Scorned

by Tyffani Clark Kemp

  “What’s wrong? Too good to show that side of you?”

  Roman turned to look at me, slowly. He just moved his head, like they do in the scary movies where the bad guy is finally showing that he’s the bad guy. I swallowed the lump of fear that rose in my throat, and I tipped my chin up a fraction of an inch and straightened my back. We had our own little standoff while Eddy tried to tear Pierce to pieces.

  “I’m not afraid of you.” It was partially true. I was afraid of him, but I didn’t want to be, so I wouldn’t show it, even if he knew it anyway.

  The room became quiet and still. Pierce and Eddy stood about three feet apart, staring at each other. I didn’t have to look around to know that the others were waiting to see what was going to happen. Eddy suddenly dropped to his belly, literally at Pierce’s feet. His tail swished lazily back and forth to let everyone know he'd conceded, but he didn’t like it.

  “Pierce?” I said the word softly, barely audible over the dead silence.

  Pierce seemed to remember that I was still in the room, held against the wall by Bomani’s strong arm.

  “She would have interfered,” she explained to Pierce. Pierce waved her hand away and approached me.

  “You alright?” he asked, touching a hand to my face. I nodded.

  “You’re bleeding.” Pierce’s lip was split along the edge on the top right side of his mouth and it was bleeding freely. A set of claw marks slashed through his t-shirt from his right shoulder down across his chest to his breastplate. Pierce’s hand went to his lip.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Stings like hell.”

  “You’re going to need stitches,” I said.

  “Nah.”

  I frowned. “Pierce, I want you to get that sewn up.”

  “I don’t-”

  “Please. For me.”

  There must have been something in my face, because Pierce frowned. “Alright. For you.”

  I looked down at his chest and fingered the torn cloth. “Are you going to be one now too?” I asked in a soft voice.

  “Damn!” he exclaimed. “You owe me a new damn shirt!” he shouted. To me he said, “No. I’m just going to be plain old Pierce. Always have been, always will be.”

  That made me happy. “I bought one today you can have,” I offered. "To tide you over until Eddy gets you a new one.”

  Eddy growled.

  “I can sew up that lip,” the Princess offered.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll go get my kit from my room,” she said, then glanced at Eddy. “He’s going to be like that for a while. He’s pretty angry. The animal side has taken over.”

  “All but the Furian side,” I said. Pierce chuckled at the quote from Riddick, but that was fine. He was the only one I really cared to get it anyway.

  Roman stared, hatred and anger both plain on his face, but he wiped them away when he realized I was looking at him. Gone without a trace.

  “What is wrong with you? Why do you have to cause so many problems.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Oh, stop playing coy! You’re no good at it.”

  “Coy? No, my sweet. Coy is not a game that I play.”

  “Stop calling me that. I am not your sweet anything.”

  Roman shrugged like he didn’t believe it, but what was there not to believe? I wasn’t his. I didn’t belong to him. I didn’t want him.

  “Have I neglected to tell you?” Roman asked and I looked at him suspiciously.

  “Probably,” I answered. “What haven’t you told me now?” I poured all of my exasperation and distrust for him into that one sentence and it came out as sarcastic and disdainful as I could have possibly imagined. Everyone felt it. Roman just grinned.

  “I sense that Perdita is close.” He disappeared through a hidden door in a wall of books, and just like that, he had the upper hand once again.

  I snatched a book off the shelf in the living room before I went back to the room once Bomani started sewing Pierce’s lip back together. I can admit I’m squeamish and I had trouble watching. The book was chosen at random, a very interesting French biography.

  I was spread out on the bearskin rug in front of the fire when Pierce came in. I put my book down and went to him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him gently on his nose. “I guess we won’t be making out tonight, huh? Are you mad at me?” I asked.

  “For what?” he wanted to know.

  “I didn’t stay to hold your hand while you got sewn up. You would have done it for me, and I should have done it for you.”

