Three Times Torn

by Felisha Antonette

  I’m wrenched from the floor, Roseland’s roughened palm scraping my arm as I stumble to my feet.

  Nathan grabs his shoulder and just by a look I can’t see with Nathan being behind me, Roseland lets me go.

  Ann climbs to her feet, vengeance sewn in her eyes and evilly curled lip.

  Nathan walks in front of me, forcing Roseland and his wife back through the hole I created. “Roseland. Explain.”

  Roseland looks between him and Ann. He takes a breath, welcoming his calm composure back in his demeanor. “Let’s meet in the great room.”

  Ugh! We have to meet in the great room so that everyone can hear the truth?!

  I lead the way. We stand around, neither of us comfortable enough to take our seats. Natalia, the mediator, stands between us. “Roseland, will you speak for your wife or will she?”

  “I will,” Roseland answers.

  Natalia turns to us. “And for you?”

  “I’ll speak,” I answer, never taking my eyes off Ann.

  “Okay.” She gives a short nod and leaves to her usual seat.

  Roseland jumps right into it. “Tracey, you reacted without any threat being brought to you by Ann. She—”

  “No, there was threat enough.” I cut him off. “Her offered information and demand of an owed debt was enough. A life for a life. I’ve learned a lot being around this family, and one main thing is to leave nothing to chance.”

  Roseland’s brow furrows as he barks, “The fact remains, Ann was not going to attack you.”

  I flick my gaze over his shoulder to his silent wife stone still behind him. “Were you not going to attack me, Ann? Are you also not Roehl’s sister?”

  “She—”

  I throw my hand up, cutting Roseland off. “Not you, her.”

  “I’m speaking for her!” he shouts.

  Nathan pulls me back, stepping in front of me. “She needs to answer the question, Roseland,” he manages calmly, but he’s far from it.

  Roseland looks to Ann, and she steps to his side. “I am not.”

  Unbelievable! I push Nathan’s guarding arm from in front of me. “Excuse me?!”

  “I’m not Roehl’s sister,” she declares, giving me an eye that warns I’ve messed up.

  I’m not afraid of her. Searing heat takes over my hand as it prepares to blast her lips off her face. Nathan presses his hand against the back of my neck and sucks it away. “Ann, that’s a lie. You willingly told me this. You also shared about your seductive mother and how she tricked Papa Nathan into being with her. You were witness to all of this. You told me how I could use the bond to block myself from Nathan. I am not a liar!” I’m prepared to recite our entire conversation if need be.

  Her eyes bug-out. I blink, and behind her shock façade, she wears a malevolent expression, ready to take my head off. I can’t look past the silver sun covering half her face and how much it reminds me of her evil brother.

  Nathan’s arm hardens around me. “Ann, you are his sister.” He grasps.

  “I am not,” she continues to deny.

  “I see you through Sparks. Silver eyes and the half of a sun that cover the left side of your face. Just like Roehl.”

  She steps back. “I am not a part of Roehl’s family.”

  Roseland faces her. They don’t speak aloud.

  “I’m not lying, Nathan. She may not have attacked me but I saw her intentions and that she wanted to.”

  “I believe you, Sparks. We’ll get to the bottom of it,” he assures with a promise in his deep, dark eyes. “Remember what I said about family?” I nod, not liking his promise.

  Roseland faces us and nods once. “We will admit to Ann being Roehl’s sister, and this was information withheld from the family. However, Ann did not attempt to harm Tracey.”

  Nathan looks at me.

  I shake my head. I don’t trust her.

  “Everyone here is not aware of the full extent of my mate’s abilities,” Nathan says to the room. “She has one where she’s able to see things that aren’t present to the naked eye. The film that encases her eyes has layers. One layer allows her to see who someone really is when he’s hiding behind a mask or in his preferred form. Another allows her to see in darkness. The third allows her to see someone’s true intentions. And the last blackens her eyes completely with all the layers aligned together, enhancing each single layer to its maximum potential. She watched Ann change before her, and Ann, unknowingly, showed she did intend to attack her. Even while Ann was only sitting still.”

