“That’s what I was thinking,” I said.
He rolled his shoulders as he glanced over at me. “We’ll just have to roll with it I guess.”
Still, the foreboding situation didn’t sit well with me and the pit in my stomach was making me think, f *** that, but I had to ignore it. We’d have to deal with the Cearer being around when the queen arrived. After all, maybe she’d enjoy the reunion with her subject, Italia?
I would love to tell you that Gearden and I made friends with the Cearer while we waited for the queen and her posse to join the party, and that later we played charades, but that would have been a big, steaming pile of horse crap. What actually happened was that I sat anxiously on the bench, chewing on my thumb and whatever else came in close proximity of my mouth, while Gearden paced in front of me. We made the Cearer nervous but I pretended not to notice. Which was actually pretty easy when you are deaf. Want to ignore someone? Don’t look at them. They can’t get your attention and you don’t feel obliged to inform them of what had your panties in a wad if you just don’t glance their way. At one point, Bri came over with Julie following close on her heels, but Gearden rounded on her with a warning snarl. For a second, I wondered if his wolf had gotten the better of him, but one look at his clear, green eyes, and I knew Gearden was just on edge. Like one-bare-pinky-toe-clinging-with-its-nonexistent-nail-scraping-the-side-of-a-jagged-rocky cliff, sort of edge. Bri took the warning for what it was and after one quick glance my way, ushered a bewildered and now curious Julie away.
Gearden had shot a message to his dad which I’m sure he received because the man pulled his phone out to glance at it. He didn’t give any other indication, but he probably couldn’t have. We were stuck. There was no getting around this. We couldn’t shove the Cearer out of the door when they hadn’t even had a chance to question me or anyone else for the reasons they were there in the first place. We were still waiting for Sally. Which reminded me –I checked my watch. She should arrive soon. But not before the queen, I guessed.
And I guessed right. Not a moment later, Queen Selena walked in with Jolleen, her two bodyguards in tow. She smiled widely to the room as a whole but I could see it in her eyes – she knew who was in her presence. I also had to assume that she thought they were here for me, but for prophecy reasons. Jumping up, I rushed to her, enveloping her in a big hug, my nervousness overriding any feeling of apprehension. With my mouth close to her ear, I whispered as quietly as I possibly could (and for a deaf person, that could mean bupkis), “No prophecy.”
Though I wanted her to be completely separated from the Cearer, I couldn’t help that now. The damage was done. What I didn’t want now was for her to start talking about prophecies with a group of people I didn’t trust. I trusted Julie, maybe, because of Bri, but that was it. Thorn gave me the heebie jeebies, and so did James and Pierce – well, let’s just say the heebie jeebies were in abundance in that room as far as the Cearer were concerned. I felt the queen give a nod of her head – a nod that only I could interpret – and I pulled away. She played along, thank the goddess, and squeezed my upper arms affectionately.
“Maeleigh, how are you?”
I smiled back, as genuinely as I could manage in my stressed state, and answered, “Good.” She let me go and I gracefully stepped to the side to allow her some room. Immediately, my place was taken by Julie who bowed her head and gave a little curtsy. The curtsy looked so weird in someone wearing jeans, but she didn’t bow as low as I’d expected. Selena was royalty and, if I understood correctly, Julie was one of her subjects – an Unseelie fae. But Julie only gave a polite bounce before straightening to greet Selena, “Queen Selena, how are you faring?”
“Julandi! So lovely to see you again. It’s been ages. I’m well, and yourself?” Selena asked, with a genuine smile.
Julie returned the gesture. “Well enough. We’ve been busy.”
Selena nodded and glanced to the other Cearer in the room before turning her gaze back to Julie. “So, it would appear.”
Before Julie could respond, Sally swept in, looking haggard: as if she’d been racing from wherever she had been to get here. I felt sorry for her. She was our only option as interpreters go, but she still had other responsibilities. Other jobs and places to be. The town wasn’t exceptionally small, but it was small enough for there to be too few interpreters to go around. The city needed to work on hiring more.
Dropping her bag onto the conference table, Sally attempted to smooth away the stray strands of brown hair that had escaped from what had probably started off as a tight bun and turned to look at Liam. Belatedly, she noticed the new faces in the room – all seven of them. A light blush tinted her cheeks but she stayed poised. “Hello,” she said, looking warmly at each group.
