Midnight Falls (Sky Brooks Series Book 3)

by McKenzie Hunter

  I looked back at the farmhouse and wondered if Quell would be there when I returned. Fighting the urge to go back to his house, I came to the sour realization that Steven was right. If I was the only thing keeping Quell in check, despite my feelings of obligation to him, it couldn’t last like this for much longer.

  CHAPTER 18

  We arrived in New York too late for me to catch a show, which was on my to-do list. Ethan and Josh went to their rooms, and by the time I was settled, neither one of them were in their rooms.

  I stopped by the concierge for a recommendation on a good place to eat.

  "What are you in the mood for?" she asked with a painted-on professional smile that remained long after I had started to walk out the door toward the Mexican restaurant she recommended three blocks from the hotel. I stopped and turned in the opposite direction, passing several restaurants, but none of them appealed to me. A jazz restaurant got my attention as I stopped at the door. The sultry instrumental sounds of a bass, trumpet, and a mournful, soulful voice kept me engaged longer than the smell of the food. I stood at the entrance and inhaled the fragrant smells of salmon, bison, poultry, rosemary, onions, and ground pepper. It was alluring, but not enough to accept the invitation of the hostess to be seated.

  The next place was a nice Italian restaurant. Duck, flour, pasta, oregano, tomato, and basil were enticing enough to be my meal. The smell of vodka mixed with vermouth lingered throughout the room, yet it wasn’t what I wanted.

  The yearning was odd and strange; my olfactory sense was unable to be sated by any of the restaurants so far. I walked several more blocks and was coerced into another restaurant by the scent of olive oil, potato fries, beef, peppers, onions, and various other seasonings. The hostess, sensing my hunger and urgency, told me should would send over bread as she guided me to a booth at the back of the restaurant. Before I could be seated, Ethan, who sat just a few seats from where the hostess was directing me, looked up. His narrow curious eyes linked with mine for a few moments before he waved me over. I slid into the booth, ignoring his attentive gaze as I stared at the double steakburger, rare, with cheese. My mouth watered and the server couldn't get to the table fast enough. He slid his plate in front of me.

  Taking several bites out of the burger, I chewed it enough to allow space to shove a few fries in too. I finally looked up to find Ethan, who had relaxed back, watching me carefully. "Did you track me here?”

  “No. I didn’t track you. I tracked down a very good burger and some mediocre fries,” I said, taking several more bites from the burger.

  "You passed at least six other places that served burgers, why this place?" he asked. I really hated half-smirks, and he and his brother seemed to have a fondness for them.

  I shrugged. “The same reason you did. I could smell it from the street.”

  He didn’t look convinced. He leaned forward; his thumb slid over my lips and the corner of my lips, wiping away the spilled ketchup. He said, “It is one of my favorite places to eat when I am here.”

  I grabbed a napkin, dabbed at my lips and looked down at the nearly-devoured burger. I probably looked like a savage. “I guess I was hungrier than I thought.”

  He ordered the same meal again: rare burger and fries. When the server came back to the table, I ordered salad and wings. His sneered at the salad.

  "I like salad," I said defensively.

  "No, you cling to the idea that you like salad because it makes you feel ‘typical.’ Like the average woman having an average meal. You do not like salad any more than I do," he said as he glanced at the empty plate.

  “You didn’t answer my question. How did you end up here?” I wished he would just wipe the smug look off his face. He took a drink, but his attention remained on me.

  Even I was starting to consider the situation. Why did I come to this restaurant out of the many I had passed? It wasn’t as if I was a food snob. Of all the places I could have chosen, why did I come here?

  Our food came and I picked at the wings, taking a few bites, but I made sure I ate my salad.

  The conversation between us had been reduced to annoying small talk because we were ignoring the elephant in the room; it was dressed in sequins and dancing the cha-cha.

  “Why did you leave in the middle of the night?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t the middle of the night, we didn’t go to bed until morning.”

  “Okay, I’ll play your little game. Why did you leave in the middle of the morning like a tacky jerk?” I said.

