He cleared his throat. “Soooo... question.”
Not unexpectedly, Jaeden groaned. “Why, Ryder, why? We were having such a pleasant journey together.”
He chuckled and glanced at her, enjoying the cute way her nose wrinkled at him in distaste. “I’m curious, that’s all.”
“And you know what they say about curiosity.”
“Good thing I’m a wolf and not a cat then, huh.”
She blew out a dramatic breath, asking in a beleaguered tone, “What’s the question?”
“How on Gaia’s green earth did you end up with a bunch of vampyres?”
“Oh.”
Ryder grunted, turning his head away from the road to catch her expression. She looked caught off guard and... embarrassed?
“Well, there’s definitely a story there.”
She shrugged at him, and then frowned. “Watch the road.”
“Are you going to answer the question?”
“Yeah, but dying won’t get it out of me any faster.”
“OK, I’m watching the road!” He exclaimed, determinedly staring straight ahead.
Silence.
“Jaeden...”
“OK, OK. I ended up with vampyres because I met one on the bus who told me he ran with a group of hunters, and it would be a good way to work out all my aggression.”
“He?” Ryder did not like the sound of that.
“Reuben. He was cute and funny, and I think he’s older than he lets on because he’s very intuitive; he seemed to know there was something wrong with me before I even opened my mouth. He started telling me that maybe doing something as worthwhile as hunting down killers, and saving a few people, would help.”
“This random guy approaches you and you just, what… move in with him? I’m confused; I thought schools started teaching ‘stranger danger’ from kindergarten?”
“Reuben is a good guy,” she replied defensively. “He has amazing intuition. I didn’t tell him all that much until we knew each other better, and even then I didn’t really explain the full scope of my ‘issues’,” her voice lowered. “He was a good friend to me. I feel bad about leaving without saying goodbye.”
“Was that all he was? A friend?”
Oh Artemis that’s all he better have been.
“Yeah. He wanted more but... to be honest I wasn’t even a very good friend to him, never mind anything else. It’s weird...”
“What?”
When she didn’t say anything he pinned an unrelenting narrow-eyed gaze on her.
“The road!” She pointed at the windshield, unimpressed.
“Say what you were going to say.”
“You know, Lucien and my dad are going to be so interested to know that you threatened my life numerously on this little retrieval of yours.”
Ryder shrugged, even though he knew Dimitri would tear him a new one if he found out about Ryder’s interrogation techniques with his only daughter.
“Fine,” she snapped, and he reluctantly pulled his gaze away from her and back to the road. “When I was staying with the gang, I didn’t feel anything. I mean, I didn’t allow myself to feel close to them, just as much as I didn’t allow myself to feel anything about the pack. But...”
“Yeah?”
“But... as soon as we left the city, give or take a few hours of your incessant, and terrible singing, I had all these... emotions... guilt for not being a better friend to Styx, Reuben, all of them. And relief. To be going home.”
He could tease her about how that meant he’d somehow opened her up again, melted some of that ice she had been building as a defence around her after everything that had happened, but he knew this was an important moment for her. She would hate him for teasing, seeming to belittle something that in fact made him more convinced that they might be mates.
He was the truth she couldn’t hide from.
It was kind of overwhelming… but kind of nice.
“That sounds stupid doesn’t it?” She sounded so young and unsure.
Reaching out, he clasped her small hand in one of his own, and watched with pleasure as she blushed at the intimate contact. “Not at all. It sounds just right.”
She smiled shyly at him, and got caught in his heated gaze. Abruptly, her gaze dropped and she pulled away mumbling, “Watch the road.”
Ryder laughed, and indicated left, pulling into the motel he had been driving towards. It was dark and he was hungry, and she was probably fed up of being cooped up in the truck all day.
“We’re stopping?”
“Yeah, let’s get a couple of rooms and some food out of the vendors.”
“Oh goody, Ho Hos and chips. You certainly know how to show a wolf a good time.”
“Shut it, and get out.”
They walked across the barely lit lot to the motel reception, and all the while he surreptitiously watched her. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. How had this happened?
“Evening folks,” the young guy at the counter said without even looking up. “How can I help?”
“Two singles,” Jaeden replied curtly.
At the sound of her throaty voice the guy looked up, and his eyes widened along with his smile, while he drunk her in. “Uh...”
“Two singles,” Ryder echoed, and watched with satisfaction as the kid took in the size of him, and determinedly kept his eyes off of Jae.
“Uh... we have a slight plumbing issue at the moment. I have one room with two twins.”
“That’ll do.”
“But-” Jaeden’s mouth dropped open in protest.
Ryder sneered, “I’ll try not to give you cooties.”
She huffed at his side whilst he paid and grabbed the keys; he had to physically usher her across the lot to their motel room. It wasn’t so bad. Yeah, it would suck being stuck in the same room with the object of his misguided desire, but he was a Rogue Hunter for goddess sakes. He had taken down a pack of three rogues by himself. One little slip of a female couldn’t be that bad.
She threw her bag on the bed nearest the bathroom. “This place is disgusting. You would think with the amount of money the pack have they could have financed the journey home.”
