Sanibel Virgin

by Talyn Scott

“No,” she said while accepting Mason’s offering. A small bag printed with French lettering tied atop with a black, silk bow. She turned her hand, dumping the entire bag into the tub before swirling the water with her toes.

  “Maybe you need a real examination, baby,” Mason said seriously. “Don’t get in the water just yet.”

  She stayed him with her hand. “I’m fine.” Kalen lowered into the steaming water fragrant with Jasmine. “What are you not telling me?”

  “Maybe we should wait until you feel better.”

  “You expect me to trust all of you, to tell you why I met with Syon?” Her face screwed up with anger and a wash of pain. “Why should I bother when you’re holding out on me?”

  Archer sat on the tub’s ledge, the expansive tile providing ample space for his large frame. “We’re not trying to hold out on you, sweetheart. In an effort to protect you, we’ve waited about mentioning something about your past.”

  “This has nothing to do with Archer and Mason,” Jude qualified.

  Mason leaned against the vanity. “We’re a family unit now, and it has everything to do with us, Jude.”

  Kalen shifted, the bubbles lapping against her nipples. “Someone spit it out.”

  Archer put his hand over his heart. “Please, listen to everything first before you cast judgement.”

  Jude cleared his throat. “Your mother was executed because she went into bloodlust.”

  “I know this.”

  “Then why are you so desperately trying to find your father?”

  “Why?” Her bottom lip quivered. “I had wanted to find him because he’s my Dad. Is that so hard to understand?”

  Mason winced. “Kalen, I know he’s provided well for you, but no one has seen him since your mother’s death. Don’t you think there’s a reason for that?”

  Her eyes flashed, but she stayed quiet.

  Jude elaborated, “He went into hiding because he was wanted by The French and The North American Vampire Covens.”

  She brought her hand to the tub’s ledge, gripping it, still staying quiet.

  “On your mother’s birthday — ”

  She pressed her hands against her ears, shutting her eyes like a child. “Stop!”

  Jude wanted to howl. He squatted and pulled her hands away. “It’s time you faced this.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “It is time I faced this.”

  Kalen’s eyes started blinking rapidly, as though she were walking in a living nightmare. “She was dying… with a stake in her chest… talking to a male. Mom said, ‘Why did he do this to me?’ And her murderer said, ‘I was always told love is not selfish, but he was too selfish to let you go.'”

  Jude had to get through to her. “Instead of your father asking a pureblood to transform your mother into a vampire, he did the deed himself.”

  Mason added, “He didn’t want another vampire declaring ownership over her, so he risked her life and countless others by transforming her. From that point she turned deranged, which wasn’t her fault, but it sure as hell was your father’s.”

  Archer nodded. “And all of that blood, sweetheart, is on your father’s hands. All of it.”

  Kalen’s eyes cleared, snapping to Jude’s. “I know all of this.”

  “If you know, then why — ”

  “You said I have to face it. What do you have to face?” She must have read it in his eyes because she gasped in outrage. “You tracked my mother, so she could be executed. Didn’t you?”

  “Aye, Heath and I received the orders from The Joint Faction Committee.”

  She jumped up and wrapped a towel around her body. “And you’re just now getting around to telling me?” When he reached a hand out to her, Kalen pushed him away. “Don’t touch me.”

  “We need to see this conversation through.” He followed her from the bathroom, watching as she tossed on Archer’s discarded shirt.

  “What’s there to see through?” She turned around, fury boiling from her. “I get it, okay? My Mom would still be alive, if it weren’t for my father. But I don’t appreciate your dishonesty.”

  “I only received the old paperwork confirming what I suspected, within the past twenty-four hours,” Jude explained. “I had to be sure before I told you.”

  “Because you go on that many hunts?” she asked hoarsely.

  “Nay, because I execute that many creatures.”

  She turned as white as their bed linens. “You executed my mother?”

