Watch Me Burn

by Nikki Drost

Micah sighs heavily before leveling me with an angry glare. “You didn’t tell my brother about any of this, did you?”

  I shake my head no at Micah’s question. “I’m sorry, I should have said something sooner, but I was afraid I’d lose him. How mad do you think he is going to be at me?”

  A knock at the door prevents me from receiving the answer to my question.

  “Jaysus, what happened?” Finn rushes over to inspect his friend. “What did this ter him?”

  “A hoard of hungry wraiths,” Cass answers bitterly, “they were going after Dallas, but Jamie pushed him out of the way and took the hit.”

  So it wasn’t an accident. Despite the love hate relationship he has for the Texan, Jamie still risked his life to save him. God damn him and his unwavering bravery.

  “Can you help him, Finn?” Landon asks from across the room.

  “Aye, I have just enough serum left.”

  “Tip his head back and make sure he swallows all of it.” Finn directs from somewhere behind me.

  I take the mysterious vile from Finn, then tilt Jamie’s head back and place the bottle to his lips. Please work. I silently pray.

  Moments later Jamie’s skin begins to change back to his bronzed hue. The scratch marks start to fade and even his body temperature and breathing seems to be going back to normal.

  Oh, thank god.

  “Kelsey—” Jamie mumbles as he begins to regain consciousness. He opens his heavy lids and our eyes meet, and for a split second, I start to believe that everything will be all right. But as if someone flipped a switch Jamie’s eye’s narrow and the only emotion I see in his dark orbs is pure rage.

  “You got anything you want to tell me?”

  Oh, shit.

  “I ah—” Words fail me as I move away from Jamie in an attempt to put some distance between us. I’m not worried that he will harm me in anyway, it’s the “I’m super pissed off and I’m going to make someone pay” vibe he is radiating.

  “I asked you a fucking question!” he shouts loud enough to rattle the windows.

  His angry tone leaves me cringing and nauseous all at the same time. I knew Jamie would be mad, but this, this is something else entirely.

  “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

  Say, when I’m old enough to file for social security. Yeah, that would be good for me.

  “Oh no, we’re doing this right here, right now.” Jamie jumps up from the couch and begins to pace the floor like a madman, “How long, Kelsey?”

  “How long what?” I ask coyly.

  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s asking me, I just have no desire in being yelled at, especially since this situation is only partially my fault.

  “Don’t play dumb with me. How long have you known that you were pregnant? A day, a week, tell me the fucking truth!”

  “Technically, I’ve known for a month, but—”

  Jamie ends his feverish trek across the wood floor and comes to stand in front of me. His large frame towers over me, crowding my personal space, “But what, Kelsey? You were waiting for the right time to tell me. When do you suppose that would have been, huh? Were you going to wait until after we were married or until you started to show? How long did you really think you could hide this from me?”

  “Stop yelling at me!” I shout. “You’re acting like I got pregnant on purpose. I didn’t make this baby on my own, Jamie. You had a part in this as well. Should I have told you sooner? Yes. But I was scared because I knew you would react this way.”

  “Well, I should fucking hope so seeing as how I told you repeatedly that I didn’t want to have kids.” He backs away from me shaking his head. “I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”

  “James,” Micah growls in warning. “Take a moment to think this through. I know it’s a shock, but—”

  “That’s what you’d call this fucking catastrophe, Micah!” Jamie snaps cutting off his brother. “Just stay out of this, it isn’t any of your fucking business. We already know how this thing is going to end. When Alaric is born, I’m going to hand him over to Michael, end of discussion.” He turns his attention from his brother back to me. “Balls in your court, Kelsey, either you back me up on this or we’re over.”

  Oh, he did not just say that to me. If I really had a choice, I would marry the man that I love and we would raise our son together and live happily ever after. But this isn’t a fairy tale, it’s the real world and it’s about time I stop dancing in the clouds and get back to reality. I will always love Jamie Trudeau, he is the father of my baby after all, but that doesn’t mean we have to be together. One way or another I will make a life for myself and my son.

