Mindy and Cam had walked ahead, but the moment the anger hit, Mindy turned around. Alexia looked up at her, and the curiosity in Mindy’s eyes held caution as well.
“Lex? Lex, what’s wrong with you?” she asked, much more shyly and fearfully than was normal for her.
Alexia couldn’t answer. The anger was plowing through her, settling deep. Maybe even past her soul. The anger reached into the very depths of her being, and she could feel an energy pulsing through her. She noticed Mindy had taken a step back, and instead of looking back at her, Alexia looked down. Her vision was tinged red, and her sweater had a glow to it.
Alexia was burning up, so she reached for the glowing sweater. She started trying to pull it off. She needed to get out of the itchy material. She needed to feel her own skin being caressed by the light wind. She needed to run and let go of this anger that wasn’t at all a caress but a force field that bombarded her senses, as well as her common sense. She removed the sweater, ignoring her best friend’s frightful stare. Only a tank top and her blue bra were underneath. She reached for the tank top, but strong hands stopped her before she could go any further. The hands felt like electric shocks against Alexia’s skin, and she wanted to scream in pain.
As she fought the hands and the pain – both inside and out – she finally noticed her skin, which had started glowing. Rather than making her more crazy, the translucent quality calmed her. The soothing light coming from her skin, and the now two sets of arms that held her brought her back to herself.
The anger was hiding itself. Biding its time for another moment when it could be unleashed. Alexia let it hide. She didn’t want it gone. She wanted the anger to stay, but she also knew: now was not the time.
“Alexia,” Mindy said from her right, and there was a question in her voice. Mindy’s hands started slowly pulling back from her, and Alexia whimpered. As soon as she let go, the sparks and the shocks started again from where Cam held her. And at the moment, the pain was too much. Too fast, too soon, and Alexia did not want Cam touching her. Mindy held on tighter, sensing Alexia still needed her.
“Let her go, Cam,” Mindy said firmly.
“What if she hurts you?” Cam asked, and he sounded truly scared that Alexia would hurt her best friend. She couldn’t let him think that.
“Cam,” Alexia coughed out, her throat closed and dry. “Cam, I won’t hurt her. I promise.” She looked up at him. “I don’t know why, but your touch…your touch is—” She coughed again. “Your touch is hurting me.” He looked at Alexia oddly, a question burning in his eyes, which told her that she had not been the only one feeling the electric shocks. He looked over at Mindy and quickly let go of Alexia. He wiped his shaking hands on his jeans, and even through her own slightly hooded eyes, Alexia could tell that his eyes had turned a deep golden color and his skin had a slight glow as well. What the hell?
“Okay, Lex,” Mindy said, soothingly. “You’re okay, sweetie.” She took Alexia into her arms, her goodness seeping into Alexia’s pores. Even though she had hidden the anger deep, she hadn’t completely let it go. But she accepted Mindy’s comfort. They sat down on the deserted, dirty street, and Alexia started to cry. And because she was Mindy, her best friend cried with her.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, but Cam had come a little closer, and he’d crouched down on the other side of Mindy, and he was rubbing her back. It was strange seeing a guy be so comfortable with tears, but Alexia knew from her adoptive parents, Lara and Antonio Martinez, that men in love were much more willing to deal with their significant other’s emotions. She looked over her shoulder at Cam, and he smiled back. They might have had a strange reaction to each other’s touch, but he still smiled. And he still didn’t see her as evil. He was a good guy, and in that moment, with love and comfort surrounding her, Alexia wanted nothing more for her friend than the man at Mindy’s back.
“So,” Alexia said, clearing her throat. “What the fuck just happened?”
Mindy laughed and Cam chuckled a bit as he stood back up from his crouch. He pulled Mindy up with him, and Mindy helped Alexia up as well. Alexia started shivering in the night that had once again become cold, and Mindy reached toward the ground next to her and handed Alexia the blue sweater she had torn off in her rush to be free. Alexia threw on the sweater and started walking toward their apartment.
“I mean, that was seriously weird, right? I was glowing,” Alexia practically shouted, both in fear and anxious excitement.
