Rebirth - Book 1 Rogues Shifter Series

by Gayle Parness

  Chapter Forty-eight

  I woke up around noon the next day to find Liam busy in the garden.

  “Hello, Liam.”

  His posture was stiff, his tone reserved. “Good afternoon, Miss Jacqueline. You and Master Garrett did well at the duel.”

  “Did Kennet speak to you?”

  “Lord Kennet did speak to me.” His violet eyes held mine as he waited to hear what I would say next.

  “I swear to you I didn’t tell him about you lending me the knife. He just seemed to know.” Liam nodded, seemingly satisfied with my response.

  I stepped closer to him and sent, “He asked me to be his lover and give him an heir. I refused him as politely as I could and instead suggested we could be allies. Are Garrett and I in danger?” I’m not really sure why I told him this, but once I’d blurted it out, I felt better.

  Liam was silent for several moments, processing what I’d said. “It will depend on how much he desires you and how much he is willing to risk war to have you. Shifters and vampires might declare war against the fae if he is so foolish as to kidnap you. Francois’ line is powerful, as is Aaron’s pack council. The fae are more powerful but your people are much more numerous and extremely determined. It could end in disaster for both sides. The Fae Elders will not look kindly on Lord Kennet if he starts a war over a female.”

  I started to respond, but Liam continued. “He knows this, and yet he has no heir, despite the fact he’s had several wives over the centuries. No woman has given birth to a fae child in seventy-five mortal years. In a fae lord the desire for an heir surpasses all others. Still, I do not believe Kennet will attempt anything so extreme.”

  I thanked Liam and curled up in a chair on the front porch, soaking in some sunshine. My life had changed so much since my first night on the island. I had real friends who I’d never have to move away from. I had a home where I could stay forever, and a wonderful male who loved me, a mate for life. There was no way I’d let Kennet disturb what Garrett and I were building together.

  Ethan called to challenge me to another backgammon tournament, so on Thursday I invited him over for lunch. He beat me, of course. Afterward we sat in the backyard and talked for a while. I’d avoided asking him about his first change, and now seemed like the perfect time.

  He was reluctant. I touched his hand and he laughed. “The witchy woman wants to fix me?’

  “There’s nothing to fix. You don’t have to explain….”

  “You have a right to know who you’re working with, who you’re trusting your life to.”

  “I’ll trust you no matter what.”

  He sighed and began. “I grew up a shifter, psyched to know I’d be a cougar like my parents. But I didn’t change when everyone else did and it pissed me off. Things had always gone my way and I wasn’t used to being left out. My friends were off hunting and I was stuck at home. No one else seemed worried about it. They just shrugged and said I’d change eventually. I got kind of depressed and started hangin’ with some kids I knew who used.

  “At first, it was just pot and a lot of booze. No big deal, I thought. Then I started taking pills, like valium and oxy. My grades in school went down. I was seventeen and still hadn’t changed, but I was jittery and getting headaches, all the signs. I was just too wasted to realize it.”

  Ethan looked down at his hands, not wanting to meet my eyes. “My parents were freaked of course, so we ended up arguing all the time. I quit school, left home, moved north to Portland and was living on the streets dealing, turning tricks, stealing, whatever I had to do to buy more drugs. They called Rob who knocked me out, threw me in the back of his truck and actually took me home to live with him. I was a freakin’ mess and he wanted me near a hospital just in case. He helped me clean up. Those were a couple of really bad weeks.” Ethan shuddered, raking both hands through his hair.

  “He fed me healthy food and made me exercise. He was pretty tough on me.” He smiled and rubbed his chin as if remembering a punch Rob had landed. “Mostly he talked to me about what he’d gone through and he listened when I talked to him. Rob saved my life. When I still hadn’t changed, he took me to the island to shoot me up with the drug Sinc had developed. I was still being a pain in the ass ’cause I didn’t want to be there. That’s why I tried to run away.”

  He looked at me with his large amber eyes. “I bet you don’t think I’m such a great guy now, right?” The pain and fear in his expression were heartbreaking as he waited for me to tell him to leave or maybe that I wouldn’t work with him. Instead I leaned over and hugged him, pushing my love and my energy into him. He hugged me back, his muscles finally relaxing. We moved apart and smiled at each other.

  “You being there on the island with me, made me feel useful. Someone else needed me. Someone I could help. I wasn’t the only fucked up one.” I rolled my eyes. “And I liked feeling like you … you kinda looked up to me.”

  I smiled. “I still do. I was a mess on the island and I’d never have gotten through everything if you hadn’t been there with me. But Ethan, your past doesn’t have power over you unless you let it. Have you talked to Sinc about any of this?”

  “Not a good idea.” He shook his head.

  “She’s crazy about you.”

  He grinned like a kid. “I’m crazy about her, that’s for sure. I mean she’s definitely high maintenance, but she can be really sweet and generous and funny. She’s so bright. I’m amazed every day she’s still with me and hasn’t kicked me out.”

  “Kicked you out?”

  “I moved in with her a week ago.”

  “And you were going to tell me this, when?”

  “We thought you had enough going on in your life. It just never came up. Anyway, she still wants me there.”

  “Let me tell you a secret about women like Sinc and me. We really like to feel needed by our partners rather than totally dependent on them. If you tell her what you told me, she’ll be there for you. She’ll be happy you trusted her and she won’t turn away. Her love is going to heal you faster than anything I could ever do for you. It’s like Kyle and Peter and me and Garrett. We heal each other. Just tell her.”

  He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You really are a witchy woman. Thanks, Speedy, for the food and the therapy.” I laughed again as he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. I caught a whiff of eucalyptus as he winked and headed out the door.