Sure he was being sarcastic, but I answered him anyway. “If all of the kingdoms look anything like what I just saw, I suggest layers,” I said, “lots and lots of layers.”
“Right,” he spat before jabbing an angry finger in my chest. “Leave it to you to bring an even bigger shit storm down on our heads!”
Tamerlane’s words hit me like a slap to the face, but I wasn’t going to cry. I was so through with tears. Instead I got angry and shoved my brother away. “Fuck you, Tam, okay!”
“Too late, you’ve done that already.”
Irulan and Vedo stepped between us, Vedo shoving Tam even farther, and Ire grabbing me to stop me from decking my older brother.
“Slow your roll, Tam. If you want to blame anyone, take it up with the old man,” Vedo yelled. “We’ll see him soon enough.”
“Sometimes I hate being the voice of reason in this family,” Irulan mumbled, then stepped in front of me to face my brothers. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there is no blame to be laid at FaeVar’s feet. Your safety was and is his motivation. You can’t fault the Dark King for his methods. It’s his nature.”
“Are you for real?” I croaked. “The hell we can’t! Look around you, Ire. Good people died because of him!”
“And good people died because of us,” she whispered. “Tam is right, we are partially, if not wholly to blame for this, but the past is done. The present demands our attention.”
“So,” said Constantine. “We go back to the complex and figure out our next move.”
“What about the Banshee…and Carrie?” Irulan asked as we turned to leave. That was a good question, but Thade chose that moment to walk inside. With his enhanced hearing, he’d probably heard our entire conversation, and was waiting for a break in conversation to make an entrance.
“Val, Uncle Marcus has multiple teams on the way. This is too big to glamour away, so they’re working on a suitable story. He wants to make sure your family stays away from the press until they contact you with the cover details.”
“I don’t think we’re going to be lining up for E! any-time soon,” I grunted. “But I’ll tell Father, just in case.”
“And he wanted you to know that he’s taking the two Sidhe into custody. Whatever spin they put on things, the public will be assured that they acted alone, and that they are properly confined.”
I glanced at the walls, only now noticing the missing beams, then to the twisted, metal-cocoon that housed the Banshee. As far as I was concerned, they should drop her in the Marianas Trench and be done with it. Then there was Carrie’s seemingly lifeless body. Unfortunately I could hear her faint heartbeat fluttering away in her chest. I’d love to solve that problem, but Ire wouldn’t appreciate that. Instead I rolled my eyes and kept moving.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “I’ll let-” Phone ringing. I threw up finger and pulled my cell out, cursing at the cracked screen. “Another one bites the dust,” I said as I connected the call. It was my mother.
“What’s up?”
“Val, you need to get back to the complex,” she huffed, her anger and worry, evident. Red flags went up and my eyes shifted on reflex.
“I’m on my way. What’s going on?” I pointed and began power-walking toward what was left of the entrance.
“Thomas Meriwether is here and he’s pissed.”
“I can handle, Thomas. I’m not afraid of him.”
“And your father is? This isn’t just about Thomas. Val, he’s got members of the council with him. He’s making serious claims about endangering Rowan and the theft of his progeny.”
“David wasn’t his turn!” I screamed.
“But he was of the line,” my mother sighed.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So you want me to hand over your grandson?!”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it!” My mother countered. “I understand you’ve been through a lot the past few days, but I’m not doing this with you over the phone. Get here, now!” And with that, she was gone.
I crushed what was left of the phone and let it fall to the ground. When looked up, I saw Tam behind the wheel of a CMS vehicle. Ire, Vedo, and Tino were already seated, and waiting. I slid in beside Ire, slamming the door hard enough to break the glass.
Tam gunned the motor and we were off. “Don’t worry, Val. Like we said before, Meriwether isn’t going to touch him.” Our slight disagreement was already forgotten.
