He stood up and grabbed a towel to clean up the mess. Reysa bit back her laughter knowing that would just tick him off considering his already foul mood.
He plopped back down at the table again brooding in his usual style. “Kaden, I said I was sorry. What more do you want from me?”
He turned to her his green eyes penetrating her. “Nothing,” He said as he turned away.
Reysa stood there staring at his back waiting for him to clarify, but he remained broodingly silent. His overreaction to last night was grating on her already tired and frazzled nerves. For a moment, she contemplated bashing his head with the frying pan in her hand, but Tatiana raced into the room with that glowing smile of hers that instantly warmed Reysa’s heart. She decided to ignore the grouchy vampire and focus on her daughter.
Tatiana ran over to hug her mother and then she ran to Kaden, who just stared at her. Reysa grabbed the pan. If he took out his frustration for her on her child, she would bash his head with the pan. Kaden did not disappoint her. He reached down and pulled a giggling Tatiana into his arms. The child melted as she hugged him tightly. He released her and she sat in the chair next to him.
“Sleep well?” he signed to her.
Yes. I had a bad dream at first, but them Mama and Daddy stayed with me and the bad dreams went away.
“Good. I’m glad your parents made the bad dreams go away.”
They always do. Do your mama and daddy make your bad dreams go away?
He could tell her the truth that his father caused all of his bad dreams, but that was more than she needed to know. “I’m a big boy now. I make my own bad dreams disappear.”
What about when you were little like me?
Reysa knew she should end this conversation for Kaden’s sake, but she couldn’t help but be curious. He had opened up to her some about his painful childhood, but there was still so much he hid buried deep within.
“My mother tried to take away the bad dreams but I learned that only I could really do that. I had to grow up and learn to take care of myself.”
What’s your mom like?
This kid knew how to ask the tough questions. She was relentless in her interrogation. “My mother is kind, beautiful, loving. For most of my life she was my only happiness. I wish I could have been the same for her. I made mistakes and I have disappointed her, but she always forgave me. Somehow, despite me, she always loved me and I loved her.”
She sounds like a great mom, like mine.
“Yes. We are both lucky to have such great moms.”
Reysa felt the wave of sadness that swept over Kaden. He had been pushing his mother away since she nearly died and she knew how much it was hurting him. He was too stubborn to admit he needed her.
Fortunately for Kaden, Christian walked into the kitchen and Tatiana’s focus shifted to her father. Christian hugged Reysa and helped her finish breakfast. Kaden watched, realizing he should have been the one to help her, but he didn’t. Christian always knew what to do while he sat back, wishing he had a clue.
Reysa placed the plates on the table along with platters of French toast, bacon and fruit. Everyone grabbed a mound and started to dig in.
Tatiana broke the silence blurting out an unexpected question,Daddy, are you and Kaden friends?
Christian dropped his fork nearly choking a piece of bacon. “Why do you ask, baby girl?”
Because I want to know. Hard to argue with a child’s simple logic.
Christian sat back in his chair and glanced at Reysa before answering. “Kaden is your mother’s special friend. As long as he’s her friend, he’s my friend.”
Reysa nodded in approval.
He’s my friend too, right, Kaden? Her hopeful eyes glistened as she waited for Kaden’s response.
“Absolutely,” he signed as he winked at her. Reysa’s face beamed.
Tatiana started eating again, until she tapped her fork on her plate to get everyone’s attention. I have a new friend. His name is Caleb.
Reysa and Christian exchanged puzzled expressions.
This piqued Kaden’s interest. “Who’s Caleb?” Kaden asked.
He’s the boy Auntie Yasmine brought home.
The jaguar cub? “He talks to you?” Reysa signed.
Of course, Mama. He’s my friend.
“Sweetheart, when I saw him he was still in his jaguar form. I never saw him shift to a boy.”
