“Shadow…I mean Mica.” Sherry said. He lifted his head and made eye contact. “Follow me to that doorway. I’ll bring your new clothes. You need to phase back now.”
Mica leaped out of Caleb’s lap and waited patiently on Sherry, then he followed her across the room.
Caleb watched them leave. “He seems to listen pretty well.”
“He’s a good kid,” Sherry said from across the room. “He needs his father.”
Caleb stood and approached Mica. “Hey, buddy, I’m gonna need your help. We need to track these guys down before they get away. Celia deserved better than that.”
Desiree interjected. “Caleb, Celia died two years ago.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Two years ago? I don’t understand. Why am I just now hearing about all this?”
“For starters, we didn’t know who you were,” Sherry said as she joined the group again. “Young Mica here has been living as my cat, Shadow, for the last two years. I had no idea.” She ruffled Mica’s hair. “Drake recognized him as a shape shifter this morning, and patched together all the missing pieces of the story.”
“Thank you for taking such good care of him, and I am sorry for the way I treated you earlier. It was uncalled for.”
Sherry smiled. “Apology accepted. I know what a shock this is, and believe me, I was shocked this morning too. He’s been through a lot in his young life. I’ve told him that I will always be there for him, and I will, but he needs a father—his father—and—”
“I want my son.”
She felt Mica relax at her side, and she squeezed his shoulders. “Good. He needed to hear that from you, Caleb. He was so afraid that you wouldn’t.”
Caleb reached his hand out and grabbed the boy, pulling him into a bear hug. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything, Mica. I’ve been livin’ solo for so many years, it’ll take some time to adjust. You’ll have to be patient with your ‘old man.’ I’ve never had to do the father thing before, and you’re half-grown. I’m getting a late start.”
The boy hugged him back. “What do you want me to call you?”
“I’ll answer to most anything, but I’d like for you to call me dad.”
“So the mangy cat does have a heart,” Drake said.
Caleb took a deep breath, then reluctantly looked to Drake. They had never seen eye to eye on anything. He kept his son in a hug and stuck his hand out to Drake. “I know that we’ve never gotten along…thank you, sire, for this.”
Drake kept his face sober. “That had to hurt.”
“It did.”
Mica laughed and slapped Caleb on the back.
Chapter Fourteen
Drake placed an amulet in Sean’s hand. “Follow them, and do not let them out of your sight.”
Sean fastened the heavy gold chain around his neck. “Is there anything that I’m not supposed to let them do?”
Drake considered the question. He knew that Sherry wasn’t going to be very happy to learn that she had a bodyguard following her around, but she had to be protected. He and Mica were stuck at the warehouse with a few issues that needed to be dealt with immediately or he’d be with her himself. He looked to Mica and Mica shook his head. “No, they are free to move about as they wish—for now anyway. I just need you to keep an eye out for Hargrove’s son.”
Sean bowed to Drake. “As you wish, sire, I will protect the queen….” He stole a glance at Mica. Mica’s cold glare had him amend his sentence. “And the witch, with my life.”
“Then go.”
Sean bowed again and left, closing Drake’s chamber door behind him.
Mica stared hard at the closed door and grumbled, “I don’t trust that little weasel.
“Drop it, Mica. I know you two have issues, but—”
“He is insolent and disrespectful.”
“But he is loyal to me and will do as he’s told. We have other, more pressing, matters to discuss than your disdain for my bodyguard.”
“If he allows harm to come to my mate, I will kill him.”
“Noted. Now for the next topic—Caleb.” Drake motioned for Mica to be seated.
Mica sat down in the chair and let out a collected breath, then glared at Drake. “What about him?”
Drake took a seat on his throne. “Sherry is fond of the boy.”
Mica nodded. “Desiree is too.”
“I’ve never pressed the issue. I know it’s been three hundred years, but I need to know what happened with Caleb and his pack.”
“That’s Caleb’s business, you should have asked him.”
Drake folded his arms across his chest. “I’m asking you.”
Mica raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I swore to him that I’d never speak of it.”
“It’s a little late now. The trouble has followed him here, onto our turf, and it has suddenly become my problem. We also have our own conflicts to worry about; Santana and his clan could be heading here as we speak. He has made it no secret that he wants control of New Orleans. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna lose this war because I was kept ignorant of the details of Caleb’s fuckup in England. Now, here’s what I do know. He was nearly dead when you brought him back that day. What I don’t know is the details.”
Drake watched the muscles in Mica’s jaw tense. He didn’t want to have to order Mica to tell him, but he would if he had to.
“Okay, you already know some of it anyway. You might as well know the rest.”
Drake frowned. “I do?”
Mica nodded. “You remember the other night when we arrived back from Tennessee?”
Drake gave him a puzzled look. “What does Tennessee have to do with it?”
“Caleb has a compulsive disorder. When he gets a thought in his head that he wants something…well, he becomes obsessed with it until he just takes what he wants, or attempts to anyway.”
Drake rubbed the tension from the back of his neck. “Are you referring to the issue you had with him and Desiree?”
Mica nodded. “Yeah.”
