by Niki Trento
Kathleen looks at me over Pandora’s head.
Rock is sitting in the corner chair, tears streaking her cheeks, too. The life of an empath must be hell sometimes. I couldn’t imagine being subjected to every emotion around me. She deserves my respect, though, for willingly following a distraught Pandora into a confined area. I wonder if Rock knows how to block emotions like Axel can turn his gift on and off. “Rock, are you okay over there?”
“Me? Yeah. I am trying to help Pandora.”
I arch my brow and tilt my head. How was she helping? Rock points at Pandy, when I look back at my friend, she is visibly calming down. I look back at Rock, and she is looking more upset. Confusion sets in.
“I don’t understand.”
“As an empath, I can not only feel emotions, I can also absorb them to ease great pain.”
Pandora is watching Rock.
“How does it affect you? Or rather, for how long?” Pandora asks.
“Your pain, for example, I feel it but it isn’t as bad for me. I think that my body is conditioned to handle great emotions in order for me to handle my gift. When I absorb pain like this, it will make me extremely tired. Some good sleep and I will be 100%.” Rock’s smile melts into a yawn.
“I think we should get Rock to a bed,” Kathleen offers.
“Thank you, Rock.” Pandora kisses her on the cheek. “You are the heart of this pack, and I can’t thank you enough for easing this pain.”
Kathleen and I help Rock up and lead her to another spare room.
Pandora joins the rest of the pack.
We chose the room next to Kathleen’s for Rock, it is deeper in the house and will provide her with a quieter environment to sleep. It sounds like she will go into a coma-like sleep, so noise may not be an issue.
I pull the blanket over Rock’s already sleeping form. She is literally snoring as soon as her head hits the pillow. I hope she isn’t sugarcoating the aftermath of absorbing emotional pain. I make a mental note to ask Barin what he knows about it.
Kathleen set a pitcher of water on the nightstand, and we leave the room in darkness.
“Did you know that she could do that?” I point my thumb at the closed door.
“Nope. In hindsight, though, I remember shifters calming quicker when Rock was around, but I had never thought much of it. Never saw Rock like that either.” Kathleen jerks her thumb behind her, indicating the conked out shifter we tucked in.
“You are going to put all of this in your journal, aren’t you?”
Kathleen nudges me with her hip and chuckles. “Sure am! That is an author’s gold right there!”
“Is that what you are doing? Writing a novel?”
“More like history books. For our future generations.”
“I knew you were doing that, but I thought maybe you were going to turn it into some kind of shifter romance novel.”
“Nah, that would be boring.” We both laugh.
Kathleen slows her steps a little and tilts her head to look at me.
I could almost see the wheels turning. “What is it, Kathleen?”
“Maybe I will write some fan fiction someday.”
“Yeah? Tell me more.” We make it back to my room. I rearrange the pillows on my bed, putting the tear-soaked one on the chair.
“Well, there is this series I read about this chick who is a reaper. There are all kinds of twists and turns and action and a little romance. The author is this super cool chick named Angela Roquet.”
I didn’t peg Kathleen as a fangirl, but her eyes are practically glowing. “I think I need to read these books!”
“I have the whole set in my room. I’ll lend them to ya. Then, when I write my fanfiction, you can read it and let me know what you think!”
“Sounds like a plan. Now, let’s get back to the others and find out what we missed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Barin
For the past hour, the pack has discussed possible plans for finding out exactly why the elves want me.
“Maybe it isn’t you that they want,” our omega offers.
“What do you mean, Cash?”
“Well, Kane said they were offering him the pack with him as the Alpha. Obviously they were able to manipulate him, perhaps they wanted a pack of shifters that they could control.” Cash’s gaze is glued to the floor as he speaks.
“That is a good theory. However, in order for Kane to be able to take my Alpha status, he would have to go through Donovan, Kathleen, Axel, and well… all of you. I don’t believe he would survive that.”
“But, how would he get through you, Barin?” I turn to see that Pandora has rejoined the meeting.
“He would have to challenge me, and win.”
“Exactly. He wouldn’t be able to do that without help. I think he was supposed to get you into that cave and let the elves do with you as they wanted.”
“That makes sense,” said Glenda. “They needed Kane to come to them in the cave, which means that there must be a gateway of some sort to their land in there. Because of the iron we use for buildings, weapons, etc, elves can’t come to you. They need to lure you in. I am willing to bet that Kane, or more specifically, Pandora, was the worm on the hook.”
The wisdom of Glenda’s words hit me like a brick. Why hadn’t I put two and two together sooner?
“Of course! Pandy wasn’t supposed to become Kane’s Alpha mate! The elves would know that I would do whatever it took to save one of my own. Kane was to get her into the cave and leave her for rescue. Only, she wouldn’t be rescued, not by me. I would be ambushed by the elves. Kane was just a pawn, too.”
“That’s one part of the plan figured out. Now we are just missing the ‘why.’” Donovan was pacing. “We need a plan to get Barin in and out of the cave. It’s the only way to find out what they want with him.”
