After a moment, it felt as if he’d never really been there at all.
Luc stalked through the morning mist toward the home he’d built for his wife and child. Thoughts of Migisi, of her voice, of her eyes, threatened to invade the cold, hard shell he’d built around his heart.
Of course. Of course, of everything he’d tried, she would be the one able to soothe him. Of course. He shook his head in anger. The damnable woman had probably planned it that way, that when he needed help most, she would be the only one who could save him.
Even as he thought it, he knew better. He believed her when she’d said that she didn’t know what she’d done, that she hadn’t meant for it to go so far. He believed her, but it hardly mattered.
He walked up to the clapboard house he’d built for his family. The boards, from trees he’d felled and sawn with his own hands, were beginning to gray, ever so slightly, after a handful of years exposed to the elements. Smoke wafted from the stone chimney, which meant that someone was up. He could guess who. Certainly not his wife, who would spend every moment of her day sleeping if she was able, an escape from the life she’d never envisioned.
He could hardly blame her. If he could sleep his way through it all, he would as well.
No, it would be her cousin. Another witch, which immediately made him dislike her, whether it was deserved or not. She lived there to protect his wife and child from him.
He hated her for that as well.
She ran his home and family because, as more time went on, he was less and less able to do so. She sold potions, spells, palm readings to bring in the cash to support her cousin and her child, money that Luc was less and less able to earn, thanks to the curse.
He hated her for that, too. And he knew he was wrong. He knew he should be grateful.
He paused near the rough-hewn gate that led up the front walk to their home, and the object of his irritation stepped onto the slanted front porch. Thick red hair haloed her face and covered her back and shoulders like a shawl. She met his gaze briefly, then quickly looked away.
“So your witch kept you from killing anyone, eh? Unless you managed to kill her as is her due,” she said, more of a question than a statement, her eyebrow arched as she waited for his answer. She was quiet in general, and didn’t speak much, but when she did, it was with such outright authority, such confidence that he wondered how it was that she and his wife could have been raised in the same family.
She watched him for a moment. “Ah. So she lives yet.”
He gave a brief nod.
“It was peaceful here without you last night, though I would rather you trust me than run off to her.”
Her cheeks reddened with the words, and she looked away again. She was alway on edge with him, angry and frazzled. He knew she despised him for what he put her cousin through. He imagined that she hated him for causing her life to be disrupted as well, as she came to care for the family he could not.
“She should be forced to clean up her own messes,” Luc said. “And she managed, and I am glad you were all saved from another bout of my insanity.”
“I would love to destroy her. It would take so little effort,” she said, her voice a feral snarl. “Maybe it would break the curse.”
“We both know better than that,” he said, crossing his arms. He caught sight of his wife, her pale face peeking out of the upstairs window at him before she quickly pulled the curtain back as if hiding from him. His cousin-in-law caught the movement as well. “She fears me,” Luc said to her.
“She is hurt. It is one thing to know there was someone before her. It is something else entirely to know that you run to her when you need help.” She was flushed again, and Luc wondered at her volatile moods. “It would be better, maybe, if you’d just stay gone. It’s only going to get harder on… on her,” she finished.
“I will have to eventually,” he conceded. “I will not put them in undue danger.”
She nodded. “Be sure that you do.” She kept her eyes trained to a spot somewhere over his shoulder, as if she was unable to look directly at him. “I will take care of my cousin.”
“I know you will,” he said with a sigh, tamping down his anger, his frustration that he would not be capable of doing even that much. “Thank you, Esme.”
She gave a brief, haughty nod, and turned and walked back into the house, closing the door firmly behind her.
Chapter Eighteen
Sophie pushed her cleaning cart down the carpeted hallway and used her key to unlock the next room on her floor. She picked up the travel mug of tea she kept on her cart, taking a quick gulp. She grimaced; it had cooled. Lukewarm tea was a sad, disappointing thing. She chided herself for not drinking it sooner. She definitely needed the caffeine.
The elevator dinged, and Sophie glanced that way. Her boss, Sherry, stepped out, looked in one direction down the hallway, then the other. She spotted Sophie, and walked in her direction. Sophie watched with some amusement as Sherry walked toward her. Sherry, in her early sixties, reminded Sophie of a bird with her quick movements and large eyes. The tiny woman practically swam in the large sweaters she often wore, and her white hair was piled high on top of her head.
“Hey, Sherry,” Sophie said. “I’m just about done here, and then I can help with the linens if you need me to.” The smile on her face froze as she noticed that Sherry wasn’t smiling back. Her boss’s gaze was down, as if she was inspecting Sophie’s cart. “What’s wrong?”
Sherry sighed, then finally looked up at Sophie. “I’m going to have to let you go, Sophie,” she said.
Sophie closed her eyes, then looked at her boss again, sure she’d heard her wrong.
“It’s just not working. You’re freaking everyone out. When it was just us, it was fine, but we’re hearing more complaints, and this morning, one of the guests came to me, concerned that there was something wrong with you.”
Sophie stared at her. “What in the world are you talking about? I’ve been up here cleaning for the last hour and a half.”
