Secrets

by Shannon Pemrick

  I swatted his hand away. “You fuss too much.”

  “You don’t take care of yourself, so someone has to look out for you.”

  I glanced up at him. “Like earlier?”

  He smiled. “Yeah.” He then frowned. “Since we’re on that topic, sorry about speaking in my tongue. I know you heard, and it wasn’t my intention.”

  “Why did it happen?”

  “I was caught up in the moment,” he admitted. “Caught up in my anger. I was angry he’d try to take you like that—that he’d try at all.”

  “What did you say? You haven’t taught me those words yet.”

  He avoided eye contact. “It was… possessive… caught up in the assignment…”

  I rolled over to face him. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Lry ul suvy,” he said slow enough for me to catch the words a little better.

  That last word… why does that sound so familiar? It didn’t matter right now. I could figure it out later. “Rai, that isn’t answering the question I’m asking. I want to know the translation.”

  Raikidan hesitated. “It… it means…‘she is mine.’”

  My brow rose. “As in…”

  “As in, mine and no one else can have you. As in… my bond partner… my mate…”

  My heart’s pace quickened, but as I thought about it, I realized it fit the situation of the mission and why he’d say it by mistake. I pursed my lips. “That’s not so bad, actually.”

  His brow rose. “Really?”

  “Yeah. It makes a lot of sense with that situation. I thought it was more like a property-ownership type claim.”

  Raikidan snickered. “No, that’d be Rylan to Ryoko.”

  My eyes widened and then I laughed uncontrollably. “Did you see how red his face got when she called him Master?”

  He rubbed his nose. “Didn’t need to. His testosterone kicked into high gear.”

  We continued to laugh, but it was cut short when someone knocked on the door, instantly irritating me. I sat up. “Come in.”

  The door opened and Shva’sika poked her head in. “I can hear you laughing. You should be—”

  “I’m fine. Rai figured out how to heal me.”

  She eyed the two of us suspiciously. “Even still. You should rest.”

  “I’ll b—” My brow rose as we heard something heavy bump into a wall. “What the hell was that?”

  Shva’sika looked out into the living room. “I have no idea.”

  I slid off the bed when I heard it again. Shva’sika and I ventured into the living room. The sound happened again, and I pinpointed Ryoko’s room as the source. Rylan ventured out of his room, so I knew he wasn’t the cause.

  “Ryoko?” I called. “Ryoko!”

  The only response I received was more thumping. The soundproofing her room had gotten would prevent her from hearing me, that much I knew, but if we could hear her so well, something was up. I stepped closer to her room. I stopped dead in my tracks when the door shattered and a large, brown, hairy beast crashed out of Ryoko’s room.

  The beast shook its large head and slowly stood up on its large back feet, towering over everyone. It had a long snout, with snarling white teeth and long claws, and was barrel-chested with slender hips and a fluffy tail. The beast’s chest, although covered with extra fur, had breasts, defining this creature as female.

  “What the hell?” Blaze shouted. He had come around the corner of the hallway just as this beast had crashed out of the room. “What’s with the wogron?”

  Unfortunately, Blaze’s yelling caught the wogron’s attention and angered her. She snarled and took a step toward him.

  “Ryoko, stop!” I ordered.

  The wogron stopped and turned to face me.

  Rylan’s brow furrowed. “What?”

  Ryoko snarled at me and advanced. I didn’t move. She towered over me, and I still didn’t back down. It wasn’t until she roared and swiped her giant claws at me that I finally reacted. I ducked and dodged her swipe, and then attacked her. She howled and yelped. I forced her back and then stopped my attack.

  “Ryoko, you will listen and you will behave.” She snarled in response and held eye contact. “That’s enough!”

  She roared and came at me again, but this time I knew I’d get her to submit. I dodged her attacks, and once I found an opening, I attacked her again, using all the strength I had. I went at her until she whimpered and lowered herself to the ground. I stared her down and waited to make sure she was going to stay submissive.

  Rylan took a step forward. “That was all a bit harsh, don’t you—”

  I shut him up with a flick of my hand. I didn’t need him ruining this. Slowly, Ryoko lifted her head and looked up at me. She didn’t look vicious anymore. She looked scared.

  Placing my hand on her head I smiled and scratched her. “Much better.”

  Ryoko’s thick tail thumped on the floor and then she began happily whining and rubbing herself against me. I laughed and tried to keep her from plowing me over, but it was hard.

  “All right, all right, Ryoko.” I finally managed to push her away. “Enough, Ryoko.”

  Her ears drooped, but when she noticed I wasn’t angry she perked up a little. I spun around when I heard someone I didn’t recognize breathing heavily. My eyes narrowed when I saw the culprit standing on the stairs of the front door hall. Normally I would be happy to see Ryder, but he had brought a friend along, and that made me unhappy.

  I stalked toward the pair, but just as I reached them and was about to throw out a bunch of threats, Ryder stopped me. “Easy, Mom. He’s one of us.”

  I grunted and pointed at the kid. “You tell and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”

  Ryder’s friend held up his hands. “I won’t, I promise. You can trust me.”

