by Aimee Laine
“Well, there isn’t a school for Mimics.”
“If there were, we’d all be a lot better off.” She huffed a laugh. “Or I would have been, at least. They never told me what I was or why I could change or even taught me how … they just forced it.”
Cael crushed her against him.
As much as he could take her stories, she knew the price she paid hurt him, too. It always had. “How did you learn stuff?”
“Here and there.” His grip on her released a little. “My Mom was one of us, and she taught me a lot when I hit thirteen.”
“How old was she when she blended?”
“Ninety-nine. She used to say, ‘Cael, whatever you do, age gracefully. Pick a number and stick to it’. She stuck to ninety-nine and found my Dad, blended with him, and that was that.”
“I wish I had that.”
“I know. We all wish it for you.” He ran his fingers through her hair.
“What do you want? I mean … did you pick a number like your Mom?”
“No, and Lil, that’s what Charley was trying to tell you.” Cael tugged on her hand. “Come back inside. You’re freezing since you have no meat on your bones.”
She’d barely even registered the temperature as with each touch Cael made to her body, she heated up—at least on the inside.
Back in her room, she laid down on her bed, grabbed her pillows and lifted up on one elbow. Cael mirrored her position, though she became his cuddle pillow.
They’d spent many nights talking in just that way, his arm across her waist. With the balcony doors open, the coolness remained, but the platonic nature of their relationship seemed as far away as the coyote who’d been calling into the night.
“So, what I was going to say is this …” Cael started. “If two Mimics were to choose to blend, instead of finding a human to pair up with, we aren’t limited to human capabilities.”
“But I thought all blending was permanent—see? This is why I feel stupid. I’m sixty—almost sixty-one, Cael.” She sat almost upright as her tone pitched up. “I should know this stuff.”
“I’m a hundred and fourteen. I don’t know all there is, but this one I do.” He drove her back down to the bed, draped a leg over hers.
“Are you keeping me in place?” She giggled even as she said it.
“Yeah, because you’re still shivering.”
Not because I’m cold.
“You know how Charley used the dog and cat analogy anytime Wyatt asked about her blending ability?”
Lily giggled again. “Yeah. And that’s really gross, you know.”
Cael’s chuckle added even more warmth into Lily’s body—if that were possible. “Exactly. The Mimic becomes human to make everything function the same way as a human. Mimic to Mimic doesn’t require that. It doesn’t require a blend. We just live our lives as is. No blend. Just … normal. Us.”
“What happens when both Mimics turn two hundred and thirty-four then?”
“Same as usual.”
A forced return to eighteen where memories are erased unless with a perfect match.
“Assuming we’re still together, we won’t have any problems as we return to eighteen and start over as fully human. But at any time before then, if we want, we can choose the same thing. When we’re done being Mimics, we just make the change on our birthday. That’s it. Like you know already.”
“You’re not ready for that, are you?”
“How scary would it be for you … if I said I’d blend human if that’s what you wanted to do?”
“What?” Lily’s heart beat faster at the mere thought that Cael would give up life as he knew it, if she asked. “Why would you do that?”
“Because … Lily, I love you. I have since you were twenty … that night we met—the night you became a part of my family. The first time we ever—you became a part of me.”
“That was forty-one years ago.”
An intense hunger took over Cael’s stare. “Trust me, Lil. I have counted the days.”
• • •
Lily stared into the depths of Cael’s eyes. “You’d really do that for me, even though this is what I look like?”
“It has nothing to do with looks, Lily.” He shifted closer. His leg wrapped all the way over her, tucking back under hers, and he yanked the pillow from between them. With one hand behind her back, he nudged her until their chests touched, clothing their only separation. “I love the tweaked smile you give and your little laugh. I love that you don’t know everything, and I can teach you. I love that you make a mean blueberry pancake that rivals the chefs on television and in New York and Paris, and I get that right here. I love that you tilt your head right when you’re happy and left when you’re sad. I love the way you smell.” He made a show of inhaling. “A mix of lavender that matches your eyes and something fruity. I love that you’re taller than me in my own true form.”
She giggled against him. It always made her laugh when, on their birthday, Cael lost almost a foot of height and she gained four inches. “Cael?”
“Mmm-hmm?” He added light touches with his fingertip to the side of her lips and up her cheek.
“I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, too, I just thought …”
He pulled back until she stared into his eyes again. “What?”
“I didn’t think we could be a we permanently, after—well … I thought you’d want to find someone more right for you. Someone without so much baggage.”
“There is no one more right for me. I told you that our first night together. The first time you let me touch you. Hold you. Love you.”
Lily sighed to the heavens as Cael traced a line down her neck and to her shoulders. His actions reminded her of their first time. When she’d fallen in love with him and walked away with emotions swirling inside her like a centrifuge.
“Do you know how hard it is to want someone for forty years, Lily?” His fingers added to her inner torment, trailing down her side until his hand rested on her hip. “To want to make love to a woman you’ve had once but never a second time? To know she sleeps one wall over and that her body is a flame of sensations. To watch her experience life … and … other men and think … that’s what’s best for her but, in your heart, want her just the same?”
