She won’t let Nathan see her falter, but she steps away from him. She stands strong on her promises; even if it means hurting herself. “Son, you heard what I said.” Tears roll from her eyes, and her soft voice shakes as she tries to hold in the grief. “I’ve been back and forth with you two for the past few months. But this,” she points to Taylor’s shivering body, “has gone too far. She cannot handle this alone, Nathan.” She takes a breath to calm herself. “I know you and Tracey have a lot going on. I, too, am not sure of what Taylor’s intentions were, but we love our family regardless of what they’ve done to harm or hurt us.” Nobody speaks as she takes a long pause. “Roehl was not our family, never has been and never will be.” She shoots Nathan a deadly scowl, expression and voice hardening as she adds, “And it is your fault he isn’t dead.”
Little Nathan helps Taylor as the three of them pass Nathan and me to head upstairs. The basement door slams, causing the pictures on the walls to rattle and a couple to crash to the floor.
“Agh!” Nathan grunts, kicking the shredded couch across the other half of the basement. It skates across the floor, plowing a couch-sized hole into the wall.
I cross the floor to him, trying to force my fingers through his tightly balled fists. “Accept it, Nathan.”
He relaxes his fists, and my fingertips slide over his palm. His nails made deep indentations in his skin. “She’s wrong for that shit,” he grumbles. His high shoulders fall, and the blush fades from his ears as he expels a sigh.
“Come on. Lay down with me.” I pull Nathan to the bedroom in the basement. Thankfully, it’s gone untouched. A bed, dresser, and nightstand crowd the small room. A window above the dresser lets in the light of late afternoon, so I don’t concern myself with turning on the light—a single lamp sitting on the black nightstand. I lay us down with his head resting against my chest. Our bodies settle on the mattress, and I take in the silence, running my fingers through his shorter hair on the sides of his head. It helps us both.
When comfort settles in, Nathan slams his arm against the wall, causing the brick to crack.
“Um, if you keep destroying the house, we may have to move,” I say.
Tilting his head back, he meets my gaze. “Why are they fucking with me?”
“I don’t have an answer for that.” I lean my head against the headboard, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Your mom just wants you to help your sister.”
“Something’s wrong with her. It’s like after the many times our father tried to kill us. He’s family, Nathan, and we love family,” he echoes his mother’s words. “I sat back and let him live, and he damn near took our lives. What makes them think I’m going to allow family to take us down again? You know what I say?”
“What?”
“Fuck family.”
I recline as he goes on about his mom. He pauses, grumbling. I ask, “What’d your mom mean by it being your fault that Roehl’s not dead?”
“I knew that was coming,” he mutters under his breath.
“Okay. . ?” I move to sit in front of him. “I want the entire story.”
He leans up on his elbows and stares at me. I lift my brows impatiently. “Roehl’s our father’s son. But he wasn’t born to my mother. My father and a female Hybrid conceived him a couple of years before I was born. They had him live with us for a while when his mother couldn’t handle him, thinking if they put us together, we’d help each other with prevailing over our beast. But for Roehl, there was no conquering the beast. The beast conquered him. Right before Scott was born, my father sent Roehl away. He hated anything or anyone not Sephlem. You know that. Roehl is Burdened, but what made him so much worse, his blood was tainted by Hybrid as well. And with your confirming my father was Burdened and Hybrid, I can see why Roehl was affected by it so intensely.” Nathan lies on his back and stares at the ceiling as he continues. “When I was opposed to my family’s greater good, he and I linked up. We didn’t care about much besides what we were and what we wanted to become. Like he said, we did everything together, and at the time, I did look at him as a brother. Those were my bad days as my family would say. Ruthless, he and I were. No hostages. No witnesses. Nobody told us no, and no one dared to challenge us. We were so well known that others joined us. The twins who stood with him, Linden and Lawrence, were with us too. We were just…” he pauses and takes a breath. “Not good people. But we had each other’s backs. He was more family than any of these people.”
