Marked (Valeterra Series Book 1)

by Jennifer Reynolds

  The odd thing about his not speaking to me was that after a while I was certain that he wasn’t doing it on purpose. Every time we were together, someone was with us, and they were always talking over us. Jackson would open his mouth to speak to me, and someone would interrupt him or pull my attention from him.

  Whenever I mentioned it to Stephanie, she insisted that everything was normal, but that she would talk to him about it. If she did, though, she never said.

  Other than the no talking and the barely seeing each other, he still took care of Azure and me. The weekend after Azure came to stay with me, the owner of the grocery store told me that he was to send our bill to Jackson. I tried to argue with the man, but he refused my money and the next day he even sent one of his sons by the apartment with more food. The boy told me that Jackson saw the receipt, said it wasn’t enough food and supplies for the two of us and told him to bring more.

  I didn’t argue anymore with anyone about anything when it came to such things after that. If Jackson wanted to take care of us in that way, I would let him. Azure was technically his responsibility after all.

  33.

  ~~~ Jackson~~~

  “I’m starting to worry about this,” Aunt Rose said to me one afternoon after spending the evening with the kids at the bookstore and watching me try and fail to speak with Valerie.

  “You’re starting to worry. I’ve been worried for weeks now. My behavior isn’t natural. That poor woman thinks I hate her. She’s my mate, and I can’t even say hello to her,” I said, slumping onto my sofa and downing a shot of whiskey.

  “I can imagine that this is frustrating.” After a long pause, she continued. “Explain to me what you feel in those seconds surrounding a possible conversation with her.”

  Aunt Rose sat primly across from me with her cane across her lap, waiting for my answer.

  “I don’t feel anything,” I say. “I don’t feel an aversion to Valerie or repulsed by her. I just lack the ability to say anything. I open my mouth, and nothing comes out. I’ve also noticed that others—people who barely speak to me—pick those moments to approach me. They appear compelled to talk to me. Even Azure and Stephanie have said they’ve felt that way. One minute they don’t have anything to say to me, but the next, when they see me approaching Valerie, something important pops into their head that they have to tell me right then.”

  “That is peculiar. What have you done to look into the matter?”

  “Not much, to be honest. I’ve asked around. None of the shifters or weres I’ve spoken with have ever had this problem. Neither have the elves or pixies. I’ve thought about a spell, but Tamera didn’t sense one, and Talia said she’d never heard of one that could do this.”

  “Hmm. I’ll ask some experts in Valeterra City. I’ll also ask a friend of mine, Mrs. Myrtle. You remember her, right?”

  I nodded but didn’t speak. I’d met the woman a few times in my life, but she didn’t leave her home often. Her ancestor was the seer who had predicted the merging of the two worlds. Mrs. Myrtle kept all the things the seer saw and foretold at her home. At least one being from each race in Valeterra helped guard the secrets as well.

  “She’ll be in the city this week,” Aunt Rose said without missing a beat. “I’ll ask her. She’s one of the oldest witches I know, and she is a keeper of their histories and spells. Surely she’ll know something.”

  What Aunt Rose meant was that maybe the seer predicted such an occurrence, since nothing like what was happening to me had ever happened before. Now that we were dealing with humans, anything was possible.

  “Thank you. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. I can only imagine what this is doing to Valerie.”

  “Maybe you should let Stephanie and I tell her what is going on with you. At least then she’ll know you don’t hate her.”

  “Soon but not yet.”

  She merely shook her head at me.

  34.

  ~~~Valerie~~~

  I was in Greenleaf about two months without any problems aside from some misbehaving children. I didn’t have to deal with that much either after Jackson found out about the first incident. He quickly made the decision that if he couldn’t be at the bookstore in the afternoons, then one of his guards would be there in his stead. The guards deterred most of the kids from acting out and even caused a few to stop coming.

  I worried about that last one. I worried that the kids were telling tales to their family or guardians about me and about why they stopped coming to the bookstore. I worried about where they were spending their time and what they were doing. I voiced my fears to Stephanie and Jackson, but neither seemed concerned. Stephanie told me that Jackson personally informed the parents or guardians of every misbehaved child of the child’s behavior. She promised me that there weren’t any horrible rumors going around about me.

  The lack of rumors probably had more to do with the fact that the kids who acted out the most were the new kids who had come to Greenleaf the weekend I took in Azure. Some of them weren’t going to be in town long because they would go to distant family members when the orphanage found said family member or the child would soon be old enough to live on their own and would go where Valeterra needed them.

  I feared they, more than anyone else, would spread rumors outside Greenleaf about me, as some of the more disruptive of them seemed to hate me.

  Ms. Talia informed me and all of her kids the first week the newcomers had arrived that they didn’t have to go to my bookstore if they didn’t want to go. The more I was around the woman, the more I sensed that she didn’t care for me much. Most chose to until they realized that Jackson or his guards would be there every day from about an hour before the kids were to arrive until well after they left. Once they realized that someone would be watching them, they only came sporadically, as there wasn’t much else to do in our little town, and most of the native kids gravitated to the store.

