by Myers, J. L.
Seemingly aware of our presence, he peered up. His gaze fell on Dorian. “Hey man, you alright?”
Dorian slung his arms over his chest. There was not a single scratch or bruise on him. “Enough with the small talk.”
To create a barricade between him and Ty, I slid past Dorian. Then I motioned to the bar tender for a drink. “Vodka, straight up.” With Ty and Dorian watching me, I threw down the shot then requested another. Ty looked amused. “The t-truth,” my voice shook with nerves. “We want the truth.”
Ty leaned forward, causing Dorian to tense behind me. In a hushed voice he spoke directly to me. “I’ll only speak to you.” He raised his hazel eyes to Dorian. “Alone…”
“Not on your life,” Dorian snarled, fingers readying into fists.
My arm shot across Dorian’s chest, my eyes pleading. At least the thumping music kept our discussion from being overheard. Not a single person had turned at my brother’s challenging words. “Dorian, please…”
“I don’t trust him,” Dorian rebutted, standing his ground.
I collected his hands and squeezed. “Then trust me.”
Dorian’s shoulders slumped with a sigh. “Alright, but make it quick. Or I will come looking for you.” With a last warning glare directed at Ty, he turned and stalked back through the close-knit dancers, disappearing from sight.
Ty rose to his feet, holding out a hand. “I guess it’s time.”
I quickly downed my second shot. Not even a full bottle would’ve calmed the growing butterflies churning up my stomach. “Damn vampire metabolism,” I muttered. Instantly I froze. No one was looking at me, thank God. But Ty was. He even looked kind of amused. That was different.
Feeling slightly more at ease, I laced my fingers through his. Ty pulled me in the opposite direction of the dance floor, around the side of the house. We passed through beautifully manicured gardens of hedged bushes and paved paths, and then climbed a spiraled staircase to a secluded balcony. Vines twisted around the carved-stone balustrade. They rose up to the ceiling and darkened the space with shadows. The scent of Ty’s blood was there with total clarity. Its intensity made me think of Skillet’s song ‘Better than Drugs’. Now I personally understood the depth of those very words. Yet right now it seemed less irresistible. Had my stolen taste quelled my rampant thirst for him? And if so, how long would it last? With my luck, not long enough.
Ty moved, dropping onto a stone bench that ended the balcony, and pulled me down beside him. His head dropped, strained eyes staring down at our entwined fingers. “We’re different to regular human beings.”
“You and Troy,” I assumed.
Ty peered up with a nod, meeting my steady gaze. “Troy isn’t happy about any of this. He used to be different, less angry, and less on edge before it happened.” His explanation trailed off as he turned his head from mine. I reached out and touched his cheek, crooking his head back to face me. “Ty, before what happened?” Within my chest, my heart was jumping. There was no turning back now. I had to know the truth. “What—are—you?”
A look I couldn’t decipher hijacked Ty’s expression. “Many would call us monsters, if they ever caught a glimpse. We’re…” Pausing, he peered up with pleading eyes. “Promise me something?” I took a deep breath and nodded. “Promise me that what I’m about to tell you won’t turn you against me. Promise that it won’t change the way you feel about me.”
Nerves bubbled up my throat, making me want to cough. The way I feel? Within my chest my heart was racing. Sweat made my palms wet in his. More volatile butterflies violently turned my stomach. They were all reactions that seemed to occur every time Ty was near. Had Dorian been right all along? Is this what falling for someone feels like? I couldn’t deny the magnetic pull I felt toward him, the fascination with everything that made Ty unique. I had tried so hard to steer clear of him, to hide the monster within me, fearing his reaction. Yet nothing I had said or done had worked to keep him at arm’s length. Not even my actions in the cave could deter him. He accepted me, accepted the monster inside of me, the blood-hungry creature dwelling within a deceptive human shell.
With a start that shook my entire being, a profound realization washed over me. I had been lying to myself this entire time, pretending that all that drew me to Ty was the lure of his blood and the mystery of what made him different. But it was so, so much more. It was in the way he looked at me, the acceptance that sparked within his changeable eyes. And it was embedded in every fiber of my being that reacted so involuntarily—and at times embarrassingly—to every part of him. He could reach me with a single look, or any harsh or softly spoken word, with the slightest graze or roughest touch of his flesh against mine. The feel was dizzyingly breathtaking and irreversibly consuming. From this moment on, I knew I couldn’t deny it.
