Rising Sun

by Lyla Oweds

  It felt like forever, but not long enough, before we’d reached the edge of the forest. Caleb’s bike was still there, exactly where he’d left it. Another motorcycle was parked nearby. Beside them was Michael’s Bentley, almost blending seamlessly into the night.

  The silence was deafening, the night suddenly foreboding. Especially when David jumped into the hatch of Michael’s vehicle while Gregory ungently pushed his brother into the back seat. Jordan, on the other hand, reached into Caleb’s jacket, withdrawing Caleb’s keys.

  “Did you come here together?” I asked Jordan before turning my attention toward Michael. “I didn’t know you all knew each other.”

  “We met on the way in. I had a bad feeling about tonight, so I followed it.” Michael’s jaw was still tight, his tone curt. The slightly mollified expression he’d adopted at Gregory’s joking vanished.

  My mouth went dry. He was truly angry at me.

  But why?

  That was a stupid question. There were many reasons he would be angry. Today hadn’t been my best day. I’d lied to him and snuck out in the middle of the night. And there was the fact I’d gotten into a fight.

  He hated it when I almost got hurt.

  And those were only the most logical reasons.

  But at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder, what if this had to do with my shifting abilities? Or the revelation of my mutant ability. Wouldn’t my inability to change only help? Lee’s words continued to ring through my head: Michael didn’t like shifters. I never would have guessed, considering how aggressively he’d courted me.

  Yet his expression after my admission. The look on his face.

  I couldn’t escape the terrifying realization that he hated my kind. Even without being able to shift, I was still a wolf.

  The worry nagged at me, causing my stomach to become queasy.

  His hand tightened over my shoulder, pulling my attention back to his face. This time, his expression was softer. Blond hair brushed over his forehead as he lowered his head toward mine, and when he spoke, the harshness was gone from his voice.

  “Let’s go home,” he said, candy sweet breath washing over my face. “There’s nothing done that cannot be fixed.”

  I still didn’t understand why he was angry, but his words caused my heart to race.

  Home.

  He wasn’t angry enough to take that away from me, at least. And that’s all that was important.

  The room was quiet as the story settled down over the inhabitants like a blanket. Not a warm fuzzy blanket either, because that feeling was reserved for happy things and stories with good endings.

  No, this was a stiff, scratchy, uncomfortable thing in the air.

  Michael sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He was seated on the small settee beside me, never letting me venture farther than five feet away since we’d arrived back at his house. But also, since he’d set me on my own feet once we’d crossed the threshold, he hadn’t touched me again either.

  Jordan, Lee, and David had followed us into Michael’s home, despite Michael not necessarily welcoming them in with open arms. Jordan only crossed his arms, settling into a seat on the floor at the far end of the room. Caleb was awake now and smacking at his brother’s hands as he was being pushed none-too-gently into the opposite couch

  Neither one of them spoke much. And from their stoic demeanor, the silence seemed to be a constant state for them. So David, outside of an unsurprised glance in their direction, barely paid them any concern before he settled himself on my other side.

  “What are you doing…” I glanced at him following the brush of his leg against my own.

  There was nothing romantic about the touch. It was the static-like tingle that jolted through me at his movement that caused my breath to catch.

  “What are you up to?”

  His expression was a bit too innocent, too… shining.

  He was up to something. His features were even more blond and angelic than usual. I didn’t trust that face.

  “I just told you about my sister. And you’re sitting here with a moronic way about you. What are you up to?”

  “Nothing.” His smile was blinding.

  “He’s scrying,” Caleb said, sitting on another settee with Gregory, his head still rested in his hands. “He’s trying to—”

  “I believe you,” David interrupted, the glowing look fading, and with it, his grin. “I do. But I can’t sense even a thread of Judge Cole’s energy within you. If it’s there—if he’s left any trace—then making the connection is outside my skill. It’ll be difficult to prove.”

