The Beast Within

by S. C. Stephens

  Arianna wiggled out from under me. “So Nika is feeling this…right now?”

  I cringed. Nika was going to kill me for doing this, for confessing our largest secret to her best friend. Arianna would never look at us the same. “Yeah. She’s…horrified, but she understands. I have to put up with it when she’s with Hunter. We deal as best we can.”

  Arianna sat up and crossed her arms over her chest like Nika was physically out here with us. “So, it’s not just that your family has super-hearing ears, Nika can feel you…she can feel us…when we… Oh my God!” She looked around like she was looking for her clothes. “I can’t have sex with you.”

  Leaning up, I grabbed her shirt and handed it to her. “Yes, you can. Nika understands.”

  Arianna threw on her shirt. “No! Ew! I can’t go there knowing she can feel it. I’m surprised you can.”

  I grimaced. “Well, I don’t like it, and I’m not happy about it, but at a certain point, I just don’t care if she can feel it.” I ran my fingers down her arm. “I want you.”

  She pulled back from me. “I can’t have sex with you! Ever!”

  Sighing, I sat up. “She doesn’t feel anything when she’s asleep. We can wait until then if you’d feel better about it.”

  Arianna gaped at me. “Asleep? We have to wait until your sister falls asleep before we can…for the rest of your life? Does the bond ever go away?”

  Wrapping my arms around my knees, I sighed. “No. It’s permanent. Unless Gabriel can find a way to medically break the bond, we’ll always be connected to each other. And trust me, nobody wants it broken more than we do.”

  Arianna stood up. “I’m sorry, Julian. I just can’t…deal with this right now. I’d like to go home.”

  Grabbing my shirt, I stood up with her. Crap. Was this her breaking point? I hoped not. “Okay, I’ll take you back to the house.”

  I WAS MOROSE on the way back to the ranch, and for once, my mood matched Nika’s. We’d both had disappointing nights, and for fairly similar reasons. Arianna was silent as she reentered the house. She wouldn’t directly look at Nika, who wouldn’t directly look at her. The air was thick with tension. I’d said it before, and I had to say it again: Damn bond.

  Nika must have done a better job hiding her disgust than I had; no one in the room appeared to be suspicious about what I’d been doing outside with my girlfriend. I wondered if Dad would have the same reaction with me as he’d had with Nika. Probably. Dad had multiple other concerns when it came to Hunter and Nika, but I knew he didn’t want me to have sex either.

  Gabriel was gone. Hunter was downstairs. Starla and Jacen were now occupying the pool—I’d heard them splashing around on the way back to the house. Definitely not swimming anytime soon. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Jack were having a quiet conversation with Imogen and Alanna about all the other ranches around the country. Mom and Dad were having a conversation with Halina about the vampire hunter Hunter had caught near our place.

  Nika stayed quiet and stared at her hands on her lap as she listened to them talk about Hunter. Whatever she was thinking about, it was troubling her, and I was sure she wasn’t ruminating on my near-sex experience. I needed to talk to her alone, and I needed more time with Arianna. Actually, the three of us needed a talk. Maybe Nika could convince Arianna that the bond wasn’t as horrific as she thought. Yeah…that conversation wasn’t going to be the least bit awkward.

  Clearing my throat, I walked up to Mom and Dad. “Hey, since you guys are busy talking and stuff, is it okay if I take Arianna home?” Dad narrowed his eyes, and I quickly added, “Nika wants to come, too, so you know, we’re not gonna be alone or anything.”

  Surprise washed through Nika, but she kept her expression level. She was so much better at hiding her emotions. She glanced over at Arianna who flushed with color. Arianna wasn’t very good with hiding how she felt either. We were peas in a pod.

  Dad scratched his jaw. “Ah, I don’t know, Julian. That’s a long way for you to drive. I’d feel better if I took her back.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not a problem, Dad. And it would just be straight there and straight back. I won’t even stop the car. Well, except to let her out, of course.” I laughed at my own joke, and a slight tremor of humor ran through Nika.