I pulled my hands free and swiped my sweating palms across my skirt. Then I raised my eyes to Ty’s. Frozen fear encompassed his expression. “I would never turn against you, Ty. I don’t care what you are. Nothing could change the way being near you makes me feel. This part of me,” I said, collecting Ty’s hand and pressing it over my racing heart. Against my chilled skin, his heated touch rippled goose-flesh over my arms. The wave continued in a chain-reaction down the entire length of my body. “That you ignite.”
The tension in Ty’s face dissolved. His shoulders dropped as he let out a breath of relief. Then, with a squeeze of my hands, a low rumble emerged from his throat. “I’m a lycanthrope, a werewolf.”
The nerves that had plagued me earlier at uncovering the truth subsided. All the pieces had gelled together. The glimpses I’d seen in Ty and Troy, reminiscent of a forest-dwelling wolf, now made perfect sense. I was right.
A disarming realization rippled through my mind. I couldn’t hurt him. It felt like a crushing weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Ty was stronger than me and just as fast. I had witnessed it on numerous occasions. Now I felt a surge of renewed hope. If I ever did lose control with him, his unnatural abilities would be there to stop me. “So that’s why you’re not afraid of me,” I spoke more to myself, than to him.
Ty’s eyes widened. “That’s why you’ve been avoiding me?”
Feeling ashamed, my gaze dropped. I pulled my hands free from Ty’s. “It’s your blood,” I confessed. “It just smells so…good.” Heat careened up my neck and across my face. “Every moment I’m around you, I fight the urge to….” Sink my fangs into your flesh, I finished in my head, unable to say the words out loud. Raising my eyes, I saw Ty’s expression darken. My chest constricted. I’d said too much.
“You’re meant to feel that way,” Ty’s voice held none of the revulsion I had expected. “Vampires are our only mortal threat. We’re raised to be enemies. It’s unnatural for us to feel anything but hatred for each other.”
Pressure tightened my chest while anger welled in my throat. Unnatural? I had only moments ago accepted and confessed my feelings for Ty. Now I was meant to believe that those feelings were wrong? That they went against everything that defined us as inhuman beings? Throwing my hands in the air dramatically, I shot to my feet. “The hell with natural, I don’t care what anyone says or thinks!” I realized I was shouting, and dropped back beside Ty. “The way I feel about you,” I said more quietly. “I won’t let anyone tell me it’s wrong.”
Ty slung an arm around my shoulder and hauled me against his bare, heated chest. “I think our families may hold different views, when they find out.”
I jerked away from Ty’s comforting arm, facing him head on with pleading eyes. “Then we won’t tell them!”
“We don’t have to,” Ty replied. “Lycans are taught to spot vampires from an early age. We’re raised to detest everything about your kind, and to recognize you for the killers you pretend not to be.”
“But we don’t…” I broke off having wanted to say, we don’t kill. Only the memory of Joel crumpled in the alley, stilled my rebuttal. I shook the memory from my mind and chose my words carefully. “My fa
mily drinks packaged blood. We don’t want to kill anyone.”
Ty’s hand grazed my cheek. “I know. I could tell you were different from the first moment I laid eyes on you.” He stared over the stone railing and out into night sky. A quarter-moon, now free of clouds, shone down on us. The wistful expression on his face appeared to be remembering a distant time. He refocused moments later, steady eyes peering into mine. “I know you struggle with what you are. But I also know you are not a killer.”
A pang of guilt shot through my heart. I may not have killed yet, but I had come so close. He wouldn’t understand. How could he?
“My family has never known of a family like yours.” Ty tipped my head to wipe away a fallen tear. “It will be difficult for my father to accept. But we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes, together.”
