Relief flooded her, and then immediately dissipated when his expression sobered, and he said, “But Caia already knows everything. She could see your... torture... through Ethan’s eyes.”
The blood drained from her face.
9 - Darker Side
She felt awful.
Sleeping had been an issue after Marita and her ‘operatives’ had worked out a plan of defence against Du Bois and his gang of rebels. And it wasn’t because her body had still been pumping with the adrenaline of doing so well in classes at the Centre; it wasn’t because she was juiced with excitement over how efficient and determined the team had been when discussing the MacLachlan attack; it wasn’t because she was nervous about her next day of classes ahead.
It was because of the beautiful redhead who had disappeared into Lucien’s room with him last night so ‘they could talk’.
All night she had tossed and turned, straining to hear any sounds from next door, and fearing what she would do if she did. Finally, she had used the telecom system by her bed to contact Noble and ask him if it was possible for her to have private use of the woodland simulator so she could go for a run.
Of course it wasn’t a problem.
As she stood there alone, breathing in what she knew to be fake, fresh, woody air and yet exhilarating in it anyway, Caia willed her body just this once to change like it used to. She remembered how afraid she had been of telling Lucien and the others that her body slipped into wolf like magik. Remembering the day they were scheduled for their first pack run together since it had happened, Caia felt her anger build irrationally. Lucien had been so kind as she explained the situation, and she had been so scared he would look on her as less of a lykan because of it. No one in the pack had sneered at her, or condemned her, and she knew it was all because of him. So, why did he have to be big jerk now - taking some, six foot-nothing bombshell back to his room? A bombshell he most obviously had a sexual past with, she rippled with fury, her eyes glaring at a large tree in front of her.
Rose had clung to his arm like a burr the entire evening.
A growl ripped out of Caia’s chest, and she felt white heat building from her toes upwards.
No, no, no, no, no! She cried. But too late, she was stumbling back blinded. Afraid of what she would see, her eyes peeled open slowly, and she grimaced at the large pile of ash in front of her. She had destroyed the tree. She was really going to have to work on that.
Although most of her pent up frustration had expelled from her, she still shook with the agony that Lucien had been in love with someone; that he loved another woman and couldn’t be with her because of her. Did he resent her? Please, Artemis, she pleaded silently, let the change be slow. Let my bones crack and my muscles ache, and my eyes tear.
She stripped naked, folding her clothes at her feet. And then she pushed the change. All too quickly she was a wolf, her hard paws sinking into the dirt. No cracking, no aching, no tearing.
Caia pelted straight into the heart of the woodland, the added feeling of impotence peddling her speed. She hated that she felt this way, hated the rage that gripped a hold of her heart until she was almost blind with the pain. This was what it meant to be his mate. To hurt with a jealous longing so intense it was as supernatural as the world she lived in. Jealousy, she was beginning to realise, was like a cancer. It ate at your very being.
She ran around the arena until her anger subsided to a thrumming beneath her skin, until it was somewhat manageable. Once she had changed back, and had her jeans and t-shirt on, she turned around to squint at the pile of ash. With a flick of her wrist the tree re-materialised.
“Good as new,” she whispered.
If only she could do that for herself.
***
Glamour was easy for her, and Caia could tell Mordecai was becoming worried that she was bored.
“There really is no challenge in it for you is there?” He sighed, watching as she glamoured an apple to look like a banana.
She shook her head. “Nope.”
Usually, she would have been apologetic, but in truth she was bored, which meant her mind was too easily on other things. Like Lucien... and his lover.
Mordecai rubbed his bristly cheek in thought. “Weeeeelllll... we could try the martial arts class. Or we could go back to natural materialisation... damn. I just wasn’t expecting you to pick things up so quickly. Marion did warn-”
“Martial arts sound good. Do I get to kick someone’s ass?”
He laughed. “Yeah. Mine.”
She chuckled, not really seeing Mordecai as the Jackie Chan type. This should be funny, she mused.
***
This was so not funny. Caia groaned as her back grumbled in complaint, her eyes glazed upwards at the ceiling as she lay prone on a mat.
Mordecai’s head popped into her vision, smiling gently down at her. “Looks like we found something that doesn’t come so easily, huh?”
“If I were a wolf right now, your jugular would be mine.”
He chuckled and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her feet. “Well, that would be unsportsmanlike.”
She grunted. “What, in comparison to flipping me over your shoulder and grounding me into the floor?”
“It’s called Judo.”
“It’s called whaling on a ninety pound, eighteen year old girl and being smug about it.”
He laughed and shrugged. “What can I say? It’s nice to feel good at something around you.”
She snapped back, frowning. What did that mean? That she made people feel inadequate? Did Lucien feel that way?
“Did I say something wrong?” Mordecai asked worriedly. “I was just joking with you.”
She sighed and turned away, pulling her ponytail back into place. “No, I guess I just didn’t realise how annoying it is to be around a freak like me.”
