The Ties That Bind (An Ariel Kimber Novel Book 4)

by Mary Martel

  Rain shrugged like it didn’t matter to him whether I believed anything he told me or not. Hell, it probably didn’t.

  But, he’d made me curious and I wanted to know how he knew my name.

  “Which friend is that?” I ground out. Shit. We’d just started talking, and already I was having to check my anger. I usually had better control than this.

  His lips twitched as if he were fighting off a smile. Like he found something I’d said or done amusing. That made me angrier.

  “One that’s a little tied up at the moment.” He murmured with his lips still twitching.

  I raised an eyebrow at that, not liking his choice of words. He’d put too much emphasis on “tied,” and I didn’t like the thought of someone I knew being tied up somewhere at the mercy of this man.

  “It matters not,” he said. “And it is not the reason we are here. We’re here to discuss my daughter, and how you need to stop searching for me in your dreams. You also need to stop bleeding her. I’ve been having to block her for weeks now. It takes a lot of energy, and makes me feel like an asshole.”

  My lips parted in surprise. I shut my mouth quickly in an attempt to mask my feelings, to hide from him. His eyes never left my face, so I doubted he missed much. I hoped he hadn’t seen me flinch when he’d called her daughter, it was the only time his voice had held any warmth in it.

  “If you know she’s been searching for you, then why are you shielding yourself from her? Why are you hiding from her?” I couldn’t keep the accusation out of my voice. That girl would bleed herself half to death if she thought it might bring herself closer to this man standing in front of me. My anger came back in a burning hot rush. I hadn’t been aware it had gone anywhere until it came roaring back.

  “She’s been so focused on finding you,” I said hotly. “It’s all she cares about right now, finding you has consumed her. If she knew this whole time that you’ve been blocking her, it’s going to fucking crush her. Goddamn you.”

  His eyes lost a little bit of that coldness as they searched my face. There was something working in there, he was trying to figure me out. I didn’t want him to know anything else about me.

  “Why exactly is she looking for me?” He asked in a quiet, careful voice. “In all these years, she’s never…”

  “Why in the fuck do you think?” I growled at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but I was on a roll so I kept on going with it. This motherfucker needed to know. “She found a box of letters and photographs that abusive bitch Vivian had. It was all about you, man. She’s been obsessed with finding you ever since. And there’s no stopping her once she goes off on something. So, she’s been all about you for a while now. And you’re fucking hiding from her. That’s just great. She would have been better off had she never known you existed in the first place. Son of a bitch.”

  I paused to suck in a shaky breath. Christ, she could never know, it would kill her.

  Rain’s eyes had gone wide and he looked like he’d stopped breathing.

  “Abusive,” he ground out in a voice full of gravel.

  Shit. That cut him up.

  Heat infused his dead eyes and his voice was filled with horror as he repeated on a tortured whisper, “Abusive.”

  Oh, fuck him.

  At least he hadn’t had to witness it.

  “Yeah,” I snarled at him, not giving the first fuck that he flinched. “Vivian was abusive, and even I have no idea how bad it was for her. She keeps that shit locked up tight, and she doesn’t like to talk about it. Not to mention she thought that woman was her mother. She didn’t even know you existed until she found that box of letters. Those little discoveries really did a number on her. Now she’s all fucked up more than usual. And she was pretty fucked up to begin with.”

  I was breathing heavy when I stopped speaking, and my hands were shaking with my anger. Just thinking about what she’d gone through was enough to upset me, talking about it pissed me off even more. I dropped my arms and clenched my fists, pressing them into the sides of my thighs.

  I didn’t know why I was being a dick to Rain when none of those things were his fault, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I needed someone to point my finger at in blame, and that bitch of a woman was dead, there was no satisfaction in throwing my anger in her direction. That left Rain. I couldn’t say I was sorry. Yet.

  “I didn’t know,” Rain whispered.

  I believed him. Still, I shook my head.

  “My poor baby. My poor, poor baby. I never dreamed…”

  I glared at him. She wasn’t his baby, she was mine.

  “Listen, buddy-”

  “Where is she right now? Is she at the house next to Marcus’?” Rain demanded to know. “I will come to her.”

  Again, I shook my head, this time sadly. “I thought you were avoiding her?” I asked in an amused voice. Better amused than angry. “Two minutes ago, you didn’t want anything to do with her, and now you’re singing a different tune. I don’t think so.”

  He took a step towards me and pointed a finger at me. Menace and rage poured off of him in a wave of angry, scalding heat.

  It slithered across my skin, burning, leaving little blisters in its wake. I stumbled back, further away from him, and he took another step towards me. In this mood, with him wielding magic like a fucking pro, I didn’t want him to come any closer to me.

  Dream walking wasn’t the only skill Rain Kimber had in his arsenal. Damn. My eyebrows felt singed, and I wondered if the blisters would still be there when I opened my eyes in the real world.

