The Loner (Daughters of Destiny Book 1)

by K. R. Grace

  Maybe Mr. Thomas was wiser than I’d thought.

  I’m so stupid! Why is this so hard for me?

  She was beating herself up over something that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. So, I decided it was time for a little comedic relief.

  “Hey, what’s that over there?” I asked, pointing at nothing behind her. She spun her head around to see what I’d been looking at, giving me full access to her side. I poked her in the ribs and she let out a squeal, falling into a fetal position.

  “Ticklish are we?” I smirked before I dove in for the kill.

  Beautiful laughter rang throughout the room as she twisted and convulsed under my attacking fingers. My laughter joined in as a full-on war was waged.

  “You’ll never take me alive!” She cried as she tried to break free, but I held her down with one hand while I assaulted her with the other. We rolled until I had her pinned beneath me, her green eyes sparkling up at me with merriment. As she giggled and gasped for air, her chest brushed up against mine, and suddenly a whole other area of me was getting involved.

  My laughter dried up as I studied her mouth. God, I wanted to kiss her so badly. My thumb brushed against her bottom lip on its own accord. Her laughter slowed as her eyes dropped to half-staff. My head gravitated toward hers. The sound of her spastic heart drummed in my ears. I searched her thoughts but desire consumed her, drowning everything out.

  On a groan, I stopped thinking and crushed my lips against hers, bracing her head with my hands as a jolt of energy shot through us at the connection. Although her lips stayed motionless for a few seconds, they quickly caught up to speed and kissed me back with equal fervor. Her hands clung to my arms as she gave as good as she got.

  God, it’d never been like this with anyone else. My tongue traced along the line of her closed lips until she opened for me, letting me in to taste the sweetness of her mouth. More. I needed so much more.

  My hand slid down her thigh as I moved to link her leg around my waist. She arched against me as her tongue began to duel with mine, and I saw stars when our bodies clashed perfectly.

  “Ugh, can I get you both something to drink?”

  Shit!

  I jumped off Star like she was melting iron and threw myself into the recliner next to the couch before making eye contact with her mom.

  Shit. Shit. Double Shit!

  I cleared my throat. “I’m fine, Mrs. Allistar. Star?” I turned to see the stunned expression on her face as she sat up, her lips wet and swollen from my kiss, her hair a tumbled, tangled mess from my hands. God, I hoped no one saw how she affected me.

  “Nothing.” Star whispered as she straightened her shirt.

  Mrs. Allistar smirked at us. It’s about time she got over that boy. This one’s much cuter.

  “Okay, you let me know if you need anything.” Mrs. Allistar waved before walking back into the kitchen.

  My blood continued to travel south as I tried to take a few calming breaths. We needed a subject change and fast, or I was going to drag her into her room and give her the release her body was begging for. The room reeked with her desire, causing the edges of my vision to blur.

  “I think we’re done with the music lesson. Reading in band isn’t such a bad thing after all.” I tried to smile but it felt forced.

  “I’m a master in academics but a disaster in music,” Star huffed in defeat.

  “That’s alright. We can’t be perfect at everything.” I winked before folding the sheet music back up and sliding it into my pocket.

  “What do you fail at?” She challenged.

  I gave her a lazy smirk. “Are you insinuating you think I’m perfect?”

  She rolled her eyes but a smile still spread across her face. “Don’t go getting a big head. It just seems like you excel at whatever you do.”

  “It just so happens that I suck at knitting. I’m all thumbs.” I’d never tried knitting but it was a better alternative to the truth. She didn’t need to know I failed at relationships.

  Star tilted her head back and laughed. “I’m glad to hear that. It would concern me if you knew how to knit.”

  “I’ll have you know there are several major pro-football players who knit. I’m a total failure.”

  My heart warmed seeing the smile on her face. It was breathtaking. My new mission in life was to make her smile as many times as I could every single day we were together.

  “Anything else I should know about?” She giggled.