  I snorted and walked away.

  “I thought you said she was friendly,” Ryder’s friend whispered.

  “She is, when she knows you… and isn’t stressed out.”

  Ryoko happily greeted me upon my return. Rylan ventured closer, out of curiosity, and Ryoko looked over at him when she noticed his approach. Her tail wagged a little, and she left me to greet him. He chuckled as she rubbed herself against him and I allowed myself to relax. She was now calm, and instinct wasn’t telling her to defend herself from everything.

  “Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Blaze demanded.

  He was loud, and that did not sit well with Ryoko. She began growling, which made both me and Rylan unhappy. Before I could react, Rylan threw his arm out, and an ice shard went flying at Blaze. The shard never hit Blaze, though. Instead, it hovered in the air just in front of his face, thanks to Seda, who had walked out of her room just in time to stop it.

  “That’s enough, both of you,” she said in a calm tone. “This fighting is going to trigger Ryoko’s defensive instincts, and we won’t be able to calm her if she goes into it a second time. To answer your question, Blaze, Ryoko has stopped taking her medication. It was preventing this transformation.”

  Rylan looked at me. “Did you know about this?”

  I nodded. “At first it was just the full moon that triggered it, but as time passed, it became more sporadic and uncontrollable. Jasmine believed with time and training, Ryoko would be able to control it and transform at will, as well as act like a typical wogron, such as being able to speak and keep herself under control in this state. But we didn’t have that kind of time in the military, so they put her on the anti-transformation pills.”

  “So if you knew, why did you get mad at her when you found out she was still taking them?”

  I sighed and scratched my head. “Before I left, she promised she’d get off them and learn to control it.” Ryoko whined and nudged me with her nose
. I smiled and scratched her on the head. “Rylan, you might as well bring her into your room. This could last a while, and we need to get her door fixed before she can sleep in there again.”

  “All right, I’ll grab some clothes for her.” He headed into her room and rummaged around until he found some clothes he liked. He came back out with them folded under his arm. “C’mon, Ryoko.”

  She sniffed the air, but didn’t move. I chuckled and pushed her toward him. She resisted, but when Rylan touched her shoulder, she immediately stopped fighting, nearly landing me flat on my face. I pointed at Ryder when he chuckled, and he stopped with a sigh. Rylan pressed on Ryoko’s shoulder and she stood up, towering over everyone again.

  Once he had gotten her in his room and had shut the door, I walked over to Ryder. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”

  “Well I had come by earlier, like I had promised, but you weren’t here.”

  I scratched my head. “Oh, yeah, sorry about that.”

  He chuckled. “It’s cool. I figured you’d be back later so here I am. Jon just chose to tag along.” I eyed Jon with obvious skepticism, and Ryder rolled his eyes. “C’mon.” He spun me around and led me down the stairs to the basement. I kept glancing back at Jon as he followed, and Ryder scolded me. “Just relax, will you?”

  “We were attacked today by the military while on a non-military-related assignment. Hard to relax after that.”

  His gaze lowered. “Sorry, I should have figured that was the reason.”

  “It’s all right, Ryder,” Jon told him. “I didn’t expect open arms and smiles the first time I met them. Of course, had we come at a different time, it might have been different.”

  I chuckled. At least he wasn’t dumb. I opened a cabinet and pulled out some supplies. When I came back, Ryder had a few drawings laid out on the workbench. Placing the items down, I looked the drawings over. They were crude rough sketches, but I got the idea of what he was thinking when designing them.

  I went to get more supplies that would help us, but Ryder stopped me. “Before we make these, do you mind teaching me how to carve?”

  My brow rose in question. “Teach you how to carve? That’s not something I’m sure I can teach you.”

  He pulled out a block of wood from a pouch. “Then can you carve something so I can watch you? I’ll still learn.”

  I chuckled. “All right.”

  When he handed me the wood, I looked it over. It was a good quality, and had few imperfections on the surface. Sitting down on the workbench, I drew my dagger and willed it to change into a carving tool before getting to work. I wasn’t sure what I was going to carve, but I knew something would come to me as I worked.

  Chapter 42

  Alight breeze rustled my hair as I sat on the small balcony while Ryoko played with my hair. It wasn’t often I let her do this, but every once in a while, when I was in an exceptionally good mood, I let her. She hummed a tune I was sure she was making up on the spot, but then it suddenly stopped. It wasn’t just her humming, either. She had stopped playing with my hair completely and this piqued my interest.

  Turning to look at her, I found her looking down the street with a nasty scowl on her face. Peering around her, I saw why. A tall buxom woman with tanned skin and bottle-blonde hair was making her way down the street. Normally a person walking down the street wouldn’t bother us, but we knew this woman, and she wasn’t welcome here.

  When she drew closer to the house, it was clear she was making a visit, and Ryoko didn’t refrain from being rude. “Cheaters aren’t welcome here.”

  “She’s right. This woman doesn’t deserve to live for what she did,” the voice snarled.

  The woman looked up at us with a frown. “I’m just here to speak with Argus. Can I please just come in to do that?”

  “No.”