“Hey.” He whirled her around, his eyes wide with concern. “Caia, I was kidding. Your abilities are exhilarating to be around, I promise.” He chuckled. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t funny that someone as graceful as you is as hopeless as you seem to be at Judo, Taekwondo and Aikido.”
“Don’t forget Jujitsu.”
Mordecai let out a guffaw of laughter. “I didn’t, I was being kind.”
She smiled and shoved at him playfully, although her mind still buzzed with insecurity.
He seemed to sense it. “Is this about Lucien?”
“No,” she said too quickly, and then had to laugh at herself when she saw the disbelief in his eyes. “Maybe.”
“Is it about Rose?”
Caia shook her head frantically. No, no one could know about her hopeless unrequited infatuation. It was too, too sad. “No. It’s just...” She heaved a sigh and flopped down on to the mat. “Lucien is my best friend, you know. Sometimes when Marion or I talk about my magikal abilities he goes all weird and quiet. What you said... I mean... I don’t know. Do you think he might... resent me?”
“Resent you how?”
“He’s the Alpha of our pack. And he’s been through a lot and deserves that position. He’s the most powerful lykan amongst us, except-”
“That he’s not. You are.”
She nodded reluctantly. “Yes.”
“You think it bothers him?”
“I don’t want to lose him.”
Mordecai smiled kindly down at her. “I don’t think you need to worry about that, Caia. The way he looks at you... he cares a great deal about you, I’m sure of it. I think you are as much his friend, as he is yours.”
His friend. Wonderful.
“Now, if you are done having your ass kicked, might I suggest you shower and then join me for the afternoon lecture on the element of water?”
“Sure. Whatever floats your boat.”
“Was that a joke?”
“A poor one, but yes.”
He laughed and pulled her to her feet. “You’ll learn a lot. It’s a beginner’s lecture, but it’s useful, I promise.”
Caia would never know
if her first beginner’s lecture in the practice of water magik was useful. After Mordecai had led her to an area of lecture halls that seemed to be situated in the basement level of the back of the building, an increasing sense of unease had began to trickle down her spine. An unease that was accompanied by a familiar icy, tingling sensation. The feeling only grew stronger as she followed him into lecture hall A, and took a seat in the back row of a semi-circular theatre room. She blankly took in the younger magiks who sat talking and laughing, notepads to the ready in front of them; numbly was aware of a short magik taking up position down in the centre of the room, where he had a laptop connected to the projection screen behind him. The magiks quietened as he began to speak, but Caia was no more aware of his words than of Mordecai’s concerned stare.
There was a Midnight at the Centre.
Caia honed in on the trace and found the female. Because the girl was young, un-practiced, and afraid, her connection to her was strong. She was somewhere dark and cold. Trapped and bitter. Feeling stupid.
For what? Caia snapped internally. She pushed harder with the trace until she made a connection to the girl that was the strongest she had felt since her horrific invasion of Ethan’s conscience. The young girl had fled from somewhere where there were many Midnights. She had hated them. She had found a Daylight.
She had come here to join the Daylight cause.
Caia gasped and tightened her hold on the connection. Could this be right? She scrambled like an excited child through the trace, trying to find some kind of evidence of this girl’s duplicity, of her malevolence. She found none. Only a bitterness that she had naively wandered into the Centre, and been imprisoned.
No! Caia shook her head.
Who was this girl? Where did she come from? Frustrated, she collapsed back in her chair. She couldn’t pick up any definitive details, but she knew enough to know that an innocent girl was imprisoned here in the Centre.
“Caia?”
She suddenly became aware that Mordecai was shaking her, and others around her were no longer paying attention to the lecture but staring at her, bewildered by her presence and the disruption she was causing.
She didn’t care about them. She turned to Mordecai. “I need to speak with Marita. Now.”
***
His cell buzzed on the coffee table, and he groaned when he saw the caller ID. He really didn’t want to speak to that Midnight at the moment, not with what had happened. He needed Nikolai to maintain confidence in him, and this situation was only going to incite the opposite.
Sighing he flipped the phone open.
“Yes.”
“I’ve called you twice now. Why haven’t you answered?” Nikolai’s thick voice queried suspiciously down the line.
He better just get it over with. “There’s been a development.”
“Good or bad.”
“Not great.”
“Well, outline the problem quickly. I have one of my own.”
“Du Bois?”
“Du Bois. Speak, Kirios.”
He bristled at the use of his name, but bit his tongue to curb a verbal reaction. He swallowed and tightened his hold on the phone. “I’ve temporarily lost my access to Caia.”
Silence hung heavily down the other end of the phone.
“Nikolai?”
“I’m still here,” he breathed wearily. “This is just not a good time. Things seem to be unravelling.”
“No, they are not. If you had been paying attention, I used the word temporarily. I’m on this, don’t worry.”
“I shall try to maintain faith in you, Kirios. You can’t have survived the world this long without a certain amount of ability.”
He grunted. “I appreciate the confidence.”
“Hmm, well, I can do no other thing but trust you will take care of this. I am having enough trouble with Du Bois. He has gathered some rebels, idiots who believe in his faithless words. I have one in custody; she says they are planning an attack against a pack of lykans, the MacLachlans.”
