The Breed: Nora's Choice (27 page)

            This had to
have been how her mother felt her entire life growing up. Being a gypsy had
meant she never had a stable home, and now her daughter was repeating the same
endless cycle.

            Drifting
from cold beaches to dark forests, she simply just…. Walked. What else was
there for her to do?

            After a few
minutes Tessa’s voice slid over the abyss. She was currently reading off the
ending to the book, “Memoirs of a Geisha,” and Remy had honestly been waiting
all day to hear it.

            Besides the
visits from Tessa and Nora, she had nothing to look forward to. Sweet Jax had
come once so far and promised to visit again in the future, but she understood
how strange he had to have felt talking to a woman who was essentially a
corpse.

            Her parents
were currently on a cruise in the Mediterranean, but Nora had spoken with them,
and they would be here as soon as they could get to port.

            The only
thing in the world she had to do once the girls left was sit and ponder life.
Philosophy had never been her strong suit, but it was just her and the endless
wandering of the corners of her mind.

            Sometimes
she wandered into a memory, and could sit back and watch it unfold in front of
her. Small things like eating sunflower seeds with her father, or learning how
to put on lipstick with her mother.

            They were
small fleeting moments of time, but they kept her spirit warm while she stayed
lost in her cold consciousness.

            How long would
she be trapped here? Would her body ever recover enough for her to have a life
again? Or would she simply waste away here until her body died of old age?

            She swiped
at a tear and pushed the thoughts away, forcing herself to concentrate on  the
sound of Tessa’s voice, and the story she was telling. There would be plenty of
time for depression when she was alone.

            The words
were hard to hear, scattered and unfocused, like a radio station that couldn’t
quite come in. If she concentrated hard enough though she could make out what
the girls were saying.

            They
updated her on their lives and filled her in on all the latest gossip, almost
as if she were really there with them. Like they were simply having a normal
girls night.

            Something
happened suddenly to stop their speech.

            Another
voice joined theirs, growing stronger the closer it came.

            She didn’t
recognize it. It was deep and full of gravel. If she had to guess, she would
say it belonged to a large man.

            The girls
whispered goodbyes to her, and she felt each of their lips softly planting a
kiss on her forehead.

            What the
hell was happening? They usually stayed for hours, and she knew it couldn’t
have been that long. Who was this man that was chasing them off?

            After a few
minutes his voice came in strong and clear. It scared her at first because it
was so much more present than any other voice she had heard while she had been
here.

            “Hello
lass,” came the deep voice, “I know you don’t know me, but I … I’m the man
whose life you saved, I’m the reason you’re here.”

            The sorrow
that echoed through his voice pierced her heart.

            “I know I
destroyed your life, I know that if you can hear me now you probably want to
kill me-”

            She didn’t!
She wanted to scream out to him, but she couldn’t move her lips.

            As soon as
he had begun to speak, for the first time since she had been here, things began
to brighten. The grey all around her began to lift and miraculously the beach
she was currently occupying began to fill with color and warmth.

            There was
only one logical explanation for why her subconscious was reacting to him in
this way: she had finally found her prince charming.

            Ok, so
maybe he was a little grizzly and could easily rip out the throat of any other
prince, and
technically
she was in a coma because of him, but damn it,
she had waited her whole life for him and she wasn’t going to let some silly
little coma stop her now.

            “I don’t
blame you for hating me. I hate myself for this. If I could trade places with
you, I would. If I could go back in time and let myself die instead of putting
you through this, I would. I’m so damn sorry, and I swear to you I wish there
was a way for me to make this up to you,” the gravel in his voice cracked
slightly and it broke her heart.

            Did he know
that she was his mate? Did he think that he had just killed the one woman that
fate had chosen for him?

            Why didn’t
her fucking arms work? She needed to hug him, to tell him that everything would
be ok and that together they would turn this nightmare into a fairytale.

            “I’m going
to do everything I can for you,” he plowed on, because of course he couldn’t
damn hear her, “the girls have told me you might be able to hear us, that your
mind might be awake and trapped in your body. I want you to know that I’ll come
for you every day, I won’t leave you to suffer through this alone. My brother
and I are staying to aid the Breed in this war. One day, somehow, I’ll make
this up to you,” he sighed and shifted uncomfortably in the leather chair
beside her bed, “I’ll leave you now, and hopefully you don’t hate the idea of
me coming back. Goodbye lass.”

~

            Nearly a
week had passed since the incident between him and Ayla, and he was still
pissed off about it.

            Since it
had happened she had very smartly been avoiding him. He honestly wasn’t sure
how he would react if he saw her.

            To Marcus
and everyone else that asked he coldly stated that she had simply worn out her
“usefulness”. It made him feel like an ass for saying it, but how could he
explain the truth?

            She had
presented herself as a whore to everyone, and so that was what everyone
expected her to be. How could he go against something she herself had created?

            Currently
the only reason he was still at the embassy in Charleston was because he hadn’t
been able to discreetly pull Sampson to the side and either capture or kill
him.

            The little
weasel made sure to stick with large groups of people, and was known to take
one or more women home a night.