He shifted when I went to visit Aunt Yasmine. I asked him to cause’ I couldn’t talk to him when he was a cat, but then I couldn’t talk to him when he was a boy either. He doesn’t know how to sign. He wrote his name on paper and then I wrote mine and then we wrote notes to each other. Now he’s my friend. He’s five, but I’m bigger than him.
Tatiana did not seem to notice everyone’s shock as she continued signing about Caleb. Caleb told her that his parents had been killed the night he was taken. The man that took them had shot them with a tranquilizer, immobilizing them. Then he took their heads ensuring their deaths. Caleb shifted into a jaguar as his mother always told him to do when he was in danger and he stayed like that until he saw Tatiana.
I told him he was not in danger here with me, so he could be a boy again. He didn’t have any clothes on. That was weird. I gave him a pair of my leggings and we played for a while. I think I’m going to marry him tomorrow.
The abrupt, surprising change of subject this time caused Christian to choke. Reysa patted him on the back helping to dislodge a piece of bacon. His face was flushed, but his breathing was restored. He turned to his daughter and signed, “You can’t get married tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. No boys, not now, not ever.”
For once, Kaden agreed with the lycan. Reysa took a softer approach as she explained to Tatiana, “Sweetheart, you can’t get married until you’re all grown up like when you’re at least twenty…” Christian kicked her shin, “I mean forty or even older than that. For now, Caleb can be your friend. It’s good that you helped him. Do you think he would talk to us?”
Yes, Mama. I told him you would be his friend to and he didn’t have to be scared of any of us.
After breakfast, they spoke to wary Caleb who had returned to his jaguar form, but shifted into a boy when Tatiana asked. He confirmed the information he told Tatiana and explained that the other children were taken in a manner similar to him. None of them had parents, but they had clans and other kin who would gladly welcome them home. Caleb was not as lucky. His family had broken away from their clan before he was born. He had no place to go.
Reysa assured him that he was welcome here. She knew Yasmine would never let him go and Alejandro wanted to keep him close as well. There was plenty of love here for this child among the Misfits.
Poor Yasmine. She remained in a deep sleep. She went so long without sleep that her body wanted to make up for last time. Alejandro agreed to watch Caleb who was reluctant to leave Yasmine’s side until Tatiana wrote to him that she would stay with him also. That eased the frightened child.
Christian, on the other hand, wasn’t too please but Reysa reminded him that they were just five and four, almost the same age they had been when they met in Caracas and all that came from that was the deepest of friendships. That lessened his overprotectiveness slightly.
Reysa looked for Kaden, who had disappeared again. They needed to talk soon while they had time and privacy before the impending rescue mission. She found him in her sitting room shooting pool.
“Kaden, do you have a minute?”
He paused before placing the stick on the table. “What’s up?”
“You tell me. I can see that you’re still obviously upset with me and I don’t know how to fix this. I hate this distance between us.”
“I’m not upset with you.” Just resigned to the fact they didn’t belong together, despite the bond. He picked up the pool cue and began to shoot.
“Don’t dismiss me like that,” Reysa growled. “Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to say,” he responded
as he sunk the seven ball in the corner pocket leaving only one the then and eight balls left on the table.
Reysa’s temper was starting to boil over as her eyes turned that shocking shade of crimson. “Every time things get difficult you regress to being a spoiled child.”
“That’s what I am.” He sunk the ten ball leaving the eight left.
Reysa marched over to him and snatched the cue from his hand just as he tried to sink the remaining eight ball. She broke the cue in half and threw the pieces off to the side. “Game over.”
“You want to talk, babe? Let’s talk. You first. What’s with your eyes? Why do they turn red when you’re angry or excited? That’s not a vampire trait.”
Reysa took a step back. She didn’t expect that question. Her eyes flashed from red back to her natural green. “You know I’m a hybrid. I’m not just a vampire.”
“I know that, but what I don’t know is what you really are. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.” That wasn’t really true but when he changed the subject to focus on her eyes rather than his foul mood he could see her retreat and that piqued his curiosity. She was hiding something and the predator in him wanted to find it. “What are you, Reysa?”
