Annabella blushed and Mena smiled widely, saying “I married Trent, Logan, Brandon, and Will as children, separately, of course.”
“You married brothers? That’s very risky of you.” I pointed out.
“Well, I married Brandon almost two whole weeks after Logan so I felt that was very sophisticated of me.”
“Indeed” Annabella said cheekily.
“Seriously though, you guys never dated any of them?”
“Actually” Mena began “I dated Trent for a week in 7th grade. It lasted longer than our marriage and most of his other relationships so I’d call it a success. Besides that, no. Oh wait, I made out with Brandon when we were trashed at a party in high school but that was the first and only time, I ever drank tequila. We still laugh about it all the time.
Plus, I had a serious boyfriend, Nick for five years. We broke up last year so I haven’t really been available. In any case, my brother and I made a pact not to date each other’s friends. It’s too weird.”
“True” I said. “What about you, A.B.?”
“No, I also only date outside the…neighborhood.”
“How come?” I asked.
“I’ve never looked at them like that. I mean, they’re great guys and attractive guys but I feel I can’t cross that line. They’re too important and I guess I’ve always been afraid that if I messed something up, I’d be the odd one out because they’ve all known each other their whole lives.” She said lightly and took a sip of wine.
Mena looked up “Annabella” she said slowly “If you ever dated any of the guys, including my own brother even, and things went badly, I would take your side 100 percent.”
Annabella tilted her head “But why would you do that?” “Because if anything went wrong there’s no way it could be your fault. Regardless, you’re one of us and I’m certain it wouldn’t be just me who has your back. There’s nothing you could do, no matter how awful, to change that.”
Annabella’s eyes turned glassy and I looked away to give her a moment.
“So” Mena said to me “Which one are you interested in?” She said it lightly but both she and Annabella sat up straighter and had their eyes trained on me. It was my turn to blush.
“I’m not looking to get involved with anyone just yet. I just moved here and I want to be single and experience everything I can. Plus I kind of understand where Annabella is coming from. If things got bad, I’d be on the outs with all of you.”
Mena groaned “That’s terribly pessimistic, Kira. Why would anything ‘go badly?’ You both need to be more open to the possibility that things can and do go well. It’s like that couple in the movie tonight. One day you’re chugging along and then, bam, you meet a gorgeous man on a daisy bridge.”
I laughed “Gosh, why did we like that movie? That sounds ridiculous.”
Annabella snorted and I laughed harder.
“Damn, it really does sound ridiculous. Oh well, you get my point.” Mena said and she started to laugh too. “If there is anyone, anyone at all that you like, you should go for it.”
“Definitely” added Annabella.
I searched both their faces but I didn’t know what to say so I bit into one of the mini pizzas.
The rest of the night flew by and eventually we had to call it quits if only to pack for the next day. I hugged them both in the parking lot and got into my car. I turned to place my purse in the passenger seat when I noticed the files from Doc’s office sticking out.
Crap. I’d have to return those tonight or early tomorrow morning if I was going on the trip and missing work on Monday. I would be passing by the plaza on my way home anyway, so I figured I’d just get it done now.
I felt strange about having a key but Doc explained that if there was an emergency with a pet at any hour and I needed to get in or open the office for whatever reason, I would be able to. I felt even stranger about going over there in the middle of the night but it would only be for a moment. I’d be in, out, and on my way home in no time.
*************
Jay
I woke up in my uncle’s office on the operating table in excruciating pain. It wasn’t as bad as before but it still wasn’t what I would call pleasant. “Uncle Eric” I tried to yell out but my voice was so not making that happen. I felt my throat and flashbacked to it being stepped on and crushed. I winced.
“James” Doc called “I’m right here. You’re going to be fine.” He walked into my line of vision with a chart in his hands.“I’m just preparing to give you some stitches and getting you some fluids.
I looked to my right hand and noticed the I.V hooked up to it. “Where’s Will, is he ok?”
“William is fine. He only needed one bandage on his shoulder. I forced him home to shower and get some sleep.”
“Forced him?”
“Yes, that boy is as stubborn as you. He wanted to stay but I assured him over and over that you were fine and that I would take you home when I saw fit. Eventually, Demitria came by and picked him up.”
“Good. I’m glad he’s ok.” I thought for a moment then said “I’m not sure if I dreamed this or not but I think things are better between us now.”
“I imagine you’re right if his actions tonight are any indication. If this is true then I’m glad, for whatever the reason that you decided to be friends again. You boys should’ve made up a long time ago.”
I thought of Kira and being real. “I can’t argue with you there.”
“I applaud you on your wise decision.” He said, smiling broadly and added, “He explained to me that he used your phone’s GPS to find you. It’s quite amazing how technology works today. Now then, once you’re off of this table, you’re going to explain to me why some hooligans ambushed you in the first place. William didn’t have any of that information himself.”
I groaned, “It’s a terrible story, just some punk werewolves from out of town trying to prove themselves. I’m not innocent, I definitely started it last week with the Alpha and then I embarrassed him but he made the fight unfair.”
“All right” he said “It’s all right. I’m going to knock you out to facilitate the healing and I’ll finish your stitches while you’re under.”
