The Blackwater Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 2)

by Apryl Baker

“It’s okay, Blue.” He grabs my hand. “You’re fine. No one’s going to hurt you. We’re all pack here. You needed us to heal.”

  “I needed to be naked to heal?” I screech. The second I speak, the door is thrown open and Luka rushes in, his eyes wild. When he sees me, some of the fury leaves him and he nestles me in his arms, and I desperately try to use him as a shield.

  “Clothes, I need clothes!”

  A loud chuckle echoes behind us, and Luka growls in response. He doesn’t like me being naked in front of strangers any more than I do. Micah tosses something to Luka, and he quickly pulls one of Micah’s shirts over me. I know it belongs to my best friend because of how it smells. It’s something he’s worn recently, as the scent of honeysuckle and fresh cut grass clings to it. It doesn’t make up for my lack of underwear, but at least I don’t feel so exposed.

  “Yes, little one, you needed to be naked to heal.” I hear the gravelly voice of someone, and Luka hisses at him. Hisses.

  “Blue, this is our pack healer, Nathaniel. He and Luka got into a bit of a…um…disagreement earlier over the whole naked thing. Body heat works best for healing wounds, both physical and emotional. You needed to be surrounded by as much heat as possible. Your injuries were really bad.”

  Nathaniel is tall, but not as tall as Luka. His chestnut brown hair is cut short, and his blue eyes laugh at me when I refuse to look anywhere but at his very naked body. I feel the burn of a blush infuse my cheeks. These people are way too at ease without clothes.

  “Um, let’s go somewhere I can find pants.” Luka wastes no time and picks me up, and we’re moving swiftly through the house, and he doesn’t stop until he reaches what I assume is Micah’s room. It’s chock-full of trophies from various sports activities and movie posters.

  “Here. Your mom had a change of clothes with her, and you’re about her size. The sweats should fit.”

  I look at the offending piece of clothing and am loathe to touch it. I want nothing that belongs to my mother. “Do you have something? I’d rather not use hers.”

  “Blue, don’t be ridiculous.” He gives me a hard look. “My pants will fall off you.”

  “He is right, Munya. You need clothes.” Luka is still pissed. I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss him, trying to soothe some of the anger out of him.

  He lets my lips go and nuzzles his nose in my hair, breathing in deeply. “You scare me for the second time today, Munya. I thought you agreed to no do that again.”

  “It wasn’t my fault.” I slip out of his arms and put on my mom’s joggers. They smell like her. Fresh apples. She always smells like apples. It’s the one smell from when I was little that’s stuck with me.

  “Still, no more today? I no want to hurt anyone today.”

  “Hurt someone?” I look up from pulling on a pair of Micah’s socks.

  He closes those beautiful green eyes of his and takes several deep breaths. “No more touching you today that isn’t me.”

  It takes me a minute to understand him. His English isn’t always so good. It only makes him that much more endearing to me. Not to mention his sexy as sin accent. He’s afraid he might hurt the next person to touch me who isn’t him. Luka is as strong or stronger than a shifter, being able to shift into some kind of creature himself. I have a feeling if he ever lost control, he’d do more than a little damage. He’d annihilate someone.

  “Saidie?” I ask once I’ve managed to make myself as presentable as I can. My hair has to be a mess, but not a lot I can do about that right now. I need a scrunchie. “Did they fix her yet?”

  “No.” Micah doesn’t look too happy about it either. “Your mom has tried a few things already, even called in Sabien and Bree, but so far nothing has worked.”

  “I need to see her.”

  “No.” Luka has that look that says do not test me, but he can just get over it.

  “Yes.” I march right over to him, not backing down even with that murderous expression he’s giving me.

  “You no understand!” He starts to pace. “She is leerky. Madness eat her.”

  “She’s not crazy.” I remember what leerky means. “She’s sick, cursed. She needs to know we aren’t giving up on her.”

  “She knows that, Blue.” Micah pulls me into a hug, his need to touch me as great as Luka’s. I hadn’t really paid attention to his feelings earlier, but I am now. They are smashing into me like the angry waves of the ocean. Fear, anxiety, frustration, helplessness. I must have been really hurt. “Luka’s right. She is dangerous right now, and his brother is with her. Not sure I want you near a vampire until I know he’s not going to hurt you or us.”

