Chloë’s sobs seemed to pingpong between the trees, reverberating, capturing Lia and placing her in the epicenter of the other woman’s misery. It was impossible not to be touched by her tears. Even knowing that Chloë had gone so far as to drug her mate, to incapacitate him to get him back to Anchor and to expose him to only God knew what so that she could finally call Caden her own, didn’t stop her pity.
She stood there, awkward as fuck, unsure as to how to behave. Unsure what to say to make a bad situation better, when the only thing the other woman wanted, Lia couldn’t give.
It was odd. The other week when Chloë had threatened her, the part of her she’d always considered “other” had come out to play. She’d felt it, and now, realized her eyes had shifted after Chloë had left. That her inner beast wasn’t bursting at the seams at what seemed like a more appropriate moment was distinctly odd. Odd enough to give her confidence. Surely she’d be on the brink of defending herself if the cat that resided within her soul sensed a threat.
That meant Chloë’s instabilities could be played upon, and words rather than fists would be the only requirement Lia needed to get out of this safe and sound.
At least, she hoped so. She could hold her own in a fight, but not against a Lioness.
“I–I don’t even know why I’m here,” Chloë cried, lifting her hands, and pressing her fingers into her eyes with a force that made Lia cringe. “The whispers in my mind, they never stop. They’re always there. Telling me things, reminding me. They never let me forget.
“I can’t stop thinking about him, I can’t stop needing him. He’s never even spoken to me nicely, and my head is filled with him. Every day. All day. Can you imagine what that feels like? Well?” she yelled when Lia remained silent. “Can you?”
“No. I can’t,” she replied softly.
“I don’t even want to do what I know I’m here to do.” Chloë’s jaw worked as she stepped forward, and suddenly, Lia knew that even though the prospect of her intentions in being here made Chloë miserable, it wouldn’t stop her.
She backed away slowly, and said, “Chloë, whatever you’re thinking about doing, think again. You’re only going to make a bad situation worse. Can’t you see that?”
“Of course, I can! I’m not fucking stupid, bitch.”
Chloë started to shake as her pace increased, her limbs starting to tremble as though she were fighting herself and not really understanding why. It seemed to be stating the obvious, but something weird was going on here. It was like Chloë was under some sort of compulsion. And let’s face it, until a week ago, Lia hadn’t known people could turn into animals, so why shouldn’t witches exist? Witches who could make a woman fight her own instincts, and those of the animal contained within her body, and urge her to do something she knew was wrong? So much so, her limbs, her very muscles were fighting themselves?
“Caden!” Lia yelled, knowing he was her only hope. Whatever the hell it was that made Chloë act like this, wasn’t going to let up. Not until the other woman did what she had to do. And the cat that had appeared just the other week still wasn’t coming out to play. Not that it would fully until she gave birth, but still, a bit of help wouldn’t have gone amiss.
“He won’t hear. He’s too far away.”
“I don’t care. I’d be stupid not to call out for help,” Lia snapped as she ducked behind a tree trunk.
“True,” Chloë murmured, sounding almost like this was a conversation and not a challenge. “That would be stupid, but still, pointless.”
“Not pointless,” another voice suddenly called out. “I’m here and I’ll help.”
Lia looked around the tree she was hiding behind and frowned. “Who the hell are you?”
Chloë turned around, gawking through the trees to discern the voice, and she answered Lia for her. “Mother? What are you doing here?”
“The instant I saw the credit card charge, I knew what you were coming here to do. And I had to stop you, baby. I couldn’t let you do this.”
“I don’t want to do it,” Chloë suddenly sobbed, and Lia finally caught a glimpse of her savior. A woman as neat as Chloë, as tall and as perfect. The only difference between mother and daughter being hair color. The woman who could only be the Leona of Anchor had silver streaking through her locks.
Jessica, she thought Caden had once called the Leona, stepped between the trees and Lia was once again struck by the peculiarity of this moment.
