From the Shadows (A Shadow Chronicles Novel)

by Moore, Christina

  Thirteen

  Race and I spent half the night making love, using the new mental link between us to explore each other in ways we had never imagined were possible. The old stories my mother used to embarrass me with, the ones in which she told me how indescribably pleasurable sharing myself with a man would be once I’d bonded…well, they were proving to be true, as I knew there was no way I could put into words how Race made me feel, even if I wanted to.

  We exhausted each other sometime around 3 a.m., and I fell into a blissful, contented, sated sleep wrapped securely in his arms.

  A few hours later I woke to the smell of coffee and bacon. When I looked at the clock I saw that it was just after 8:00, and was surprised that I wasn’t still tired. Rising from the bed, I reached into the closet for my robe and put it on, then padded out to find Race. He was standing at the stove frying eggs and bacon, clad only in a pair of low-slung pajama bottoms. I smiled, thinking of just how hot he looked, how much I just loved the way the elastic waistband sat around his hips, giving just enough of a hint of what lay underneath.

  “Keep thinking that way and breakfast will burn,” Race said lightly, turning to me with a knowing smile.

  I blinked, confused for a moment, and then smiled back. I’d forgotten that he could now hear my thoughts. Stepping into the kitchenette, I walked up behind him to wrap my arms around his waist, noting as I did so that indeed, the place where I had bitten him was still marked despite werekind having the ability to heal without scarring. I kissed the mark softly and then walked over to the coffee maker, “As much as I don’t mind letting you know just how sexy I think you are,” I said, “one of the first things we have to do is learn how to tune each other out. A person’s thoughts are supposed to be the last private place we have, and I’m sure there are things in that handsome head of yours you’d prefer choosing to share with me rather than my learning them by chance.”

  Race nodded as I was pouring myself a cup of java. “You’re right on all counts, babe,” he said. “While I definitely enjoyed using this telepathy thing to please you last night, it’ll become damn inconvenient not having my head to myself when we’re not in bed.”

  “And I’m certain to want to keep most of my thoughts to myself,” I said as I moved over to the refrigerator and reached into it for the milk. After pouring a generous amount into my cup, I put the milk back and put my cup on the dining bar, then went to retrieve a spoon and the sugar.

  “So how do we learn to turn the volume down, as it were?” Race asked as he started plating bacon and eggs for both of us.

  After placing the sugar and a spoon on the dining bar, I reached into the cabinet again for another mug. “How do you take your coffee, anyway? You didn’t drink it yesterday.”

  “I prefer mine straight and black,” he replied, carrying our plates over to the bar. I poured a full cup and passed the mug over, then grabbed the silverware and sat down across from him.

  “To answer your question, we’re going to have to talk to one of the pack who’s mated,” I told him after saying grace. “One of them will be able to give us some advice.”

  “So we’ll call your mom later,” Race said before putting a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

  I’d taken a sip of my sugar and milk-laden coffee as he spoke, thankful for Saphrona’s suggestion that we also buy food for the apartment for the times Race and I wanted to eat alone, and so I said to him silently, My mother did not imprint on my father.

  Race looked up at me. She didn’t?

  “No,” I replied aloud. “I didn’t know this until after the Day of Hell, when I asked her about it based on a discussion I’d had with Mark and Saphrona about bonding. She told me that she truly loved my father and always had, that she always would, and that if she hadn’t imprinted by now then she wasn’t likely to.”

  “But that’s not guaranteed?”

  I shook my head sadly. “No, it’s not. Part of me is afraid for my dad—according to my mom, he was nearly destroyed by what had happened to Mark’s birth mother. He was a broken man for a very long time, from what she said, and it scares me to think that she could someday meet her bondmate and be forced to leave him. Dad couldn’t even handle the truth of what we are—Lochlan had to make him forget.”

  “And you’re afraid that if your mom does imprint, she’ll leave your dad and he’ll break down all over again,” Race suggested.

