by Deanna Chase
Her voice was cold, a rumbling grate that tore down his spine and made him shiver, but her eyes glittered with something close to fear.
What could make a five-thousand-year-old demon tremble that way?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t something Cain wanted any part of. He already had enough problems. “Yeah. All right.”
“Pandora. Woman,” Luc roared.
She rolled her eyes, gave Cain a quick, hard kiss on the cheek, and then moved off as quietly as a ghost.
Exhausted, he licked his teeth and headed for the shed.
~*~
An hour later, the drone was dead. Nothing but a bloody pulp of bits and flesh. He was panting, breathing heavily when a hard hand clapped his shoulder.
“Crap, Cain.” Seth’s gray eyes roamed the length of the blood-splattered shed. Aswang was everywhere, on the roof, on the floor, on Cain’s clothes. “Did you at least find out where the queen’s being hidden?”
Heaving for air, hardly able to talk, Cain stood in a dazed sort of shock. Killing wasn’t what bothered him, what bothered him was the violence of this attack. Because tonight he discovered the real reason why the hive was so obsessed with discovering his weakness. He was emitting pheromones, pheromones they could smell.
Pheromones the queen could control by controlling his weakness.
He turned to Seth, a snarl on his face. “What’d you find out about Flint DeLuca?”
Seth held up his hands; outside Eli stood as stunned as his twin. “Nothing, man, clean as a whistle. No priors, born seventeen years ago, her mom died walking the tightrope, her dad became an alcoholic, few calls to the police for drunken disorderly… but nothin’, they’re clean.”
Cain grabbed fistfuls of his hair and growled. “This can’t be happening!”
“What man?”
Cain shoulder-bumped Seth out of the way and then walked out of the shed, heading to Adam’s trailer, not caring if he woke him up. Cain stomped up the steps and flung the door open, rocking the trailer.
A startled female cry rang out and then everything was a blur as Adam rammed his forearm into Cain’s throat, pinning him against the wall as it heaved with a violent shudder.
“What do you want?” Adam’s blue eyes were merciless.
“Adam, stop!” Cain’s mother sat up on the pullout couch mattress, wrapping the sheet around her upper body, her long black hair covering the left side of her face. The one that looked like someone had doused her in gas and lit her on fire.
Adam’s nostrils flared. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t rip your head off your shoulders right now.”
Throat tight from a lack of air, blood pumped full of rage, Cain punched Adam in the side of the head, dazing him just long enough to flinch.
It was enough.
Taking a greedy gulp of air, he twisted out of Adam’s grip but couldn’t stop from slumping to the ground, coughing and hacking as he tried to clear his airway.
Adam glanced down in disgust. “Get up. You’re man enough to come into my house uninvited, then get up.”
Black spots swimming in his eyes, Cain slowly got to his feet. His throat hurt like a mother, but he forced himself to speak through it. “You told me I wasn’t anything like you. You swore it couldn’t happen to me.”
A slow smile curled Adam’s lips. “Dora’s parting gift. Take it the drone talked, did it? What’d it tell you?”
Adam planted his bare feet shoulder width apart. Dark hair tousled from sleep, and wearing nothing but a pair of checkered boxers and a white shirt, he didn’t appear as anything other than a human. But it was merely the bait that set the trap.
“Enough. The truth.” Cain clenched his fingers by his side, glancing at his mother who looked frail and so fragile in that large bed. “What do you have to say about it? Anything?” He lifted a brow.
Adam chuckled. “I lied. You’re just like me. You’re all just like me.”
“Adam, honey, please don’t do this.”
Breathing heavily through his nose, Adam dropped his head for a brief instant, but not before Cain caught the rare glimpse of pain filter through his eyes. When he looked back up, it was already gone.
“If they told you what I think they told you, then you make sure you don’t get attached to anything. You do, you kill it.”
His mother sucked in a sharp breath. “How dare you, Adam?” She clutched the sheet tighter. “How dare you? You wouldn’t do it to me, why in the world would you force that on him?”
The muscle in Adam’s jaw tensed, and his eyes looked like cut glass when he said, “You do as I say, Cain. You already know how bad it can get.”
Cain shook his head and flexed his fingers. “I’ve got to shower, got school.” He turned on his heel.
“Oh, and lock that door behind you,” Adam drawled.
Hand on the knob, Cain smiled viciously. “By the way, old man, got a mess in the shed that needs cleaning up.”
Then he slammed the door behind him and didn’t lock it.
Chapter Eleven
Flint took her time getting ready for school Monday morning. Not that she had much of a selection, but there had to be a dress somewhere in the pile of clothes. It would probably help if she weren’t so tired, but Saturday and Sunday night she’d tossed in bed, somewhere between dreaming and being half-awake. And every time she did dream, it was to see those red eyes, which she’d convinced herself this morning had to have been Cain’s taillights or something.
Her theory was riddled with holes. Like for instance, she’d seen him with red eyes in the big top the night he’d nearly caused her to break her neck. She’d been trying to convince herself that he’d been wearing some sort of freaky contacts and that he wore sunglasses in school because of extreme eye sensitivity, anything other than the fact that he had honest-to-God red eyes.