  Dad smiled too. “Well, I’m glad some of my manners have kicked in. All right, you can take her back. But no speeding, no passing traffic, no scenic routes, no pulling over to help people, no music playing, and no cell phones.”

  I gaped at his list of commands. “Can I breathe?”

  Dad smirked. “I would prefer it if you did. And you return here the second after you’ve dropped her off.”

  I nodded as Dad handed me his keys. He clenched them before turning them over. “I’ll be tracking your progress. If you’re taking too long, I’m coming for you.”

  Rolling my eyes, I snatched the keys away from him. “Was Grandma as unrelenting with you as you are with us?”

  Dad shared a look with his mother. “You have no idea.”

  After turning away from Dad, I looked over at Nika and nodded my head toward the garage. “We’ll see you guys in a little bit,” I told the room.

  Nika glanced down at the floor, to where Hunter was. She bit her lip, obviously not wanting to leave him. Grabbing her elbow, I whispered in her ear, “He’ll be here when we get back.”

  She grudgingly let me pull her away. It wasn’t like she could meet up with him again while Dad was awake anyway. I grabbed Arianna’s hand with my other one. She took it, albeit loosely. To my family, she politely said, “Thank you for having me for dinner. It was good to see you all again.”

  Halina gave her a wide, amused smile. “Ah, we didn’t have you for dinner, dear. Maybe next time.” She winked at Arianna, and I glared. Sometimes Halina’s sense of humor was a little too much.

  Arianna gripped my hand, hard, and was all too eager to follow Nika and I out of the room. Once we were in the garage, I told her, “Don’t worry about Grandma. She was just messing with you.”

  Knowing Halina could hear her, Arianna only gave me a tight smile in answer. Everyone remained silent as I drove the car away from the house. When we passed through the gate topped with the large letters of my family’s name, Nika’s eyes locked onto mine in the rearview mirror. “What’s up, Julie?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer her right away. I waited until we were on the main road and about a mile from the ranch. “You know something,” I said. “What is it?”

  Her face twisted into sourness. “I know whatever you two were doing tonight, it was a lot more than talking.”

  Arianna and I glanced at each other, then she stared straight ahead. “How could you both not tell me about the bond?” she asked.

  Nika’s eyes flashed to me in the mirror. “You told her?”

  I opened my mouth, but Arianna beat me to it. “Yes, he did. Why didn’t you? I mean, this entire time Julian and I have been fooling around, you could feel it?” Arianna twisted her body around to face Nika in the back seat. “We were going to have sex on prom night! Sex! And you would have felt it! Why didn’t you say something?”

  Nika held her hands up. “We had a plan…I was going to be asleep for that.”

  Arianna glanced between the two of us. “You and your sister had to come up with a plan so you could have sex with your girlfriend. That’s so…messed up.”

  Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. Dad would probably faint if he saw me taking a hand off the wheel. “Trust us, we know how messed up this is. But it’s the hand we were dealt, so we’re just trying to deal.”

  “It’s a pretty crappy hand,” she said, sympathy in her eyes.

  From behind us, Nika murmured, “It’s not always bad.” She locked eyes with me again. “When I give Julian a gift that I know he likes, I really know he likes it. When someone does something to hurt me, and it makes him mad, I feel how much he cares about me. When we’re together, hanging out, and neither one of us is talking, I kno
w he’s content and happy, because I feel it. We’re closer, because we don’t have to guess. We know. I can’t imagine what it would be like to not know exactly what Julian felt about something. That sounds…lonely to me. But I know that’s the way it’s going to have to be someday.”

  I smiled at my sister, but didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. She felt all the love and warmth I had for her, and she felt how much the idea of separating our emotions hurt me too. But it was inevitable, and we both knew it.

  Then, remembering my original question, I frowned. “And I feel it when you’re holding something back from me. I felt your emotions when Hunter was talking to Dad. You know something about Hunter that you didn’t want to talk about. What is it? What’s going on?”

  Nika sighed. “He lied to Dad…about his father. He told me after the first attack that Connor had sent those men to kill him. Now I’m wondering if Connor sent the other man to kill him too. And maybe there have been more instances that we don’t know about. I don’t know. I need to talk to Hunter, but I’m not allowed to be alone with him.”