  “Yeah, a breakdown from which he might not recover.” The conversation had weakened my appetite, but I forced myself to take a few bites of food before I spoke again. “Mom swore to me that even if she did suddenly imprint, she wasn’t ever going to leave Dad. And I know that I should trust her conviction, but it’s kind of hard to do. You probably remember that we never celebrate Mark’s birthday on his actual birthday, that we always had a party for him the week before. The reason for that is because—”

  “Because the day he was born is the day his mother died,” Race finished for me softly. “I remember. Your dad always became kinda surly and yet quiet a day or so before, and you couldn’t talk to him at all the day of.”

  I nodded. “And he wasn’t himself again until a few days after. He’s still like that. Mom once told me he’d confessed to feeling guilty for not allowing Mark to celebrate on his actual birthday, and how he pretty much ignored everyone that day, but he can’t help himself. It’s not that he doesn’t love us, he just…he can’t stop the memory from taking him over. He found Mark’s mother with her throat all but torn out, and if he hadn’t had the fortitude to call for help, he’d have lost Mark as well. The vampire’s draculin was changing him, but he still needed to be born to live.”

  “Sumbitch,” Race muttered. “It’s probably a miracle your dad recovered at all.”

  “Now you see why the prospect of my mother imprinting scares the hell out of me,” I said.

  Race took a breath and then a swig of his coffee. He then took a bite of food before saying, “So do you have anyone in mind we could talk to? Is there anyone in the pack you’re close with that you trust enough to keep private matters private?”

  “Although every member of the pack considers the others family, I’ve never been particularly close to anyone but Jake, to be honest,” I confessed. “When I was little I was a girly girl, but after I started phasing I was all tomboy. Despite there being other girls who were shifting, they tended to stick together and I just wanted to run with the boys. Jake was the only one who tolerated me always hanging around. But I do think we’d be alright talking to Martha. From what I’ve seen, she and her husband have a very strong relationship.”

  “You told me last night that in human-shifter pairings, the shifter is considered the Alpha whether it’s a man or a woman. How do the human men handle that?” my lover wanted to know.

  “Well, like I said, we’re considered Alphas physically,” I reminded him. “Personality-wise, if the guy is an Alpha male he stays an Alpha male, and tends to have the control in the relationship. In every relationship, or so I learned in Sociology back in college, one person is dominant and the other is submissive.”

  “Who do you think is going to be the Alpha in our relationship?” Race asked with a grin.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Personally, I’d prefer an equal partnership. But given that you’re taller and stronger and more than likely faster, it’s probably you.”

  “Yeah, but that’s just physical dominance,” he pointed out. “If we judge our relationship by our personalities, our strength of will, then I’m not ashamed to admit you’ve got the upper hand. I mean, look at my past, how weak I was. I didn’t gain true strength until I met you.”

  “Race, you had already made the decision to break away from Vienna Silk before we ran into each other,” I said. “You wanted to be free, to be your own person. I had nothing to do with that.”

  “Yeah, but if you hadn’t come along, I probably would have fallen back on my old habits. Working for vampires is about all I know, but you’ve given me a reason to m
ake an honest effort at being a better man.”

  I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, though I felt my heart swell with love. By the look on his face, I knew he’d felt my emotion through the bond.

  “So in a way,” he went on, “we do have an equal partnership.”

  I smiled. “And how is that?”

  “I’ve got the body and you’ve got the personality. And since we’re both sexy as sin, I’d say that makes us even.”

  I laughed, as I couldn’t think of anything to say to that either.

  ***

  When Race and I had finished breakfast and dressed, we descended from the apartment to find Mark and Saphrona in the barn mucking the stalls. Not knowing what else to do, I offered to help. It was at that moment that Saphrona’s house phone rang, and she laughingly told me I could help her out by answering the phone for her.

  Inside the house, I headed over to the cordless phone on the wall beside the refrigerator, glancing at the caller I.D. to see who it was out of habit. I lifted an eyebrow as I read the words “Mackenna Corporation.”

