Arranged (Arranged Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

M
ichael tightened
his grip on my shoulder. Everything about this was strange. I felt dirty and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. I wanted to be back with my mother and her guards, but I was the one that came up with this hair-brained idea and now I had to see it through.

Everyone in the cave moved forward to get a better look. I felt like I was on display and not in a good way. The men stared at me hungrily, making me feel like prey. I had to force myself to take a breath.

“Michael, you know you gotta share your goods.” One of the men came closer, and I saw that his eyes had a glassy look about them that made the hairs on my neck stand on end. It took all of my self-control not to drop him to the ground.

“Touch her and you die.” Michael’s voice was laced with venom.

My breath caught in my throat. I glanced up. His face was set in stone.

Unfortunately, this guy didn’t give in as easily as his brother. He reached out and grabbed my arm to pull me into him. Michael had a hold of my shoulder, so I was being pulled in both directions. My magick stirred, begging to be released. “Let go of me!” I demanded.

Laughter filled the cave, and I instantly felt sick to my stomach. So this was how they treated women? Like property to be passed around? I attempted to yank my arm back, but the man’s fingers dug into my flesh.

With his left hand Michael pulled back and landed a crushing blow to the side of the man’s face. Momentarily stunned, the man let go of my arm. I retreated back a couple of steps. Now his attention was focused only on Michael. I glanced around at the crowd of people. Their eyes were lit with excitement. It became increasingly clear that no one was going to try to stop the fight or come to my rescue. They were enjoying it too much.

Michael let go of my arm without looking at me. I could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves. I couldn’t use my magick, but I could transmit some of it to Michael.

I sent him a burst of strength, and in a flurry of motions Michael and the other guy were going at it. They bounced around, circling each other like wild animals. When Michael landed a punch, the man staggered from the power of it. I bit back my smile.

Even though the guy outweighed Michael by a good forty pounds, I knew he didn’t stand a chance.

The next punch laid the guy out flat. Knocked out cold.

Michael looked down at the man and back at me with a raised brow. He was still buzzing from the adrenaline rush, but he was also surprised. He let his gaze fall to each man in the room. “She’s mine.”

The others began to back away and returned to doing what they had been before we walked in. The only ones who stayed were his parents.

His father gave Michael an appraising glance. “It’s about time you manned up. Too bad it took a sweet little thing like this to get you to put away your dresses and act like a man instead of a sissy.”

My mouth dropped open. Oh no he didn’t.

“Tom, leave him alone,” the mother said so low I could barely hear her.

His thin smile turned into a smirk.

Unable to contain myself any longer, I straightened and glared at his father. “It might come as a surprise to you, but I’m my own person. I don’t belong to your son or anyone else. I came here willingly, and I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. How else do you think I survived this long on my own?”

Michael sucked in a breath. I knew he was worried I would unleash my power but that was not my intention. However, I also wasn’t going to let this fool talk to me or Michael in such a way.

At first his father didn’t respond, at least not overtly. Then he took a step forward; he was so close I could smell his foul breath. A bead of sweat shimmered on his forehead. There was a look of lust in his eyes that I didn’t like. His hand reached out and he trailed his thumb down the side of my face. A shudder of disgust ran through my body like liquid fire. “You’ve got spirit, girl. You’re too good for my boy.”

I smacked his hand away and he grabbed my wrist, yanking me forward. Head low, Michael lunged after us, but the rest of the men leapt forward to hold him back.

I was dragged through the cave, away from the others. Glancing back I locked eyes with the mother, who shrugged and glanced away.

Oh shit.

I tried with all my might to yank my arm away but his grip only tightened. A sick smile spread across his face. He was moving too fast for my feet to keep up. He threw me into a darkened corner of the cave. I scurried backwards on the ground, trying to get back on my feet. I could hear Michael’s voice rising.

Please, let him get through
. I sent him another surge of power.

If Michael could not save me I would have to save myself, alerting the others to my powers. And then I would have to take down the whole tribe because they would not let me leave alive. Of this much, I was certain. Why hadn’t I listened to my mother?

The weight of his body pressed down on me, and I gasped when his knees forced my legs apart. I jerked my hips to get him off of me, but all that did was make him laugh. “Such a beauty. Much too good for that no good son of mine.”

