by Leela Ash
Her mum was convinced he would want to hurt Caily but she couldn’t believe that Luke had it in him to hurt a little child. What had happened at the park that night hadn’t entirely been his fault she was sure; there must have been some explanation.
But how would she forgive herself if he found out about Caily and took her with him?
Her brain told her she was being paranoid because no way he would want a little kid along to cramp his bachelor lifestyle. But the mother’s heart in her screamed that no one met Caily and didn’t fall in love with her. She couldn’t take that risk. She had been able to think of nothing else since she left home and she’d resolved to hide the truth with everything in her.
“Marissa?” he pressed, giving her a slight shake.
She shoved off his hand, her gaze cold and imperturbable. “Joshua asked for a 2 o’clock appointment. Something about keeping a date with the Mayor.”
He nodded. “You and I are supposed to speak to the Mayor about plans for beautifying the Coyana Waters area and making it a tourist site.”
She frowned. “I don’t know about that. Jeanine said something about health issues?”
“Yeah, that too,” he agreed with a nod. “But obviously we cannot discuss that with the Mayor. I’m guessing he would be a mite shocked to learn shifters and witches exist; he’d be even more alarmed to learn that one vengeful witch has been making humans ill.”
“Joshua asked me to meet him,” she insisted, loathe to spend a single minute more than necessary in his presence.
Luke looked at his wristwatch and checked the time. He looked back at her, “Marissa, if we don’t leave now, we’ll miss our appointment with the Mayor. He’s scheduled for a vacation with his wife after our meeting and he’ll be gone for a whole month.”
Marissa chewed her lip in indecision. Luke sensed she was wavering and he pressed his advantage, “I won’t even come into your car. I’ll follow you in my truck.”
Her gaze flicked to his truck parked on the other side of the road and she relaxed. “Okay.”
Luke bounded away, grinning to himself. He was glad he had at least gotten her to stop weeping. He preferred her being annoying, downright obnoxious or cold and haughty than weeping over her steering wheel.
She had cut such a forlorn figure, humped over in the car on a lonely stretch of road.
His heart had damn near stopped in his chest when he had seen her car parked by the side of the road. And then when he had seen her sobbing her heart out, his own heart had turned over in his chest. This was Marissa; his Marissa. True she had made some deadly mistakes and he would never forget them, but it seemed as though she had enough on her plate already. Maybe it was high time he forgave her.
He had wanted to carry her onto his lap and cuddle her close and kiss away her tears. He wondered what had happened between her and Caily’s father. The man was nowhere in evidence which probably meant he wasn’t in their lives anymore.
Was that what she had been crying about? His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he contemplated the thought and he blinked, surprised to discover he was terribly jealous at the thought of Marissa crying over another man.
As he navigated the way to the Mayor’s house, Luke finally admitted to himself something he had been unwilling to admit for years. He was still very much in love with Marissa Stanley. He loved her as much as he had loved her all those years ago; it didn’t matter what she had done to him, he couldn’t stop loving her to save himself.
“Dammit,” he whispered under his breath. He didn’t want to love her. He wanted to hate her for using him as she had. She had lied, cheated, and then tried to bribe him to stay away from her fairy tale. A part of him did hate her, he admitted, but in this, love and hate were akin. He hated her so much because he loved her.
Great, he was waxing poetic, he thought with disgust as he leaned forward and deliberately turned on the loudest rock music station he could find.
He didn’t want to think about Marissa. In fact, he didn’t want to think at all. It was the only way to preserve his sanity. It was the only way to preserve what little was left of his pride where she was concerned.
He slammed a hand onto the steering wheel. How the hell did one stop thinking about such a woman? It would be easier to stop breathing.
10.
“That went well enough,” Luke murmured, as soon as the Mayor had shown them out of his office with a cheery wave and effusive thanks for their ‘willingness to help the community.’
Marissa’s colors were heightened as she avoided his gaze and he swallowed a shout of laughter. He knew exactly what her problem was. The moment she had walked into the room by Luke’s side, the Mayor had taken one look at them and crowed, “My goodness. I sure do hope you don’t mind my saying so Dr. Stanley but you two make quite a couple. If I were a betting man—”
She hadn’t let him finish; rather she had firmly asserted, “But you’re not a betting man, so let’s not dwell on that. We’re here to see you about the town.”
The Mayor had become flustered at the thought that he’d offended her in some way. He’d been jumpy as a cat on hot skillet for the better part of the meeting, until she’d taken pity on him and gone out of her way to charm him out of his disquiet. She’d been so successful in her efforts that by the end of the meeting, the Mayor had been pumping her hand most enthusiastically and calling her an angel.
She glared now at him, “Luke, I don’t have time for this. I have to go get Caily from school in a bit.”
He looked at his watch. It was just a little past noon. An idea struck and he looked at her, “Would you be willing to let Drake pick her up and bring her home? Since we’re meant to be meeting Joshua at home anyway and he has to pick up Tom as well from the same school.”
“Caily—” she began in protest.
