“Alright,” I huff taking a seat back onto his bed and he follows sitting next to me and taking my hand. “Shiloh, he was a problem when we first meet him. Everything was strange, but alright until Marcus and I didn’t want to do things his way. After that it was pretty clear he didn’t like us and wanted us out of there.” I say but in all honesty it doesn’t really bother me or at least that part. I didn’t say this to Marcus, but Shiloh’s actions towards me had shaken me.
“Did he hurt you?” Riley ask standing before I even finished telling him.
“No, but I did hit him,” I say low and Riley spins around looking down at me in surprise.
“You hit him?” He says and the surprised look leave his face while a blank one replaces it.
Crap. “I’m going to be in trouble for that?” I ask.
He looks around his room and back at me. “No, but I know something must have happened in order for you to hit him. I know he had to have done something,” he says now placing a hand on my shoulder like he’s trying to comfort me.
“I just don’t want to discuss this right now, but I promise I will, just not today,” I say and he smiles down at me.
“Okay then I can wait.” He moves in closer to me and then presses a soft kiss to the side of my head before he leaves.
Well he took that better than I thought he would, but if I’m really honest with myself I shouldn’t have said anything. I take a moment to look around his room deciding to make the bed to ‘accidently’ find something under his mattress but there’s nothing there. Glancing over to his clock I notice I still have twenty minutes to burn before I know the halls will be cleared. Walking over to his desk I look through some of the paper work that he has in the top drawer. The top few papers are just basic paper work so I just briefly scan it and go on from there. Next is a bunch of notebook paper from a class he is taking and I notice that he likes to draw. They are incredible, like nothing I’ve ever seen before and when I get to the last sheet my heart drops. He is almost done sketching a picture of me. I’m in our woods with my naked back turned and my face looking over my shoulder.
Placing all the paper work down onto his desk I fall back into his desk chair. My eyes never leave the drawing until a loud knock on the door brings me back to reality. Quickly I set the paper back into his desk drawer and open the door.
“Hey,” I say opening the door for Marcus to come in.
“Well, well, look what I have found.” He smiles as though he uncovered the world’s biggest secret. “Want to know how my day has gone so far?”
“Not really, but I’m sure you’re going to fill me in,” I say sitting back onto the desk chair. In his hands is a vanilla folder which I’m sure holds our next mission.
“I was going to be a good brother today and instead of sleeping all day, like I planned, I decided to eat breakfast with my only sister,” he says like I never said what I said. “You see my sister has no friends, tragic I know,” he faints heartbreak gripping his shirt over his heart. “When I get there, to my shock, she is not there and Riley has this glow to him leading me right here.” He points to the floor he is standing on. I can’t help but smile back at him at the way he masterfully played that out.
“What can I say,” I smirk bringing my hand up as if I surrendered. “What do you have for me?”
“Another mission,” he says tossing me the folder then plopping onto Riley’s bed.
CHAPTER 16
Beau
The last few weeks have been, let me just say, a test of restraint. She doesn’t know it but she is constantly calling for me. Not by phone, but with her mind. Are minds have begun to link together and she’s very unaware of it. It’s not strong yet, but I can feel it when she misses me. A few times during the day, but always at night, making me want to do anything to get to her.
I’m still clueless when it comes to what to do from here and I know her situation better then she even does. I know what will happen if we are together and I’m getting to the point where I don’t care anymore. I can’t even organize my options to make at least one coherent thought.
Death for both of us if I succumb to my needs. I have to remind myself of this often. There’s this delicate balance that I must contend with.
Gemma’s death will be worst then my own because she will be forced out of the pack taking her brother with her and therefore also killing him. While I will suffer only a quick death.
I know more about her then she knows about herself. From the moment I tasted her blood I knew that she was different, something that should have never occurred. I couldn’t place it at first since I had never experienced anything like it before. Never in my life have I seen or heard of a successful mixing of two different breeds. There has been mixing of a sort, an under the table kind of thing, but never does a child come for it proving how it’s unnatural.
A shifter and a hunter. Someone must know of her secret as well for her and her brother to have lived this long. Neither she nor her brother are aware of what they are making it hard for me to know what to do. How could I tell her that the people she despise so much are her own kind? I have no idea who her father is, but I know he is or was a full blooded hunter. It makes me wonder if he knows of their existence or if he has been looking for them.
It’s not supposed to be like this, love. I always thought it was easy once you found that one person you can’t live without. That somehow everything would become tranquil almost euphoric and the world wouldn’t seem so grim and frantic. When she’s in my arms it seems that way, but now it feels like she’s the eye of the storm and when she’s gone the shit begins to fly.
I find myself camping near the edge of her packs land. If someone was to go by they would definitely notice me here, but I’m past the point of caring. Every time I move back farther away from her the closer I get to her pack. It makes me question everything of my life, something I have never done before. I have always been the man who I thought was the perfect soldier. Maybe it was because I didn’t have anything to lose, but now I know it was just because I didn’t have anything to fight for.
