I giggled, feeling oddly happy considering I’d just survived a fight to the death against an old powerful werewolf.
I slid out from under the comforter, trying to ignore my body’s screams of protest as I did. I took a silent inventory of my body, trying not to think of the last time I’d had to do that, because that was when I’d first met Roger.
The bite in my neck had healed to the point where it wasn’t life threatening. My left side ribs were sore, telling me they’d probably been fractured during the fight. I had a headache and my shoulder was one fire; I’d probably torn a muscle during the fight.
Overall, I was lucky to be alive and in one piece.
I dressed for the day in the comfiest pair of sweats I could find and threw on a large t-shirt, not caring to do any better. I limped out into the kitchen to find Jax making pancakes. There was a bowl of mixed fruit on the counter and bacon frying in a pan on the stove.
Jax smiled at me. “Well, Sleeping Beauty’s finally up. Looks like we can finally eat.”
“You guys didn’t have to wait for me.”
Jax shrugged and, surprisingly, kissed me on the forehead. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What?”
“What did you mean when you said ‘I am so glad you’re gay’?”
I smiled. “If it had been any other man, naked, touching my naked body, I think I would have had to kill them.”
Laughing, he shook his head and flipped a pancake. “There’s already some finished. Help yourself.”
“Where’s Ilene?” I asked, noticing for the first time that she wasn’t there.
Ray sighed. “It’s Tuesday. She’s at school right now.”
“She’s at school? Roger could show up there and kill her and we’d be helpless to save her!”
“She refused to listen to us. I told her that she wasn’t going and she snuck out the second my back was turned,” Ray said, grabbing a piece of bacon. “I’m gonna shower, and then we’ll talk about our current situation.”
I watched him go.
“He thinks that Ilene’s mad because Ray loves you more than her.”
“Jax!” I said, shocked. “Don’t say that. Ray loves us both equally.”
“No, Alanna, he doesn’t,” Jax argued, sitting on my other side. “It’s obvious, even though he tries to hide it. Ilene’s different, especially since she changed. He loves her, but you’re his baby girl.”
“Jax–”
“He spent practically all day and night in your room. It took so long for the wound in your neck to heal, Ray was terrified for a while that it wouldn’t. He held you until he was sure that you were going to be ok. He may love Ilene, but if anything were to happen to you he’d be completely lost.”
I shook my head. It was wrong to think that a father could love one daughter so much more than another. Deep down, I kind of understood it, even if I didn’t like it. Ilene was different. Sometimes I got the feeling that she didn’t care about anything anymore but herself.
Where had my baby sister gone?
*****
“We’re screwed,” I said, folding my legs under me. “Still.”
Jax nodded. “Yeah, we are. But we’re not gonna give up. Alanna, we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. If we have to kill that monster to get him to leave you alone, we’ll do it.”
“We can’t just kill him you guys. Dad was right when he said that Roger has lots of power and influence. If we kill him, someone else could take it personally, and try and kill us themselves. We need to find a more civilized course of action I think.”
“Like what?” Quinten snorted. “Are we supposed to sue him? We could hire a full-time bodyguard. Ooh, ooh, I know. We could get a restraining order. I’m sure that will stop him.”
I turned on him. “What is your problem?”
“My problem? My problem is that you were willing to give yourself to him without consulting anybody first. You would have suffered the rest of your life being the mate of a man you despise, because you thought it would save us.”
Apparently our close moment earlier was completely forgotten now.
“I was doing what I thought was right!”
He snorted, and turned away from me. “Alanna, you have to be more careful. I don’t think you realize just how much you mean to the three of us.”
I smiled. “I do know. I know because you three mean the world to me. I don’t know what I would do if I lost any of you.”
Jax frowned. “Well, Roger’s obviously going to try and use that to his advantage. I’ll bet you anything he’ll try and use us to get to you.”
“Yeah, I have three major weaknesses that he can exploit.”
“Some a little easier to exploit than others,” Jax said, looking at Quinten. “No offense dude.”
Quinten shrugged, trying to act like he wasn’t bothered. “None taken. I’m human, blind, and weak. I’m the one that he’ll probably end up getting to first. I’m the weak link, I get it.”
I sighed. “Quinten, I thought you and I discussed this before. You are not weak.”
“You were attacked by a werewolf and all I could do was sit there and listen, praying that it was him that kept yelping in pain and not you. Hoping that he didn’t get around you to hurt me, because I knew that if he did, it might hurt you and make you lose your focus. I’m going to get you killed, Alanna.”
“No, you won’t. We’re going to work together, the four of us. All we have to do is make sure that nobody goes anywhere alone from now on. We’ll look out for each other. Everything will work out.”
“Five. Aren’t there five of us working together?” Jax asked, frowning slightly. “Or are we going to count Ilene as a possible enemy now? I mean, she’s been moody and stuff, but evil?”
Ray flinched and I shook my head. “I don’t think we can trust her. Roger said something in the clearing and on the phone when he called. He mentioned how we thought he was a monster incapable of feeling anything but hatred and lust. We used those exact same words to describe him the other night. How could he have known that? Somebody had to tell him.”