  The smile didn’t quite curl his lips and settled into something between a smirk and a sneer as he took another sip from his glass. “Does it matter?”

  “If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked.”

  Leaning into the table, he asked, “What creative reason have you drafted?”

  But I hadn’t come up with one. So many things about his behavior left me bewildered. I didn’t think I would ever understand him. And more importantly, did I want to?

  “I think you are complicated and I will never understand why you do half of the things you do,” I said.

  His gaze softened and lost some of his focus on me. “I didn’t want to be there when Steven arrived,” he said. Resting back in his seat, he studied me for a moment, then asked, “You were really nervous with me, why?”

  “I wasn’t nervous,” I lied. At this point, why did I even try?

  The crooked smile played at his lips too long to be amusing. “Women are a lot of things with me in the bedroom, but never nervous.”

  “It’s probably because your modesty and humility puts them at ease,” I shot back.

  He wouldn’t drop the subject. Admitting my lack of experience came easy with Quell, but I just couldn’t with Ethan. I simply shrugged off the question.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. His hand shot up to signal someone. I turned. Josh was coming in our direction. “I guess he tracked you too,” I mumbled into my drink.

  “Yeah, right after I texted him the location.”

  Josh plopped into the booth next to me and immediately grabbed several fries from his brother’s plate. He looked at the burger and frowned. “Rare?”

  “Of course,” Ethan said.

  Josh grumbled his displeasure and looked around for the server. “There’s a club down the street, we have to check it out,” he told me.

  “Our meeting is at noon,” Ethan reminded him.

  Josh looked at the clock on the phone. “Yeah, fifteen hours from now.”

  “I don’t need you hungover,” Ethan said.

  He flashed the same miscreant dismissive grin he always did whenever Ethan attempted to control him. Being the Beta of the strongest pack in the country meant nothing to his younger brother. Josh draped his arm around me. “Can I coax you into a naughty night of fun that is only going to piss off my brother?”

  I smiled, but at the situation and not Josh. If nothing else, traveling with the brothers was always a lesson in sibling dynamics and made me appreciate being an only child.

  Ignoring the look Ethan gave me, I agreed.

  Ethan was a less-than-enthusiastic participant as he followed us to the bar a couple blocks away down the busy street. For a Wednesday, it was crowded. I immediately knew why Josh had been drawn to this place. Like the club the pack owned and Josh managed, it was usually full of the supernatural types. Interspersed between them were the wholly human, drawn to the bar by an enigmatic dynamism that they could never describe. As we made our way through the bar, my gaze wandered and held the attention of the guitarist as the band set up. There was a slight glint in his eyes, he grinned, and I couldn’t stop staring. What was he?

  When I stopped walking to watch him, Josh whispered, “Mage.” It had the same derisive lilt it always held when he discussed them. Every so often Josh’s elitist views, the result of being a witch, managed to surface. He referred to mages as “diet witches.” And said that, like diet soda, it was never as good as the real thing. Mage magic isn’t as
strong as a witch’s. Their skills were limited to defensive magic. But because of their ability to cast spells, it would be more accurate to describe them as “human plus.”

  I sensed the were-animals the moment I walked into the room, and the vampires as well, even before seeing the fangs or brushing against their cool skin. Sometimes their dark eyes were the telltale sign, but in the right light, they looked normal, like heavily pigmented brown eyes. You can’t tell witches by looking at them, but their magic tingled my skin, a little tickle that let me know they were near. Most were-animals couldn’t detect a witch nor sense how powerful they were, but Ethan and I could. I guess it had a lot to do with our mothers being witches. His was a powerful one and it would be odd if he couldn’t.

  Like the bar that the pack owned, this was more akin to a club that served food. We found a small space at the end of the bar, but Josh was there for only a few minutes before an enthusiastic witch approached him. There wasn’t any doubt she was a witch; magic wafted off her in waves, nearly at a level that matched Josh’s. She guided him onto the dance floor where he stayed for several songs.