Both looked ready for a corporate battle. Not a physical attack.
Hell, Jessica even wore heels! By the looks of it, Louboutins! What the fuck was that about? Who wore hundreds of dollars’ worth of designer heels in a forest?
“I know, I know,” Jessica murmured, her voice soothing, almost a croon to a baby. She stepped up and enveloped her daughter in her arms. Chloë sagged into her mother’s embrace.
“Don’t let me do this, Mama. Please. Stop me. I don’t know why I’m even here, but something inside me needs to make Caden mine.”
“I should have stopped this a long time ago. I should have realized it was all going too far. I just thought you’d grow out of it, that you’d meet someone else.”
“What should you have stopped?” Lia asked, stepping away from the tree and closer now Chloë seemed to be tethered to her mother.
Jessica turned to look at her, but there was neither dislike or like on her face. She merely stated, “A wrong I did a long time ago has been revisited upon my daughter.”
Lia frowned. “In what way revisited?”
Jessica stiffened. “I believe that is my business.”
Lia grunted. “Look, lady, I have a palace full of people in there who are really happy to see me,” she lied. “I’ve got Enforcers who’ll act on anything I have to say. Now, your nutjob of a daughter has already drugged my mate, and now, she’s trying to threaten me! And not to curl my hair! You might be the bee’s knees in Anchor, but I think I take that role here. If I were you, I’d start talking.”
“Eloise, your mother-in-law and I, used to be the best of friends,” she said, tightening her embrace with Chloë while glaring at Lia. “We were both in line to be Leona. And Eloise would have been the people’s choice. I knew that, and so did she. It was who could have the most cubs that would have been the decider.” Jessica sucked in a breath. “I paid a visit to a magick-wielder.”
Chloë’s sharp hiss had Lia jumping in surprise. She suddenly reared back from her mother and spat, “A magick-wielder? They’re forbidden to the Prides!”
“I know,” Jessica murmured, bowing her head. “I was stupid. Ambitious. I knew I could do so much good as Leona. Eloise wanted to stick to the traditional ways. She’s like that, has no innovative foresight. I knew if Anchor was to flourish, to grow, then I’d have to be at its helm.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I paid for her to be cursed to rear just the one child.”
Chloë shook her head. “You didn’t even know if she could have more than one. Why didn’t you just wait?”
“The instant she conceived, the match would have been won. They wouldn’t have waited for me to conceive and give birth. And Caden was born close to six months before you. She could have been halfway through her term before I could even start trying to get pregnant! Plus she already had a Leona’s power. I had to do something!”
“Magick-wielders don’t accept payment. I know as much as that.”
“They don’t accept coin,” Jessica stated, swallowing thickly. “They take their payments in different ways.”
“This is to do with why I need Caden, isn’t it? What did you do to me?” Chloë shrieked, jumping back from her mother and almost stumbling on a fallen log. Jessica reached for her, trying to steady her, but Chloë shrugged her off like she was venomous to the touch.
Lines of pain suddenly carved themselves into the tender skin around Jessica’s eyes. “I didn’t think it would matter. Why wouldn’t Eloise’s son want you? I’d never tell Eloise what I’d done, and we’d stay friends, and our cu
bs would be reared together. I just thought you’d fall for each other. And if you didn’t, I know Eloise, she’d have wanted her son to be with the Leona’s daughter. Only Caden wouldn’t have anything to do with you, and it was then I realized the curse had made it that way.
“It had entwined your life with his, your fate with his, but in a way that would twist and play with your mind, while he was left completely unaffected.”
Chloë leaped forward, slamming her hands into Jessica’s shoulders with such force, the woman fell to the ground. The suddenness of her behavior had Lia rearing backward.
“Tell me what the curse was. Tell me. I need to know!”
Jessica’s lips trembled as she stared up at her daughter. The force of Chloë’s attack had her hair tumbling out of the neat coil it had been pinned in. There was a plea on her face, but it wasn’t answered. And in fairness, Lia could understand why Chloë was furious. This shit was off the hook. If it hadn’t been real life, it would have made perfect viewing on TV!
