From the Ashes (Force of Nature Book 1) (15 page)

“I don't know how you've managed to bewitch him, Piper, but it is a sight to behold. I guess what I'd thought was fascination with you was something else entirely.”

“Seems like it,” I replied with a playful wink, hoping to lift his spirits a bit. “But wait a minute, wouldn't bewitching someone require power? Power I likely don't have?”

“I wouldn't be so sure of that,” Jase quickly countered. “I've never seen him the way he is with you. About you. There is something magical behind it, make no mistake about that.”

“Are you seriously implying that I've put a spell on him?”

“No,” he admonished, “nothing like that. Think of me using the world magical as if I were a human. Not
magic
magic—the kind that we know exists—but the kind that results in the mundane world. The kind that explains events that would otherwise be considered inexplicable.”

“Oh,” I said softly, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “It's really that odd, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

“What are you two conspiring about?” Dean called from behind his brother as he approached us.

“What do you think, asshat?” Jase replied, smiling wide.

“Merc.”

“Bingo!”

“Jase was just informing me that I've somehow done the impossible by taming the beast, so to speak.”

“That's an understatement, Piper,” Dean said, his expression full of disbelief and reservation. “I'm still unsure about it all. I mean really, how does that even happen?”

“Got me,” Jase added.

“Well, I'm going to leave you two alone to contemplate this further. Meanwhile, I'll be in the kitchen pilfering as much food as I can to take upstairs.”

“Good idea,” Dean laughed. “And remind Merc that he needs to eat too. It's been a few days since he's had a full feeding, and he gets a bit...
grumpy
when he's hungry. Best you not see that side of him just yet, Piper. You might rethink your bonding to him.”

That statement stopped me in my tracks.

“You still think he'd harm me?” I asked, turning to face them.

They shook their heads in unison.

“No way,” Dean started. “That's virtually impossible.”

“Impossible?”

“Think about it, Piper. How many of the vampires in this house that are bonded have you seen fight? Yell? Have anything but sheer and utter bliss in the other's presence?”

I considered his question for a moment before realizing the answer.

“None,” I said quietly.

“Exactly,” Jase replied. “When we choose a mate, there is a reason for it. They balance us somehow. And there is a power to the bond that only strengthens that.”

“Are you saying that they
can't
fight?”

“I'm saying that for as long as I can remember, I've never seen it. It's unprecedented.”

“Even in an interracial bonding?” I asked, trying to remember if I'd ever seen Kat and Jensen fight before. My mental search came up empty.

The boys both nodded at me in response to my question.

“Well, if what you say is true, then Merc could be starving and still be sweet as pie to me?”

“Yes,” they replied simultaneously.

“Ha!” I laughed. “So you're just trying to get me to save you the wrath of your brother! Some tough guys you are.”

“You haven't seen it before,” Dean muttered under his breath. “He can be such a dick.”

“It's true,” Jase agreed. “You'd be doing us a solid, Piper. And let's be honest, I think you kinda owe us one. I mean, we did introduce you to him, right?”

“You two are ridiculous,” I said, giggling to myself as I turned back toward the kitchen. Their pleas to make sure my lover ate soon followed me down the hall until they were cut off by the closing kitchen door. “Pussies,” I mumbled under my breath, still entertained by the big bad enforcers scared of their hungry brother.

Once I’d grabbed a bag of chips, an orange juice, and an entire bunch of bananas, balancing them precariously in my arms, I stepped back into the empty hallway and made my way back to Merc's room, his bed, and his arms. It was there that I found a comfort once unknown to me. A love that defied all logic.

But it was also where a darkness dwelled. A growing evil that would taint that love until it was no longer recognizable, eating away at the ties that bound us. And time was already running out.

Such a cruel fate would soon befall us.

Such a twisted love ours would prove to be.

10

Merc and I holed up in his room for two days just getting to know each other—that and having copious amounts of sex. Both experiences were amazing. It was crazy to see how his mind worked, hear of his life spent in the service of the king, and learn more about his brothers. Incriminating things. Things I'd be sure to leverage against them later on if I wanted to get out of going to the bar with them. Merc was a veritable wealth of information.

Before I could suggest that we actually leave his suite and join the rest of the crew in the mansion, he received a call from Jase (who'd given up on trying to knock on the door to get our attention a day earlier). It appeared as though trouble was on the rise, and the enforcers were needed to settle things down before they got any more out of hand.

“I must go,” he said solemnly, walking over to the bathroom to clean up.

“Did he say what's going on?”

“Yes.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“I cannot say, Piper. Enforcer matters are private. You might be bonded to me, but that does not make you privy to that kind of information.”

“Oh,” I said, deflating slightly against the headboard. “Okay. Well, can you tell me where you're going? Or who it involves?”

“No.” He emerged fully dressed, his hair pulled back in a tiny ponytail at the base of his head. “But you must stay in until I return. It isn't safe to go out.”

“I was supposed to meet Kat at the club tonight—”

“Then you must call her and cancel. She wouldn't want you in danger either.”

I followed him as he walked toward the bedroom door, grabbing yoga pants and a tank top along the way. As I hopped into the pants and pulled the shirt down over my head, we exited into the hallway, me trailing him slightly. He made his way down the grand staircase to the foyer, where a large group of the others was waiting for him, all of them armed to the teeth. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good, that much was clear. I searched for Jase and Dean amongst the crew of enforcers hovering by the security door.

