A sense of déjà vu hit me. Did I just imagine it? Or was I having a flashback again?
“Now imagine that you are one of this child’s descendants.”
I choked on my coffee, coughing, and struggling for air as the warm liquid traveled down my throat. I pushed myself into a standing position, completely disregarding my injured leg, and took several steps away from the table as I eyed the Rousseaus accusingly.
“You can’t be serious?” I said once my fit of cough had finally passed. “Is that what this is all about?”
No one reacted to my outburst, not even Kyran.
“I realize how this must sound but—”
“I am not a werewolf!” I said. “Look at me, I’m human.”
“So was this royal child, Marjorie.”
“What?”
“This baby, the Lost Child, was said to be human.”
“You mean to tell me that this legend has been going around for so long and no one ever bothered to go out and find this baby or at least find out what happened to him?”
“As far as we know, many have tried to find him, but no one ever succeeded,” Alexis offered. “Someone did a great job at hiding him.”
Someone. Someone betrayed the king. Went against his wishes to hide the baby from him. I could almost see their silhouettes in my head. Their? There were two of them, I realized with a start.
Confusion assailed me. It was all in my head, but I couldn’t remember them. Why? How was it possible that I could go all my life without recalling any of these memories, and then they show up from one night to the next without an explanation as to why?
An instant bout of dizziness hit me. Thinking—trying to think—was driving me crazy. It was all in my head, but locked away in some inaccessible box I didn’t have the key to. Try as I might, I couldn’t force them out.
“Marjorie?” Kyran’s fingers wrapped around my wrist. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I lied. “I’m just a little confused. That’s all.” I rewarded his efforts with a half-smile and turned back to Alexis as he added, “One of the main reasons why we think you might be a descendant of this child is due to what we have found so far.”
By this point I wasn’t really sure I wanted to hear the rest. “And that is?”
“There’s an overall difference about you that we can’t quite put into words, but if we consider several factors, you’re like a beacon. It’s obvious.”
“Obvious?”
“Tell me, Marjorie, how many times have you fallen ill in your life?” Marquis asked.
“What—” Something told me to make an effort and take his question seriously so I did. I sat back down and tried my very best to recall any point in time where I’d even had a common cold, a fever, something. Nothing stuck out. I’d never been sick. “Never,” I replied.
“When you suffered your accident a year ago, how long did it take for you to recover?”
I thought it over and came to the conclusion that I’d recovered in record time that time too. “Not long. I suppose.”
“Those are traits identical to the ones described in the legend. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”
I shook my head. “No. Not at all.”
“You’re in denial,” Simone accused.
“That’s not it. I mean...” I rubbed my hands together nervously. “...do you have any idea what you’re saying to me?”
“We are well aware of the fact, yes. We came here looking for someone who matched this description exactly, and we found you.”
Suddenly, I felt as if my heart was sinking into my stomach. “You came here looking for...what?”
Kyran pushed himself up, standing as he shoved the chair back. “I think she’s had enough.”
“No.” Marquis tossed an annoyed look in Kyran’s direction. “We all agreed it was in her best interest to know the truth. The whole truth. And we are not finished yet.”
My eyes automatically flew to Kyran. I could see the look of guilt on his face and my heart sank farther into my stomach as the feeling of dread took hold of me.
“Here.” Marquis offered me a piece of paper that appeared to be older than I was. “This should help put things in perspective for you.”
Hesitant though I was, I grabbed the paper and brought it closer.
The title read: Notes and Facts about The Lost Child
I held the paper in both hands, trying my hardest not to shake as I read the sloppy, cursive handwriting. Within moments I was finished, but the feeling of dismay I’d originally felt over finding out the motives for the Rousseaus real reasons for moving to Wolf Creek Hollow soon transformed into pure anger.
The paper’s author believed the Lost Child’s blood could hold the key to the cure for bloodlust. The Rousseaus just admitted to moving here in search for a child with these traits. I didn’t have to be an expert to put two and two together. They had hoped the Lost Child could cure Kyran. They had planned to get close to the child to use him.
They found me instead. A direct descendant of this legendary child. They got close to me to see how I could be of use to them. They had planned to use me from the start. They had prearranged everything before they even moved to my hometown.
It was all a lie. Their friendship. Their protective nature. It was all a ruse to get me to trust them and I had given them my undivided trust from the beginning.
Betrayal wasn’t even half of what I felt deep in my heart.
I turned an accusing glare in Kyran’s direction. I had been so stupid to believe he cared for me. That he was genuine in his interest in me. But I was wrong. He only wanted what every other werewolf probably wanted as well.
“I want to go home,” I said.
Kyran reached out for my wrist again, but I snapped my arm back. “Marjorie, let me explain.”
I stood up and stepped back from the table. “You lied to me.”
“Let me explain.” He stood up after me. “There’s more to it than that.”
“No. There’s not. You lied to me. You all did.” I turned my attention to Alexis and frowned. “How could you? Why didn’t you think I could handle all this? What kind of inept person do you people think I am?”
