Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (31 page)

“How is this even possible…?” Rayne
whispered in a breath as my eyes shifted slowly to him, but he was
staring at Evan, “I see his lips moving… but I don’t hear
him….”

“We should really get you to your brothers,
Arianna,” Evan commented and my heart thumped against my
ribcage.

One of the last places I wanted to be, was
near my brothers, especially after realizing that my father’s death
was my fault. That was selfish, though… so I pushed myself to my
feet after I finished my food, and walked into the bedroom. I
picked up my phone only to realize I had several missed calls and a
few text messages.

I’m so sorry about your dad,
Anna… Just tell me what I can do to help. ANYTHING I can do to
help…
That one was from Lissa.

Anna… are you okay? Your
brothers are here… but you aren’t… the guys said they had you
somewhere safe, I just… I’m sorry, about your father… but right
now, I just wish I could see you to make sure you’re okay.
That
one was surprisingly from Tobias. He was always so quiet… I guess
he actually was shy….

I’m sorry… about everything
with Caiden and Rai… especially now with your dad… Gods, I’m sorry…
Caiden’s worried about you… he won’t say it, but I can tell… and he
keeps checking his phone… if you get this… could you maybe just let
him know you’re okay? Let me know what I can do for you… I’m really
really sorry… :(
That one was from Sage, and barely made me
smile; I wasn’t even thinking about that whole Caiden-Rai-Sage
fiasco… but obviously it was bothering her.

I called Mom… I’m sure she’ll
try to reach you even though I told her not to bother you; it’s up
to you if you talk to her or not right now. She said she *would*
come back, but her mother isn’t feeling well, and ‘what with Mark
still on the loose’… I doubt we’ll see her anytime soon. I hope you
get here soon, Arianna… I love you, sis.
That one was clearly
from Austin, but it made me so mad at my mother that I nearly broke
my phone.

I will be happy to help you
in any way I can with your loss. Just say the word, Anna Gray. But
best to keep your wolves at bay. –Ty
I stared at that one for a
really long time wondering how in the world he had gotten my cell
phone number.

In the missed calls were Michaela, Jason,
Alex (my phone was really almost crushed then), and my mother. I
reluctantly listened to voicemails. The first was Jason, and he
kept going from angry to sad and back again throughout the message;
angry that I wasn’t there, that I had gone out with Jack, sad that
I wasn’t giving him a chance, about Dad… he ended the message just
by saying ‘Come home, Arianna,’ and I felt tears welling in my
eyes. The next message was from Alex, and again, I nearly crushed
my phone from the anger that I felt. He was apologizing for my
loss, saying he had never intended for my father to get caught up
in things, but there was no real regret in his voice, and he didn’t
mention my brothers aside from to say they were safe at the
house.

Then my mother’s voice clicked on. ‘I’m
going to turn over legal guardianship of you and Jason to Austin. I
just…’ she got choked up for a minute, ‘This is all too much….’

I didn’t realize I’d done it until it was
much, much too late. My phone was in a bunch of pieces on the
floor, and Rayne stood calmly in the doorway, his hazel eyes
watching me closely as I suddenly found myself wondering just how
long he’d been standing there.

“I need to borrow a phone,” I mumbled,
remembering Sage’s request, and Rayne walked over and held his cell
phone out to me. I typed in Caiden’s name and hit call when his
number popped up.

“Hey,” Caiden greeted when he picked up the
phone, but in my silence, he grew worried, confused… I could sense
all of that… “Arianna…?” His voice was a whisper.

“Yes,” I answered almost silently, “I just…
I’m all right… okay? I don’t want you worrying about me….”

He laughed distantly. “Did Sage say
something to you…?”

“Yeah,” I admitted quietly and he laughed
softly again.

“If you’re all right, why are you calling me
from Rayne’s phone?”

“I broke mine… We’re coming back to the
house soon… if there’s any possible way you and anyone else can
keep
Alex
away from me, for at least a while, I would really
appreciate it.” I heard my voice turn into a hiss when I said his
name, it felt like venom on my lips.

“I’ll see what I can do. Maybe…” he
hesitated a second, “Maybe they could take you to the basement… if
we can’t keep Alex away that is….”

The phone suddenly disappeared from my hand
and I darted my gaze up to Rayne as he put it to his ear.

