Dangerous Lovers (199 page)

A door slammed open. Footsteps followed. I held in my whimpers of pain, hoping the newcomer would leave.

“Where the hell is she?”

I knew that voice…Stone. That’s what they called him.

“I smell blood. Bathroom.”

That voice, too. Dallas – the too loud one. I pressed my hands over my ears. The footsteps sounded again. Then, there was a timid knock.

“Are you okay?” Stone asked.

I liked his voice, but not enough to believe he actually cared. This was a trick. I remained silent. I scooted back, grazing my hand on a shattered piece of mirror. I sucked in a sharp breath. The knock was louder and demanding now.

“Open the door!” He sounded angry and I folded into myself. I was safer here. I was safer here. I was safer here.

“You want to do the honor?”

I looked at the door for a moment, not understanding. I didn’t know this new voice. It was musical and too calming. It was unnerving me.

“My pleasure. Back away from the door, Scars.” Dallas said. Seconds later, the door exploded open. A large figure stood in the doorway, staring at the mirror. I curled tightly into myself. Don’t notice me. Please don’t touch me. Don’t torture me. Please.

“What the hell happened?” the musical voice said, sounding closer than before. “Did ya do this, ya idiot?”

“Move.” Stone said.

I didn’t look anywhere; my small, safe room was crowded and dangerous. It was infected.

“Whose blood…” I felt Stone’s eyes on me as he moved toward me. “Hey, where are you hurt?” His voice was calmer than before. I didn’t trust it. I shook my head. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll look.”
Hands, touching everywhere
.

“Why?” I whispered too quietly.

“We only want to help you.” He paused like the words were hard to say. Like they weren’t natural. “I want to help you.” There was a lingering silence that was waiting to be filled with the rest of his statement, but he wouldn’t finish. I noticed just a slight tremor in his voice.
Fear.

“Feet. Hand,” I whispered, not looking at him. I looked at the white. The comforting whiteness of the tiles. The sanctuary I didn’t know I had.

“Can…” He cleared his throat. “May I touch you?” His voice taking on more of that timid, scared tone. Now I wondered if I scared him so badly. Was I really that hideous to look at, to touch? Maybe that was why I was alone for so many years. I remembered…once I grew out of being little, or being small and somewhat approachable, I was locked away. Hands didn’t touch…they hurt.

I nodded, tears falling. I shut my eyes. Hopefully the memories could be shut out so easily. He touched me gently, trying his best to avoid skin to skin contact and lifted me.

“Move.” His command was followed by a growl. He set me down on something that was soft and cradled my body. I tried to move, but his hand found my shoulder. I opened my eyes then.

“Don’t move.” I had never noticed his eyes before, such an unusual brown, they almost appeared red. A deep crimson red. But they were beautiful. He didn’t take his eyes off of me. “Dale, Marcus, go find some doctors and Jacobs.”

“Why?” My voice was unbelievably quiet.

Stone turned to me viciously.

“What?” His once crimson eyes now burned red, but that was impossible.

“Why are you doing this?” Tears slipped down. This was a new type of torture. I knew it would end. I wanted it to end. The pain of this kindness was too much. A false seed of hope could be more damaging than anything else. The shards may as well have been stabbing my heart. Stone glared at me, and I flinched away.

“She thinks we are toying with her. Pain is all she knows. Give her kindness as you are now and you are attacking her.” This was another new voice. It was flat, unemotional, but it understood.

I closed in on myself, this sterile voice was what I needed. Before I could retreat too far, Stone’s hands pulled me apart again.

“Elijah, leave.” Stone’s voice was quiet but demanding.

“As you wish.” His last word came out as a hiss, and I physically recoiled this time. Too close…too close to past memories.

“Hey, I know wraiths are hard to be around at first, but you get used to it.” Now he was trying to be conversational.