  “Caldwell residence, may I help you?” I said by way of greeting after lifting the handset and pressing the talk button.

  “Miss Juliette Singleton, how do you do?” replied the softly accented voice of Saphrona’s father, Diarmid Mackenna. I thought it strange that he was calling at almost nine in the morning when, if memory served, he preferred the night life. And though I knew vampires had eidetic memories, I couldn’t help the sense of amazement that surged that he had immediately recognized my voice.

  “I’m good,” I said somewhat stiffly. “Saphrona’s out in the barn right now, would you like me to give her a message?”

  “Yes. Please ask my daughter if she has any idea why Vienna Silk would send a cashier’s check made out to someone by the name of Horace Covington to my office. It’s a very large sum, and the courier could not tell me who this Mr. Covington is.”

  My eyes widened reflexively in surprise, not only that Vienna Silk had sent the check Lochlan had demanded, but that she had done it as quickly as she had.

  “Um, actually I can answer that question for you,” I told him. “Lochlan demanded that check as recompense on behalf of my bondmate, whose property was destroyed by one of Ms. Silk’s minions.”

  “My son did that? How very interesting,” Diarmid mused. “Is your mate that young man who accompanied us to Ireland a few weeks ago?”

  “No, that was Jake Anderson, one of my packmates,” I replied, refusing to volunteer any information about Race.

  Diarmid chuckled, as though he knew I was holding back. “I see. In that case, if your mate would care to come pick up the check, he may do so at any time today. You’re welcome to come with him, in fact—I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing your lovely face again,” he said smoothly.

  “Won’t you have retired for the day?” I had to ask.

  The vampire laughed again. “Young lady, for a beautiful woman I would stay up for days.”

  If he thought I was going to reply to the double entendre, he was sadly mistaken. In the short time I’d known him, I’d not once allowed this man to bait me and I wasn’t about to start now.

  “Is there anything else, Mr. Mackenna? Any message you’d like me to pass along to Saphrona?” I said then, eager to get off the phone.

  “Yes. Give Mida my love, would you please?”

  I bit back a scoff. “Certainly. Goodbye, Mr. Mackenna.”

  I heard Diarmid’s irritating chuckle again. “Thank you, Juliette. Goodbye.”

  As I was hanging up the phone a moment later I allowed myself to shudder. Maybe it was prejudice born of Saphrona’s loathing of her father, or perhaps it was my own deep-seeded hatred of vampires, but even when he was being perfectly polite, as he’d been just now, Diarmid Mackenna made my skin crawl. I shuddered one more time and headed back outside.

  Saphrona met me at the open door of the barn. “Who was it?” she asked.

  I gave her a sour look and said sardonically, “Your daddy sends his love.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “And that’s it?”

  “Actually, no. The check that Lochlan demanded from Vienna Silk for the damages Merrick did to Race’s belongings arrived this morning. He was calling to ask if you knew why she’d send it, so I explained the matter. He told me we were welcome to go and get it,” I replied.

  Saphrona shook her head. “That bitch is playing games, Juliette. You and Race had better be careful.”

  “Why do we need to be careful?” Race asked, coming out of the barn with Mark.

  I repeated the byplay of the phone call with father, though I refrained from mentioning the part where he’d said he wouldn’t mind seeing me again. Race appeared as surprised as I had been that Vienna had complied with Lochlan’s demand so expeditiously.

  “Lochlan did say that she would send it just to buy some time,” he mused when I’d finished. Looking at Saphrona he asked, “What do you think she’s up to?”

  “With that woman, it’s really anybody’s guess,” Saphrona replied. “She’s been at war with my father for years, stealing his clients, his offspring, the loyalty of those who work for him.”

  “I didn’t know offspring could switch loyalties,” I observed.

  “Yeah,” Mark said with a nod. “Lochlan told us that a vampire’s loyalty to his maker couldn’t be easily cast aside.”

  Saphrona nodded as well. “And it can’t,” she said, “though the bond can be broken if the sire releases the offspring or if the offspring renounces the sire as their maker.”

