Courting the Darkness (20 page)

“Denise is not my mate! No, the point is you can
feel
my anger, just like I can
feel
your pain. It proves we’re connected. You can’t live without me anymore than I can live without you.”

She rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry, master. Your wish is my command. Is that any better?” She smiled, batting her eyes at him.

She grinned. “Why don’t you just pin her up against a wall like you did me? That should get her attention.” He clenched his fists, glaring at her. The smile dropped from her face and she backed up. “Uh—I mean, Mica, you can be a charmer when you want to. What do you need me for?”

“I need you to tell her the truth.”

“The truth…” She rolled her eyes. “You want me to tell her that you’re a self-riotous ass?” She laughed, shaking her head. “I think you demonstrate that well enough on your own. She doesn’t need me to tell her that.”

“Denise, I’ve had about enough…”

She backed up again. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell her Caleb put me up to it. Don't vamp out on me.” She brushed past Mica, giving him an uneasy glance as she went by. “This should be interesting.”

Denise stopped in the doorway and saw Desiree sitting slumped in the circle staring into space. Her face was still wet with tears. Denise looked back over her shoulder at Mica, taking a deep breath, and then marched in to confront Desiree.

“Desiree, I need to talk to you.”

Desiree sat up, ramrod straight when she heard Denise's voice. Her head whipped around and she glared in her direction. “I think you said enough to me earlier. I can’t think of a thing you could possibly say to me that I’d want to hear. Just go back to your mate and leave me alone.” She turned her head away from Denise, staring into the darkness.

“Mica’s not my mate. In fact, we haven’t even dated for about ten years.”

Desiree did not turn around. “I don't believe you.” She sniffed.

“You believe the lie, but don’t want to believe the truth.” Denise took a deep breath and blew it out. “Caleb called me night before last and told me I had to come save Mica from himself. Caleb said that Mica was involved with a human and I needed to break it up.”

Desiree’s shoulders slumped again; she could believe Caleb would pull something like that after the way he’d acted earlier.

“Mica and I broke up ten years ago because we didn’t get along with each other. I’m a smartass and he’s hot tempered when it comes to my mouth.” She laughed. “I do so enjoy pissing him off. I took it too far one night and we broke up. He hasn’t spoken to me again, until tonight when I showed up here.” She laughed harder. “I wish I had brought a camera. The look on his face was priceless when I put my arms around him and kissed him in front of you.”

Desiree whipped her head around, standing up. “You think this is funny? I’ll show you funny.” A fireball formed in her hand and she threw it right at Denise.

She dodged the fireball, putting her hands on her hips. “Hey, you almost hit me with that thing.”

Desiree’s eyes flashed with barely suppressed rage. “I’m only sorry I missed.” They both turned their heads to the sound of Mica's laughter in the doorway.

Denise looked between them. “Your temper is no better than his. You two deserve each other.”

“That’s the first statement you’ve made in ten years that I agree with.” He reached out his hand. “Desiree, please come out of the circle and talk to me.”

She thanked the spirits, picked up a candle, and blew it out. All the candles extinguished at the same time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mica pulled Desiree into his arms. “It seems I have underestimated Caleb. I hope this is the only distraction that he was able to come up with before I sent him back to New Orleans. We need to be prepared in case he has something else up his sleeve in his quest to claim you.

She put her arms around his waist, placing her cheek on his chest, speaking softly. “Even if he did manage to split us up, what did he hope to accomplish?”

“I don't know.”

Denise stepped up. “I can answer that.” They both looked at her. “He told me that if Mica was out of the way, Desiree would come running to him for comfort and he would take it from there.”

Desiree shook her head. “I wouldn’t have run to Caleb. Even though I thought he was a nice guy up until a few hours ago, I wouldn’t have let him into the circle. I’m just simply not attracted to him.”

“You are attracted to me. I know you are. I can feel it,” Caleb remarked forcefully. All three of them turned to the doorway, surprised to see Caleb.

That was it, the final straw. She lost it. Bringing her hand back, she let the fireball fly. It knocked Caleb off his feet into the cavern wall. She marched up, standing over him. He had managed to bring himself to his knees. She was trembling with rage. “
I. Do. Not. Love. You!
” she shouted. “You idiot! You almost cost me the love of my life! I have been on this earth for a hundred and twenty-five years and never really knew love. I finally find it and you get delusional and try to steal my one chance at happiness.”