“Will be absolutely fine,” he interrupted. “She knows Drake.”
She nodded again and whipped out her cell phone to let Caily’s teacher know about the change in plans while Luke put a call of his own across to Drake.
Marissa let Luke lead the way as they drove off but two short yards after the Mayor’s office, her car started to overheat.
“Great, just great,” she sighed with exasperation as she pulled over to the side of the road.
Luke must have been watching for her in his rearview mirror because the moment she pulled over, he turned on his indicator and did the same.
He was out of his vehicle and beside hers in a flash. “What’s going on?”
She sighed, “Overheating.”
He looked up at the sky, “I can get you home and once you’re home, Drake will fix it.”
She looked surprised. “Drake? I thought he’s a Hollywood stuntman.”
“Yeah, he also owns an automobile shop among other things in Detroit. He’s good with his hands.”
She sighed and opened her door. He moved back to let her alight. “I’ll call a cab,” she announced.
“Why would you want to do that? My truck is right there,” he said, waving a hand in the direction of his truck.
The last thing in the world Marissa wanted was to be in an enclosed space with him. She didn’t trust him and she trusted herself even less. Suddenly, that prickling sensation of awareness, of being watched, niggled at her again and she started to look towards the woods when Luke said in a voice tinged with amusement, “Afraid we’ll take a detour into the trees to screw each other’s brains out?”
That had her head snapping around to face him so fast she forgot the sense of being watched, in her distraction.
“You crazy bastard!”
“Hey, hey,” he said, holding up both hands in the classic symbol of surrender. “Just kidding. Look, drive my car and let’s go.”
She started to say something when suddenly a whizzing sound close by drew her attention and they both spun around in unison. A huge fat arrow was zooming towards them, almost at the speed of light. Without a word, Luke shoved her backwards and as she
started to fall, he also fell backwards. The arrow passed harmlessly where they had both been standing and landed in the dirt.
Marissa struggled to her feet and reached for the arrow.
“Don’t!” Luke’s voice, urgent and alarmed, stopped her. She froze, looking up at him. “That’s an Archstone arrow and I guarantee you, it’s poisoned. They’re famous for that. It’s how they killed Joseph, remember?”
She withdrew her hand, still crouched low beneath the relative safety of her car.
“What do we do now?”
He looked at her small, red Subaru askance, “Is that thing shifter-proofed?”
She knew what he meant. Some shifters who could afford it made their cars impenetrable to everything from bullets to spears to even enemy shifters. It was the heightened version of the human bulletproof cars. While she wasn’t doing badly as a medical doctor, catering for her mother and Caily meant she had little spare change and as such, could definitely not afford shifter proofing.
She shook her head, “Almost did last month, but Caily’s ballet shoes just seemed more important at the time.”
He grunted, “We take my car. On my count, we both make a run for the driver’s side of my car. It’s parked right in front of yours so we should be fine.”
“I have stuff I need inside my car,” she protested.
He groaned. “Where’s Drake when you need him? He would have been blasting fire from his mouth at those idiots by now.”
Two arrows flew over the roof of her car in quick succession and landed in the dirt. Luke groaned. He opened up her driver’s side, strained to grab her purse and barely made it before another arrow smashed through the passenger side window. Glass shattered in a million directions and he grunted as he got hit by flying debris.
He rescued the purse, grabbed her hand and dragged her to his right side, placing himself between her and the arrows as they ran like hell, the few feet to his truck, whilst keeping low. They squatted on the driver’s side of his car and he hoisted her in. Then he followed in after her. A hail of arrows were hitting the passenger side of his truck now, as the shooters got bolder and started coming closer to the road.
Luke shoved the car into gear and sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind. They reached home fast and Luke helped Marissa alight.
“How much should we tell Joshua?” she asked.
“Everything,” he said, without hesitation. “I never keep important things from Joshua. I mean one look at me and he’d know something was off.”
Marissa shot him a surprised glance, “He never let on that he knew anything about us.”
His eyes slid away from hers.
Marissa withdrew from him immediately. She hadn’t moved a muscle, but suddenly it seemed as though a thousand miles separated them. Then in a calm voice without much inflection, she responded, “I see. I suppose it makes sense. We weren’t truly … important.”
“Marissa—” he began.
She had already wrenched away from him and bounded towards the door. She didn’t even bother knocking, just sailed right through the wall. Luke gaped. It was a measure of how furious she was. Marissa would ordinarily never use her gifts to pass through the wall in someone’s house, particularly without an invitation.
He’d really messed up, he admitted to himself with a weary sigh as he opened the door and helped himself inside.
Marissa was already hugging Joshua and receiving hugs and happy squeals from Kelly and Jeanine.
He saw that Megan had come over for a visit with Jack too and she was perched on the arm of his chair. Unlike Kelly and Jeanine, she didn’t go in for a hug; just contented herself with a warm smile of welcome.
It never failed to amaze him how different all three women were. Kelly was warm and giving, Jeanine was tough and outspoken, and Megan tended towards being reserved.