  “I can show them what Tracey saw.” High-pitched-voice Lana mentions from the back of the room, sat in the spot Glen usually sits.

  Nathan bumps my arm. “Are you okay with her showing?”

  “Yes.”

  Lana and Olar come to the center of the room where we stand. “I’ll need to grab your hand to gain access to your thoughts of what happened. I can also do the same for Ann, to show both sides of the story.”

  I nod, opening my hand. Seeing it black, I close it. “Sorry, that, um, happens sometimes.”

  She smiles at me. “That’s okay. My hands are very cold. Fair warning.” She grabs my hand and opens her eyes wide. They brightly shine out in a way a projector would cast a movie, showing from my sight. I’m looking at Ann handing me the tea, and we watch the scene. Lana’s ability can show us and allow us to hear my embarrassing thoughts. Once we see the family enter the kitchen, I let go of her hand. Lana leaves me for Ann.

  She refuses to take Lana’s hand, objecting, “We’ve seen what happened. There’s no need to go over it through me.”

  “Fine. You don’t want us to see it. You will tell it,” Mrs. Waturstrom steps up, giving them no other option. Roseland nods and steps behind Ann, holding her by the crux of her arms. “Hi, Ann, how are things?” she asks in that entrancingly demanding voice.

  “Things are as they are,” Ann answers.

  “You are Roehl’s sister?”

  “I am.”

  “Have you kept this a secret from Roseland?”

  “I have.”

  Mrs. Waturstrom moves to stand directly in front of her. “Did you tell Tracey?”

  Ann narrows her eyes, seeming to fight against the truth. “I did.”

  “Do you intend to have Tracey repay the debt for the loss of your brother?”

  “I do. This family has taken two lives from mine. Someone needs to pay for them.”

  I look over the surprised and befuddled faces, waiting for Mrs. Waturstrom to continue. She takes a long pause, studying Ann’s words, I assume. Clearing her throat, she reinstates the possessive tone, asking, “What two lives were those?”

  “My mother and now my brother,” Ann answers with her head held high.

  “That’s enough. We got the answers we were looking for,” Roseland interjects, using a dominant tone I often here Nathan use with his family. “Let us leave.”

  “No,” Natalia objects from her seat. “You will wait until she has answered every question that comes up. If you have an issue with that, Nathan will hold you back until it is over.”

  Roseland’s voice softens. “That isn’t necessary, Mother.”

  “Good. Cynthia, continue.”

  Mrs. Waturstrom nods. “Ann, the life of your mother, who in our family was responsible for that?”

  “Their father,” she answers.

  “Nathan killed your mother? Do you know why?”

  “He became aware of my mother’s seduction. He found out he wasn’t the only one. He threatened her, and she threatened to go to his wife shortly after Roehl was born, giving him no other choice than to tell her about their son. My brother. Things became worse between them, and he couldn’t take it anymore, so he killed her in front of me.”

  Yeah, that sounds like Papa Nathan all right.

  “Was it by mistake that you mated with Roseland?”

  “It was by no mistake I showed interest in finding someone from this family. However, I didn’t know that I would mate with my husband.
”

  Mrs. Waturstrom nods and walks away from her.

  Ann realizes what’s happened and a tear drops from her left eye. She whips around. “My deepest sorrow, Sweetheart.” Taking his hands in hers, they gape into each other’s eyes, and I don’t care to know the internal monolog going on between them.

  Roseland rubs her hand then says to the room, “If everyone is satisfied, we will excuse ourselves with a promise no harm will be brought to Tracey.”

  “You’re my brother, Roseland, and if I were you, I’d make sure to keep that promise. Because the loss of your wife means the loss of you and we’ve lost enough of our family recently,” Nathan calmly advises, though every word hints his promise.

  Roseland nods before turning to leave the room.

  Nathan and I head for the door.

