“Piper, I—”
“You can't drink from me again. You need to find someone else to feed from.”
Genuine surprise flashed across his face, as though my outburst was not at all what he'd been expecting when he’d entered my room.
“Why have you come to this conclusion?” he asked, leaning back against the heavy wooden barricade.
“I didn't. Jase did. I'm just agreeing with him.”
“And why has he suggested this?”
“Your behavior. It's...off somehow. This is not the you that I've known. This is the you I was cautioned against.”
He sighed heavily, squeezing his head between his thumb and index finger.
“I'm sorry, Piper. In truth, I haven't felt myself at all today. Perhaps Jase is right. Perhaps there is something about your blood that is negatively affecting me.”
When he released his temples, he brought his gaze up to meet mine, the two of us just silently staring at one another for what seemed like an eternity. I longed to understand what was going through his complicated mind. I prayed that it wasn't breaking.
“You scared me,” I whispered nervously, uncertain how he'd respond to that admission.
Seeing me physically tense when he stepped toward me, his expression fell to one of sadness.
“I'm so sorry, Piper. I would never hurt you. You must know this. I need you to know this...”
“That's what I've been told—that our bond somehow insulates me from certain emotions and behaviors—but after tonight, I'm just not sure,” I admitted a little more freely. “I thought you were going to hit me in the basement.
He visibly flinched at my words.
“I admit that I cannot account for the anger that overtook me downstairs. I think that perhaps you and I should stay in separate spaces until your blood no longer courses through my veins,” he said, an uncharacteristic softness to his reply. “I will speak to Jase about this and see what he thinks. His insight into serious matters is usually beyond reproach. I hope it is in this matter as well.” He turned to leave, his hand resting on the doorknob for a beat before he twisted it and opened the door. “Please believe me when I tell you that I have never felt about another the way I feel about you, Piper.” His sad eyes gazed over his shoulder, reinforcing his sentiment. “I love you.”
With that, he exited my room, softly closing the door behind him, leaving me to my chosen isolation. Isolation from him that would last for the next couple days while we allowed his body to burn up the blood I had given him. I nervously awaited the results of our experiment.
* * *
“Piper?” Kat called from outside my room, peeking her head in immediately afterward. She never was a big fan of waiting to be let in.
“Yeah, Kat? What's up?”
“How are you doing?”
“Fine, I guess,” I shrugged, climbing out of bed.
“We should get you outside today. Want to go for a run?”
“With you?” I asked incredulously. “You know I can't keep up.”
“I'll jog. I promise. No speeding.”
“The last time you said that, a squirrel ran past us and you took off. You didn't come back for thirty minutes!”
It was her turn to shrug.
“I am what I am, what can I say?”
“Okay, Popeye. I'll get geared up and meet you downstairs.”
She started toward my bedroom door, stopping just short of it.
“It's going to be all right, Piper.” Her statement caught me completely off guard. It was rare for Kat to show emotions, at least any with depth to them. She was generally more of the sarcastic type with a wicked protective edge to her. Solemn was new for her as far as I was concerned. “Things were a little rocky for Jensen and me in the beginning. I know that it's considered a bit taboo for the races to mix, but I think there's a deeper reason behind it.”
“You don't think we blend well.”
She gave a wan smile.
“I think that where vampires are concerned, things are inherently more complicated,” she explained with a sigh. “Jensen took a while to get used to my blood. To this day he doesn’t feed solely on it.”
“Oh,” I said softly. “So you think Merc will be okay?”
“I hope so.”
When her expression started to harden, I quickly read between the lines. She hoped so because the alternative was one that I wouldn't like. Or maybe I wouldn't survive. I never did ask her to expand on her response and she never offered to. Instead, the two of us went for a run in the woods on the property. We strode alongside one another in companionable silence, letting nature be the soundtrack to our jog. Just being in the fresh air helped calm my soul. Set my mind at ease.
By the time we returned to the mansion, the sun was setting, dipping down behind the peaks of the surrounding pine trees.
“I need to go...you know,” Kat said with an awkward jerk of her head back toward the trees.
“Haven't gotten furry in a while, eh?” I teased, stretching my legs.
“I've been busy. You good on your own?”
“I'll be fine. Don't worry about me.”
She scrutinized me for a moment, then sped off, disappearing into the tree line that encircled the property. I remained outside to watch the sun fully set, absorbing its final glow before it too disappeared. Then I made my way into the mansion to wait out the final hours of Merc’s and my separation. Soon we would know if all was well.
Soon we would know if all was doomed.
* * *
I wasn't aware that I'd fallen asleep in the movie room until a large hand on my shoulder gently jostled me awake.
“Should I assume this particular film isn't worth watching?” Merc asked as he sat down on the edge of the couch just in front of my outstretched body.
“Hey,” I said, my voice heavy with sleep. Rubbing my eyes to coax them open, I sat up beside him. “Sooooo...how are you feeling?” The trepidation in my tone was apparent, especially when combined with my cautious expression.