Liam started to make introductions. When he gestured to the queen, Sally noticed me and signed a quick “hello” before offering a hand for the queen to shake. Selena didn’t blink, but behind her, her muscle tensed. I glared at the one named Dom – both Luna and I were a little protective of Sally. Again, pack. But it felt like more. She was family. And we didn’t like that whatever Dom did seemed to create tension in Sally’s shoulders.
I stepped around Julie and gave the older woman a brief hug. When I pulled back, I signed, “We don’t need to discuss the prophecy.” Goodness! I hoped she not only questioned the why of it, but also hoped that no one else in the room knew how to sign. A guarded look flittered over her face before she recovered and nodded. Before anyone could take notice of our little conversation, she turned to Liam, signing as she spoke. “Shall we begin?”
Chapter Four
Maeleigh
Since the queen was here, she refused to wait somewhere else or reschedule our training. And it was too hard to make it plain that we didn’t want her here with the Cearer who would be able to watch the whole exchange. So, an hour later, there we all were, sitting around the long table and listening to Liam’s account of the events that had led to the trip into Westboro land. What he left out was that I had been the one to talk to Jerry, or that it was me who had first claimed him and his family as pack.
Something told me that that that omission wouldn’t be kept quiet for long, though. The fact that Julie looked all business told me she wasn’t some bubbling teen – if she was a teenager at all. You never knew with the others around here. It seemed like everyone had extended life spans. Who knew how old the faeries in the room were? They had a way of dodging the question about their age, and the vamps were a given – turns out all the stories weren’t completely off base regarding their age. Lycans were the only ones that seemed to have a lifespan closer to humans, but even then, Dad said he was over a hundred freaking years old. How the heck was that even possible?
Sally waved at me from across the table, snapping my attention back from the dead space I’d been staring at apparently. “Sorry. What?”
Sally repeated James’ question. “And did you attend this hunt, Annie?” I frowned when I heard the name. The guy knew my name, which meant he was trying to get a reaction from me on purpose. I guess he’d succeeded, because he looked satisfied with himself.
“Yes,” I said, signing for Sally as I spoke aloud. She was my voice, but I still liked to have one of my own. Especially in this. I didn’t give him more information than was necessary. Taking a page from the faeries’ book, I only answered direct questions with direct answers. If they didn’t ask, I wasn’t going to divulge any more than I had to.
Liam dropped his chin a little, telling me I was doing well.
“You’ve only just come into your wolf, though. Is that right?” Pierce questioned.
Nodding, I took my time, looking around the room before I answered, “That’s right.”
Again, he didn’t ask me why I had gone. Just whether my wolf was new to me. “Stick to the very basics, Maeleigh”, I told myself.
Pierce glanced at Liam, but the alpha was quick to switch his focus to the other wolf. At the other end of the table, with Dom a
nd Dom Two, standing behind her, Selena remained quiet, watching the whole exchange like a neutral party. She didn’t fool me though. I knew she was just as interested in my answers as were the Cearer five.
Catching Sally signing for Pierce again, my attention was pulled back. “Tell us what happened when you arrived, Maeleigh.”
“When we got to the parking lot, we all …"
“No.” I felt a vibration under my palm, coming from the table. Looking at Pierce, I didn’t need Sally to sign what he said next. “Tell me what happened when you arrived at the Westboro compound.”
My body started to shake a little, but I dared not let him see it. Gearden placed a hand on my thigh, stopping my leg from jumping before I even noticed it. “It was empty,” I stated.
“Empty?” James asked.
“Yes. No one was there, but it looked like they had a party the night before. We learned later that they were waiting for us in the main house.” I licked my lips and glanced at Liam, seeing that he still wanted me to be cautious with what I said.
“Go on,” Pierce encouraged.
Deep breath… “I couldn’t hear it, but Shawn was shot. When he fell …”
“Is Shawn lycan?” Pierce asked. Liam answered for me.
Acknowledging Liam’s answer, Pierce nodded for me to continue.