  I was about to make something else up when her mom came back into the room.

  “Drake, will you consider staying for dinner?” The woman was in full-on match-making mode because that was the second time she’d asked that question. Lucky for her, I was in no hurry to go home.

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  “Do you like meatloaf? Did I already tell you that’s what we’re having?” Her brow creased in concern.

  No reason to point out the obvious, that she’d already mentioned that before. Maybe she had a memory retention issue.

  Since cooked meat made me violently sick, I answered, “I’m a vegetarian.”

  “That’s fine. I can whip up a salad for you.”

  Judging by the “eager to please” look on her face, I knew if I’d said I only liked my meat if it was freshly slaughtered, she would’ve gone out and wrangled a cow for me. Should’ve told her the truth. That would’ve been fun to watch.

  “You really don’t have to go out of your way for me.” I glanced over at Star to see her cute face wrinkled into a frown. What had I done now? I raised an eyebrow at her in silent question. She turned her head away and stared at the blank TV. Her thoughts silent.

  “No, I insist. You’re willing to give your time up to help Star with her music. It’s the least I can do.”

  Before I could say anything else, Mrs. Allistar was out of the living room and bustling around in the kitchen whistling “Pop Goes the Weasel” using only one pitch.

  Now I know where Star gets her musical abilities.

  “Okay, so if you aren’t into the triangle, what do you like to do?” I asked Star.

  “Nothing. I don’t like to do anything.”

  I felt my eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously? What about sports?”

  “Nope, nothing.”

  I sighed and moved so that I was sitting on the couch again. I didn’t like the distance between us. “You have to want to do something.”

  “And why is that?”

  I knew I had to be careful with what I said. One wrong word and I’d have an extremely pissed off woman on my hands.

  “Well, if you’re considering going to college in the fall, you need a fine arts credit, or some sort of extracurricular that would get colleges to notice you.”

  Her eyes began to tear up, and I panicked.

  Shit, what did I say? Why can’t I hear her thoughts?

  Her face crumbled and giant sobs wracked her tiny frame, making me feel like a freakin’ heel. I scooped her up into my arms and cradled her against my chest. Her body shook violently as her hot tears soaked through my shirt. Everything in me screamed to fix the problem, but I had no idea what needed fixing. Suddenly, she bolted from my lap and ran out the back door.

  I went after her and found her curled up on the porch swing with her face buried in her hands. The sound of her sobs almost brought me to my knees. I pulled her back into my arms as I sat down on the swing and just rocked us as she let it all out. Finally, I could hear her thoughts again, but they were a jumbled mess. All I could pick up was that she thought she was a failure.

  I’d screwed up big time.

  “Star, baby, don’t cry. I’m sorry.” I spoke into her hair as I willed her tears to go away.

  “Id naw err aul.” Her muffled words vibrated against my chest.

  “Yeah, it is my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard. You’re smart. That alone is going to catch the eye of whatever college you want to go to.”

  The harder she cried, t
he more I realized this was about more than failing at the triangle or not have an extracurricular activity to put on her transcript. It was as if all of her emotions had come to a head and were now exploding all over the place. I rubbed circles on her back, waiting for her to calm down.

  “What did I say, Star?” I needed her to talk to me. I needed her to let me in.

  “Nothing,” she sighed as she looked up at me through pitiful eyes. Her nose was running and her eyes were puffy, and I’d never seen a more beautiful person in all the years I’d been alive.

  “You’re lying.” I know it came out a little harsh, but I needed to get to her somehow.

  “Really, it’s not your fault. I’ve just been going through some stuff, and I guess I just snapped.” She moved to wipe away her tears, but I beat her to the punch, drying the wet trails with the pads of my thumbs.

  “Is this about Clint?” Damn, the second the question was out of my mouth I wished like hell I could take it back. I was in deep, deep crap now.

  Her body stiffened, and I held my breath for the explosion.