“What is -” Before I could ask, the door exploded open. The wood snapped, new voices started, footsteps. All the sounds surrounded my head, demanding to be heard. It was too much, far too much. I wrapped my arms around my head painfully tight, whimpering against the pain. Suddenly, an unfamiliar hand touched me. The skin radiated, way too much heat. I screamed, pulling away. Heat, I remembered. Heat burned. Heat…

“I told you not to touch her.” Stone’s voice came through the clearest. I held onto his voice. Footsteps retreated, and then came forward again. “Hey, we need you to show us your feet.” His voice again.

“Audrey.” It came out so quiet even I didn’t hear it.

“Audrey,” he said slowly as if savoring it on his tongue. “Please, your feet.” I passed out when they took out the first shard.

Chapter Six

Stone

For some reason, I kept her name a secret. But, I felt bad for only a moment as I savored it like the fey do. One of the human doctors attended to her. I watched them sedate her again. Since we didn’t know what she was, we didn’t want to take any risks. Some of the other doctors used strange herbs. Those could be poisonous to certain paranormals, but damn, they were a lot better than seeing her in pain.

“What did she say tae you?” Marcus said. I wouldn’t–couldn’t–tell him her name.

“Not much. She kept asking me why. Elijah thinks she’s so abused that our
kindness
is her torture.” I could still see the pleading in her eyes. The fear.

“Maybe th' wraith is right,” Marcus said, watching her closely. “Damn shame about those scars. Probably what fucked 'er up so much.” He leaned closer. “It looks like 'er skin grew around th' scars.” Marcus paused, his iridescent yellow eyes studying her. “What’s yer name, sweetheart?”

Though I had the satisfaction of knowing her name, and knowing I was the only one that she trusted enough to share it with, I hated how much I savored that exclusive knowledge.

“Stone.” Jacobs barked my name, breaking my attention away from Marcus and Audrey. “What the hell happened?” Each word clipped.

“I came to switch with Elijah when we heard a crash. We came in to find the bathroom door locked. She had smashed the mirror.” Jacobs looked at his son, then at Elijah.

“Doc, how long will she be out?”

“Maybe another hour or two.”

“We need to move her somewhere more confined and secure.” Jacobs started to pace. It was a werewolf trait to be restless under stress but Jacobs took it to a whole new level. He glared at Audrey.

Jacobs ran his hand through his light strands of hair. He kept muttering, “But where?”

“The cells.” Elijah was still watching her with dark, pitiless eyes. I felt a growl deep down, but didn’t release it. Jacobs stopped at the sound of the wraith’s voice.

“No.” There was such finality in it.

“That’s where she’d be most at ease. She wouldn’t be able to harm herself there.”

She would feel like a prisoner again. I thought for a moment Elijah was giving in to his dark side. That he wanted to taste her fear and feast on her pain. The contract he’d formed with the Braden clan–our clan-said he would abstain from feeding too much. Feeding could become an addiction for them. Marcus laid his hand on my shoulder, and I realized how close I was to attacking Elijah. That primal instinct kicking in again. Protect.

“I said no.” Jacobs wasn’t an Alpha. Alpha’s had packs. Jacobs only had us. But he had the voice of an Alpha. I saw Dallas flinch just slightly. Damn, I was glad I had no ties to Jacob like he did. No fey knew my real name, and I was no werewolf.

“We could put her in one of the overnight rooms,” Dallas said as he stood in alone off to the side. He’d spent time with his own kind last night, and I could tell he wanted to be on a team with more werewolves. They were social creatures that liked to be around their own kind. Jacobs wanted the best and he was unique. Jacobs may not be “the highest ranking,” but he was well-liked and highly respected. He usually got what he wanted. I watched Jacobs as he stopped pacing and appeared to actually consider Dallas’s idea.

The overnight rooms were small, containing only a bed and a small dresser. There was one problem with the rooms, though. They didn’t lock. The rooms were meant for anyone passing through who needed a place to stay. Most would stay for the night and leave. Some would stay for a week but no more than that.

