Emerge: The Awakening

by Melissa A. Craven

  I could kiss him forever...

  They tumbled back onto the lounge, Aidan no longer gentle as he showed her exactly how he felt. She responded without hesitation, clinging to him despite everything that told her to end this now. Before they both got hurt. She feared that this heat between them would just swallow them up until they were nothing without each other.

  Finally, reality slammed into her. She was ruining the best thing that ever happened to either of them.

  It took all the strength she had, emotionally and physically to break away.

  “I’m sorry!” she cried between shaky breaths as she scrambled to her feet.

  “It’s okay, Lex.” His eyes heated with golden light. He stood, reaching for her again, claiming her mouth with another smoldering kiss.

  “No! Please! We can’t do this!”

  “You can’t deny we have something incredible!”

  “Yes, we do,” she said evenly, pushing hard against his chest to put some distance between them. “We have the most amazing friendship I’ve ever known, and we’re screwing it up!”

  “We could have so much more than friendship! Has mortal boy ever kissed you like that?” He raked his fingers through his hair as the warmth of their cozy bubble collapsed.

  “Aidan, I won’t risk losing our friendship when it means everything to me!

  “Dammit, Lex! Why can’t you just let this happen?”

  “LISTEN TO ME! I want to be with Vince. I won’t lose him!”

  “You love me, Allie,” he said firmly, his nostrils flaring in anger as he held her close. “Every time you deny it, you are lying!”

  “I can’t handle this. It’s too much! Vince is like an escape when I can’t take the pressure anymore! When I’m with him I don’t have to think about how everyone expects me to just adapt to this life I never asked for! I don’t have to think about how I’ll outlive my entire family! You have yours forever, Aidan! I don’t. In a few decades I’ll be utterly alone and that scares me more than you can imagine!” She sobbed as she desperately tried to rein in the power raging inside her. She knew he was fighting the same battle.

  With a deep breath, she continued in an even tone. “When I’m with Vince, he makes me forget. I need you to let me have that.”

  “You just need more time.”

  “No!” She took a step back. “I won’t risk loving you when I’m only going to lose you. Our friendship means the world to me. Nothing can ever happen.”

  “Don’t say never. Not to me, I won’t accept it.”

  “I couldn’t survive losing you. Our friendship will have to be enough.”

  “I won’t go back—I can’t go back.” His voice broke in despair.

  “Please, Aidan—”

  “I don’t want your friendship!” he spat. “I’m done.”

  “No! Don’t shut me out!” she cried as something shattered between them. She saw the old Aidan return, the one she’d only heard about. She fell to her knees when he glared with such a cold stony facade she hardly recognized him. Allie crumbled under the weight of his cruelty. He was gone. Whatever connection they had was broken.

  <><><>

  “Allie! What in God’s name is wrong with you?” Gregg growled.

  “Nothing.” She hefted herself back onto the balance beam.

  “You haven’t fallen this many times since your first week!”

  “I know. I’ll do better.”

  “Take a break.” He sat back on the mat. “You’re useless today anyway.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What’s with you two?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I’m not stupid, Red. You’ve both been pathetic. Aidan will not talk to me, or Nae. I haven’t seen him like this since…before you.” He frowned. “And you’ve been quiet and docile: two things I’ve never known you to be. It’s disturbing! I don’t want the gory details, but between my brothers and my sons, I have raised a lot of teenage boys and they were all bletherin’ idiots at sixteen.”

  “We just had a fight.” She shrugged.

  “Well, I’m going to take a stab at it.” He lay back on the mat, staring up at the ceiling. “I think my bloody impatient son declared his feelings and I’m guessing it didn’t go as he planned because he cannot get it through his thick skull you need more than a couple of months to accept your immortality.”

  “Yeah,” she snorted. If only it were that simple.

  “My son has been incredibly lonely for a very long time and I suspect you have too. Your friendship means everything to him. Talk to him, Red, whatever happened, don’t let it fester. It isn’t worth the heartache.”