Reysa could not lie to him about this. She avoided telling him before as she was afraid of his reaction. Since he never asked, she felt safe to keep this secret, but she knew it was wrong. If they had any chance, he needed to know who she was completely. If he didn’t like it, then he didn’t really love her. The man she wanted to love her would love all of her. She should never have to hide who she was and she should never have to feel ashamed.
“My mother was a siren,” Reysa sat down on top of the pool table as she stared at her feet below. She couldn’t meet his eyes and see his disapproval, not yet at least. “I didn’t know that until a few years ago. When I became a mother, it stirred this desire to learn more about mine. My father wouldn’t mention her. There was so little I knew, but I knew her name and where she was born, Toulouse, France. Christian helped me research and we went to her hometown and I found a few of her people. Most were killed during the Albigensian Crusade. My mother fled along with several other sirens to Marseille. She lived there for centuries until moving to Africa and meeting my father.
“Once I found out who I was, I reached out to other sirens. I met Anastasia and her crew and they welcomed me even though I was a half-breed. They taught me about who I was and what it meant to be a siren.”
This was the last thing Kaden expected. He knew little about sirens, but what he did know caused him to take several steps away from her. “You’re a succubus, just like Helena.”
Reysa’s head shot up as her red eyes of fury focused on him. “How dare you? I am nothing like that murdering bitch and to compare me to her is the ultimate insult. If you ever compare me to her again, I will stake you.” She stood proudly in front of him. “I am a siren. We are not succubae. We are not demons that feed off of others’ sexual energy leaving nothing but death in their wake. Sirens are warriors.”
Sirens were portrayed in mythology as sexual muses who used their seductive voices to lead men to peril. To some extent, that portrayal was true, but they were more than that. They were also vicious fighters whose combat skills were more lethal than their voices.
“You don’t use sex to kill, to manipulate?” Kaden challenged, remembering the mind games Helena and played as she used her powers to control him.
“We possess high levels of pheromones which we can use to neutralize others making it easier to attack. I’m not going to tell you that a siren would never use those pheromones to manipulate or kill, but I have never done anything like that nor would I. I didn’t even know how to use the pheromones until a few years ago.” She knew what he was really asking and she accepted his challenge. “I certainly haven’t used those abilities to lure anyone into my bed.”
He knew she hadn’t. It wasn’t pheromones that drew him to her. Hell it wasn’t even the mating bond. It was simply her. The beauty and the passion of this warrior is what drew him to her. That was the reason he loved her. He knew he should tell her, but he couldn’t find the words even when he could see the hurt in her eyes.
She turned away and walked out of the room. He followed her out trying to get her attention when the doorbell rang. They both stopped and turned to the door. As he was the closest, he walked to the door and flung it open nearly separating it from its hinges.
“Salve mio angelo.”
Kaden stared into the lavender eyes of the woman in the doorway before the shock subsided and he was able to respond, “Hello, Mom.”
III
He hadn’t scented her presence, but there she was standing before him. Kaden could not take his eyes off his mother. She was radiant. There was strength in her, a glow that he had never seen in her before. Happiness. She was finally happy.
Olivia reached for Kaden and hugged him. He tentatively returned the embrace. “You look amazing, Mom.”
Olivia smiled illuminating her face even brighter. “I feel amazing. Better than amazing.” She reached for Lucian, who was standing behind her. He grasped her hand and gently kissed her palm. “I’ve never been better.”
“It’s good to see you, Kaden,” Lucian greeted him.
“Liar,” Kaden responded, but then smiled.
“Well, it’s certainly an improvement over the last time,” Lucian acknowledged.
“Not planning to arrest me, Stepdaddy?”
“That all depends on you, my stepbrat.”
“Enough, boys,” Olivia nudged Kaden aside as she and Lucian entered the house.