“That’s ok, you don’t have to knock me out, what’s a little more pain compared to what I’m already feeling?” “As your uncle and your doctor-”
“Which is totally unethical by the way” I added.
“Right as the unethical man who helps save your life on numerous occasions, I’m not going to allow you to go through any more pain if I can help it. Putting you under is also the quickest way for you to heal. I suggest you take my advice.”
Now that I’d just had my ass handed to me, I nodded contritely. “I was just kidding. Do what you got to do…and thanks for always saving me.”
“It’s not a problem. Now just close your eyes and rest. I’m going to get some supplies out of the closet.”
I nodded again. It was slightly easier this time.
Chapter 16
Kira
As I pulled into the office’s plaza, I thought I saw a light on at Bark n’ Bite. It was curious but I’d never been here at night so maybe it was an emergency light that always stayed on. I parked and saw Doc’s car in the parking lot. Maybe he was here. Was that normal? I wasn’t sure. I got out of my car and walked to the office door.
As I got closer, I heard loud crashing and banging. I froze, should I run in or run away and call the police. I decided I had to see if Doc was ok. I couldn’t just leave him if he was in trouble. I remembered the protective potion in my purse and got it out. I pulled the stopper, held my nose, and chugged. The door was ajar when I came to it and I snuck in quietly.
Doc was struggling against someone else in the shadows. Doc went down and I panicked and screamed “Doc, no.” Before I could think about it, I sent a lightning jolt onto the shadow and heard an awful screech. I saw the shadow come towards me and in the dim light I made out a male figure in black clothing. I fel
t the room shake as my potion repelled him from coming any closer. The man turned away from me and in a flash, I heard a loud piercing crash.
I saw that one of the glass windows in the back of the room had just been broken. The shadow jumped through it and fled. I ran to Doc and tried to conjure a tracking spell at the same time. I sent out the spell but it was too late. The man was gone and out of range.
I pulled in the residual magic as best I could and dropped to the floor to try to help my boss. “Doc” I cried. “Doc, wake up.”
His head tilted towards the sound of my voice and his eyes opened. “Kira, is that you?”
“Yes it’s me, are you all right?”
He sat up, coughing. I put my hand on his shoulder to steady him “I’m fine. What are you doing here? Where’s James?”
I looked around frantically “Jay is here?” I closed my eyes and wished for him to be ok.
Just as Doc yelled “James,” Jay hobbled in unsteadily, holding his side. He looked like he’d just been hit by a truck. Bandages covered more than half of his body.
“Uncle Eric, what happened? I…Kira, what are you doing here?” His tone changed from concern to confusion.
Doc looked back at Jay, “I think my boy, that she just saved our lives.”
They both stared at me then. “I. I no I didn’t ss-save anything. I think I just, um just scared him off.” I looked at the glass shards under my knees, tried to calm myself and my magic down.
I knew Doc was explaining about the attacker to Jay but I couldn’t focus on the words. Now that I saw both of them were all right, I remembered that I had just sent an offensive spell on another person. An. Offensive. Spell. I’d never done that before. I felt sick inside. I closed my eyes, tried to gather up my magic and bury it deep into that vault in my head. The one I imagined when I wanted to store my magic away.
I wasn’t supposed to do dark magic, I was supposed to help and heal, defend if needed but never attack. I wanted to cry and throw up at the same time but wouldn’t allow myself either. I had to cover my tracks more thoroughly because residual magic still filled the air from my spell. Focusing hard, I whispered the containment charm in my mind over and over until all the magic remnants sparking behind my closed eyes flickered out. When I reopened my eyes, I noticed Doc standing over me but completely intent on Jay. I hadn’t even seen him stand up.
“Stop beating yourself up over this, you cannot always blame yourself. We need to look at the outcome. We are fine, focus on that.”
Jay shook his head, started to reply “You” but his eyes flicked over me then down and he held back whatever he’d been about to say.
Anxious now, I tried to think of something a normal person would say in this situation “We should cc-” Get it together, Kira. I breathed, stood. “We should call the police.”
Doc laid a hand on my shoulder, “I’ll take care of it, go sit in my office and I’ll call some of the guys to come pick you up, take you to your apartment.” He cut his eyes over to Jay who was trying to pick up some broken glass “Jay sit down before you split your side open all over again. I hadn’t gotten to finish with that wound before the intruder came in.”
I looked at Jay’s side wound which looked like it spanned his entire torso. I watched Jay ignore him, and then I turned back to Doc “I don’t understand did that man do that to Jay? How does he already have bandages?”
“No, he was previously injured. We were here this late so I could help him a bit. The intruder came in while I was in the middle of it. I- Jay,” he yelled, shrilly as he turned towards him. “I said sit down before you pass out.” He made a growling noise but leaned on the edge of the reception desk.
I nodded “Well I have my car here, so if it’s all the same, I’m just going to take myself home. I’m fine I swear.” I steadily lifted a hand out in front of me “See, no shaking.”
Jay spoke “Oh hell no.” his eyes, so deeply purple they were almost black in color, pierced me. There was no way I could miss the intense anger in them.
