Dangerous Lovers (204 page)

“Wake, Audrey,” Elijah urged once more.

I was scared to open my eyes. Something held me back. In here was safety, and out there was the unknown.

“The wraith is influencing your thoughts. Safety is not in sleep, but in waking, so that you can break free from his hold. Now, wake.” The voice sounded almost angry. I reacted to anger. I obeyed it. My eyes cracked open. The walls weren’t white. I wanted to shut them against the pale blue.

I took a shaky breath. I opened my eyes again to the pretty walls, the too comfortable mattress, and the soft, unbelievably soft, blankets. And cold black eyes. Those, I hung onto. Those I clung to as if I would fall out of existence if I didn’t watch them. Those cold black eyes watched back. No, a shade different from pure black stared back at me. I could stare forever and I knew that those eyes would never change color. It was unnatural. It should have been unnerving, but for me, it was calming. It was safe. Safe as the white walls of my old prison.

“Wh - ” Oh, that hurt. My throat was bone dry, and suddenly, it became hard to breathe.

“Here.” Elijah handed me a cup with a straw.

I wanted to throw the straw aside and gulp down the water, but I knew that would only cause me to cough it back up. This wasn’t my first time feeling this way. It wouldn’t be the last, I was sure of it. The water was room temperature. I stared at the strange creature next to me as I drank. His emotionless eyes and voice clashed with his actions, and I didn’t do well with conflicting personalities.

“A wraith had a trap door of sorts in your mind. If you were ever taken, the wraith would be activated. The Vedenins had just realized you were taken. We had to remove it or they would have had the wraith use you as eyes and ears for a while until they got the information they needed and took you back.” Elijah stood abruptly and headed out the door to the small living room.

There was a loud crash followed by some type of growling. I knew the noise well, and I knew it meant to hide. I tried to pull myself up, but I could barely move. Instead, I rolled myself off the bed. Taking the too soft blanket with me, I pulled myself together into a ball. All the while, there was screaming in the other room. Too much noise, too much anger. I counted.
One, two, three. I am safe. I am safe.

“What the hell were you doing to her?” Stone’s voice was distorted and rough…
forty, forty-one…

“I did nothing. Now, remove your hand.” Elijah’s voice turned different, darker. The air went cold around me and I pulled in tighter. There was another crashing sort of noise, followed by feet stomping into my room.

“Audrey.” His voice was quiet now, as if he coaxed a small frightened animal. I suppose that was what I was. A small, frightened animal. “Audrey…”

“She is wraith-free now.” Elijah’s words floated through the door as he retreated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to look up. There would be nothing for me to hold onto. There would be no solid safety.

“Audrey,” a whisper of my name came again. I knew I couldn’t look, even for a second. Stone smelled different. Like woods and fresh air. His hair was a tangled mess, and his eyes were a strange yellow-like color. He let out a long breath when I looked into his eyes. The color showed that he was worried, a strange kind of worried, a sort of happy worried.

I tried to hide, but he moved, pulling my blanket away from my face. His hand stroked my cheek in the briefest of touches. My eyes closed involuntarily. A long breath slipped from my slightly parted lips. I felt something touch them, but when I opened my eyes, Stone was frighteningly close, yet painfully too far. He searched my eyes as he pushed my hair away from my face, his hand grazing my scars. I flinched for him.

“Don’t.” Stone’s voice pleaded; I looked at him, not understanding. “Don’t flinch when I touch you.”

“But…”

“These are beautiful.” He glanced at the scars.

I didn’t understand. They were a brand, a punishment. They were meant to keep others away. They were meant to make me belong only to my father. I would never belong to another because of these brands.

Stone cleared his throat and pulled away. I didn’t realize how much of his weight I had been taking until he pulled away and I could breathe properly again.

“Elijah says the wraith is gone. I suppose that means we should feed you. And if you want, I can get Nixie, and she can help you shower.” Stone held out his hand.

I looked up at him. His eyes turned to a deep blue color. Before I could read anymore, I shifted my eyes back to the hand he offered me. I raised my shaky hand to his, and he pulled me up. He tucked me under his arm and directed me out of the pale blue room.