Just having her with me for that moment was enough to light a fire in me that I never had before. I care for someone outside myself, more than myself. Even at this moment I can feel her lips on my skin still. Its mocking me with memories that I rather be living then had lived. I can still remember the warmth of her body against me, the way she responded to my touch, and the steady beat of her heart.
I have to shake my head to erase what those memories lead to. I’m already to close, but I’m near my breaking point. “Well look at what we have here.” A male voice says behind me. I turn to see Chrome looking me over with a triumphant grin plastered across his lips.
“What do you want Chrome?” I ask turning my back to him looking onto Gemma’s packs land. The trees really make it almost seem peaceful, but then debris of old walls reminds me that it is anything but.
“I was just going to ask what you are doing here. It’s a little out of your way isn’t it?” He ask coming over to my side.
Chrome and I use to be best friends for hundreds of years. He was my constant in a world always changing.
That all changed when I was promoted about two hundred years ago. It was always our goal to get to where I’m now, but I never wanted it as much as he did.
When it was offered to me I was so pleased thinking that I have finally completed a goal that had taken me over a thousand years. The first thing I did was go to Chrome asking him if he had received good news as well, but he hadn’t. I went back to my elder begging him to promote Chrome, even asking him to give my promotion to him, but he wouldn’t hear of it. His decision was final, adding that Chrome wasn’t a man who could be trusted. I knew that wasn’t true that Chrome would never betray us.
I went back empty handed to find Chrome on a feeding spree. He had heard of my news and promised he wasn’t mad, just disappointed that again he was turned down. I did the best I could covering up his messes, but
he was pulling away from me. I was alone for the very first time and I hated the feeling. Our mother had made us promise when she was dying that we would always remember family. That we would stick together, brothers forever, but I failed her. He is my brother and I let the last piece of family I had go.
“Just received a tip and checking it out.” I shrug turning to look at him as his eyes regard our surroundings.
“Come now brother we both know that is a lie,” he says still grinning at me. “It’s that girl, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. What have you been up to lately? I haven’t seen you in years.” I change the subject knowing that Chrome is very good at reading people.
Chrome use to have the same eyes as me but they have changed to a much darker color. It was the only thing we had in common and now we look like complete opposites. He runs his hands through his thick blonde hair he got from our mother, disheveling it. Taking a deep breath he sighs, “Observing I guess.”
I’m not sure what he means by that, but it doesn’t sit right with me. Its then I notice that we are not alone. “What have you done?” I ask detecting that it’s not only vampires that surround us but hunters, witches, and shifters.
“What needed to be done.” He huffs like that question was beneath him. “Times are changing again my brother and it is you who is behind this round,” he says as a group of witches’ begin to chant. There is nothing I can do and my thoughts go to Gemma.
My knees buckle first, then the rest of my body hits the hard ground. Chrome bends down next to me watching as my body struggles to breathe. He moves the hair out of my face. “Don’t worry about your young shifter brother,” he says watching my response.
My eyes go to his face, “Don’t you touch her,” I wheeze out.
Chrome laughs. “Oh I plan to do a lot more then touch your little Gem,” he says leaning down a little closer. “You took from me and it is only fair that I take from you.” Rage boils in my blood, but darkness comes just as swift.
CHAPTER 17
Gemma
Well the first round of games came and Riley didn’t do as well as he had hoped. He never made me feel bad for it and I didn’t until his ‘fans’ started to come up to me blaming me for his performance. It’s bad enough that I’ve felt weird all day, as if I lost something dear to me. When I close my eyes and just listen I can almost hear it. Beau is all I can think of and I find myself constantly dialing the number nine but never pressing the send button. Something is wrong, but I don’t understand it.
No one could really see the first round of the games although I know that it had to do more with the mind than anything else. Also no one really knows the score and I realize I really hate the games. Word of mouth is that Thaddeus was probably ahead, which is kind of surprising to me.
“Maybe if he didn’t have an ice queen dragging him down he would have won,” an older male shifter said loud enough for me to hear in the cafeteria. Riley’s hand tensed for a moment before he took another bite of his meal. That was probably one of the nicer things someone had said thus far. I was hoping for a moment that maybe the worst of the comments were over, then it happened.
“Maybe if she wasn’t such a dick tease,” another man next to him snickered and Riley shot out of his seat next to me. I had begged him not to do or say anything. That they were just upset and would get over it, but he had reached his breaking point.
“What did you fucking say?” Riley roars getting the attention of everyone, not good.
“Riley,” I say as sweetly as I can reaching for his arm, which he coldly shakes off.
He is face to face with the man now showing no sign of backing down unlike the other man. “Say it again,” he encourages with such power everyone in the room feels its effects.
“Please stop Riley, it’s okay,” I whispered because that was as loud as the words could get out.
He never looks over at me just continues to stare down the man who was now on his knees almost wetting himself. “It’s not okay!” He yells and the power coming off him is too much as my body forces me down to my knees as well. I can’t even look up towards him anymore. My body won’t allow it and for the first time ever in my life I’m submitting to another person. I’ve submitted before but not like this not with this much force. It was getting to the point that it was hard to breathe.