You have no idea. A yawn forced itself to the surface. No, not now!
Cael reached over Lily, drawing the blanket over the two of them. “Know that, Lily. Know it. Because it’s true.” He snuggled into the blankets and pillows as if to sleep, not make love to her.
“But—”
“Rest, Lily. Tomorrow’s going to be busy.”
With Cael’s head on his pillow and his gaze on hers, Lily let her lids close, but her mind continued to play his message.
He loved her.
He loved her more than as a friend.
He wanted her.
He’d let her decide when to go to the next stage.
He wanted her.
Sleep took hold with a small smile on her face.
Cael loved her just as she’d always hoped.
• • •
Lily slept tucked up against Cael until the sunlight filtered through the open windows of her bedroom. By seven, she had coffee bubbling in the decanter and blueberry pancakes on the griddle.
Cael had sent her the message. He’d wait for her. How and when to take advantage of him rested on her shoulders.
As the batter sizzled on the griddle, Lily brought to mind one of Charley’s comments—stop waiting. Lily would have to find the right time to do just that.
Cael’s acceptance of her, his pronouncement of his love meant everything to her. If he hadn’t pulled back with her yawn the night before, she might have pressed them further right then.
A smile bloomed as she poured more batter.
Footsteps shuffled their way toward her, and Angela, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts in much need of ironing, took a barstool just opposite where Lily worked.
Wouldn’t it be aweso
me to have Cael and my whole family? “Would you like some breakfast?” Lily mixed in a touch of cinnamon.
“I really don’t want to put you—”
Lily stopped mixing. “Angela. May I call you Angela?”
“Of course.”
The sizzle from the cooking batter filled the room with sound during their second of silence, the smell wafting its way to Lily. “I’m the least adept Mimic in this family, so cooking and laundry and household stuff, that’s what I do. I love it, too. I get to be super useful to everyone and let them do their jobs. I want to feed your fam—my fam—I want to make you breakfast. Please don’t feel like you’re putting us out. It would make me feel bad because I already know, somehow, somewhere, this is all going to come back to me. So, let us take care of you guys for a while, and let me promise you that we’ll do everything we can to find Leigh. We’re really the only allies you have because, when you’re a Mimic, you aren’t in the system as all other humans are. We aren’t traceable.”
A forced laugh came from Angela. “That I know.”
“And I’m rambling like crazy.”
Angela’s lips twitched at the corners. “I was told which city you were in and that was it. I spent two weeks asking people if they’d seen anyone that looked like the description I had. That was all I’d had to go on. This little man at the yogurt store—”
“Marvin?” Lily giggled as she poured more batter.
“I don’t know. He said ‘Ah, Miss chocolate-strawberry-vanilla. Lives up Turner Point’. It was like one shot in a million. After that, asking about Turner Point led me to this house …” Her hands circled the room as if to encompass the space. “And to Charley. Is she a Mimic, too?”
Lily scooped up the pancake, slid it onto a plate and pushed it in front of Angela. “Once a Mimic, always a Mimic, but Charley’s a little different.”
“Oh, because she said she was you, but then when you came, you changed, and she didn’t.”
“Yep.” Lily withdrew strawberries from her fridge. “It’s a long story.”
“Does … my daughter can … change like this?” As soon as Angela asked, she forked a mouthful of pancake.
Lily raised an eyebrow. “Based on the photos I saw in your house, yes. What did you learn in Romania?”
Angela shook her head. “Nothing. But she looks so much like you, and what with someone taking her from me, I figured that must mean that’s what she is. Right?”
“Yes. I think so at least. It all starts around age thirteen.” She thought of Chase and Maggie. “Sometimes earlier.”
Evelyn joined them at the island.
“Would you like some coffee? Some breakfast?” Lily asked.
“Are you really sixty-one?” Evelyn asked.
“I will be in a few days, yes.” Strawberry slices fell into a whipped, yogurt blend.
“Damn,” Evelyn said. “If I could have looked like that at sixty, I’d have had all the men hanging off my arm, just waiting for me.”
“Mom!” Angela’s eyes opened wide. “You were married to Dad at that age.”
Lily’s lips curved up.
“I know, but think about it …”
A genuine laugh slipped from Angela. “If Dad could hear you now.” Her voice cracked a bit.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I had a good, long marriage with your father.” She rubbed Angela’s shoulder. “And now, I have both my daughters in my reach.”
Lily dropped the spatula with a clatter, grabbed it and wiped the butter from the handle.
“And once we have my granddaughter back, which I’m sure will happen now since whoever is up there is looking down upon me, everything will be right again.”
The boys joined them a minute later, diving into breakfast as fast as Lily could produce it. Tony sat at Angela’s side. Max chatted with Evelyn. Cael eyed Lily from his perch, a half-smile on his face.
Home.
Lily had found her place—the one part of her life she never thought possible and certainly never with any sort of happiness.