  Pierce shook his head, then leaned in and nuzzled his cheek against mine. It was such a feline thing to do, and something so out of character for my unaffectionate Pierce, that it caught me off guard.

  “What are you reading?” he asked softly against my cheek. “I saw you grab something. You find the only modern romance there?” He teased and leaned over to see the cover of the book. “Didn’t peg the vampire for being much into romances. What is this?”

  “A biography of some French person I’ve never heard of.”

  “You don’t know French.” Pierce eyed me.

  “I do now,” I said, astounded that I’d forgotten to tell the love of my life about the biggest information download of the century. “Roman, somehow downloaded every language he knows into my head. It happened before,” I told him quickly. “Before I told you everything.”

  Pierce frowned and I knew he was angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I just found out the other night in Charleston,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think to tell you. So much has happened this week. What day is it anyway?”

  “Wednesday,” Pierce said with a heavy sigh. He peeled off his tattered, blood-soaked shirt and threw it across the arm of a chair. “Wednesday, Wednesday.”

  I plopped back down on the floor. “Damn. Time sure flies when vampires are trying to kill you.”

  “Yeah.” Pierce sank to the floor next to me and I leaned my head against his shoulder. The firelight flickered across his chest and highlighted the angry claw marks.

  “That’s going to be a hell of a scar,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Pierce agreed. “It is.”

  “How are you going to explain it?”

  “Attacked by a lynx.”

  I smiled. “Seriously? You think anyone will buy that?”

  Pierce shrugged and grunted like the effort hurt. “Hope so.”

  I gazed into the firelight and snuggled against him as close as I dared. His warmth and scent, the smell of flesh and blood and life, wrapped around me and I melted into him, into a place where nothing existed but the two of us together and happy.

  “Are you mad about the language thing?” I finally asked. “I wasn’t trying to keep it from you.”

  “I know, StaciDoll. I can’t really be mad at you anyway.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  Pierce sighed and pulled me close. “Give me till the morning, okay? I’m tired.”

  I pulled away and looked at his face. It didn’t say tired, it said he wanted to wait until people weren’t listening. I grinned.

  “Wanna take a shower?” I asked. “Or we can use the hot tub. We could have a whole freaking party in the hot tub.”

  “I think Dayla is fixing something for dinner. Roman said it would be ready in about an hour or so.”

  “That gives us plenty of time to shower." I stood and offered to help him to his feet. Pierce gave me his hands and allowed me to pull him to his feet, a sure sign that he was exhausted.

  “I’m almost too tired to shower, babe,” he said, but I tugged him toward the bathroom anyway. My feet hit the cool tile and I dropped Pierce’s hand so I could pull my shirt off.

  “What were the girls talking about on the plane that you didn’t want to explain?” Pierce asked. I heard his belt unbuckle and his pants slide down his legs to the floor. The buckle hit the tile with a soft clank and I turned to find him in a pair of dark green a
nd black checked boxers. I'd bought them for him because I thought he looked good in green.

  I set the thermostats. “Adelina and Calliope aren’t his only women. He has a bit of a harem at his disposal, though I doubt I was supposed to know about it.”

  “How did you find out then?”

  “I saw in his mind once. It’s more than the girls Calliope showed me.”

  “So, Roman is a vampire pimp daddy man whore?”

  “Exactly.”

  I checked the water temp and set all four shower heads to pulse. I stripped out of my jeans and underwear and stepped under the hot spray. Pierce followed a moment later. He winced when the hot water hit his cuts. I touched Pierce’s hip with a finger and traced the lines of muscle and bone. I rested my head on his shoulder, afraid if I pressed too close I would hurt him, but he pulled me to him and wrapped his arms tight around me so I couldn’t pull away. We stood like that for a very long time. When we finally pulled away, I ran my pruney fingers over Pierce’s back because he hates it.

  “Girl, you’d better stop before you get hurt.”

  I laughed. “Please. Nobody is afraid of you, little man.”

  “Oh, I see how it is.”