Reysa was relieved to see them. She was still seething over her confrontation with Kaden. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with him. Reysa hugged Olivia and Lucian who greeted her warmly. She escorted them to her den and left to get them a drink.
“Is it just me or is it a little arctic in here?” Lucian whispered to Olivia.
“Yes, and unfortunately, it’s not because Julian’s around.” Olivia saw the strained look on Kaden’s face and knew something was very wrong between him and Reysa. She wanted so much for them to find happiness together, but she knew her son well enough to know that he would be his biggest obstacle to a happy ending.
Reysa returned with glasses of human blood for Olivia and Lucian and for herself but nothing for Kaden. She sat as far away from him as possible without leaving the room.
“Definitely Antarctica in this room,” Lucian whispered to Olivia again.
Reysa told Lucian and Olivia all the information they had learned from Yasmine and Caleb including the prophecy of “the hope” that ELM seemed to believe. Lucian was not familiar with such a prophecy, but he would have his people investigate further.
Lucian agreed that the main priority was rescuing the kidnapped children. He had contacts in the States he would call for added assistance. Fortunately, Caleb knew the exact location of where they had been held so they would not have to waste time searching. They just needed a plan and enough people to help them execute it.
Lucian stood up to receive a phone call while Olivia, Reysa and Kaden sat in an awkward silence. “Reysa, I just want to thank you again for all you’ve done for me.”
“You owe me nothing,” Reysa assured her. “I am just so pleased to see you here looking absolutely fabulous.”
“Thanks in large part to you, that’s exactly how I feel.”
Reysa nodded to Lucian. “I think that handsome vampire over there has much more to do with it than my blood.”
“He played a part,” Olivia mused. “A huge part to tell you the truth. I waited my whole life to be with him and it has finally happened. A lot of years were wasted, but we are making up for lost time.”
“TMI!” Kaden shouted interrupting their conversation.
“Oh, grow up!” Reysa yelled back.
The tension was palpable. Thankfully, Tatiana sprinted into the room with Caleb close on her heels. She paused when she saw Olivia and
jumped onto the couch next to her.
She signed, You’re beautiful.
Kaden started to translate, but Olivia waived him off. She signed back, “Not as beautiful as you, little one.”
Tatiana pressed her fingers of her right hand to her lips and then reached forward in the direction of Olivia. Thank you, she signed, giggling in delight.
“You’re welcome.”
Olivia spoke with Tatiana and Caleb for a while before they ran upstairs to her room. The doorbell rang and Reysa jumped up to answer it grateful for the momentary escape.
“Kaden, what’s going on?” Olivia asked her older son.
“Things are a little tense around here,” he admitted.
“You think?” Olivia mocked. “What happened?”
“I…” Kaden had begun to explain before he was interrupted.
“Where’s my baby?” a panicked deep voice yelled cutting off Kaden. Olivia and Kaden turned to the door and saw a large figure barrel into Lucian knocking him and his cellphone to the floor. “Where’s my Yasmine?”
“Diamonde, calm down” Reysa cajoled. “She’s resting. You don’t want to scare her by being too aggressive. She’s been through a lot.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t come right away. I figured she needed time, but I can’t wait any longer. I need to see my baby girl.”
“Ok. I’ll take you to her. Just breathe. Be a little calmer.”
Diamonde took several deep breaths. She looked over and saw Lucian still on the ground staring at her curiously. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. She walked over to him, her red platform heels clicking loudly on the marble floor. “Aren’t you a mighty handsome boy? Can I help you up?”
“I got it,” Lucian said as he scrambled up as fast as he could.
“Mmm, Mmm. You got it alright. You look delicious.” Diamonde purred. She inspected his muscular frame licking her red glossy lips in approval. “And you wear Armani? Very sexy. My dress is Prada.” She twirled around in front of him making sure he had a good view. Her fire engine red wig matching her dress and platform heels.
We Shall Rise Page 20
