Southern Secrets (The Southern Series Book 2)

by Shelley Stringer

  “Hey, are you awake?” he breathed into my ear.

  “I am now.” I rolled over and his smile greeted me. The sight of him shirtless still made my heart skip a beat after all this time, and the sexy shadow of a beard on his face was like icing on a cake. He had no idea what an effect he had on me, and I seriously doubted I had the same effect on him. Girls definitely have the disadvantage in the mornings.

  “Mmm. Are you feeling better? Any pain?” he asked, nuzzling my neck.

  “I’m good. The cramping has stopped.” I pushed up in bed as Banton reached for an extra pillow, pushing it behind my back.

  “I need to go to class, I’ve missed so much already,” I sighed, reaching over to retrieve my watch from the nightstand.

  “You should take it easy today, why don’t you stay in bed?” he urged.

  I shook my head.

  “No way. I feel fine. I don’t want to waste any more class days, I might need a sick day later in the semester.”

  After convincing Banton I was good to go to class, he and Ty accompanied Constance and me to campus for our morning classes. While we waited for Constance to get out of her last class, Banton walked me to the student center for a glass of tea, and then camped out under our favorite tree.

  “Sweetheart, John, Ty and I need to go to N’awlins this afternoon to the base for a meeting. I’ll probably be late, so I’ll text Everett to see if he can stay with you girls this evening.”

  I flipped my laptop open, and set about making reservations for our trip to Texas. “Oh, we’ll be all right. We still have round-the-clock protection at the house from the Aldon.”

  “Yes, but after everything that has happened, if Ty or I can’t be with you and Constance, then I want Everett or Mr. Philippe with you. I don’t trust anyone else,” he answered firmly.

  I sighed, leaning back against his chest as I searched the hotel listings. Banton continued texting, and then after several minutes, touched the screen to his phone and answered it.

  “Hello…Hey, Ev…yeah, that’s why I was texting you. Could you babysit for me and Ty this afternoon and evening?” Banton grinned down at me as I frowned at his choice of words. “Well, we have a meeting in N’awlins this afternoon…Okay, yeah…that would be great. We’ll meet you at the house about one-thirty. Thanks, Ev.”

  After he’d pocketed his phone, Banton helped me choose a bed and breakfast for our Texas trip.

  I heard Constance’s voice carry across the courtyard.

  “And we’ve had this conversation a hundred times before! Give it up, I’m not going anywhere!” She bellowed as she followed a highly exasperated Ty under the tree to where we were lounging on the grass.

  “Lover’s spat?” Banton asked lightheartedly.

  “No, more like all-out war,” Ty commented wryly, taking Constance’s book bag from her.

  “And you might as well surrender, Lieutenant Preston.” She glared at him.

  “What’s the problem?” I asked, shutting my laptop. Banton stood and pulled me to my feet, wrapping his arms around my waist.

  “Same old thing. He loves me, he wants me…blah blah blah. But he won’t talk about our future, won’t take anything to the next level, because of my safety.”

  “Damn it, Banton understands! Does what happened to Brie not mean anything to you? Can’t you see it tears us up, putting you two in danger all the time? You don’t do that to someone you love!”

  I waved my hands in front of Ty to get his full attention. “Now, let me get this straight. You have reservations about your relationship, because of the danger from the Orcos. Right?” I asked.

  Ty nodded.

  “Do you think we would be in any less danger if you two weren’t in the picture? Honestly…I mean, Dr. Renault told you it is me and Constance they want. However they found out about us, it doesn’t matter. I was drawing them in before I even met Banton. I have to keep pointing this out. I would probably be dead by now, if not for Banton’s protection, and protection from all of the SEALs. We carry the gene, and they can sense it. So now what? Do you think sending us away somewhere is somehow going to keep us safe?”

  “It’s worth a try,” Ty answered as Banton shook his head.

  “It won’t work, Ty. We traveled to Colorado on our honeymoon, and they followed us. They followed John and Brie to Vegas. They followed all of us to Mardi Gras,” Banton countered.