“Everything happened so fast, but we knew then that it was probably a trap.” To calm my nerves, I took in a deep breath before I went on. “There were hunters there, in the smaller houses, waiting for us with their guns. For a second, I thought it was over for us, but then …” My hands stalled. The words got stuck in my throat at the thought of Dad. “… the, uh… our druids arrived, disarming the hunters.”
On the other side of Gearden, Bri leaned forward, adding her side as the second beta. “They were overwhelmed with the hunters and healing some of our wounded and we, the rest of our I pack, were so busy fighting, we weren’t able to …” She stopped then, seeing that she hadn’t planned this far ahead with her story.
I didn’t let her dangle there for long though. “Vic, the Westboro alpha came out with one of Jerry’s daughters, a knife to her throat.” I glanced around the room. No. I did more than that. With my eyes, I dared anyone to question what was said next. “I was the only one ab—available to protect her.” I left out the part that he wanted a trade. If I mentioned it, they’d ask why they had wanted me and that was exactly the sort of question we were trying to avoid.
Julie placed a hand on the table, palm flat, “You went after him alone?”
I considered my words carefully. "I was the only one who could.”
Pierce stared at me, gauging my story for himself. Then, “Tell us what happened.”
Another deep breath to steady my hands. “I saw an opening and I attacked. When he let the girl go, I went after him.”
Thorn finally spoke up, “And you caught him?”
Glancing at him, I went on. “We ran for a while but I finally caught up with him. His beta was there too. We fought. He, uh, I… I was able to get him off but he wouldn’t stop. I …” My sight blurred for a moment, and I went back to gazing into space again. I didn’t stay like that for long though, before I shook myself and said, “… I killed him. And when his beta, AJ, tried to retaliate, I took him down. Gearden and a few others arrived in time, though.”
“In time to be saved from you,” Thorn said, looking at me with disgust. Gearden jumped out of his seat so fast, I barely comprehended the blur that was him as he leaped over the table. Like a rabid animal, Gearden tackled the Seelie to the ground, the carpet doing nothing to soften his landing, especially with Gearden’s massive body top of him, already dealing out blows. Everyone stood up, but no one went to pull Gearden off the Cearer. For a stunned second, I looked around, flabbergasted that everyone was just standing by, watching the exchange. Then, suddenly Thorn shoved Gearden off, sending him flying into the edge of the table. I cringed in sympathy, knowing that Gearden had to hurt. As the Seelie came up in a fluid motion, it reminded me of a cheesy horror movie I had seen when the dead just popped right back up after being knocked down, like pop-up clowns.
With his fist pulled back and already on its way to Gearden’s face, Thorn suddenly froze, locked in place by an unseen force. Murder was still in Gearden’s eyes, but he was able to see clearly enough to stop his elbow block and look around, first to his dad, then me. At my flabbergasted expression, his eyes darted to the end of the table. Turning, I saw that an annoyed Selena had stood up with a hand extended, and her fingers in a loose fist.
“That’s enough, now,” she said, speaking to Thorn. A lift of her silver brow dared the faerie to argue with her.
If the sneer was any indication, he didn’t appear to be thrilled by the idea of letting the offense go. “This isn’t your jurisdiction, False Queen,” he spat out, through clenched teeth. Too bad his face wasn’t frozen like the rest of his body. Dom and Dom Two took threatening steps towards the faerie: a force of death.
“Stop,” Liam said, holding a stalling hand out to the queen’s guards, trying to restore the peace. “She’s a guest. As are you. I ask that you remember your manners,” he told Thorn.
“He attacked me first,” Thorn said in a strained voice.
Dropping her hand, the queen looked at him incredulously. “You insulted his mate! What did you expect?”
Thorn sagged, full animation of his limbs returning. Cautiously, he looked up at me and then at Gearden. “I’m sorry,” he said, quietly.
When I looked at Gearden, I saw his eyes flashing silver. Damn it. I was sure I wasn’t the only one who had noticed this. “Apologize to my mate,” Gearden sneered.
Thorn turned to look at me and with sincerity said, “I’m sorry.”