“You started this floor three hours ago.”
“No—“ Sophie stopped and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. It was well after lunch time, and she’d started cleaning the second floor just after she’d come in at nine. She glanced at her tepid cup of tea, then looked back up at her boss in confusion.
“Don’t you know what you’ve been doing? It’s been happening for a few weeks now,” Sherry said softly, concern on her face.
“I don’t understand.”
“You wander, Sophie. Sometimes down into the lobby, sometimes outside and onto the trails. You get this strange, blank expression on your face, and you don’t hear or see anybody.”
Sophie shook her head, as if doing so would make the words untrue. “That’s not possible. I’d remember.”
“Isn’t it happening at home?”
“No. Calder would have said something if it was. I mean, I know I’m a little scatter-brained lately, but I think you’re blowing this out of proportion.”
“Sweetie, if it was just us, I’d let it go. Right? We’ve worked together for a long time now, and your work is as good as it always was. But I’ve gotten comments from guests, and one of them apparently emailed the big boss, and he wants you gone, at least until you get some help. This morning’s episode was just the final straw. I’m sorry.”
Sophie’s pulse thundered her ears. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, as if she was having a nightmare. She forced herself to nod, then handed her master key to Sherry. She unclipped the employee ID from her shirt and woodenly handed that over as well.
“I am sorry. Really, you shouldn’t even be driving if you’re having these fits, sweetie. It could be so much worse.”
Sophie nodded and turned toward the elevator. She grabbed her purse from the employee locker room, then made her way to her car in a fog. Once inside, she locked her doors and sat in the driver’s seat, frozen by exhaustion and fear and anger and the never-ending hunger that haunted h
er every waking hour.
She hadn’t known. She thought back to the past week or two. She knew she’d lost track of time a few times, but she figured it was because she was fighting the curse so hard or lost in daydreams of Calder. She’d glance at her phone, and it would be a half hour or so later than she’d expected, and she’d work faster to catch up. She didn’t recall ever being out in the woods unless it was on one of her breaks, and she remembered those times because she worked with her paltry Shadow magic when she went out there.
She’d remember, she told herself. Sherry had to be mistaken.
But in her heart, she knew Sherry wasn’t. The woman was sharp, organized, and seemed to know everything that happened at the resort, down to which guests were celebrating a birthday or anniversary.
She sat, hands gripping the steering wheel. If she hadn’t been so freaked out about what Sherry had told her, she might have panicked over the fact that she was now officially unemployed with no soap business to back her up. She knew she could depend on Calder. But she didn’t want to.
“I’ll figure something out,” she murmured to herself, shaking her head a little to clear it. The first step would be trying to get a handle on the blackouts. She guessed that was related to the curse. She’d have to ask Calder. She knew he said he’d had times like that.
She wrinkled her brow as she turned the key in the ignition. He would have told her, right? If she was wandering away or blanking out when they were together, he would have told her.
She put the car in “drive” and maneuvered though the parking lot, around the front of the resort, and made her way toward the highway. She tried to enjoy the view of the lake peeking through the bare trees, but it didn’t bring her the peace or joy it usually did.
If she was losing entire chunks of time, not only did it mean the curse was getting worse than she realized, but it also meant that she was much more vulnerable to Marshall and his crap than she thought she was. What if he’d already made her do things?
No, she’d know, she told herself, abandoning the thought even as she had it. Marshall was Marshall. He’d be sure to gloat about it if he had her doing his bidding. It was what he’d been working toward, for some convoluted reason, since she was a teenager. His admission about her ancestor, Micaela, and the love he’d had for her made her uneasy. First of all, the idea that Marshall could truly love anyone was laughable. But that, plus the way he’d gone on and on about how she looked like Micaela, the way he’d looked at her the last time he’d forced her to come to him… that look had been there for years. Possessiveness. Terrifying focus. And if it was just her, she’d deal with it. She had been for most of her life. She worried more about Calder and what Marshall might try to do to him if he got tired of waiting for Sophie to be Micaela part two. Because she wasn’t going to become that, and she knew from experience that Marshall didn’t let anyone or anything stand in his way for long. So far, she’d been the only one in his life to continually thwart him, though those around her had suffered for it.
She was so lost in thought that she barely saw the deer bound out onto the highway in front of her. She had a split second to slam on the brakes, even as her heart sank. She knew it wouldn’t be enough. Her car hit the deer with a stomach-turning crunch, a screech of her brakes, and the thick, acrid smell of her airbags inflating. The airbag punched into her, jolting her back into her seat. Her windshield shattered, and her car careened to a shaky halt. Sophie gripped the steering wheel tightly, even after the car stopped moving, trying to catch her breath.
She opened her car door with some trepidation. The deer hadn’t gotten up, which meant she’d seriously hurt it. She walked around the side of the car, and the deer lay there, its side bloody, legs helplessly thrashing as it tried, and failed, to stand. In the few moments she stood there, its movements slowed, as if it had worn itself out. Its eyes rolled, whites showing in its pain and fear.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie whispered, hating herself again not only for what she’d done, but for what she’d become. She remembered the day she’d healed a doe, just a few months ago. She remembered Light flowing through her, the deer bounding off as if nothing had ever happened.