“So, what happened?” Half of me wants to know, but the other half is nervous to find out.
He shrugs. “Later, my family tried to convince me to leave that life. I, um, wanted the freedom to live without restraints—living with my Burdened instead of against it. Fighting, killing, feeding, partying, being away from here, away from my father. I didn’t want their convincing. I didn’t care. I complained about them to Roehl, and one day he got it in his head that he would help me get them off my back. So, one day, my entire family came to where he and I were living. They’d tried to play it like an intervention or something.” Nathan sits up and pulls my legs from being crossed under me to being draped over his. Eyes locked on mine, he informs, “He had tried to kill them, Sparks. All of them. A one-man army. He’d yelled about how he and I were going to rule the world together, and how I didn’t want to go with them. As you can see, I stopped him. I left him that day, and he’d warned me not to. He was like a pissed off girlfriend and swore if I didn’t come back, he’d come for me. He has a serious obsession problem. Everything I have, he’s wanted. This is going to sound cocky but, he wants to be me, and since he can’t, he wants the next best thing. Everything—anything—I have.”
I turn up my nose. “That sounds weird, Nate.”
“He was weird, I mean, he was, like, really crazy about getting me back.”
I nod, encouraging him to continue.
“Years had passed. Back then, we had a different housekeeper, and I’d come home from school one day to find her body chopped up and spread across our kitchen table. He was the one who did it, it was his style of killing. He likes displays, not just killing, but the presentation of it. I liked her a lot, she made the best potato knish. It wasn’t fair that Martha had to die because of us. At this time, I was still trying to manage control and separate the man from the beast. Taylor used to tell it to me like that.” Nathan clears his throat before continuing. “I’d walked through the house, smelling for Roehl. His scent was strong, overpowering everything else in our house. I’d followed it to my mother’s room.” Nathan stops and purses his lips. I can’t tell if he’s thinking or preparing himself for whatever he would say next. “Argh.” He grumbles and rushes, “He’d raped her and brought her to her last breath. She was really bad off. My father was nowhere to be found—at that moment.”
I cringe, unable to make my brain process that. How terrible of an experience that had to have been for Natalia. The shock from someone not being her mate touching her and that.
“Before I had attacked him,” Nathan continues, “Roehl had warned me I’d need my father to heal my mother, and if I wanted him back, I needed to listen.” He rolls his eyes, and I listen as if the words were said to me. “I’d mastered mind control and possession by now, and as he had gone over his ‘the importance of my return’ speech, which was no different from why everyone else wanted me, all I could focus on was taking him over and killing him. He had brought out my father. He was bad off too, but well enough to heal my mom. She was traumatized, Sparks. After that, the world didn’t make sense to her for a long time.” He rubs his hand down his face and his eyes cross. “But wrapping up this long-ass inconvenience of a Newcomb history lesson. He and I had fought, throwing the best of what we had at each other. He matched my ability of control, but I was stronger and able to overpower him. Dropping him to his knees, I wrapped my hand around his neck, strangling the life out of him. Through scattered breaths, he’d begged me not to kill him. Roehl begs for nothing from no one, so it caught me off gua
rd. He’d apologized and told me that if I didn’t kill him, he’d stay away. He just wanted me to come back, and he loved me as a brother and a friend. I was there for him when he had nothing.”
“And you didn’t kill him,” I cut in, voice quieter than I intend for it to be.
“Like an idiot, I let him go, banning him from our family. He left willingly, no hassle, no fight. And he kept his word, he never returned.” Nathan rubs his hands over my knees, keeping himself at ease. “I’d heard rumors of him getting worse and that he’s frequently asked about me and requested I visit him. I refused, unable to forgive him for what he’d done to my mom.” Gesturing with his hand, he beckons me closer. “And eight years later, he’s invited to come back.”
“Did Taylor know about what happened?”