  “He doesn’t want my friendship.”

  “Of course he does, sweetheart. Aidan is a powerful boy and he shoulders a lot of responsibility for one so young. More than any child should ever have to bear. You understand him in a way no one else can. Don’t let him push you away because his pride is injured. You need each other, whether or not that ever turns into something deeper. Just don’t blame him for falling so hard, you’re kind of a catch.” He winked.

  “How could it ever be anything more than friendship? He has some Complement person out there waiting for him. What’s the point in setting ourselves up for heartbreak?”

  “Aye, you both have someone who will be your life’s companion but it doesn’t mean you cannot experience love elsewhere. Believe me, I did not spend eighteen hundred years alone. As a matter of fact, Ems and I have quite a steamy history, but that was long before Daniel and Nae were in the picture.”

  “Ew! I can’t unhear that, can I?”

  “TMI?” he grinned.

  “So, what happens when I date an Immortal and just when I feel like I’m happy, his Complement shows up and he’s suddenly off bonding with her and I’m left out in the cold?”

  “I forget how much you still don’t understand,” he sighed. “I promise it doesn’t work that way. When I was a young man, I loved a much older woman. Kassandre was beautiful, ancient and mysterious. A powerful Clairvoyant and my first long term experience with an Immortal lover. Kassandre recognized her Complement while we were still together. Ashar was my good friend, but he knew for over a thousand years he belonged with Kass, and he waited very patiently for her to acknowledge their bond.”

  “They were the Chief of Justice that was assassinated, right?” Allie asked.

  “Yes, they were a truly great leader. I miss them terribly.” Gregg had a funny far off look in his eye.

  “She broke it to me gently, of course, and I was sad to lose her when I still loved her very much. But it was because I loved her that I was able to step aside. I could never fault her or Ashar for what happened. They belonged together and spent far too long apart. How could I be angry because this woman I loved finally found the completion we all seek? Their joy only served to remind me I would find the same for myself one day and it would be far greater than anything Kassandre and I ever shared. Don’t be afraid to love someone you can truly be yourself with. I would wholeheartedly approve if you chose my son, but honestly, the last thing either of you need is a complicated relationship. But my son is a dunderhead, completely distraught over a pretty girl.” He winked.

  “Thanks.” Allie smiled. “But I’m a little confused about something else.”

  “I’m an awful teacher.” He fell back on the mat.

  “You are not,” she laughed, lying back across from him.

  Her forehead creased as she stared at the ceiling in frustration. “How did Ashar know for a thousand years that Kassandre was his Complement? Wouldn’t they see it when they first met? And why wouldn’t he have just told her?”

  “Once again, we’ve not explained things well enough. You’ve seen much of our story by now, so you should remember the first time I laid eyes on Naeemah?”

  “I could see the heartbreak on your face when she showed me her memories.”

  “Aye, I lived without her for over eighteen hundred years,” he sighed. “And just the memor
y of that day still takes my breath away. We cannot know our Complements until we are ready. It’s not a fairytale, love-at-first-sight kind of moment, although that’s not unheard of. Just ask Ming and Jin.” He smiled. “But you will not recognize your Complement—even if she stares at you across a crowded bazaar—until you are open to the possibility.”

  “She wasn’t ready. That’s why she didn’t recognize you,” Allie said sadly.

  “Aye, it was the worst moment of my life. She was so beautiful and regal and our eyes met for just the briefest of moments. But she was young, just beginning to venture out on her own. I searched for months, but she vanished into the Himalayas on her way to the Shaolin.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “It’s all about timing, Allie. For a woman like Kassandre, the timing was just never right. It took her longer than most, but she always did do things her way.” He smiled fondly. “Ashar kept his silence because it would have been incredibly wrong of him to tell her. Such a revelation is a huge milestone. To be cheated out of that moment would be tantamount to betrayal.”

  “It will not happen until you’re ready. And when it does, you may have some patient waiting to do. Somehow I’m guessing you’ll be stubborn like Kass, and when you finally get around to accepting the idea of your Complement, you’ll find a poor, longsuffering lad has been waiting for you.” He winked.