  With the decision made, I remove the engagement ring from my finger and place it into the palm of Jamie’s hand. It never truly belonged to me anyways.

  “From the moment I found out I was going to be a mother, I knew you’d make me choose and guess what, I am choosing our son. So if you,” I poke Jamie in his muscular chest, “and your angel buddies have a problem with that, then you can all just kiss my ass.”

  Jamie glances at his palm. Then he stuffs my ring into his pants pocket. “Enjoy the time you have with him because it will be short lived.” He then turns his back on me and heads straight for the front door. “I’ll see you around, Kelsey.”

  The front door slams behind him as the tears I had been holding back begin to stream down my cheeks. I can’t believe he really walked out on me, on us. Yes, I knew it was a possibility, but a small part of me had hoped that he would stay and be the man that I thought he was.

  God, I was so stupid.

  “Kelsey—” Andy’s voice cuts through my emotional haze. “Are you alright?”

  I nod absent-mindedly. I need to get out of here.

  “I’m sorry, but I need to go.” I turn my back on the room and head straight for the door, only when I make it to the door there is a very large, very pissed off werewolf blocking my only exit.

  “Get out of my way, Micah.” My sadness is replaced by anger in the blink of an eye. I’m in no mood to go another round with a Trudeau. Jamie has made his choice and so have I.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Kelsey,” he states with authority. “James will come around. He just needs some time to process all of this.”

  Yeah, right. “You know what, I don’t really give a shit what he needs right now. It’s over, Micah, and the only thing I want to do right now is go home and there isn’t a damn thing that you can do to stop me, now move away from the door.”

  As far as famous last words go, I thought mine had been precise and straight forward, but apparently, stubbornness runs in the Trudeau family. The moment my request is uttered I’m swept off of my feet and into Micah’s muscular arms.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Put me down!”

  Micah ignores me as he carries me effortlessly up the stairs. The more I seem to struggle the tighter his hold on me becomes.

  “If you insist on acting like a child, then I will treat you like one.”

  Instead of turning left at the top of the staircase toward Jamie’s room, Micah swings right and carries me into a dark bedroom. He gently places me on top of a bed before turning on a small lamp.

  “I figured you wouldn’t want to be in Jamie’s room so mine will have to do for now.”

  I open my mouth to argue, but the look I receive has me clamping my mouth shut.

  “Relax, Kelsey. It’s not like I’ll be sharing the bed with you or anything.” His playful smirk momentarily distracts me from my angry tirade.

  “You can’t keep me here against my will, Micah.”

  The large werewolf sighs as he takes a seat next to me on the bed. “Let’s get a few things straight. First, I can and will keep you here as long as I see fit. It isn’t safe for you to be out in the world alone. You reek of my brother and that will attract every rouge vampire and Omega in town. Second, you are carrying my nephew, my blood, and that makes us family. Under shif
ter law, if a father is unable or unwilling to care for his offspring a male member of his bloodline has the right to step in. So until my brother gets his head out of his ass, you are stuck with me. Last but certainly not least, I am bigger than you so you have to do what I say.”

  His last comment makes me snort giggle. “It’s not my fault I’m short, Mattie stole half of my genes when we were sharing a womb.”

  Micah chuckles, he then reaches for my hand. I wearily place my hand in his as we sit in silence for a few moments.

  “I’m going to share something with you that James isn’t even aware of, but first I want to stress that in no way am I defending what our father did to him.” Micah takes a deep breath then continues, “Rainer wasn’t always the monster my brother knew. There was a time when he was a loving husband and father. That all changed when humans found out about our existence. Neighbors turned on each other and those of us that were found out had to go into hiding. We were hunted for sport and it didn’t make a difference if you were a woman or a child, the humans wanted us all exterminated. My father did what he could to keep us all safe, but it wasn’t enough. In the end, my mother and five younger siblings were murdered by a mob of villagers. Their loss was the cause of my father’s descent into madness.”

