The Covenant of Shadows Collection

by Kade Cook

  Shane holds her hand a little tighter as he pulls her into the bar and heads toward an empty table. He pulls out a chair for Gabrian as she removes her coat. “Thank you.” She smiles, admiring the fact that some remnants of chivalry is still alive and well. He slips into the seat directly across from her. Within a few minutes, a spunky waitress with blonde bouncy hair arrives at their table. “What can I get cha’s?” she cheerfully inquires as she glances briefly at Gabrian then rests her gaze on Shane.

  Shane looks up at her, aware of her staring but takes no interest. “I will have a Sam Adams. Thanks.” He returns his attention to Gabrian.

  “I’ll just have a Perrier, if you have it,” Gabrian orders, knowing that she has to drive. Shane twists his brow and frowns with her request. Catching his change in appearance, she purses her lips and grabs the imaginary steering wheel in front of her, weaving her hands. “I have to drive, remember?”

  “Ah, yes.” He shifts his eyes to the left and wrinkles his brow. Gabrian is certain he is up to something. “I’ll tell you what. Have one drink,” he begins his bargaining, giving her a very mischievous smirk. “And if it tastes like more, then I will call you a cab and escort you safely home myself.”

  She gives him a playfully distrusting look. His sea green eyes cloud her judgment, making her want to say yes to anything and everything he asks her.

  “Deal?” he prompts devilishly.

  He is incorrigible, she thinks, sighing loudly. “Fine. Deal,” she agrees. A look of triumph plays over Shane’s face. Gabrian looks up at the waitress whose eyes are still glued upon Shane, almost salivating in an attempt to get his attention. “I will have a Corona with a slice of lime, please.”

  The waitress turns briefly to acknowledge that Gabrian has said something to her then looks back at Shane. “Great, I will be right back.”

  The lights above them suddenly dim and a few of the staff members make their way past them to clear a couple of the tables out of the way, making some space at the back of the bar. The elevator music that had been playing in the sound system dies momentarily, then is resurrected, pumping a more upbeat Maroon Five song out of its speakers. A big improvement, Gabrian mentally admits.

  “So, what do you think?” Shane prods, noticing her curiously scoping out the bar. “Not bad for little old Bar Harbor.”

  Gabrian shakes her head and rolls her eyes playfully at him. “The jury is still out.” She snickers, completely taken with the ambience of the place but decides to toy with him.

  The waitress quickly returns with their order and places it on the table. Shane hands her his credit card and asks her to open up a tab for him. “Sure thing, anything you want, hun.” She flirts, now hovering very close to Shane. She takes the card from him, touching his hand lightly with her index finger as she does, and in a low voice—barely audible over the music whispers, “If she changes her mind, and does not take the deal, let me know,” she hints boldly and gives him a wink, then walks away, looking back over her shoulder with a seductive pout. Shane raises his eyebrows at her gesture and shakes his head, immediately discarding her show of availability.

  Gabrian’s fingers tingle as she watches the girl walk away, clearly due to her annoyance with the waitress’s candor and the fact Gabrian is sitting right here, quite sure she is not invisible.

  Feeling the weight of Shane’s eyes on her, she turns back to look at him. Gabrian has never had anyone pay this much attention to her in her life; it is intense, exhilarating, and embarrassing. She can feel the warmth spread through her cheeks, not to mention other areas. Positive that her face is flushed, she looks away and becomes conveniently interested in the people that have congregated on the makeshift dance floor in the back. Gabrian picks up her beer and takes a sip. “It is pretty early to be hitting the dance floor, is it not?” She looks down at her watch. Eight o’clock.

  He laughs and takes a big drink of his Sam Adams. “When the only bar in town that plays dance music closes down at eleven, you have to start a little earlier in the evening if you want to have any fun.”

  Gabrian nods slowly in comprehension.

