The Wolf & The Pretender

by Serena Simspson

  “All you have to do is touch me and you’ll know I’m not lying. Come closer human, place your hand on me. We will bond and then the world will be yours. I’ll lay treasures at your feet and dress you in jewels.”

  “What do you want with the world?” she inched closer.

  “To destroy it, the way it destroyed us.”

  Her hand hovered over the trap a few inches away. How was she able to put it through the plexiglass unless it was a mental barrier and not a physical one? That made sense, she thought hurriedly trying to plan her next move. The Trap was exerting a force on her she never felt before. It was doing more than battling her shields it was using her energy against her. That was a force she battled to control every day.

  Darkness raged around her, trapping her in the center. Every thought this trap ever had was thrown at her with the desire to overwhelm her. Once her defenses were down, the trap would own her.

  Understanding that she may be fighting a losing battle she used the last of her energy to look for the one spark in the room that wasn’t evil. If she could touch Kayden, brush against his mind, there was a chance he could get her out. Becoming the plaything for an evil Shadow dictator wasn’t how she wanted to live the rest of her life.

  Giving it one last go she dropped every shield and crumpled to the floor. Right as she felt the evil trap reach for her, hands picked her up and she was moving away from the barrier that separated her and the traps.

  Kayden didn’t stop until he put her in the car. His hands were everywhere checking on her. She could have told him that she was okay, but she was enjoying the feel of his hands stroking down her back and caressing her arms. His mouth was in her ear whispering for her to be okay.

  “I let you get hurt.” She stopped him right there. The pain in his voice was too much for her to take.

  “You kept me alive. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t picked me up and got me out of there.”

  “I took you there.” Her hands came up to his chest pressing against him to move back. The need to look him in the eyes was great. She couldn’t help it if her fingers flexed a little feeling the hard muscle.

  “Thank you, I would have never known what I was up against if you hadn’t taken me. Can we get out of here? I feel like I was dumped in a tank of evil and it’s clinging to my skin like acid determined to eat through it.”

  “You are very expressive.” He made sure her seatbelt was on before he climbed into the driver’s seat putting as much space between them and the traps as possible.

  When he finally stopped, he was parked in front of a large rambling house. The welcome from it reached out to wrap its arms around her. This was a place she wouldn’t mind going to.

  “This is where I live with my family. After what happened I’d like them to meet you if that’s okay with you.”

  They were moving way too fast. She didn’t do families, the look on his face convinced her otherwise.

  “I would enjoy meeting them.” That was the right answer if the way his eyes glowed was any indication.

  He jogged around the SUV opening the door for her. Taking her hand, he led her up to the porch. He pushed open the door to a spacious living room.

  There were several people lounging on the furniture as the lively conversation stopped when she walked in.

  “Everyone this is Keva. Keva, that is Mira and her mate Tristan.” He pointed out the one couple in the room. “On the couch closest to us is Ven.”

  She couldn’t help it she smiled. The images of him being a brat going through her head. He winked at her reinforcing what she already thought.

  “On the couch next to him is Cade, he is the commander of our group. Next to him is Key. My other two brothers aren’t here along with Ava.”

  “Hi, it's nice to meet you all.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too, Keva. We didn’t know Kayden was spending time with someone.” Mira came over and shook her hand before pulling her into a hug. “You’ll like these guys.”

  “Kayden ask your woman to sit, don’t keep her standing,” Ven waved his hand towards an empty couch.

  Kayden glared at him. Keva lowered her head to hide her smile. Already she could tell Ven loved to rev everyone up. She looked at him when she sat. He winked at her again. Oh yeah, he was a brat and loved it.

  “Keva how did you meet Kayden?” Mira asked looking between them noticing that Kayden sat close to Keva.

  “He told the waitress I was waiting for him when he couldn’t get a table for lunch yesterday.”

  Mira jumped up and demanded he hit her hand up high. “I knew you had it in you. That’s how you meet a beautiful woman. The rest of you take notes Kayden has game.”

  She watched the flush to Kayden’s skin. It was a strange grayish copper look. She could get used to him and his appearance. That’s part of what made humans human they all looked different from each other. What was one more hot male thrown into the melting pot? Especially if he was her hot mate.

  A blush made its way over her face, even her ears were hot. Mira wagged her eyebrows at her. They could become friends if she stayed around.

  “What did you do today?” Ven asked rescuing her.

  “Kayden took me on a picnic to the lake. It’s beautiful there. He brought a basket full of food. Ven he said you made the potato salad. It was to die for.”

  “You made potato salad, and I didn’t get any?” Mira demanded, her hand going to her hip.

  “There’s plenty in the fridge for dinner.”

  “Hmph, did you really say dinner?” She went into the kitchen and came back with paper plates, spoons and a bowl of potato salad. After everyone had dished some up, they were munching contented with the world.

  “The darkness from one of the traps reached out to Keva.”

  “I knew it was too quiet around here. What happened,” Cade questioned them.

  “It invited me to come and set it free or to meet it if nothing more.” Keva took a bite of the potato salad Mira insisted she eat.

  “After that?” Ven asked.