  I wipe away the tears that had started to fall during Micah’s heart wrenching story. “I’m so sorry, Micah. I can’t imagine what that was like for you, but why haven’t you told Jamie any of this? Maybe if he knew the truth, he would change his mind about being a father.”

  This could be the very thing that saves my relationship with Jamie. At this point, it couldn’t hurt. It won’t change his memories of his time he spent with his father, but maybe, just maybe Jamie will finally accept what I have known this whole time. That he is a good, decent man who has the capacity to be an amazing father.

  “It wouldn’t change anything, Kelsey. The damage my father inflicted on him outweighs the truth. I only shared this with you in hopes then when my brother comes crawling back to you on his knees you’ll find it in your heart to forgive him.”

  Micah places a soft kiss to my knuckles, then proceeds to the door. “I’ll send someone in with a change of clothing and something healthy for you to eat. If you need anything all you have to do is ask.”

  “Thanks.” I’m not sure at what point I had changed my mind about staying, but I’m glad I did. “Can I ask you a question, Micah?”

  The wolf leans his shoulder against the closed door and nods. “Ask away.”

  “Did you ever experience any of the abuse that Jamie did?” For some reason I have this overwhelming need to know whether this man went through the same sort of hell as Jamie had.

  “Our experiences had been similar yet very different,” he says as he opens the door to leave, “James fought the darkness. I had embraced it.”

  Chapter 18

  Landon

  The sun begins its slow descent in the horizon and as beautiful as it may be, I can’t help the sense of trepidation that I’m feeling. Even the familiar scent of the ocean does little to calm my growing anxiety. My unease could be blamed on the fact that we aren’t a complete team.

  Despite all of our collective efforts, Jamie and his son continue to be MIA. If leaving a man behind wasn’t bad enough, to make up for the missing firepower, Micah allowed Finn McDermott to accompany us to Boston. I don’t know the bartender all that well, so I hope he is as good as everyone says he is.

  I’m still finding it hard to wrap my brain around the fact that Alaric is actually Jamie’s son. It’s one thing to find out that you are going to be a father, but it’s quite another when said child is instantly grown and standing before you. I’m not sure what I would have done if I had been in his shoes. Although, I didn’t care for the way things ended between Kelsey and him. That part I could have done without. There has to be a way to get those two back together.

  The other thing that has me worried is our current location. For the last several hours, we’ve staked out a massive shipyard. There are thousands of cargo containers for us to hide behind, but there is zero overhead coverage for either Edward or Dallas to set up sniper perches. It’s definitely not an ideal place for a shootout, especially if Ian and his crew decide to scatter. We could end up chasing them through this metal maze all night long.

  I’m also not happy that Micah made changes to the mission at the last minute, but after having a lengthy conversation with Finn last night, we found out that not only is Finn supernatural, but his father Devlyn is a major player in the Irish Republican Army.

  With one quick phone call home, Finn managed to obtain permission to kill McIntyre and have hits put out on the shadier members of his family. That is of course after he promised to have the shipment delivered to some group in New York that is loyal to their cause. The second he hung up with his dad, Finn had cracked a devilish smile and let it slip that he wouldn’t mind if the “Shipment” never made it across state lines.

  As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter if Finn McDermott is the son of an Army Executive, he’s a goddamn bartender not an Enforcer or a Guardian. Putting him in a potentially dangerous situation doesn’t sit well with me, but as Micah likes to point out, I’m not in charge. Left with no other options I decided to keep my mouth shut and focus on the mission.

  For what seems like the millionth time today, my phone starts to vibrate wildly. Irritated, I fight the temptation to toss the damn thing into the ocean and check to see whose calling me. I have over ten voicemails and all of them are from Dmitri. Jesus, I love the guy, but when he gets worried, he tends to go from assassin to a clingy girlfriend in the blink of an eye.

  By now, he has come up with at least a hundred different reasons for why I was unable to respond and each one ends with me dying in some horrible way. Of course, the last time this happened, I had been kidnapped by my stepbrother. This is probably the reason why he’s so freaked out right now. I quickly send him a text message.