“Over my dead body!” Heads spin to greet the outraged glare of Celeste.
I notice Glenda smiling at her daughter. Stepping up to Celeste, I put my hands on her shoulders. “Love, we need to know more. Once the elves realize their plan failed, they will only come at us harder.”
“I don’t want to hear about suicide missions! There has to be another way. A way that doesn’t involve risking your life!”
“We could always try using their own tricks on them.” Kathleen is looking right at Celeste with a crazy smile on her face. “It’s like fan fiction!”
I look back and forth between them.
Realization dawns on Celeste and her anger switches to the same crazy smile that Kathleen sports. “Do you think it could work?”
“Yup! Then we would get information without risking Barin.”
“Would someone explain what these two are talking about?” Donovan growls.
“The elves brainwashed Kane, used him as a pawn in their plan to capture Barin. What if Axel hypnotized Kane into believing he had succeeded? Maybe, just maybe, we can turn Kane’s projection to what he knows as the truth, our truth.” Kathleen’s words come faster as her excitement grows.
“Right. If we can get Kane to believe that Pandora is in the cave and Barin is on his way to get her… maybe he would be able to get the elves to tell him why they want Barin,” Celeste adds.
“We are assuming that the elves would see his truths as fact. What if they don’t? We would be sacrificing Kane to them,” Donovan counters.
“We can test it out. Have Axel put him under, then we set him up as we did before. If we can’t see the truth, then maybe the plan stands a chance. You all said yourselves, what he said before was the truth as he knew it. The only one of us that saw more was Axel.”
When Kathleen is done, I look at Axel. Could he do the parlor trick thing on Kane? “Can you hypnotize him without him knowing? He won’t do it willingly.”
“I could. I don’t know how well I can recreate his truths, but I’ll try.”
“If, and only IF Ax is able to cloak Kane successfully, we will send him to the elves. We will set up some way
to get him in and out without the elves killing him.”
It isn’t the best solution, but it is a start. Hopefully, before we send Kane into his possible death, another idea would come to light. As much as I want Kane far away from my pack, I don’t want him dead. We know the elves are remorseless and would kill a shifter without blinking an eye. The slaughter of the half breeds all those decades ago is proof of that.
“We will give Axel time to prepare himself. In the meantime, let’s get some lunch.”
“I’ll make sandwiches. I am craving a huge ass club!” Zeke heads for the kitchen.
“Celeste, grab your camera, I want to take a walk.” Glenda stands up. “Evelyn, come with us. Girls?”
Kathleen and Pandora agree.
“Where is Rock?”
“Mom, before we go, I need to talk to Barin for a minute. Barin, come with me to get my camera?”
Celeste’s hips sway slightly as she walks down the hall. She glances over her shoulder and I force my focus away from the curves I ache to grab. I smile sheepishly at being caught appreciating her. She goes into her room. I fight to keep myself at the doorway.
“Barin, Rock is passed out. Did you know she could absorb emotions?”
“Yes, she doesn’t do it very often. Sure you can see why. Is that why she is sleeping?”
“Yeah, she took away Pandy’s pain and minutes later she was practically comatose.”
“She will be okay after a few hours. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“That’s part of it. I didn’t mean to step on toes before. I know you need to do what is best for the pack, but...I just got you. I am not ready to give you over to the elves or anyone else for that matter.”
I quickly cross the room, wrap her in my arms. I bury my nose in her hair just behind her ear and take a deep inhale of her scent. Her scent is a soothing balm to my soul. My mate. My heart.
Trailing kisses down her neck, I relish in the soft rumble that starts in her chest. Her hands are tangled in my hair. Her nails scratching at my scalp sends shivers of pleasure down my spine.
I drag my tongue back up her neck, nip at her earlobe. Celeste sounds more like a cat than a wolf. I cover her mouth with mine; her anxious tongue slips between my lips, caressing everything it can.
The incredible need to toss her on the bed is nearly impossible to ignore. Stepping backward, I lead her to the bed behind me. Stopping only when the backs of my legs hit the mattress.
Celeste has her hands up the back of my shirt.
I let myself drop onto the bed, sitting on the edge. I nudge her shirt out of the way and lick her belly. My hands kneading her perfect ass.
She moves her hands to my head again.
I nip at her hips, trailing kisses where my teeth were at moments ago.
Celeste’s hands freeze. She takes a small step back. Her face is red, lips swollen and she is trembling.
As badly as I want to pull her back to me, instead I hang my head. I should be ashamed. I told her I would be patient and here I am exploring her body. Or as much of it as I can.
“I’m sorry, Celeste.” I stand, head still hanging in shame.
Without looking at her, I leave and go to my own room. I make a beeline for the bathroom and turn on the cold water. Leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor, I step under the freezing rush of water. How could I be so stupid? My fist hits the wall cracking the tile. The water washes the blood from the wall and my knuckles. I watch it spiral down the drain.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Barin
After a while, I am not able to feel my toes. I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. My knuckles have scabbed over already. Soon they will be completely healed, the only remnant would be the broken tiles.