  Soon someone had coaxed me onto the dance floor. Bodies moved erratically on it, and we weaved our way through the crowd and found a spot near Josh.

  The music played, bodies bumped and gyrated against each other. More than once, I was splashed by someone’s drink. And if I had forgotten why I hated clubs, that was a reminder. Josh had made his way back to the bar and scuttled into the corner with people that, to a casual observer, looked like friends he’d known a lifetime and not a couple of random people he’d just met in a club. When I approached, he handed me a shot glass, then tossed the other one in his hand back, wincing slightly before he ordered a couple more for his new friends.

  Yeah, you’re going to be ready by twelve tomorrow.

  There was a level of comfort and sadness about him and it was then that I realized that Josh didn’t interact with other witches often. He wasn’t accepted by the ones in the Midwest because of his relationship with the pack and for many years he had been ostracized. Now he was surrounded by them, there was an instant affinity and connection and he was enjoying every minute of it.

  Ethan hadn’t moved from his spot at the end of the bar, nursing the same drink he’d had since we’d walked in. Several women had approached him. I guessed the broody, anti-social type was alluring because nothing about him hinted that he was approachable or wanted a friend. But it didn’t stop them from rotating in and out of the seat next to him. Every so often, I looked in his direction and our eyes met, a little clip of amusement, and with a lazy smile he returned his attention back to whatever woman was now in the seat.

  Josh had found his way back near my direction and urged me back on the floor. Bodies beat rhythmically around me, and instead of me dancing with Josh it had become a group dance. A crowd of warm bodies moved around me in a hedonistic manner. Bass pounded at the walls, the music blared into the crowd, and more people came on the floor. I usually hated over-stimulation—I was sure most were-animals did—but this didn't bother me as I moved around, partnering with anyone I found myself next to. The energy was intoxicating, or maybe it was the shots and cranberry and vodka that I’d had.

  When I looked in Ethan’s direction, the chair next to him was empty; he lifted his glass and waved me forward to come have a drink with him. I wanted to finish the song, so I let him know it would be a minute by sticking up my finger, but before I could catch his attention again, a curvy blonde had. I didn't have to look at her eyes to know she was a were-animal. More than likely feline, her lithe movements were unintentionally sensuous. The appreciative look on Ethan’s face gave me the impression she wasn't nearly as ugly as the hideous shirt she wore. It wasn't hideous, not really, but I wanted it to be, and I wasn’t sure why. It was a navy sleeveless rucked shirt so low cut that it didn’t have any chance of containing her breasts and I doubt that was an issue for her. And her jeans were just as fitting and revealing as her shirt.

  It bothered me. She bothered me, and the way Ethan interacted with her bothered me and I hated that feeling. Instead of dealing with the peculiar feelings, I turned my back to him and continued to dance until the feeling went away or at least I was too distracted to notice it.

  Again the bodies whirled around me, the music pounded, the energy heightened, it pulsed and pounded as much as the music. Then for a second—it stopped.

  We are monsters. I heard the voice against my ear. I felt queasy, like when I traveled with Josh. I stopped in the middle of the floor and grabbed my stomach until the nausea calmed. Everything was back to normal, the music, the bodies moving around and against me, but the energy was off. Not as strong, subdued.

  Had the three drinks started messing with me? I shook my head and stopped in the middle of the floor waiting for the voice again.

  The “diet-witch” stood on the other side of the room, and when our eyes met, it happened again. None of us should exist as we do.

  I couldn’t pull my gaze from his, wondering if he was the one. But how could a person that wasn’t nearly as strong as a witch do that? I dismissed the idea when he started talking to an overenthusiastic fan. Again, the music stopped, and for a blink of a second I wasn’t in the club. Help me stop the monsters.

  It wasn’t the diet-witch. The bodies moved, the music played, people drank, and no one had heard the voice or noticed that I had left. For minutes, I stood in the middle of the dance floor, staring through the crowd until I heard someone say, “Whatever she took really messed her up,”

  Soon Josh was standing next to me. “Are you okay?” he asked. Seconds later Ethan was next to him, watching me carefully.

