by Amber Lynn
I settled for doing a combination by slowly towel drying my hair as I turned to face Paul. He let Sierra down and she looked back and forth between the two of us. The whole time I’d been dealing with Paul’s intrusion, our other daughter had stayed quietly waiting in the pool.
“Selina, why don’t you come out of there for a little bit. You guys can start drying off while we talk, and then we can head back up to our room.”
We’d been swimming long enough that I thought the girls should be getting hungry, so I was hoping I could use that as an excuse if Paul felt the need to take more than five minutes. He knew as well as I did how quickly the girls got hungry after physical activity.
“Okay, Mommy.” Selina waded over to a ladder along the wall in the deep end.
I walked over to the table Paul had decided we were going to talk and took a seat. I sensed Paul walking Sierra over to her sister as I made my way. He leaned down and gave Selina a hug as soon as he got to her and gave her a quick kiss.
“Thank you for letting me cut your swimming time short.” He patted both girls on the head and focused back on me.
He really hadn’t ever lost his focus, but I’d kept his eyes from boring into mine when I turned my back to him. He made the thirty or so more steps he needed to get to me and took a seat.
“How’d you find us so fast?” I’d thought it would take him at least a day.
“If you wanted to really get away, you would’ve left the state. Even then, I’ve had someone following you for about a year now, so it’d be pretty hard to drop off my radar.”
I didn’t believe he had someone tailing me. I’d watched my rearview mirror and I would’ve felt someone. I didn’t know who he was trying to kid, but I wasn’t buying the story. I couldn’t tell him my exact reasons for it, so I let it slide.
“I see, and when you found out where we were you decided to drop everything and chase after us. The last I saw you, you seemed to be a little preoccupied.”
Paul glanced over at the girls. “How good is their hearing? I’m guessing there are things we’ll have to wait to discuss, and the topic you’re eluding to is one of them.”
“What kind of question is that? You know as well as I do that their hearing is just as good as either of ours, which is why I thought it was stupid for us to try to talk. There isn’t really anything that needs to be said. I’m sure you haven’t had time to go over the divorce papers, and there’s nothing there that I think you’ll have trouble agreeing to.”
“I think there’s a lot there I won’t agree to, starting with the divorce itself. And as far as the hearing goes, I think we both know comparing yours to mine is a joke. I bet you can hear if the people in the lobby are having a conversation.”
I didn’t like the challenge I saw in Paul’s eyes. He thought he had something figured out, but I highly doubted he knew what he was talking about.
“That would be impossible, and I can assure you that the girls can’t hear that far away either, so why don’t you try to make whatever case you can and leave us alone. If you read the papers I left you, you’ll see I’ve been generous enough to work out visitations.”
I didn’t particularly want the visitations, but I knew both he and Sierra would throw a fit if I just grabbed the girls and ran away. As much as I didn’t want to be married anymore, I knew we were still a family of some sort.
“I requested that no one interrupt us, so I’ll assume there aren’t other ears out there listening in, but just in case there are, I’m going to be a little bit cryptic to make sure no one hears something they shouldn’t. I suppose the easiest way to get things out in the open is to say I’ve known about this for a while.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I got a big clue when he reached into a pocket inside his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. It took him a second to unfold it. I recognized the paper as a piece from Sierra’s drawing set.
The scene that sat in front of me was exactly how Selina had described it. Sierra had to have had her sister describe what she looked like as a little wolf, because she’d captured the different shadings of her fur perfectly. I looked over in the girls’ direction and wondered how in the world she was able to draw such a beautiful scene. She definitely didn’t inherit it from me.
“I don’t know what you think you know, but I doubt it’s true.”
I didn’t look back at him or the picture. My mind was flipping through possible things I could come up with to explain things. I got the feeling he wasn’t going to be as gullible as I thought.
“I’ve known since before the girls were born that your spur of the moment tattoo wasn’t a tattoo. I know exactly what it means, and that it wasn’t your fault that it happened.”
He reached across the table to take my hand. I cringed at the touch, but I didn’t pull away.
“What do you mean my tattoo isn’t a tattoo? What else would it be?”
“From what I understand it’s a sign of something you’re running away from. I was told our relationship would change, but I could try to make it so you wouldn’t go searching for what you were missing.”
“Maybe it has to do with you being cryptic, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I could honestly say that about the last part of his statement.
“How about we go up to the room you’ve paid for so we can go into more details?”
“No. You’ve proven I can’t just run away from you, and that’s fine, but as far as I’m concerned, we don’t have anything that needs discussing. You can’t explain away the things I know to be true.”
“Please.” He squeezed my hand and pulled it his way. I looked over at him, prepared to growl, but caught myself before it slipped out. “You have to understand what you saw today was an act. Clearly you didn’t see it as that, but I was told if I made you jealous, we could work things out between us. I couldn’t actually go through with the act, but I’ve gotten pretty good at pretending when you’re in the house.”