  Mason spoke evenly, “Your mother was going to kill you. You wouldn’t be alive, right here with your mates, if Jude and Heath hadn’t saved you.”

  “My mother loved me.”

  “Your mother chewed your throat so savagely that you required a blood transfusion from Dru Holt himself.” Mason walked closer but she stepped back. “I read the reports.”

  “We lifted you by chopper to an airport in France.” Jude put his hand on the dresser, steadying himself. He just prayed he wouldn’t lose her. “You screamed the entire way.”

  “I hate flying.”

  “Dru misted in at the French airport, took one look at you, opened his vein with a blade, and forced the blood down your throat.” He rubbed the tension at the back of his neck. “I even fed you. We feared you would no’ make it.”

  “Thank God you did, sweetheart,” Archer said, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles.

  Kalen yanked her hand away. “You knew I was looking for Dad and you kept ignoring me.” More memories were resurfacing, just as Syon promised after her father had cleansed her mind. Kalen tried to blink them away while she was talking, but it was no use. “Whether you were waiting on paperwork or not, you could have told me what happened. I can’t trust any of you.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Archer grated. “Don’t let this drive a wedge between us.”

  “You are fated to us,” Mason added with contained ferocity, “I love you. We will work this out.”

  Kalen’s mind drifted to France, where everything was in black and white except for the bright red carpet. It’s sticky wetness coating the bottoms of her feet…

  ‘I’m taking you to safety,’ the voice of a werewolf boomed, hurting her sensitive ears.

  ‘I want Mama!’ The Beast had killed her mother, staked her in a bath of blood. ‘Why!’

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  What had he done? Mama would have never hurt her the way she’d hurt others. Jude, her executioner, locked eyes with her. ‘One day, you will understand why I did what I did.’

  “Kalen, baby,” Mason called, shining a penlight in her eyes. She shielded them, hissing. “Come back to us.”

  “I’m fine.” She ground her teeth. “My vampire sensitivities cannot tolerate the light.”

  “Your pupils were fixed and dilated.”

  Strangely enough, Kalen could hear Mason’s heart thundering in her ears. “And so you give my retinas the laser treatment?” She couldn’t meet Jude’s eyes just yet. “It was another flashback, that’s all.”

  “So sorry, sweetheart,” Archer rumbled, placing gentle kisses on her face.

  “Sage insists the spells are a Vojak mix.” Mason said, putting his penlight on the nightstand. “And he’s offered to remove them without price.”

  “I don’t want to discuss the spells right now.” She lifted her eyes and blinked away the bright dots. “I need some juice.” Jude started to mist to the kitchen. “No, I want to get it myself.”

  “Kalen,” Mason warned. “If you’re thinking about running from us — ”

  “I’m going downstairs for some freaking juice!” Her heart was going to shatter. Her Dad was responsible for so many deaths, including her mother’s. Then there was Jude. The male who only did his job, even saving her life, but it was still bad, so very bad. “How could I run from any of you anyway? You would just drag me back here.”

  “Calm down,” Mason said. “We wouldn’t drag you back here. This is a home, not a prison. We just ask that if you want to leave, tell us.
Night has long fallen, and we only want you safe.”

  She turned around and started for the stairs.

  “Kalen,” Mason whispered hoarsely.

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  “I know.” She gripped the bannister. This was home; her males were home. Kalen turned around and met Jude’s sorrowful eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

  Making her way down the steps on shaky legs, Kalen was barely aware of her breath coming in short gasps, her tears running down her face. A lump had started in her throat, and her stomach was twisting.

  A cold glass of orange juice wouldn’t make any of this go away right now, but her males could. She kept seeing Jude’s face, his torment… Kalen couldn’t leave him like that.

  She turned around and raced upstairs.

  Finding them pacing the floor, forlorn looks passing among them. Oh, what was the point in having powerful males at her side, if she couldn’t ask for what she needed? She wiped her tears away. “Tell me this will never happen again, this not trusting thing.”