“Lex,” Mindy said looking over at her. “You weren’t just glowing. Your eyes were burning. Your hair looked like it was on fire. We barely got to you to hold you. You were that bright and that hot.” Mindy stopped walking and pulled Alexia to a stop as well. “I didn’t just see it, though, Alexia. I felt it. I felt what you were feeling. What was that?” she asked in awe.
Alexia ducked her head, ashamed. “I was angry. I’m so sorry, Mind. I didn’t mean to get that angry. It just consumed me, and I couldn’t help the feelings moving through me. Professor Anderson’s death. His family’s deaths. This whole thing is – this whole thing is...” Alexia trailed off, but she was so ashamed of having hurt the people she cared about, she couldn’t lift her head to look at either Mindy or Cam.
“No,” Mindy said.
Alexia looked over at Mindy’s declaration and she tried to understand what Mindy meant by that little word. Alexia gave her a questioning look.
“No,” Mindy repeated, with more veracity. “We’re fine, we’re okay. This is not another sign that you’re evil. In fact, what I felt from you was anything but evil. I’ve never felt an anger so pure – if anger is even the right word for what you had rolling through you. It was almost a righteous anger. A cleansing fire. Argh,” she said, in frustration. “For someone who understands emotions so much, I can’t put my finger on what it was you were feeling.” She paused and looked at Alexia with fear again, but the fear was tempered with love and awe. Cam’s face was passive, as though he were trying to detach himself from their conversation or as if to pretend like none of this was happening. Must be nice, Alexia thought and then admonished herself. Everyone dealt with life in different ways. The Fates weren’t going to allow Alexia the luxury of detachment, though. “But Lex, it wasn’t evil. You aren’t evil.” Alexia nodded, but she had her doubts. She did smile at Mindy, though, because despite everything, that girl was frighteningly loyal to her.
She needed Devon to get back. He had the answers, whether good or bad. She needed to know who she was. She needed to know what was living inside of her. They continued walking, and Alexia found they were almost to their apartment. After a day like today, her bed was calling to her.
“What was this, though? And why is it happening now? It just doesn’t make sense.” Alexia shook her head, trying to understand why she’d started glowing, why she was just experiencing these heightened changes now, and why all of a sudden there were murders and Shadows and Skröm in town. She was 26. Cam was 30. Why was this just happening to both of them now? And why wasn’t Cam experiencing the same episodes she was having? He was so calm and reserved. Alexia was all questions and curiosity, but again, Cam seemed content in his ignorance and even angry when someone tried to throw a wrench in that cocoon of self-imposed safety.
“No idea, but I do know this isn’t the first time you glowed, Alexia. Mindy and I have seen it once before. The other night with Devon when the Shadows attacked you, yesterday afternoon on my land.” Cam looked at Alexia quizzically and she felt a bit like a bug. Not a feeling she liked. “And now, this.”
“I was glowing the other night? And yesterday afternoon at your place? How did I not know this?” Alexia asked as they reached their apartment building.
“We sort of figured you knew – or at least I did,” Cam answered, haltingly. “Maybe you didn’t know because you were almost unconscious with the Shadows? And in the backyard, it was daytime.” Cam and Mindy had stopped, and they were huddled together against the cold. Mindy stood in front o
f him, so small against his 6’2”. His pale skin against her darker Indian skin was breathtaking.
“But again, why is this happening now?” Alexia posed.
“Honestly, I think it’s like – fuck, I can’t believe I’m even saying this – but I think it’s because you aren’t fully one Clan. You’re Skröm–”
“Cam,” Mindy admonished, giving the arm he had around her a light tap.
“No, Mind. He’s right… But he’s also right that I’m probably not just one Clan. Devon and I talked about the fact that I must be a Hybrid just yesterday. Of course, that only confused him more because the Skröm aren’t supposed to be able to mate with Light Clans, but he suggested that my glow meant I must be something that transforms. If I’d been full Skröm, I would have started craving blood at puberty, and if I’d been the result of a Skröm/human pairing, I’d have been sickly and pale, and I most likely wouldn’t have survived as long as I have.” Alexia gestured for Cam to continue.