  Luka’s lips thin, but he doesn’t dispute a word that Micah has said. Vampires are deadly. Not at all like the ones on TV or in most books. They are the things that live in the bottomless pits of your darkest nightmares. I can only guess how Luka must feel knowing his brother is one now. He has to be upset, but at the same time, he must be feeling joy his brother isn’t dead…well, maybe he is dead, but he’s not gone? I don’t know how that works.

  “I don’t care. I’m going to see her with or without your help.” She’s in this mess because of me. It was my magic that woke hers up. It’s something I’m going to live with for a very long time. I caused all the problems in my friends’ lives. Me and my stupid freak show.

  Blue.

  I hear the censure in Micah’s voice, but I ignore it. He can tell me all day it isn’t my fault, but we both know to a degree, it is. It’s one truth neither of us can hide from.

  “Stubborn.” Luka’s green eyes narrow, but he nods.

  “Bossy.” I toss a smile his way. He only gives me that lopsided grin I adore. The real Luka Rinaldi smile that is so rare I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen it.

  He comes over, but doesn’t pull me away from Micah. Instead he wraps us both in a hug, and Micah shivers the same way I do. I forget that he reacts to Luka the same way I do, at least to a certain extent. It’s weird, and I’d almost be jealous if Micah batted for the home team. Thank God he’s as straight as they come or I’d have to contemplate murdering him.

  A full on belly laugh nearly doubles us all over when he hears that last thought. “I might just give you a run for your money if I was into guys.”

  “Mine.” The snarl is out before I can stop myself, and Micah is on his back staring up at me with wide, blue eyes. Possessive anger pours off me in waves as my wolf claws her way to the surface, prepared to defend what is ours. Micah is my other half, yes, but no one, not even him, touches what is mine. And Luka Rinaldi is mine.

  He holds his hands up in surrender. “Yours.”

  “Alexandria?”

  I whirl at the sound of his voice. He doesn’t understand what just happened, and the need to claim what is mine is too powerful to even speak. My lips crash into his, and I put everything I’m feeling, but have no words for, into that kiss. His arms come around me, and when I can’t breathe, I come up for air, whispering, “Mine.”

  “Yours.” He hugs me tight. “Easy, girl.”

  “I meant no harm, Blue.” Micah gets up and cautiously approaches us. “I am sorry.”

  The wolf in me retreats, and I take a steadying gulp of air, trying to remember we love Micah as much as we do our mate. He is our soul. We can’t hurt him. We love him.

  I love you too, Blue.

  I nod and tighten my hold on Luka, doing my best to calm down. I don’t know why my emotions are so crazy right now.

  “It’s because you shifted for the first time. Your emotions are heightened as well as your senses. I should have thought of that before I teased you.” Micah lays his head against my back, a humming vibrating from his chest and into me. “Luka belongs to you. Your wolf chose him long before you even understood it. I know this. I was only joking. I am so sorry, Alex. Forgive me?”

  Luka has wisely said not a word. Smart man. I lean into Luka and let his smell invade my nose, all but purring when the rich smell of darkness bathes my s
enses. He always smells of the night, of dark and deadly things. It should scare me, but it doesn’t. It’s a smell I’ve come to understand means comfort and safety. Luka will protect me with his last dying breath. He chose me as much as my wolf chose him. It took me some time to understand he was mine long before we even met.

  “I forgive you, Micah, but if you ever joke like that again, I will not be responsible for what happens to you even though I love you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” He pushes into my back, trying to get as close to me as he can. We both need it. “I promise, Blue. No more jokes about stealing your mate.”

  “What?” Luka exclaims, leaning back, a frown on his face. “How can you steal me? I no understand.”

  Micah chuckles. “Don’t worry about it, Luka. It’s something you’ll never have to worry about. Our little firecracker here will destroy anyone who tries to steal you.”

  “I no want to be stolen. She is mine and I am hers.”

