Scorned (32 page)

Pierce pushed himself up and reached down to
help me once he had his balance right. When we came to a clearing,
Pierce stopped us.

“Here,” he said. “I think this will be
good.”

“For what?” I asked.

“I just don’t want to take the chance of
anyone hearing.”

I frowned at him. “Hearing what.”

“LeKrista, listen. Stop talking.”

“Sorry.”

“Last night... Roman wants...” Pierce tried
a couple times to say what was on his mind, but he couldn’t seem to
get it out. “I’m not all that I seem to be.”

I narrowed my eyes, but fought to keep my
mouth shut and won.

Pierce sighed heavily and continued. “Roman
knows there’s something more to me, but he doesn’t know what it is.
He knows you don’t know either and he’s trying to use that against
us. Against me.”

“He’s trying to break us up.” That wasn't
anything new.

“Exactly and I can’t tell you what I am.
It’s a family secret.”

I waited a moment for Pierce to go on. When
he didn’t, I spoke. “So, you can’t ever tell me. Is that what
you’re saying?”

“No. It’s a secret that can only be shared
after consummation of a marriage.”

“So...we have to have married sex for you to
be able to tell me. That's why you've refused me.”

“Yes.”

“What can you tell me?” I asked.

“Very little. You really aren’t even
supposed to know this, I shouldn’t be able to tell you, but since
Roman has caused you to suspect...” Pierce shrugged. “You get this
much by default.”

I nodded. “What if I found out on my
own?”

He shrugged again. “Like I said,
default.”

I smiled and slipped my arms around his
waist. “I want you to tell me.”

Pierce wrapped his arms around me and
released a sigh of relief.

“Can you tell me, though? Does the family
business you had to take care of have anything to do with
this?”

He nodded. “You didn’t believe me, did
you?”

“Not really.”

“It sounds like you have some family secrets
of your own.” I looked up at him. “Mage magic is familial,” he
said, then shrugged. “I know about mages.”

“How?”

Pierce shook his head. “Can’t really say. It
would give away too much. Just know that I know about Mages.”

“It doesn’t seem right to me,” I said after
a moment. “It just seems against everything I know and
believe.”

“I can understand that,” Pierce said
carefully.

“But you don’t agree.”

“Well, think about it, Stace. Vampires are
against everything you know and believe too. So are Shape shifters.
So are werewolves. Mages aren’t any more against your beliefs than
they are.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said, “but it
requires some thought that I don’t really have the time for.”

“I understand that too, and you’re right.
It’s a big step to take without putting the proper preparations
into it. It’s your decision, though. Don’t let anyone else make it
for you.”

The skin on my arms tingled and tried crawl
up my shoulders to my back. Pierce turned at the same time and
looked around.

“Pierce?”

“Let’s get back to the house,” he said and I
knew something was wrong.

The trek back to the house seemed to take
less time. Pierce pushed the front door open and we stepped
inside.

Ah, warmth!

Everyone was in the kitchen, chattering and
talking like there was nothing wrong with the world. But everything
was wrong.

“We’ve got daywalkers,” Pierce said as we
walked into the kitchen. Everyone turned to look at us.

“Daywalkers!” Pierce said louder. “We’ve got
daywalkers!”

“What the hell is a daywalker?” I asked.

“It’s a vampire that can be out during the
day,” Eddy said, then to Pierce, “You’re sure?”

Pierce nodded. Eddy pointed at Dayla and
Amber and they melted into their jaguar forms. He let them out the
front door and came back to the kitchen.

“They’ll take care of it. Where were
you?”

“We went up the street,” Pierce answered,”
then cut into the woods to a clearing about half a mile from
here.

“Half a mile?” I asked.

Didn’t know we’d walked that far.

Eddy nodded and zoned out. I’ve seen this
before, but I just thought it was a weird glitch he had.

“What was that?” I asked when he came
back.

“I was communicating to them where you
went,” he answered.

“Oh. That’s cool.”

Eddy nodded. “Yeah, I know.” There was a
slight smile on his lips as he said it. “Might as well get
something to eat,” he said. “No sense in starving for no
reason.”