Everybody was silent for a minute, and I realized why. Jax and Quinten were waiting for Ray to say something, to make this decision. How could he though? He’d be putting one daughter ahead of another.
Finally, he sighed. “I’ve already lost my wife and one of my daughters. I won’t lose the other.”
He sounded so wounded that I wanted to reach over and comfort him, but I didn’t want him to get embarrassed. I noticed Jax fighting a similar urge, and I almost smiled.
Even if everything went to hell, at least I’d still have three people who loved me, who I loved too. I knew that if there was anyone I would want to spend my last few days with, it would be them.
Chapter Eight
Nobody could come up with any kind of plan that seemed plausible. Ray wasn’t much help; he spent the entire afternoon on the couch, obviously upset about Ilene. I couldn’t blame him there; I’d done quite a bit of thinking about her in the past couple of days.
Was it my fault that she’d turned out this way? If Ray and I had spent more time and attention on her, would she have been our ally right now? I knew that Ray was blaming himself, and I could understand.
I blamed myself too.
Jax believed that our best course of action was to attack Roger’s reputation, not his actual person. All we had to do was tell the werewolf community that he was trying to blackmail us and that he was threatening to kill us, and he’d cease to be a problem.
Jax wanted to use the dhampirs to accomplish that.
I wasn’t so optimistic though. If we took Roger’s reputation and standing with the werewolf community, he’d have nothing left to lose. He’d probably end up coming after us with literally everything that he had. Nowhere would be safe from him. We’d be constantly living on the run, forced to never stay in one place for any significant amount of time.
What kind of life would tha
t be?
I wasn’t sure what Quinten thought; he wasn’t being very forthcoming with his answers. We had to push and prod him to get him to even speak, and it was starting to worry me.
“Quinten, what’s wrong?” I asked, gently placing my hand on his back. “You’ve been really quiet these last few hours.”
He shrugged my hand off and I tried not to let it bug me. “Nothing’s wrong, Alanna.”
“Well, I don’t believe that for a second. There’s a homicidal maniac trying to kill me and everyone I love, including you. So, seriously, what’s wrong with you?” I asked, looking at him.
He stood up quickly and moved away from me. “I said nothing, Alanna. Just let it go!”
He stormed off and I tried not to show how hurt I was by his reaction.
“He’s worried.”
Ray’s voice startled me. He hadn’t spoken much either since breakfast. “What do you mean, he’s worried? We’re all worried.”
“He’s got more to worry about than just this current situation. He’s thinking about the future. His future.”
“Well, ok, but what else is there right now?”
“Kiddo, he was in the process of asking you what is possibly the most important question of his life, and he still doesn’t have an answer…”
The most important…oh!
“You think he’s worried because he and I haven’t talked about our future yet? It’s kind of hard to focus on when you might not live to see that future. I mean, we could be dead tomorrow and he’s worried about–”
“Yes, you could be dead tomorrow. Think about that,” Ray said, taking a spot next to Quinten in the kitchen.
I could be dead tomorrow, so I should give him my answer now? It made sense, but this was the most important decision of my life, and Quinten’s attitude wasn’t exactly helping my decision any.
It was so strange to think that just a couple of days ago, Quinten and I had been wrestling in the park, worrying about nothing in particular. Now, my sister was in an emotional downward spiral, someone was trying to kill me and everyone I loved and to top it all off, Quinten and I were possible mates. How much more could I handle right now?
With a sigh, I went to join everyone in the kitchen.
“Are we any closer to figuring out a plan?” I asked, ignoring my inner turmoil that involved my love life.
Ray shook his head. “No, we’re not. Jax just left to pick Ilene up from school. We’ll get to talking more after that.”
“Are we going to be free to talk with Ilene hanging around?”
Ray sighed. “I don’t think so. Alanna, what should I do? Is she a lost cause? Or is there still time to fix what I’ve screwed up?”
“Dad, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s nothing you can do for Ilene, because you didn’t screw anything up. She’s made her choices, and they have nothing to do with your parenting, so stop blaming yourself.”
He smiled down at me and ruffled my hair. “At least I still have one daughter that loves me.”
“And I always will, Dad.”
*****
Jax returned later with an unhappy Ilene. She stormed to her room and slammed the door shut in my face, refusing to so much as even look at me. I turned to Ray and shrugged. She obviously didn’t want to speak to us, and to be honest, I didn’t have a problem with that.
Nobody came up with any kind of plan that would work, and I settled in for bed later that night on the floor with Quinten again.
Feeling eyes on me, I glanced up. Ray stood in the doorway to his bedroom. He was watching the two of us, curled up on the floor together. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; his eyes conveyed his question just fine.
Why are you two not together?
I slept fitfully that night. My dreams were filled with glowing eyes, flashing teeth, and screams of pain. Screams that I couldn’t help but notice sounded horribly like Quinten’s.