  Chapter Ten

  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  Star

  “What?” my head snapped and anger replaced the sadness. “What did my mother tell you?”

  “Nothing. It was just a guess,” he mumbled as he shifted uncomfortably. Yeah, he’d better be uncomfortable!

  “No, don’t try to backtrack now. How’d you know about Clint?”

  “Dinner is ready,” Dad popped his head out the back door.

  “Better not keep them waiting.” Drake jumped up like he’d just realized he was sitting on hot coals, dumping me on the swing.

  I was furious but knew it was not the time to force it out of him. Nothing else made sense other than that my parents told him. Why couldn’t they just mind their own business? It was my life…my story to tell.

  Dinner was tense. Drake barely ate the salad Mom prepared. I shoved the meatloaf around, but none of it ever made it into my mouth. My parents being oblivious to the tension in the room tried to carry on a conversation.

  “So, Drake, what do your parents do?” Dad asked.

  Drake swallowed his bite of food before answering, “I was raised by my sister. She’s several years older than me and works at the community college.”

  “Really? What does she do there?” Mom asked, thankfully not addressing the fact he didn’t have parents. If Mom decided to make him her project, there’d be no hope for him ever living a peaceful life again. Did that mean he was an orphan? The “outsider” image completely made sense if he was.

  Drake gave a slight shrug. “I’m not really sure. A little bit of everything.”

  “Do you have any plans for college?” Dad asked. It was his standard question for people ages eighteen and under. To him, there was no such thing as being successful without a college degree.

  “Um, I’m going to UT in the fall and studying architecture or business administration. I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Good fields. What are your extra-curriculars?”

  I glanced up at Drake to see him staring at me. Giving him my best glare, I averted my eyes and went back to spearing my meatloaf.

  “I play in the band. I’m not really into school clubs or sports.”

  “What instrument do you play?” Mom asked.

  “Percussion.”

  He took a deep drink of water, and I hoped he was squirming in his chair. If my parents weren’t sitting at the table with us, I’d ream him up one side and down the other until there was nothing left of him but a mass of human flesh. If he wanted to know something about me, he should’ve come to me instead of poaching my parents for information.

  Finally, we finished dinner, and Mom began clearing away the dishes.

  “Dinner was very good, Mrs. Allistar.” Drake flashed her one of his heart-melting smiles, and my insides boiled at just how tightly he had her wrapped around his finger. Suck up. She had to be the one to spill the beans. Dad wasn’t the gossip in the family. In fact, he rarely carried conversations with people outside the family.

  “Please, call me Victoria, and you are welcome to join us anytime.”

  “I had better get home before my sister starts worrying,” Drake said as he stood up.

  I had no plans of following him out. He knew the way.

  “Walk him to the door,” Mom hissed.

  I ignored her and went to my room, the opposite direction of the front door. I hated that I felt bad for the way I treated him, and I especially hated how he already knew my secret. I didn’t want anyone here to ever know what’d happened. Now, I’d always wonder if he was spending time with me because he wanted to or because he felt sorry for me.

  Thanks, Mom and Dad.

  ~*~*~*~*~*~

  Drake purposely avoided me all week. I tried to get his attention in band, but he always acted like he didn’t see or hear me. In the hallways, he’d pretend he was in deep conversation with whomever he was walking with so he wouldn’t notice me. I’d left two notes in his locker giving him my cell number and telling him we needed to talk, but I never heard back from him.

  Several times Wayley and Onyx called me out on how I always looked over my shoulder for him. It felt like he was all around me yet never close enough to see. I was going crazy!

  When Friday rolled around and I still hadn’t gotten Drake alone, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

  Mom was unusually late in picking me up. So, I parked myself beside Drake’s Jeep until she came. I pulled out my Kindle and started reading the book of Cherokee legends I’d downloaded last night. In the middle of reading about Beaver’s Grandchild and his search for dry land at the dawn of creation, a shadow cast over my hands. I looked up to see Drake looming in front of me.