“I know he’s not. I’ll take down the entire bloodline before I let that happen,” I promised. Before today, the declaration would have been an exaggerated threat, words spoken in the heat of anger. But that wasn’t the case anymore. Every syllable rang with truth. We raced through traffic and I could feel the surety of my statement flow through me like something visceral. I closed my eyes and could see bodies falling at my feet. Thomas, Eric, what was left of Tristan…even Rowan. If it came to it, I would kill anyone who stood in between me and my son, and would sleep fine after doing so.
My eyes popped open and I shuddered. That was FaeVar’s thinking, not mine. I felt Irulan at the edge of my thoughts and slammed my shields in place. She reached out and took my hand, misreading my actions. “Don’t worry, Baby. We’ll handle this. Valerian is already working on his statement.”
I remained silent, but squeezed her hand. Ire jumped and pulled her hand free. “Val, your hand is like ice.”
“Huh?” I didn’t feel cold. I lifted the appendage in question and almost shit a brick. The entire thing was encased in a fine sheet of ice. I flexed my fingers and the ice moved like a glove, never cracking. I blinked and looked again. This time there was nothing. My hand was normal. As if I didn’t already have enough to deal with, now I was hallucinating.
“Ire, I think I need that reminder now.”
To Be Continued…
Coming in February 2014
Ascension
Wolves of Goose Creek
Chapter One
“For crap sake, Still, please, do as I ask for once,” my producer George, pleaded with me. “You should trust me to know what’s best for the show. Is that too much to ask?”
I leaned back in the makeup chair and swallowed the urge to bite his face off. The mental image of my wolf spitting out chunks of George’s Botox-saturated skin, popped into my head. I couldn’t help but laugh.
George, of course, thought I was laughing at his never ending pleas for compliance. “You know what, Still, screw you alright. There are going to be network executives from ABS in the control room tonight. They’re interested in the show as a whole, which in case you didn’t know, is more than just the pair of tits in front of the camera. Could you think about someone other than yourself for a change?”
I cracked one kohl-rimmed eye and waved away the makeup brush that was headed toward my face. My jaw dropped, but I held back the rant that was building, and instead took a moment to compose myself before sitting up.
“One,” I hissed as I held a finger in the air, “I am thinking about someone other than myself. I’m thinking about my viewers. There is no way in hell; I’m going out there in front of a camera and telling them to spend sixteen bucks, on a ticket to some crappy, 3-D, gore-fest because the media’s new golden boy directed it.”
George’s head swiveled on his neck so fast I thought it was going to pop off, as he promptly rolled his eyes, and proceeded to suck his teeth at me. No, the hell he didn’t just roll his eyes at me like some prissy, teenage, prima donna. I stood up and jerked my neck. The bones popped one by one in quick succession, making the girl behind me, jump and scoot away.
George knew that move all too well. He took a step back and threw both hands in the air. “Now wait a minute, Still. We can talk about this like two, rational adults.”
I laughed again, and this time it was at him. George wasn’t scared of me; he had no reason to be, but if he knew what I was, he probably would be. He was just trying to avoid one of my infamous tirades. Sorry, he wasn’t going to be
so lucky. I let a little of my wolf bleed into the forefront of my mind, and sucked my teeth. This was going to be so much fun.
“Furthermore, like I give a flying fuck about network executives. Look at how they’re running their shows into the ground. They need to stop trying to cater to the directors of the moment and listen to the viewers.”
I grabbed the magazine I was reading and shook it in his face. “Do you see this? Dark Passages is in danger of being canceled. So what if the ratings weren’t stellar, it’s a quality show that is steadily building its audience.”
I tossed the magazine back into the chair. “If they intend to run our show the way that they run Dark Passages, I’d rather stay on our little local television station. Our audience is big enough, and since we’ve started streaming on the web, our viewership has gone up fifteen percent.”
“Still, we don’t dictate how the higher ups should run their networks. We just give them the shows that they ask for, and try our best to make sure it’s good enough to draw people in.”
George dropped his hands and sighed. “Please, Still, I’m begging you. Just read the review and by this time next week we’ll all be sitting on a bigger, flashier new set with nice, fat paychecks to match.”