Chapter Sixteen

Stone

Gods, she looked like a fragile, broken bird. I didn’t know whether to touch her or let her remain where she was. I was afraid that if I so much as breathed on her, she would crack into a million pieces and I would never be able to put her back together. But those thoughts confused me. When did I decide it was my job to make sure she wouldn’t break? When did I decide that I would be the one to put her back together? Probably when her eyes fluttered shut, she sighed at my touch, and I pressed my lips ever so softly against hers for only a moment. A moment that I would relive for the next few nights. I couldn’t help but remember how even though the right side of her mouth was slightly rigid and malformed from her scars, the scars had tasted the sweetest.

She looked at me like I was an oddity she could never understand. I knew that she was wondering how I was able to touch her scars without a hint of disgust or pity. I understood the scars that littered her skin, and I hoped one day that she would allow me to show her my scars. That thought made me recompose myself. A shape-shifter like me would never show off their true forms, not to anyone. So why would I suddenly have the urge to show myself to the magnificent creature in front of me?

“Don’t,” I whispered. “Don’t flinch when I touch you.”

“But…” She tried to urge me away, but I couldn’t.

“These are beautiful.” I traced her scars with my eyes. “Elijah says the wraith is gone. I suppose that means we should feed you, and if you want, I can get Nixie and she can help you shower.”

She took my hand and stood. In this form, I always chose to be taller, but not excessively tall. I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. Six feet three inches worked well for me. Her head reached my collarbone and I realized that she was not a tiny little thing at all. I thought that maybe in a different life, in a different place, she would have been a fierce warrior.

We didn’t make it far before Nixie came rushing toward us. I wondered if the wraith had erased some of Audrey’s memories, because she hid behind me as Nixie approached. Nixie took it in stride and continued forward with a smile still plastered on her face.

“Audrey!”

I felt Audrey jump, and possibly flinch at her name, but then she edged out around me and moved a little closer to Nixie. Nixie threw her arms around Audrey and hugged her enthusiastically. I wanted to shout at Nixie not to be so rough with Audrey, since somehow the girl looked even smaller than when she had first arrived. Nixie turned around and glared at me.

“I told you to call me. Now you don’t get to come with us. You may trail behind, but you are not with us.” Nixie stuck out her green tongue at me.

I just rolled my eyes, hating the fact that I wasn’t the one holding Audrey. Nixie started to talk to Audrey about random things but my thoughts drowned out their conversation.

I wondered where Elijah went. After I had busted through the door, I’d caught Elijah by the throat. Still in a blind rage, I’d ignored the instinct against treating him that way. He had snarled in response, his sharp teeth clenched. I had never seen him so angry and the fear that should have been overpowering me was surprisingly absent. My instinct to challenge him wasn’t though. Thankfully, common sense had pierced my rage before it had gotten worse. I had pulled away from him before I could say anything, and he had left the room looking distracted.

We headed toward the cafeteria and I started wondering if maybe we should have allowed Audrey to eat in private. But the cafeteria was mostly deserted. A few people lingered but not many. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I held as Nixie led Audrey to the back in a dark corner. I stayed with Audrey when Nixie left to grab food.

“I hope you told her that you didn’t want seafood.” I tried to make my voice light, but I knew that tense, stiff muscles, fisted hands, and rapidly changing eye color, off put any jokes I tried to make. Audrey looked up at me with worry in her eyes. “I was trying to make a joke. I didn’t realize I was that bad at making them.” I tried again to give her a smile, but she shrunk into herself some more.

“Here we go, sweetie.” The plate was filled with a mixture of food, small portions of pretty much everything. Nixie had her own tray of seafood. I about gagged when I looked at her food, so I focused on Audrey. My heart broke looking at her because she just stared at the food as if it would eat her.

