by Mary Martel
"They aren't all bad," Rain said. "Some of them are just people who don't want to live the coven lifestyle. They don't want to share their woman. Or, females who don't wished to be shared. Those kinds of people, we hunters would find and help to hide them better, because they weren't safe from the Council. The Council only sees things in black and white, and you don't even want to know what they do to people who run away and hide from them. Back in the day, my grandfather, your great grandfather, told me that he knew of a woman who ran from the Council and her coven because she fell in love with another female witch from a different coven, and they ran away together, because neither of them liked men and didn't want to live the lifestyle the Council demands of our females. By then, we no longer had anything to do with the Council or their bullshit rules, we were our own rulers of a sort. My great grandfather and his coven of hunters tried to keep both the girls safe, but the Council eventually caught up with them and took the girls away. They kept those girls for themselves and used their bodies to breed children with."
Ariel shuddered, and I cursed under my breath.
"Rain," I growled in warning. If he didn't stop this shit, she was never going to be able to fall asleep and she'd likely be terrified the next time she had to be alone with Adrian. Which hopefully happened never. But, still... Rain needed a different topic for conversation, he was supposed to be talking about their family, not the damn Council and just how fucked up they could be.
I wasn't really surprised when Rain ignored my warning entirely. I didn't think there was a person in this world he'd take orders or criticism from, apart from the girl beside me.
"They aren't all like that, though." Rain said, and I sighed. Here we go again. "Some people are just born bad or, after unfortunate circumstances or by chance, go through something that turns them bad. This is no different for witches. Sometimes people are just horrible, and it's worse when you add magic to the mix. It's like taking the most powerful weapon you can find, and handing it over to a psychopath and letting them go into the world. Sometimes they are even kicked out of their coven." Rain trailed off, and his bitterness almost became a heavy, physical thing pressing down on us in the dark.
"Rain," I barked, hoping like hell he'd take my warning to heart this time, because I really did not want to kick his ass out of here. I didn't think Ariel would forgive me for it.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled, and I sighed in relief but knew it would be short lived.
Rain surprised me by going back to what he should have been talking about in the first place, Ariel’s mother.
"Her name was Maude."
Ariel's breath hitched again, louder this time and the sobs became louder, real.
Fuck.
"I think that's enough for tonight," Rain growled in a rougher voice than his usual one. "It's not just you who cannot handle much more for right now, it's me too. I haven't talked about her in so very long that it hurts just saying her damn name."
"Okay," Ariel whispered in a shaky voice. "But, you'll-"
"Yeah," Rain grunted, cutting her off. "I'll tell you more about your mother. And I'll tell you anything you want to know about your grandpa. Just no more tonight, please."
"Okay, Rain."
I stayed close to her while she cried quietly. Rain and I both remained quiet and let her have her tears without making her feel shame for them.
It didn't take long for her body to relax into the bed and her breathing to even out. She stopped sobbing because she'd cried herself to sleep. She’d had a long, trying day, and I wasn’t surprised that she fell asleep so quickly.
I removed my face from her neck and slid my arm under her head like I had wanted to do while she was awake. Very gently, so as not to wake her, I rolled her slightly, pulling her into me. I wrapped her up in my arms as I laid my head against her soft hair.
"Thank you," I murmured quietly so as not to wake Ariel up. She needed the rest, and she needed it even more so because she was sleeping next to someone and could rest easy without whatever had been trying to interrupt her sleep actually interrupting tonight. Which reminded me...
"Don't thank me," Rain growled. "It had nothing to do with you."
My lips twitched. I could see where Ariel got her stubbornness from, she was a lot like him. I amused myself by wondering what he'd do if I tried to give him something.
"She's out?"
"Yeah," I answered. Then asked, "Have you been trying to contact her in her sleep?" It had been bothering me something awful to know that after everything Tyson had put into that dreamcatcher there was something trying to get passed it all and to her while she was vulnerable and sleeping. If it were Rain, I would be happy. If not, then I was terrified for Ariel because there were so many different things or people it could be, and none of it was good.
Sleeping bags crinkled across the room as Rain sat up. His green eyes practically glowed in the light from the window as his eyes connected with mine. There was an unholy light in there that fascinated me and brought something inside me to the surface. I imagined it was my own light, but a whole lot less unholy than this man's. But, then again, he had quite a few years on me to get there.
"The Council is near, yes?" He asked in an urgent, hushed voice.
I nodded as fear slithered through me.
"She is as I am."
I closed my eyes as if I was in pain. This was the last thing I wanted to hear come out of his mouth. He was saying she was born a hunter, that it was something they passed down through their genes.
"Rain," I breathed out. "What's that mean for her?"
"The Council can never know. You cannot allow them to get too close to her, to test her magic too often or too much. She is stronger, even more so than most of them, and it won't take long for her to come into all of that strength, and it will need to be hidden."
My worst fears were coming to light. I knew she was special, knew there was something about her that was different, and not simply because we were all attracted to her. The Council was already interested in her because her background was a black hole to them, and they wanted to figure her out. Now, here was Rain telling me that couldn't happen.