She flung item after item over her shoulder, moving the large pile from in front of her to behind her, one piece at a time. Finally she found a soft teal-blue sleeveless sundress. She sniffed it.
There’d been a time when that wouldn’t have been necessary. But ever since she’d taken over keeping house, well… Things had slid downhill a little.
Satisfied that it was good enough, she slipped it on, brushed her teeth, did something with her hair. Hated it and decided to just let it hang, as usual, then put on some eye shadow. Hated it, but didn’t have time to scrub it off. With a groan, she sprinted to the kitchen.
“Dad?”
He was at the counter, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper, looking fresh and clean and wearing a pair of slacks and a blue button-down shirt.
He glanced up with a smile, and then his eyes widened and the mug stilled by his lips. “Wow, baby, you look—”
Running her hands down the front of her dress, she headed to the fridge and grabbed the first thing she saw. Which happened to be a bottle of orange juice and an almost completely brown banana. She grimaced but grabbed them anyway. “Didn’t expect to see you up so early.”
He shrugged. “Someone’s gotta stock that fridge, right?”
She frowned. “In slacks and a nice shirt?”
“Yeah, about that.” He folded the paper and set it down on the counter, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m inviting Katy over for dinner tonight.”
“Whoa.” She plopped down on the stool beside him, her stomach knotted up for an entirely different reason. “Isn’t this moving kind of fast?”
His brows dropped. “No. I’m a forty-year-old man, Flinty… I’m not some boy trying to flirt, and I’m pretty sure she knows that.”
Peeling the banana open slowly, Flint barely refrained from rolling her eyes, sick in her gut at the thought of some blond stand-in eating at their kitchen table tonight. No wonder he was going shopping. He’d never bothered to do it for her.
Resentment curled its claws in her as she ate the disgusting and overly ripe fruit. “Bananas don’t go in the fridge, Dad.”
He sighed. “Flint, it
’s been a year. I’m not the type that can…” Swallowing hard, he pressed his lips together.
She took a sip of the juice and then scraped the stool back as she stood. “Look, I can’t stop you. What do you expect me to say?”
A hurt look flitted in his eyes. “Weren’t you the one telling me to get out and date? That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“No.” She jerked her book bag onto her shoulder. “I told you that it was time to stop drinking and grow up! Not move on to the first bimbo who bats her lashes at you.”
“Katy’s not like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “And how would you know, Dad? You’ve known her all of what? Two weeks?”
Then she heard the squeal of the school bus.
“I gotta go before I miss my bus.”
“She’s coming over, Flint.”
“I heard you the first time.”
She didn’t look back because she knew if she did, she’d start crying. Flint hadn’t expected it to hurt this bad. She was almost eighteen for crying out loud, all grown-up. Shouldn’t she be able to handle her dad moving on?
But as she boarded the bus, she had a sick feeling that this day was only going to get worse.
And it did.
She didn’t know why she’d expected Cain to suddenly change. Maybe because he’d driven her home last night. And because he’d been halfway nice by the time he’d dropped her off.
But the second she entered homeroom, she knew. This time, not only was he wearing his shades, but he also had on a pair of earbuds, and the tinny strain of rock music annoyed her all through class.
She kept glancing at Mr. Wickham, expecting him to take Cain to task like he’d done her on the first day of school. But no, completely oblivious.
And Cain… might as well have been a statue for all that he noticed her.
Feeling all sorts of stupid for wearing a dress, sure that he knew it was because of him, she wanted to kick herself. Really hard.
Of course he didn’t care. Why would he? Nothing had changed. He’d driven her home.
And as her anger mounted, so did her stupid. Before she had time to realize what she was doing, it was already done. She’d torn a sheet of paper out of her binder and crumpled it into a ball, then thrown it at his chest as hard as she could.
He glared down at the white ball in his lap like it offended him.
That seemed to get his attention. Turning, she felt his glare like scalding water.
“What?” he growled.
Annoyed with herself, hurt by her father, she said the first thing that popped into her head. “I really hate you.”
He smirked. “I think we already established that, princess.”
“And why do you wear so much cologne?” she said with a snarl. “It’s really distracting.”
He leaned forward, tugging the earbuds out of his ear. “What did you just say?”
She had to be going crazy, because she could swear that his voice just growled. Like animal growled, reverberating with the echo of something deep and throaty. She shivered, both hot and cold, heart banging hard against her ribs.
“Cain and Flint, why am I not surprised?” Mr. Wickham gave her a scathing look. “Anything you’d like to share with the class?”
“Yeah, Flint says she needs to go to the bathroom; she just started her period.”
The guys in class erupted in laughter, the girls look embarrassed for her, and Flint just wanted to run away or punch him. She clenched her fist, anger beating so hard in the back of her throat she could taste it.
“I didn’t—”
“Ms. DeLuca, go to the office. Cain, stay after class.”
“What!” She jumped to her feet. “How come I have to go to the office?”
Mr. Wickham planted his hands on his hips. “Because this is your third offense, and only Cain’s first. Now gather your things and go.”