Kyran. Alexis. They’d both lied to me. They wanted something from me...just like the alpha. At least the alpha didn’t pretend to befriend me to get what he wanted. He was honest about his motives even if he never showed his face.
The Rousseaus, on the other hand, had lied, cheated, plotted, and used me. I felt so stupid. Like such a fool.
Alexis scrambled to his feet. “Marjorie our motives were purely—”
“Don’t. I suspected from the beginning you were all hiding...I just can’t fathom. I should have kept my distance when I suspected you of lying, but I stupidly thought you didn’t want to hurt me.” I was so angry I wanted to cry, but pride kept me from allowing myself the liberty of shedding tears in front of them. “I was wrong all along.”
I turned and started for the sunroom, limping as quickly as I could toward the exit, but I had barely gone through the doorframe when Kyran pulled on my arm and pinned me against the wall.
“Marjorie, you can’t leave.” He leaned in closer, our lips separated by a space of two inches. “We don’t want to hold you against your will, but we are trying to protect you.”
“You can’t keep me here,” I snapped.
“I will if I have to.”
I could see that he had every intention of keeping me at the house. He wasn’t going to let me go so easily.
“I don’t want to stay here.” I turned my head away. “I can’t handle the fact that you all lied to me.”
“Marjorie, please, listen to reason,” he pleaded.
Our gazes collided as I turned to glare at him. “What reasoning would that be? The fact that you have only wanted one thing from me? That your motives for keeping me alive were so that you could use me? No. I think I’ve heard enough.”
“That’s not it.”
“What is it then? Tell me. I want to hear what lie you’re going to make up now.”
I was on the verge of tears. I could barely hold them back. Not only was I angry, but I was let down too. I was even more angered by the fact that Kyran could see each and every one of my emotions on my face.
He stood in front of me, his gray eyes staring down at me with sympathy, and I hated him for it. I didn’t need his pity, nor did I want it.
Unable to look at him anymore, I turned my head to my left, focusing my eyes on the door, but he reacted swiftly by framing the sides of my face with his big, pale hands and forcing me back around to gaze at him.
“We were only trying to finish what my parents started,” he said.
I held myself stiffly against him.
“Ever since my parents discovered the ‘Legend of the Lost Child’ and the possibility of there being a cure for my defect, they took it upon themselves to find him or his descendants. Back then, they weren’t sure if the legend was even true, but they were desperate enough to try anything.” He paused and even though I wasn’t looking directly at him, but at the base of his neck, I could feel the heaviness of his gaze on me. Unwilling to meet his gaze, I squeeze my eyes shut. “They died before they got a chance to find out if they could help me. My siblings and I, we promised to fulfill their last will. That’s why we came here. We never thought we would find the Lost Child. Instead, we found his descendant. That is the truth.”
How much of what he’d said during the past few weeks had been true? How much had he lied about how he felt about me? Last night, at the hospital, he’d told me he loved me. Was he being truthful?
“It doesn’t change anything.” I lower my chin to my chest, blinking in an effort to hold back the tears threatening to spill. “You still had ulterior motives for approaching me.”
“We did have ulterior motives. Yes. We did. But I didn’t lie about how I feel about you. Nor are my feelings a guise to make you believe in anything. I have bonded with you and you with me. Werewolf or not, you and I are connected...and I don’t regret the way destiny turned out for either of us. I found what I was looking for even if things didn’t turn out the way my family hoped.”
I wanted to believe him. I did. But I couldn’t bring myself to. Not after finding out I might be descendant of a royal, werewolf family whose unique genetic profile could adapt in ways never before seen in the werewolf community.
What would that mean for me? What about my family? Dad? Did he know?
“I want to leave,” I murmured. “I no longer feel comfortable here.”
“You can’t leave.”
We broke apart immediately at the sound of Alexis voice.
“We all regret not being honest with you from the beginning, but we couldn’t say anything unless we were sure you were the one. We needed evidence.”
I turned my back to them both. “What is it you want from me? A sample of my blood? If that’s all you require I’ll be more than happy to hand it over and get back to my life.”
“No,” Kyran replied more forcefully than necessary. “We want to protect you.”
To protect me, huh. Why? So that they were the only ones with easy access to my DNA?
“I no longer trust any of you,” I retorted. “The only thing that would make me feel better right now would be to go home. Where I belong.”
Kyran rushed around me so that we were face to face. “I’m not taking you back. You can be angry at me—at us all if you want, but I’m not putting your life at risk.”
“You don’t have a say.” I lifted my chin up in defiance.
“This time I do.” He wasn’t going to budge. I could see it in the way he squared his shoulders, as if getting ready to use force if it came down to it. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ll understand if you never want to have anything to do with us again. With me even. But right now, all we want is to keep you out of harm’s way. We’ll part ways after we’re sure the alpha is no longer a threat to you. Not before.”