When Jessica didn’t hesitate, and Chloë didn’t look her way, she knew they’d both forgotten she was even there. It would have been a great opportunity to run, but she wanted to hear this. Needed to. Anything that affected her mate, affected her.
“To cut off the lines of a Mother, to flower those of another,
Those first-borne fates together are twined, to reap and flourish then to wither and die,
The only child shall meet a mate, while the other babe shall suffer and cry,
Damned to look through the panes of happiness, for torment to torture and twist with the mind,
For no relief or succor to ever find,
Happiness for one, misery for the other, the price for power demanded by a Mother.”
Jessica’s words seemed to grow in volume, as a wind swept among the trees, raking up leaves and sending them floating through the air. It was a spooky sensation, almost as though they were being watched by someone not in their ken. By someone above.
The thought had a shiver crawling down Lia’s spine.
When the wind settled, Chloë’s trembling seemed to increase. “You played with my life just to become Leona? How could you do that? I came here, and I knew I was going to kill her. Or die trying. How could you let this happen to me?”
“I thought I could lever the odds. I was so certain Caden would take to you, but he never did. It was Eloise’s fault,” she cried, “She gave him ideas above his station, with all that book learning. If he’d been reared like a normal male, I could have had you mated to him! I could have stopped any of this from happening.”
“It’s not Eloise’s fault. It’s your fault,” Lia stated quietly. “Don’t blame the woman for wanting the best for her son, just because you put your own desires above your daughter’s future. You need to figure out how to break this curse, because she’s fighting it. She’s here, and she knows why she’s here, but her body knows it’s wrong. I don’t know anything about witchcraft but that doesn’t sound right to me. If she’s compelled to do something, every part of her should be in sync, and it isn’t.”
Jessica whispered, “I know how to break the curse. When you drugged Caden, Chloë, I realized things had gone too far. I knew I’d have to make amends somehow, because you were going to end up doing something that even I couldn’t fix.”
“What do I have to do?”
Jessica shook her head. “It’s not really down to you. Not all of it. When I visited the magick-wielder, he said the first price is a blood transfusion.”
Lia frowned. “A blood transfusion?”
Chloë glared at her. “This is nothing to do with you. Stay out of it.”
“Excuse me, but I’m the one you were about to attack! I think I have the right to make sure whatever the fuck is wrong with you is properly handled! And if it isn’t, then I have a helluva lot of new friends just waiting to get my back. ”
Chloë stiffened, and Jessica, who was getting to her feet, froze. “No! Don’t call the Enforcers for help. It isn’t necessary. We can handle this. Please, Chloë deserves a chance to be free from this curse. It’s my fault it’s there in the first place, I should be the one punished, not her.”
Lia folded her arms. “Explain how you can break the curse and I’ll think about it.”
Jessica swallowed, and turned to her daughter. “The magick-wielder says your blood is poisoned. It’s poisoning you. Making you need Caden, and when he rejects you, the poison gets stronger. It’s turning your mind. The blood transfusion will get rid of the poison. You might need a few, I don’t know. The magick-wielder said it depended on how I made amends.”
“What does that mean?”
Jessica’s hands trembled as she folded her arms over her belly and cupped her elbows. The self-comforting gesture had Lia frowning. “A blood sacrifice of my own.”
“No!” Chloë cried.
Before she could continue, Lia butted in, “What does that mean?”
“My life for my daughter’s.”
Eyes widening, Lia’s mouth worked for countless seconds. When she could speak, all she could manage was, “Oh.”
Jessica gulped, then reached for her daughter’s hands. “It’s a small sacrifice to make, darling. But, before I do anything, you need to come back with me. We need to get you to Anchor and into the clinic.”
“Who does the deed?” Lia asked.
The deed was a euphemism. It was the only way she could think to phrase something that bordered on suicide yet wasn’t.