  That is why I love Luka Rinaldi. The possessiveness might have scared me a few months ago, but not now. It just means he loves me.

  I kiss him softly and smile. “Let’s go see Saidie before I hurt someone.”

  Chapter

  Nineteen

  The Blackburne mansion resides atop a hill overlooking the town of Jacob’s Fork. I always thought of some castle where a king could sit and look out at his people. I love this place. I used to spend a lot of time here, but once my mother came back, I stayed away.

  My mother left us when I was little. She never wrote, never called, never looked back. We learned a few months ago she left to keep us safe from trackers, but that didn’t take the sting of her neglect away. Jason and I have talked it over at length. We always go back to one thing. She had a choice. She chose to leave and never look back. She wanted us to have a life that didn’t involve running all the time. We just wanted her. A lifetime of neglect isn’t something we can just forgive overnight.

  Jason’s truck is in the driveway already, so I know he’s here somewhere. He must have brought Bree over. I can almost guarantee he’s out back doing something to keep him out of the house and away from Alesha. It hurts us to be in the same room with her. I wish Uncle Sabien could understand that. He keeps trying to push us into some kind of relationship, but it’s only pushing us farther away from him. Neither of us will deal with our mother until we’re good and ready to, and that’s not gonna be any time in the near future.

  I smell my mother as soon as I open the door and follow my nose. They’re in the back of the house, in the kitchen. I slow when we round the corner, hearing them chatting in low tones.

  “I don’t have a chance with him, Sabien. Emma raised him. She’s his mother, but not Alex’s. Maybe her being in that school wasn’t all bad. I have a shot at getting my daughter back, at least.”

  She thinks that, does she? My rage roars to life, and before either of my boys can stop me, I stomp into the room, my wolf pacing back and forth, snarling and snapping with my own rage.

  “How dare you!” I get right up in her face, and she and Sabien take a cautious step back. “Emma is more of a mother to me than you will ever be! She was the one who sat by my bed through my nightmares, nightmares you caused. She was the one who called me every single day while I was at Compton. Not Dad, not you, but Emma. She was the one who sent me care packages while I was in that Godawful place. Emma. Not you. She is my mother because she chose to stay, even when I terrified her, even when she was afraid to let me anywhere near my brother, she stayed. Never once did she leave me. Not once! But that’s all you’re good for, isn’t it? Leaving. Don’t you dare think you’re even worth half the woman she is. Do. You. Understand. Me?”

  My chest is heaving by the time I spit all that out, and my wolf is going crazy. Her eyes, my own eyes, fill with tears. “I am so sorry, baby.”

  “Don’t touch me.” I yank away from her before her outstretched hands can reach me. “I hate you. Do you understand that? You caused the living hell I lived in for most of my life. You caused the nightmares that locked me up. You caused all of it. I. Hate. You!”

  She flinches. Jason must have heard me shouting, because he’s standing in the kitchen door watching us. His face is oddly empty as he comes to stand beside me, taking my hand, trying to comfort me the same way he did when he picked me up off the ground the day she left us. “She doesn’t understand what she did to us, Sis. She might not ever understand.”

  “I did what I thought was right, Jason.” She wipes the tears away. “I don’t know what I can say except maybe one day when you have children of your own, you might understand the choice I made.”

  “We do understand, but sometimes doing the right thing costs you everything.”

  Her face pales.

  “Come on, Sis. I’ll take you to where Saidie is. Bree’s sitting with her.”

  Micah and Luka move aside so Jase can tug me along behind him, refusing to let go of my hand. I think he wanted to say all that to Mom, but hadn’t been able to put it into words yet.

  “Are you okay?” he asks as we’re going down the basement steps.

  “No.” I won’t be okay for a good long while. My therapist was wrong. They all told me confronting her would make me feel better, give me closure. All it did was open a bleeding wound that went from seeping to gushing. I want to curl up and cry like a baby. My mother is right about one thing. While everything I said was true, I will never have the kind of relationship Emma and Jase have. She raised him. Emma loves me like I was her own child, but she didn’t raise me. I’m always left feeling like an outsider looking in when I’m around Emma, Dad, and Jase all together. They’re a family. I’m just the lost forgotten child. Alone and abandoned.