15
Walking to Wyatt’s new downtown office alongside Cael brought with it a sense of fear and excitement. Lily had been on hundreds of missions with Charley, James and Cael but never at the center. She’d managed the hair and makeup, the research on look and feel, the checking and double-checking of details. Being on stage sent butterflies aloft and brought a cold sweat to her skin.
“You’re shivering again.” Cael navigated through one stark white hallway after another.
“You know this place could do with a feminine touch. Add some color and brightness to the walls.” Her own plain look had inspired her to study color harmonies and get a degree in interior design, along with becoming a master chef.
“These are all offices that lead to a very secure jail, Lily. That Roy agreed to stay if he got to talk with you still surprises me,” Cael said.
“And thus the shivers. What do I say? What am I supposed to ask?” She followed him down another, just as bare hallway. “How can you guys work in here?”
“We don’t pay attention to the scenery.” Cael stopped at a yellowing wooden door where Stuart, Wyatt’s best friend and Cael’s fellow teammate, stood guard.
Despite the fact that Lily had known Stuart for sixteen years, he didn’t look like he’d aged or changed much. Still tall. Still lanky. All kindness. “Welcome home, Lily.” He leaned toward her, laid a kiss on her cheek and retook his spot.
“No comments on the look today?”
“Aw, Lily. You know you’re beautiful no matter what you look like.”
She smiled up at him. “You missed breakfast.” Lily tweaked his nose. “You’re not one to do that when you’re not on assignment.”
He chuckled as he tilted toward the floor. “Well … we’ve been taking turns keeping watch over Roy just to make sure he stays as promised.”
“I’ll make some banana bread for you later.”
Stuart rubbed at his stomach.
“You ready?” Cael asked.
Lily wrung her hands. She knew he’d let them chat to give her time to relax; it had helped. A little.
Cael spun her so they faced each other. “I’ll be in the booth with Wyatt, Charley and James.”
“And I’m not going anywhere.” Stuart slapped the wall as if he’d attached himself to it.
Lily gave them both a nod. “All right. I’m ready.”
Cael opened the door leading to where Roy waited. While Lily went forward through a second door, Cael slipped into ‘the booth’ as he’d called it.
With a grip on the silver handle, Lily pushed into the interior.
Roy jumped from his seat at the table and pulled another chair out, holding it as if Lily should sit in it.
She let go of the door, letting it click into place.
• • •
Cael slipped into the booth with James, Charley and Wyatt. Knowing Stuart waited outside and knowing he could count on the three other people with him to ensure Lily’s safety, Cael relaxed—at least his shoulders did.
Through the window, Lily took tentative steps toward Roy, the slide of her tennis shoes registering through the microphone.
“Miss Crane, so very nice to see you again.” Roy waved her toward the seat he held out.
“What the hell? Cael said. “Again? How the fuck does he—”
Charley’s hand on his arm quieted him. He could have yelled at the top of his lungs, and Roy and Lily would have been oblivious, thanks to sound proofing.
“I’m sorry, Roy, but have we met?” Lily took the offered seat, her profile to Cael and the crew.
Roy drew his chair facing hers, putting him in profile, too.
That Cael wouldn’t be able to see his eyes or expressions unnerved him. I’m going to miss something. He’d have to scan the monitors while Lily and Roy chatted. “Guys, please keep an eye—”
Charley raised a finger to her lips as James shushed him. Wyatt squeezed his shoulder as if that would reduce the te
nsion Cael thought he’d eliminated.
Beyond the glass, Roy steepled his fingers. “May we speak in private?”
Lily started a nod but stopped. “You mean without them listening in?”
“No, no, no!” Cael’s voice ratcheted up.
Another squeeze came from Wyatt.
Roy nodded.
“Why?” Lily asked.
“Some things are easier to say only to those for whom the words are intended.”
The formality in Roy’s tone had Cael scrunching his lips.
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that,” Lily said.
“Do you want to know where the girl is?”
Lily jerked back. Cael did the same.
“You—you—you know where Leigh is?”
Roy shrugged.
“He’s playing her,” Cael said.
“Shh,” Charley said.
“Can’t you just tell me?” The sweetness and sincerity in Lily’s voice would have won anyone but Roy over.
“Tell me you remember me, and I will.”
Cael fisted his hands. “She’s going to fall right into whatever trap he’s setting.”
Lily’s eyes widened. She blinked a few times before shaking her head. “Remember you? From where?”
“And here I thought I was unforgettable.”
Though Charley chuckled, Cael didn’t join in. Roy’s arrogance about himself confirmed previous theories about the man and only made Cael want to pummel him even more.
“Relax, Cael. The room’s hot enough without your body temp going through the roof,” James said.
“Is that what that is?” Wyatt asked. “No wonder.”
“Shhh,” Charley said.
Lily rubbed at her temple. “I’m sorry, Roy, but I really don’t remember you. I wish I did because I really, really, really want you to tell me where Leigh is.”
“If you remembered me …”
Lily’s lids closed and opened as if she’d done so deliberately. “Why would I remember?”
“Because we were at the institution together.”
“No shit!” James said as Cael said, “Fuck” and Charley seethed.