An honest-to-God smile spread across his face. I swear I even saw a twinkle in his eye.
“Like myself,” he declared, leaning in to kiss me. “Possibly even better.”
“So it was my blood?” I pressed, needing to actually hear him say it to know it was true. To know that the whole ordeal was over.
“It was your blood.” I sprang to my knees and threw my arms around him, practically choking him (not that he needed to breathe) with my tight grip. He laughed in response, my antics amusing him, as they often seemed to. “From here on out, it should be smooth sailing, as they say.”
“I'll take that,” I said, my face buried so deep in his neck that my words were nearly unintelligible.
“I'm glad.”
I felt his arms wrap around my back, pulling me even closer to him, as if that were physically possible. As it was, I was practically inside him given how I'd pressed myself against him. The relief I felt was indescribable. Things weren't over before they had begun, as I'd feared they would be. He and I could still have a life together.
An eternity as one.
When I finally felt like I no longer had to cling to him for dear life, I relaxed back from him a bit, still sitting in his lap. We'd just overcome a massive hurdle—one that had threatened to undo us—but there was another still present, and this one would not be so easily circumvented.
“So now that we have that cleared up, I'd like to move on to the second order of business,” I started, trying to keep my tone light to belie my growing unease regarding the war that appeared to have started.
“And what would that be?” he asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear. The gentle gesture sent chills down my spine, derailing my train of thought momentarily. I had to literally shake my head to get myself focused.
“Let me preface what I'm about to say with this: I understand that you can't freely discuss matters directly relating to your duties. I get that. You made that point very clear the
other night.” I hadn't meant anything by my last comment, but the flinch of Merc's eyes when I delivered it made me feel awful. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like—”
“What I said,” he started, exhaling heavily, “it was not entirely true. I should not divulge certain things to you, that much is accurate, but I need not keep you completely in the dark either. Ask me what you want to know. I will answer your questions to the degree that I am allowed.”
“Okay,” I said with a tight smile. “Has it started? The war? I mean...how bad are things?”
His lips pressed together tightly in response.
“It has not yet begun, but it is no longer a question of if, but when the treaty will fall.”
“Shit,” I uttered under my breath.
“You need not worry. That war will never reach you,” he declared, taking my face gently in his hands. “Harm will not befall you. I swear it.”
“And you?” I asked, my throat tightening around my words as I spoke.
“It will not befall me either.” I wanted to question him more, ask how he could guarantee such a thing, but the intensity in his cold blue eyes made me think better of it. He meant what he said. He would stop at nothing to survive to ensure that I would too. It was a gesture so pure in a supernatural life that was anything but. I felt overrun by emotion at the thought. “I mean it, Piper,” he continued, seeing the tears escape my eyes. He wiped them away before he leaned in close, kissing me softly at first. Then the fear and uncertainty of the past few days drove us to a frantic pace, each clambering up the other to get a better hold. He finally landed on top of me, pressing me deep into the cushions of the couch, his weight drawing a groan from the springs underneath us.
Oddly, it made me laugh.
“I don't think this thing was built to withstand the rigorous workout you're planning on putting it through.”
“It's not the sofa that's going to get the workout,” he whispered in my ear, his voice low and gravelly, filled with need.
“Aw, c'mon, you two! You have a room—two of them, in fact,” Dean called out from the entrance to the media room. When Merc and I paused to look up at him, he sauntered in to join us, standing at the near end of the couch. “So, looks like Jase's theory panned out.”
“I would say so,” I agreed as I looked up at his looming presence.
“Well, I hate to break up your little reunion, but the king wants a word with us. I need you down in the meeting hall, Merc. Now.”
With a nod, he climbed off of me, then helped me out of the sag he'd created in the sofa.
“I will find you when this is done,” he said to me before bending down to kiss me again. It was still full of passion and it made me blush when he pulled away, knowing full well that Dean had been staring at us.
Dean groaned and turned away, headed for the door.
“I think I liked you two more when you were apart,” he groused as he exited.
I looked up to find Merc staring down at me, smiling.
“You're enjoying this a bit too much, you know that, right?” I asked him.
He nodded once before taking his leave as well.
Brothers, I thought to myself, then laughed. But that laughter died off quickly when I realized the implications of the conversation they were likely having down in the meeting room. The king demanding an audience rarely, if ever, was good. Merc's words echoed in my mind. Not if, but when...
Perhaps 'when' was upon us.
11
“So you're telling me that the king is setting up a meeting with all the leaders of the various supernatural races?” I asked, unable to hide my incredulity. “But why do that if the treaty is going to fall? Isn't that suicide? It will be a melee!”
“And that's why he wants us there,” Jase said calmly, stating the obvious. “He's trying for a last-ditch effort to stop the madness before it all begins.”
“His version of a Hail Mary,” Dean added.
“Aren't things too far gone at this point to even try?”
Jase shrugged.
“He has to. The others have historically followed his lead. If he wishes to meet, they will. If he wishes to keep the peace, perhaps they will try harder to do the same.”