Joshua seemed genuinely happy to see Marissa and he told her so. She smiled wryly up at him and sank into a leather chair in the living room.
Little feet running from upstairs signaled the arrival of Tom and Caily. Evidently Drake had sped to the school earlier and picked them both even before she and Luke were done dodging poisonous arrows.
Luke walked towards the gathered group, his boots soundless on the rug. Joshua looked up at him and his grin faded at once. He knew his boys well enough to know when something was wrong.
He rose to his feet, “Luke?”
Luke flicked Marissa a look. Then he faced his family, “Marissa and I were attacked.”
Everyone rose to their feet, staring in shock. Only Marissa remained seated.
“Who?” Derek demanded.
“The Archstones,” Luke said. “I recognized their poisoned arrows.”
“Did you get hurt?” Kelly cried, rushing forward to grab his arm and turn him this way and that.
Megan offered a droll, “Oh chill, Kelly. He’s standing right in front of you.”
Kelly threw Megan a mom-look over her shoulder and Megan lapsed into silence immediately.
Marissa fought down a shout of laughter, after observing the silent exchange. Luke’s family was not amused and any laughter right now would be inappropriate.
“What precipitated this attack? We’ve been at a standoff for years and we didn’t retaliate when they tried to help Nabradia,” Derek queried, positively vibrating with fury.
“Chirhiss and his friends are running the Archstone Tribe now. What could they possibly have against Luke?” Joshua demanded, staring off into the distance.
“Well, I don’t care what they have against Luke. Just say the word Joshua and I’ll go torch the entire settlement,” Drake declared.
He looked angry enough to do it, too. Marissa swallowed nervously. An enraged dragon tossed into the mix was the very last thing anyone needed. What had possessed the Archstones to attack them? And who had they been aiming at? Her or Luke?
The same thought must have occurred to him just then because he lifted his head, “Joshua, I’m more worried about whether they were aiming at me or at Marissa.”
Everyone froze.
Jeanine was the first to recover. “What do you mean?”
“We were both there and they first aimed at her car first. They only shot at the truck when we both got into the truck. It’s really hard to tell because we were both beside her car when the first shot came.”
Joshua growled, “I’m not taking any chances. We need to find out what’s going on. But in the meantime, Luke and Marissa have both got to stay here.”
Marissa’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, “Stay here? I can’t do that.”
Luke glared at her, “And you shouldn’t. Come on, Joshua.”
Joshua’s eyebrow cocked inquiringly, “Don’t tell me you’re not worried about her. What if something happened to her while she was at home?”
Luke sighed and muttered, “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”
“That’s what I thought,” Joshua said with satisfaction.
Marissa refrained from rolling her eyes. She knew a matchmaker when she saw one and she had been studiously avoiding them for years.
“Mr. Cox, I appreciate your offer but I’m afraid I can’t accept it. This was probably all just a misunderstanding.”
“Was it? Do you really want to take the chance that you’re wrong when Caily could be hurt?” Luke demanded.
She glared at him. He had no right to say her daughter’s name and no right to pretend he cared about her eight years later. But of course she couldn’t say all that right now so she gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“I can protect my daughter just fine. I’ve been doing it on my own for years, after all,” she bit out.
Luke stared her right in the eye, “I’m sure you have and you’ve done a great job. But don’t mess around with the Archstones. If you’re wrong and they are after you, she could be in danger. So could you.”
“But if you’re wrong Luke, and they are really after you, then we would be leav
ing a safe place to come to the thick of the problem,” she countered.
That made sense too, so everyone fell silent.
Caily raced up to Marissa just then, her big grey eyes sparkling with mirth and mischief. “Mummy, can Tom and me go chase fairies in the garden?”
Kelly looked up in surprise, “Fairies?”
Marissa shared a secret grin with the other woman, “I think her abilities are starting to take shape. Fairies let her see them now. ‘Tom and I,’ Caily,” she corrected.
Luke’s grin faded. Abilities? If her abilities were already taking shape at such a young age, then it meant Caily was a full-blooded shifter kid from a shifter mum and a shifter dad.
One of the revelations Sara had flung in his face that horrible night was the fact that Marissa was too good for a shifter like him. Her fiancé was human and the last thing she needed was “some impoverished shifter kid from the wrong side of the tracks ending her fairy tale romance with her rich, human fiancé.”
He had half-convinced himself that Marissa probably hadn’t wanted a future with him if it meant burdening her future kids with shifter abilities. He knew some shifters felt that way. But now, to hear that she had left him for another shifter, a fact guaranteed to produce a shifter kid, he felt devastated. She just hadn’t wanted him, period.
11.
Marissa hugged her daughter and ran a loving hand over her golden blond hair. “There are no fairies in the garden Caily.”
“Sure there are,” Caily piped up. “Me and Tom catched some yesterday.”
Marissa didn’t bother correcting Caily’s grammar this time. “No, my darling. You and Tom have to play indoors. There are no fairies out today; just gnomes and those are nasty and ugly and smell horrid.”