  But you’re not alone, Micah whispers in my mind. You are never alone now that you have me.

  I smile at his reminder. Now that I have him, no matter where I am, I am never alone. He’s always just a thought away. He filled most of the holes my mama left, but not all of them. Some of them are still there and will always remain an open bleeding wound.

  Saidie is in the deepest corner of the basement. It’s dark, and even the flickering fluorescent lights barely do anything but cut away edges of the darkness. Bree looks up when we enter, immediately going into mother hen mode when she gets a look at us. I’m not sure what she sees, but it’s enough to make her spring up from the ground and rush us. Jason never lets go of my hand when she hits him full on. He chuckles, but it’s a hollow, empty laugh.

  “What’s wrong? You both look like someone just died.”

  “We had a run-in with our mother.” I shrug it off and focus on Saidie instead. I have to close my eyes and refocus. The cloud of souls around her has gotten thicker, if that’s possible. I’d gotten so used to seeing the colors, I almost forgot about my new ability. So had Micah. Now that he’s aware of them again, our vision blurs, and I groan. “Micah, focus.”

  “Sorry,” he mutters and does his best. It takes him a minute to get a handle on it, but when he does, our vision clears.

  “What’s going on with you two?” Bree frowns as she notices our squinting.

  “She can see auras, which means so can I. It’s disorienting as hell.” Micah sounds surly, but I can’t blame him. It makes my head hurt if I concentrate on it.

  “You can see the things haunting Saidie?” Bree cocks her head thoughtfully. “That might work to our advantage.”

  “How and where is Conner?” I haven’t seen him since we were at Saidie’s house earlier this afternoon.

  “I sent him to collect some things we needed.” Alesha comes into the room, followed by Sabien. She doesn’t say anything about what happened before, so neither do we. Right now, we have to focus on Saidie and not our family drama. “We were out of a lot of the basics. What might work to our advantage, Sabrina?”

  Bree scrunches her nose at the use of her full name. No one called her that except for Lorelye, the sister who had tried to kill us both. “Alex is seeing aura
s. She can see what we can’t.”

  “You can? When did this start?”

  “Right after I touched Saidie this morning.”

  “This morning?” Bree looks up. “Alex, you’ve been unconscious for almost three days.”

  “What?” Three days? There is no way…no wonder Luka was so freaked out. “I was that sick?”

  “Yes.” Alesha nods and comes farther into the room. “Whoever blocked you from shifting caused major damage. Ethan had to force you to shift at least a dozen times before your body was able to heal on its own. Scared the hell out of all of us.”

  I move closer to Saidie, and Aleric bares his teeth at me. Luka’s brother is very menacing, but if he thinks for a second he’s keeping me away from her, he’s got another thing coming. “I’m not going to hurt her, Aleric. I just need to check on her.”

  “Doan touch her.” He squats down beside her huddled form. “She woan forgive herself if she hurts you.”

  “Why would she hurt Alex?” Alesha is right behind me. “She’s a necromancer. Her magic can’t hurt a witch.”

  “It can me.” I get on my knees so I’m on eye level with her. Saidie’s brown eyes are dull, lifeless.

  “That’s not possible, Peanut.”

  “It migh’ no’ be possible, but is true all de same.” Aleric slides a glance at my mother over my shoulder. “She was drownin’ her’n death magic.”

  My mother falls to her knees, and I hear the breath whoosh out of her. Aleric shocked her. “No. She can’t do that to a witch.” She reaches out and touches Saidie. Nothing happens. “See? It must have been something else.”

  I reach out and take Saidie’s hand to see if what happened before was some fluke. It wasn’t and starts all over again. Dark, black waters rush in, swirling around me, blanketing me in their cold, bitter depths. Luka yanks me away from her before I can go under, and I cling to him while I struggle to regain my sanity. All that cold and dark…it’s lonely and soul sucking. It’s hard to breathe.

  “Alexandria!” He shakes me like a rag doll, my head snapping back and forth. “Speak to me.”