And now she was this… thing. Useless to help, too wrapped up in the insanity of her curse to freaking watch the road ahead of her. She knew deer-related accidents were common; it didn’t make her feel any better. She let out a frustrated, angry shriek that she knew very well sounded insane, but there was no one there to hear her.
She went back to her car and tried to back it away from the deer, for no other reason than the fact that it was the only thing she could do. Her car refused to move, and she lay her head back against her head rest, gritting her teeth against the frustration and anger inside her.
She pulled her phone out and hit Calder’s number as she got out of the car again. She’d need a ride home, and honestly, not leaving the house for a very long time sounded pretty good just then. The phone rang for a long time, and then she got kicked to voicemail. She listened to Calder’s warm, deep voice telling her to leave a message, and she did. She went back to the front of the car. The deer still lay there, looking around helplessly.
She dialed Calder again. No answer. She was just considering calling Layla or Cara when a big silver truck pulled up alongside her.
“Hey. You okay?” She glanced in the window to see Jack, the alpha of the local shifter pack, looking at her with concern.
She nodded, unable to say anything, because she knew if she talked, she’d start crying like an idiot and she didn’t know Jack well enough to feel okay about crying in front of him. He pulled over onto the side of the road, then she heard his door slam as he got out of his truck.
“Sophie, are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine,” she managed. “He’s not, unfortunately,” she said, ashamed again at the pain she’d caused the animal. She glanced up to see Jack studying her closely. She’d seen him around town, and the times she’d visited the bar he owned on the outskirts of town. He was what she would have expected of an alpha wolf: tall, muscular, gruff. Dark, wavy hair, dark stubble across his chin and jaw. He had the tawny eyes of a wolf, a cross between brown and gold. He was loud and rough, usually. Not exactly who she would have picked to find her stranded on the side of the road.
“I can end his suffering,” he said quietly, and she nodded. She turned away, looking toward the rear of her car. She heard the unmistakeable sounds of him shifting, then a wet sound she’d rather not have heard. A few minutes later, she heard Jack on his phone.
“Marcie? Yeah, it’s Jack. I have a fresh deer out here on the one-forty-four if your brothers want to come get it. It’s a big one,” he added, and Sophie stayed looking down the highway. She tried Calder again. No answer, which was only stressing her out more. The first thing she thought of was that Marshall had done something. Her hands shook, and her stomach twisted.
She heard footsteps crunching on the gravel and broken glass on the road’s shoulder behind her, and Jack came around so he could look at her.
“Okay. That’s taken care of. If it makes it any better, that deer will feed a family who sorely needs it this winter.”
“That does make it a bit better. Thanks,” she added, and Jack nodded.
“Is Calder on his way? Or Layla?”
“Calder’s not picking up. I was just about to call Layla, but I figured I’d give him a chance.”
“I’m heading that way. I can drop you off at your place.” He glanced at her car. “And I can give my cousin a call about towing this. You gonna have Calder look at it?”
She nodded. “You don’t have to do all that,” she said.
He waved it off. “It’s nothing. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Sophie reached into her car and took the keys from the ignition and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat.
“Thanks again,” she said. Jack nodded and led her toward his truck. She tried not to look at the deer as she walked pa
st. Jack opened the passenger side door for her, and Sophie climbed in, thanking him again. As he was walking around the front of the truck, another pickup truck pulled up, and a young man got out. He and Jack spoke for a few moments, then Jack helped him load the deer into the back of the truck.
Within moments, the other truck was driving away and Jack opened the driver’s side door and climbed in. He started the engine and pulled onto the highway, driving toward her house.
It was then that Sophie remembered that Bryce had told her the reason Calder had fought Jack a couple of weeks back was because Jack had said something lewd about her. She blushed a little, then looked out the window.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he said.
“I’m not.”
Of course, it was her luck that the curse didn’t care that he was apparently an asshole. She heard him scenting the air.
“That has nothing to do with you,” she said sharply.
“Okay,” he said, and the innocence in his voice made her look at him. “Look, I guess you heard what I said that night with Calder.”
She didn’t answer, but crossed her arms over her chest.
“I was trying to rile him up. The boy came into my place itching for a fight, so I gave him one. Not that I don’t find you pretty. You ever get tired of Calder, you know where I am,” he said with a roguish wink. Sophie rolled her eyes.
“So you were being a humanitarian by making lewd comments about his girlfriend?” she asked, happy to focus her ire on Jack for a while.
“I didn’t say I was a good humanitarian,” he said, and, despite her discomfort, she had to laugh.
Jack rolled his window down all the way. “Damn, do I wish that had something to do with me, though,” he said, the low growl in his voice only adding to the stupid need roaring through Sophie. She hated shifters, and the way they could smell everything from fear to arousal. She rolled her window down, too.
“You can drop me off here. It’s not far,” Sophie said.
Shadow Sworn (Copper Falls Book 2) Page 18
