Relentless (7 page)

“I want to be with you.”

My hands, which had been fisted at his chest, moved to each side of his face without me even realizing it was happening. Then I pulled him to me, my lips against his, finally. He kissed me softly, as though I might break, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me. There, in the touch of his lips against mine, was the same desperation that I felt. His kiss deepened, our mouths opening, tasting. I was drawn into him and he to me. This wasn’t only desperation. The essence of us, our spirits, blended, and power surged inside me. A car passed and blew its horn. Eric broke away, bringing a hand up to brush the hair back from my face. He knew. His breath was ragged while his eyes sparked with an energy that was more than us. It meant something more than I could name or speak of.

“I’ve missed you, Alexis Miller.”

I smiled, willing my voice not to tremble when I spoke. “I’ve missed you, too, Eric Spence.”

“That’s not my real name, you know. I mean, the Eric part is my name but not the Spence. It’s Brodin.” His hands closed around mine and pulled them to his chest. Though his grip was firm, the slightest quiver ran through his fingers.

“That’s your father’s name.”

He nodded. “My father is called by his last name. He has a first name, though—Levi.”

“You’re kidding. That’s kind of biblical. I guess I was expecting Thor or something like that.”

“Yes, it is biblical. But it’s a name that’s been handed down in my father’s family, a family of leaders.”

I leaned against him, not wanting to think about his father, his leaders, his pack. His lips brushed the top of my head again.

“Why don’t you leave the Fenryrians and join me, join our pack?” I whispered.

He let go of my hands and grasped my upper arms, and suddenly there was space between us as he set me back from him. “Alexis, you’ve got to understand that our lives are at stake here.”

“How? If you decided you wanted to be with me and be part of the Lycernian pack, what would they do? Kill you?”

“Of course they’d kill me. Do you think my father would let me join the Lycernians? We’ve battled each other for generations. Maybe someone else could join you, but me, the son of their leader, the head of the Fenryrian council?” His fingers bit into my skin. “There’s no way that would be allowed. It would look like he’d lost power, control, if his own son left.”

I stepped back until I was a full arm’s length away from him. “Then what are we doing here?”

“We’re trying to see each other.” His words were strained, as strained as I felt.

“What, so I can watch you walk away? So I can be close to you and be reminded of what I’ll never have, that we can never be together?”

His mouth thinned. “We might find a way.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet.”

I shifted my weight uneasily. “Are you sure I can’t join your pack and show them I’m a strong warrior?”

I watched the play of emotions across his face before he spoke in a low, hard voice. “You don’t want to be what I am.”

“What if I join you but don’t kill humans?”

“Then you’d be no warrior to my people. Besides, what would you do if you had to face Myles or Brynna in battle one day?”

A response to that was difficult. “What if I didn’t fight the Lycernians?”

“Again, what good is a warrior who doesn’t fight anyone we battle?”

He was right. Louise was right. How could I face my friends in battle? I had no answers.

I stared down at the ground. “Maybe I should just go.”

The warmth of his fingers was under my chin, lifting my face to meet his gaze.

“Our future is uncertain, Alexis, it’s true. For now, until we can see the possibility of a different outcome, a different way, can’t we just be together? We can have this day, this moment.”

“No tomorrow,” I whispered.

He leaned down and kissed me, whispering against my lips. “No tomorrow.”

My stomach rumbled, and he straightened. “I guess I need to feed you.”

I laughed, holding my hand over my rumbling belly. “I didn’t eat breakfast. Oh, and at some point, I have to buy some clothes because that’s what I told the others I’d be doing.”

He paused in mid-step. “You didn’t come by yourself?”

“Are you kidding? I’d never have found my way over here by boat. Besides, I don’t know that they would have let me come alone.”

“We better stay off the main streets then. Who came with you?”

“Myles, Brynna, and a guy who started at the school with me named Jared, and a couple others.”

“All right, then, I know a place a few blocks away. It’s a state park beach where there aren’t many people, and it’s not very touristy so I doubt any of your group will go there.”

“Okay. Myles is shopping for clothes, anyway.”

He arched a brow at me. “Myles is shopping for clothes?”

“Is that strange?”

“A little.”

“Do you never shop for clothes?”

“Not really.”

“Then how do you have something to wear?”

“Someone does it for me.”

“Now see, I think that’s weird. Maybe we can shop together today.”

He shook his head. “Maybe one day when you can come back by yourself. We can’t risk being seen together. I’m hoping not to be seen at all by any of the Lycernians or the Fenryrians, just to be on the safe side.”

I followed after him, knowing he was right. For now, at least until we could find a way to be together openly, it was better if no one knew he was here.

The hours had passed in what seemed like minutes. Eric and I sat next to each other on a shaded picnic table. The coral-strewn beach was only a few feet away and the aquamarine water just beyond that.

“I have to go now.”

I nodded at his words even though I wanted to say no, to ask for more time. He reached for my hand and pulled me up as he stood. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I slid mine around his neck. It was right, natural that we were together like this. Why couldn’t everyone just see that?

He kissed me and then led me to the red, somewhat battered scooter we’d ridden here on.

“This thing’s a poor replacement for the motorcycle you had in Louisiana.”

“Well, you can’t exactly compare a scooter to a Harley. But these draw a lot less attention.”

“I guess that’s important.”

He swung onto the seat and slid forward to make room for me. “It’s very important.”

I hitched my leg over the seat and squeezed myself against him. It was nice. The machine sputtered down the road, passing a small cluster of homes before we were on the street. We rode a few blocks, and he pulled over.