“Eat,” I growled before I realized how that word came out of my mouth. Audrey’s eyes shot up to me, and I could see the fear there. She would eat but only because she was afraid of what would happen if she didn’t. I needed to leave. I needed to give her space, yet I couldn’t move. I couldn’t force myself to even look away from her. She looked like she was about to grab some of the fruit, but I knew she needed protein. She needed meat. Goddammit, if she got any skinner she would be pushed over by a gust of wind. I controlled the growl that wanted to force its way out of my throat. I didn’t like to think about how weak she really was, how the Vedenins made her that way.

“Hey, Stone, how about you go find out where Elijah went?” Nixie muttered through clenched teeth.

I knew she was mad but at this point, I didn’t care. I wanted to force the food down Audrey’s throat.

“Hey, Stone, look at me.”

I finally turned and made the stupid mistake of looking her in the eyes. They glowed a bright coral color. Her green hair seemed darker, turning an almost purple color.

“Can you go find Elijah for me?” Her voice was a song. A song that I would never be able to resist. There was something digging in my brain, trying to get me to focus, but all I could feel was the silky feel of her hand touching mine. I leaned closer. A song played in my head, all piano, starting out low moving to an easy beat. I closed my eyes to hear the song better, to let it wrap around me, and I started to move. I had no care in the world other than to find where the song originated.

When the song ended, I was at the doorway of Jacobs’s office, and I knew Nixie had used her siren song to get me here. She was too attached to what was mine. Wait. I meant she was just too attached to my charge. To the team’s charge. Nixie wasn’t a real fighter. She was a seductress, a torturer of the mind, body, and soul, but she was part of our team. Audrey was mine to protect, ours to protect.

I didn’t bother knocking on Jacobs’ door since I knew he caught my scent in the hall.

When I entered, Elijah, Dallas, and Marcus were already there. Marcus was draped over the couch, looking relaxed as always, but Dallas was pacing. Wolves could never seem to stay still for long. Even Jacobs looked like he wanted to join his son. Elijah remained motionless next to Jacobs’s desk. Instead of watching our team leader, he was watching my progress into the room. I felt unnerved by his attention. No one really wanted a wraith’s attention on them and that included me.

“We need to get her informed and quickly. If what Elijah tells me is true, then we have a bigger issue on our hands here.” All of us looked Elijah’s way. I wanted to know what Jacobs wasn’t telling us.

“Are ye going to elaborate there?” Marcus called casually from the couch. He looked at the walls with a blasé amusement.

“First all you need to know is that Elijah seems to believe that she can read emotions through your eyes. Not aura readings, something different. You need to be careful around her. We can’t trust her not to play on your emotions. When the whole team is here I will tell you the rest. I don’t like to repeat myself. Anane and Cole left late last night on a mission. They should be back in a couple hours. Until then, try to get her situated, make her feel comfortable amongst our clan. Marcus, you and Stone go. Dallas, stay here. I need to talk to you. Is Nixie still with her?” Jacobs watched us with eyes that slowly faded to yellow.

Apparently, whatever he had told Elijah was making him stressed. I didn’t care. I wanted to get back to Audrey, and I was pissed off that that Nixie had used her song on me.

“Come along, pal. Wouldn’t want tae leave the bonnie lasses unattended.” Marcus wasn’t looking at me. He glared at Dallas. Dallas growled. Apparently, more had happened before I arrived.

Honestly, I didn’t care. Shape-shifters tended to stick with our own; we tried not to get too involved. Many paranormals did in fact, even though we were in mixed clans we didn’t trust easily.

By the time we arrived back to the cafeteria, my skin itched. I felt restless like I needed to change forms, as if an animal had taken over. I didn’t realize that my pace increased until I noticed Marcus was no longer next to me.

In his glamour as a human, Marcus wasn’t short by any means, he was about six foot tall, a slightly broader build than most fey. They, as a race, tended to be slimmer in build and much taller. Marcus had a deep red head of hair with scruff lining his jaw, which annoyed all the other fey to no end; they were a classier group of paranormals. I had always felt they had their noses a little too high in the air for my taste. The fey acted as if they were better than other paranormals and lived in their veil. Marcus wasn’t like normal fey most of the time.