  “Tracey?” Natalia calls. We wait for everyone to leave the great room to answer. She speaks to Nathan in their language, and I’d prefer they just speak internally if they didn’t want me to know what they were saying. I’m only able to pick up on sorry, she, don’t, and have. She has an accent stronger than Nathan’s and just when I thought I understood it, hearing them shows I don’t. Natalia turns her attention to me. “I’m sorry these things keep happening. It’s not like our family to turn on each other as you’ve witnessed. I was explaining the same to Nathan. This isn’t like us at all.”

  “It’s okay.” I hug her. It’s not her fault Ann is a bitch. And I could only imagine how she feels knowing the truth about her husband and Ann’s mother.

  She rubs my back then breaks away. Walking around us, she pats Nathan’s shoulder and leaves.

  “She thinks you hate our family,” Nathan tells me once she’s closed the door.

  “Do you hate them?”

  “I don’t hate them, but they’re irking me.”

  “Me too,” I agree. “I can’t understand what I did to make everybody come after me. First, that stupid jackal girl and I still can’t understand what I did to her. Then Taylor, and now Ann and she knew Roehl was going to die.”

  “Yes, that’s the story of my life. People try to come after you and you think what the fuck did I do to all these fucks to make them want me dead.” He shrugs. “Another day in the life of a Burdened Sephlem. But one thing I learned today is that you know how to take care of yourself. And you’re not letting any threat slide.”

  “I can’t. I got your heart to look out for.” It’s supposed to be humorous, but I lost my laugh again.

  I follow him out of the great room, bumping into Olar and Lana.

  “You two want to go out for breakfast? Get out of here for a while?” Olar asks, matching Nathan’s stressed expression.

  “Yes, give us an hour,” Nathan answers. “We’ll meet you outside.”

  “Us too.”

  We head upstairs and my brain’s racing through a million thoughts at a time.

  “Now do you agree with us moving out?” Nathan asks.

  “If it hadn’t been for you mating with me would you want to move?”

  “Honestly, probably not. But I only came around to check on them and when they needed me.”

  I nod, understanding. “I guess I agree with us not staying here. I just want one day without stress and someone not trying to kill me or steal me away.”

  “Me too.”

  We walk into Nathan’s room and Little Nathan’s laying in the bed asleep. “Nathan,” Nathan calls, waking him up.

  Little Nathan jumps up. His wide eyes quickly find us and then sober as he lays back down. “Let me sleep in here for a minute?”

  “What’s wrong with your room?”

  “Come on, Nate. Before I ask you to lay with me and hold me.”

  He’s hurting too. We need to get out of this house. I can’t take the misery. “You can stay in here, Little Nathan. We’re leaving anyway.”

  “Thank you, Tracey,” he says, throwing the covers over his head.

  Nathan stares a whole through the side of my head, drawing my attention to him. “Go get your clothes so you can dress in the bathroom.”

  I roll my eyes. “What am I going to do, walk through your room naked?”

  “No. But you’re also not going to walk from the bathroom to the closet in a towel.”

  I snort. “I’m quite sure your brother could care less about me.” Heading to the closet, I consider Little Nathan. He’s been going through a lot lately, and him being in here is probably a call for Nathan’s attention. They were close before me, and I want to make sure that closeness remains. Nate, maybe you should talk to your brother.

  He just said he was lying down to go to sleep.

  Yeah, but talk to him. He looks up to you and such. We’re all hurting and need someone. Plus, it’s rare he comes in here and hogs your room like this. Something might be bothering him.

  Nathan looks from me to his bed. I conclude my walk to the closet as Nathan falls back on his bed beside his brother. “Bro.” Nathan shakes him.

  “Yeah,” Little Nathan utters from under the covers.

  “You good?”

  “Now you care. . .?”

  See! I knew they needed to talk. I grab my clothes and go to the bathroom, overhearing their conversation while I clean up.

  “I deserve that,” Nathan follows.

  “You deserve more than that. I’m your brother, Nate. I swear I’m not your enemy. What happened with Tracey and that girl had nothing to do with me, and you still walk around here like I’m to blame. Nothing has happened to Tracey or you brought on by me. Treat me like I’m your brother. Like you trust me again.”