Ty squeezed my hand with reassurance, which did little to shake the heavy boulder sitting in the pit of my stomach; a sickening feeling conjured by crippling guilt. I knew what I had to do. It was the only thing that could ease this burdening pressure that was building inside of me. I had to tell Ty…everything. The night had I discovered I was a vampire. What I had done in a rage of blinding bloodlust. “Okay, but I need to…”
Shadows darted through the garden below, choking the words from my throat. It was Dorian and that damn girl again. What the hell is he doing?
“You need to what?” Ty questioned.
“Huh?” I shook my head, looking back to Ty. The way he was watching me with total acceptance, tugged at my heart. I couldn’t bear for that to change. So I bit my tongue and allowed the new problem at hand to overshadow the discomfort I felt. “I um, need to do something. About that.” I pointed as Dorian and the girl disappeared behind a wall of square-trimmed hedges. “And I won’t be able to keep what you’ve told me from my brother. He’s beyond suspicious.”
Ty sat in thought for a brief moment then smiled. “Amelia, I trust you completely. Tell him anything you want.”
CHAPTER TEN
I climbed down the spiral staircase to the garden. It was peacefully quiet down here, bar the low thrum radiating once more from the dance floor. If only peacefulness and beauty could relieve the turmoil tearing through my weighted stomach. Rose bushes lined a small, paved path leading away from the courtyard’s flashing lights and into the darkness of the grounds. The only light came from the cloud-swept quarter moon that gleamed ghostly shadows around me. Apart from the shadows, the garden appeared abandoned. But I knew they were out here. The smell of that girl’s sickly perfume lingered on the faint, icy breeze, making my nose wrinkle.
When I reached a wall of six-foot trimmed hedges with a single arched walk-through in the center, I paused. There were two distinct voices, Dorian’s and hers. I peeked through the gap. Just beyond a concrete birdbath was a stone bench with the same girl perched on its edge. She was pressed hard-up against Dorian, thrusting her bulging breasts into his chest. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t freezing to death in that tank top and mini skirt. Even with my vampire skin, I could feel how seriously cold it was. Not that Dorian was dressed any better. He was wearing the same bloodstained cargo pants, but his black polo shirt was gone, leaving his pale chest bare. Irritation frayed my nerves. The fight had been bad enough. As if we needed any more attention.
Eavesdropping from behind the barricading wall, I tried to gauge my next move. The girl leaned forward, slowly slinging one leg over the other. She whispered into Dorian’s ear. “It’s a shame Troy interrupted our body shots. Though I’m glad I broke up with him, gives me plenty of time to get closer to you.”
Dorian smiled a seductive, ‘I want to get in your pants,’ smile. It was one I had witnessed on numerous occasions, his trademark for picking up girls. Casually draping one arm around her shoulder, he ran his fingers through her black, wavy hair. Through the movement I noticed a gold symbol across the back of her neck. I stared as the clouds shifted. Moonlight flickered across her tan skin, making the symbol glitter. Three parallel wavy lines, crossed diagonally through the center.
That’s weird, I thought. She couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen. How had she gotten a tattoo? And how could it glitter?
“So Marika,” Dorian purred. “What are you doing in Rye?” He continued running his fingers through her long hair. “You don’t go to our school, do you?”
“I grew up here and moved away almost a year ago. But I missed my friends and the animal shelter so much, that I begged the ’rents to move back.” With a sultry smile, her palm floated above his chest, index finger tracing his lightly defined pecs. “So, you managed to hold your own against Troy. I was pretty impressed.” She pressed her body against his.
Dorian cocked one eyebrow and lifted his free arm to flex his bicep. “Thanks. I do try to keep in shape.”
Marika let out a playful giggle, before leaning her face closer to his. Her brown eyes beckoned while her lips parted.
With my stomach in knots, I leaped from the shadows. Knowing how Dorian usually operated, I knew I definitely didn’t want to see how far this situation would go. “Dorian, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Can we talk for a minute?” With a venomous glare propelled at Marika, I dodged around the birdbath. “Alone…”
“Sorry, I was going to come and find you, but as you can see I got caught up.” Dorian shrugged innocently while looking slightly irritated at my interruption. “This is my sister, Amelia.” The smile returned to his face as he looked back to Marika. “And Amelia, this is Marika.”
I glared past her to Dorian. “I need to talk to you, now.”
