Tempting the Enemy (34 page)

Jade stared at the friend she loved like a sister and wondered if she’d ever truly known her.

Sage made a face. “If you’re only going to let me peek in your mind once in a while, could you please not think stupid things? Of course you know me. And before you ask, no, I never read Jalla’s mind about this. But anyone with a brain knows she loves you. Even a few of the morons out there without one. She’s risked everything to protect you. To guide you. The least you could do is trust her.”

Easily said when one hadn’t just nearly died at the hands of a faceless killer intending to rip her heart out of her chest with one strike.

“Ew.”

Jade smiled, unwillingly. But that was Sage for you.

“Do you really think the humans can get past the gates? Past the protections?”

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At least on this topic, Jade didn’t have any doubts at all. “Yes. I’m not sure how, but if there’s a way, they will find it.”

“What about revering what they fear? It’s kept them in line for over a hundred years.”

Jade didn’t have to stretch for an explanation. “What happens when you’re afraid of something for too long?”

Sage hugged herself, the answer clear. “You look for ways to conquer it.”

Jade nodded, her gaze drawn once again to the gates beyond the trees. She couldn’t see them from here, but she looked anyway. “They’re coming. And everyone here is too sure, too confident in their power to remember what it is to be afraid. The scarlets will keep going out, leaking information they have no idea they’re giving. Sooner or later, the humans will have enough to attack, and only God knows where we’ll end up then.”

“
You
will be somewhere very far from here.”

They both turned, shocked at the sight of Jalla-Rouge standing at the open door to the balcony. In her gnarled fingers she held a large black velvet pouch by its strings.

Her Rouge’s robe hid the fragility of her form, but Jade could see that Jalla had aged considerably in the last few days. Deep, dark circles underlined her bloodshot eyes.

Her color was worse, even, than in the last dream. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.

Remembering Challen’s pleased taunts, Jade realized she wasn’t the only one who had suffered the last few days.

In the pain of that realization, it took Jade a second to remember the woman’s words. “What do you mean, far away? Where else would I be?”

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Jalla took the wooden seat, settling tiredly. Her gray eyes were as shadowed as ever, but the love in them was unmistakable. Had it always been and she’d been too afraid to see it?

“I owe you many apologies, Jade, but I hope you understand…the greater good had to come first. Your future had to come first. Not our past.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Defeating Challen is only the first step for you.”

Jalla’s smile had a touch of slightly sadistic glee. “Your destiny has always been to lead the Sibile to a new era.

That is why Verda-Rouge fights so hard against you. She doesn’t believe we need a new era. But we do. As surely as the sun sets, our time here is coming to an end.”

“When? How?”

Jalla shook her head. “No,
chère
. The time will come, that is all you need to know for now. Well, that and that you’ve been offered a chance to take the Rouge trials.

Because of your actions in the auditorium, you’ve already been granted the title of the Lucescere.”

The news made no difference to Jade. “They won’t change their minds about the scarlet assignments?”

“You knew they wouldn’t. That was
their
destiny.”

“How do you do this?” Jade leaned her hands, clawless hands she barely recognized, on the edge of the wooden balcony, wanting to pound them instead. “How can you stay so calm when you know so many people are going to die?”

“Because I look into the futures of the ones who can be saved, if the right choices are made. No matter what we do, we can’t save everyone.”

Jade sighed, not needing the echo of Pale’s words just then. As it was, her heart felt like an open wound. She 302

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searched the trees again, even though she knew there was no hope of seeing him still out there.

“The whole world is yours, Jade.” The world inside the enclave, anyway. “All you need do is to take what you want.”

“What I want isn’t here.”

“Because this was never where you belonged,” Jalla said, rising with effort. Jade rushed to help her, stopping suddenly when Jalla put her hand over her heart. The heart Challen had wanted so badly, which felt shredded in two by her own hand. “You
know
where you belong.”

God, how she knew, but her own happiness could never mean more than his life. “I have to protect him.”

“You’ve done what you can. Believe me. This is your season of peace. Your mate will be safe from the Tribunal. They won’t go back on their word, I vow it.”

“You can’t make that promise. Look what happened to my mother. They just waited until your back was turned and found another way to get what they wanted.”

“Oh, it won’t be so simple this time.” At Jade’s frown, Jalla smoothed a hand over her cheek. In an instant, Jade remembered that last spirit freed from Challen, the loving touch so like this one. A mother’s goodbye. “Apart from fear for their lives should they cross you, I may have given them a vision of a future that hinges on his survival.”

“You lied?” the whisper escaped before Jade could stop it.

Looking sad again, Jalla straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. “Destiny isn’t done with us yet.

There
will
come a day when the Sibile will need strong Dee Tenorio

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allies if we mean to survive the coming war. A place to run to when this one is gone.”

She knows about Pale, about the mountain.
Jade could only stand in mute awe as Jalla pressed the velvet satchel into her hands and a kiss onto her forehead. Inside it, she could feel countless hard stones sliding against each other.
Her rebellion goes deeper than anyone knows.

“This time is precious, Jade. And brief. But it
is
yours and his. Take it.”

Jade clung to her, the only mother she’d ever truly known.

“You asked me about your future, do you remember?”

Jade nodded, mute, afraid to hope.

“You’ve never had a future without him either. This is the path you were born to take.”

“What if you need me?”

Jalla scoffed. “We Sibile are arrogant for a reason. I can reach you, wherever you go, no matter how far. And if that fails, if we need you, we have our ways.” Jalla tilted her head toward Sage, who was doing her very best not to look interested at a possible hint of adventure. Jalla pushed Jade away, as she had a thousand times in the past, her voice firm, but finally Jade knew how much it must have hurt her. “Now go, child.
Go
.”

With those words, responsibility released its hold.

