she’s here, they don’t know for sure, they don’t even know who’s running the Concillium yet. I know I want to kill them more than ever, but I also know, that Miranda is more important than that cottage and I won’t lose her because I’m angry. Besides I think if you start sniffing, with this wind, you’ll probably find them.”
Jared was right the breeze was slight but, for an experienced tracker like Sahen, it might be enough to get started.
“If you find them
, leave a few marks for me, because I know…” Jared pointed at the house, “they aren’t going to let me out to help. Miranda need’s me safe or she’ll go nuts and kill everybody, and Gage also doesn’t want Miranda becoming crazy because she has to pass judgment me when I kill them. Gage is right I do need to keep it together, not just for Miranda, but for my own sanity as well.”
Jared turned to go back in the house, “One more thing, don’t go unless you smell both of them, they are as cunning as the other two and I’ve been trying to think like they would, they may try to divide and concur. You might want to sniff over that way something moved when I came out, it could be one of the animals, although I though Gage said he had them all moved inside the barn.”
Jared walked into the house and he didn’t look back, in his head he couldn’t watch if Sahen picked up the scent, he needed to make sure he had no idea where Celbris and Triu might be. He might risk leaving Miranda and going after them and the consequences would be too high.
Carma was waiting in Miranda’s room when she got off of the phone. Miranda smiled as she walked in, but it didn’t last long, “Okay what’s going on here that they aren’t letting me in on? Don‘t get me wrong I was happy to stay on the phone, but I know something’s up! Where’s Jared? ”
Carma was a really bad liar and she didn’t want to even try but Jared had given orders not to say anything. “Look they want you to sleep tonight; so can we please let it go for now, I can tell you that something made Jared angry and he’s walking it off. Please Miranda I don’t want to get in trouble, anyway I didn’t lie, Sahen’s with him and they‘ll be back soon.”
“I know they got word that something big has happened; do they really think I’m not going to figure it out? All I need to do is look into some one’s eyes and boom it’s there, and if you guys all start avoiding me, I’ll definitely know something’s wrong.”
Miranda was still cocky but now she was starting to get worried, “Carma it scares me to think that there is something so bad, that Jared doesn’t want me to know, and my father and the rest of you are willing to cover for him.”
Carma answered her quickly, “That’s not it. He just wanted you to get one good night’s sleep before dealing with any new information, that’s all don’t worry, no one is covering for him. We all just found out to and we would rather not think about it.”
Carma barley finished her sentence when Gage knocked on the door, “See Jared back already, and now you can grill him, just leave me out of this.”
They were both surprised when Gage walked in and asked, “Would you to come with me downstairs? We need to get the others first but Sahen and Jared need to see us. Something has happened and Sahen wants us all up to speed.”
Carma looked more worried than Miranda, she didn’t know what had changed Jared’s mind, and she was afraid to ask.
Jared was right it didn’t take too long at all before Sahen had picked up their scent, they had been there, but he thought Jared scared them off when he came out. There was something else out there, something he couldn’t quite figure out, he called for his father and brother. They were there in a heartbeat and he explained what he smelled, using the mind link he also told them he thought it was a trap, or even a diversion to get them away from the house. He had a plan but he needed to let Gage and the others know as well.
He called Jared, and Gage down because Miranda would need to be told, she needed to know what was going on. He knew Jared wouldn’t be amused but it was Miranda’s life at stake and he wouldn’t go through with it unless she knew what was going on.
Gage got there first and spoke to him and agreed the plan was a good one and Gage left to get the others. As Gage passed Jared; he looked over at him, told him to have an open mind, and this would all be over soon.
Jared looked at Sahen coldly when he walked into the Great Room; it was near the door he just came in from outside, “You want to talk to Miranda don’t you?” Sahen shook his head in reply. “If you want to tell her you need to give me one hell of a good reason why! What’s going on now? Did you find something or someone? Are they right outside that door?”
Jared was still angry about the cottage. It was eating him up inside, he didn’t realize it but he was pacing, and it looked as if he would attack anyone one at any minute.
“Slow down, ease off Jared, we’re on the same side remember? I think you’re right, I think they are trying to get us to leave so they can storm the house, after that they can either kidnap Miranda or kill her. Jared, I need Miranda, I’m sorry. I want to know if my plan will work out before someone gets hurt or killed.” Sahen wasn’t willing to risk anyone’s life on one of his plans, no matter how good it is. “I can always come up with another plan; I won’t risk her life for it.”