Adelina turned from the stove with two
heaping plates of food; bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage, everything.
I looked at my plate, then at Pierce.

“I’ll eat what you can’t finish,” he
chuckled. I gave Adelina an apologetic smile.

“I eat like a bird,” I said. “Sorry about
earlier. We had some business to discuss.”

“I know,” she said, and there was an
understanding in her eyes that suggested Roman might have told her
what he suspected. I smiled back and sat at the small kitchen table
across from Pierce to eat.

I was hungrier than I thought and inhaled
half of the food on my plate before I realized I was full. When I
pushed it across the table to Pierce, he accepted it graciously and
scraped what was left onto his own plate.

Eddy watched with rapt attention, completely
enthralled by the way Pierce ate.

“Back off,” I said. Eddy looked up at me.
There was a sparkle in his eye that made me shiver.

“What?”

“Stop staring at my man. Back off.”

“Oh.” He didn’t even blush. “I don’t want
your man, honey,” he said, and it became clear that we were having
a “moment” however unwanted and forgotten it would be in the
moments to follow. “Not my type.”

“Not tall enough?” I asked, and shot a
shameless smirk to Pierce who growled at me.

“Definitely not,” Eddy retorted.

“That’s fine with me,” Pierce said. “I like
women anyway.”

“I like women too,” Eddy said, crossing the
kitchen to get a glass of water. “I just prefer men.”

“That’s interesting,” I said. “I did not
know that.”

“Like I said, I prefer men.”

I smirked. “What’s the difference?” I asked,
and the look I got made me realize I was pondering something in my
head, but no one else knew what it was.

“Between men and women?” Eddy asked. He
looked over at Pierce. “I blame you for that, not the parents,
because I’ve met her parents and I’m pretty sure they never gave
her ‘the talk’.”

I laughed. “No. I mean, what’s the
difference between you, a shape shifter, and a werewolf.”

“Oh, now see, that makes sense. Not all
shape shifters are lycanthropes,” he said, “but all lycanthropes
are shape shifters.”

I thought about that for a moment. “So,
you’re saying werewolves are lycanthrope’s, but you’re not.”

“Right.”

“What’s the difference?” I still didn’t
understand.

“Lycanthropy is a disease, very contagious,
but also very unpredictable. Lycanthropes have no choice but to
answer the full moon’s call. We do.”

“So, how do you get to be a shape
shifter?”

“You’re born with it.”

“Oh.” That was a simple enough answer,
but... “Did your mother have it?”

“No.”

“So, it’s like, what? A gene mutation? Are
you an X Man?”

“Something like that.” I could tell there
was more to the story that he wasn’t keen on telling me.

“When you have little Edgar Appletons, will
they have it?”

“It’s possible, but there’s no real way to
tell.”

“What do you get with your shape shifting
abilities? Do you have the strength and speed and whatnot like a
werewolf?”

“For the most part. I can communicate to my
people telepathically, for lack of a better word. Amazing sense of
smell. I know you two slept in the same bed curled around each
other because you smell the same. Your two scents combined to make
one unique one. It’s what your children will smell like.”

I blushed, even though I wasn’t
embarrassed.

“I can smell your embarrassment.”

“I’m not embarrassed.” He didn’t even let
that register, he just kept going.

“I can smell your happiness when you’re with
him or your anger when you’re fighting. Your sadness when he’s not
around. Your hatred for me and my girls.”

I blushed again, definitely embarrassed this
time. “Can you blame me?” I asked softly and stole a piece of bacon
from Pierce’s plate to give me something else to think about.

“I never said I did, I just never understood
completely until last night, and I am sorry for that. I should have
paid better attention.”

“Not your fault.”

“It is my fault. That’s the thing. I’m
supposed to know when things are going on behind my back. The fact
that...” Eddy looked up at Bomani and the super model’s protégée,
gave them wary looks, and didn’t look away. “The fact that my girls
were able to lie to me like that means one of them is dominant,
probably Dayla, and she will have to be handled.”

I frowned and Pierce shook his head at me. I
wanted to ask questions, but it wasn’t the right time. I didn’t
know when or if I would get the chance to ask again, or if Eddy and
I would ever get along amicably, so I asked a question that was
probably best left for later.