  My eyes bugged out. “Jesus, Nika. If that’s true, if his father is sending assassins after him, we’re all in trouble. We can’t sit on this information. Even if this latest guy was a coincidence and Connor only sent the jerks who hurt Raquel, we have to tell Dad.”

  Nika looked at her lap. “I know. I didn’t realize until tonight that it had happened more than the one time.” She closed her eyes in defeat. “We’ll tell Dad when we get back. We’ll tell them all.”

  We were silent for the next twenty minutes, each of us absorbing the knowledge learned tonight. Hating that my life was more complicated than Arianna deserved, I held my hand out for her. I wasn’t sure if she’d take it, and I was greatly relieved when she did. Kissing the back of her hand, I asked, “Did dinner weird you out?”

  She smiled at me. “A little. I want to be okay with everything that comes along with dating you, but…it’s a lot to take sometimes.”

  “I know. But just the fact that you were sitting down with me and trying to be okay with it means a lot.” And hopefully she’d keep trying, and I wouldn’t have to let her go. Nika and I both.

  Nika laughed a little in the back seat. When I met eyes with her, she shook her head. “Quite a night, huh? We both almost lost our virginities, we told lies, we exposed lies, we got a ‘talking to’ from the parents.” She laid her head back on the seat. “I’m glad today is almost over.”

  That was when I felt something…odd. One of the blips in my head that belonged to my family members disappeared. It struck me so hard and so fast that I groaned and grabbed my head. Nika did the same. Arianna’s eyes were wide as she looked between us. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Struggling to keep driving, I looked at Nika in the rearview mirror; panic was flaring through her. “I can’t feel him,” she whispered. “Why can’t I feel him?”

  Keeping my eyes locked on my sister, I answered Arianna’s question. “Hunter’s gone.”

  My simple statement didn’t help Arianna fully understand the severity of the situation. “Gone? What do you mean he’s gone? And how do you know?” She looked around, like he was outside in the darkness. Problem was…he could be, and we’d never know it.

  As I quickly explained to Arianna that Hunter had dropped off our internal radar, Nika’s phone rang. She instantly grabbed it from her jacket pocket. Glancing at the screen, she quickly brought the phone to her ear. “Dad, what happened? Where’s Hunter? Is he okay? I can’t feel him anymore…can you?” There was so much hope in her voice, it broke my heart.

  Dad’s words confirmed what I already knew. “No…nobody can feel him anymore. Everyone is searching the house, but it’s doubtful he’s still here. I just wanted to make sure…you were okay.”

  Nika’s face contorted in confusion. “How is this possible? Does it mean he’s…? He’s not…? Dad, please tell me he’s okay.” Fear rolled through her body in waves. It made it hard to drive.

  Dad’s voice was soft in her ear. “I’m sure he’s fine, honey. Don’t worry. It’s just some…glitch in the bond. We’ll figure it out, and we’ll find him.”

  Nika’s eyes started to water. “The bond doesn’t glitch, Dad.”

  Dropping the placating tone, Dad said, “I know. Just get Arianna home as quickly as you can, then come straight back to the ranch. We’ll figure it out when you get here. We’ll find him, Nika. I promise.”

  Eyes disastrously full, Nika whispered, “Okay.”

  Dad sighed. “Be careful. Both of you.”

  Nika disconnected the phone and put it back in her pocket like she was tranced. Concerned, Arianna said, “Nika, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  Nika flashed her eyes up to me. Even though I’d heard everything Dad had just said, she told me. “No one knows where Hunter is.” She looked out over the countryside around us, like he’d miraculously be beside the car or something.

  I furrowed my brows, confused. “How did that happen? The bond is permanent. There’s no turning it off, and you’re right, it doesn’t glitch. This shouldn’t be possible.”

  Nika nodded, then she gasped and snapped her head to mine. “No, that’s not true.”

  “What’s not true?” Arianna asked, trying to follow along.