  The kids didn’t do much that was out of the ordinary for troublemaking kids until one afternoon when I overheard them calling me names to Azure and telling her that she was a traitor to their people for living with me. They even told her that I helped create the virus that killed her parents.

  When she burst into tears, I intervened.

  They had cornered her in the back of the store. I hadn’t immediately registered Azure and the kids’ disappearance because another student, one of the new ones, had started asking me about Earth and the United States. I don’t know if she was in on the event or if the three boys and two girls that had lured Azure off to berate her took advantage of the opportunity. The child to this day swears she knew nothing about what they had planned.

  I was in the middle of explaining to the girl what little I knew about Snapchat when I noticed that Azure was missing. Giving the girl an excuse that I thought I remembered reading a passage in a young adult book that described that form of social media and that I would look for the book, I went in search of Azure.

  When I arrived, the oldest boy was kneeling beside Azure who had curled her body up against a shelf and was crying. He was telling her that I worked for the United States government and that I was a plant to worm my way into Jackson’s heart so that I could see the inner workings of the Valeterrian government. He told her that I had her parents killed so that I could get to Jackson through her.

  “Enough,” I said, showing myself. How the kids hadn’t sensed my approach, I didn’t know unless the smell of Azure’s pain and sorrow, which was so pungent that I could smell it, had distracted them. Or they had sensed me and hadn’t cared.

  All five kids froze.

  “I want all of you to leave here right now. I don’t ever want to see you near this building or Azure again. I’ll be having words with Ms. Talia as soon as the rest of the kids leave.”

  “You can’t kick us out of here. This store belongs to our alpha. Only Mr. Nichols can…” one of the girls started to say. I don’t remember who she was. I was so mad at that moment the only p
erson I was looking at was Azure.

  “I can do what I like in my store. Now, I said get out.” I flung my left arm behind me and pointed to the door. The kids jumped. Three did as I ordered. The others only looked at me with shocked expressions on their face.

  “If you don’t leave my store this instant…”

  Before I could say a word, a roar came from the front of the building, and the remaining kids beat feet. I didn’t follow to investigate who had made the sound or why.

  I knelt down beside Azure, but I didn’t touch her. I didn’t know if she would want me to. I was afraid that she believed the kids and was afraid of me or blamed me.

  “Did any of them touch you…hurt you?” I asked instead.

  She shook her head.

  “Good. Your uncle will be here any second. I’ll tell him what happened and make him take you to his house. I don’t want you going back to that orphanage. If I had my say, you wouldn’t go to school with those kids either, but I know that isn’t my place…”

  “You don’t want me anymore?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

  “Oh honey, that isn’t it at all. I just didn’t think you wanted to stay with me after what those kids said.” I inched toward her.

  “You didn’t create the virus or have my parents killed, did you?”

  “No, of course not. I was barely out of high school when the plague started killing off your people. I was an English major, not a chemist or whatever you need to be to create something like that.”

  “Did humans create it?”

  “Not that I am aware. From the way Stephanie described things, we didn’t know your world existed until about ten years or so ago. I know that is about the time the virus started, but something like this takes years of planning. Humans would have had to know about Valeterra long before the quakes. Again, I’m not saying it isn’t a possibility, but I find it doubtful.”

  “Then I don’t want to leave you,” she said, throwing her arms around me. I pulled her to me as she cried.

  Jackson rounded the corner of the bookshelf less than a minute later, Stephanie and Mrs. Rose on his heels.

  “She’s okay,” I said, rocking Azure.

  “What happened,” Mrs. Rose demanded. Stephanie sat down on the other side of Azure and began patting the girl’s back.

  I told them what I’d overheard and what I said all the while looking at Jackson as I spoke. I didn’t even take my eyes off him when I told him what they said about me trying to get him.

  “I know Stephanie said that you guys wanted me here to find a mate and to reproduce, but that isn’t why I came. I came for this store, and I’m staying for Azure unless my leaving is what is best for her,” I said to him.

  He just looked at me. Anger blazed in his eyes. I could also tell by how his features rippled that he was doing all he could to stay human. I wished he would change because that would at least be him doing something other than simply standing there.

  “Well, say something,” I finally snapped at Jackson. “I’m sick and tired of you not talking to me. Now is not the time to give me the silent treatment.”

  He opened and closed his mouth. He growled in frustration and tried to speak again.

  “He can’t talk to you, sweetie,” Mrs. Rose said, touching my shoulder to calm me.

  “Excuse me,” I said, though I watched the shocked expression on Jackson’s face.

  “That’s why I’m in town,” Mrs. Rose said to Jackson. “Jackson and I were discussing his inability to speak to you the other day. Don’t get me wrong, my grandson is naturally laconic, but you’ve been here for a while now, and he hasn’t been able to say one word to you. There was something unnatural about that, so I asked Myrtle, a dear friend of mine, to look into it.”

  At my questioning look, she said, “Myrtle is a witch who is older than me by many years. Through magic, she’s learned that someone has put a spell on him to prevent him from interacting with you verbally.”

  “Who would do such a thing?” I asked, instantly shifting from anger at Jackson to wanting to defend him against this unknown person.

  “We aren’t sure yet. There aren’t any witches in the area powerful enough to create a spell that would last this long or powerful enough to constantly recreate it once it started waning.”