  “I never said I didn’t want to see my daughter. Don’t put words in my mouth,” he snarled at me. “She’s everything to me, of course I want to fucking see her. In case you missed it, asshole, the Council is close by, sniffing around her, and I had to be sure she wasn’t contacting me on their behalf. I have no desire to have any dealings with any of those people. They don’t like my kind overly much, and my family has managed to stay off their radar since the trials.”

  A slight throbbing started between my eyes, the heat wave he’d thrown my way had given me a headache along with the blisters and singed brows.

  The gray fog started to fade to black.

  Shit.

  Someone or something on the other side was trying to wake one of us up.

  We were running out of time.

  I hadn’t had enough time with him.

  “What do you mean, your kind?” I asked in a rush. It seemed like the most important question to get an answer for.

  Rain jerked up the right sleeve on his trench coat, exposing a pale, muscular forearm. He was stronger than he looked. Black ink covered his skin. I wasn’t close enough to make out the designs of the tattoos.

  “My family is an old one,” he told me in a hushed voice. “We were once responsible for, and in charge of, hunting down and punishing rogue witches. It’s a dangerous job, and we took honor in doing it. After the trials, the Council would no longer recognize our authority, and they shut us out. We returned the favor.”

  He pulled his sleeve back down and said, “But that is a story for another time seeing as we no longer have any to spare.”

  He was right, damn it.

  A shiver ran down my spine. I had never once heard any mention of authority outside of the Council’s before, and I had never heard of people hunting down rogue witches. To my knowledge, there had never been such a thing as rogue witches.

  “Do you intend to harm her in any way?” I asked in a quiet voice. I didn’t want to do this, but I had to anyway. For Ariel.

  He gave me a dirty look. “Of course not. She’s my daughter and I love her. I would rather die than hurt her.”

  He made it sound like a vow, and, strangely enough, I believed him.

  Against my better judgment, I gave him the address to Dash’s cottage as the dream faded away. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me or not, but I hoped like hell I wouldn’t regret it.

  It wasn’t until I sat up on my bed and went ov
er the conversation in my head that I realized he knew where Marcus lived, which meant he knew where I lived.

  It was odd, but I wasn’t worried about him hurting Ariel anymore.

  Chapter Three

  I put the key in the ignition of my Range Rover, more than ready to get the heck out of here. The day wasn’t even half way over, but I was more than over it. Meeting with Adrian always took something out of me, but this was different; this was more. I wanted to put this whole mess with Chucky behind me, but it kept coming back up and being shoved into my face, over and over again.

  At this rate, I was never going to get over it, and neither were the guys. The guys were what really mattered to me. Though, if I’m being honest, they never brought it up, not in front of me.

  I shook it off and focused on turning the key over in the ignition. I had to get out of here. I wasn’t sure I’d be back tomorrow for my visit with Adrian.

  The empty house next door loomed large and lonely out my window, reminding me of what could have been if different people had lived in it, and what would never be.

  A white “sold” sign hung down off of the For-Sale sign at the end of the driveway. I had no idea who’d purchased Mr. Cole’s house, and hadn’t thought to ask. Now I was curious, and I wanted to know who would be living there. Who would be moving their things into my bedroom, making the space their own? All traces I had once lived there were gone for good now.

  And wasn’t that just the most depressing thought ever?

  The house seemed too pretty to have had so many bad things take place inside of it.

  I put the Rover in reverse and pressed my foot down lightly on the gas pedal as my eyes moved to the rear-view mirror. Immediately, I removed my foot from the gas pedal and slammed it down on the brake.

  “Son of a bitch,” I muttered under my breath. “What the eff are you doing?”

  It was good I didn’t expect an answer, because I didn’t get one. I didn’t get one because the person I was talking to wasn’t in the car with me, but instead standing in the driveway six feet behind my Range Rover. He hadn’t been there when I’d walked from the house to my vehicle.

  “Jesus, Tyson,” I muttered to myself under my breath. “I could have run your crazy ass over.”

  Which would have made me one hell of a crappy driver if I’d have mowed him down. I shook my head in disgust. Wasn’t I one already for not checking the mirror before hitting the gas?

  Jeez, Ariel, get it together.

  Tyson strolled up to the Rover as he shook his head, his shoulder length dark hair for once not flying around his face because he’d pulled it back into one of those man buns people feel so strongly about. I had never seen him with his hair pulled back before. It looked good on him either way, but I would hate for him to ever cut it. I loved Tyson’s hair.

  The passenger door opened, and he jumped in without an invitation. Not that he needed one, Tyson was always welcome no matter what I was doing.

  Today, he wore a black t-shirt that told the world he was a fan of Guns N Roses and dark, well-worn, blue jeans. His feet were encased in black combat boots. A wide, black leather band was wrapped around his left wrist, held together by round, silver snaps. A black cord hung around his neck, a silver pentagram dangling off of it. The Salt and Pepper twins had similar necklaces that they wore on the daily. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember a time where I’d seen either of the twins without the silver pentagram around their necks.