“It’s okay; as you can see I don’t think I can control myself anyway, the anger is tearing me up inside. What’s your plan?
Jared stopped pacing and thought for a second, “Wait a minute, you’re not going to turn Miranda into bait, are you? If that’s anywhere in the plan, the plan is over, you got it!”
Jared wanted Sahen to know that Miranda was not going anywhere near those two. He would do it himself first, and then he would need a guard for Miranda.
“It’s not that I wouldn’t do something like that ok, I think you’ll be happy with this plan and if you don’t mind, I’d like to tell everyone once Gage brings them here.”
Jared agreed with Sahen, it was stupid for him to keep explaining the plan over and over to everyone as they came in, he might even forget something after saying it so many times.
As the group got into the Great Room, Sahen asked everyone to sit down, “Miranda, I’m sorry but we have kept something from you, and we all agreed to it so we are all at fault.”
Carma started to interrupt, “Forget Sahen, no one kept anything from her, although she doesn’t know exactly what happened, she figured out that something big is going on. She was trying to get it out of me right before Gage walked in.”
Carma looked around, “dude, I didn’t tell her anything, other than to calm down and that Jared would tell her in the morning after a good night sleep. She’s was okay with that, so what gives? Why are we telling her now?”
Jared came across the room, moved Carma from her seat next to Miranda and sat down. “Honey it’s my fault, I wanted you to sleep, and I didn’t want you to take another walk while we were sleeping. They’ve been spotted in the back woods behind the house and we think they were here within the last ten minutes. Miranda they’re after you again and we believe they want to kidnap you. They left before everything went down, and they don’t know who you are, and they also don’t know about your powers.”
Miranda studied everything going on around her for a minute taking it all in. “Okay I get that, we knew that was going to happen, and I’m not going to go looking for them alone tonight. Jared, I only went out that night because I needed to know where the place was, in case they took you body there. I wanted to be able to get to you, even if you weren’t conscience, that way I could find you. Now what did they do that pissed you off enough to leave me with them?”
She asked him as she pointed around the room at all of their friends, “I know they can take care of me, and that I can take care of me. I also know you would never leave my side unless it was so bad that you didn’t want me to find out or you were so angry you were afraid you would hurt someone.”
She stared at Jared trying to force him to look at her in the eyes and he got up and walked away from her. “I demand someone tell me now! If not I’ll call in the guards until someone does and that wouldn’t be a very safe thing to do, would it?”
She was screaming by the end, Carma stood up to calm her down, and Miranda pushed her away.
Carma fell pretty hard and Sahen had to help her up. Miranda walked to the doors that led to the back yard, she was going to start calling people in one at a time, when Gage stopped her in her tracks, “The cottage, they destroyed the cottage, Mira
nda its real bad.”
He walked over to her and held as she fell to the ground, “it’s going to be okay, we’ll get it fixed up, and the wolves are guarding it as we speak. Don’t worry!”
Miranda’s collapse surprised everyone and they all came running. Jared grabbed her in his arms, “I will kill them myself, Miranda they’re not getting away with this I promise you, I‘ll make them pay for ruining our house!”
Miranda started to sob, “That’s what I’m worried about! The cottage can be fixed; don’t get me wrong, I’m infuriated I want to kill them too. Jared I’m more afraid of passing judgment on you, for your actions, please don’t go after them. I can’t do it, anymore then you could take me out, if I went crazy.
“Look, Miranda isn’t going to pass judgment over anybody, except the four who started it all, Miranda your job is to stay put and let Jared and the others guard you. I have only one other job for you and it is simple. You are going to go into another room with me and start looking into everyone’s eyes. This way I can get what I need so I can catch the bastards, then we all move on with our lives, and Jared will be dealing with a crazy bride again. Does everyone understand me?” Sahen was forceful and very sure of himself. “Now Miranda come with me!”
Miranda nodded, she was still shaken be Jared’s reaction to the news about the cottage.
As she turned to go she looked at Carma, “Oh God! I’m so sorry.” She knelt down on the floor in front of Carma and put her face in Carma’s lap, “can you ever forgive me? I was so awful to you and you were trying to help me.” She started to get upset again.
“Don’t worry,” Carma said as she picked up Miranda’s face from her lap and held it in her hands. “I’m fine I just have to be more aware of how far gone you are. I should have tried going into your mind first. I think we both need to learn things about your powers.” Miranda tried to smile, she knew it was all her own fault but Carma was never going to let her admit that.
Between Shadows Page 27