Rage welled up inside of me. Just when I was about to release my power, his father’s body jerked off mine. His feet got tangled with my own, pulling off my shoes.

“You’re a disgrace,” Michael yelled, slamming his fist into his father’s face. “You make me sick.”

I rose to my feet, more shaken than I’d liked to admit, and smoothed down my shirt.

His father stumbled to his feet, his eyes blazing, and launched at Michael. They sparred, each getting in a few hits before Michael’s fist connected in a crunch to his father’s jaw. I knew it was broken. Fueled by my magick, Michael lifted his father in the air and tossed him against the wall. His body thunked when it hit the rocks and slid to the floor in a heap.

This was not how I’d envisioned this meeting taking place.

I called forth my power and did something I probably shouldn’t have done, but I didn’t see any other way out of this mess. Using my power I froze everyone in their place. His father’s face was frozen in alarm. I weaved in a time of twenty-three minutes before they would awaken. When they came to they wouldn’t recall the last half hour. I wasn’t sure how far the magick would reach, so it was possible his brother would remember us approaching. However, it was the best option I had right now.

Loathe to do it, I reached out and placed my hand on his father’s jaw, instantly healing the broken bones and reducing any swelling.

Grabbing Michael’s hand I pulled him out of the cavern. “Where’s the water supply? We need to hurry.”

With wide eyes, Michael stared down at me. “You’re still going to help them after what they did to you?”

I glanced back at the cave over my shoulder, debating. “Yes, I saw signs of children. They should have a chance to thrive.” I forced a smile. “Plus, you live here.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can come back after this.”

“They won’t remember,” I said gently.

“But I will. They are savages. No better than the darkness they are trying to keep out.”

My heart pounded in my chest.

I didn’t know what to say to that so I reminded him we had to hurry. We climbed over rocks and slid down to the bottom of a ravine. Their water source, which was a gurgling creek bed, was in surprisingly good shape. I sunk to my knees and dunked my hands into the water. Mentally I envisioned restoring the molecules and infused them with healing energy. When I was satisfied, I rose to my feet and shook off my hands, wiping them on my pant legs.

Michael watched me carefully, as if he were afraid I was going to fall apart at any moment. And maybe I would. I’d never had to deal with anything like that before. As a princess, I was highly revered in my land. No one would dare try to force themselves on me. I took a shaky breath to clear my mind.

Crossing the distance between us, he put one of his hands on my neck and drew me against him. I dropped my head on his chest. I could feel the heat emanating from his body. His touch was warm and comforting, and I didn’t want to move away from it.

When his lips brushed my forehead my pulse began to sky rocket.

“My God, I thought …” he whispered.

Swallowing to ease the tightness of my throat, I pulled back to gaze up at him. “We should really get out of here.”

He nodded. “I’m really sorry, Tulupea. I knew how they were, but I didn’t think anything like this would happen while you were with me. I should have known better.” The despair was evident in his voice.

I laid my hand on his chest and a shudder went through him.

“If anything would have happened to you because of me …” His voice broke, and he was unable to finish his sentence.

Nothing would have happened to me, but he still didn’t quite grasp the enormity of my power. True, I’d been shaken, but I never doubted my ability to get out of the situation unharmed. Still, I understood what he meant and his concern touched me.

His hand closed on top of mine, and I looked down at our joined hands. It felt warm, nice, right.

“I want to go through with the merging. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

He glanced down at the water and back at me. “Let’s get back to your place and tell Henrek to get started as soon as possible. And, Tulupea, change back into your true form. I don’t like that you have to pretend to be someone else to be with me.”

I let go of a breath I wasn’t aware I was holding and smiled up at him.

Together we quickly made our way back to my mother.

B
efore we even walked through
the front door I felt my mother’s mood trickle throughout every cell in my body. She was beyond irate that I’d snuck out of the house right under the nose of the guards. And she was going to be even more ticked off when I explained to her what’d happened with Michael’s father and his tribe. After taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I made my way into the kitchen and braced myself for the lecture that was sure to come.