  “Outside of your skills?” Jordan spoke at last, raising his eyebrows. “No one will believe that. Judge Cole isn’t even powerful.”

  David shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just telling you how I see it.”

  Gregory glanced up, his expression like glass. “You told us about your sister, and your connection to Judge Cole. But yet, I notice, you haven’t disclosed why you believe he’s cursed you. Conjecture?”

  “No.” I pressed my hands to my warming cheeks. “No… I told you about Grace to establish the background story. So you’d know why he’d target me at all.”

  “Which is?” Gregory prodded.

  “My sister married Edward Cole in a private ceremony.” My gaze trained to my knees, and there it remained. “I saw it with my own eyes. I was at the wedding—although the only people in the world who knew it was me were Edward and Grace.”

  “So they are legally married? Hasn’t it been registered?” Caleb asked. “Then how does no one know where Grace is, besides you?”

  “Hush.” My command lacked its normal bite, but I didn’t care. Caleb was asking the obvious questions that I myself had always wondered.

  However, this was the difficult part. I couldn’t allow any distractions to pull me from my reverie. “That was the last time I’d shifted—to watch them. When it was time for the vows, I rushed into the house—they’d married in his drawing room.”

  Chills ran down my spine, a touch of dark magic lingered. I hugged myself, ignoring the others. “He had wards up, but I didn’t even sense them until it was too late. And I was five, it was easy to bind me until the ceremony had been completed. Afterward, it was only because of my sister’s tears that he didn’t kill me. The priest left, and so did the witnesses. And I was still a wolf when he—at her insistence of an alternative—cursed me instead. I was forced to change back into my human form, and haven’t been able to shift since. It was a warning: he was powerful enough to seal away a shifter’s nature, and he’d be able to do worse when provoked.”

  I brushed away Michael’s attempt to grasp my hands, twisting my fingers together instead. “Afterward, Grace talked to me alone. She warned me to never come back. But, despite everything, I couldn’t leave her alone the way she was.”

  “She never left the house, and she needed no guards to keep her prisoner. Months passed, and I’d come watch her anyway—from a distance. And although she knew I was there, outside of the first time, she never spoke to me again. Until months later, she was pregnant.”

  “Alexander…” Michael interrupted, stroking his chin. “I know him, and there’s a younger brother. Daniel, right?” he asked, glancing at me.

  “I hate them.” This time, the emotion had returned with a vengeance. Children normally weren’t my favorite, but I never hated anyone as much as those two and their father.

  “So they are hers?” Michael tilted his head. “I knew his wife remained out of the public eye. But still, how could no one realize…”

  “They’re still your nephews.” Caleb’s look was slightly chastising.

  I bristled under that expression, at the judgement thick in the air. “I don’t hate them because of who they are. It’s not their fault, they are children.”

  Caleb’s brows furrowed. “Then why—”

  “They reek of rotten magic.” I frowned at him. “And Grace knows it too. That’s why, when she was pregnant, she fin
ally approached me. ‘I love my son,’ she told me. ‘But I can feel it—something is evil within his soul.’ ” I quoted my sister, forcing the words past the swell in my chest. “‘I’ve made a deal with the devil.’ After that point, she would meet with me. Once a month, under the sycamore tree at the edge of Edward’s lands. And every month, her concern would grow.”

  The room fell into silence after that, my heavy breaths the only sound as I grasped to control my emotions. “I thought she was wrong, at first.” My words were quieter now. “But after Alexander was born, after Daniel, and they began to grow older, I realized she was right.”

  The inhabitants of the room were frowning at me, causing my hackles to rise. “If you don’t believe me, pay attention the next time you spot one of them, or see him. You’ll come to realize I’m not wrong. Something is off, and no one else is able to pick up on it.”

  An uneasy ripple moved through the air, and it was Michael who broke the silence. “I haven’t seen it,” he said, touching my chin as he turned my face toward his. “But I’ll definitely try. We’ll figure it out, Gloria. And you will shift again.”