Caleb looked up. “You could learn to love me. I could make you happy.”

Denise rolled her eyes. “Caleb, she’s right. You are delusional.”

Desiree closed her eyes to get her composure back together. When she opened them, Caleb was standing again. He grinned and started to take a step toward her. She side-stepped him and reached for Mica. He placed himself between her and Caleb.

“Back off!” Desiree shouted from behind Mica. “I don’t love you. I love Mica. I don’t know how to be more direct than that.”

“But Mica doesn’t love you.”

“You’re wrong, Caleb. I do love her, and I will protect her with my life. We’ve been friends a long time, which is the only reason that you still live. Don’t make me have to protect her from you. I will kill you if I have to.”

Caleb’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. I concede to defeat.”

Denise strolled up to Caleb, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him up against the wall. “It’s my turn, you mangy polecat,” she hissed. “Lose my number.”

Caleb laughed. “Oh, Denise, I’m sorry. I was drunk when I called you.”

“Because of you, Mica almost ripped out my throat.” She slammed him against the wall one more time, and released him. “I should have known better than to have listened to you. You were always the one for practical jokes. I know this wasn’t a joke, but here I am still the one with egg on my face. What possessed you to call me in the first place?”

Caleb looked away in guilt. “I—uh—don’t know.”

“There’s that look again.” Mica narrowed his eyes, looking at Caleb harder. “That’s the same look you had on your face when you came back from that drunken binge. That look like you’re feeling guilty about something. What are you hiding? What did you do?”

Caleb ducked his head. “I—uh—don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Caleb…”

Caleb looked away. “Okay, okay, I confess, it wasn’t my idea to call Denise. It’s just, when it was suggested, it sounded like a good idea at the time. I’m sorry.”

“If it wasn’t your idea, then whose idea was it?”

Caleb scratched his head and still refused to look at him. “I—uh—was just talking to a guy I was drinking with. I—uh—was just being friendly. He—uh—uh—was real easy to talk to, and he was—uh—after all, buying the shots of Crown.”

Mica rolled his eyes. “Caleb, this drinking buddy with the bright ideas, who was he?” Caleb actually flushed and Mica became more suspicious. “Answer me.”

“He said his name was Johnny. Mica, I don’t even really remember talking to the guy.” He shrugged helplessly. “He was still there the next morning when I woke up and reminded me of what I said.” He glanced at Denise, swallowing hard. “And did… He took great pleasure in watching me squirm.”

Desiree’s eyes grew wide and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. “Oh my God, Caleb!” she gasped. “You didn’t!” Everyone looked at Desiree and her reaction. “That’s how he knew everything. My God, you told him. How could you?”

Caleb cringed. He splayed his hands, shrugging helplessly again. “He said his name was Johnny. I didn’t find out who he was until the next morning.”

“Why didn’t you kill him when you had the chance?”

Caleb looked away. “I told you, he took great pleasure in reminding me of what I said. He hurried back to his vehicle. When I hollered at him, calling him by name, that’s when he said I had the name wrong. He said, it’s not Johnny, its Jason, Jason Hargrove. He actually laughed at me and slammed the vehicle door. I morphed and chased him for about ten miles, but I couldn’t catch the van.”

“Wait a minute. I’m missing something here.” Denise placed her hands on her hips. “I’ve never heard the name Jason Hargrove before. Who is he, and how did he know anything about me?”

Mica crossed his arms over his chest, still glaring at Caleb. “He’s the one who started all this mess in the first place. He is a witch hunter. He kidnapped Desiree and took her to Salem to burn as a witch.”

“I’m still confused. Our kind doesn’t normally associate with witches, no offense to Desiree. How do you two even know her?”

Caleb shrugged. “Drake sent us to rescue her.”

Denise’s eyes grew and she looked at Mica. “Mica, do you think it wise to mess with Drake’s property? His temper is worse than yours.”

They drew close to the mouth of the cavern and sunlight was beginning to light up the corridor. Denise put her hand on Mica’s arm to stop him from going any further. “Mica, we can’t go any further. Just tell me what you’re talking about.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Desiree ran up to Mica and he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “I love you,” he whispered, “and I’m sorry you had to hear it the way you did. I should have told you before.”