“They did.”
“And this was all it paid for?”
“What part of ‘you broke a major Coven law’ translates into five star hotels and room service?”
“So, this is punishment? This room... with you?”
He grabbed his chest. “Baby, you gotta stop with the love, it’s embarrassing.”
“Funny.”
“I try. Now, move your ass back out of here... the vendors are over the lot.”
She grumbled a little bit, but he had her back to laughing at his inane jokes whilst they collected a small picnic from the vending machines and walked back to the room. Later, he was going to blame his new found infatuation with her on the reason why he didn’t pick up the disturbance in the air, and the thick coppery smell that clung to the door of their motel. Instead he stalked inside, looking back at Jaeden, laughing. The door crashed, closing them in, and he felt the cold press of metal against his temple. Jaeden gasped, seeing the presence he felt beside him in the dark with her wolf eyes.
“The light, please,” a nasal voice rumbled in his ear.
Jaeden reached to the wall, and with a click the room was flooded with bad lighting.
He couldn’t believe this! He couldn’t effin believe this! And he couldn’t move... there was no coming back from a close range bullet to the head, even if he was a lykan.
Jaeden stood stock still, completely stolid, as her eyes drifted from him to his captor.
“Vampyre,” she said quietly for his benefit so he would know who had a hold of him.
“Yes,” the voice sneered, “You stinking lykan bitch.”
Ryder bristled, and immediately felt the gun press deeper into his temple. “What do you want?”
“To kill you. Whilst she watches. And then kill her.”
“How succinct.” Jae’s mou
th twisted in distaste. “Can I enquire as to a motive?”
“Cora.”
“I’m sorry, a what now?”
Ryder muffled his laughter. Goddess, she was something, wasn’t she. Cool as a cucumber, even though she was probably petrified inside. He glanced around the room, looking for a suitable weapon against the vamp. There was the television set... it could cause a distraction. If only he could communicate this to Jae with his eyes.
“Cora!” The vampyre yelled. “My Girlfriend! My girlfriend for thirty years, until you came along and cut her head off!”
Jaeden shrugged casually. “I’m sorry but I’ve cut the heads off of quite a few vamp whores who slaughtered humans.”
“Cora. She was blonde. Beautiful. You left her to die in a cemetery a few days ago.”
Ryder watched as recognition dawned in Jaeden’s eyes. She remembered whoever it was the guy was spewing about.
“She murdered a human boy.”
The gun pressed even harder to his head now. “Well, you took care of her for that didn’t you. Now I’m going to take care of what’s important to you.”
The gun cocked.
“No!” Jaeden shouted and threw up her hand.
Suddenly the cold metal disappeared from his temple, and the gun, with its sinister silencer attached, flew past his face and into Jaeden’s waiting hand.
What the...
She took aim immediately, and shot behind Ryder as he ducked for cover. Ryder whirled to see an abnormally thin, tall male in slacks and a striped sweater, stumbling back against the wall. This... this was the would-be assassin? Holy Artemis.
The vampyre regained his footing. A bullet wasn’t going to do much. He saw Jae make a move towards the guy out of the corner of his eye and hissed in disbelief. He threw out his arm, pushing her behind him more roughly than he intended, and then turned on their attacker. The guy threw a punch that would have sent him through the wall had he made contact with him, but he missed having thrown too much weight behind it. Ryder jerked to his side, grabbing a hold of his arm, and twisted it hard enough to break it. The vamp howled. This gave him the leverage to whip the supernatural around and grab a hold of his head. As quick as lightning, Ryder wrenched it clean off his neck.
“Yuck.” He sighed, dropping the dismembered head on the body. He turned back to glare at Jaeden, who stood watching him in awe. “Well, don’t you have some explaining to do.”
***
Oh crap! Why did he have to go and ruin the moment? Here she was, trembling with shock at the violence, and yet overwhelming admiration with the quick way Ryder had dispatched the vampyre who had come after her. She could tell by the way he hadn’t lingered over the kill that he was a Hunter not because he enjoyed it, but because he was strong and good at it. Fast, efficient.
But noo... could he allow her to stand and ogle him in admiration for just a few minutes. Nope. He had to crack right to the fact that she had used her telekinesis. And whatever friendship they had formed in the last 36 hours was going to die a sudden death when he realised she was polluted.
Maybe she could feign ignorance.
“I think we should get rid of the body just before dawn. We’ll put it out back and it’ll be gone within seconds. Nice job by the way. I’ve not quite managed the art of decapitation by bare hands but I’ll work on that. Yes siree. Is there a technique-”
“Jaeden,” he warned quietly, and took a few intimidating steps towards her. Automatically she backed up against the wall. “Jae, is this what you’re hiding?” He pointed to the gun she didn’t realise was still in her hand. “How did you do that? And before you ask, yes, I mean how did you whip the gun from his hand to yours?”
Aw crap, her life was so over.
She heaved a heavy sigh and flopped down on to the nearest bed, placing the gun gently on the bedside table. She couldn’t look at him as she began, “I don’t know. I can move things with my mind, I guess.”
“Like Caia?”