Jacobs started to pace again, probably thinking about the lockless rooms. The doctor finished pulling the glass out and started to wrap her feet. I looked at her as a sound of pure fear tore from her lips. I knew she was just dreaming, but I wanted to help her.

“Stone.” Marcus nudged me.

“What?” I pulled my gaze away from her.

“I asked if you still had that padlock from when you were so damn concerned about Dallas taking your bike out.” Jacobs growled.

I wanted to laugh. Jacobs didn’t want his son driving my motorcycle as much as I didn’t want him to. I nodded.

“Good. Dallas, go install it. Marcus, best go with him.” Apparently he caught onto his son’s mood. As Jacobs’s special team, we left on a lot of missions. “Stone, you and Elijah take her to the room. Don’t leave until the lock is installed.”

The doctor finished with her hand and I picked her up, again hating how light she felt in my arms. We headed down the elevator to the main floor. I saw another fault in the room and figured that Jacobs was probably considering it as well. It was an easy escape. The elevators could take her right to the entrance. Though the main floor tended to be busy with people coming and going, she would stand out to say the least. If she somehow managed to get out of her room, she wouldn’t get far. Someone would see her and grab her before she got too far.

Elijah opened the farthest door, and I set her on the bed. As I moved away, her eyes started to flutter open. Apparently they were wrong about the sedative. What was she?

Chapter Seven

Audrey

My face was in unexplainable agony. Ripping. Tearing. My attacker was faceless, but I knew him. I’d always known him. I didn’t scream. I never screamed outside of my dreams. Before I could recall forgotten memories, my eyes were opening of their own accord. Stone stood over me. Why had I told him my name? That was the first time I had said it out loud in five years and…I’d lost days, hours… This room was different, smaller and safer. Too small with two strange people in it with me. I tried to pull my feet in, but stopped abruptly. They were strangely wrapped and sore.

“Hey, you’re okay, now. Your feet didn’t need any stitches.” His voice was the same. His features were as I remembered, but not his eyes. A calming blue had replaced the red. I looked to the one they called a wraith. He had black, black hair that dropped right above his eyes. His skin was sickly pale. He didn’t quite reach Stone’s height and he wasn’t as broad as Stone, but I could see his defined muscles. That was when I looked at his eyes. They were completely black, bottomless pits as if black ink had seeped into the white of his eyes and took over. My breath caught. I couldn’t look away from those eyes.

“Hey.” Stone moved closer. “Audrey? Are you okay? I told you before, Elijah is a wraith, but you’re safe.” There was that word again. I shook my head. Elijah tilted his head. A small knowing smile appeared on his lips. It was small, barely noticeable at all. I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t. I saw this strange person perfectly. Most people’s eyes had different shifts of color, like different hues. His were blacker than black, voids.

“You won’t find any color there.” No emotion heightened or strained his voice. Dead.

Stone glanced at the wraith as if he realized once more that he was still there.

“She knows more than she thinks. The more color, or hues, in one’s eyes, the more she can tell about them. But of course, you haven’t used that skill in years.”

“Elijah.” Stone’s voice held a warning.

I turned to him. His eyes were that amber-red color again. I was feeling overwhelmed. I still couldn’t breathe right. I wanted my isolation back. I wanted my white walls. I started to mumble, holding myself closer. I hadn’t held on this tightly and desperately for years. I was hoping for comfort. The one with the dead voice and black eyes watched me uncaringly. I couldn’t look at the other one.

“Are you enjoying her pain?” Stone asked. There was a growl behind his words.

“What’s a wraith?” I couldn’t believe my mouth betrayed me, forming words of my deep thoughts. Stone turned toward me and I winced away. His eyes were too expressive. It was too much to process. He turned back to Elijah, who still had that tiny knowing smile. I knew that smile, because nameless men who had come for me four years ago gave me that smile. I remembered that because the four years that followed had nothing, but the same torturous day repeated.