“You mean we are aberrations.” He might be right, maybe neither of them was made to love. “Although…”
“Yes?”
“Well if you’re not made to love and I’m not made to love, then maybe we should not love together. It would save the rest of the world from falling for us.”
“Do we have enough to do it together?”
“What do you feel for me? I was scared when you stayed under the water. I think that probably wasn’t enough time for you to suffocate, but it scared the hell out of me.”
“I can stay under the water for days,” he shrugged. “It’s an alien thing.”
“Don’t do it anymore and I mean it.”
“I won’t.” He picked her up and climbed back to shore. They laid on the pads that were there.
“I know what it feels like to be scared. When you blacked out, I thought you were dead. Key and Cade had to hold me down to keep me from changing.”
“What exactly do you change into?”
“A werewolf.” She looked at him before she broke out into laughter.
“No, seriously.”
He stood and changed. He grew until she thought he might never stop. His feet elongated to hold up his incredible height and his thick body. His muscled body made her think of the hulk but more. He had fangs and claws. Ahh hell, he was a werewolf.
Run the primal part of her brain told her. The other part told her he would never hurt her. Well, at least she had answered her own question. When he sat down next to her, she swore the earth shook. With a shaking hand because hey she’s no dummy. She reached out to touch him. The hair on his arms and legs were discolored patched of thick raised skin, coarse if you stroked one way but softer if you stroked the other. He was made for both war and love.
She stood straddling his body. Then with the trust of a child, she sat on him. Before long she laid on him cuddling up to the scariest guy in the neighborhood.
She had answered her own question. How do you know if you love someone? When you can accept a person for who they are faults and all, you love them.
His arms wrapped around her so tenderly that she thought he might have answered his own question. She decided to take a nap. Surprisingly his big werewolf muscles were very comfortable.
“Locke, Ava you’re needed back at the house in human form and put some clothes on!” Ven hollered at them far enough away to keep from seeing anything. He took off running.
Locke jumped holding Ava, he set her down as he shifted forms.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but Ven wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.” They walked back to the house not wanting to make it look like they were in a rush. As they came through the back door, there was a pounding on the front door.
Cade went to answer.
“It’s the police,” Ava whispered knowing the Kur’iks could hear her. They think we had something to do with several deaths they recently discovered. The last one being today.
Locke sat on a chair in the living room with Ava in his lap as Cade opened the door.
“How can I help you?”
Two plainclothes detectives stood there looking Cade over.
“I’m detective Smith and this is detective Jones.”
“Lie,” Ava whispered into Locke’s ear.
“We have some questions for you as to your whereabouts today. Can we come in?”
Cade opened the door wider letting them in. “Everyone this is detective Smith and Jones.” Cade closed the door behind them. “They want to ask us questions or maybe just me questions. I’m not sure.”
“We’d like to ask Ms. Powell a few questions.”
“Me?” Ava sat up surprised.
“Yes, we can do it here or down at the station.”
“Here is fine.”
“You were reported being seen at the festival in town three days ago.”
“That sounds about right.”
“After that, you were spotted on the west side where two bodies were found. Earlier today you were seen on the north side where again we found two bodies.”
“I get around.” Locke’s hand tightened on hers.
“That’s impossible.”
“Who are you?”
“Tristan Gayl, I am her doctor.”
“Doctor? Who are the others?”
“They are my brothers.”
“Why is it impossible Dr. Gayl?” Detective Jones shared a look with his partner.
“Ava was unconscious for two days. She fell ill at the festival and was brought back here. She hasn’t left since.”
“You can prove this, or will your brothers be vouching for you and her?” Detective Smith moved across the room his hand on his cuffs.
“I can prove it,” Tristan walked out the room. When he came back, he had a paper chart in his hands. “This is her medical record. I also use a computer that time stamps every entry. She was here.”
“Can I see that?”
“Yes, with a warrant.”
They turned and walked away without another word.
“I see dead people.” Ven locked the door behind them whistling.
Chapter Fourteen
The blood drained out of Ava’s face as she started coughing trying to clear her throat.
“I think Ava sees dead people too,” Ven threw a penny in the air, catching it.
“Ven?” Locke called his name.
“Ask her, not me.”
“The dream or what I thought was a dream.” She told everyone about what she saw. “It was detective Smith and Jones I saw. They were very dead.”
“Maybe it’s a prophetic dream?” Mira floated the idea.
Ava shook her head. “Did you see that blackish spot on Detectives Smith’s throat?”
“I did. It looked strange, made me feel uncomfortable as if it shouldn’t be there.”
“That’s how he died. He was shot in the neck.”
“I want to prove Ava wrong. No offense, Ava.” Mira threw a smile at her. “Life would be better if you were wrong. The thing is no real detective acts like those two.”
“You’re right, not even the crooked ones.”
“Where does that leave us?” Ven walked the room. “Ava’s having dreams of the dead.”
“Not dreams, just one dream,” she interjected.