I searched his eyes, trying to figure out what in the world he was talking about. I wasn’t sure how he expected our talk to go, but I was lost. Nothing he said made any sense, and I was hopeful the few parts where he indicated he knew more about me than he should were hallucinations on my part.
“Are you trying to say I didn’t walk in on you and Katie breaking in the sheets I just bought?” I asked in a whisper. The girls would hear, but I hoped they took the hushed voice to mean they should pretend they couldn’t.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I mean, she may have been taking her acting gig a little too seriously, but I was in no way participating. Since you were home I had my clothes off in hopes you’d walk in and get jealous, but that was my extent of anything. Even the noises being made were fake.”
Paul had kept his voice as quiet as he could from the beginning, so he didn’t have to lower it as the subject went somewhere the kids didn’t need to hear.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I was either sleeping, and having a horrible dream, or I’d walked into an alternate reality. I knew what I saw, even if I did my best not to see anything going on in my bedroom.
“I’m talking about you being mated to someone else and me needing to make you jealous in order to keep our family together. I was told that as a wolf you’d eventually have to reclaim me as your own if another woman got too personal with me.
“I hadn’t expected it to take this long for you to figure out what was going on, or the fact that you never did, and decided to try to throw a divorce at me instead. I thought, and was told, that you love me, which is why you didn’t take the easy route and run off with the sick jerk who caused all the problems to begin with.”
I somehow managed to keep my jaw from falling open. I’d understood that he may know about the werewolf business, he’d made that pretty clear by his acceptance of the drawing, but the rest of the stuff he was talking about was plain stupid. There was only one place he could’ve gotten that much bad
information.
“I’m going to kill him.” I moved to get out of my chair, but Paul held my hand firmly. “If you want to keep that hand, I’d suggest you let go.”
“Not until you explain to me where things went wrong. I did everything I was supposed to and you up and left me. That wasn’t in the plan.”
I laughed, but it wasn’t exactly a jovial chuckle. “Did he come to you, or did you seek him out?”
I wondered what all my brother had to say to the brother-in-law he despised. There had to have been some good advice in there somewhere, judging by the way Paul had been able to sneak up on me. I wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but I was sure it was something he was instructed to do.
“I received an anonymous letter with a police report in it two weeks after you told me you were pregnant. Since you hadn’t come to me about it, I assumed you were in denial and I didn’t want to push, so I went to the officer who’d taken your statement and demanded to know what they were doing to find the man who’d hurt you.”
Things just kept getting better. “Did he immediately tell you he was my brother, or did you know from the background checks done on my family by your family?”
“Give me a little credit. I do happen to know what your maiden name is, so I assumed going in that he was your brother, and you can imagine the second I saw his eyes I knew for sure.”
I supposed it was hard to miss that fact. “And he was kind enough to tell you why you’ve never spent any time with my family. That was sweet and unexpected of him. In case you hadn’t figured it out, the jealous thing was a lie. He wanted me to kill you, but as always, he doesn’t understand how I feel about you.”
“Mommy, I think we need to go to our room now,” Selina said insistently.
I looked over to where the girls had sat down on the floor while they waited for us. I could feel her growing increasingly anxious, but looking around I couldn’t find a reason for it. I didn’t sense anyone coming, and as shocking as it was, I was actually having a decent conversation with Paul.
“If you have to go to the bathroom, I showed you were the one by the pool is. I’d like to talk to your daddy for a few more minutes.”
I should’ve brought a few candy bars with me to make sure their bodies had enough energy after the swim.
“No, Mommy. We need to leave before he gets here. He won’t be happy if Daddy’s here. I should’ve told you sooner, but it sounded like things were going good.”
I looked around and used every extra sense I had, but I still didn’t feel anyone getting close to our location, at least not anyone Selina would be worried about. I worked my hand away from Paul, and that time he didn’t try to fight me. Selina had stood up and was holding her sister close to her.
“Honey, I don’t feel anyone coming. Are you feeling okay? Maybe we should run to the vending machines real quick.”
Selina’s face darted to the door leading to the pool, and I followed her gaze. Oh boy. She was right to have said we needed to leave, but I didn’t think even an hour’s notice would’ve been enough time.
Chapter Four
I’d never officially seen the man, but I knew who he was as soon as he stopped hiding himself from me. I had no idea what was up with my senses, but it was really bad to be tricked twice in one day. Neither man should’ve been able to get the better of me.
The visitor to the scene was tall, blond and beautifully sculpted, all of which I expected. I hadn’t seen him, but I’d felt his body and there was nothing soft about it. I could see by the way his red polo clung to his chest that he didn’t miss a day at the gym.
“Excuse me, but this is a private party,” Paul said as I felt him move to stand behind me.
I moved quickly to stand in front of him, hopefully mostly blocking him from view, while I waved at the girls. “Girls, I want you to come over and stand by me.”