Marika stood up, tan face flushed with annoyance and hands planted on her hips. “Well, I was going to hit the dance floor, anyway.” She looked to Dorian. Her next words were spoken in such a fakely-sweet voice and so thickly laced with seduction that they made me want to hurl. “Coming to join me, stud?”
Dorian smiled encouragingly. “Sure. I’ll just be a minute.”
With a ‘humph’ Marika turned abruptly, brushing past my shoulder and slinking away. The pungency of her perfume went with her.
I stormed over to Dorian and hauled him to his feet. “What the hell are you doing? Do you have the memory of a goldfish? I mean you were just at blows a half hour ago because of that girl. Now you’re getting all friendly?”
Dorian shrugged, a smug expression painting his face. “We were just talking.”
“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “You know as well as I do that you weren’t just talking.”
Dorian folded his arms over his chest. “Why do you care, anyway?”
“Because that girl is trouble.” After tonight’s fight, and how quickly she’d ditched Troy for my brother, that was more than clear. The fact that she knew Ty didn’t help, either. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Hah,” Dorian laughed, throwing his head back. “You’ve gotta be joking.”
Dorian, as a rule, grew tired of any girl he dated in at most a couple of weeks. He never got attached. Yet even with the facts, something inside me screamed that this time would be different.
“Fine,” I said. “Just don’t come running to me when your heart finally gets broken.”
With a wave, Dorian brushed my concerns aside and pulled me down onto the stone bench. “So, what did Ty say? Did he explain?”
“Yes he did,” I said. Letting my worries about Marika get replaced by the nerves I had felt earlier, I sighed. “And I’ll tell you everything. But you have to promise to keep your mouth shut.” Dorian nodded in agreement. “I mean it, Dorian. No one can know, especially not Mom.”
Dorian crossed his hand over his heart and winked. “I promise. Now spill.”
“Okay, here goes.” I took a deep breath before looking up at Dorian’s suspense-filled eyes. “That guy you took on is as strong and as fast as we are. You could have been seriously hurt.” Dorian raised an eyebrow but remained silent, waiting. “They’re different from humans. Kind of
like us.”
Dorian’s brow crinkled, suspense replaced by confusion. “Just tell me what they are, already.”
“Okay, okay. Ty and Troy are…” Clutching my hands together, I sucked in another deep breath. Please don’t flip out. “They’re lycans, werewolves.”
I sat in frozen silence watching my brother take in the heavy news. His eyes had grown wide. Then they narrowed like he was contemplating the possibility. “You’re being serious? They actually exist?”
I nodded feeling numb, my body tingling in wait for him to blow up.
“Wow,” Dorian exhaled on a long breath. His body was relaxed. His face revealed not a single ounce of tension.
A wave of relief washed down my tingling body. I had expected Dorian to blow up at the news, especially after his run in with Troy. But he was taking the revelation surprisingly well. Maybe too well.
Dorian’s face brightened into a cheeky smile. “So, my sister is dating a werewolf.” He chuckled, entertained. “I plan on having a front row seat when you tell Mom.”
I punched him in the arm, hard. “Don’t tease, and don’t forget. You promised!”
“I know, I know. My goldfish memory does tend to last longer than five minutes.” Dorian rubbed his hands together, looking devilish as he got to his feet. “Now, I’m off to catch up with the minx on the dance floor, before she gets cold waiting for me.” He took off in a light jog, disappearing back through the hedge’s arched entry.
After a few minutes of my mind reeling, I ambled back through the garden. Weight pulled at my insides. What I wouldn’t do for a piece of chocolate. But right now I had to find out more about this new girl. Who was she? How well did she know Ty? And what did she want with my brother? Just thinking about the commotion she had already caused filled me with anxiety. There was just something off about her. But what? I headed for the one person I suspected could enlighten me and hopefully diffuse my suspicion.
Ty was across the courtyard, propped atop a cube around the cane coffee table. He no longer sat in his dripping wet board shorts, now dressed in his jeans and thin hoodie. His bomber jacket was draped over one knee. I frowned. I had hoped to find him alone. Not luck there. Vanessa sat alongside in a stunning white dress, her blaze of hair like a warning beacon. They appeared to be playing a casual game of poker.