“Ava’s had one dream so far, but it wasn’t prophetic. Most likely it is connected to her psychic ability. There are two formerly dead men who are pretending to be cops, that have targeted Ava. The question was how did they know to find her here and how did they know she was at the festival? ,”
“Ven don’t you think you’re missing the most obvious question?”
“What’s that?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “How are two dead men walking around?”
“Ava, we come from a collection of enzymes. It’s normal for us to see dead men walking.”
She tilted her head in acknowledgment. “Good point.”
“It’s not normal on earth Ven, so Ava is right.”
“How is this connected to the Shadows?” Every head turned to look at Locke. “Why Ava? Why us, if they aren’t connected to the Shadows?”
“Locke, you earned a cookie, after I buy it from the store.”
“Mira, you know I’d prefer a steak.” Every Kur’ik nodded in agreement. Mira and Ava laughed.
“Steaks for dinner, the same as yesterday.” Mira winked at them with a smile.
“We have Shadows that we haven’t seen?”
“We’ve seen them. Usually, you don’t know who they are unless they choose to reveal themselves. The black eyes give them away.” Locke stood opening his arms for Ava.
“They turn into Shadows when they disappear.” Tristan’s hand closed into a fist. Mira walked over to him, wrapping him in her arms.
“None of our encounters with them have really gone in our favor. Way too many people have already died,” Mira told Ava.
“So, we have two dead men,
men who are Shadows and men who have been dumped at the base of a mountain.”
“If they are a failed experiment, why do they matter?” Mira led Tristan to a chair.
“Can any of you remember a time when a Kur’ik was discarded if the enzyme process went wrong?” The room was quiet until the faces looking at Ven started to take on a look of horror.
“To recap, we have Shadows, two dead cops, and four unknown entities.”
“Why do we keep Ven around?” Cade grimaced at him.
“Cause my parents would kick your ass if you didn’t.” Laughing, he left the room calling over his shoulder. “Call when it’s time to eat.”
“I swear that boy…”
“Boy?” Ava asked.
“Yeah, he’s twenty or twenty-one in human age.” Mira shook her head. “I deal with teens all the time, but he’s more.”
“I like him.”
“Of course, you do. Give it a few more days you’ll love him. After that, you’ll sit with me and shake your head as you watch him work.”
Ava thought Mira was probably right there was something about Ven that was different from the others. It could be because he was so young, but she got a distinct hint of power. Whatever his power was, it was different from the others. Now his was the mind she wished she could hear.
“We’ve been talking.” Locke watched her warily. “With everything happening, I want you to start defense training. It could save your life if I’m not there or in a battle.”
Was her male crazy? Ok, it was official he was hers now all she had to do was break it to him. Anytime you use a werewolf shapeshifter for a bed it was like licking it. You sleep on him and he’s yours. Sure, those weren’t earthly rules, but they were galactic rules and who was she to break the galactic rules of the universe. Now back to questions about his sanity. Did he say defense training?
By the time she surfaced from her intense thoughts, she was in their room changing into a pair of yoga pants and a cami. How did he do things like this? She was going to protest. She was not cut out to be a warrior; she was softer, more like a love kitten. Oh, hell! She caught space crazy; it was so much worse than regular crazy. She gave a big sigh. Now that she was space crazy, he would have to keep her and protect her. It was only right since he obviously brought the disease with him.
Did he have the ability to teleport? They were standing out in the backyard with him showing her a defense move. The thing was she didn’t remember how they got there? She might have been too busy making plans to jump his bones while figuring out how to become his mate forever to have paid attention to them walking outside. She would deny it if anyone asked.
“Ava?”
“I’m trying but it’s not comfortable can’t we do something else?”
“Let’s try something even simpler. Make a fist. Now make a fist that won’t get your thumb broken.” He used his hand to show her making her do it repeatedly until it started to feel like second nature. “When you make a fist, do it this way until you're not thinking about it when you do it. Now I’m going to show you how to do a simple move if someone grabs you.”
He demonstrated the move by having her grab him, then he slowed it down so she could see everything he was doing.
“Use the flat of your hand, drive the end of your palm into my nose.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t but unless you do it now, you won’t be able to do it when needed.”
She drove her hand upward.
“Good again.”
Ava spent what felt like all eternity learning three basic moves but couldn’t have been more than an hour or two.
“We’re done with this part of the training.” He gave her a smile as he handed her a cold bottle of water from a cooler.
“It feels like I trained forever. Am I a badass now?” Her look was hopeful as she gulped the bottle of water and held out her hand for another.
“Not even close.” Her frown made him smile. “Take a seat on the ground.”
She wrinkled her nose at him before she sat. “More self-defense?”
“Yes, now we work on your strengths.”
“Umm, what?”
“Physically you can’t handle the Shadows, but they use humans to come after us. They won’t be expecting you to put up a fight. What you know may be the key to saving your life or giving you a chance to go into your own defense mode.”
“There’s a different level of defense?”