  “How long until you finally met Naeemah?” she asked, all pretense of her training gone as she lay on the floor listening to his story.

  “Well over a century! But that tale will have to wait.” He jumped from the mat in one fluid motion. “We’ve talked away our entire session, so we’ll have to double time it on Saturday.”

  “I used to like Saturdays, until you crazy people came along.”

  <><><>

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Alright, guys, we’re going to take advantage of this opportunity to test Allie’s progress,” Ming Lao announced.

  Naeemah and Gregg were away for an important Assembly meeting, which meant Allie had to double up with Aidan for the day.

  “Can’t I just work with Chloe? We have a session today anyway,” he muttered bitterly.

  “No, you may not.”

  “Since when do you train with Chloe?” Allie asked. She worked with Chloe frequently. At fifteen, she was the best opponent for Allie as a beginner, but she couldn’t imagine why Aidan would need to train with her.

  “I don’t train with her. I train her.”

  He teaches? She could see it in his eyes; he hated it.

  “Ming, I haven’t practiced as a Savateur in years.”

  “Exactly, you should be a fairly even match.”

  “An even match? Ming’s got jokes.” He smirked arrogantly, shrugging out of his shirt to stretch. He took a moment to gloat when he caught Allie staring.

  “She’s pretty good, Aidan,” Ming warned. “No, Allie, just the fingerless gloves today.”

  Great. She dropped the padded training gloves that kept her hands free of broken bones and grabbed her silver fingerless gloves instead. She was actually a very good Savateuse, but sparring with Aidan was pretty high on her list of things she never wanted to do.

  “Second level?” He sneered, reaching over her head to grab his fifth level gloves. “This is a total joke.” He headed to the mat.

  “McBrien! You’re an ass!” She threw her gloves at his head.

  He swatted them away like a buzzing fly.

  Shrugging furiously out of her yoga gear, she turned to face him in her halter and short-shorts, which looked ridiculous with her Savate boots. But Allie enjoyed a moment of satisfaction when Aidan’s eyes widened in appreciation when it was her turn to stretch.

  “I don’t want anyone holding back. Let’s see your best efforts,” Ming said. They faced each other, bowing with barely discernible nods before circling the mat.

  Aidan, in a slight crouch, was the first to advance, but she was quick to block his surprisingly slow leading jab. He followed with an equally slow roundhouse kick, landing the blow gently behind her knee. Allie glared at his retreat.

  He’s going easy on me! It was a slap in the face, like he didn’t respect her as an equal.

  She pressed this time, but he blocked her crossing punch. She caught his jaw with a fast uppercut and it felt incredible! They were equals, and for the first time she thought she really understood what that meant. She didn’t feel the guilt she experienced when sparring with Chloe—despite the fact that she routinely kicked Allie’s ass.

  “This is so bizarre!” He tried to break her concentration as they continued circling the mat, faster now.

  While he took the time to taunt her, Allie advanced again and managed to knock him to the mat with a sweeping kick. He blocked her next move and launched back to his feet in one powerful movement. He succeeded in landing a wicked openhanded jab before she could recover.

  She tasted blood and it really pissed her off, but at least he was treating her with respect now.

  Leaping to avoid his attack, she flew into high roundhouse, catching his face with her boot, drawing blood. She followed with a fast, hard uppercut and a piston kick.

  They were a whirl of activity as they advanced and retreated, neither gaining the upper hand. Both were bleeding and sweating, intent on winning the match just to show the other up. She knew she would be covered in bruises, with fractured fingers and painfully broken toes, but she wasn’t about to back down.

  “Enough!” Ming called loudly to get their attention. “You can stop trying to kill each other now. It’s a draw.”

  Allie turned to face her opponent with a proper bow of respect. It really was a great fight. Aidan returned in kind with a grin and a wink. She felt a surge of conflicting emotions at the familiar gesture and suddenly felt like punching and hugging him all at once. She managed a smile, but he turned away, his eyes darkening as if he just remembered they weren’t on good terms.