“So, you’re Skröm, but you’re also something else. Mindy and I know you. Devon doesn’t. No way you’re the evil things he was talking about earlier. But I think Devon was right. Maybe because you are a Hybrid – it took contact with this world, like the attack the other night, to make you aware and more open, and then it takes the initial power source Devon was talking about earlier. Finding the animal you connect with for the Luna or taking blood for the Skröm. It’s like your body and your mind just didn’t know which way to go until you were thrown into this world.” He looked at her with such pity and with such pain and wisdom that Alexia wondered what he was going through in these changes. He waffled between detached and angry, and Alexia understood both of those warring desires.
“So, I must be half Skröm and half Light Clan, right?” Alexia said, secretly hoping that her Light Clan side was dominant. “Devon says Hybrids usually have one Clan they’re more natural to. We know I’ll need to take blood eventually to fully turn into a Skröm, but it’s like my body is pushing me toward that change. I’m obviously more Skröm than anything else. Does that mean that I’m going to become a full-blooded Skröm, go completely insane, and start chomping on people?” Alexia breath caught in her throat. What if she became someone different? What if death had finally caught up to her, and she became the thing she feared the most – the demon many people already thought she was.
“Chomping on people? Really Lex?” Mindy gave her one of her don’t be an idiot looks, but it wasn’t working this time. Alexia becoming evil was a legit probability now. “Plus, I don’t think your Skröm side is as dominant as you think, and even if it is, I don’t think it’s as evil as you think either,” Mindy said, and Cam nodded as he looked Alexia over. And the hits just kept on coming.
“What do you mean? What Clan do you think is more dominant because all I’m seeing is red hair and red eyes and the monsters Devon – big, tall, built like a mother-fuckin’ beast Devon,” Alexia added, “is practically terrified of even if he is a badass who kills Skröm and those Others, the real evil nasties.” Alexia’s heart was fluttering in her chest, and she feared what they thought of her.
“No, Alexia. What I think is that you’re probably half Luna Clan, too. The glow we’ve seen from Devon, and even the glow that comes from Cam,” Mindy pointed out, ignoring the leave-it-the-fuck-alone emotions probably rolling off Cam in waves if his glare was anything to go by. Alexia raised her eyebrow at his glare and he smoothed out his facial features with what appeared to take a great deal of control. Oh Cam, I totally fucking get it, Alexia thought. “So, yes, a Luna makes the most sense from what we know. Like Devon and Cam. That’s why you don’t have the Darkness Devon was talking about. Although, Skröm or not, I don’t think you could ever be truly evil. It just isn’t in you,” Mindy continued, and Cam seemed to agree.
This contradicted what Devon had told her about mating and Clans, and so little was making sense. Could she be something unknown? A Hybrid of the Skröm and the Luna? Even Devon had made the suggestion, despite his complete confusion. Alexia understood that confusion, and all she wanted to do was to go upstairs, curl up to sleep, and wake up tomorrow – after having a good old-fashioned Midnight dream – and realize this had all been a nightmare.
Alexia had been on an emotional and physical roller coaster the past few days. She’d gone from just feeling odd and outside the world to being told she wasn’t remotely normal. She was also questioning Mally’s death. And wondering who Uncle Grover was.
How could she move past the evil? The questions? She believed Mindy – she could feel emotions. She knew she wasn’t evil. But she also now knew the evil was there. It was waiting, like the anger Mindy couldn’t put a name to.
“Devon seriously needs to find us some answers,” Alexia added when no one carried on the conversation and they continued walking. There seemed to always be more questions.
Her apartment was in sight, and if she’d had the energy, she would have breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re not going to like this, but Devon suggested you two come stay at Casa de Waters while he’s away the next few days. And before you disagree,” he said cutting off Alexia’s reply, “you should know that I was told by at least three officers that people have been coming into the station the past few days talking about Shadows. These things aren’t being quiet, and you’re obviously going through changes.” He paused and let that sink in. “Safety in numbers,” he added, sternly.