Doc nodded patiently “You misunderstand, Kira. That is not why I asked I-”
Jay cut him off “The point is whoever just attacked us is still out there. We’re not letting you drive home alone.”
I wanted to tell him that the man was long gone by now. Gone so quickly my tracking spell couldn’t even catch him but that wouldn’t be something I could explain. Plus his eyes told me he wouldn’t have listened to me anyway. “Ok, I’ll wait for the guys but I’m driving my car and they can follow me until I get home if they want.”
Doc patted my shoulder, “Understood. Now go sit in my office and try to relax, I’m going to help bandage James’ wounds, again.”
I wanted to offer to help but they would both notice that he would heal all too easily. “Are you sure you shouldn’t go to a hospital, just in case?” Jay ignored me so I looked to Doc.
“He’s fine, m’dear. He just got in a fight today. I took him here to help him because he wanted to keep it quiet. Being the mayor’s son tends to draw attention.”
I nodded in understanding. Fighting? This looked like more than two guys in a ring. That cut looked large and deep. It must’ve been a knife fight. I looked over at Jay, bent forward, holding his side together, with his brown hair flopping over his face. Strangely his wound didn’t look half as bad as I first thought. I distinctly remember it looking twice as large and almost fatal but now it looked somewhat bearable.
Something about that felt odd to me so I went into my mind and slipped into sight through my third eye. After years of training, it was as easy as throwing on a different pair of glasses but with a few drawbacks. It was decidedly painful and became more agonizing the longer I used it.
Immediately my world shifted into energies and colors. I fought through the disorientation and nausea to see that both Jay and Doc’s auras were unlike any I had ever seen. Where most people had a dominating color and a few traces of other colors surrounding them, the auras in front of me were continually shifting. Both the colors and shapes moved about restlessly, unable to settle.
Surrounding Jay, three colors stood out among the rest, a deep red, a stark black and a light blue. This meant anger, pain, and concern. For Doc, an amber brown fought for front and center. It meant weariness. With so many eye catching energies to distract me, I had to force myself to zero in on Jay. Through the sight I took in every detail of him and noticed the faint blue sparks that caressed the skin around his injuries. It too was unlike anything I’d seen before but my best guess would be a sort of healing magic. Like mine but also completely different, more intrinsic to him.
It had only been a few seconds but the pain that my third eye produced was becoming unbearable. Quickly I slipped out of the third eye into normal sight. I guess I wasn’t the only one with secrets. I decided to deal with this later. Right now there were too many variables to contend with and sort out. At the very least, I knew Jay wasn’t a warlock of any kind and he would be ok.
Finally, I gained the sense to look away because he was shirtless and I was staring. “Ok, I’ll be in the back.”
“Good” Doc said “I‘ll call when the guys get here.”
I mumbled an “mmkay” and as I turned to go, added “And Doc, you really should call the police.”
He smiled reassuringly at me and said “I don’t think any of us want that right now.” and walked with Jay, who had limped by me into the operating room.
That’s when I knew. Doc had seen my magic. That he knew what I was.
This confirmed that he, and probably Jay weren’t fully human either. It meant that we all had a lot of explaining to do.
Most important of all, it meant whoever had attacked them, while I knew it wasn’t a witch or warlock, might not be human either and they had my magic all over them. This was very, very bad.
************
Jay
I walked out to greet the guys in the lobby. Not in the mood to talk, I nodded toward the back office and Logan, Wi
ll, Max, and Brandon hurried off to Doc and Kira. Will and I exchanged nods, both understanding we would talk later.
When they were gone, I smacked a fist into the side of the wall and it left a gaping hole, concrete crumpling to the ground. Luckily, my hole matched all the others throughout the war torn office.
Trent walked in, keys in hand and examined my dent in the wall “Let me guess, you’re jealous of the perp’s damage and trying to get your hole in the running? You’re too competitive for your own good, man.” He smiled but I couldn’t.
“God, Trent I was knocked out, my uncle was taken down trying to protect me, and Kira was here. She could’ve been killed just for being at the wrong place at the wrong damn time. Damn it.”
He tried to place a hand on my shoulder but I moved away “It’s ok man, you-”
I cut him off, yelling “And worse the bastard saw her and now he can go after her.”
Trent pushed my shoulders, got in my face “Jay, it’s not your fault. If the guy ran away when he saw Kira then he probably has no plans to find her later. If he wanted to silence her, he would’ve killed her then and there. Think about it, anyone could’ve found out about you’re injuries after the club today, which I’m so sorry about by the way. News travels fast. Someone probably thought they’d get lucky and finish you off when you were down. They just got more than they bargained for with Doc and then Kira entering the building.”
It made sense but my brain was still too filled with rage to acknowledge it. “He could’ve-” I snarled.
“But he didn’t.”
We stood there in silence.
I saw Trent scan the broken lobby of Doc’s office. I knew what he would see. End tables and sofas upturned and thrown across the room, the curtain over the window ripped apart, hanging off the bent metal rod, typical vet office magazines thrown all over the place, glass and water from the fish tank everywhere, not to mention the glass from the shattered window. It was a mess and I wanted to scream for not being conscious when it happened, for not protecting them.
Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) Page 11