  “Are you going to give me answers today?” I asked dryly.

  “No.” He didn’t even blink when he said it. No explanation. No apology. No guilt. Nada!

  It took everything in me not to strangle his neck. “Just tell me one thing, was it my mother?”

  “No, and not your father either.”

  “Then how…” If it wasn’t my parents who told him, how did he know? I wasn’t linked to Clint’s story. His parents made sure of that. None of the newspapers even mentioned me. I looked up at him, taking in each feature as if it was the first time I’d ever seen him. Who was this guy, and how had he so totally consumed my thoughts in such a short period of time? How did he know so much about me?

  “When are your restrictions up?” Seriously? After not talking to me for a week, that’s what he asks me?

  I wanted to say something snarky and tell him where he could shove his question, but it felt so good to have him speaking to me again. Standing this close to him brought back memories of our tickle fight on the couch. And that kiss? I went liquid just thinking about how potent his lips had been, how possessive his hands had been. I wanted to see where this thing between us was going. Clint was still in my heart, but a shift was happening inside me. I was starting to believe in the ability to love two people.

  Not that I was in love with Drake! God, it was too soon for that…right?

  “It depends.” I shrugged. “If you were Wayley or Onyx, you’d have to wait another two weeks. Because you are you, my punishment sentence probably never even began. My mom worships the ground you walk on.”

  I eagerly waited for a smile to spread across his face, but nothing happened. Why was he even mad in the first place? I was the one with the right to be upset, not him!

  “Have you read up on the bear-wolf legend, yet?”

  “Just downloaded the book last night. Right now, I’m reading the creation story.”

  “Once you finish the book, call me.”

  This conversation was confusing the heck out of me. Why did he want to know when I would be ungrounded? What did that have to do with reading up on the legend we’d talked about? I felt like I needed a degree in astrophysics to understand him.

  “Ooh-kaaay. T
hen give me your number. Can’t call unless I have that.” I smirked at his retreating back.

  Still nothing.

  He stopped, turned around, and came back to me. Grabbing my phone out of my hand, he tapped furiously on the screen for all of five seconds before handing it back to me. Without saying another word, he turned and climbed into his Jeep. I stepped back enough to allow him to pull out of his space. As he drove off, I couldn’t help but wonder if things would ever be good between us. It seemed like every time we moved passed one barrier, something else came up to cause more problems.

  Once he was out of sight, I looked down at my phone to see that he’d changed my wallpaper. It was black screen with three little words written in white block lettering.

  You own me.

  Strange, yet oddly exciting. This boy was short-circuiting my brain!

  That night, I pulled out my Kindle and skipped over to the chapter on the legend between the Bear, Falcon, and Wolf. I discovered there was much more to the story than Drake let on. According to the author of my book, no one really knew how the girl died. There were some who believed she killed herself. Others claimed she died of the plague. A third category linked her death to a cult that used her as a virgin sacrifice. That one made me snort.

  The most intriguing part of the legend was the people who had the ability to shift from human to animal and were called Guardians. The Bear was the chief of the small tribe in Cherokee, North Carolina while the Wolf was the chief of a tribe further north. Both tribes were Cherokees by blood but neither ever worked together. The Falcons in the story were part of a sect that broke away from the Aztec tribe and colonized in Europe. Not much was said about them, which made me wonder about their existence. Maybe that part of the story had been fabricated. My guess was the Falcon was a settler in the area who fell in love with the girl.

  The Bear was a large man with unusual strength. He had the ability to control people’s emotions. His destiny was to guard the mountains and keep them safe. He eventually married one of the Elder’s daughters and their lineage continued. Some sources claimed Bear was the gentle monster, never attacking anyone but still turning into an animal when enraged. He was known for destroying things when he saw his people mistreated. Obviously he failed, because the Native Americans had been forced off their land during the Trail of Tears.