In the morning, I was slow to wake. Jax took Ilene to school; she refused to miss out on her social life just because some crazed werewolf wanted me dead.
I watched her go, realizing that she was truly lost, and nothing would be able to bring her back. It was strange to think that the little girl whose hair I used to braid and play dress-up with was never going to come back. What would mom have said if she could see me and Ilene today? Which of us would she have been more disappointed in?
I seriously needed to get out of the house, and Jax was happy to join me. The two of us decided to go for a run through the forest near our little home. I stripped in my bedroom, before shifting as I jumped out the window. When I landed on the ground, I was a sleek silvery gray wolf.
Jax joined me a minute later as a massive sandy blonde wolf that was much larger than I was. He let me take the lead, and he followed close behind. When we reached the oldest and largest oak tree in the forest, we stopped.
“Jax, I have so much on my mind right now it isn’t even funny. I don’t know what to do about any of it.”
“Is this about you thinking of becoming Quinten’s mate?”
“Does everybody know about that?” I asked, hoping that a wolf couldn’t blush.
“It’s obvious. You know you two act differently around each other than when you’re with anyone else.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think you even realize it, but you two gravitate toward each other. When you’re with one another, you act like you’re the only two people in the world. I know you can’t see it, but we can, and it’s obvious that there’s something between the two of you.”
“But I don’t know if I can be his mate. We’ve been friends forever, and if things didn’t work out…I don’t know what I’d do. And besides, look at my dad. He married a human, hoping to have about sixty good years together, and she died a horrible death. Humans are so fragile. I don’t know if I could survive losing him like dad lost mom.”
Jax lifted his shoulders in a wolf shrug. “What if he could be the best thing to ever happen to you, and you’re too scared to take the chance because you might get hurt? I don’t know about you Alanna, but if my best friend and potential mate was as good looking and amazing as he is, I wouldn’t have a problem with taking a leap of faith.”
I looked at him, surprised. “You think Quinten’s good looking?”
“Of course, don’t you? He’s handsome, even among werewolves he’s good looking. He’s funny, charming, and he positively adores you.”
I came to a stop beneath an oak tree so that I could stare at him. “Well, if you think he’s so dreamy why don’t you date him?”
He scoffed. “I prefer darker and mysterious. He’s too straightforward for my taste.”
“Really?”
His tongue flopped out in a wolfish smile. “What, that surprises you?”
“I’ve always been kind of curious about your dream man,” I admitted shyly. It was something I’d wondered about for years.
“Tall, dark hair, light eyes, funny, charming, definitely handsome, and good in bed–”
“Jax!”
He shrugged again. “What?” He asked, not the slightest bit embarrassed. “Sex is a normal part of any healthy relationship. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I shook my head. “I understand that, but you’re so comfortable talking about it with me. It’s a little strange.”
“Why?”
“I don’t really have anybody to talk to about stuff like that. Ilene’s fourteen, mom’s dead, and dad’s well…dad. Quinten’s pretty much my only other friend since I graduated, and he’s the one that this whole thing is about.”
“I wonder if he’s a virgin.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s never mentioned being with anybody, but if he was, I doubt he’d tell me.”
“Hmm, probably not. We should ask.”
“What? No we are not going to ask! It’s completely personal and if he wanted to tell me he would have.”
“I just think�
��”
“Can we please stop talking about sex?”
He grinned again. “If you want, prude.”
“I am not a prude; I just don’t want to talk about this with you.”
“Alright, we should probably head back now,” he said, looking around. “We got a little farther from home than I would have liked.”
I nodded and followed Jax back home. The entire time I thought about Quinten and his almost proposal. If I accepted, we’d be happy for however long he lived. But after he died…what would happen to me? Would I be left raising his children by myself? Would I enter a emotional downward spiral? Would I ever live a normal life without him?
I asked myself the same question I’d asked myself many times since the night of Roger’s dinner party. Would loving Quinten be worth the risk and eventual heartbreak?
A little bit I returned from my run with Jax. I hadn’t been able to figure everything out, but of one thing I was certain: I wanted to be Quinten’s mate.
Not this exact moment, but once everything was over and we were free to go about our lives, it would happen. He was my best friend and had been for many years. For some reason, I hadn’t noticed it shifting into something more than that.
The more I thought about our friendship, the more it seemed like we were boyfriend and girlfriend without actually dating. We were too close to one another to be just friends.
I found Quinten in Ray’s study. His fingers were gently brushing the pages of some book, and I wondered if it was in Braille. I knocked on the door and he looked up. “Alanna, did you need something?”
I smiled. “How do you always know it’s me?” He turned red, and my smile grew. “Come on, how do you always know?”
He shifted in his seat, obviously embarrassed. “I can smell your shampoo.”
“From the doorway?” I asked, surprised.
“Strawberry…” he let out a quiet moan, and his face turned even redder than before. He ducked his head and continued with his book.
“Quinten, we need to talk.”
He hesitated, before closing the book with a heavy sigh. “You finally have your answer.”
Arena Wars Trilogy Page 9