  “But why would this person do this? Who did you piss off?” I turned and demanded of Jackson.

  He looked shocked and angered by the accusation, making me ashamed of insinuating it.

  “The answer to both questions is that I don’t know,” Mrs. Rose said. “To most likely scare you off him or frighten him off you. As you’ve discovered this afternoon, not all supernaturals are open to having humans in our world, especially not ones who have the potential of mating with one of us and bearing our children.”

  “Do you think that whoever cursed him would do the same to me?” I asked.

  “You think someone has cursed you?” Mrs. Rose asked, sounding upset at the notion.

  I had turned my attention to Rose as I spoke, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jacksons’ nostrils flare as he took a few steps toward me.

  “Well, I think it’s more of a practical joke instead of a curse.” I shifted Azure in my arms and pulled off my glove to show everyone my palm.

  “I have a mating mark, but no mate,” I said. “I’m betting that whoever cursed him thought I might run screaming if I got this so soon after coming here. I haven’t been in physical contact with many people since I arrived and none of those that I have touched have a mark.”

  “I don’t think so, sweetie,” Mrs. Rose said, examining my hand thoroughly. “The mark looks too real to be a joke, but I’ll ask Myrtle to see you when she comes to Greenleaf to see Jackson.”

  “Thank you. Can Myrtle remove it either way?” I saw and felt Jackson tense beside me. He moved even closer to me, but not close enough to touch me.

  “If it is real, why would you want to remove it?” Azure asked. As always, she was caught up in the fairytale of it all.

  “Because I’m pretty sure that whoever my mate is, if this is real, doesn’t want to be my mate, and I don’t want him to feel obligated to me.”

  I purposely didn’t look at anyone but Azure while I spoke.

  A sad look spread across the young girl’s face, but she didn’t say anything else. Stephanie glared at Jackson. Jackson scowled back at her. Mrs. Rose turned and headed back to the front of the store, and I helped Azure clean her face with a wet rag someone had placed in my hand before we all followed Rose.

  The subject officially closed.

  35.

  ~~~Jackson~~~

  “Mrs. Hensley,” I said in greeting, shaking the older witch’s hand.

  Four days had passed since Aunt Rose told me that Myrtle suspected that I was in fact under a curse—one that made it impossible for me to speak to Valerie. For those four days, I spent almost all of my time with Valerie, trying to break said curse by sheer force of will. I did not confirm that I was her mate and that I’d had a witch spell my mark. I would do that when I could speak to her.

  Stephanie, Aunt Rose, Azure, and even Valerie had experimented with different things for me to try to say to her or situations in which I could speak to her. None of them had worked. I didn’t remind them that under the disguise of her neighbor, Nick, I had spoken to her on several occasions. I should have, but I couldn’t bring myself to reveal that deception, fearing that Valerie would stop believing that someone had cursed me. If she stopped believing, she’d go back to thinking I disliked her, and I couldn’t have that now that I was close to being able to claim her.

  “Mr. Nichols,” Mrs. Hensley said in return, allowing me to guide her to my living room. Rose and Stephanie, who were standing behind her, followed us.

  We met at my cabin and not the apartment to keep the entire ordeal out of prying eyes. Rose didn’t want anyone in the town knowing that Mrs. Hensley was here. Her presence would be a dead giveaway to the witch who had cast the spell tha
t we were onto her.

  “So someone has cursed you,” the witch said, taking a seat in a high back chair and looking at me with an amused expression.

  “I don’t know that for a fact. You’ve convinced Rose and Stephanie that I am, and it’s true that I can’t speak to the human that has arrived in our world...”

  “Except?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

  “Except, what?” I asked, knowing what she meant.

  “Your tone says you’re lying about not being able to talk to her.”

  “If I’m lying, then you are as well. If I’m able to speak to Valerie, then I haven’t been cursed.”

  “Jackson, what is she talking about?” Rose asked, sounding more than a little irritated at my disrespectful/combative tone.

  I glared at her, annoyed that she would automatically believe a stranger over me.

  “I knew you were lying to me,” Rose said, eyeing me skeptically.

  Mrs. Hensley only stared at me when I turned my glare on her.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ve been pretending to be Valerie’s neighbor, Nick, and when I’m pretending to be him, I can talk to her. That means that I can talk to her and it means that I’m not cursed. So why can’t I say a word when I’m myself?”

  “Do you dress differently or wear a mask? Why can’t she see it is you?” Myrtle asked.

  “I talk to her under cover of darkness. Most nights I stay in the apartment across the street from her. She only sees me at night, and I’m always on my balcony. Our nights are dark, but I try to stay in the shadow, just in case.”

  “I see,” Myrtle said, thinking things over. After a bit of pacing, she said, “I still believe you’re cursed.”

  “But how?” I asked, throwing my hands up in frustration.

  “You said it yourself. You were pretending to be someone else. Spells are tricky and literal. I guess the person—most likely a woman—said something like, and remember I’m guessing and simplifying things, ‘Bind Jackson’s tongue when he’s speaking to Valerie.’ Therefore, the spell only works when Jackson is talking to her.”