  “But they had an informant. Grant isn’t involved anymore, and they aren’t getting the same information,” Ty reasoned.

  “You can’t be sure. They know too much, and I’m not convinced Grant was their only connection. We know they are led by a powerful man who dabbles in voodoo. Whether you believe in superstitions or not, they can sense things we can’t explain. Everett said there is a connection they have to us, once we are bitten,” I continued to argue the point.

  “But Constance hasn’t been bitten. And I want to keep it that way,” he replied adamantly. He was so tortured by the thought I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I reached out, and cupped Ty’s cheek in my hand.

  “Ty, listen to me. If you love Constance only half as much as I love Banton, to send her away would be cruel for both of you. The best way to protect her is to keep her close to you, to us. I believe that.” I pulled him to me, and hugged him.

  “Brother, I have to agree with her. Believe me, I want to get Chandler away from all of this, for her sake as well as the babies. But I realize now we have to keep them close and keep our guard up. The best place for them is here, where we have the protection of the Aldon. And you and I would both be too distracted if they were someplace else,” Banton reinforced my opinion as he placed his hand on Ty’s shoulder.

  “As for your relationship, that’s between the two of you. But make your decisions based on your true feelings for each other, and not the outside forces at play. You can’t control those.” I reached over, and pulled Constance in to hug her. She was still so angry, she was as stiff as a board. She didn’t back down from a fight easily, or shake her “mad” off if she was irritated.

  We rode back to the house in silence, Constance glaring out the side window in the back seat, Ty doing the same on the opposite side. Banton glanced at me several times, and then took my hand in his and pulled it up to kiss the back of it.

  “So what are you two going to do while we are gone this afternoon?” Banton asked, trying to engage Constance into the conversation.

  “Um, I don’t know. I want to go down and check on Mr. Jackson, and talk with him. I didn’t get the chance yesterday, like I’d planned…” I trailed off.

  “Good idea. We shouldn’t be too late, I’ll try to have Ty home by bedtime.”

  “Whatever,” Constance answered, slamming the door and hurrying up the steps.

  Everett met her on the front porch. “Holy Mary, now what’s got your feathers ruffled, Miss Thing?” he asked as he held the door.

  “Oh, ask the stubborn-ass Navy SEAL coming across the yard!” she exclaimed as she marched into the house.

  “Which one?” Everett asked, looking first at Ty and then Banton. Catching on as he saw Ty’s expression, he asked, “Oh, my….Ty my boy, what on earth did you do?” Everett turned to Ty, who was climbing the stairs to the porch behind me.

  “Does it matter?” he mumbled under his breath as he pushed past Ev through the door. Everett turned to me with one eyebrow raised.

  “Same song, same dance. He’s worrying about the danger he’s putting her in, he’s holding out, pushing her away…sound familiar?” I answered for him.

  “Hmmm,” Everett shook his head as he followed us into the house.

  “How soon do you have to leave?” I turned to Banton as he entered the foyer.

  “Right away. Come upstairs with me, while I throw some clothes in a bag.” He took my hand, and pulled me up the stairs with him. After he had the door to our room shut, he turned to me and pulled me into his arms.

  His movements were forceful. He covered my mouth wi
th his, pulling me in with his hand behind my head, his other hand cupped around my left hip. He pushed me up against the wall. Every inch of my skin was on fire, his hands covering every inch of my body as his lips trailed down my neck, across my breastbone and then down into the valley between my breasts. I moaned as I threw my head back and wrapped my hands around his head, winding my fingers in his thick hair. He lifted his face back up as his eyes bore into me.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked cautiously. I’d never seen him quite like this, maybe after he’d been bitten.

  He picked me up swiftly and swung me over to the bed. Lowering himself down partially on top of me, he was careful not to put his full weight on me. He continued to stroke my body as he watched my eyes.

  “Chandler, I just love you so much. Ty’s concerns…they never leave my train of thought. I’m tortured most of the time, thinking about the danger you and the babies are in. It kills me to leave you for just an hour. I don’t want anything happening again, being attacked or kidnapped. I can’t stand leaving you alone,” he finished as he lay his head down on my chest.