“Have you taken Du Bois into custody?”
“Not yet. I need verification from the other idiots who are joining his little rebellion before I can take him before the Council. I will put a stop to the attack in time.”
Frustration rippled through his body. “You better. You realise Caia will be aware of this little attack, which means the Daylights will be gearing up to defend the pack. If Caia is caught in the crossfire then our plans are going to be obliterated. We need that girl alive.”
“I am aware of what is at stake, Kirios!” Nikolai raged. “Do not push me. I am not the one who lost our inside asset.”
“Yes, well, it looks like we both have a lot of work to do and very little time. And Nikolai… don’t ever speak to me that way again. Understood?”
A tense silence, followed by. “Understood, Kirios. Apologies.”
“Accepted.” He sighed. “Call me when you’ve squashed Du Bois.”
With that he hung up, throwing his phone over his shoulder, and leaning back into the sofa with his eyes squeezed tight.
He had to get moving. There were too many years at stake to let Caia and Du Bois control this war.
10 - Mate
The television flickered, lighting her face up in the dark motel room, revealing her sardonic smirk as she chewed on candy and watched the latest soap opera. He watched her from his place on the twin bed next to hers, and was amazed at the feeling of peace that settled over him just by being near her, and being allowed to look at her.
Ryder closed his eyes briefly as he fought the courage to say what he had to say to her. Maybe he should just let it be. She had had a rough few days.
After her revelations the night before, Jaeden had fallen asleep quickly, exhausted from her much needed crying jag. He, on the other hand, couldn’t even close his eyes, her descriptions of her torture rolling around in his brain and roiling his stomach. How had she survived what had happened to her, and still be able to function as normally as she was?
Her strength amazed him.
Jae had been sleeping for only an hour or so before she had started crying out in her sleep. Her bed started to shake, and then the telephone on her bedside table flew across the room and smashed into smithereens. The television in the corner was just beginning to rumble when he had jumped across the room and slid in beside her, pulling her into his arms and soothing her away from nightmares. Slowly, the movements ceased in the hotel room, and she stopped crying; snuggling into him instead. When she had woken up in his arms that morning, they hadn’t said anything. Jae had merely tugged herself away from him to sit up. Climbing out of bed she had seen the telephone smashed on the floor and had turned back to smile at him gratefully, realising the kindness he had paid to her last night.
After they had rid themselves of the vamps body, Ryder had let her drive to give her something to do, but the conversation had been shallow and teasing, and the dramatic events of the night before had been studiously avoided.
When it was time to stop at another motel, Ryder had refused to let her sleep in a room by herself; so despite the warnings in his brain that he might not be able to keep his hands to himself another night running, they had booked into a twin room.
“I can feel you staring, you know,” she said softly. “Go to sleep, Ryder, and stop worrying about me. I’m fine.”
He grunted and reached over to switch on the lights.
“Hey!” She turned to glare at him. “You’re ruining the ambience.”
“Yeah, well, I want to talk.”
“You’re kind of a girl, anyone ever tell you that?”
“Yeah, well, you’re kind of a ball breaker, anyone ever tell you that?”
“All the time.”
Sighing, he threw his legs off the bed, and leaned towards her with his elbows on his knees, his eyes boring into hers. “I’m serious.”
Jaeden groaned, switching the television off with the remote, before turning to give him her full attention.
“I thought I had gotten away with it.”
He frowned. “Away with what?”
“Talking about last night.”
He grinned at her. “Really? Come on, this is me, you should know better by now.”
She stared at him for a long time, before returning his smile and rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I guess so.” She shifted so she was sitting on the bed with her legs pulled up against her chest. “So, what did you want to talk about specifically?”
Ah, he wasn’t sure she was going to like this at all.
“Well?”
OK, man, just say it... then duck.
“I wanted to discuss the idea of getting Caia to train you, to help you control your telekinesis.”
He waited with his hands clasped tightly in front of him, whilst she seemed to absorb this. Finally Jae nodded, brushing a silky curl back from her face. She pierced him with her clear-eyed blue gaze, and it got him thinking about the other thing he wanted to discuss before this night was through.
“OK.” She grimaced. “Since she knows about the… about what Ethan did anyway, I doubt there’s any harm in confiding in her. I’ll talk to her when we get back tomorrow.”
Well that was easier than he thought. Smiling, Ryder got up so he could sit on the bed next to her, especially enjoying how tense she got the closer he got. “I’m glad you’ll talk to her, but it will have to be when Caia and Lucien get back from the Centre.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot,” she replied quietly, trying to shift away from him inconspicuously.
He couldn’t help it. He laughed.
Her head snapped up, her eyebrows drawn together. “What?”
“You,” Ryder snickered. “Could you be more uncomfortable?”
“I’m not uncomfortable. Why would I be uncomfortable?”
“You’ve been jittery with me all day. I don’t bite... well... occasionally.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Ugh, you are such a male.”
River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte Page 9