“So let me guess, he went after someone’s mate.”
Mica nodded again. “Yes, he gets it into his head that they want him too.”
“Whose mate did he go after?”
“The alpha’s.” Drake rolled his eyes and shook his head as Mica continued. “He stole her away for several days, against her will I might add. When they caught up with him it wasn’t pretty. I wasn’t far behind. I had tracked him there as well. When I arrived they were getting ready to cut out his heart. I couldn’t let them do that. He had saved my neck more than once in the vampire wars…I had to save him. You saw the shape he was in. I had to kill the alpha to rescue him.”
Drake stroked his chin in thought. “I wonder why they would wait three hundred years to avenge their alpha.”
“I don’t know, but if they’re after Caleb, they’re after me too. After all, I’m the one that killed their alpha.”
Drake shot Mica an irritated look. “That thought crossed my mind too. Yours and Caleb’s actions have left me with no choice.”
Mica cocked an eyebrow. “Your meaning?”
“Call Caleb, tell him to pack a bag for himself and pick up a few things for the boy. They’ll be our guests until this is over.”
Mica shook his head. “I don’t think Caleb would want—”
“At this point I don’t give a fuck what Caleb does or doesn’t want. He is living in my domain, and will do as he’s told. It seems that they were going after the boy to get to Caleb. I could feel Sherry’s attachment to the boy. I don’t want her getting hurt. I would imagine that you would have the same concerns for Desiree as well.”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m not finished.”
Mica gave Drake a cold glare. “Why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like this?”
***
“Drake knew that I wanted to talk to him, and he’s avoiding me. That’s the only reason I can think of that he and Mica took off so f
ast,” Sherry said to Desiree as she eased into the chair at the diner.
“Mica just said that there was some unfinished business that they had to take care of from a couple of days ago. He didn’t act like it was a big deal to me, but he did say that it had to be resolved today,” Desiree said.
“Sure,” Sherry said as she studied the menu. “I personally think that it’s an excuse.”
Desiree smirked. “Trouble already?”
Sherry turned her head and saw the waitress approaching the table. “I’ll tell you in a minute.”
A young, pretty blond approached the table. She wore blue jeans, an orange t-shirt that read ‘Eat at Joe’s,’ and had on a short, black apron tied at her hips. She smiled and said, “What can I get y’all to drink?”
Sherry smiled back at the waitress. “I’ll have tea.” She saw Desiree nod. “Make it two teas.”
The girl pulled her order pad from her apron pocket and scribbled down two teas. She tapped the pen on her pad, then looked over her shoulder. When she looked back the smile had disappeared. She hesitated, then spoke. “Do either of you ladies know that guy in the booth over there?”
Desiree looked past her and saw Sean sitting in a booth across the room staring at their table. Frowning, she said, “Yeah, we know him.”
The waitress let out a relieved breath, her smile returned. “Good. He’s just been staring so intently at y’all that I was afraid we had a stalker situation going on. He’s gorgeous, but his look is so intense that he’s kinda scary.”
Desiree shrugged, then glanced over at Sean again as she spoke to the waitress. “We’re fine. He won’t bother us.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Are y’all ready to order now or do you need more time?”
Sherry folded the menu and handed it to the waitress. “I’ll have the turkey bacon club.”
Desiree handed the waitress her menu as well. “Cheeseburger, well done, with the seasoned fries.”
“Great! I’ll place your ticket and be right back with the teas.” She left and returned almost immediately with the teas, placing them in front of Sherry and Desiree. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with your lunch.”
Desiree took a sip of her tea then said, “You were saying?”
Sherry glanced at Sean again then back to Desiree. “Wait, are you just going to let this go?”
Desiree shrugged. “I’m sure Drake sent Sean to watch over us. I’d really be pissed if we hadn’t already been kidnapped from this very diner yesterday.” She shrugged again. “Hargrove is still out there. Maybe it’s for the best…at least for now.”
“I see your point, but I still don’t like it.”
“Me either, but hey, I like breathing too.”
Sherry smiled. “Yeah, breathing’s good.”
Desiree laughed. “You’re killing me. I need you to finish telling me why you think that Drake is avoiding you, because from my standpoint he is doing anything but.”
Sherry looked away, toying with her glass. “Things were going great until we arrived at the warehouse.”
“And?”
Sherry shrugged then glanced back at her friend. “It all started when he heard my thoughts and answered me in my head.”
Desiree worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She winced then said, “Go on.”
“All of a sudden everyone is calling me a queen. It was kinda fun when he did it, but when everyone else is doing it, it’s kinda creepy.” She sighed. “I demanded that he tell me what’s going on, and he just said that we’d talk later. I thought when Caleb and little Mica left that he’d talk to me, but he had something else on his mind and…here we are.”
“Honey, I need to ask you something really personal, and I don’t want you to get mad, but it’s important.”
“Okay.” She picked up her tea and took in a mouthful.
“What are your feelings for Drake?” Sherry nearly spewed the tea. She coughed a couple of times, then opened her mouth to object to the question, but Desiree held up her hand and continued. “I’m not askin’ to be nosey. We’re past the point of warnings. You’re in too deep now.”