My mother set her cup down, and turned her eyes in my direction, shooting me a withering glare. “Tulupea, I told you not to go wandering alone. You have no idea how dangerous this realm can be. You cannot do the foolish things you were able to get away with in our realm.” Her hand slammed on the table, startling me. “Here on Earth there are real dangers. You don’t have the slightest idea what we are dealing with.”

I glanced over at Michael with a raised brow. He stood back near the entrance as if uncertain he should fully enter the room. I couldn’t say I blamed him—even I was a little afraid of my mother when she was in one of her moods, but I wasn’t going to allow her to get to me today. I’d genuinely thought I’d been doing the right thing. So my conscience was clear.

“Oh, I think I have a slight idea. Seeing as I’ve been nearly maimed by a chimera, and almost assaulted by Michael’s father … and I’ve only been here two days. So yes, Mother, I realize Earth is a dangerous place. From now on I will not leave without the guards.”

Momentarily struck speechless, her face went ashen. Standing, she moved with stilted steps as she crossed the room until she stood before me. She took me by the elbow, pulled me aside, and lowering her voice, she asked, “What are you saying? Did he harm you in
any
way?”

Suddenly feeling very weary and exhausted, I smoothed back stray wisps of my unruly hair as I chose my words carefully. “No, he didn’t harm me even though he wanted nothing more than to do so, along with the rest of the tribe. Mother, you have to know this was my idea and not Michael’s. He tried to talk me out of going.” The last thing I wanted was for her to blame him. “I convinced him to take me to his tribe. Before you lecture me you should know I went with good intentions. My plan was to convince Michael that we were not a bad race in hopes of changing his mind about the merging. I know how important it is to you, and also to the planet’s chance of survival. All I intended was to lace their water with healing energies, nothing more. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite that easy.”

My mother blinked at my words as if she were surprised.

I continued on quickly. “Don’t worry, I didn’t go barging in with my powers. I cloaked myself as a human. They had no idea who or what I am, and I also deleted their memory before I left. So there shouldn’t be any repercussions.”

She pulled back and held me by my arms, glancing over my body as if to make sure I was still intact.
Still pure.
“What
exactly
did Michael’s father do to you?” my mother pressed.

A shudder ran through me at the memory of Michael’s father’s eyes filled with lust and pure evil, the feel of his skin on mine. “Nothing.” I paused. “But he wanted to, they all did. Mother, they are like savages. Is this how all the humans are now? What have we done by bringing magick to this land? I remember earthlings being a kind race.”

My mother let out a brief, bitter laugh. “My dear, do not be so naïve. You very well know you cannot judge a race by a single person or even a group of people. Emotions run high in times of distress and cause people to do things they would not normally do. However, some people are just bad to the core, and Michael’s father is one of them. You should have killed him when you had the chance.”

My mouth hung open.
Did she really just say that? In front of Michael?

A quick glance at Michael showed me a clenched jaw, his body rigid. No one wanted to hear that someone they loved was evil and deserved to die even if it was the truth. Let alone about your own parent. What had gotten into my mother? She was usually much more diplomatic.

I turned back toward my mother with a ‘what in the world are you doing’ look.

She met my gaze, and I saw that her eyes held no remorse, even though she knew what was at risk if Michael changed his mind. There had to be more going on that I didn’t understand.

Wanting to change the subject, I continued to tell her exactly what happened. From the brother to meeting the rest of the tribe, including Michael trying to protect me from the men. I left out the part about me lending him my power, and finally I finished with his father’s attempt at a sexual attack on me.

Taking another deep breath I continued on, jutting my chin up just a bit. “Even though it didn’t go as planned, I still healed the water before we left. There were children and I couldn’t bring myself to leave them without some hope.”

“I’m not surprised, you’ve always had a soft heart,” she sighed, rubbing her brow. “Well, you’re both back safely, that’s what matters the most. Michael, does this mean you’ve changed your mind? You want to go ahead with the genetic splicing after all?”

Michael locked eyes with me before nodding. “I can’t say that I agree with you that my father should be killed, but I do see that we need to do something because we’re spiraling out of control, and before long I think we’ll be killing off our own kind. I’m not sure this plan of yours will work but we have to try. If nothing else, perhaps the rebuilding of the land and your powers to grow food will be enough for humans to have the will to live again.” He paused before speaking again. “I was thinking. Once we’re back on the path of recovery, will you take the hybrids back with you? I’ve come to understand that dark doesn’t necessarily mean evil, but still … I think it would be best for everyone if they were not left behind.”