She was free. Truly, completely free. She stopped only to hug Sage one last time and then she ran.

Down the flights of stairs, through the grand hall and out into the sun. With every step, every breath, she felt her spirit soaring. Flying. She burst through the path in the trees, racing for the gates. For Pale. The gates opened 304

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but the car she’d hoped would still be there, waiting, was gone.

“Pale?” She turned, looking up and down the road, but he wasn’t there. She really shouldn’t have expected him to be. If he were truly going to leave this life behind, there wouldn’t be any trace of him in any direction. He was gone.

“I thought you could find the coldest trails I wouldn’t find on my best day.”

She spun, finding him leaning against the brick wall, arms crossed, light eyes glowing. He smiled, those unexpected dimples sinking into each cheek. She’d been flying out so fast, she had gone right past him.

“I’m starting to think you couldn’t track your way out of a paper bag.”

“You’re still here,” she breathed, relieved.

He nodded, his reserve ruined by his smoldering gaze. “You came back.”

“I couldn’t stay.”

He finally took a step toward her. “I couldn’t leave.”

Another step, his boots scraping on the ground as if he were being dragged toward her. “If you’re not coming with me, Jade, you need to get your ass back behind those gates because I can’t let you go twice.”

Not dragged. Trying so hard to do what she asked of him.

She made it easy for him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. “I’m coming with you.”

His arms clamped around her, taking her weight easily, one hand grasping the back of her neck to keep her Dee Tenorio

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still while he glared directly in her eyes. “You will never leave me again.
Never
.”

“Pale—”

“No, you just used up all the give I’ve got. This has been the most miserable two hours of my life. You weren’t gone two minutes and I already felt dead inside without you. So you’re not going anywhere without me ever again, do you hear me?”

“I’m sure all of Moonridge County heard you.”

“That wasn’t an agreement,” he growled.

She licked his lips. That wasn’t an agreement either, but neither of them particularly cared. He kissed her, until tears slipped over her cheeks from a joy she never thought to know. Let him yell. Let him growl and snap and grouse. He still didn’t know what to do with joy. But he’d learn. They both would. “Take me home, Pale.”

She didn’t have to tell him twice.

He carried her across the street, into the wild brush and trees, where he finally put her down long enough to clear the brush he’d placed over the car. It took almost no time, they were so eager to leave. Within minutes, they were back on the road, driving into the mountains. They talked until Jade grew tired, falling asleep watching new snow drift down from the sky.

Hours later, she woke to Pale lifting her out of the seat, her cape hanging free. “We’re here,” he murmured.

With a start, she looked over her own shoulder to see people milling in the center of a wooded clearing. The trees were huge, so high she couldn’t see the tops of any of them, and so wide around the bottom that shelters of every kind were built beneath them. Some were older, built with huge pieces of wood, probably from the trees they’d felled to clear the area. Log cabins… Others were 306

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newer, fashioned to look more like modern houses, made with processed wood and cement. All around, more and more structures hidden under tree limbs and snow, home after home after home.

Men and women of all ages began stepping out onto porches, but what really made Jade’s eyes widen were the children. Girls, boys, babies. Dozens of them. Dozens and dozens of children…

She wriggled to be put down, something Pale grudgingly allowed, though his hand stayed firmly around her waist. Back on her own feet, she curled her fingers around his, watching the people—the shifters he’d been working so hard to save—mill around them.

“That’s her! That’s my lucky star lady!”

She jerked, looking around for the excited voice, piping and small, but excited. “Emmitt?”

The little boy came running, his dark hair gleaming in the winter sun, color in his cheeks and excitement on his face. He crashed into her, a solid little body. She reached down to settle him, his sister’s memories suddenly rushing to the forefront of her mind. This was what the girl had wanted so desperately for him. Safety.

Hope. A chance.

“I told them you were real, but they didn’t believe me.” He pointed at a group of wide-eyed kids, most of them utterly terrified at the sight of her red cape. “See, I
told
you sibbos could be nice!”

“She’s not a sibbo!” A little girl yelled back. “She’s a shifter, just like us. Or she wouldn’t be here.”

Emmitt looked up at her, clutching a handful of her robe, a touch of nervousness on his face. A hundred faces looked at her expectantly. Not sure what to do, she looked Dee Tenorio

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up at Pale, but he was no help. His face was full of amused challenge. An Alpha’s mate needed to be able to lead
with
him, she decided.

She smiled down at Emmitt, winking one eye the way Sage so often did to her. Then she stretched out her hand and drew a stream of colors over the children’s heads. Smiling, she only had to think of the Wolf at her back and all the things she was going to do to him when she got him alone. Her fangs lowered, a warm tingle filling her mouth, but no one could miss the shift.

“I’m both,” she said, giving in to her urge to finally touch the boy’s silky curls.

It seemed enough for Emmitt. “See?” He ran back into the crowd of kids, all of which were talking on top of each other, some pointing at the fading rainbow, others pointing fingers and blaming one another for doubting Emmitt’s story.

Pale moved behind her, wrapping both arms around her as adults moved into the clearing. Not with trepidation or fear. Not with anything but acceptance, because, like them, she belonged to him. And he belonged to her.

Pale brushed a kiss across her cheek. “Welcome to Resurrection, Jade.”

But as the first of the adults found her, reaching out to offer her welcome, Jade felt the truth. This was more than a camp for the lost. More than a new beginning, even.

This was home.

About the Author

Dee Tenorio has a few reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can call being awakened in the night by visions of hot able-bodied men a problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and romantic comedies.

Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much better hair than she does.

The best part is, no more therapy bills!

Well, not for Dee anyway. Her husband and kids, on the other hand…

If you would like to learn more about Dee and her work, please visit her Web site at www.deetenorio.com or her blog at http://www.deetenorio.com/Blog/.