  “Well then, can one of you let him know I’m here?” she asked.

  “No, now clean out your whore ears and listen. You’re not welcome here, so get lost.”

  “You should break her neck!”

  She glared at Ryoko. “I just want to speak with him.”

  “I said—”

  “We’ll tell him she’s here,” I said.

  Ryoko looked at me in question. “What?”

  “You heard me. Argus can decide himself if he wants to talk with her,” I said.

  She sighed. “All right. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  I ducked my head inside through the window. Argus and Seda sat on the couch working on one of his projects. Seda appeared to be enjoying herself. I felt bad for taking him away. “Argus, there’s someone here to see you.”

  He looked up. “Who?”

  “Go outside and you’ll find out.”

  His brow furrowed. “Um, okay.” He put down his half of the project and headed for the front door. Seda looked at me as if she was going to question me, but I ducked back outside.

  “Why didn’t you tell him who it was?” Ryoko whispered.

  “I didn’t realize Seda was helping him,” I murmured. “I didn’t want to upset her.”

  “Fair enough.” She looked down at the street. “He’s coming down, so you might as well be at the door when he gets there.”

  The woman smiled. “Thank you.”

  We snorted and watched her stand at the front door.

  “You do know what you’re doing, right?” Ryoko whispered.

  “It’s time to see if he’s managed to get over her.”

  The front door opened and it was obvious Argus was shocked to see her. “Lyah.”

  She smiled a little. “Hey, Argus.”

  I noticed out the corner of my eye how the moment Lyah’s name had been uttered, Seda complete stopped what she was working on to listen.

  “W–what…” He took a second to collect himself. “What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to see you…” She scratched the back of her neck. “And I wanted to apologize for what I did.”

  Argus crossed his arms. “You waited all this time to tell me you’re sorry. You really expect me to believe that?”

  Lyah frowned. “Argy…”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  She sighed. “Argus, I really am sorry. What I did was wrong, and I know that.”

  “What you did was wrong? You cheated on me with five other guys, three of them at the same time—and that’s what I walked in on, and you’re now just admitting that what you did was wrong?”

  “Yes, I did do that, and I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. You were the best thing that’d ever happened to me, and I was stupid to give that all up.”

  I watched Seda put down her work and grab Argus’ dog tags to fix them. They had broken at some point and Argus had planned to fix them, but he had been distracted by Seda’s offer to help him with invention plans. What is she up to?

  “What do you want me to do about it?” Argus questioned. I was surprised at how well he was doing. I didn’t think he was this well-mended from what had happened.

  Lyah flung her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest. “Give me another chance. Let me make it up to you. Let me prove we’re still right for each other.”

  Argus forced her away. “It’s been over ten years, Lyah.”

  “Please, Argus. You told me once you wanted to marry me and spend the rest of our lives together. We can still have that.”

  I frowned. She would bring that up. She knew how to play Argus. I could see how difficult it was for him to deal with that reminder. He had invested everything he had into her, and she repaid him by being unfaithful.

  I looked at Seda when she stood up and played with her watch until the mask was gone, showing her blue eyes. She grabbed Argus’ crystal necklaces he had taken off earlier an
d put them around her neck before stalking over to the front door. She didn’t look happy.

  Ryoko looked at me with a small grin. “This is going to get interesting.”

  I nodded and watched as the events unfolded.

  “Argy…” Lyah touched his face. “Please.”

  He sighed and looked away as he removed her hands. “Lyah, I can’t.”

  “But, why?”

  “Argus, who are you talking to?” Seda called as she reached the stairs.

  Argus looked back and smiled as Seda walked down the stairs. Lyah on the other hand, wasn’t thrilled at the sound of Seda’s voice, and her eyes widened when she got a better look at Seda. Tall, natural blonde and blue eyes, Seda had all of Argus’ preferred characteristics for a woman. Of course, he wasn’t going to say yes to a woman who didn’t have any of those naturally, like Lyah.

  “Seda, this is Lyah. Lyah, this is Seda,” Argus introduced.

  Seda smiled. “Nice to finally meet you. I must say, I pictured you to be a little taller.”

  Lyah’s insipid smile gave away her discomfort at being around Seda. “Hello. I’m afraid I’ve heard nothing about you, so I can’t have an opinion.”

  Seda chuckled and wrapped her arms around Argus’ arm, clearly trying to upset Lyah. But it wasn’t her actions that upset the woman. It was something Seda was wearing.

  “Are… are those…”

  Seda looked at the crystal necklaces around her neck. “Oh these? Argus gave them to me. I know how special they are, so I never asked to ever wear them, but he just up and gave them to me.”

  “You never let me wear them…” It sounded like she was talking more to herself than Argus. “You never—”

  “Oh!” Seda put Argus’ tags on him. “I finally fixed them.”

  He smiled. “Thanks. I knew you’d do a great job.”

  Seda wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed his chin lightly. She gazed into his eyes for a moment before looking at Lyah, who looked distraught.

  “I’m sorry, Lyah, but like I said, I can’t. I’ve already moved on,” Argus explained. “And I’m happy now.”