  Pierce turned the shower off and stepped out, grabbing the only towel as he left. The moment the water stopped running and the steam dissipated, I was cold.

  “Pierce, come back here and get me a towel! Pierce!” In the end, I had to get my own damn towel and track water across the bathroom floor to get to the closet on the other side of the room. I dried off quickly, dried my hair, and wrapped the soaked towel around myself. Pierce lay in front of the fire in nothing but his towel, flipping through the book he couldn’t read. I smacked his butt.

  I squealed as Pierce rolled and grabbed my legs, pulling me down to straddle his hips.

  “Careful,” I warned playfully.

  Pierce blinked at me. “I’m always careful, babe.”

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” I called.

  “Addy. Dinner is ready. Roman says you took forever in the shower.”

  I looked at Pierce and rolled my eyes. “Tell him he shouldn’t have been listening. We’re on our way down.”

  Pierce pushed me back until he was sitting up, and kissed me carefully on the mouth. “Let’s see what Roman has for us in the closet, shall we?”

  I flipped on the closet light and we stepped into an exact replica of my own wardrobe.

  “Wow. This is all for you, huh?”

  I shrugged. “I guess so.” All I wanted was pajamas and all I saw was jeans and nice blouses. “I guess you’ll have to go to dinner in a towel until you can get your clothes cleaned. Eddy would love that. You are yummy.”

  Pierce psshed. He’d go down naked if he had to. But at the very, very back was a small section of nice men’s clothes.

  I’ll have to thank Roman for that. I just hope there’s not itching powder or bugs in his clothes.

  “Hadn’t even though of that, my sweet. Thank you for the suggestion, though. Enjoying that book?”

  I shut Roman out the best I knew how.

  “I’m sure Eddy would love for Pierce to come down in his towel.”

  “Stop, Roman,” I said. “Go away.” He went away, best I could tell.

  Pierce and I dressed quickly. I found a pair of flannel pants, a sports bra, and a tank top to throw on. I didn’t want to go down to dinner. I wanted to go to sleep. I flopped onto the bed.

  “Come on.” Pierce put on a pair of sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. “I’m not going down without you. Besides, that girl cooked. You can’t just not eat it.”

  “Oh yeah? Watch me.”

  The atmosphere in the kitchen was frigid. Eddy was back in human form. His yellow-green eyes flashed with disgust while Roman’s were devoid of anything that would give away what he was thinking. Amanda and her protégée ignored me as always. Dayla stood at the stove with her back to the room and she stiffened the moment Pierce and I walked in. The only person who seemed to be in good spirits and not disgusted by my presence was Bomani.

  Pierce took my hand and gave it a tight squeeze before he led me across the kitchen, through all those angry people, and down into the dining area. It was just off the kitchen, down a few stairs, in a room all its own. The solid oak table looked like it could hold all of us with room to spare. We chose seats at the end closest to the stairs so we could make a quick getaway later if need be. Bomani came down and sat across from us.

  “What’s everyone’s deal?” I asked.

  “I can’t say for anyone else,” she answered, “but I know that Edgar believes you are a coward.”

  I frowned. “What the hell did I do to be a coward?”

  “You left the room when I sutured your boyfriend’s lip.”

  “If you cared anything for him at all,” Eddy leaned against the railing that separated the two rooms, “you would have stayed and watched.” His words held a slight hiss to them as he struggled to maintain his human form. “Coward,” he added. “Bitch.”

  I came out of my seat involuntarily and knocked my chair back with the suddenness of my movement. Eddy didn’t move away from me when I stepped up to the railing and I clocked him hard in the jaw. He stared down at me with those cat-like eyes and his jaw twitched. Pierce grabbed for me, but I shook him off.

  “Don’t you ever call me that, Eddy. Never!” My tone was low, angrier than he’d ever heard it. “I don’t care what you are, who you think you are, or what you’ve gotten away with in the past. Don’t you ever use that word with me.”

  His eyes flicked to Pierce. “I am talking to you. Not Pierce.”