  “It tried to take me over.” She shivered at how close she had become to losing her mind, body, and soul to something pure evil.

  Chapter Eight

  “I need to hear the story from the beginning,” Cade told them. “Ven.”

  “I’m already on it.”

  “Ven’s calling the rest of the family.”

  Kayden bit back a smile realizing that Cade was calling everyone family too. It felt right to call everyone that lived in their house family.

  Ava and Locke walked in.

  “Keva?”

  “Ava?”

  They met in the middle of the floor hugging each other both trying to talk at the same time. Ava got a grip on Keva’s arm and dragged her over to Locke.

  “Keva, this is Locke. Locke, this is my friend I told you about.”

  “Oh my, wait… is this Nobody’s Prince?”

  “Yes!”

  “I’ve heard so much about you,” Keva gushed. “I’m glad to finally be able to meet you.”

  Locke blushed that grayish slightly copperish tone that reminded her of Kayden.

  “You probably already know Kayden,” Keva dragged Ava over to him. Then she went into detail about how she met him, things you tell your girlfriend that she was sure she left out of the first telling.

  “I know, those arms,” Ava made eyes at her. They burst out laughing and fanning themselves as Locke growled from across the room.

  “I’ll tell you the juicy stuff later,” Keva whispered in Ava’s ear.

  “The two of you better not think you're leaving me out.” Mira placed her hand on her hip and patted her foot making Keva and Ava giggle. “Youth today,” she rolled her eyes.

  “Did she really just say that?” Keva asked Ava before they succumbed to another round of laughter. “I bet you only have a few years on us.”

  Keva and Ava finally separated. Keva took a seat next to Kayden with Ava sitting on
Locke’s lap. His arms went around her, then the growling stopped.

  “Keva I want to introduce you to Taris. He is family and part of Enigma One.”

  “Nice to meet you Taris, I’ve heard so much about you and the whole family. I didn’t think I’d get to meet any of you.”

  “I’m glad to get a chance to meet you also,” he reached out briefly to return the handshake she offered.

  “Everyone, take a seat, Keva had an encounter with the Shadows that we need to hear about.” Cade nodded to her after everyone was seated.

  Keva slipped her hands into Kayden’s, allowing the warmth of it to battle the chill that was still trying to invade her bones.

  “Kayden called me up earlier today and asked to on a picnic,” her voice was soft. That memory was already in her special moment's box along with their meeting at the restaurant. “He took me to the lake behind your house. I was wearing my bikini because picnic kind of says water is somewhere close to me. I felt it when we first got here but I ignored it. It felt more like an itch that if you ignored, it would eventually go away. We swam and then ate. Thanks for all the delicious food. By that time, it had gone from an annoying itch to a persistent one. The kind that no matter how much you scratch doesn’t go away.”

  Every eye in the room was on her. She was used to this from doing her show. Even with that confidence, she wished she was wearing her garish makeup, and all that went with it so they wouldn’t see her, just the fake she showed the world.

  “I refused to acknowledge what I was sensing. Eventually, Kayden and I laid down, my eyes slipped shut savoring the day so far. That’s when it was able to get my attention. My shields weren’t as tight, and my mind was no longer preoccupied with the fun I was having with Kayden.” She squeezed his hand, sending him a smile.

  “It wanted to play, sending me challenges, while daring me to come find it. Although I resisted every part of me wanted to meet the challenge to find out what dared to invade my sleep. I refused several times as it taunted me. When I woke up, I knew there was no other option than to confront the being coming after me. If Kayden was correct, and I had no reason not to believe him. This was the second time the Shadows came after me. I knew Kayden didn’t like it, but he agreed to take me to see where the traps were being held.” The frown playing around his lips reinforced her words.

  “When we parked in front of the cabin holding the traps, he explained that the Shadows weren’t there only the traps they created. I was picking up intelligence from whatever was in the cabin. When I walked in, it almost knocked me down. It was a combined punch from all the traps. This is going to sound a bit crazy. For them to make those traps, each one needed to be infused with essence from a Shadow. Each trap is self-aware and linked back to its maker.”

  There was an explosion of sound in the room as they all began to talk. Mira stood throwing her hands in the air for them all to a halt.

  “Before we go any further down this rabbit hole, Keva why don’t you tell us what you are? I’m an empath. I can feel your emotions and I know you made a choice not to shield yourself. That’s why I am not calling BS on what you said. I don’t know your name, but I know your face. You bill yourself as the Amazing Pretender.” She sat back down snuggling into Tristan.

  How did she tell them about what she did for a living without letting a sense of bitterness flavor her words? She wasn’t the type to feel jealous over another’s success but there was the feeling of injustice when she knew that something as simple as her sex or the color of her skin was placing a cap on how high she could go. She fought the injustice while others insisted it was all in her imagination.

  “Magic or magick as I prefer to think of it as something that we all pretend doesn’t exist, much like psychics and empaths. Some people are born with natural magick it runs through their bloodline. They have been called witches, warlocks, even the practitioner of dark arts. I don’t pretend to speak for them. I will say that there is more than one type of magick in the world and several gifts hide as being magick. My gift is one of them.