  Jude vowed, his fist over his heart. “I swear it on my life.”

  She didn’t think she would get any promise better than that. “All right. I’m going to tell you about tonight when I met up with Syon.”

  “Thank you.”

  She walked to the window instead of sitting down. Kalen seemed to have more energy by the second.

  “Someone left a card on my car, inscribed with my grandfather’s old address. It’s the place where I’d originally thought of looking for my father, but I’d found out humans had bought the old house and dismissed it.” She pressed her forehead against the glass, seeing their reflections instead of the water. “My gut was telling me to go. That it had everything to do with Dad.”

  “Did your gut ever tell you to call one of us?” Archer asked.

  “Yes, but as we’ve just gone over, none of you wanted to help me regarding my father. Seriously, if I had called any of you, would you have escorted me there without a qualm? Or rather dumped me back here, then checked it out for yourself.”

  “Definitely dumped you back here and checked it out for ourselves,” Mason said honestly. “Because that would be protecting you, not the other way around.”

  She turned and raised an eyebrow at him but continued, “I got there and Syon answered the door, which disappointed me and, quite frankly, freaked me out. He was acting all… Syon: creepy mysterious with a healthy dose of arrogance.” She waved a hand, no longer afraid of the vampire commander. “I couldn’t put the connection together as to why he was in my grandfather’s house, until my father popped in.”

  Jude sat on the edge of the bed. “Popped in?”

  Mason thundered, “As in phantom?”

  She couldn’t believe Mason figured that out. “Yes, how would you know?”

  “Sage told me about the rumors. Baby, is it really your dad?”

  “Yep.” Moving away from the windows, Kalen stepped closer to Mason. “Dad sent Syon to bring me there, so he could explain away what he’d done and why.” She took a moment to breathe, the air saltier than usual. “He’d dabbled so much in black arts that he not only be-spelled me to take away my last memories with Mama, but also my Vojak abilities.”

  “You’re only, what, a quarter Vojak?” Archer said. “And females are never warriors.”

  “My father was the only halfling of any sort in our family line. Apparently, it dates back to the days when vampires first walked the earth. So my lineage is strong.”

  “You’re still part Were Beast.”

  “I know but after Syon insisted Dad remove his tainted spells from me — ”

  “He what!” Jude roared.

  “I agreed,” she said calmly. “I didn’t want that darkness anywhere inside of me. And right now, I feel better than I’ve ever felt. I don’t crave blood by the second, either.” She wondered if she could coerce a human and feed from him. Maybe she should ask Syon about that. “Syon says my true immortal traits will emerge over the next year or so, and I can hone them. He doesn’t think I’ll ever mist though, but I don’t care about that.”

  “Why is Syon doing this for you?” Archer asked in a steely tone. “I’m sure he realizes he’s not getting you.”

  “I told him I was not interested, and he didn’t press the subject again. From what I gathered, he was in love with Mama. I guess I look like her more than I realized, and it stirred up his past.”

  Jude snarled, “That better be all it stirred up.”

  She shook her head. “Anyway, obviously Mama stayed with Dad. But she and Syon remained friends as Syon worked with Dad in undercover operations for the Coven. When Dad started up with the black arts, trying to increase her longevity to equal or even come close to his, she listed Syon as my guardian in case something happened to her.”

  “Your legal guardian?” Mason asked.

  “Yeah.” She looked back on her life, thinking it could only get better. “Syon was the one who wired Dad’s funds and kept up with me. Syon even asked Carther Holt to take care of me in Chicago.”

  Mason tilted his head. “I can’t see Carther working for Syon.”

  “Carther didn’t get any recompense for it. He lived in Chicago anyway. Syon just called Carther a do-gooder like Dru, so he claimed to have pulled the ‘Damsel In Distress’ card with me. Syon said that Carther doesn’t know anything about my past.”