My stomach dropped, and I snapped my head in his direction. Was he really that repulsed by our kind even after today? What about the moment we shared? Had it meant nothing to him? His question hurt more than I’d liked to admit.

Despite my shock, his words struck a chord deep within me. What would happen to the halflings once we were done repairing? Would we take them back with us? What if they felt at home here on Earth? Shouldn’t they have a choice? This was definitely something I had to talk over with my mother. Perhaps it would be best to bring them into our realm …

Leave it for now,
my mother’s words echoed in my head.
He’s had a rough day.

I gritted my teeth but gave a slight nod in understanding.

My mother took a step backwards, straightened herself, and once again regained her regal bearing. “You’re very wise, Michael. I’m sorry for my anger at your father, but you very well remember your father kept me captive for days. What you might not know is he came to my chambers while I was powerless and for that he will die by my hand.”

My skin went cold. Was she saying that Michael’s father forced himself on her? Why hadn’t she told me, and why was he still alive if that was the case? A mere mortal could not have possibly done such a thing to the strongest faery in the lands. Even with her power contained.

“I’m sorry, I did not know that, but I’m not surprised.” His voice was bitter and his face pale.

“Mother, how could you have left him living? Why haven’t you returned to destroy him?”

She forced a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I didn’t say he was able to go through with the advances. My hands might have been tied, leaving me unable to access my power, but I still had my will. That man is a disservice to humans everywhere. Thankfully, I was able to manipulate the energy around me with my mind. So his brain may have wanted to sexually attack me but his body would not have been able to perform if he had the chance. You have no idea how much this angered him.”

Her lips tilted up and I couldn’t help but return the smile. I am not at all surprised that my mother was able to find a way to protect herself. She’d always been very resourceful.

“Once Michael released me, I knew he was the one that would help us and I had to make sure he was on our side. That was more important than revenge.”

I tilted my head. “And if Michael had decided not to join us?”

Her shoulder lifted. “I would have made a visit to his father, and it wouldn’t have been a pleasant one.”

A shiver ran through me at my mother’s arctic words. She never spoke idly.

My mother turned toward Michael and placed her hand on his forearm. “Know this—your father is a dead man. It’s one thing to try to force himself on me, but my daughter … there is nothing that you can do to change my mind. Are you still willing to go through with the pairing knowing this? If not, this is your last chance to change your mind. After today there is no turning back.”

Michael swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and hung his head. “Do what you have to do. After what he tried to do to Tulupea, with my mother right there …” He paused. “He’s responsible for his own actions. I wish I were able to defend him, but the man has no honor to defend. I don’t wish to return to the tribe.”

“We have plenty of room here,” I blurted out.

My mother gave me a look but she didn’t argue with me. “For the time being you can stay here, at least until Henrek is finished. Speaking of, now that we are agreed to go through with the breeding, Tulupea, you need to go see Henrek for the next step. I’ll come with you but Michael you must stay up here.” It wasn’t a request.

I knew that the next step had to do with my eggs, so I was glad my mother insisted on him staying upstairs. I was more than a little worried about the process, and talk about awkward…

“Guards, show Michael to the quarters down the hall from my own. Make sure he has everything he needs.”

I saw Michael look down at his arm, and eyes widened. One of the guards must have grabbed him. Our eyes met, I shrugged and we exchanged a tense smile before he was lead down the hallway.

My stomach lurched as we made our way to the basement, our feet echoing on the cement flooring of the empty hallway. After this there would be no turning back.

I knew I wanted to go through with the process but now it was real. As in, it was going to happen very soon and I was beyond apprehensive. What if something went wrong? What if they couldn’t survive like the other projects Henrek had tried? What if the new species weren’t accepted by our kind or the humans?

“Stop overthinking it,” my mother said over her shoulder. “What will be, will be. But you know the Oracle is seldom wrong and she believes this will work. We must have trust that we are doing what is right.”

Her words put my mind somewhat at ease. Unfortunately, there was still the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to go terrible wrong.