“Stop,” I barely even get the word past my lips and this time I can see his feet turn towards me.
“Fuck,” he says and I can feel this power easing off him releasing everyone from his anger.
I gasp for air as my hands hit the cold concrete floor. I feel Riley lift me off the ground. My eyes look around the room noticing how everyone is panting for air as we exit. I feel as if I worked out all day and I’m drained of all energy. My face falls onto his hard chest, but soon I’m removed from his arms and onto my bed.
He kneels down next to my bed taking my hand into his as he mumbles how sorry he is over and over again. With each minute that passes the more restored I feel. Looking over to him I notice he isn’t looking at me but just at our connected hands and I want to say something but I don’t. What could I say at a moment like this when I know that I’m just at fault for all of this. Guilt and I don’t really get along very well. To be honest I’ve never had to really feel guilty for anything before in my life, well at least not at this level.
Since I’ve come back from England, Riley and I have been acting more like great friends then what everyone else thinks. He hasn’t even tried to push me into anything, which is good since I don’t really need that added to the growing list.
“I thought I was ready for this, but now I know why no one my age joins the games,” he pauses entwining our hands and looking up to me. “I thought I knew more then I really did. Thought I was so wise and ahead of the games.” He laughs a malicious laugh. “I thought I was so perfect that I could rectify others mistakes. Fix what was wrong with them before it became my problem, but what I was doing was just denying that I have problems that I need to fix.” As he says it like everything is coming together for him. “I have problems,” he lets the words sound out and then soak back in.
I want to say something to him, but the look on his face says he needs this moment for himself. “I let my pride take over letting it disguise my own problems.” He looks so exposed for the first time. It’s as if he has finally let his walls down to let me see what was beyond and what is beyond is surprising.
Before I can do or say anything his scorching lips are on mine. Kissing and touching his way all over my body. Hurriedly getting off his knees he is on top of my body within a second. Part of me wants to give him this, a moment he seemed so desperate to have.
His hands roam my body and I have to bite my lip. Stop, I repeat over and over in my head but the words don’t come out. For a moment I forget how skilled he is when I suddenly realize how we are positioned. My legs are spread as wide as my uniform will allow and our hips are pushed so intimately together allowing me to feel his need for me. He purposely grinds our hips together as his eyes glaze over with lust. The way he is grabbing me is leaving bruises in its wake.
My thoughts get louder, shouting at me to stop this as it reaches its threshold. “Stop,” I say as loud as my thoughts and he freezes in place. “I can’t,” I say turning my face away to not see his reaction. When he still doesn’t move I add, “I’m sorry.”
After a moment he leans back, but not completely off me. He breathes out hard like he is annoyed and I can feel my temper beginning to rise. “Gemma I know that right now wasn’t really the time to push this, but you are a grown woman, you’re not fifteen,” he says almost mockingly and I jerk the rest of my body away from him.
How dare he say that. I bring my knees up to my chest closing my body off from his view. I’ve let my personal guilt block my judgment and now I’m paying for it. “Get out,” I order not looking at him.
“Gemma I didn’t mean it like that,” he moves closer to
me as I back away as far as I can from him. “I’m sorry, it’s just all the stress is getting to me and when they said things about you I just lost it. I’m sorry.” He pleads using his circumstances as an excuse.
“You don’t think that I’m stressed. It’s not you who they are trashing and giving hateful looks to all day,” I say not as heated as I thought it would come out to be. “Everyone hates me and… I believe what they call me,” I say a little ashamed to say it out loud. It’s true how I feel about that. When they call me a tease, rude, opportunist, who is only using people to get power. Before Beau reentered my life I thought of Riley as the closest I could get to any sort of power. I mean there was other things to add as well. He is smart, funny, strong, dependable, and he found a way to get under my skin.
When he doesn’t say anything to me exposing myself I feel even worse. He must believe it as well. Looking up into his brown eyes I’m surprised again by him. It’s hard to tell but he’s looking at me like I just did something amazing then it turns to anger. “I will challenge anyone who dares even breathe in your direction and if they think about spreading lies about you, I will kill them on the spot.” He growls letting his hands fist into my sheets.
“You can’t do that Riley,” I say. “I need you to focus on the games and nothing else.” I say as encouraging as I can.
His hands ease a little, but he still has a death grip onto my bed. “It’s all lies,” he says sympathetically. I drop my gaze from him understanding what he’s talking about. “They are just upset with me and instead of taking it out on me they are going after you,” he moves closer to me holding me to him. Lifting my chin up to see him, he grins down at me. “At the next game I will end their doubts of me and you will be seen as the goddess who did it for me. No one will think wrongly of you ever again and when I’m pack master,” he pauses for a moment. “We will do so many great things together.” He says proudly and I want to tell him that it will be him to do those things not me, but I don’t.
Undeniable (Undeniable series) Page 9