  Eddy stared at me with eyes that had once bled with anger, but were now calm and slightly amused. He leaned his elbows on the railing so we were eye to eye and shrugged.

  “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  My eyes widened.

  Really? That’s all you’ve got? “Okay, I’m sorry”?

  “Calm down, my sweet. You have effectively subverted your dominance over him.”

  “Get out of my head,” I growled.

  Roman held up his hands in mock surrender and I took my seat next to Pierce, shaking in anger. Pierce took my left hand under the table and squeezed it. I calmed almost immediately.

  “We’ve already talked about it,” Pierce said. “We’ve taken care of the situation. She’s not a coward. She’s just unused to things like this.”

  “She’s a coward,” Eddy tried to say again.

  “That’s the end of it.” Pierce nailed Eddy with a look and they stared. Eddy looked away first.

  Eddy helped Dayla put the dishes on the table and everyone sat down to eat like it was something we did every day. I said my own little prayer to myself before I helped my plate with steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. I watched everyone eat for a moment, hoping they were too hungry to notice I wasn’t.

  “Aren’t you going to eat, LeKrista?”

  I looked up at Roman. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth.

  “Jerk.”

  Dayla stared at me. “I don’t know if I should,” I said without looking away from her. Her face went rigid with anger. “It’s no offense, Dayla, but tell me you didn’t think about it, and I won’t believe you. It’s not like we have a real great track record.”

  We stared for a moment and I wondered if she was thinking about all of the nasty tricks she’d pulled on me.

  “LeKrista.” I turned at Eddy’s voice and it was almost kind. By some sick twist of fate, I was sitting next to him. “Dayla and I spoke before she started cooking. I swear on my flower shop and everything in it, she hasn’t put anything in your food.” He nodded at my plate as if to say, “Go ahead, it’s alright.” I sent another look at Dayla. She still wasn’t happy.

  I took a deep breath and tried to ignore all of the eyes on me. I picked up my fork and started with the mashed potatoes. I took a few bites before I spoke, because everyone was expecting so
mething.

  “These are really good, Dayla. I love mashed potatoes.” I forked some more potatoes and said, “Hey, Dayla. Do you remember that grab bag trick?” It was low of me to bring it up, especially since Eddy had already seemingly diffused the war between us for the time being, but I did it anyway because I was in that kind of mood.

  I looked up to see Dayla staring at me wide-eyed. She was scared of something. Her eyes flicked to Eddy, imperceptible if you weren’t looking for it.

  “What’s the grab bag trick?” Pierce asked. The room was tense with curiosity. Was I going to tell the story? Was I not? No one knew for sure. I loved it.

  “She came into work one day with this bag and had all the girls put their hands in and pull out these amazing foreign chocolates. Naturally, I wasn’t expecting to be offered any, and I guess that should have been my first clue, but she offered and I took the bait.” Dayla’s eyes held fear and shock. “I stuck my hand in, and do you know what was inside?” I paused for effect. The three men and Bomani waited with rapt attention. “Razors,” I said. “It was a bag full of fucking razors, so you can imagine why I would be wary of eating her food.”

  “You told me you’d stuck your hand in a box of roses that were supposed to be dethorned,” Pierce said.

  I shrugged. “I know.”

  “You’re in trouble,” Eddy said, “that’s crossing a line.” It took a moment to realize he’d said it in Polynesian, because I still wasn’t used to understanding so many languages.

  “Don’t say anything,” I told Roman. “This could come in handy. Why do you know Polynesian anyway?”

  Roman didn’t answer, just pretended not to hear me. Dayla’s eyes bore her hatred for me.

  I ate the rest of my meal in silence, while everyone slowly began to talk around me. Dayla kept quiet too, periodically giving me hard glances whenever our eyes happened to meet. I eventually began to wonder if I was in any danger from her, but I saw the scared, pleading looks she gave Eddy and I wondered if he would punish her. What kind of punishments did Shifters give their underlings?