Storm (Blood Haze: Book Two) A Paranormal Romance

by Tara Shuler

  him from beating up his girlfriend. I wasn’t even

  going to kill him. I never kill them. But

  Christian…”

  “Christian!” Liam gasped. “He tried to kill

  you?”

  I nodded. “You know him?”

  “Oh, the Council will not be pleased about

  this,” Liam said. “I must report this to my father

  at once. What did he do?”

  “He attacked me,” I said. “I knocked him out

  with a headlock and ran away. My family and I

  were running away when he caught up to us, and

  he locked us up in a warehouse. Max came to

  rescue us.”

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “Maksim. I understand he

  was just entering training when he left to rescue

  you.”

  “Yes, he’d just left,” I replied.

  “It is good that he did so,” Liam told me. “The

  Council would have been furious if the hunters

  had harmed you. Obviously, my father has seen

  visions of your gifts, and… of you and Alexi.

  You’ve been on the protected list since very soon

  after you were born. Your father and my father

  were good friends.”

  “Is that why Alexi and I were betrothed?” I

  asked.

  “That was a part of it,” Liam answered. “They

  were good friends, and it would have been nice

  for them to have the two of you marry. But my

  father saw a vision of you and Alexi together

  before you were even born, while your mother

  was with child.”

  “Before I was even born?” I gasped. “He saw

  us together that long ago?”

  “Indeed. He also knew you would one day

  save Alexi’s life.”

  “But I’ve already done that,” I reminded him.

  “And we’re not married. So we didn’t need to be

  betrothed for that.”

  “You have,” Liam agreed. “And you will do

  so again one day.”

  “Does everything your father see come true?”

  I asked.

  “Almost,” he said. “Things do change from

  time to time, but father’s visions are rarely ever

  wrong.”

  My mind traveled to Kai’s face, and then to

  Max’s. Barnabas’ visions had to be wrong this

  time. I was deeply in love with Kai, and I loved

  Max, too. There was no room left in my heart for

  Alexi. Sure, I cared about him. But I didn’t love

  him. It couldn’t be true.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Liam said.

  “Oh, what… so you’re a mind reader, now?” I

  snapped.

  “No, but your face screams pretty loudly. You

  may not love my brother now, but you will.”

  “Well, we’ll see,” I muttered.

  “We will, indeed,” Liam said, grinning.

  “Stop being so smug,” I growled at him, but I

  smiled a little in spite of myself.

  “It’s time for your next training session,”

  Liam said after looking at the time on his phone.

  “You ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said with a sigh.

  *****

  Chapter Twelve – Progress

  It had been over a week since I had come to

  the Council. My training was progressing well,

  and Liam was still passing messages back and

  forth between Alexi and me. It was the only

  contact I had with my family and friends.

  I learned how to control my sleep touch

  ability quite well. I still needed the emotional

  response of fearing Liam would be hurt, but

  fortunately, he didn’t actually need to be hurt for

  me to activate the ability. Just the fear of him

  being hurt was enough to evoke the response.

  We also worked on tracking. I could only

  track people whenever I was touching someone

  else who was thinking about that person, and the

  ability was stronger if the person I was touching

  knew and cared about the one I was trying to

  track. This presented a difficulty. In order to

  track someone, I had to have two people who

  knew each other well and who cared about each

  other.

  Liam managed to locate two other trainees

  who had developed a close friendship. He took

  one of them to a remote location on the

  expansive property, and I held the hand of the

  other one while tracking. Eventually, I was able

  to

  track

  someone

  without

  keeping

  the

  connection, but I still had to touch that person

  once while they were thinking of the missing

  individual.

  One morning, Liam woke me up much earlier

  than usual – well before dawn. He said he had

  prepared a training exercise for me that he

  thought might help me improve my tracking

  ability substantially.

  “You responded so well to our training

  sessions with electricity that I thought maybe we

  could bring the technique into your tracker

  training.” Liam told me. “I’ll be going with Gus

  – you remember him, right? He’s the guy who

  helped me train your sleep touch ability. If you

  don’t find me within a certain time frame, he will

  begin shocking me, and he will not stop until you

  find me.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said with wide eyes. “I

  thought we were done with that.”

  “Your training in tracking is not progressing

  as quickly as we had hoped. My father feels this

  is the only way to help you.”

  “No,” I whispered. “Not again.”

  I couldn’t stand it. I hated to see him hurt that

  way, and I was so glad when we didn’t have to do

  that anymore. Once I could control my sleep

  touch ability without him being hurt, I was so

  relieved. Now he was telling me I would have to

  go through that again.

  “It is the only way.”