“Every talent works differently. You’re a psychic and I’m an anchor. We can each use that to defend ourselves.”
“Are all of you anchors?”
“I don’t know. I had a talk with Tristan when you were knocked out. He’s an anchor but he can’t anchor you. He said what he has worked specifically with empath’s with Mira to be more specific.”
“Troy said my mate was my anchor. What if that’s it? Not that Tristan is an empath anchor, but he becomes the anchor his mate needed?” Ava ran her hands through the grass messing with the yellow tops of dandelions.
“I don’t know but it makes as much sense as our conjectures.”
“How do I learn to use my mental self-defense powers?” She was feeling like a badass, a superhero, a metahuman. This she could do.
“I start by allowing you a glimpse into my thoughts.”
Ava screamed when Locke’s mind opened to her. She had never felt overload to this proportion. It made the day she met him look like a walk in the park. Her hands clutched at her hand while she curled into a ball. The link she felt was slammed shut. She still found herself moaning with pain.
Why was her nose running? She pulled back her hand to find it was blood. Blood or snot she wasn’t sure which was better at this point. Where was Locke? Didn’t he love her, care for her? He should have told her he would leave her at the first signs of adversity before she gave her heart to him. How did you take a heart back? Was it polite to ask or did you have to steal it back? The big jerk why couldn’t he love her the way she loved him? If she ever got her heart back, she was never giving it away again.
She closed her eyes. Wait, they weren’t open. How did she close them? It was so dark, except that one bright shiny point up ahead. Was this the death experience? She’d heard about that, as soon as she followed the light she’d be in heaven. Did she deserve to go to heaven? Who knew there was so much angst in death? I demand peace she screamed as loud as she could but there was no reply. Bah humbug what was peace? Note to self avoid dying you don’t do it well.
“Drop your defenses Ava let me in.”
The voice came from a distance and sounded remotely like the person who broke her heart. No, not Ron the nerd she crushed on in high school. The one that didn’t know she was alive. This sounded like the hot one that smelled delicious with his eerie green eyes. The eyes that made her wet by the way he swept her body. Remember what he looked like crossing the room? It was rare he let her walk behind him but when she did, there was a party in her panties. Hell, he was the kind of male that made her want to go without panties.
Who knew that dying could be so erotic?
“Ava, let me in.” His voice was deep and forceful. It made her body twitch she wanted to touch him.
It was official since she was dying, she could continue to love him. Not like she had much longer to give her love to someone else.
“Let me in now!”
There were cracks in the darkness that were filled with a strange combination of darkness and light. The thing about the dark is there weren’t any variations in color. It was simply the absence of light. This darkness was filled with variations. Did that mean light was reaching out for her?
This wasn’t the light of heaven darkness couldn’t survive there. It wasn’t the darkness of hell. She didn’t know how she knew, she just did. If this wasn’t heaven, and it wasn’t hell did that mean…
“Locke?”
Chapter Fifteen
“Lower your shields, let me in.”
“You left me.”
“I didn’t princess. I’m holding you right now. Your laying in my arms so trusting, but I need all of you, not just your body.”
“Princess?”
“If I’m your prince, then you’re my princess.”
He was her prince since the moment she read his reply to her. “How do I lower my shields?” They weren’t really shields more like blockades, but she would work on that later.
“Focus on letting me in.”
That would be nice. She didn’t like this world of variations in the darkness.
“Did you know that darkness is the absence of light?”
“I know, that’s why it can never be totally dark for you.”
“Why?”
“You’re all light princess, there is no darkness in you. It’s amazing really, you’ve lived a life knowing and hearing the vilest thing that mankind has ever done. Yet, for reasons, I don’t understand that darkness hasn’t affected you.”
“I think you’re forgetting about the first time you met me.”
“You were already getting yourself together before I knocked on your window.”
“Maybe,” she felt a lot better knowing that he was holding her, that he hadn’t left her on her own to explore death. Slowly her blockade came down. He was right there smiling at her with patience and love. She held out her hand feeling the warmth of his skin. “You’re here.”
“I am.
“Are we in my mind?” He turned his head to look around.
“I don’t think so. Your gift doesn’t seem to work that way.”
“I saw a Shadow of you in my mind.”
“We’re mates, I’ll always be in your mind.”
That was nice, right? Mate or not she wasn’t sure she wanted him to be in her mind. although he wasn’t hurting anything or even spying on her. He simply seemed to be there to help her when she needed him. That might be okay.
“I have an idea.” She pictured a jackhammer and then she was swinging off it as she tore up the imaginary road between his body and hers. Next came the tractor, it took away all the debris. When the cement truck came, it was a multicolored tiny thing. The big wheel on the back of it started to turn. She never messed with a cement truck before, so she didn’t know what the parts were called. Out from it flowed multicolored cement because it was her thoughts so she could make it any color she wanted. When she was done, there was a bright pathway between her and Locke.
The Wolf & The Psychic: BBW Alien Paranormal Romance (Werewolves & Mates Book 2) Page 9