“I’m going to let you off here. Mallory Square is down there, and that’s where most of your friends will be, I bet. There’s a big show at sunset if you stay that late.” He caught my hand and held on tightly. “Things can change, Alexis.”

I nodded. “I wish it wasn’t so hard to get them to.”

He pulled me to him and kissed me again. For a moment, my spirits lifted. Hope fluttered inside of me like a breeze. I don’t know if it came from him or if it crossed from me to him. But when he let me go, I could see in his eyes that he’d felt it, too.

“The most precious things in life require hard work,” he said softly. His forefinger pressed against my lips, still tender from his kisses.

He turned quickly to grip the handlebars and left before I could respond. I glanced to where he’d indicated I’d likely find the rest of my group. For now, I wasn’t really interested in seeing them. Not yet, anyway. Besides, I had to pick up some clothes so it would look like I’d actually been shopping all this time. I started toward the main street, which was several blocks away. Halfway up the second block, I stopped and slipped behind a building. Across the street in a small, open-air café, Myles was bent over a hamburger. Not unusual. Across from him, a woman sat watching him eat. Occasionally she sipped at a glass of iced tea and nodded at Myles who was talking with his mouth full. Also not unusual. But for him to be eating with this woman
was
unusual. She wasn’t a teacher I’d met at the school. Was this someone he knew? Someone he’d met by accident? Or was this the reason he’d wanted to go off by himself?

I pressed myself against the wall of the building as I felt more than saw Myles looking my way. I didn’t know why I felt the need to hide. Maybe I wanted to let him keep his privacy. The lady could have been anyone, but I didn’t think so.

There were a million questions I wanted to ask Myles, but I knew I wouldn’t. I didn’t want people questioning me about my secrets, and I wasn’t going to push Myles for his. He’d tell me if he wanted me to know. We were friends, after all.

I moved away and bumped into a body standing close behind me. My eyes glanced back to Myles, trying to make sure my misstep hadn’t caught his attention. Before I could turn around, a familiar scent reached me. A mix of lavender, coffee beans, and something else I couldn’t place. Steadying hands caught my upper arms, and I found myself face to face with Rayna Aucoin. I couldn’t speak for a moment I was so surprised. I’d met Rayna this past summer with Louise. She was the granddaughter of the voodoo woman who had lived in the town where I’d spent the summer. Her smooth, creamy skin was damp with perspiration, and right now, her chocolate-brown eyes were narrowed and boring into me. What was our friendly voodoo princess doing in Key West when her home was in Louisiana?

I steadied myself and tried to focus on Rayna and not glance back to see if Myles was looking this way. “What are you doing here?”

The young woman smiled. “I might ask you the same thing.”

Finally I gave up and glanced over my shoulder. “I’m in school near here.”

“Are you hiding from someone?”

I frowned. “Sort of. Can we step around the corner?”

She moved several steps until we were out of sight of the restaurant.

“So why are you hiding?” She pushed her thick hair away from her neck, briefly causing her long feather earrings to swing.

“I’m not really hiding. It’s just that I happened to see Myles eating with some woman I don’t know, but he didn’t tell me he was meeting anyone. I just thought…”

“You would give him his privacy.”

“Well, yeah, but I guess it looks like I’m spying.”

“Not at all. Here, let’s walk this way.”

I let her lead me away from the restaurant along the quiet back street. We made a quick turn and started up another street. Ahead, I could see more people and traffic.

“So what are you doing here?” I repeated.

“I have a shop here.”

I shot her a glance. “What? Are they all over the country?”

“Not exactly, but we have family in New Orleans, here, and Savannah. So we have shops in those places. I make my way to each one at different times throughout the year.”

“And you just happen to be here when I am?”

She laughed. “Sometimes I know when to go to a place. The stones tell me.”

“What stones?”

“It doesn’t matter. Come see my shop. It’s on Duvall Street.”

We walked for several minutes, the heat making sweat trickle down the side of my face. When she stopped, we were in front of a store that resembled Rayna’s shop in New Orleans. It was the first place I’d run into her.. Rayna had always been nice and had even helped Myles, Brynna, and me get out of a not-so-good situation with another werewolf. Her grandmother, however, was a little scary. Rayna pushed open the door of the store, and we walked inside. The air conditioning was a welcome relief that quickly sent a chill through me as the sweat on my skin dried. I wandered around the small shop as Rayna went behind the counter to speak to a girl counting money at the cash register. As I had been at the shop in New Orleans, I found myself drawn to a wolf painting on the wall. I doubted wolves were big sellers for voodoo priestesses, but I knew this group of voodoo women had a special understanding with the Lycernians.  The wolf in this painting wasn’t black like the one I’d seen in the New Orleans store. This one was brown with bright green eyes.

On a shelf below the wolf picture, a moss-green dish held small gray stones. Each stone had a design carved into it. The stones were oval, but none was exact, as though they’d been roughly hewn with an ancient tool rather than a more advanced method that would have been used today. I stuck a finger in the bowl and stirred the stones. They were warm against my skin. Catching one of the stones between my fingertips, I studied the markings. Dropping it, I quickly picked up another, then another. Each one was etched with symbols similar to those I’d learned to look for on a werewolf’s wrists during the change. The symbols appeared naturally and indicated if you were genetically born a werewolf or if you had been changed by the virus. The symbol was even different if the virally changed werewolf had a mutated form of the virus. There were other symbols, too, but all werewolves had at least one mark of some kind.

“You like those?”

I started slightly, not having heard Rayna come up behind me. “They have werewolf marks.”