Reinhardt sure as hell hasn't...
“It all sounds pretty shaky to me,” I mumbled to myself.
“Us too,” Dean agreed from his post against the wall on the far side of the media room. “But we have no choice. The king doesn't either. He has to try.”
“And he wants all of you there, right?” I asked, turning my gaze to Merc. “I mean, wouldn't your...gifts be handy in this situation?”
The question was innocent enough—at least I'd meant it to be—but the response of all three of them was far from what I'd expected.
“They would, but I have been ordered to stay behind.” Merc forced the words out as though they pained him greatly.
“Careful, Piper,” Jase cautioned. “What Merc can do—it comes at a price. And his gifts are not something that should be advertised. The king has worked very hard to keep Merc's abilities under wraps. You need to do the same.”
“I'm sorry,” I said, feeling embarrassed. “I didn't know. I just assumed—”
“Assumptions are dangerous,” Merc said, pushing off of the chair he was sitting in. Without another word, he walked out of the room, disappearing down the adjacent hall.
Jase and Dean shared a look, then returned their focus to me.
“Tread lightly when it comes to Merc's ability, Piper. I know he's been better since he's no longer feeding from you, but when it comes to his gifts, his stability can be...precarious,” Jase said, coming to put his arm around me.
“What he's trying to say is that those gifts can cause a shit ton of damage in their wake, both directly and indirectly,” Dean added. “Because of that, he's often left out of scenarios that seem to call for him most of all. The king learned that the hard way once. He can't risk it again.”
I thought carefully about what Dean was saying (and not saying, for that matter). There was subtext there that I couldn't quite find. But I would have bet my life on the fact that it was linked to where Merc was before he’d returned and why he was sent there.
“For Merc to influence that many minds at once would come at a price that none of us could possibly fathom. He would likely never be the same again.”
“Making him a liability,” I added, seeing where the conversation was headed.
“Exactly.”
“So he's being left behind? He's staying home while the rest of you go?”
“Yes. And he's not too happy about it,” Jase said, looking at the doorway Merc had stormed through.
“Yeah, I gathered that,” I replied, following his gaze. “So when is this all taking place?”
“Two days. Something about a solstice or eclipse or some fucked up thing that the witches can't miss,” Dean explained, disgust in his voice. He never did much care for the witches once he’d learned they'd turned me away as a child. And once Dean decided he didn't like you, there was no changing that opinion.
“We have a lot to get in order before that time, so...” Jase said, tension overtaking his expression. “We're not going to be around much. I want you to make sure to stick close to Kat when you can, okay?”
“Yeah. Sure,” I replied absentmindedly. “Is Merc going to be helping you guys?”
The boys exchanged another look.
“We're not sure yet. Listen, I don't want you to worry about him, but his thoughts...they're escaping his control.”
“Meaning?” I asked, stepping in front of Jase.
“It's like he's talking to himself—but we can hear him. Like silent outbursts.”
“And what is he saying?” I pressed, my eyes narrowing.
“Nothing in particular. He's just angry and ranting. He'll cool down soon. It took a lot for him to get through the meeting with the king and not flip out. He's just venting in his own way now.”
“You're worr
ied about him,” I said, my statement sounding more like an accusation.
“Not really. He's been like this before and been fine in the end,” he said, exhaling heavily.
“But...?”
“But I don't want to be wrong about that, so I'm asking you to stay next to Kat whenever you can to minimize any potential risk, regardless of how minute it might be or how insane I might sound for thinking there is something to worry about in the first place. I'd rather be safe than sorry.”
“He won't hurt me,” I said confidently, staring Jase down. Then I turned to give Dean the same look. I wanted them to know that I believed in my mate, even if they didn't.
“I'm sure you’re right,” he said, softening his expression. “Just humor me, okay? You've done worse than that before.” His boyish smile spread wide, eliciting one from me. The charms of Jase and Dean were impossible to ignore.
“Fine. I'll stick with Kat whenever I can,” I said, stepping away from them to go and search for something to eat, then my unwitting werewolf bodyguard. “He'll prove you wrong, you two. Mark my words.”
I heard Dean mumble something to Jase in response, but I was too far away from them to make out the words. Knowing him, he was grousing already, well aware that I would gloat about being right for a solid two weeks once all the pressing chaos was sorted out. Until then, it was a wait-and-see situation. Not exactly my favorite kind.
* * *
Those two days needed for preparations flew by at an impossible speed.
I did as the boys asked and kept Kat at my side whenever possible (short of hopping in bed with her and Jensen), but it all seemed for naught. Merc had managed to balance himself out, his anger very much under control. When others were present, he was silent, which was pretty much the status quo, but he was also thoughtful and sweet. There was no shred of the hostility he had felt toward the king for leaving him out or the other enforcers for getting to attend the meeting without him. All I saw was the man who had stood before me in the rain outside the king's mansion, asking me to be his.
From the Ashes (Force of Nature #1) Page 12