  I looked around the room at everyone behaving as though nothing had happened. And I couldn’t believe not even Ethan had heard it. How could they not hear that? But then I thought maybe I was drunk.

  “I think I had too much to drink,” I said.

  Ethan clasped my hand. “We are going back to the hotel, you can stay, but remember—“

  “We have a meeting at twelve,” Josh interjected rolling his eyes. “No, I am going with you all.”

  His new friends seemed disappointed at the idea that he was leaving. “No, you stay, I’m fine.”

  Josh’s gaze fell on Ethan’s hand holding mine and then he frowned. After a few moments, he nodded.

  The cool air that hit me once we were out of the club was sobering. Ethan stood in front of me. He cradled my face, staring into my eyes. “You’re not drunk.”

  “No.” I liked being close to him, it was comforting.

  “Then what happened in there?”

  I considered making something up, but decided against it. “I heard voices.”

  Yep, that was exactly the look I expected to see.

  “Voices?”

  Then I explained what had happened. I might not have been technically drunk, but saying it out loud made me feel so ridiculous I wanted to claim to be and move on.

  “Stay here.”

  Ethan went back into the club and was gone for nearly ten minutes. “I didn’t hear anything or see anything suspicious,” he said when he returned. “Josh and I checked out the mage, it couldn’t be him. In fact, there isn’t anyone in there strong enough to do anything remotely like that.” He shrugged. “Maybe there was a witch in there screwing with you.”

  I wanted it to be something that simple. And if anyone wanted to get rid of the monsters, it would be the witches. But I hadn’t dealt with the witches on this side of the world. Did they hold the same contempt for were-animals as the witches in the Midwest?

  “Maybe the fatigue and the alcohol are getting to me.” I really wanted it to be those things instead of someone without a blood connection with the ability to get in my head. When Josh and I had a magical blood connection, we could hear each other’s thoughts. The idea someone could do that to me without me knowing freaked me out.

  Nine blocks later, the city had lost interest for me. Our city
was pretty much shutting down around this time and the insistent liveliness of it was hard to get used to, and Ethan’s concerned furtive glances just made me wish I were alone.

  “How far is the hotel?” I asked.

  “About sixteen more blocks.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, you walked quite far to find me,” he said, smirking, and then he hailed a cab.

  “I walked that far to find a steakburger?”

  The amused taunting grin remained.

  Ethan lingered at his hotel room door just a little too long, holding it open as I passed his room to go to mine two doors down. I still couldn’t believe that he and Josh couldn’t stay two nights with each other. He touched my hand and when I turned, he responded with kisses, light and gentle. He pulled away, close enough that his lips wisped lightly against mine as he spoke. “You should stay here tonight.”

  Lithe fingers ran along my cheek, over the curve of my neck as he waited for an answer that didn’t quickly come. A carnal urge made denying him hard, but that goddam logic was a true kill-joy. Good sense dictated that a relationship with Ethan wasn’t a wise decision. The longer I thought about it, the more I cared less about Ethan’s history and wanted to give in to a primal lust that balked at logic and common sense. He planted a light kiss on my cheek, and his lips lingered against my ear as he spoke, his breath warm against my skin. “If you have to think this long about it, you should say no.” With that, he slipped into his room.

  The next morning, a variation of the pancake song played in my head. Of course, there wasn’t a pancake song; just a constant upbeat chorus of “I want pancakes” replayed in my head. My stomach growled and I couldn’t focus on anything else except for the carb-loaded breakfast and I was prepared to pay the hotel’s exorbitant prices, which somehow made me think that their food had to be laced with gold. I walked into the restaurant and my attention immediately went to Ethan sitting on the other side of the room across from a strawberry blonde. It was the same woman from last night, but with different clothes. Her hair was swept into a messy ponytail on top of her head. I could only see glimpses of her wrinkled button-down. I tried to slip out unnoticed, but Ethan’s eyes raised to meet mine the moment I saw him.