  Shane watches Gabrian closely as she sits quietly analyzing everything around her. She is too stiff, he thinks sadly. The music swirling around the bar changes. “I Got a Feeling” by The Black-Eyed Peas bounces out across the room, and Shane sets his beer down in decision. He his mouth curls from ear to ear. “Come on.” He waves his hand and looks toward the dance floor.

  Her eyes pop and she bites her lip, her head swiveling from side to side on its own as panic sets in. “No way!”

  “We need to loosen you up a bit; you are way too uptight.”

  “I am not!” she snaps at him, even though she knows he is right.

  He gently reaches out and takes her hand into his. “Get up. Smile.” He makes a smiley face with his free hand over his full lips. “I want to go dance.” He grins at her sweetly, his green eyes sparkling.

  Her face straightens with pure terror.

  “What? Do you not know how to dance?”

  “No, I know how to dance, it is just…”

  “Well then, take a big drink of your Corona, and come on.”

  “Ah!” she grumbles in defeat and hesitantly gets up from her chair. He stops her for a moment and looks at her, tilting his head like he is confused about something, his chin resting in his hand.

  “May I try something?” He gestures toward the back of her head. She shrugs, not really understanding what it is he asks, but somehow, he has her under his spell, and she cannot seem to find opposition with whatever it is that he wants to do to her. “We are here to have fun, right?”

  She nods at him in response.

  “Well, to have fun we must first look the part.” He reaches back behind her and gently tugs at the pin holding her hair in place. She catches a trace of his scent as he leans in to her. He smells of summer—of Earth, grass, and of life. She breathes it in slowly, careful not to awaken her gift.

  He removes the pin, and her hair falls loosely down around her back in a beautiful chaotic mess. His strong beautiful face is now wiped clean of all expression.

  Gabrian’s body aches all over—very conscious of how he is staring at her—and instinctively runs her hand nervously through her dark tangles of hair.

  He watches her move and it amplifies the magnitude of her pull on him. A wave of exhilaration shoots violently through his whole being, and he inhales raggedly. He thought she was beautiful before but now he is convinced she has to be a descendant of the goddess Aphrodite herself, sent here to wreak havoc on his senses. Everything about her makes him weak, and he knows he is now and forever more irrevocably lost in her. He touches the end of one of the curls that has fallen loosely in front of her and regains some of his composure. He lifts his eyes to meet hers, trying to remember his intentions.

  “There,” he chokes out, swallowing hard and nodding his head in an erratic motion in an attempt to level out his uncharted emotions, not wanting to reveal to her he is no longer in control. Gabrian’s eyes narrow, seeing the oddity in his gaze. “Now, you actually look like you are ready to have fun,” he teases playfully and takes her by the hand, leading her through the maze of people and tables onto the dance floor.

  Feeling sober and completely out of place, Gabrian looks around at the people surrounding her. Every face she sees is smiling, happy, and living. Flashes of all the stress and fear she has endured over the past month hits her abruptly, and suddenly she feels jealous of all these strangers laughing and having fun in their ease of life.

  Seeing her struggle with letting go, Shane gently touches her chin, pulling her face back toward him and traces a smile on his lips with his finger to indicate she is not indeed having fun.

  Irritated, that she feels the way she does—and that others can see it—Gabrian remembers the promise she made herself earlier; she will not let herself be a victim. From somewhere deep within, she feels something release—letting go of all the chains she has g
otten tangled up in, and begins to unravel, breaking free. Feeling the beat of the song and concentrating on the buzz of the life around her, Gabrian begins to move, to dance—wild and free like this is the last night of her life.

  Shane takes notice of the change overcoming her. He observes her transform from the shy wall flower he had met at the coffee shop only hours ago into the wind. He watches her move and becomes fully aware that this girl, this human girl, has managed to captivate every essence of his existence. He knows the course he is on is completely illogical, but right now, he does not care.