“Just tell Alex if he comes near her, I’m
leaving,
with
her,” Rayne clearly recited into the phone,
“I’ll tell her you said goodbye… try not to let your brother know
you spoke with her… we have enough problems right now.” He hung up
the call and smiled softly at me. “Did you need it for anything
else?” he asked and I barely nodded as he handed it back to me.

I clicked into the text messages, and
started one to Tobias.

It’s Anna… I broke my phone.
We’ll be there in a little while, okay?
I clicked send and only
waited a minute before I sent essentially the same message to
Austin.

What do you mean you broke
your phone?
Austin replied and I groaned.

I might have thrown it at the
wall after I listened to Mom’s voicemail… it wasn’t
intentional…
I was about to hit send when Rayne lightly touched
my shoulder and motioned toward the door where Jack was
standing.

“We’ll drop by the store on the way home and
get you a new one… None of us want you to be without a phone…” Jack
remarked and I barely nodded my head, “But we really have to leave…
Farren is downstairs checking us out right now.”

I barely nodded again and bit back tears as
I added to the message:
Jack says we’re going to
stop and get me a new phone. We’ll be there soon.
I finished it
and hit send.

Good. Whose phone is
this?
Austin answered instantly.

It’s Rayne’s… don’t pester
him.
I replied with a sigh while grabbing my few things into a
laundry bag and following the guys onto the elevator.

I don’t feel like you’re
okay, Anna… Don’t hurry too much, they’re organizing a way to block
Alex while you get upstairs to your room.
That was from Tobias
and I smiled softly as I handed the phone back to Rayne.

“Thanks,” I laughed distantly, staring at
the floor of the elevator. Jack’s hand slid into mine just as we
reached the ground floor.

“Tell them bye for now… the car won’t fit
anyone else,” he gently instructed as we walked out of the hotel
and headed toward the parking garage while Farren fell into step
with us.

We stopped inside the parking garage and I
recognized the SUV parked beside the sports car as having come from
Alex’s house. Jack let go of my hand, but took the bag from me and
put it inside the trunk of the car while I looked up at Rayne,
Evan, Aeril, and Farren and smiled half-heartedly.

“I guess I’ll see you back at the house…” I
mumbled, but Aeril suddenly pulled me into a hug and tears I had
been trying to hold back slipped out of my eyes.

“You won’t see him when you get there… we
will make sure of it,” Aeril promised, backing away enough to
gently wipe the tears from my eyes before he kissed my cheek. When
he released his hold on me, Rayne pulled me into a tight embrace.
Hug versus embrace… what was the difference? I didn’t use to think
there was one, but Aeril’s was a hug, Rayne’s was more, and he
didn’t say a word before he let go of me and smiled distantly while
Evan held the car door open for me.

“We’ll see you at the house,” Farren
contributed while I barely nodded and got into the passenger seat
before Evan pushed the door closed.

The car purred to life when Jack turned the
key in the ignition, but he still had the parking brake up as he
leaned across the middle console, sliding his fingers across my
cheeks as his thumbs brushed away the tears and he softly pressed
his lips to mine. The kisses became nearly desperate, but that was
my doing, and he slowly pulled back, searching my eyes.

“Oh, Anna,” he whispered, “I would love
nothing more than to become your distraction from everything… and I
would… if I didn’t think you’d regret it later.”

“It’s not…” I faltered, my face red as I
stared down at the gear shift, “That’s not…” I sighed and barely
shook my head, “You make me feel safe, Jack… and I’m… comfortable
with you… in a way that I’m not comfortable with
any
of the
others….” I trailed off for a long minute, not looking up at him
even though I could feel him staring at me, “But that doesn’t make
it right for me to use you… Because I’m still in love with
Rayne….”

Jack laughed hollowly and I finally looked
up to find his emerald gaze distant, the silver still ringing his
pupils. “I know you are,” he muttered, “You’ve turned me against my
pack leader… but I can’t get you away from Rayne….”

“Jack…” I whimpered and he smiled
distantly.

“It isn’t your
fault
that I don’t
trust Alex anymore… he did that himself… it just wouldn’t have
happened if you weren’t here…” Jack reasoned with a faint chuckle,
“Well… it wouldn’t have happened so quickly if you weren’t
here….”

“I don’t want to cause problems between you
and Alex…” I sighed, but Jack suddenly jolted in his seat and
turned around to face the front of the car. I followed his gaze out
the windshield, but I didn’t understand… there was nothing there.
“What is it?” I whispered almost silently.