Ready to just get past the whole incident, I nodded my acceptance and slowly moved around the table to take Gearden’s hand. I knew I was the only one who could bring him down from his beast at that moment. When my fingers locked with his, he turned his body towards me, allowing me to tug him back to our seats. When he sat down though, he didn’t let me return to my own chair, and instead guided me onto his lap. Brushing my hair away from my neck, his nose rested on the sensitive skin there. Even with an audience, I couldn’t control the shiver that ran over me. I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of him there, at his mark. I felt his wolf there, still close to the surface, so I didn’t try to push him away. I let him take the moment to calm down, closing my eyes and savoring it with him. His protectiveness kicked my wolf’s instinct to be closer to him into overdrive. Maybe it was nature’s way of keeping us together.
When I opened my eyes, everyone had stood up and were starting to file out of the room. The queen, who was the last to get up from the table, met my gaze. She looked pointedly at Sally who was waiting patiently beside the door and said, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
I nodded and watched as she and the twins walked out. Before leaving herself, Sally signed, “I’ll wait for you in the hall.”
Appreciating the time, I had, no matter how short, I signed, “Thank you.” She shut the door behind her, too, bless her. Turning back to Gearden, I raked my hands through the short hairs at the back of his neck, collected into my fist what I could and gently pulled him back. I didn’t want his wolf to get too cozy. We didn’t have time for that.
“Are you good?” His eyes, though looking as if he was drunk, were clear of silver. But that only meant the wolf wasn’t in control. I needed to know if the man was in control of not just his wolf, but his emotions, as well. No one needed anyone flying off the handle, at least not again.
“I’m okay,” he assured me. He leaned in for a kiss, only to stop suddenly and lifted his head up, looking towards the door. Turning, I saw Ro step in quickly and shut the door behind him. In a heartbeat, both Gearden and I were all business. Deftly, I slid off my mate’s lap and into my chair, asking, “Did you learn anything?” Ro sat across from me, his bare arms stark against the black table as he rested his elb
ows on it. He definitely had something to share as his eagerness was clear from his expression. Gearden tensed.
“She’s been holding regular meetings with people,” He told us.
Frowning, I asked, “With who?”
But he shook his head, “I couldn’t be sure. All I know is that they were magic kind. Definitely not lycan.”
“That makes sense,” Gearden supplied, keeping his telepathic link open for me to hear his thoughts as he spoke, a nifty little trick he’d yet to teach me. “She’s never taken up with our kind before, so why start now?”
I looked at him in surprise, “Me.” I said. “I would expect she’d want to get to know more about my kind.”
“You don’t have any one kind, Mae,” Ro told me, which although made sense, still stung a little.
Mentally shaking myself, I lifted a hand to pause the conversation. “Alright. So, she’s meeting people. People with magic.”
Ro nodded, getting back on track. “The meetings are with different people and they’re all over the place with how long she’s with each one of them. One lasted five minutes while another lasted over an hour.”
Gearden and I turned to frown at each other. Neither of us had any ideas to add but it was still early in our surveillance. Pursing his lips, Gearden looked at his brother appreciatively and said, “Thanks, Ro. Why don’t you go grab a shower and some food and I’ll let you know when they’re ready to leave again.”
With a curt nod, Ro got up and walked out, closing the door again.
“We should get out there. They’re probably waiting on me,” I told Gearden.
Together, we stood and walked to the door, but before I could turn the handle, he gripped my upper arm and pulled me to him. My chest was flush with his, but he wrapped his arm tightly behind my back, bringing it even closer, his heat warming me. I didn’t move when he took my chin and held it steady for his mouth. It was quick but savage and I craved every bit of it – lips that parted for one another as teeth nipped at soft flesh. Our tongues did a reckless dance with each other before, too soon, he pulled away. I felt my cheeks and neck hot from the flush I undoubtedly sported now. Seeing his now ruby-red lips gave me a spark of lustful pride as I turned around and pulled the door open. I ignored the curious look Sally gave us as I led the way down the hallway. Luna seemed to preen at the idea of having just been kissed thoroughly by our mate and who was I to deny my wolf the pride she felt, since I was guilty of it as well? Gearden made me warm inside and I felt safe every time I was in his presence. I don’t think there was anything we could do that would truly make me embarrassed.
The Kill: Book 3 in The Hunt Series Page 3