  Archer snorted. “It’s hard for me to accept anything Syon says at face value.”

  “You can’t deny he’s been taking care of me all of this time. That is, until the three of you.”

  “Well,” Mason vowed, “he’s not taking care of you ever again.”

  Kalen chewed her lip, wondering how to tell them.

  Mason pointed a finger at her. “You’re hiding something, and I want to know what it is right now.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “I’m not hiding anything.” Kalen shrugged. “I’m just trying to figure out how to tell you something.”

  “As long as you haven’t changed your mind about leaving,” Archer said softly, “I can take anything.”

  “Okay, well, the Coven has been investigating these underground clubs, where vampires — ”

  “Buy virgins.” Jude gaped. “Why is Syon discussing that with our female?”

  “I agreed that over the next few months after my powers increase, I will help them with their investigations.”

  “Sweetheart, not to belittle you in any way.” Archer looked wild around the eyes. “But you’re a chef.”

  “I’m not disregarding my career.” Kalen crossed her arms over her chest. “I will still purchase a restaurant, but this is a chance for me to help others.”

  “If you think you can redeem your parents this way, baby, then think again.” Mason put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them. “It’s not your job.”

  She jutted her chin. “But I want it to be.”

  “You can’t ask three werewolves to allow their female to risk her life around vampires.”

  “I’m not asking you.”

  “Kalen, this will not happen.”

  She really hated playing this card. But tonight, before all of this craziness had begun, Kalen had wanted to tell them she was ready for mating beneath the next full moon, which was days away. “If you want to mate with me, you’ll have to accept my decisions.”

  Archer looked at her a hard moment. “If we want to mate with you?”

  Jude took a step closer. “You’re going through with it?”

  “I was going to tell you tonight when the three of you came home from work, but the moment got shot to hell.”

  “So,” Mason whispered, “just in case I didn’t hear correctly, you’re going to mate us.”

  “That depends,” she qualified. “Is my life still really mine? Even though I can’t make up for the deaths my parents caused, I want to work with this vampire task force and simply help. I can do this mentally and physically. I’m bec
oming stronger than most women as we speak.”

  “Hold on.”

  “No,” she argued, “you hold on. Let me be their arms, their legs, and their voices. Let me protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

  “Your bravery is commendable,” Jude said, “and a complete turn on, by the way. But these women from the clubs you speak of are going about it with their eyes wide open.”

  “I know this, so it might take another woman to talk some sense into them.” She couldn’t believe what else Syon had revealed. “Jenny’s been doing it, so can I.”

  Mason stepped back, balking. “What do you mean, Jenny’s been doing it?”

  “That’s why she won’t leave the Joint Faction Facility.” Kalen pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Or at least why we don’t think she’s leaving the Joint Faction Facility.”

  Archer started pacing the floor. “Jayce couldn’t possibly know about this.”

  She pointed a finger at him. “You’re not going to tell him.”

  Archer shook his head. “You can’t expect me to keep something like that from him.”

  “I was furious myself when I first heard. But I realized this is her life, Jenny’s calling. She was attacked by those rogue Gryphs.” She gave Mason a look. “And although I’ve asked you nothing about her injuries, I know they are deep and terrible.”

  Mason nodded once, but didn’t say anything.

  “So give Jenny this slice of vengeance, of even righting wrongs, by keeping this to yourselves.”

  Mason put her off. “I can’t make that sort of decision tonight.”

  “Then where do we stand? Are you going to interfere with what I want to do with the vampire task force or not?”

  Archer sighed. “Could it possibly involve a desk job?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Come on, give me something. Work with me here.”

  “I understand her need,” Jude finally admitted to Archer and Mason. “It’s in me to hunt, to dispense justice. She’s got it in her Vojak blood and it’s a hard thing to keep in the background when it's calling her to step up.”

  She was so shocked by his support that Kalen rushed to him and wrapped her arms around Jude. “Yes, that’s exactly how it feels.”