  Gabrian closes her eyes, feeling the power of the music seep deeply into the cracks within her soul. She raises her hands above her head, jumping up and down rhythmically in a trance encompassed by the influence of her surroundings. Gabrian sways her head back and forth and she pretends that there is no Covenant of Shadows—there is only music and tonight in this moment, she is free.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  A Glimpse of a Memory

  GABRIAN WAKES EARLY to the sound of her parents’ voices wafting up the stairwell from the kitchen below. Christmas Eve has arrived, and her mom and dad are discussing plans for the day. Since she did not arrive back home until late, she remembers she has presents to wrap.

  Instead of jumping out of bed, she remains still and pulls her blanket a little tighter around her. A smile creeps over her face as images of last night’s events dance through her mind. She giggles out loud over her embarrassing display of caffeine abuse. Resting her hand lightly over her eyes, her body shivers, remembering how she felt looking into Shane’s emerald eyes for the first time and the warmth of his caramel-skin on hers. She softly moans at the thought of the fullness of his lips, the way he smelled as he leaned into her to let her hair down, and the way she had felt so alive on the dance floor.

  Touching her lips with the tips of her fingers, she relives the memory of his gentle kiss after he had walked her to her car at the end of the night. She rolls over on her side, snuggling into her blankets and smiles merrily—hoping to drift off to sleep again, wanting to see him in her dreams.

  After a short, uneventful nap, Gabrian finally decides to get up and spends the remainder of the day doing holiday festivities with her family. Even her Uncle Tynan took the day off from training to join them for the holidays.

  Visitors pop in and out most of the evening. Lady Vaeda and Orroryn take a moment to stop by to check in on them and to wish her family “Season’s Greetings.” Any talk of the upcoming Covenant of Shadows meeting is avoided out of respect for the present occasion.

  Gabrian is beginning to warm up to Vaeda and Orroryn since they seem to be a little more accepting of who she is more than the other Elders. She figures it is probably due to the fact they are her birth mother’s friends. She also takes notice of Lady Vaeda’s obvious interest in her Uncle Tynan, who seems somehow oblivious to her subtle flirting.

  Christmas Eve comes and goes slowly, the hours seem to stretch out, creating a mitosis-type of effect on the minutes—making the day last forever to Gabrian. Shane had asked for her number before they took their leave, and she hoped he would call her once the festivities were done for the day. She becomes bored of all the pleasantries and the ‘well wishings’ from her parents’ friends. Her face grows tired from smiling so she excuses herself and heads up the stairs to her room. She sifts through the assortment of books that her mom has sitting in the small bookshelf that once held her collection of children’s books. Finding one of her favourite novels amongst it, she is delighted. Even though she has already read the series twice, it is still one of her favourite stories ever so reading it once more will be fun—like visiting an old friend—and it will busy her mind, making the waiting game a little more bearable.

  Gabrian’s mind begins devouring the novel, becoming completely immersed after the first few chapters. Her phone jumps to life, ringing loudly beside her head and scaring the crap out of her, filling her heart full of adrenaline. The lamp on her night table lights up like the Fourth of July, crackling, snapping, and nearly exploding. “What the...?”

  The continual ringing of the phone soon outweighs the fascination of the buzzing lamp. Gabrian grabs it from the nightstand, and seeing a local number she does not recognize, she begins to grin from ear to ear uncontrollably. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm down, and clears her throat as she prepares to answer the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, uh…Gabrian?” She immediately recognizes his voice and is elated. Her heart begins to pound wildly again, but she tries to keep her voice steady—not wanting to sound like she has been waiting all day for his call.

  “Yes, this is she,” she says calmly, then presses her palm over the mic to let out a squeal, releasing some of the pressure of the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

  “Finally,” Shane breathes out, sounding exasperated.

  “What do you mean, finally?” Wrinkles form across the bridge of her nose as her eyes dart around the room wondering what in the world would make him say that.

  “Um, remember last night when I asked you for your number?”

  “Yes,” she says, listening intently as she slips the end of her thumb to rest lightly upon her bottom lip. Her teeth press down gently against the sides of the nail, keeping it stationary.

  ‘Well, somehow I managed to misplace the napkin you wrote it on last night,” he admits, embarrassed.