“Now you’re starting to scare me.”
A tear slipped out of the corner of Desiree’s eye. “I wish I had been successful in scaring you away yesterday morning, but fate had other plans, and now it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“For you to leave and live a normal life.”
Sherry gave her a weak smile. “Des, I have no intensions of leaving. I’m happy with my life the way it is at the moment. As for being normal…well, to tell the truth, there is nothing normal about either of us. I’d accepted that a long time ago. I thought you had too.”
Desiree sniffed, then smiled a little. “You’re right, we’re not normal. I gave up being normal a hundred years ago. What is normal anyway, right?”
Sherry nodded. “Right.”
The smile left Desiree’s face as she searched Sherry’s eyes. “Damn it, it’s still nagging at me. I feel it in my gut that you’re just trying to make me feel better.”
Sherry huffed out a frustrated breath. “Des…look, what I need most from you is for you to stop this. I can read your pity for me in your expression, and to tell the truth it’s starting to piss me off.”
“I don’t pity you, I—”
“Let me finish. I’m so happy and proud for you that you have finally found a great guy. Yes, being a vampire is a huge issue to overcome, but like I said before, we’re not normal either. The short time I’ve been around you two as a couple I can see that he loves you very much. And if I’m correct in my assumptions, you love him too.”
“Yes, but—”
Sherry threw up her hands. “But what?”
“We’re talking about you and Drake, not me and Mica.”
“You know something? I could choke you right now.”
Desiree threw out her hands. “What?”
“I thought you were supposed to be my friend.”
“Sherry, I am your friend. I love you as a sister. I’m just trying to protect—”
Sherry shook her head. “Don’t you get it? I don’t need you to protect me. What I need from you is your support. Stop feeling sorry for me and be happy for me. Please, just let me feel a small fraction of what you feel without the guilt.”
“Guilt?”
“Yeah, I kinda feel guilty for wanting to be with Drake because I know that you don’t approve.”
“But with Drake?”
“Des, I know you don’t like him, but—”
“It’s not that I don’t like him Sher; he’s dangerous.”
“And Mica’s not? Besides, a little danger adds spice to your life. It keeps things exciting.”
“I think that this kind of life might be a little more excitement that you’re prepared for.”
Sherry smiled. “I’ve had more excitement in the last two days than I’ve had in my entire life. It made me realize how dull and boring my existence has been so far. Drake makes me feel things that I’ve never felt before.”
“Sher, they have a word for that. It’s called lust.”
The waitress set the plates down on the table. Desiree waved her on.
Sherry felt the heat flood her face. She knew that the girl had to have heard at least Desiree’s comment. “I won’t deny that I felt that from the moment I laid eyes on him. It’s more than that, Des. Is it love? I don’t know. I’ve never been in love before, but I know that I care for him deeply and I think he cares for me too.”
“Sher, I know that you don’t like me calling you naive,” Sherry frowned. “But you are clueless about Drake’s feelings for you.”
“Okay, wise one, enlighten me,” she said sarcastically. “If you know so much, then tell me how Drake really feels about me.”
“He more than cares deeply for you.”
“And you would know this, how? Has he said something to Mica?”
Desiree shook her head and took a small
bite of her cheeseburger, chewing it thoughtfully before she spoke again. “He didn’t have to. Everyone knows. Everyone but you, apparently.”
Sherry shrugged. “You’ve lost me.”
Desiree put her cheeseburger down and reached across the table, placing her hand over Sherry’s. “He’s claimed you as his mate.”
Sherry’s mouth gaped in stunned silence.
“You carry his mark. That’s why you’ve heard all the ‘queen’ remarks today. You are their queen now. And I guess, since I am Mica’s mate, that makes you my queen too. This is why I feel guilty, and why I said it’s too late.”
“But…how?” she sputtered.
“Don’t feel bad. When Mica marked me I was clueless too. I found out when Caleb went into a rage and nearly killed me because of it. The others can sense it.” She squeezed her hand. “Eat your lunch. I have a feeling that you’re going to need all the strength you can get for what lies ahead.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mica took out his cell phone and called Caleb.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Caleb.”
“Did we forget something? We haven’t even made it home yet.”
“Uh, you and the boy need to come back to the warehouse. Drake’s insisting, if you get my drift. He said to bring whatever you’ll need for a few days, and stop somewhere and pick the boy up some things too.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Afraid not.”
“We just left. The boy hasn’t even seen where he’s gonna live yet. Can’t this wait a day or two?”
“It’s not a request, Caleb.”
“Damn it, Mica! Where the fuck does Drake come off giving me an order?”
“That’s a rhetorical question.”
Caleb sighed into the phone. “I know. I know. I’m just venting. Can you at least tell me why?”
“He thinks your pack is going to target the boy next to get to you.”
“I can protect my son. Why would he care anyway, we’re not vamps?”
“Drake’s queen is fond of the boy, so is Desiree. He doesn’t want to see her hurt.”
Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga) Page 9