  Me: D I’m OK, I’ll call later. L

  Dmitri: L it is important! Pick up! D

  Me: Can’t, it will have 2 wait. L

  I don’t bother to read his response. Instead, I shut my phone off and focus my attention on the large cargo ship about a quarter mile away. It’s show time.

  ***

  “Evenin’ lads,” Finn says as he exits his shiny black Camaro ZL1 and struts toward a small group of men as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.

  Christ, I hardly recognized the guy. Instead of his normal tight jeans and snug T-shirts, the Irishman is decked out in a blue pinstriped three-piece suit, a white dress shirt, and a silk purple-and-blue striped tie.

  “I’m lookin’ for, Ian McIntyre.”

  I hear the sound of a gun being cocked right before the man in question jumps down from the deck of the container ship to the concrete loading dock. He raises the gun and points it directly at Finn’s head.

  “An’ yer are?” the cougar sneers.

  Finally, the six foot two cougar makes an appearance. The trip overseas must have been a rough one if his clothing is anything to go by. His clothes are full of wrinkles and his black hair is sticking up in all directions.

  “Name’s Finnegan McDermott.” Finn cocks an eyebrow. “Now then, why don’t yer be a good lad and put the gun away or I will be forced ter take it from yer.”

  Several mumbled curses in Gaelic come from the nearby group of men. Each one bows their heads while making the sign of the cross in front of their chests. They slowly start to back away as if they are terrified to be in Finn’s presence. I don’t even want to know, I think to myself.

  “I see yer reputation proceeds yer.” McIntyre smirks. “But we ain’t in Ireland, are we lad? So I think I’ll be keepin’ me gun where it is.”

  To drive his point home the cougar steps forward until he is about two feet from the bartender. Finn, the arrogant bastard that he is, actually yawns as if he is bored with the whole situation. I’m not sure whether this is al
l an act, or if he really is that confident in his skills, but either way if he isn’t careful he’s going to get a bullet in his head.

  With speed I have never seen before, Finn grabs the barrel of the gun and twists with his left hand while grabbing McIntyre’s wrist with his right hand. If I had blinked, I would have missed it. In all of two seconds, Finn managed to disarm McIntyre, but the Irishman doesn’t stop there. Oh no, he takes it a step further by squeezing the cougars wrist and with a snap crackle, pop, the shifter drops to his knees and cries out in pain.

  “Ooh a Beretta M9! How did yer know this is me favorite gun?” Finn releases his hold on the cougar and begins to inspect his new toy.

  I shake my head while stifling a laugh, boy was I wrong about this guy. It’s no wonder Micah wasn’t worried about sending him into the field.

  “Yer bastard, yer broke my wrist!” Ian snarls while clutching his right hand to his chest.

  “Aye, now yer not goin’ ter cry like a wee lassy are yer? Cause we have business ter discuss.” Finn points the gun at the cougar as he pulls out his cell phone. “My da was none to happy ter hear yer were sellin’ his guns on the side. Do yer know what he does to greedy shits like yer? No? Well yer are about ter find out.”

  With the touch of a few buttons, Finn places his phone to his ear and waits for his call to go through. What the hell is he doing? This wasn’t part of the deal.

  “Aye, Da, I have him.” He chuckles. “He was gob smacked alright. Of course,” Finn pushes a button and holds out his phone. “Go ahead, Da.”

  A deep gravely voice echoes throughout the area. “Ian, yer dirty lil maggot, did yer think I wouldn’t find out about this? Answer me!”

  The cougar noticeably shudders. “Aye, but yer do not understand. Tavish Shaw asked for the armies help ter take out Dominick Stone and his sons. He—”

  “Finnegan!” the voice booms over the speaker cutting off the rest of Ian’s explanation.

  The Irishman forces Ian to his feet only to stomp his foot into the side of the cougar’s calve. Another sickening crack echoes into the night along with the shifter’s screams. He topples over from the pain of having his leg snapped in half. Christ, that was brutal to watch.