“Is Pierce dominant to you?”

There was a look in Pierce’s eyes that said
I’d probably gone too far and that was evident when Eddy sat back
with cool eyes. “Yes.”

I swallowed. I had one more question, and
since I was on a roll I asked it. “Do you hate me because the power
you sense in me means I’m dominant to you as well?”

It took a moment for Eddy to answer. I saw
the struggle in his eyes to answer honestly, but eventually he
hissed, “Yes,” as if it hurt him to admit it.

I nodded, hoping I looked understanding and
not gleeful and pulled the keychain from my pocket. I handed it to
him without a word and watched as he held it in front of his
face.

“What is this?” he spat. Anger and disgust
coated his words. “A reminder of the animal I am?”

Tears stung the back of my eyes. I thought I
was past the point where Eddy’s words could hurt me, but the tears
spoke differently. “I bought it,” I said, failing to keep the
emotion from my voice, “because I saw it and I thought of you.
Bastard.”

Eddy wiped his face clean of anything that
could give him away.

“Apologize,” the Princess said.

“Is that an order?” Eddy let authority drip
into his voice and it made the air thick.

“No. As your
friend
I’m trying to let
you know that you’ve hurt LeKrista badly. She bought something for
you, even though you may not deserve it. You know she’s not a
vindictive person, even if she has a right to be.” Eddy glared at
her. “Apologize and say thank you.”

Eddy stared at Bomani for a long moment like
he wasn’t sure he wanted to do what she “suggested”. When he
finally turned to me I stood and turned my back to him.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I never expect Eddy to
be kind. I don’t think it’s in his nature.”

Eddy had me by the arm in a flash. He bent
so our faces were eye-to-eye and stared me down. I saw Pierce move
out of the corner of my eye and said, “It’s okay Pierce. I’m fine.”
I didn’t blink or look away. “We don’t have to be friends, Eddy. I
bought you a stupid keychain. It’s not like it was a shirt.”

The Princess thought that was funny. Eddy
growled low.

“Sorry,” she said.

“I’m not asking you to be friends,” I told
him. “I’m not trying to buy your kindness. I saw it and thought of
you. It’s just how I am.” I tugged on my arm and he dropped it.
“Calm down, kitty cat.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “After all
these years, I think that’s the worst of the insults I could
potentially come up with. Seriously.”

Eddy pulled back and crossed his arms,
regarding me with a look I’d never seen before and didn’t want to
try to figure out at the moment. His head cocked to the side and it
took a moment for me to realize he was listening to something
outside. That’s when I heard the low growls.

Dayla and Amanda were outside and I could
tell they were facing off, even though I couldn’t hear the dirty
words that Eddy could.

“This doesn’t look good,” Pierce mumbled and
we stepped into the front hall.

Eddy was out the door so quick I never saw
it. I blinked and he was there. He hit Dayla and knocked her off
her feet. Quick as a flash she was up and had her balance in case
Eddy swung again.

Eddy was crouched low and I thought he was
about to shift to his animal form, but he never did. He just stayed
in that low crouch. There was something about it that made Amber
back down. I knew by the tension in Dayla that she was supposed to
back down too, but she didn’t. She stood there, balanced, waiting
for the blow.

“Come on.” Pierce ushered me down the hall
before the shit hit the fan. I didn’t see what happened next, but I
heard it. It sounded like two exploding cats. Their screams could
have been heard in Canada. Once the door was closed though, the
screams were practically nonexistent.

“What just happened?” I asked, as Pierce
kicked off his shoes.

“Dayla challenged his authority.”

“Oh.” I picked up my book from the sofa and
stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace that always
seemed to have a fire in it.

“That good, huh?”

I smiled. “It’s a good book. People really
knew how to write back then. I love French novels. I think they’re
going to be my new favorite past time.”

“You’re not going to start quoting French at
me now, are you?”

“Oui, je suis, mon amour. Et pas seulement
francais, mais l’italien et allemand et en russe,” I said, letting
him know that I was indeed going to start speaking French and
Italian and German and Russian and whatever other languages were at
my disposal. He stopped and looked at me.