  “I do. Take everything that’s been going on with Taylor, your father, and that battle we wrapped up in Norway. You don’t realize how much shit I got on my plate. Every minute I turn a corner, it’s some new shit, and I’ve been keeping an eye on Sparks because of Roehl. Nobody is safe, bro. I’m not taking a chance with anyone when it comes to my heart. You know that.”

  “Nate,” Little Nathan drags. “I am not your enemy. And you’re not the only one with things going on.”

  “Oh,” Nathan snorts. “So, you’re on maybe . . . Three-Hundred twenty-three people’s hit list? Nah, your mate just got out of a battle where she almost left you. Ah, no, not that either. I know, you just lost one of your best friends, one of the last few people you knew who had your back. Or better yet, you just found out your mated sister wants to kill your mate, and your brother probably knew about that shit.”

  “No, none of that,” Little Nathan interjects. “And losing Scott hurts me too. But like all of that other shit is important to you, the things I have going on is important to me.”

  Nathan snorts. “What do you have going on? School’s over; it’s the summer now. Neither Roseland nor I am breathing down your neck to get shit done around here. Mom’s stopped bitching at you about that shit you were into. We took care of that other situation you had with that neurotic prick who challenged you. What’s left, you advancing? That’s what you do when you get older. You’ll do it twice more before you’re my age.”

  Little Nathan grumbles. “I gotta go through this again?”

  “Yeah.” There’s a long pause. “Look, bro, I’m wrong. Your shit is just as important as mine is. You’re right, you’re not my enemy, I know that. You’re probably worried I’m going to leave you here when Sparks and I move. Figuring, because I don’t trust you, I won’t let you move with me.”

  “I’m not using you to get out of here. I’ve been holding you down since I was born, you can trust me, I swear. You and Tracey.” He laughs once. “But nah, you won’t be leaving me here.”

  Nathan chuckles. “I won’t. I’ll make sure you have your spot at our new place. As long as you don’t bring any more of those crazy bitches home.”

  “Nah, bro. I don’t know what was up with that girl.”

  “Uh huh,” Nathan responds dryly. “Chill in here long as you want, we’re leaving. Keep the door closed, and they won’t bother you.”

&nbs
p; I pull the closet door closed, tossing my clothes into the laundry basket.

  Nathan pulls a shirt over his head, dampening it from his hair still being wet.

  “You know, I’m always so worried about me I don’t put much thought into the way you feel about the things that go on.”

  He looks me over. “You’re cute.”

  “Back at you.”

  He grins. “You don’t have to worry about me, Sparks. I’ll be fine.”

  “I do have to worry about you. Especially when you have that silent, detached disposition.”

  “You think you know me, huh?”

  “I know a little bit,” I convince.

  “You pay close attention.”

  “No, I care.”

  “Thank you for that.”

  “Over time . . . it will get easier?” I’m ready for that time, and I wish I’d met easier two days ago.

  “It will.” He grabs me to him.

  I bury my face in his chest, letting his scent do its job. “What do we tell people?”

  “Let me think on that.” He kisses the top of my head. “Let’s leave.”

  WANTING TO BE AS far away from the house as possible, we drive two hours out to a small, family-owned restaurant. Sally’s Pancake House. They have their name plastered on every page of the menu. The edges are catered with gold, loops and swirls are carved into it. I looked over the dingy, newspaper like inserts slid into the pocket plastic three times. I’m juggling pancakes or waffles, overhearing Olar.

  “She was being escorted by Kegic past my cell. She wasn’t or wouldn’t look in my direction, but I couldn’t resist staring at her, silently calling her to me. I never felt anything like it. I knew before I saw her.” He beams at Lana as he tells Nathan and me how they met. I’ve never seen Olar’s eyes swirl so bright. Watching the mating come over someone is quite remarkable. Their eyes change, looking upon their mate as treasure instead of just another person, their skin is a constant blush, and the smile takes hours to fade when their mate speaks to them. I wish this jubilance on everyone, to find true love and permanency in one person and they mate for life like eagles.