“Eloise. The one to whom I did wrong,” she whispered the words, and Lia knew she was repeating the magick-wielder’s instructions to the letter. She looked beseechingly at Lia. “Please, don’t tell the Enforcers. I can handle this, I just need time.”
“If you can keep Chloë in line and away from Caden and me, then you have your time. I don’t want anything to do with this. This isn’t my battle, Chloë made it mine by coming here, but what you have to do to right your own wrongs is nothing to do with me.”
“The instant we get back to Anchor, she’ll be in the clinic.”
Lia eyed Chloë. It was the first time she’d seen her look anything other than perfect. Tears glittered on her cheeks, a devastated wobble had her lower lip quivering, and she seemed to be shaking from top to bottom.
“What protects me now? I’m going to assume her urge to do me damage won’t just have magically disappeared because of your confession.”
“I’m here,” Jessica said simply. “I might have cheated my way to the position, but I was gifted with the power of a Leona thanks to the cubs I’ve borne.”
Lia nodded, slowly. “I’m going now.”
She turned on her heel, walking away from the two women who had just involved her in their secrets. Secrets she hadn’t wanted to know. Did she share them with Caden? Involve him in what was essentially none of their business?
Or was it their business? Like she’d told both women, she’d made it Lia’s business by turning up and making threats against her.
Eloise would be involved soon, and if Jessica suddenly turned up dead, then Lia would know who the “murderer” was. There was no getting away from it. Sacrifice or no, it was murder. But who knew how this society dealt with cases like this?
Visiting a magick-wielder had shocked Chloë so badly that it had shaken her from whatever hold the curse had on her, a curse that had driven her to stalk Caden to Oregon and threaten his mate.
Maybe that was a crime worthy of corporal punishment in this world. And not forgetting Jessica’s ties with the Puristas. Ties for which the Enforcer, Nikola, would see the Leona make reparation. Reparations that could take shape in only God knew how.
The end was nigh for the Leona. In more ways than one.
By keeping quiet, she was allowing Chloë to break free from a curse that had been settled upon her by her mother’s own hand. To retain the secret was a mercy, wasn’t it?
Nibbling her lip, Lia made the journey back to the Mater’s seat with a silent com
panion—her turbulent thoughts.
Chapter Sixteen
When a warm kiss was pressed against her throat, Lia mumbled in her sleep. She turned her head to the side though, to let Caden have access. Her subconscious gesture made him chuckle, and she pouted, before grumbling, “What are you laughing about?”
“I should have realized you had shifter blood. You’re such a pussycat.”
Her eyes blinked open at that, and blearily, she took in the fact she’d fallen asleep on the sofa with the TV still on, as well as the fact that her mate was kneeling in front of her, butt naked. Spying this, she murmured, “I’d demand an explanation for that but I have more for you in mind than a debate.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” he taunted, grabbing her lower lip between his teeth and pulling gently.
She hummed at his rhetorical question as he slid his tongue along the line of her lips, before moving down to press kisses to the part of her chest exposed by the V-neck of her shirt. He pulled the neckline down over her bra as he trailed his tongue down over the sensitive crevices of her collarbone, down and down until he crested the gentle padding of her breasts.
With his hands, he tugged down the cups of her bra and with two fingers, pinched one of the nipples, and then with his mouth, gently sucked the other. Hips writhing on the sofa, she cupped his head and caressed her own fingers with the soft, wavy locks of his hair. A cry escaped her as he started to suck harder, before switching around, and driving the other nipple crazy with the tug and pull of his lips.
When his spare hand moved down over her belly and settled between her legs, she cried out. His fingers rubbed along the denim seam covering her, enticing her with the sensation of his touch but it was dampened by the thick fabric. She released his head, and sent her fingers down to the fly of her jeans. She made quick work of the zipper, and groaned when Caden’s digits slipped inside the fly and rubbed against her panty-clad cunt.
Claimed by Caden Page 24