  “No!” I shouted. “I won’t do it! I can’t do that

  again, Liam. I can’t stand it. I can’t stand for you

  to be hurt.”

  “I will be fine,” he said. “Just find me

  quickly.”

  “What if I can’t? What if I fail and you… no, I

  can’t.”

  “I have faith in you, Alice.”

  “Well, I don’t. And I don’t want to risk you

  being hurt again.”

  He smiled at me.

  “You care so much for people. It is what

  makes you so strong. I have faith that you can do

  this. Please try.”

  I felt tears welling in my eyes, but I said,

  “Fine, Liam. But it’s going to kill me if I can’t

  find you.”

  Liam and Gus headed out a few minutes later.

  It was still dark outside. I had until sunrise to

  find Liam, and if I didn’t Gus would begin

  shocking him and would continue to do so until I

  found him. I was to wait fifteen minutes and then

  begin tracking him.

  I paced the hallway restlessly, my eyes shifting

  toward the clock often. I didn’t want to lose one

  second when so much was at st
ake. I gnawed my

  fingernails anxiously. At the very moment fifteen

  minutes had passed, I closed my eyes and thought

  of Liam.

  Please, please, please, I thought. Let me be

  able to do this.

  At first, I felt nothing. I squeezed my eyes shut

  as tightly as possible, picturing Liam’s face in my

  mind. I started to grow anxious when nothing

  happened. What if I couldn’t do this?

  Suddenly, I began to picture Liam’s face – his

  eyes pleading up at me – when he was being

  shocked on my first day of training. I heard his

  voice echoing in my mind, screaming in agony as

  the electricity surged through his body. The

  pungent aroma of his burning skin filled my nose

  as though it was happening again.

  I felt the tug so hard I lurched forward. It was

  as if someone had tied a rope around my heart

  and was yanking it as hard as they could. With an

  urgency, I began to follow the feeling. I pushed

  my way out into the chilly morning air and broke

  into a run.

  I could see the black sky turning faintly blue,

  and a slight orange glow erupted from behind the

  tree line in the distance. I gasped! I thought I had

  more time before sunrise, but it was already

  coming.

  “Liam,” I whispered, feeling a surge of panic

  swelling in my throat.

  I let the tug guide me, and it pulled me along

  at a blinding speed. The sun rose higher and

  higher, and soon the sky turned from deep blue to

  a lighter shade, and I could see the rich golden

  globe of the sun slowly starting to peek over the

  trees.

  I flew across an empty field and toward a

  small building in the distance. The tug was even

  fiercer than before, and I scarcely needed to move

  my feet at all. It felt as if my entire body was

  being pulled straight toward it.

  He must be there! I thought.

  Just as the sun began to rise fully, I burst into

  the small shed. I saw Gus moving the lead

  toward Liam’s skin, and I screamed, “Stop!”

  I collapsed onto the floor, panting, desperately

  trying to catch my breath.

  “I told you,” Liam said, a sly grin on his face.

  “I knew you could do it.”

  I looked up and him and glared.

  “Never again, Liam,” I snarled. “Don’t you

  ever do this to me again.”

  “The hardest part of your training is coming

  soon,” Liam said. “Unfortunately, it’s about to

  get a lot worse.”

  “Worse than this?” I asked, shaking my head. I

  didn’t see how that was possible.

  Liam reached out his hand and helped me to

  my feet.

  “It’s going to get bad,” Liam said. “Really

  bad. But before we get to that, you’re getting a

  day off. I have a surprise for you. Why don’t you

  go get ready and meet me out front. We’re going

  out.”

  “We’re leaving the compound?” I gasped

  excitedly.

  “Yep,” he said. “Where we’re going is a

  surprise, though.”

  “I don’t care where we go, as long as we get

  out of here for a while!”

  Liam smiled. “Go get ready! We’ll leave as

  soon as you’re ready.”

  I practically flew all the way to my room to

  get ready. I sifted through the unfamiliar clothing

  in my room – clothes Liam had picked out for

  me since I couldn’t leave the compound – and I

  chose a frilly pink shirt and jeans. I rarely ever

  wore pink, but today seemed like a pink day. I

  guess I was almost happy.

  I met Liam outside a few minutes later. He

  had his red sports car revved up and ready to go,

  and I hopped in quickly.

  “You look terrific,” he noted.

  “Thank you,” I said. “So where are we

  going?”

  “Put this on,” he said, tossing me a blindfold.

  “Are you serious?” I moaned.

  “Afraid so,” he said.

  I sighed. Leave it to the Council and its funky

  rules to ruin a happy moment like this. I put it on

  and frowned.

  “Fine,” I fussed. “It’s on. Now let’s go.”