  “So how did you manage to find my number?” The words slip out slowly across her tongue, and her voice wavers as she tries to stifle a building giggle.

  “I remembered the numbers that were in it,” he says, then there is a slight pause. “Just not in the right order.”

  She lets her body fall backward onto the pile of pillows behind her and bursts out laughing, wondering how long it actually took him to reach her. “How many times did it take you to get it right?”

  “You don’t want to know. Trust me,” he assures her, laughing at his endeavor. “Listen, I can’t talk long, but I need to know something.”

  “Okay, shoot,” she says, pulling her hand through her hair before letting it trail to the ends of her long tangles, twisting them into a spiraled rope that clings daintily around her fingers.

  “Are you afraid of water?”

  “No,” she answers, exhaling the word in a long drug out breath that ends highly pitched. The dreamy gaze that floated merrily around the contours of her room, disappears from her eyes as she pushes her torso to set upright, not able to imagine why he would need to know this.

  “Good. Can you meet me at the Northeast harbor tomorrow afternoon around three-thirty?”

  Her eyes narrow as she swings her legs to the side of the bed. Her hand reaches to twist at her hair again, completely baffled. “I guess so. Why?”

  He gives her a teasing laugh. “So many questions…” he tells her softly. “Just be there. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She hears voices and commotion in the background. It sounds like someone is struggling or fighting; she can’t make it out, but it does not sound like they are having fun.

  “Okay, great. See you then,” he says then the phone goes silent.

  Gabrian wonders about the noises and what sounded like a confrontation to her. Now what kind of predicament have I managed to get myself into? She contemplates but soon dismisses it, embracing the new realization she is Boragen—one of the most feared people of the Realm. She does not need to fear anyone or anything anymore. Suddenly elated with this new evolutionary step forward of her mindset, an actual moment of acceptance with who she has become, she is eager to embrace this new adventure she has been haphazardly thrown into feeling ready to face this world head on.

  ***

  ORRORYN ARRIVES AT Shane’s unexpectedly. After leaving the Shadwell’s, he decides to pay Shane a visit and manages to knock over the woodpile as he does. Shane jumps at the noise, surprised to see his adoptive father so early. He was not expecting him until later. Seeing Shane on the phone,
Orroryn waves and makes a face then turns to pick up the couple of pieces of wood that had fallen upon his clumsy arrival.

  “I didn’t think I would see you until tomorrow morning,” Shane says to Orroryn as he hangs up the phone.

  “I decided to call it an early night,” Orroryn explains. “I was close by so I thought I would come spend some time with you. You seem to be keeping yourself busy these days training to be a Covenant Guardian and all.”

  Shane’s face beams with pride, and he is unable to hide his grin. “Yeah, I know. Tynan is all business when it comes to training. I am surprised he even took time off for the holidays.” Orroryn and Shane both chuckle at this, knowing it is true.

  “He is a good man. You should consider yourself lucky to have him as your mentor,” Orroryn reminds him, bending his brow and pointing his finger at him. Shane meets his father’s serious glance and flashes a meek smile, nodding his head.

  “I do,” he answers, continuing to hold his eyes steady, but turns his back in order to break the tension and looks away.

  “So what is new with you?” Orroryn places his hands on his hips and observes the state of Shane’s home, changing the subject. He is not here for a confrontation. He is here to enjoy his time with his son. “The cabin looks great!”

  “I cleaned it,” Shane jokes then becomes quiet. He takes a seat at the round wooden table set in the middle of the kitchen. Placing his elbows on top of the table and folding his hands together, he rests his chin on the edge of his interlocking digits.

  Orroryn takes notice of his apparent troubles as he stews silently, contemplating something. “You look like you have something on your mind.”

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “Yes.” He gives Shane a wide smile, rumbling out a chuckle as he pulls out a chair and takes a seat across from him. Shane hesitates to spill his thoughts, biting on his lower lip. “You might as well come out and say what it is you need to say before you chew through that thing.”