"I don't know how to do that," I admitted.
"I will teach you," Rain vowed. "I will teach you both."
I hoped so. Because if what he'd said to me about the Council and how they felt towards the hunters was true, then I had my work cut out for me, because they would have wanted Ariel even more if they knew just what she was. I didn't even understand it, but I needed to. For Ariel's sake, I needed to learn everything I could about these people.
Rain cleared his throat quietly. "There's something else we should speak of."
Oh, man. The strain in his voice told me I wasn't going to like this much more than I had liked everything else he'd said.
"That would be?"
"Marcus."
My eyebrows raised in surprise.
"What about him?" I asked.
"He's kind of... sort of..." Rain hesitated, as if searching for the correct word or phrase to use.
"He's what?" I asked. "What's wrong with Marcus?"
"Well... He's tied up in the basement at the cabin I'm staying at."
My entire body froze for a heartbeat as shock coursed through me. "Fuck," I breathed out.
"I'm going to need some assistance in freeing him," Rain said casually. Like this wasn't a big fucking deal that he had someone who'd practically been Ariel's step father tied up in his fucking basement.
"Christ," I muttered.
"So, you'll help?" Rain asked.
What choice did I have? If I told Ariel the man she'd likely just fallen a little bit in love with because he'd shared things that would be precious to her was a fucking psycho who had another man that she loved tied up in her basement, she would probably lose her shit, and then who knew what in the hell would happen. Knowing her, she'd probably make excuses for Rain, and then apologize on his behalf to Marcus, and in her head, she'd make me out to be th
e villain for being the bearer of bad news.
I didn't want that.
My jaw clenched painfully.
"Yeah," I ground out. "I'll help you."
If I regretted this, I was going to kick his motherfucking ass.
Chapter Fifteen
I woke up with a start and sat up abruptly in my bed. The soft glow of the sunrise and the early hour dimly shined through the window. I was unsure of the hour, but knew it had to still be early yet.
And I was completely and utterly alone.
My heart sank.
Rain was gone. Quinton was gone. I was all alone in my bedroom, and my heart sank for it. I flung the covers aside and climbed out of the bed. I checked under Quinton's pillow, looking for something, anything, to tell me where he'd gone, hoping he'd left me a note of some sort but there was nothing under there for me to find.
I ran to the window and peered out. Quinton's sedan wasn't in the driveway. He wasn't here. Darn.
I raced around the bed and stopped short. The comforter I'd used underneath the sleeping bags the night before had been folded up neatly. The sleeping bags had been rolled up, tied off and inserted back into their thin bags. The pillows were stacked up neatly on the floor beside the blanket and sleeping bags.
Everything was neat, tidy even, and if I hadn't seen Rain in here with my own eyes then I wouldn't have known he'd been here at all.
My hand went to my throat. This was not good.
Noise came up from down the stairs. There were people down there moving around and I immediately brightened. They could have gone downstairs. Yes, why didn't I think of that sooner?
I raced out of my bedroom, down the hallway, and around the banister. My bare feet thundered on the stairs as I ran down them two at a time. My feet hit that bottom step, and I launched myself off of it. I ran flat out in the direction of where the noise was coming from. My feet took me towards the kitchen.
I burst into the kitchen and came up short. There were people in here, yeah, but did it make me a bad person to say they weren't the people I wanted to see? Because they were still people I cared about... I just wanted to see Rain more.
Dash stood in front of the sink with his hips resting back against the counter, and a cup of coffee in his hands suspended in the air halfway towards his mouth. His lips were parted as he stared at me in surprise.
Abel and Addison were both seated at the small table with steaming cups of coffee sitting on the table in front of them. They turned in their chairs with curious looks on their matching faces to watch me.
Not even the promise of fresh coffee kept me in that room, which was a miracle in itself. I needed coffee in the morning like I needed air to breathe.
I turned on my feet and raced out of the kitchen. I ran through all of the rooms in the downstairs of Dash's cottage. There was no one else here.
Deflated and upset, I made my way back to the kitchen. When I got there, I made a beeline straight towards the coffee pot, not giving the first crap that all three of them stared at me curiously. They could look all they wanted, but I needed coffee before they started questioning me, which they doubtless would do.
Sometimes this seven guys thing meant I spent a whole lot of time explaining myself.
I pulled a coffee cup out of the cupboard. It was black and had candy corn on the front that said Eat Me underneath. Dash was out of control.
I heard the fridge open and close as I hustled over to the coffee pot. I was ecstatic to see there was more than half a pot left. Yes! I filled my cup three fourths of the way full and turned, ready to get the creamer out of the fridge. The sugar was in a cute little ceramic container in the shape of a black cat. Dash wasn't just out of control, he was freaking nuts. His salt and pepper shakers were ceramic cats as well. I had yet to go through all of the cupboards, but I was sure when I did there would be lots of treasure I would find. Weird, old lady like treasure. I turned around, ran right into Dash, and jumped back. My coffee splashed out of my mug, thankfully missing my hand. It landed on the floor with a plop.