  Nika looked over at her. “The bond can be turned off. It happened to Julian when he was younger.”

  Arianna’s eyes swung my way. “What? How? Why?”

  She sputtered on more questions while I glanced her way. I hadn’t told her about my abduction yet. It was just one of those things that didn’t come up in casual conversation, and…I didn’t talk about it much. “A man…kidnapped me when I was three. He injected me with something to shut off the bond so my family couldn’t find me.”

  Nika leaned forward to place a hand on my shoulder. “He couldn’t shut off our bond though. I felt everything Julian went through.”

  Arianna’s eyes widened to capacity. “I had no idea. Julian, I’m so sorry.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t need to be reminded of that night right now. “It was a long time ago, and the man who gave me that shot is dead, so I doubt he gave it to Hunter.”

  Nika slowly shook her head. “No, he didn’t, but someone else could have given it to Hunter.”

  It took me exactly a millisecond to realize who was smart enough to develop something that could shut off the bond. “Gabriel? But why would Gabriel want to shut off the bond?”

  Nika sank into the seat. “It wasn’t his doing. Hunter took the shot because he wanted to.” She looked out the window again. “Because he wanted to run away, and he didn’t want anyone chasing after him.”

  My mind spun as I tried to work out the complexities. “Because his dad is trying to kill him? Because he wants to hide…from us?”

  Nika shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t understand why he’d…” Her thoughts trailed off as her face twisted into a look of extreme concentration. Her eyes widened as she was struck with some realization. “Pull the car over,” she said.

  I blinked in confusion. “What? Why?”

  She grabbed my shoulder, digging in with her nails in her haste. “I know where he is, but he won’t be there long. Pull the car over.”

  Absolutely bewildered about what we were doing, I broke Dad’s command and pulled the car over. Nika opened her door and shot into the night before I could even ask where she was going. “Nika!” I called out the open rear door. “Damn it!”

  I sat in my seat, torn about what to do. Nika was zipping toward town much faster than I could drive. The only way to catch her was to get out and zoom after her on foot. But I’d have to leave Arianna behind to do that, and I didn’t want to.

  Seeing my turmoil, Arianna pushed on my shoulder. “Go. Go follow her, make sure she’s okay.”

  I turned to her. “What about you?”

  She pointed to the keys in the ignition. “I’ll drive myself home. It’s not a big deal.”


  My decision made, I shut off the car. Putting the keys in my pocket, I opened my door and sped around to her side. Opening her door, I held out my hand. “I’m not leaving you behind anymore. We’ll go get her together.”

  Arianna beamed at me as she stepped into my arms. “Are you sure? That’s a long way to run carrying somebody.”

  Reaching down, I scooped her up. “You’re like a feather to me.” I adjusted her so she was on my back, then I locked up Dad’s car. He’d be furious if it got stolen because I’d left it unlocked. He was probably going to be ticked that we’d left it alongside the road, but then again, he had told us to get Arianna home as quickly as possible.

  I started rushing after Nika while I felt the rest of my family disperse from the ranch in every direction; they were systematically searching for Hunter. I wasn’t sure why Nika thought he was back in Salt Lake, but right now, I really didn’t care about Hunter. I wanted to make sure my sister was safe.

  While I could run farther and faster than most humans, I was winded when I got to Salt Lake. Surprising the hell out of me, Nika had gone back to our house. I’d been expecting her to go to some secret rendezvous spot or something. But, then again, I guess our house was their secret rendezvous spot. Wondering what the heck we were doing here, I set Arianna down. Nika was in the front yard, staring up at her bedroom. Her curtain was sticking out of the open window, and I could hear someone moving stuff around inside. Surprise washed through me; I really hadn’t expected Hunter to be here.

  “What are we doing here, Nick?” I asked, glancing around to see if any of our neighbors were paying attention. All was quiet though.

  Eyes glued on the second story, she told me, “If Hunter is skipping town for good, there’s one thing he won’t leave behind. But only I know where it is, so he has to talk to me to get it.”

  Before I could respond, she did a quick squat followed by an inhuman jump, and easily landed on the roof.