I wasn’t a sellout, but the thought of more money was enticing. I reached out and snatched the paper from George’s hand, shooting him a skeptical look before giving the review a quick once over.
“You have got to be kidding me! Five stars?! I have never given a film five stars. My viewers know that. Everyone is waiting for my first one. That’s part of the fun of my show.”
George smiled and pointed to the collection of ass-kissery that he called a review. “That’s the beauty of it. If this is your first five-star review. Every fan you’ve got is going to fly to the theaters.”
I snorted, and then looked back at the petrified young girl that was now huddled into a corner. She looked at George like he was a man on his way to his execution, and she couldn‘t bear to watch. She slowly shifted her eyes toward me. The moment she saw me watching her, she quickly dropped her head.
Shit on top of damn. She was human; I felt that much. She must spend a lot of time around werewolves. She knew enough about us to never look an angry one in the eyes. That was so not good. The last thing I needed was to be ousted at work. I pulled back my wolf and turned to face her. It was time to make a new friend.
“You must be new here,” I gushed as syrupy-sweet as I could muster. Behind me, George balked at the one-eighty change in my attitude, but I ignored him. “I haven’t seen you before.” I ran my hands down the wide lapels of my shirt before folding my arms under my breast. My babies pushed against the thin fabric, making the most of the low cut blouse.
“Yes, my name is Melody. I’m filling in for your regular girl. She’s out with the flu.” She peeked at me as she nodded her head, but never once lifted it to look at me directly. Damn, if she was into women that should have worked. There wasn’t a non-hetero woman alive that could resist a full on look at my thirty-eight 'Ds. This was going to require some work.
I sighed and crumpled up the paper in my hand before tossing it to George. He opened his mouth to argue, but clamped it shut when he saw the predatory look in my eyes. He threw his hands in the air and stomped out of the room in a huff.
“Let me know when you’re done!” He called from the hallway. “And remember you’re on in an hour. You don’t have all day!” He slammed the door behind him, mumbling something about ‘damn lesbians’. So much for subtlety. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at Melody.
“So tell me, Melody, what are you doing after the show?” I sat back down in the chair, pulling my long, black hair to one side. I switched gears with my wolf. Instead of intimidation, I was now going for seduction. I didn’t need to sleep with her, just let her see I wasn’t a threat. People were less likely to snitch on friends than people they were afraid of.
Inch by inch she lifted her head. The movement was painfully slow and made me wonder just what kind of wolves she had been spending her time with. They had the poor girl scared shitless. Maybe I would sleep with her after all. She needed to see that we weren’t all assholes.
I cocked my head to one side and took a good look at her. She was definitely cute enough, in a gothic-emo kind of way, and if she had been with wolves before she’d know what to expect in the bedroom department. I could drop a little of the pretense I reserved for humans.
I sat as still as the dead while she carefully gave me the once over. “Do I pass?” I teased after a few moments. I half expected her to drop to the floor the way she jumped at the sound of my voice. To my surprise, she just blushed and ran a shaky hand through her black and orange pixie cut hair.
“I’m sorry,” she all but stuttered. “Was I that obvious?” Yes, but that’s what I wanted, so she wasn‘t about to get any complaints from me. I needed her interested in me.
“Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing,” I softly laughed. “How did you know what I was? I’ve been working here for six years, and no one has the slightest idea that I’m not human.”
This time it was Melody’s turn to shrug her shoulders. “I spend a lot of time around wolves,” she answered, confirming my suspicions. Her voice dropped, and a touch of self-loathing seeped into her voice. “My last three exes were werewolves and the one before that a wolf shifter.”
Damn. She was a fur groupie. Nope, she’s off the possibility list. I didn’t need a fur-whipped, one-nighter following me around like a lost puppy. I slid out of the raised chair and slowly closed the distance between us. Melody held out a hand, and I took it, bringing it to my nose so I could memorize her scent.