  His words held a promise, but it was difficult to believe. I couldn’t get my hopes up only to be disappointed.

  I glanced back at my hands. “I’m sorry…”

  “For what?” Michael asked.

  “Not you,” I clarified, peeking at Caleb. The fae was frowning at me, his mouth pressed in a line. “I’m sorry I can’t join your quintet.”

  “Why the hell not?” Jordan interrupted. His arm was braced on his crossed leg, and he was giving me a look that indicated he thought I was a moron.

  And I gave it back at him. “Isn’t it obvious? I can’t shift.”

  “Who cares?” Lee cocked his head, copying Jordan’s expression. “Shifting or no shifting, you’re still a shifter. And our energy recognizes yours.”

  “But…” What was this—acceptance? It was a feeling unfamiliar to me. “But I can’t do anything for you. We don’t even know what this spell is. What’s the catch?”

  “Why does there have to be a catch?” Lee continued to look confused. “But it’s better to be open about this sort of thing, especially if we’re going to be in a situation where your shifting would be convenient.”

  I flushed—but he wasn’t wrong. If I’d been honest about why I didn’t want to be in their quintet from the beginning, Caleb wouldn’t have had to have bled at all.

  “Remember, it’s food,” Caleb replied, shooting me a knowing look. “Nothing else can kill me. So you don’t need to get emotional.”

  “You’re still going on about that?” Gregory rounded on his brother, smacking him on the back. “It doesn’t mean that you’re invincible in the meantime!”

  Caleb shrugged off Gregory’s rebuke, but not enough to mask the flinch in his expression. “Michael said—”

  “That’s not how prophecies work.” Michael was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why does no one understand?”

  “Because you won’t tell us anything about it,” I retorted, shooting him a glare. My reaction surprised even myself, but apparently, I hadn’t gotten over our fight.

  His eyes popped open, and the look he gave me was a mixture of alarm and determination. “Gloria…”

  “Explain it.” I narrowed my eyes at him, mentally rising to the eventual fight. Company or no company, and case or no case, I still wanted answers.

  “We’re not discussing this now.” His voice was curt. “Before we even touch on that topic, I have a question for you first.”

  “Oh yeah?” My heart pounded and my fists clenched at my sides. He was challenging me, and I would lose. Instinctively, I knew that. But for the moment, I welcomed the distraction. “And what’s that?”

  “Why did you sneak out in the middle of the night? Especially after I’d already warned you about the danger.” His voice turned dark once again, his striking features becoming shadow. “What did you find out? I hope it was worth it.”

  I blinked, my anger washing away as shame began to trickle in its place. “W—what?”

  “I know that spot. I’d been there already.” Michael said. “If you’d had asked, Gregory and I would have told you that we’d already investigated that location.”

  “What?”

  “What did you find?” Michael asked again, ignoring my chastised tone. And from the manner of his question, it was obvious he already knew the answer.

  I’d never seen him so angry.

  In the past, my fear of him was from the nature of his abilities. But nothing from his demeanor, nothing from him. Before tonight, he’d always been happy-go-lucky, a fool… and Michael.

  But there was barely a hint of the Michael I’d come to know in his expression. I couldn’t breathe.

  “Don’t yell at her!” Caleb had pulled me to my feet, dragging me to his side. “It was my idea to go there, I came and got her. I didn’t know your stupid ass had been there already.”

  The rest of the room had cleared—now it was only Caleb, Gregory, Michael and me. And it spoke to the level of my discomfort that I hadn’t even noticed everyone else leaving. Nor did I notice that Caleb and Gregory had both gotten to their feet, moving between Michael and myself.

  Not until it had already come to pass.

  I was still reeling, trying to come to terms with the fact that earlier hadn’t been a figment of my imagination.

  Michael was angry—he was even capable of such a passionate emotion.

  And the fact that he was angry at me.

  “So I take it you noticed the faint trace of a spell.” Michael’s disappointment was unrelenting. “And that you also weren’t able to follow its origins?”