I was momentarily stunned by what he’d just said. Parting ways? Is that what I really wanted? Even after finding out their motives for coming to Wolf Creek Hollow were anything but coincidental?
“Don’t forget any decision you make will ultimately affect your family as well,” Kyran warned.
I forced myself to look away. Like it or not he was right. My family would pay the price if I made the wrong choice.
“I understand. I’ll stay, but only until then.” I didn’t want to stay, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I felt betrayed. Hurt. And I didn’t feel like being around the same people who caused those sentiments to surface, but at the same time, I had my own family to protect.
My days of being selfish were long gone.
“You should come in and sit.” Kyran took my wrist and tugged gently.
Though I would have preferred to spend the rest of the day sulking in the sunroom, my knee was throbbing painfully and I desperately needed to rest.
“Okay.” I wiggled out of his grip and limped back inside the kitchen and to the awaiting gazes of the rest of the Rousseau clan. I made eye contact with no one as I walked in and sat on the same chair I’d been sitting on moments before.
Kyran took a seat next to me again. The look of regret in his eyes played havoc on my already jumbled feelings. I wanted nothing more than to leave, but at the same time, I was so conflicted over what to think. The Rousseaus claimed they had sought me out to help find a cure—a cure? For bloodlust?
“A cure? Is such a thing possible?” I turned my attention to Marquis. Even though I would have preferred not to ever talk to them again, I needed to know about this cure theory.
“We don’t know. Like I said, we believe you might be the long lost descendant of the Lost Child, but we haven’t confirmed it yet. We suspect. We think you are, but as far as confirming it, we haven’t. However, there is someone who can.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Who?”
“You will meet him this afternoon.”
“Him?”
“If you really are the lone wolf’s descendant we will know in a few hours,” Marquis spoke in his usual calm and assertive voice. It was as if I hadn’t just completely lost my cool and called them out on their lies. “If we can learn more about you and your family history maybe we can find out why the alpha wants you and what he wants you for.”
“You know what he wants with me,” I snapped, suddenly feeling very scared about what the future held for me. What if they were right? That would mean that my entire life was a lie. That I had lived thinking I was no different from every other teenage girl only to find that I was different even in a world full of differences.
“Anyway, this wolf is going to test you.” Josephine walked around the table and took my hand in hers. I wanted to snap it back, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to be mean after she’d been my by side night and day during my week at the hospital.
“Why does he need to test me?”
“It’s not for his benefit. It’s for yours.” When I arched my brow, she answered my unspoken question by saying, “He’s sure you are a member of his family, but he needs you to be sure.”
Member of his family? I had someone claiming to be a family member? How could I go from having one biological parent, a stepparent, and stepsisters to a werewolf family?
“I want to lie down for a while now.” I pulled away from Josephine’s grasp and stared down at my thighs. I was suddenly overwhelmed to the point of getting a migraine. I needed a break. I needed to put some distance between the Rousseaus and me.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Kyran suggested. “You can lie on my bed.” He reached out for me and, in spite of being absolutely livid with him still, I allowed him to help me to my feet.
“Need any help getting up there?” Alexis offered.
“She has me for that!” Kyran snapped.
Alexis shrugged, stood, and sauntered over to the kitchen sink where he placed his empty coffee mug.
Before he could leave the room, Josephine took Alexi’s wrist to stop his immediate retreat and glared at both Kyran and him.
“Tell her!” she spoke directly to Kyran.
“Now is not the time.” Kyran’s silver eyes turned dark grey in a second.
I watched the exchange with a mixture of fear and apprehension. What was going on now?
“She needs to know everything not just what you think is convenient to tell her.” Josephine was not at all intimidated by her brother’s obvious anger.
I, however, was instantly uneasy by his glare. “Tell me what?”
Alexis and Kyran refused to say a word. They just glowered at each other without speaking, which was completely discomforting.
“Since these two idiots won’t open their mouths to say it, I will.” Josephine stepped in closer to us before releasing Alexi’s wrist. “If you are in fact a descendant of this lone wolf then in a way that makes your DNA unique like ours. This will determinately affect your love life.”
Love life? I wasn’t aware of having one.
“I don’t—” I glanced over at Kyran who was positively fuming by this point and at Alexis who was staring directly at me, his eyes nearly glowing.
“If you’re a descendant of this wolf, then it’s only right that you know that there are times when a werewolf has a very strong attraction to another werewolf. It is how they choose each other as mates. The attraction is unbreakable and nothing like a simple human-to-human infatuation. We call it being bonded because the minute these pairs meet they connect with each other.”
“I’m not a werewolf though,” I argued.
“You may have some werewolf DNA in you.”
“That’s a subject still open for debate.”
“Even so, Alexis and Kyran are.”
“And?”
“They have that connection with you and you with them.”
“I really don’t—” Was there really any point in denying that I was attracted to them both? “You mean to tell me that if this turns out to be correct, and I am a descendant child of that wolf, then either Kyran or Alexis is my mate?”
Dark Side of the Moon Page 5