  Mark frowned. “If it’s that easy, why doesn’t Lochlan leave your dad?”

  “Because it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds, honey. The link between a vampire and his offspring is incredibly strong—they’re bound to each other by blood and magic, and that’s a combination that’s almost impossible to crack. A vampire can’t just say to their sire ‘I renounce you as my maker’ if the words don’t have conviction behind them. Circumstances would have to be extreme for it to work. When Lochlan said that the bond is not easily cast aside, he meant it. It’s far easier for a vampire to release offspring than for offspring to renounce a maker, because the bond originates with the sire.”

  “So how could Vienna have stolen any away from your dad?” Race asked.

  Saphrona shrugged. “Any number of ways. Her usual tactics include lies and other forms of deception, but she’s not above paying out huge sums of money. Greed can be a powerful motivator. My father sired one offspring between Lochlan and I, and when Diarmid left Vienna for my mother, she convinced him to go with her. Supposedly he was as much her son as Diarmid’s and she wasn’t about to lose them both.”

  Race glanced at me, then back at Saphrona. “Him?” he queried. “What was this guy’s name?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “Diarmid never told me and although Lochlan told me what happened, he was forbidden to tell me the offspring’s name because Diarmid had disavowed him for his lack of loyalty. Evangeline wouldn’t have told me if I’d ever cared to ask her purely out of spite. Even when I was living that life I was careful to stay away from Vienna, because she’s dangerous. So there’s been no way for me to ask Vienna myself. I’ve always figured that if there was ever a question I didn’t want to know the answer to, that would certainly fit the bill.”

  ***

  About half an hour later, Mark drove Race and I over to my parents’ house so I could pick up my car, a comfy little four-door Jeep Liberty. After programming the address for the Mackenna Corporation’s corporate headquarters into the GPS my father had insisted I install, we headed for Columbus.

  Race was silent for a long moment as I drove, and though his thoughts were screaming by one after another in my head, I did my best to ignore them, choosing instead to concentrate on the road in front of me. But one repetitive thought kept flashing across my mind, to the point where I had to say something.

  “Why do you keep thinking about Mer
rick?” I asked.

  “Merrick,” Race began, “has been Vienna’s right hand man for as long as I can remember—certainly a lot longer than I’ve known them. More than once he referred to her as his mother, and I assumed it was because she’d turned him.”

  “Maybe she did,” I suggested.

  “And maybe he’s the guy she stole from Saphrona’s dad.”

  I shrugged. “So what if he is? Does it make a difference?”

  Race looked at me and then shook his head with a laugh. “Nah, I suppose not. I’d hate that cockmunching bastard no matter which bloodsucker created him.”

  ***

  After spending a little more than an hour on the road, I pulled up in front of the Mackenna Corporation. As I got out from behind the wheel I craned my neck to follow the glass-and-steel edifice up its 30-story height.

  “Never thought I’d have to set eyes on this place,” I mused.

  Race snorted as he got out and dropped change into the parking meter. “Never thought I’d be accepting a ten-thousand dollar check from a vampire,” he retorted.

  “Consider it severance pay, pretty boy,” I suggested as I rounded the end of my car.

  Race took my hand after shoving his wallet back into his pocket and led me toward the building. Inside we went straight toward the reception desk, where a red-haired woman in a brown pinstriped suit looked up at us questioningly through thick, wire-framed glasses.

  “Welcome to the Mackenna Corporation, how may I help you?” she asked politely.

  “Race Covington and Juliette Singleton to see Mr. Mackenna,” Race replied.

  The receptionist glanced at her computer, striking a few keys and then said, “I’m afraid you’re not listed as one of Mr. Mackenna’s appointments. Would you care to schedule one for another day?”

  Stepping closer to the chest-high desk, I said, “I spoke with Diarmid Mackenna myself this morning, at which time he told me we were welcome to come by. Perhaps you ought check with his executive assistant.”