“Cam, that’s awesome of you, but really, I’m good,” Alexia said turning toward the doors leading inside. “But Mind, if you want to stay with him, go for it. I’ve got my pepper spray, my taser, and my new glowy thing to keep me safe.”
“Seriously? You think I’m gonna let you stay by yourself? That’s not happening. And you think Cam’s actually going to let us stay alone? You crazy, girl,” Mindy shot back. “I don’t just love him for his lanky, hot runner bod and his awesome mind. He’s all sexy and protective. Gives me chills—”
“TMI, Mind. TMI.” But Alexia laughed.
“So, either we go stay with him in his trailer that is bigger than our apartment, and you get your own comfy bed, or he has to sleep in my tiny little bed while I sleep on the floor in between our two beds, because that twin does not fit two.”
“I wouldn’t let you sleep on the floor—”
Cam grimaced at the swift smack to his stomach from Mindy’s right hand. Alexia smiled at Mindy’s manipulation. Friends were pains in the ass, but she had to give it to Mindy. The fact that she understood human emotion so well made her a great manipulator – for all the right reasons at least. Alexia was glad Mindy was on her side.
“Ugh! Fine,” Alexia said in defeat, “but not tonight. Tomorrow. We can get settled in before we have to get back to school on Monday.” Alexia waved goodbye to Cam and Mindy thinking she was leaving with him.
“Uh-uh, girl. No way are you sleeping alone tonight. Cam is checking in at the station, and he’s chatting with Devon tonight after his shift. You and me?” Mindy smiled, all smug. “We’re gonna grab the last of the Ben & Jerry’s out of the freezer, eat as much as we can, and then fall into a sugar coma.”
She gave Cam a kiss, a kiss that lasted longer than Alexia felt comfortable watching, then walked toward Alexia, grabbing her hand as they turned around to wave him off. He wasn’t Alexia’s type, but he did have a nice ass. And thinking about his ass made Alexia think about Devon’s ass, which made her think about her Midnight, her dream version of the man in question.
“Did you just get turned on watching my boyfriend walk away?” Mindy asked, smirking.
“No!” Alexia said indignantly. “Midnight.”
“Ahhh…the dream man… What about him?”
Alexia groaned, knowing this was going to be the more difficult part of the conversation. Red hair, red eyes, possible demon ancestry, looking like a lit-up Christmas tree.
Those things were tiring to deal with.
But men were fucking exhausting, especially beca
use Alexia was the queen of the one-month fling. “I need two men named Ben & Jerry for this conversation.”
They changed into their pajamas – which, for Alexia meant a black Bon Jovi t-shirt and her favorite running shorts. For Mindy, getting ready for bed meant one of her nighties and fancy hair curling pins to get her pixie haircut ready for the next day. They opened up the Ben & Jerry’s and sat on their 1970’s style mint green couch. After two hours of crying and laughing and reminiscing, they had thoroughly discussed the implications and theories about the Midnight/Devon connection. And Mindy now knew way more about Alexia’s sex dreams than an alcohol-free night should have revealed.
All well. Mindy had been with Alexia through most of her big adult moments. She’d known Alexia for eight years, since their freshman year of college. Not to mention, she’d literally seen Alexia on fire tonight. But they didn’t talk about Alexia’s fire or the Luna Clan. They didn’t talk about Alexia’s growling or her Christmas tree moments. Mindy followed Alexia’s lead in avoiding all topics supernatural. Mindy didn’t even mention Devon’s bear, which was impressive because Devon was the main topic of conversation.
Mindy knew Alexia was struggling. She was struggling with her need to still be her. She was struggling with her feelings that she was even more outside the norm now. She was flashing back to Mally and experiencing the paralyzing realization that her heritage, the evil that lived within her, might have bled into Mally’s life. In general, Alexia was a big fucking mess, and talking about boys and dream men was much more bearable than talking about the fact that she was a red-eyed, red-haired, bad luck, death-in-her-wake, supernatural, possible demon.
The Devil's Pride (Wild Beasts Series) Page 11