  “If I were male or maybe had lighter skin, you would see me on television performing death defying tricks to startle and delight an audience. Unfortunately, I wasn’t what they had in mind when they were looking for a television star.” She couldn’t forget the weight, having been told more than once of she dropped a hundred pounds maybe she could be an opening act.

  “My act revolves around the fact that I can manipulate energy to move matter around me.” She floated about the couch and caught Ven’s cell phone when it came to her. “I get paid very well for it. No one can find the wires or debunk my claims. I also bill myself as a pretender telling them upfront this is a gimmick and I encourage them to catch me. Come one, come all be the lucky person to discover how I do it. Fame and fortune await you and all you have to do is prove me to be the pretender I say I am.”

  “Ingenious,” Mira looked at her with pride.

  “I know, I love Keva’s mind,” Ava joined in with Mira.

  Keva went from sitting to standing in the air where she executed a perfect bow.

  “That’s some gift does it have a flaw?” Mira asked.

  “Yep,” she sank back down on the couch next to Kayden wishing she could lean against him. “The energy I use is made with my body. When I use my gift, I expend energy that I can’t seem to reclaim. That drains me, which is one of the reasons I’m careful about the number of shows I do in a year. There are times I expend so much energy that I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same again.”

  “As an empath, it’s different for me, but I understand the entanglement, the feeling that you may never see your basic self again. Has being around Kayden helped with that?”

  Keva bit her lip looking at Kayden under her lashes. In for a penny…

  “It has, there is something about him that seems to keep me from losing the energy I expend. I still need to expend it, but it’s like he’s there with a broom and a dustpan sweeping the excess energy up and placing it back in my storage unit to be recycled when I need it.”

  “Do you know what an anchor is?” Mira sat up straight to lean over the edge of the couch she had slipped onto from Tristan’s lap.

  “I do, Troy goes on about them incessantly.”

  “You know Troy?” Ava’s eyes got big as her mouth hung open.

  “I do. Do you know him too?”

  “There are thousands of Troy’s in the world, but I have a feeling we are all talking about the same guy. We’ll have to discuss him later.” They both agreed. “I think Kayden may be your anchor.”

  Keva looked at him again from under her lashes. He sat perfectly still not a muscle moving as if he were afraid of drawing any more attention to himself. She remembered what he told her about Enigma One and their place in the war. Attention was the last thing he wanted. Did he consider himself a Shadow like those he was now fighting? The need to hold him and murmur that everything would be okay took her over.

  This was something she had been fighting since she met him. Was it only a day? No one fell in love this quickly, did they? She didn’t do insta-love, she barely did instant oatmeal. No, she refused to believe she was one of those women who didn’t take the time to examine every angle before she entered into a contract. That didn’t stop her from wanting to caress him and tell him it would all be okay. She wanted to see the glint of pride in his eyes. He deserved it. Nope, she didn’t know all about what he did when he went undercover but she could feel his heart, even his soul. It was such a stark contrast to what she felt coming from the Shadow traps. This male may have killed, but that didn’t shape the goodness at his core.

  “I think we should stop here for the day,” Mira told them.

  “Why? I have so much more I need to tell you.”

  “I know, but you look drained like you need time to process. Will it make a difference if we know today, tomorrow, or the next day?”

  “No but… soon it will be fight or die time.”

  “The
n that is more reason to give you a chance to build your energy supplies and get to know us. It’s always better to go into battle with people you know and trust. Kayden do you want to show Keva around? If you’re busy, I can do it.”

  Kayden hissed a small growl at Mira keeping his eyes on Tristan. That male didn’t appreciate anyone hissing at his mate. Tristan hissed back allowing his teeth to sharpen.

  Mira laughed. “I love it when the boys decide to play fight.”

  Her words took the steam out of them both. It was like popping a balloon, both of their shoulders sagged as they sent her sullen looks, they hoped the others didn’t catch.

  “You’re my fierce alien healer warrior,” Mira kissed Tristan.

  She winked at Keva. “Kayden show Keva around maybe she’ll kiss your booboo goodbye.”

  Keva and Kayden flushed leaving the room as quickly as possible. The others snickered as they watched them go.

  Chapter Nine

  Kayden gave her a tour of the house including his suite of rooms before they went out back to sit on the top step of the porch.

  “Your family is interesting.”

  “I’m lucky to have them. I don’t know if the other battalions of Kur’iks bonded the way we did. I could have been placed on any ship, but I ended up on that one. Declyn he’s our captain, more like a general in your terms. He kept us together and fought every day to keep us alive. He didn’t think of us as fodder to be lost in a war that had no meaning.”

  “It sounds like he’s worthy of being the general.”

  “He is.” Kayden slowly walked his fingers over to where Keva’s were resting on the porch. She followed his progress with lowered eyes and an increased thump to her heart.

  When he stopped with little space between them, she walked her fingers over to him. Her pinky sliding against the side of his hand. He placed his hand on top of hers, the breath she was holding whooshed out her mouth. She was going to forget social norms and insta-love while figuring this thing out for herself.

  “I’m surprised they didn’t want to know everything I know immediately. Do you think it’s because they don’t trust me?”