I may not sleep with her, but I still needed to make sure she was going to keep my status as a werewolf to herself. A little flirting wouldn’t hurt much. I dropped her hand and slowly raised my own to her face, waiting for her to give me permission before I ran a finger down the side of her cheek.
“They hurt you bad, didn’t they?” I slid my hand into the hair behind her ear and felt several small scars dotting the surface of her scalp. I took another step, and I was so close that I could see my reflection in her pale green eyes. “It’s okay, you can tell me. I would never hurt you.”
She nodded and leaned into my touch. “They couldn’t help it. I pushed them too far and they just couldn‘t control their wolves…but I‘m getting better.”
The poor girl was so far gone that it was almost sad to stand there and listen to her. “Listen, I understand the attraction humans have for us, but there are plenty of decent wolves out there that would treat you the way you deserve to be treated.” I leaned forward and pressed my lips to a rather jagged scar that ran down the side of her neck. “Not every sexual encounter with a wolf involves pain.”
Melody looked up at me and bit the corner of her bottom lip. “I think I’m beginning to see that.” She reached out and ran her finger across my chin. “You have such pretty skin. Has anyone ever told you that? It’s a beautiful shade of golden brown.” She let go of her lip and looked up at me. “I’ve never been with a black person before, or a woman. Maybe you could be my first for both.”
I smiled and took a small step back. “I wish it could be me, but I’m still in the closet. I don‘t see a girl like you sneaking around to be with anybody.” She looked down at the thick, leather, rainbow bracelet that hung on my right arm then frowned at the twenty-plus, L Word and Angelina posters that were plastered to my dressing room walls.
“No,” I laughed. “I don’t mean in that closet. The only human in Charlotte that knows I’m a wolf is my mother. Hell, most of the wolves here have been sworn to secrecy under the threat of bodily harm.” I took another step back as I studied her face, trying to gauge her reaction.
“I won’t tell a soul, I promise. Just one date, that’s all I’m asking for.” The poor girl was so far gone. The desperate tone of her voice made me feel even sorrier for her, as she tried to talk me into the date. I
stood there for a few moments before reluctantly agreeing. If one date was all it took to assure her silence, it was the least I could do.
Thirty minutes later, I walked out of my dressing room looking like a million bucks, and with my lips tasting like raspberry lip gloss. Melody wasn’t going to say a word and I had a date in two nights. I was taking her to the new Spielding premiere, Friday night in Atlanta. I had to cover it anyway for work and had an extra pass, so it wouldn’t be any skin off of my back, but she didn’t need to know all that. She’d get her date, and my secret would stay safe.
I walked down the hallway, smiling to myself when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. A second later Alanis began blaring through the air asking, ‘are you thinking of me when you fuck her?’ drawing me sideways looks from the few people that were in the hall.
My heart sped up and the corners of my lips stretched toward my ears, even though I didn’t want them to. It was my ex-girlfriend Deidra Stratton’s ringtone.
“Yes, Dee,” I signed into my Bluetooth, trying to sound nonchalant. “What auspicious occasion inspired you to remember my number tonight?” I laid it on thick, but I was always like that with Dee; even we were a lovey-dovey, sickeningly cute, couple in love. It’s part of my charm.
“Thank George. You’ve got the poor boy in a tizzy, Still. He was practically hyperventilating when he called me.” I should have known he was going to call her. He gave in way too easily. “And please, tell me you did not fuck the temp in your dressing room. One night stands are so last season, Still.”
I rolled my eyes and stopped outside the control room. “George’s fruity-ass can get bent over his bubble gum, pink Harley and choke on a bag of dicks, if he thinks sic’ing my ex on me is going to persuade me to give in to his demands.”
“Jesus, Still, what you said was so far from PC, the HRC would revoke your membership if they heard you.”
“Blow me,” I hissed. “George and the Human Rights Coalition can take a long walk off of a short pier right about now.” My aggravation with the entire ordeal was growing by leaps and bounds.
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 29