When I found them, they both shot me dubious looks.

“Please tell me what's going on,” I pleaded, hoping someone would tell me what they were heading off to face. “You look like you're about to go fight a war.”

“I told you that you cannot know,” Merc replied, repeating his earlier answer.

“I know, but I've never seen so many of you so heavily armed,” I continued, coming down the final step to grab his arm. “I'm worried, Merc. I don't want anyone to get hurt.”

“And we won't,” he said, though his response was tight and clipped. It wasn't reassuring at all.

“Jase,” I started, turning my attention to him.

“I said everything will be fine!” Merc snapped, wheeling around to pin harsh eyes on me. I startled at the anger behind his voice, then realized that maybe he was stressed about what he was about to face. My constant badgering couldn't have been helping that. “I'm sorry,” he apologized, both his expression and tone softening. “There is no time for weakness now. The mates of the enforcers must stand strong. We must go now, Piper. Remain here until we return.” He came over to me, wrapping his massive arms around my tiny frame and pulling me into him. “And we will return. All of us. I promise.”

“Okay,” I replied, my words muffled by his chest. When I pulled away, I found him looking down at me as he had that night in the entryway of the store when Kingston had attacked. There was an intensity in his eyes. A commitment. He would be back. Nothing could keep him from me.

He walked past everyone else in the group and punched in the code to the security door leading out to the containment room that separated them from the outside—the fail-safe to keep someone from accidentally stumbling out into the daylight hours, and ultimately their demise. The others just stood still, their eyes traveling back and forth between Merc and me. Their behavior was unnerving at best. By the time I mustered up the courage to ask them what their collective problem was, the metal door swung open and Merc stepped through it. The second he did, the others followed.

Everyone but Jase and Dean.

Those two continued to look at me, their expressions a mix of confusion and concern.

“What's wrong?” I asked quietly, stepping closer to the pair.

Neither replied. Instead they turned and looked at each other. I wondered if they too were capable of having telepathic conversations.

“Piper, did you feed Merc recently? Like a true feeding, not just the blood exchanged at your bonding?” Jase finally asked, staring at me as though he could discern the answer without my help.

“Yesterday. Why?”

He hesitated a moment, pondering my reply.

“I don't know if you should do that again,” he said, his response surprising. “Nobody knows what you are—what magic runs through your veins. I'm not sure that Merc should take that into his body. Maybe a donor would be best for the time being.”

“What am I missing here?” I asked, feeling as though something that was so clear to everyone around me had flown right over my head.

“Merc just seems a bit...on edge,” Dean added. I'd never seen him be more delicate about anything in the time I'd known him. “Maybe your blood isn't good for his system.”

“You're a variable that's hard to account for sometimes, Piper,” Jase added. “Just do me this favor and don't let him feed from you again. Will you? For me?”

“Sure,” I said, my voice distant.

A blaring of a car horn carried through the door. The boys were getting restless waiting for Jase and Dean.

“We have to go now, but we can talk more about this when we get back,” Jase said, leaning in to kiss my forehead.

“Be careful, you two.”

“Always,” Dean tossed back at me as he walked through the door. Jase just waved over his shoulder as he followed his brother out.

Suddenly I was alone in the vast foyer of the mansion, left to wonder what in the hell had just happened and why everyone seemed so freaked out by it. Maybe Merc wasn't the only one on edge. Maybe the whole crew was privy to something I wasn't. Maybe the war had already begun.

That thought made me more afraid for those who'd left that night.

I sat down on the bottom step, propped my elbows on my knees, and rested my chin in my hands, the words “there is no time for weakness now” running through my mind. Kingston had said something like that to me once during my training. I'd been tired and frustrated, and I was looking for some comfort from him, but there was none there to be found. Seeing the similarities between him and Merc in that moment was far from comforting.

Neither were the looks and Jase's and Dean's faces.

I was afraid for my friends and my mate. But why were they so concerned for me? That was the question that I couldn't quite answer. The turn of events that had occurred after Merc's little outburst that night didn't make sense to me. The boys had told me that he would never do anything to hurt me—couldn't do anything to hurt me—but surely he wasn't immune to irritation or disagreement where I was concerned. That was just too farfetched to even fathom.

While I contemplated all the possibilities, I sat and waited anxiously for the enforcers to return home. I needed to find out what was really going on. And if no one would tell me, I needed to find a way to get answers on my own, without their aid. Ill-advised or not, I had a plan to do just that. I was going to test Jase and Dean's little theory and see just how far I could push the boundaries with Merc.

* * *

Hours later, they all filed through the security door, unharmed but weary. Whatever they had faced that night had worn them down both mentally and physically. I knew it was bad when Dean couldn't even bring himself to make a smart remark about how cute it was that I'd waited up for them.

My need for answers only heightened as a result.

Merc entered the mansion last, wiping his blades off on the hem of his bloodied t-shirt. When his stormy eyes fell upon mine, he smiled lightly, then continued past me toward the stairs to the basement. He was headed to the infirmary.

I shot up from my perch on the stairs and ran after him, hot on his heels as he sped down the multiple flights leading to Doc's domain.

“Merc, what's wrong? Are you hurt?” I called down after him, winded from trying to keep pace with him.

“It's just a flesh wound,” he replied, indifference in his tone.

“Then why do you need Doc?”

“I don't.”