"What are you doing?" I breathed out.
I was struck dumb when Dash grinned at me. He held up the creamer proudly and shook it at me. My free hand moved to my chest and I pressed in in hopes of slowing down a heart that was trying to beat right out of my chest and run away from me.
"Looking for this?" He asked. "I figured you'd want creamer, so I got it out for you."
"Thanks," I wheezed.
His shoulders shook with laughter as he said, "You're welcome."
He set the creamer on the countertop beside the sugar, and pulled a piece of paper towel away from the roll that was beside the coffee pot. He used it to wipe up the coffee that had spilled over the side of my mug when he'd scared the crap out of me.
I dumped a severe amount of sugar into the mug, then added an even more severe amount of creamer. The color immediately swirled and changed from black to a seriously light brown. Sometimes I liked for my coffee to not taste like coffee at all. It was awesome. Sometimes I liked it black, but today wasn’t one of those days.
I took a sip as I watched Dash throw the now dirty paper towel into the trash bin. My mind was working over everything I had learned from Rain the night before, about not only my long-lost mother, but rogue witches and the Council, as well. There was a whole lot of messed up information there, and the Council terrified me more now than they ever had. If what Rain had told me was to be believed, then they (or more like the people who'd sat in their seats years and years before them) were filthy rapists and held little regard for anyone outside of their circle of power.
Rain never did tell me what the hunters used to do with the rogues that they weren't trying to save. Did they kill them? I couldn't come up with an alternative scenario in my head for what would have been done with the naughty little witches once they'd wreaked havoc and horror and then made a break for it. Death was so final, but what else could you do with someone who could wield what they held inside them like the most brutal of weapons? Unless there was some way to strip them of their magic or bar them from ever using it again, I didn't see what else you'd do with them but kill them.
Harsh, yes, but this was the world I was now living in, and I wouldn't shy away from the unpleasant parts of it.
"Quint said he'd be back later tonight to talk to you about something," Dash told me, and I was immediately pulled free from my thoughts and blinked back into the now.
Hmm... I wouldn't be here later tonight, I would be out with Damien doing who knew what.
"Did Rain leave with him?" I asked, sounding like I felt, and that was to say that this was the single most important question that would ever leave my lips in the entirety of my life and I needed the answer right this second or I would break down into tears and cry and wail like a freaking baby.
Get it together, Ariel. Weakness isn't attractive on anyone, stop showing yours to people.
The advice to myself was, as always, sound. I just never listened to myself very well, and chose to ignore it.
"Nope," Dash said as he watched my face closely. From the look in his eyes he really wasn't liking what he was seeing. "Rain left about an hour before Quint did. I didn't see him leave, just heard a floorboard on the stairs creak when he slunk out of the house before dawn."
Again, my heart sunk, and I had thought earlier that it couldn't get any lower.
I didn't even bother pretending like this didn't cut me. Rain had told me that he had something he needed to take care of today, but his leaving without saying goodbye or so much as leaving me a note to tell me when he would be back really hurt me.
And it wasn't like Quinton to leave me without saying goodbye or at least barking some kind of orders out at me first.
This did not sit right with me.
"He'll either come back or he won't, Ariel." Dash told me something I already knew. "You can't force a person to be in your life, and you can't force a person to love you. You just have to give it time and see which way he go
es. Worrying over it and stressing yourself out needlessly will get you nowhere, and only serve to make you feel worse about everything that's going on."
I sighed.
I knew he was right, down to my bones I knew it to be true. Dash was always very wise when it came to everything. I think it had a lot to do with his past experiences that made him patient and wise. He was incredibly kind once you got to know him, but before that he came off as a complete dick who was cold and never smiled. He wasn't cold anymore and he smiled when I was around.
"Pretty girl," one of the twins said quietly. I never could tell the difference between their voices and who was speaking unless I was looking at them when they spoke.
I turned my head towards the table as I raised the coffee cup to my lips.
"Yes," I said before taking a huge gulp of coffee. It only burned a little bit going down. Score one for me. I would have drunk it scalding hot, that was how much I liked my caffeine.
Addison's incredible blue eyes focused on me. "There's nothing you can do about it now. Worrying is a waste of your time. Nothing good will come of it."
"He will be back," said the same exact voice but from a different person. I jerked and met Abel's bright green gaze.
"He will be back," Abel stated firmly. "You are amazing, don't ever doubt that. He's spent countless years searching for you. No way he's going to finally get to you just to jump ship the very next day and never return. He'll be back. You need to put him out of your mind and focus on something else or you're going to drive yourself crazy."
"I can help with that, actually," Dash said smugly.
"How so?" Addison asked him.
"We have a client coming out here tomorrow, and the house needs to be cleaned today."
My eyes widened at hearing this news. Which was not good news for me to be hearing. I had been here once before when a client had been here, and it hadn't ended well. I had called her an asshole (because she was one!) and she'd slapped me across the face. It hadn't been a fun experience for me, and I knew it had pissed off both Dash and Quinton to the extreme.