  “We’ll be fine. Everett and Stephan are here, and the rest of the usual Aldon protectors. The Orcos wouldn’t dare try anything with the Aldon here. Go on to your meeting. I’ll text you, every hour on the hour.” I assured him, tracing around his lips with my finger.

  “All right,” he sighed, and then rolled over and pushed himself up. “We’ve got to leave now, if we’re going to be there by four o’clock.”

  Noises intruded into the room from next door, and it was definitely not an argument this time. After a bit, I turned and looked back at him as giggles erupted from through the wall. Banton grinned.

  “I’m guessing, make-up sex?” he threw the comment over his shoulder as I rose to help him.

  There was a knock on the door. “Banton, you ready?” John’s voice came through the doorway.

  “Yeah, be right down,” he answered as he picked a bag up from the chair and placed a kiss on my lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Rest awhile, and get Everett to bring Mr. Jackson down here to you. I don’t want you leaving the house while I’m gone. God, I love you,” he added softly, his gaze capturing mine for a moment.

  “I love you too,” I replied. He shut the door behind him.

  * * *

  After taking a short nap, I roused as I heard a faint rap on the door.

  “Bebe, are you awake?” Ev’s voice drifted through the door.

  “Yes, come on in, Ev.” I pushed up on the bed, and threw back the blanket covering me across the foot of the bed.

  “Are you feeling all right?” he asked as he sat down on the side of the bed.

  “Oh, I’m good. I just took Banton’s advice, and took a short nap. I feel a lot better today, and I think I’m over the amnio.”

  “When will you have the results? Is Dr. Renault or Dr. Lane concerned about the outcome?”

  “I’m not sure. They said they want to check the babies’ genetics, to see if they can anticipate any complications. They don’t know what to expect, with my having been bitten while the babies were in the first trimester. They don’t know if the gene blocked transformation, or if they might have been fully transformed.”

  “If they have, then you know there will be complications, and you will have difficulties. Some women carrying Aldon babies aren’t able to carry the babies to full term. Did he tell you that?” he asked as he stroked the back of my hand.

  “He mentioned it. I told him it was a moot point, and no matter what they find, I carry the babies full term. I won’t consider anything else. The only reason I agreed to the test at all, is they might be able to start me on special diets or drugs to help the babies’ development, or to help me carry them. They should have some results in a couple of weeks.”

  Everett smiled at me, and shook his head. “You’re stubborn, Ma Cherie. Come on downstairs with me. Your sweet Banton mentioned before he left you wanted to visit with Mr. Jackson. I just saw him out for an afternoon walk, and I invited him in for some lemonade.”

  “Oh, thanks Ev. That’s perfect.” I grabbed the folder containing the research I’d done on the house and followed him downstairs.

  Mr. Jackson was already seated in the living room with a glass of lemonade.

  “Hey, Mr. Jackson. It’s good to see you!” I greeted him, and gave him a hug as he stood.

  “It sho is good to see you too, Chile. We haven’t had one of our front porch sits in a while, now. I’m a missin’ dem just a little. Now dat de weather is warmer, we’ll just have to start dem up again.”

  “How have you been?” I inquired as I sat down across from him on the loveseat.

  “Right as rain. My bones feel a bit better, now dat de weather is a-turning.”

  “I wondered if you have visited anymore with your Aunt. I have some documents I want you to see, about our house.”

  “I did talk to her, and she remembered a right smart about yo house. She said dat she would like to visit one day and see de place. She has some happy memories of yo house. My great grandmama used to bring her up here, when she was just a little bit of a girl. Dat would have been in de thirties, or der abouts. De old missus, she’d passed, but my great grandmama kept a-cleaning de house once a week until she died, and den my grandmama did it after her, until dey sold it during de war. She told her stories, about de old missus, and how she grieved fo her po daughter what passed away in childbirth. She was to have twin baby girls, and de babies, dey died too. She didn’t have no mo childrens, and her husband, de old Judge, passed just after. She always said dat dis ‘ole house was full of love dat never got to be. She was a sweet lady, and loved de childrens. She begged my great-grandmama to bring her grandbabies and let dem play while she worked.”