“Yes. Everyone knows.” He kisses my cheek, easing the remainder of his discomfort. “And that’s why I don’t understand why she’d go to him. Sparks, they busted their asses trying to get me to come home, trying to bring me down, showing me this life is better than that one. It took years for me to change. And Taylor, she put the most effort into it, and then Scott. She’s seen me spaz out, she’s seen me lose all control, and she’d often have to lose control just to control me. But ever since I let Roehl go, I’ve never let anyone who’s crossed me or my family live, always thinking they’d come back and do something worse, all because I let my guard down and let my feelings get the best of me. And my mother wants to make me obligated to help Taylor.”
Her promise of banning him echoes in my head. “You think she’d do it?”
He nods. “It wouldn’t last, but she’d do it.”
“And your being banned will hurt us how?”
“We’d be separated from the family, giving us no place to live, having that ache in our backs that there’s a clan of Newcombs we belong to but won’t accept us because of the unwelcoming effect of being rejected by our family.”
“Then you’re going to help Taylor?”
“You think I should?”
“Yes,” I answer honestly. “But not because you don’t want your mother to ban you, but because she’s your sister and Taylor has always been there for you.”
“Really?” he asks, surprised.
“You don’t want your sister to die, nor do you want to kill her. Did she mess up? Yeah, but we’ve all done some things that have resulted in us hating ourselves. What she did was horrible, and maybe I even dislike her for it. . . a lot, but we need to take care of Roehl. She will be our way to do that.”
“And how would that be?”
I shrug. Smirking, I smoothly avert the topic. “But what I do know is we have this room and the entire basement to ourselves.” I push him to lie back on the bed. “And I’ve been waiting to get you alone for a long time.”
His warm hands slip under my shirt and grab at my waist. “Is that right?”
“Um-hum,” I hum, kissing him once.
He pushes me back. “You do know it’s supposed to be my job to coerce you into having sex with me.”
“Oh? Well, we’ve switched roles.”
He flips me onto my back and kisses my chin. “Nah,” he breathes as he pushes across my hips to my thighs. I reach for his hands, making sure they’re his real hands and not some illusion. “They’re real, Sparky.”
Good. I lean up and kiss him. The craving intensifies, causing my hands to shake. “Nate, I need you.” The words burn my tongue as I let them slip. It drives me nuts needing another person; him being my ultimate everything, but I have to wait it out. It’s supposed to ease off its intensity any day now. . .
“Okay,” Nathan grants, grabbing at the button of my jeans. His love-spelled lips whisk across my neck and up to the sensitive skin behind my earlobe. A shudder arches my back and causes my chest to press against his.
“Hey, Nathan, Tracey?”
I sink back against the mattress, grumbling. We straighten before Nicholas can walk in.
“Why are you two down here in all this rubble? Come up, we’re having a meeting,” Nick says from the doorway, gesturing for us to follow. He’s so cute, looking like a younger version of Roseland but with a button nose and big brown eyes.
“It’s like a family meeting every other day,” I utter under my breath as we follow Nick out of the basement.
Nathan rubs my arms. “Later. Even if we have to go out into the woods,” he says through his teeth.
Chuckling, I whisper, “Not the woods.”
“I’m serious.”
firm certainty
Impatient eyes glower at us as we enter the great room. We take our regular seats, on a couch on the far end of the room sat against the wall, right beneath a painting that depicts a night at sea with a storm thrashing angry waves against a ship. It’s the length of the couch and a good five feet tall. We’ve been in and out of family meetings since Taylor began quivering around the house, and Nathan was forced to tell everyone what had happened with her and Roehl.
Roseland stands, crossing his arms. “Thank you two for finally joining us,” he articulates, dragging his irritated gaze away from us. No one is a huge fan of these meetings every day. “We have some things we need to discuss,” he starts. “First, the company.” His gaze shifts to Nathan. “How are things coming along with missing a partner?”
“Overwhelming,” Nathan answers. “But everything’s on track, moving slower than I’d like, but on track.” Nathan hasn’t been as involved as much as he’d like, just available when they call. He has someone to do the administrative work but is working on hiring a second person for the management of inventory and shipments. The hiring process is moving slow though.