No, not like Caia! She wanted to scream. Caia could do that because she was born to do it. Half-magik, half-lykan. She hadn’t been tortured to near death, and imbued with her torturers gift for ‘look no hands!’
Instead she shrugged. “I don’t know. I think...”
“You think?” He prodded gently.
She curled her hands into fists. She didn’t want to talk about this! How dare he force her to talk about it? It was none of his goddess damn business!
“Jae?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she clipped out.
“Well, you’re going to have to cos’ I do.”
Arrgghhh!
Her eyes flashed up to meet his, blazing with shame and fury. “Go to Hades, Ryder!”
He flinched, obviously taken aback by the venom in her voice. “Jae-”
“What, are you deaf?! I don’t want to discuss it. Not with Caia, not with my dad, not with Lucien, and most definitely not with some two-bit Rogue Hunter!”
A growl that built into an almost roar ripped out of him, and he suddenly had her by her upper arms, shaking her like a rag doll.
“Let go!” She yelled, pulling and twisting ineffectually in his grasp.
“No!” He bellowed in her face, her hair blowing back with his anger. “You’re going to tell me what is going on. Now!”
She had never seen Ryder angry before. He was the most together male lykan she had ever met. She began to tremble. Oh goddess, don’t let me cry. No! The tears streamed down her face with a mind of their own, and she felt Ryder’s death grip ease. Abruptly she was pressed against him, her face snuggled into his chest whilst he sighed and stroked her hair.
“Dammit, don’t cry, Jae, please don’t cry. You know I can’t stand to see a woman cry.”
“I’m s-s-sorry,” she managed, hiccupping. But the tears wouldn’t stop. She continued to sob in his arms as he cradled her against him, whispering soothing nonsense in her ear. She cried all the tears she hadn’t allowed herself until now. She cried for the way her captivity had broken her innocence and faith; she cried for letting fear get the best of her; she cried for the sharp, breathless pain any remembrance of Sebastian brought; and she cried for the shame of having the telekinesis as a permanent scar from Ethan’s torture.
After a little while her tears subsided, her trembling eased, and she managed to catch her breath.
“I’m sorry,” she apologised hoarsely, trying to pull away, but Ryder wouldn’t let her. Instead he brushed her hair aside, stroking her face tenderly. His warm eyes seared into her own cool ones.
“Don’t be. I think it was a long time coming.”
She nodded, unable to tear her gaze away from his.
“Jaeden...” he seemed reluctant to continue.
She decided to put him out of his misery. “I have telekinesis because of Ethan.”
He shook his head. “How did that happen?”
Sucking in a deep breath, she prepared herself to say the words out loud. Admitting it all would just make it… real.
“He tortured me for weeks. He was a fire magik. A good one. Very inventive… creative.” She laughed bitterly. “He used fire as a whip. He lashed me dozens of times, and then allowed me a day to heal before he began again. Sometimes he didn’t use fire… he would just use his energy to slice me open.”
“Oh god-” Ryder’s hold tightened on her, his lips pressed thin with white fury.
“He used to play ‘bloody’ knots and crosses on my stomach, or quiz me about literature, movies… whatever. And if I got the question wrong he’d score my skin... everywhere... my back, my legs, my breasts, my face, my arms... sometimes he would use this illusion on me, make me think my entire body was burning from the inside out. I’d scream and scream until I passed out with the pain, and then when I woke up... I-I was OK again. Then he would just start it all over again, laughing the more I screamed, the more-”
“Sshhh.” He crushed her so tightly against him she could hardly breathe. “I don’t know
if I can hear anymore.”
“I’m just trying to explain,” her voice was muffled against his throat, “he used his energy on me so much that I think it seeped into my blood.”
“Can you do anything else?”
“No.” She managed to pull away. “Just telekinesis. I ran away because I couldn’t control it.”
“And now?”
“I’m getting better. When I have nightmares I can’t.”
His jaw clenched, his eyes blazing. “Do you have nightmares a lot?”
“Sometimes.”
“Jae...” His eyes seemed to glisten, and he abruptly looked away, fighting his emotions. “We should have gotten to you sooner.”
“No!” She grabbed his arm, tugging him back to face her. “Don’t. You all saved me. Don’t do that.”
“I can’t help it... I had no idea it- I knew it was bad, but that-”
Panic shot through her. “Ryder, you can’t tell. Please,” she pleaded.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want anyone to know how bad it was. I don’t want them to know about the telekinesis.”
“Why, it’s not your fault?”
“I just don’t.”
Please, please, please, please.
He took a hold of her shoulders and shook her gently, his expression darkening. “You better not be ashamed, Jaeden Rodriguez, because you have nothing to feel ashamed of. You are the strongest person I know. I’m proud to know you.”
Oh goddess. She felt tears choke her throat again. Why did he have to be so perfect?
“Please don’t tell,” she persisted.
Ryder sighed, shaking his head. “I won’t. But it’s not something you can hide easily, Jaeden. And no one will care. The pack is just happy to be getting you back.”
“Still...”
He held a hand up in surrender, smiling gently. “I promise, I won’t tell.”
River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte Page 8