What the hell was I thinking? I wasn’t. I let the wolf take over my actions. I sit on my bed, my head in my hands. I don’t know if I will be able to look Celeste in the face any time soon. She asked for time and I gave her hours. I am pretty sure she meant more than that. I’m such an asshole!
There is a knock at my door. Without checking to see who it is, I yelled, “Come in.”
“Barin? Can we talk?”
I jump off the bed and cling tightly to the towel. My body is completely tense as I stand with the bed between us. “Celeste, I don’t think that would be a good idea right now. I can’t promise that I can control myself.”
“Then you stay there, I will stay here. I just need to tell you that I don’t regret what happened.”
“I do.”
“Oh.”
I turned at the deflated tone in her voice.
“No! Celeste, not because of you. I would love to do a lot more than that to you. ARGH!” I shove my fingers through my hair and force myself to stay on my side of the room. “I told you I was patient, that I would give you the time you needed. Then I all but throw you on the bed not twenty-four hours later. I am ashamed because I couldn’t control myself. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.” That is the absolute last thing I want. I need her. More than I have ever needed anyone in my life. She is quickly becoming my everything. I want her, body, mind, and soul.
“I am not afraid of you, Barin. That isn’t why I stopped.”
“Then why?”
“Because my parents—our parents are downstairs. Our mothers are waiting for me.”
“Dear heart, they know about mating urges.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I know that. It’s just…” Celeste begins pacing the floor. “I’m—I’m not comfortable. I know that when we do…have sex, that chances are anyone who sees me the next day will know. I couldn’t possibly look my mother or father in the eyes. Especially if they were under the same roof.”
“Celeste. They are guests here. We are entering into a committed deal here, they are planning the mating ceremony.”
“I know, but my mother always stressed the importance of waiting until the ceremony. It may be a bit archaic, but she had always warned me that if I were to have sex before the ceremony and then if something were to happen…I wouldn’t be wanted. Especially if I had gotten pregnant.”
“So…you have never…” I trail off.
She shakes her head, cheeks red.
“All right then,” I swore to myself that I would not push her.
“Have you?” The question is a mere whisper over her lips.
Walking around to her side of the bed, I place her hand over my heart and stare into her face. I wait until she brings her gaze up to mine. “No. I’ve been waiting for you; just as I will continue to wait for you until the mating ceremony.”
She reaches up on her toes and kisses me, gently but quickly. “I’m going to go now. Photo walk with the girls.”
It is difficult to let her go. I walk to my closet as she walks back through the door, closing it gently behind her. I pull on some clothes, wait until she has left for her walk before going downstairs.
The full moon couldn’t come soon enough, and it is still two weeks away. Until then, I need to limit alone time with Celeste, or I won’t be able to control myself and keep my promise to her.
The kitchen table has been repurposed as a sandwich bar. On one end are plates and rolls. Platters piled with cheeses and meats were in the middle.
On the other end are condiments, toppings and huge bowls of chips. My boys didn’t forget a single thing. There were even about five pounds of cooked bacon on the table. My stomach growls and my mouth waters as I pick up a plate.
“Hey, Barin. Zeke outdid himself this time. He may not know much about cooking, but damn he knows his way around sandwiches!” Donovan brings his plate in from the other room and starts loading up two more rolls.
“He did. Did the girls eat yet?”
“No, Kathleen said we had better save her some bacon.”
“Pssh! Good luck with that!”
Donovan blushed a little. “I put some aside for her already.”
“When are you going to tell her how you feel?”
He looks like I sprouted a horn in the middle of my forehead. “Yes, I’ve known for a while.”
“Someday.” Donovan reaches past me to grab a handful of salami.
“I wouldn’t wait too long there, big guy. You don’t want someone else to beat you to it.”
A rumble sounds from Donovan’s chest. “Who else?” His eyes, normally brown, flash silver in jealous anger.
“No one that I know of. Relax, D. I’m just telling you not to wait.”
With our plates full of food, we go to eat in the yard. It has been too long since Donovan and I have had time to talk without all the others around. I tell him about what happened with Celeste, sparing him the details.
He talks about Kathleen and his feelings for her. He is waiting for her to show interest before he says anything. I tell him he is foolish to wait for her to make the first move.
“You don’t understand. She has never told us about her past. I think something pretty messed up must have happened for her not to share, considering how dedicated she is to recording history. When she is ready, she will let me know. If I were to say something wrong, or at the wrong time, it could scare her off. I won’t risk it.”
“That’s your call, man. I respect that.”
Donovan picks up our plates. “Want a beer?”
I nod and he goes into the house.
Where are you?
I jerk at the foreign voice in my head and look around for its source. What I see is not my backyard with the hammocks and patio furniture. It was the inside of the cave.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Barin
“Who are you?!” I yell into the darkness.
You know who we are.
“What do you want from me?”
To talk to you.
“I am here now. Talk.” Suddenly the inner strength of my wolf seeps through my pores, calming me quickly and effectively.
Do you not want to come face to face first?