  “I don’t even want to know what that was all about.” Ming said dryly.

  <><><>

  “Seriously, who peed in his Cheerios?” Sasha shivered in the cold wind sweeping across the Edgewater docks. “He opened his big stupid mouth, didn’t he?” Her intense blue eyes brimmed with concern.

  “Don’t worry, Sash,” Allie sighed as they darted for the heat lamps to wait for the ferryboat.

  “He loves you. Give him a chance to get over the shock of not getting what he wants, when he wants it, and he’ll come around. But in the meantime we have birthdays to plan!” She smiled, dropping the sensitive subject.

  “You two really should have been twins.”

  “Just remember I am nearly a month older,” Sasha reminded her.

  “Are we talking about your birthdays?” Chloe asked eagerly when she joined them.

  “It’s our seventeenths, so it should be special.”

  “It will be epic,” Graham said as the boys gathered around the heaters.

  “You guys know something.” Sasha’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Spill it.”

  “I suppose Mom won’t mind.” Aidan forced a smile for his sister. “Everyone’s coming home for our birthdays.”

  “Our everyone?”

  “Everyone’s everyone.” Quinn grinned.

  “Can you be a little more specific?” Allie asked.

  “When no one dies the relatives tend to pile up,” Graham said.

  “I’m going to have to walk around with a whiteboard and markers, aren’t I?”

  “You may actually want to take notes,” Sasha laughed. “Let’s see how fast I can do this. Uncle Liam is Dad’s oldest-younger brother, and his daughter is Kahlynn; then there’s our brothers, Scott, Darius, Seamas and his husband George. Our sister, Imogen and her husband Lucian. Then Mom’s parents, Grandma Nadira and Grandpa Sayid, and Uncle Aide—Dad’s youngest brother is married to Aunt Hélène and their kids are Erin and Dean. Now here’s where it gets tricky. Aunt Hélène is Emma’s daughter with Uncle L
ou. That makes Hélène Quinn and Graham’s older sister and Chloe’s niece. Uncle Lou’s brother, Max, is married to Aunt Gabrielle, who is Emma’s best friend, and their daughter is cousin Sonya who just married Eric last year. Then there’s Mia, Quinn and Graham’s older sister and Chloe’s other niece; and then Ming’s parents, LuLi and Ju Long, who’re Quinn and Graham’s great-grandparents and Chloe’s grandparents. Then Julian and Joelle are Chloe’s brother and sister and Quinn and Graham’s aunt and uncle. Did I get everyone in there?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I think so,” Quinn laughed. “But we might want to think about name tags.”

  “I have a headache,” Allie sighed.

  “So where’s the party?” Chloe asked.

  “That’s the best part,” Quinn said. “Mom planned a War Game and this one’s going to be crazy! Two teams, on the island, and everyone’s playing.”

  “Shut up!” Sasha bounced in her seat.

  “Why does that sound utterly terrifying?” Allie felt a surge of dread.

  “It’s just a game, sorta like capture the flag on speed, and this will be the first time I can actually play!” Graham beamed.

  “The challenges are designed to push us out of our comfort zones,” Quinn added. “It’s way better than training.”

  “Full gear and everything?” Aidan asked, a huge grin splitting his face.

  “Yeah.” Quinn responded with his own idiotic grin.

  “Gear?” Allie tried to keep up.

  “Fatigues, lots of weapons and ammo,” Quinn said.

  “And this is…fun? I think maybe I’ll just sit this one out—”

  “No way, you’re going to love this!” Sasha insisted.

  “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Chloe squeezed her hand in sympathy.

  “This is happening in a week! I’ll never be ready!”

  “Suck it up, Red.” Aidan rolled his eyes. “You had me on my toes the other day. You’re ready.”

  <><><>

  “Allie, you’ll do fine!”

  “Jin, I’m going to get my very large butt handed to me in a very small, nicely wrapped package,” she said acerbically.