“Good to hear. I’ve been considering taking the vacancy if it’s okay with you?”
Nathan sits forward, rubbing his hands together. “I don’t see why it’d be a problem. You know the business, and it would be great to have the help and the second eye on things as it was before.” Nathan seriously disliked his dad, but when it came down to his baby, he appreciated the extra help. Now, he’s overbooked and overworked. Roseland coming on as his partner will probably relieve him of a lot of stress.
“Excellent, we’ll discuss this further at the office.” Turning to his left, Roseland asks, “Mother, you wanted to speak?”
“Yes, I did.” As Natalia stands, Roseland sits.
And here we go, Nathan irritably vents, slouching on the couch.
Natalia’s sobered face matches his, but both their eyes read their disappointment in each other. “Today,” she starts, “Nathan was offered the options to either help Taylor in this battle against Roehl or be banned from our family.” Chatter and disputes echo throughout the room, scolding her options. “Enough!” Natalia commands, voice charging through the ruckus like a train.
Nathan rubs his right eye as if her address doesn’t bother him, but I know it does when he grabs my hand.
“Now,” she continues, “what was said has been said. Nathan needs to decide.”
Without hesitation, Nathan rises, gaze locked on Taylor. She’s gained a twitch, and her eyes shake as her gaze lifts to Nathan. “I will help you,” he states evenly and then turns to Natalia’s smiling face. “And after I help her, Mother, Sparks and I are leaving.”
Huh? “Nathan?” I grab his arm as he sits. Trying to zone out all the chatter that’s erupted from Nathan’s reveal, I ask him, What are you saying?
We aren’t dealing with this shit anymore. I refuse to be threatened into doing things I don’t want to. My family puts me through more shit than those I go against out there.
“Son,” Natalia calls, pulling us from our conversation. “Why?” she asks in a way that makes her voice rise and fall at the same time. The pride that once lifted her cheeks washes away, and the frown makes her cheeks droop in the shape of teardrops. Her knit brows tremble, but those intense amber eyes stay strong.
Nathan goes to stand again, but I keep him seated. “Wait, Nate. Think about this for a minute,” I say, not wa
nting him to say something he’s going to regret.
“No, Sparks, I’m not.” He rises. “It’ll be safer for the two of us,” he says to Natalia, but addresses everyone’s questions. “I can’t stay here knowing I’ll get pressured into doing things I don’t want to or jeopardize being banned from my family that I’ve saved and protected from our enemies, including our own family countless times. We won’t stay here knowing my family will give us up because they can’t wait or come to family first.”
Taylor jumps to her feet. “Nathan, you cannot leave us! I made a mistake, and I am sorry! But we stick together!”
“Apparently not,” he drawls, looking away from her to his mom. “You have your way, Mother. I’ll help your daughter, but we won’t stay here. I’ll ban myself.”
Natalia blinks. Her filling eyes overflow with tears dropping on her cheeks and skate to her chin. She’s silent but louder than she knows.
“You can’t just go and leave me here,” Little Nathan objects. He winces; the effects of his inner protective shield still advancing.
I hope, one day, his pain lets up; his agony’s written all over him. Little Nathan isn’t Burdened, but they all have a protective shield that grows with them, and because it’s intact with their entire being, it’s stretching and strengthening is intensely felt, like bones realigning—or so I’ve been told.
“I won’t, bro,” Nathan tells him. “You’ll come.” He sits beside me, avoiding meeting my eyes.
Tracey, you cannot let him—
“Get out of her head, Taylor!” Nathan snaps.
She was only going to try to convince me to talk to him; he needs to bring it down a notch. I grab his hand. “Nate, calm down,” I tell him quietly. “You’re too worked up right now.”
He grumbles, irritated that I’m forcing him to cool off.
The many eyes of onlookers’ lock onto us. They all say words of sadness and disappointment.
Brazen: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 2) Page 5