            With him
running this Embassy’s defense department, taking him out would be really
tricky. He had to find a way to do it without causing dissension among the
Breed, or sending them on a witch hunt for the killer.

            Pulling his
thick black hair back into a pony tail he shut his eyes and took a moment to
focus.

            He was
meeting with Marcus in a few moments and if he had any chance of the meeting
being successful, he needed to be at the top of his game.

            Sliding his
arms through the holes of a black wool vest he thought about how in the world
he could possibly attempt to convince Marcus to flee to safety at the New York
Embassy.

            If anyone
was stubborn enough to fight Sebastian on his wishes, it was Marcus.

            Sighing he
left his rooms and headed off to the task at hand.

            Once again
Marcus insisted they take their meeting in his tea room. Sebastian wasn’t a fan
of how flowery and formal the situation was; he was more of a brass tacks sort
of man, but if this is how his old friend insisted on doing things, then this
is how they would be done.

            “Can’t we
at least wait until we’ve finished our tea to talk business,” Marcus
interrupted him as he tried to get things moving for the third time.

            Normally he
preferred for his business meetings to be quick and brutally honest, but in the
interest of winning the soon to be argument, he bit his tongue and angrily
sipped from his dainty china cup.

            The entire
situation began to grate heavily on his nerves as sipping delicately also
turned into nibbling on little cookies placed on the table. He knew this was
all a game Marcus was playing, an exercise in control; he was attempting to
push Sebastian’s patience, and it simply wasn’t going to happen.

            After an
agonizing twenty minutes, finally, the man was ready to get on with it.

            “What’s
happened between you and Ayla? The rumors are certainly flying,” he smiled
around his saucer.

            Marcus had
been a friend for more than one human lifetime, but he was very seriously close
to get knocked out.

            “It is
exactly as I’ve told every other gossip monger around here,” he sighed in
frustration, “it’s not as if we were bonded, not as if we were a couple, we
were simply …. Sampling each other. Having some adult relations. After a few
weeks, I found that her taste had gotten stale and I’m ready for something
fresh with someone else, as I’m positive she is as well. I’m sure you had the
same feeling once you were done with her and she moved on to me.”

            “I have a
confession to make, though I think you’ll look down on me for what I’m going to
say,” Marcus had a mischievous look in his eye, he could only guess what was
going to come flying out of the mans mouth.

            “Oh?” he
prompted, his patience uninterested in any more coy games.

            “To be
honest, I only ever wanted to sleep with her because she has sort of become a
carnival ride, all the boys have had a go on her and I didn’t want to feel
excluded. I just had to see what all the fuss was about when it came to her,”
he snorted with laughter.

            Anger
burned in Sebastian’s throat. The man he had once been old friends with was
proving every day to be more and more of a boil on the ass of humanity.

            He wasn’t
here to teach a lesson in manners and respect though, he was here to save the
life of the leader of the Charleston Embassy.

            Whether or
not that man was a complete and total twat, had nothing to do with him doing
his job, so he swallowed down his anger and reminded himself that he was a
professional.

            Marcus and
Ayla should have bonded he smirked to himself, they certainly would have
deserved each other.

            “I didn’t
come here to talk about Ayla or any other sexual conquest,” he coldly changed
the subject.

            Sighing
deeply Marcus nodded his head, “You never were one for small talk and
pleasantries.”

            “You need
to leave the Embassy and go into hiding,” he laid down the law.

            Across from
him Marcus nearly choked on his tea.

            “You cannot
possibly be serious?” he asked, his face turning a shade of red to match his
ginger beard.

            “I’m always
serious,” he glowered down at him, “And I think it would be best for you to
flee to the New York Embassy so that my brother can protect you.”

            “Flee?” he
spat, “Now that is a word that leaves an acrid taste in my mouth. Don’t let my
lavish life style fool you, I might live like a retired old man at the moment,
but I am no coward. Inside me still beats the heart of a warrior, and I won’t
be fleeing from my home for anything.”

            “You are
the one who sought me out, who asked for my help, who was frightened for his
life,” Sebastian was becoming more and more unnerved with the conversation as
time passed.

            “And I
do
fear for my life, and I know some are plotting to have me killed, but I won’t
show them that weakness, I won’t give them that power over me and allow them to
push me out of my own home,” he replied stubbornly.

            “I don’t
think you understand how serious the situation is,” he blasted back, ready to
shut this conversation down for good.

            “What are
you talking about?” Marcus’ eyes narrowed.

            Now they
had come to a bit of an impasse. How could Sebastian properly warn him without
giving away how much information Casstiel’s defense team had actually acquired,
and by what means they had gotten it.

            He steepled
his fingers and looked deeply at his old friend.

            “I fear the
threat on your life is more serious than we thought. It’s not some oaf simply
trying to overtake you and claim your Embassy for their own,” he sighed, “My
brother has recently captured a Hunter for questioning and he has given us
valuable information and I assure you, it’s best for everyone if you leave and
go into hiding until this has blown over.”

            “Captured a
Hunter and he’s given you information regarding me?” for the first time during
the entire meeting, Marcus seemed shaken.