  It wasn’t long before the car came to a stop

  and Liam turned the engine off.

  “Can I take this stupid thing off, now?” I

  asked.

  “Not yet,” he said.

  He came around to my side of the car and

  opened the door, and then he took my hand and

  guided me out. He led me carefully across a

  patch of hard ground – pavement, I guessed.

  “Watch your step,” he said. “Step up.”

  I slowly felt for the step with my foot. When I

  located it, I stepped up.

  “Another,” he said, and I stepped up.

  “One more.”

  I stepped up once more, and then he led me a

  few steps forward. I heard a door open, and we

  stepped inside.

  “Liam, where are we?” I asked.

  I felt him tugging at the blindfold, and as soon

  as it was over my eyes, I shrieked with glee!

  “Alexi!” I shouted, throwing my arms around

  him.

  “Alice,” he whispered into my ear, holding me

  close.

  “Kai!” I yelled when I noticed him standing

  behind Alexi.

  He put his arms out for a hug, and I flew into

  his arms. His lips found mine, and his warm

  hands rested on my cheeks as he kissed all over

  my face. I noticed he had tears in his eyes.

  “My turn,” I heard Max say.

  “Max!” I screamed, rushing to him and

  squeezing him tightly.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said, burying his face in

  my hair.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” I breathed. “I’ve

  missed all of you.”

  I looked around the room at all of the smiling

  faces. I noticed my mother, brother, and Jamie

  were missing.

  “Where’s…”

  “They went home,” Alexi explained gently.

  “Your mother was really missing her home, and

  your brother and Jamie decided it was best if they

  took her there.”

  “Oh,” I said, disappointed.

  “You can call them later, if you want,” Liam

  said.

  “This is the best surprise ever!” I squealed,

  throwing my arms around Liam.

  He seemed startled, but he hugged me back.

  He cleared his throat uncomfortably, and I let

  him go.

  “Thanks, Liam,” I said. “It’s wonderful.”

  “It took a lot to convince my father to allow

  it,” Liam told me.

  “I appreciate it more than you know,” I said.

  I turned to Alexi.

  “So…” I started. “Are Kai and Max living

  here, now?”

  “Of course,” Alexi said. “They wanted to be

  near you, and I knew you would wish that, too.

  So of course I invited them to stay.”

  “Wow,” I commented. “That’s really great of

  y
ou.”

  “I told you, Alice,” Alexi said. “I will always

  do my best to give you whatever you want. I just

  want you to be happy.”

  “Even if…” I started to ask him. “Never mind.

  What are we doing today?”

  “Anything you want,” Alexi said. “Today is

  your day.”

  “We have to be back at the compound by six

  PM,” Liam reminded him.

  “Oh, damn,” I muttered.

  “What’s wrong?” Alexi asked.

  “I was just hoping we could go to Tybee

  today, and it’s really not a good idea until it gets

  dark,” I said.

  “Well, we might not be able to go to Tybee

  today, but I know of a place you would really

  love,” Liam said.

  I raised my eyebrow at him.

  “Oh, yeah? Where?”

  “Do you trust my judgment?” Liam asked me.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I said.

  “Alright,” he said. “Alexi, I was thinking

  about taking her to the cabin. What do you

  think?”

  “You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Alexi

  agreed. “I think she would love it there.”

  “Cabin?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it’s the cabin our father used to take us

  to when we were kids,” Alexi explained. “It’s

  right by a lake, and it’s really private. It’s

  beautiful there.”

  “Sounds great,” I said. “Let’s go!”

  “Shall we take the Guardian?” Alexi said.

  “We’ll all fit in it.”

  “You don’t need the Guardian for three

  people,” Liam said.

  “You’re not coming?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to intrude,” Liam told me.

  “Intrude? Nonsense. Of course you’re coming

  with us,” I insisted.

  I noticed Alexi raise his eyebrow at Liam.

  “I…” Liam cleared his throat. “Okay, if you

  want me to go, I will.”

  “Great, let’s go! I can’t wait!” I jumped and

  clapped my hands together in excitement.

  “If we’re going to the cabin, I need to get a

  few things, first,” Alexi said. “Liam, can you

  come with me? We’ll pick up some stuff and be

  back here in an hour or so.”

  “Sure,” Liam agreed.

  Alexi took my hands and kissed me on the

  forehead.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Alexi said.

  “Hurry,” I whispered.

  Alexi backed away slowly, holding onto my

  hands until the last possible second.

  “Take care of her,” Alexi said to Kai and Max,

  and then he and Liam left.

  Kai and Max both stepped toward me at the

  same time. Max paused, and then backed off,

  glaring angrily at Kai. Kai put his arms around