  “Sounds about right.” Caleb crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you say something? You knew Jordan would be interested, once you’d gotten his attention.”

  “Why should we tell you anything?” Gregory mimicked his brother’s actions. “You’re supposed to look into the things you’re assigned, not what you feel like going after.”

  “I don’t work for you!” Caleb glowered. “So you can fuck right off. If you have a problem with how we go about things, you go talk to Joseph.”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Caleb continued. “To answer your question, we’d discovered nothing. There was no time before we were caught.”

  “Yes.” Gregory’s mouth pressed in a line. “Because you were too stupid to plan your heist around their patrol schedules. It’s not like they’ve kept it a secret.”

  Caleb’s face flushed, and his voice chipped. “I looked at their damn schedule. They broke routine.”

  Caleb’s statement pulled me from the static, from the memory of Michael’s displeased expression. And even as Gregory barked out a laugh, rolled his eyes, my thoughts began to right. “I doubt that,” Gregory said coolly. “Even I know that shifters love their routines.”

  “They weren’t supposed to have another patrol in that area until two in the morning,” Caleb argued. “So this time, they did something different.”

  “No…” I touched my fingers to my lips as the clouds cleared. This had been wrong the whole time, and I had missed it.

  Of course Fabian and his cronies wouldn’t take us to see Mr. DuClaw, they couldn’t.

  Not unless they had wanted to get into serious trouble.

  “No,” I repeated, in a stronger voice this time. But it didn’t matter, the boys had already turned their attention to me. I glanced between the brothers. “You’re both right. Patrol isn’t necessary, to be honest. It’s a formality, because no shifter would dare to intrude in another’s lands.” At Gregory’s raised eyebrow, I sighed. “This was different. In any case, it gives pack members something to do. Shifters love routine, we need order. No one appreciates a chaotic schedule or the unknown, that’s one reason why I’d never gotten along with most of my pack. No one would have been patrolling outside of their allocated time slot. The fact that so
meone stumbled across us means one thing—it wasn’t a coincidence.”

  Caleb blinked slowly in response, the dark shadow of contemplation coloring his expression. But Gregory only paused for a moment, looking at his brother. “Who else knew you were going there tonight?”

  “Only David, Jordan, Lee…” Caleb counted out on his fingers, his eyes still distant. “And, as you saw, we entered on the border of the Silver Moon and Dark Creek pack lands. DuClaw was unavailable, but I’m not a complete moron.” He frowned at Gregory. “We weren’t trespassing. I left a note with Blake.”

  Blake…

  I blinked, frowning at him.

  Surely I’d misheard. He hadn’t said ‘Mr. MacClure,’ or even just a reference to his last time, like he had with Mr. DuClaw.

  He’d said Blake.

  “Do you know him?”

  Gregory frowned, and Michael’s jaw locked, but neither made any effort to answer me. Only Caleb.

  The swirl of contemplation had left his expression, and trepidation gathered there instead. It was a quick movement, but not too much where I didn’t notice. But he glanced at Michael and Gregory, almost expectantly, waiting for their intervention. But when they remained silent, his attention returned to me.

  “A bit,” was all he said.

  This was unacceptable. “But how—”

  “Blake wouldn’t have sent anyone after you,” Michael interrupted, shaking his head. “Was your message intercepted?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Caleb growled out. “It was sent directly to his office.”

  To his office?

  I leaned forward, hands braced on my knees. “How—”

  “Shush.” Caleb pressed his finger against my lips. “We’re talking.”

  Red flared across my vision and my reaction was instantaneous.

  So was his.

  I didn’t think I’d given him any forewarning, but still. Caleb pulled his hand back, my snapping teeth only missing his finger by a hair’s width. A growl gathered low in my chest, almost inhuman, but never quite as animal as it should. “Don’t you talk down to me, Caleb Weaver.”

  Even though he still had his finger, he was cradling his hand to his chest, staring at me with wide eyes.