“It’s time to go,” Jack decided, carefully
maneuvering out of the parking garage before taking off down the
city streets.

“Jack…?” I whispered worriedly as he sped
through the city and out onto the interstate.

“I want to know why Ty is so interested in
you… why he can find you…” Jack considered quietly, “He said he was
leaving… and yet I could sense him outside of the car….”

“Does it really matter?” I wondered and he
laughed distantly.

“Yes…” he mumbled, “No… I don’t know… I’m
worried it matters, but I don’t know if it does or not… We don’t
get along with the fae… I want to know what he wants with
you….”

“Have you tried asking him?” I pressed,
catching the brief disgust that flashed across Jack’s face.

“Never trust a faerie to be telling the
truth… They all lie, and they all lie in really sneaky ways that
sound like truths,” Jack grumbled, “So no… I haven’t asked him. I
wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said.”

“What if I ask him…?” I wondered, feeling
the shift of the car when he jerked the steering wheel just a
little too hard.

“Please, Anna… we have enough problems on
our hands… just stay away from Ty and the faeries….” Jack requested
with such pleading in his voice that I couldn’t really tell him no…
I also couldn’t tell him I would because I wasn’t going to avoid
Ty, I just wouldn’t go out of my way to see him.

As we were driving, dark clouds shifted over
us, and it very suddenly began pouring rain. When we stopped at the
phone store, we darted through the sudden torrential downpour, and
I made Jack wait out of the way while I got the new phone from the
clerk, who, thankfully, didn’t give me too much of a sales speech
because I really wasn’t in the mood to try to deal with something
like that. When I met back up with Jack after getting the phone, he
seemed more upset than when I had left him, but he only led me back
through the rain, out to the car and started toward the house
again, thankfully at a slower speed since the roads were wet and
the storm seemed to be following us home.

“Jack… what’s wrong?” I questioned for
probably the fifth time as we got into town. He carefully pulled
the car off on the side of the road, turned in his seat, and his
intense gaze landed on me while I tried to tune out the patter of
raindrops on the roof.

“The sales guy at the store… what were you
doing to him?” Jack insisted, but I looked at him in blatant
confusion, “Besides giving off a really strong ‘don’t mess with me
vibe,’ you were doing something else to keep him from giving his
sales pitches….”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking
about…” I murmured, tilting my head to one side while his fingers
slid across my cheek and brushed my hair behind my ear, a distant
look growing in his eyes.

“I have a bad feeling,” he admitted almost
silently, “That these things you can do are the reason why Ty is
interested in you….”

“But you won’t ask him?” I reiterated and he
smiled faintly but shook his head. I saw his eyes widen, and his
arms wrapped around me, pulling me out of my seat and across the
car into his lap as I distantly wondered what had happened to my
seatbelt just before something slammed into the side of the car and
I blacked out.

“Anna… Anna, wake up…” That wasn’t Jack’s
voice worriedly calling to me as I fought to focus on it. “Come on,
Anna…” There it was again, but the more I woke up, the more aware I
became of pain, sounds of fighting, growling, wet cement beneath
me. I groaned as my pulse pounded achingly in my head and I could
tell the sun was much too bright. “Hold on a second…” The voice
came again and then I heard the snap of an umbrella and the bright
sunlight stopped scorching against my eyelids as I managed to open
them and found Evan kneeling beside me with the umbrella open over
my head while I realized there were still dark clouds above us, but
it was what was behind him that made me gasp. The car was totaled;
it was nearly broken in half and formed an L-shape, more or less….
The part that had me pushing on the sidewalk to sit up wasn’t the
fact that it was totaled, it was the side that was caved in, the
passenger side, the side that had been off the road facing the
field beyond the car. “It’s the troll,” Evan stated and my eyes
darted to him as I flinched when the shock of pain ran down my head
and neck, “I need to go help them… Sybil is going to help you.” I
had heard the name before, but I had never met Sybil and Evan
smiled softly. “Kiris is going to move you to the car, Sybil is
going to help you, but they aren’t going to explain anything to
you… Alex won’t let them… They’re going to take you back to the
house and we’ll be there shortly. Get dried off and get some rest
as soon as you’re at the house, okay?” I only barely nodded my head
once before he looked past me and nodded his head. His yellow-gold
eyes met mine and he closed his for a long moment, opening them and
waiting until I closed my eyes as the sunlight burst forth behind
my eyelids again and I found myself wondering why the barely-lit
sky suddenly seemed so bright to me.