  “Did she say anything else about her?” I asked as he sipped on his lemonade.

  “She said dat the old missus, she would get right down in the floor and play wid de grandbabies…dat would have been my momma and my aunties and uncles. She said dat dey would play hide-and-seek, and dat dey was so many secret hidin’ places, dat dis old house was made fo it. She said dat dey is a secret staircase, and dat dey was a place to play up in de attic.”

  “You know, I’ve never been up there. I don’t even know how to get in,” I answered.

  “You’ve never been in your own attic? Ohhh, I just love a mystery! We’ll have to do some investigating.” Everett’s eyes twinkled at the prospect.

  “My Auntie says, dat dey was toys and baby clothes dat never got used up dere, and lots of other things. But she doubts dat dey is still dere, after all dis time.”

  We heard the front door open and close, and turned as Olivia and Patrick entered the living room.

  “Hey, Olivia…Patrick! It’s good to see you,” I greeted them. Olivia came around the sofa beside Mr. Jackson to hug me.

  “We hoped we could pass some time with you, Chandler, since Sam went with your Banton to New Orleans.”

  “I’m so glad you came. Olivia, this is Mr. Jackson, my neighbor from down the street. He grew up here, and knows so much about the neighborhood. He was just telling me a little about the history of our house. Mr. Jackson, this is Olivia and Patrick, some friends of ours.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’ve seen you down here, a comin’ and goin’ wid de SEALs,” he greeted Olivia as he studied the two. I could tell he suspected they were Aldon.

  Then Mr. Jackson turned back to me as he rose from the sofa. “My Auntie, she says dat she might have something fo you, dat she has some keepsakes dat my grandmother had, from the old missus. She said dat it be good for you to have dem back, dat dey belongs to de house, and to de new family here on Rue Dauphine. And my Auntie, she sure is thinkin’ dat it be a sight mo dan chance, dat you be a-carryin’ twins too, and livin’ in dis here house.

  A glass shattered, breaking the conversation. Olivia stood, her mouth agape, her glass of lemonade shattered in the floor at her feet.

  Chapter Thirty-S
ix

  “Well, I best be a’gittin back. You come and sees me now, chile!” Mr. Jackson called back as he shuffled down the front stairs. I shut the door, and then hurried back to the living room where Everett and Olivia were cleaning up the broken shards of glass.

  “I’m sorry, did he say…twin babies? The little one you carry, it is twins?” Her voice rose as she became alarmed.

  “Yes. I thought you and Sam knew. Why?” I asked. I studied her reaction curiously. She shook her head and sat down beside me.

  “That will make Dante want you even more. This is bad.” She shook her head again as she and Patrick exchanged apprehensive glances.

  “What’s wrong?” Constance came around the bottom of the staircase into the living room.

  “Dante’s obsession with you both,” Patrick answered her as he sat down across from us.

  “Who’s Dante?” she asked, flopping down beside him.

  “Our stepfather. He is evil. I don’t understand his motivation or his loyalty. I’ve never understood how my mother could have been so drawn to him in the beginning, after our father was murdered. He was everything our father was fighting against. Our mother seemed in a trance from the first moment she met him.” Patrick shook his head.

  “Our Mother became his mate instantly, and allowed all of us…Patrick, Jonah and me, to be used by his followers. Their ways are not the ways our mother had us taught in a Catholic school. But after Dante, she didn’t care about us anymore. I just thought she was blinded by her grief for my father and couldn’t see what he was doing, or he was evil,” Olivia finished for him.

  I was intrigued by her revelation. “What does Dante look like?”

  “He is large, maybe four or five inches taller than Sam,” Olivia shuddered as she described him to us.

  “And his voice…is it deep, almost theatrical?” I asked as Constance caught her breath.

  “Yes. How did you know?” Olivia asked.

  “He was the one in the shadows, in the warehouse calling the shots!” Constance exclaimed.