The man grumbled a little in his chest, something I didn’t think Paul picked up. Selina stared over at the man for an extra second, but she hurried to follow her sister. I didn’t think they were in any danger, but I still kept them just a little bit behind me.
“Can I ask what you’re doing here?” There was no need for small talk. I wanted to get Paul and the girls out of there as quickly as possible, but the way out was being blocked.
“Shouldn’t you be wondering why I’m just now showing up?” His deep voice made me involuntarily shiver.
“I thought I made it pretty clear I never wanted to actually meet you.”
“Wait a second. You know him?” Paul stepped forward and put his hands on my hips, trying to show possession. It wasn’t the smartest move on his part.
“No, but we were just talking about him a few minutes ago. Until I figure out what’s going on, I highly suggest you don’t touch me and say very, very little. This situation is going to be a little tricky.”
“What are you talking about?” Paul asked. He fought to keep his hands on me, but I stepped forward a couple steps and got him to let loose.
“Will you allow him to take the girls out of here so we can talk about things?”
I didn’t bother trying to fill Paul in. He may have figured out some things based on what my brother told him, but he didn’t understand how things worked. It was within the stranger’s right to kill him without uttering a word, at least it was in the world I was born, and I could feel the raw power coming off the man that indicated he could tear Paul in two.
“That would probably be wise. It’s past time we have a conversation, and this time I won’t settle for you telling me to get lost.”
“I figured as much. Paul, the key card for the hotel room is over by where the towels were. Grab it and take the girls and wait for me to come get you. Now is not the time to argue. The girls can fill you in when you get to the room.
“I’m not leaving you alone with that Thor wannabe.” Paul didn’t follow directions very well.
“If you don’t want your daughters to watch you get killed, I’d highly suggest you listen to me. This is something that needs to be handled before we continue our conversation, and it’s something only I can handle.”
I didn’t take my eyes off the man in front of me. Staring Paul down wouldn’t make a difference. He was going to be stubborn.
“Daddy, I’m hungry and Mommy left all the food upstairs. Can you please take us upstairs?” Sierra used her cute baby voice that she rarely ever brought out.
“You know how they get after a lot of exercise. She’ll probably try to eat her sister’s fingers if she doesn’t get something soon.”
The girls needing him was about the only hope we had to keep him from doing something stupid. I still didn’t understand how I could go from hiding out to everyone knowing where I was. It’d been years since the situation that screwed up my marriage, and I’d thought that meant he was okay with how we left things.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” Even though Paul sounded unsure, I knew he was going to leave without any drama.
“He couldn’t kill me even if he wanted to, so, yes, I’ll be fine. I don’t know how long I’ll be, but I’ll do my best to make sure things are wrapped up quickly.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to hold her before you whisk her away. I know this won’t be the last time we see each other, but this is the first, and I’d like to acknowledge her.”
I growled at the suggestion. I had no idea who he was, and the thought of him holding my daughter made me want to hurt him.
“Thank you for thinking about me, but maybe you should talk things out and introduce yourself before you think about contact. Mommy is a little protective.”
I wouldn’t have been as calm as Selina if I were in her place. She’d known he was coming though, so I assumed she had time to prepare. I remembered her words right before she’d fallen asleep in the car, and wondered what man she’d been talking about. I expected it was probably the one blocking the door.
I felt Paul get ready to say something behind me,
so I reached back and pulled him so he could see my face.
“The girls will explain, say nothing else and go while the mood is still decent. I have a feeling it’s not going to stay that way long.”
I was doing my best to act like everything was okay, but I hated being in the room with the other man. He ignited feelings inside of me that I didn’t like.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve put everything together, and knowing what I do, I’m having trouble leaving you. You aren’t safe with him.”
Paul moved to pick up the girls. I thought it’d make more sense to do that after he had the key card, but he clearly didn’t feel like doing what I told him, a fact the other man in the room picked up on.
“I find it interesting he has so much trouble following your instructions. It might be easier if I killed him now.” The man walked a few steps forward so he wasn’t blocking the door.
My body had been tense since the moment I saw the visitor, but somehow his words and action made it even worse. That wasn’t an unfounded reaction. I knew he could and would kill Paul without blinking an eye.
“He’s leaving now and you can blow kisses at Selina if you want to acknowledge her, but you aren’t touching her right now.”
I walked over to pick up the card, and felt every eye in the room on me. It was better they were targeting me than anyone else. Once I had it, I walked over to Paul, lifted it to his mouth and stuck it in. He was nice enough to open his mouth a little so I didn’t break any teeth.
I kissed both of the girls on their foreheads and escorted my family to the door, always keeping myself between them and the man. There were no doors to close to shut them out, so I stood and watched until they were clear. Paul hesitated with every step, but Sierra whispered words of encouragement to keep him moving.
Just before they got in the elevator down the hall, he turned and looked back. I didn’t think he could’ve looked more miserable than he had when I told him I wanted a divorce, but the helplessness he felt was clear.