Ears flaming candy-apple red, she shoved her books into her bag and yanked it over her shoulder. Cain simply grinned at her, but she refused to rise to the bait. Lifting her nose high in the air, she walked out of class, attempting to ignore the jeers of the class behind her.
She hated him.
She really, really did.
~*~
“Oh my God, Flint!” Janet and Rhiannon squealed in unison. “We heard about today.”
“Cain is such a jerk,” Janet growled.
Abel nodded. “Told you.” He shoveled a fistful of fries in his mouth.
“So what happened?” Rhi peered at Flint with worried blue eyes.
“Got detention for thirty minutes,” Flint grumbled, drawing with her french fry in the pile of ketchup on her plate before finally tossing the soggy thing down with a loud sigh.
“Forgot to tell you earlier.” Abel glanced at her. “You look really nice today.”
Janet laughed. “Abel!”
“What?” He frowned. “Flint’s having a bad day, only trying to be nice.”
Flint smiled. Wrong brother, but… “Thanks, Abel.”
Feeling like a total jackass and needing some space, she got up. “I’m gonna sit out on the bleachers until lunch is over. Have a trig test next period and I want to get some studying in.”
Abel looked like he wanted to pout. “You want company?”
“No, thanks.” She picked up her tray, walked over to the trash can, and dumped it. She felt Cain’s stare on her. Even from all the way across the room, she felt it like a brand. Hot and sticky. But she wouldn’t look.
Flint walked out the back door and took a deep breath of the flower-laden air. Every step away from him felt better.
Why had he done that to her? She’d thought in the car maybe he’d finally gotten over whatever weirdness he’d felt, but no… today had been worse than ever.
Not to mention the fact that she’d acted like an idiot with her father this morning. If he wanted to start dating, he had every right. Maybe it was time she followed her own advice and let go of the past. Mom would never have wanted this.
A hot ball of tears had gathered in her throat by the time she finally reached the bleachers and sat.
Pulling her trig book out, she opened it to chapter two but couldn’t make out the page as her eyes swam with tears.
Chapter Twelve
Cain watched her walk out. A tight frown screwed his forehead.
Why had he embarrassed her that way this morning?
He hadn’t meant to.
But she’d told him she could smell him.
She’d smelled him.
He clenched his jaw, stuffing half his sandwich in his mouth with one bite as a cold sweat broke out on his back.
Cain dropped his head, not used to feeling this out of sorts about anything. Why was this bothering him so much?
Seth elbowed him in the ribs. “Hive at four o’clock.”
Clenching his jaw at the mere mention, he looked as the group of hive at the farthest table got up and dumped their trays, then headed in single file out the same door Flint had walked through a minute ago.
“Janet,” he barked, gesturing for her to come over.
“What?” she snarled.
And for a second he was shocked, not used to Janet acting like that with him. Of all the people who knew who he really was, she was one of the few he actually got along with.
Unless of course… she was taking Flint’s side.
“Come here,” he said, using his authority over her.
Her body went rigid. She hated when he used his right as master over her, but Janet was his kanlungan, which meant whether she liked it or not, she had to do what he said.
Reluctantly she walked up to him, each movement forced as her eyes gathered with the darkness that lurked in her soul. “What do you want?”
“I want you to tail Flint.”
“Excuse me, what?” She crossed her small arms over her neon-green shirt. “You mean the girl you humiliated in class today? She’s my friend, Cain.” Her eyes were almost fully black. She g
lanced at Seth and Eli. “I know she’s not hive,” she whispered. “Your goons already told me”—she ignored the twins when they huffed—“which means she’s safe.”
Her words were like a knife twisting in his heart. “Look, she’s important, okay. Hive wants her.”
That snapped the anger right out of her. Her eyes widened. “Why?”
Cain was very aware of Abel’s eyes on them—his brother was trying hard to hear what they were whispering about. Abel still didn’t have a clue about the world around them, and Cain meant to keep it that way for as long as he could.
“I’m not sure,” he said, remembering what the drone had said before he’d killed her. Did they think Flint was somehow the key to mastering him? The back of his skull ached with a low throb. “I want you to just stand outside and make sure they leave her alone.”
“Then why don’t you do it?” She twisted her lips, the defiance coming back.
Clenching his jaw, he gripped the edge of the table. “Just do what I told you to do, Kanlungan.”
She hissed, then whirled around, heading back to her table. But he knew her eyes would be normal again by the time Abel saw her.
“I’m gonna go outside and check on Flint,” she said woodenly. “Come on, Rhi.”
Rhiannon frowned but nodded. For once there wasn’t a snappy comeback from her.
“I’m coming,” Abel said, making to stand.
“No.” Janet tossed a dirty look back at Cain. “Just girl time. Finish your lunch.”
Then the girls were gone.
Abel glowered, swallowed his chocolate milk in one gulp, and then marched to Cain’s table, planting his hands on top. “What did you say to her?”
“None of your business.”
Abel shook his head, disgust and fury burning bright in his brown eyes, and for a split second Cain saw the vein in Abel’s left arm bulge. His heart sank. He’d protected Abel for years, never wanting this life for his baby brother. But he couldn’t stop genetics no matter how much he wished he could.