  Huh. I wondered if they all had them. Maybe I needed one, too? I didn’t know, but I wanted one all the same. They looked cool, and I didn’t have enough jewelry, I could always use more.

  “I could have run you over,” I grumbled as he clicked his seatbelt into place without my having to ask him to. I appreciated it. I wasn’t a safety nut, I just didn’t want anything bad to happen to one of the people I cared about when it could so easily have been avoided. I didn’t thank him, instead, I asked, “Why do you always do that to me? Do you have a death wish or something?”

  Tyson slumped back in the comfy leather seat and sighed. He looked defeated, haunted even, and there were angry purple smudges under his eyes.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked quietly as I resumed backing out of the driveway, this time a whole lot slower than I had the first time. Not that it would have mattered, Tyson was the only idiot who’d stand behind my car while I was backing up. “You look sick. If you’re sick, please, pretty please, I beg you, try not to breathe on me.”

  I hit the brake, again. The day had already taken its toll on me, and I was over it in a really big way.

  “You know what? Never mind,” I said, shaking my head. “Get out.” If he got me sick I was going to kill him.

  He looked at me with those big brown eyes of his. They softened, and he suddenly looked lost and sad. I preferred both to defeated, but, still…

  “I’m not sick,” he murmured. “I promise you, girl, I’m not going to get you sick.”

  “Then what’s wrong with you?” I asked. “Why do you look like you’re sick?”

  He ran his fingers up and down the seatbelt, nervously. He shifted uncomfortably in the seat. There was something wrong with him, this wasn’t his normal behavior.

  “Tyson,” I prompted.

  “I went to see her,” he blurted in a rush.

  I was more confused than ever now. “Went to see who?” I asked.

  “Can we get out of here?” he countered without answering my question or explaining his strange behavior.

  “Sure,” I said, as I blew out a heavy breath and eased off of the brake and backed out of the driveway. I had learned not to push with Tyson. He would talk if and when he was ready to. If I pushed, he would explode, and it would end badly for the both of us. Hurt feelings were never good for any relationship, most especially not for one like ours, because there were so many of us to take into consideration, so many different feelings to potentially get hurt.

  We were cruising down the road, headed towards Dash’s cottage, when Tyson’s stomach let out a loud gurgling noise.

  I coughed to cover up a snicker.

  “Can we go somewhere to eat?” he asked, avoiding my eyes. “Do you mind? I’ll buy. I’m not ready to go to Dash’s yet. I don’t want to see anybody right now. Anyone but you, that is.”

  I almost said, too bad, but managed to check myself before the words could come out of my mouth. I did not need to be fighting with Tyson, and from the look of him, I didn’t think he needed it either.

  Just what in the hell was the matter with him? He was grouchier than normal, even for him.

  I slowed the Rover down, pulled off to the side and illegally turned around in the middle of the road. No one was around, and Dash lived way out of town, out in the woods, so there usually wasn’t anyone around to see what went on out there.

  We headed back the way we had come. I wished he’d said something when we’d left the house, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I cared. It’s not like I had something important to do. Bleeding myself wasn’t time sensitive; it didn’t seem to be working anyways. What did it matter if I got home to it sooner as opposed to later when it wouldn’t work anyways. Answer: it didn’t.

  “Where do you want to go?” I asked without taking my eyes off the road to look at him. I’d look at him when he answered some of my damn questions and told me just what in the hell was the matter with him. I wouldn’t push, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy with the lack of information. The days where I was fine with being left in the dark were over.

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked quietly.

  I shrugged.

  Was I?

  I thought about it, really thought it over, and came to the conclusion that no, I wasn’t mad at Tyson. I was grumpy, though, and embarrassed with myself and the nasty exit I’d made at the big house. I had basically run away from Quinton because I didn’t want to face his anger over learning about Chucky and the anger I knew he held because of what
I’d been doing in my free time. The one Alexander I wanted to keep his thoughts to himself, and the other one I was pissed because he was doing what I wanted the other one to.

  It was official, girls were stupid, and I was one of them.

  We made it to town in record time. One day, I was going to get myself pulled over for speeding, but I couldn’t seem to help myself; the Rover drove like a dream, and I hardly noticed when I was speeding now.

  Tyson never did tell me where he wanted to go to eat. Instead, he sat hunched in on himself and stared out the window while looking like a lost little boy.

  I didn’t ask him again. I chose where we were going to eat, and I picked at random. In reality, I hadn’t lived in this town, or even this state for that matter, for very long and, outside of the grocery store and gas station, I hadn’t explored much of the town itself. I’d stopped at the McDonalds a time or two, but I’d never eaten at one of the restaurants before. Marcus used to try and get me to go out to dinner with my fake mother, but I’d always turned him down. Now I was wishing I hadn’t turned him down, because I had no idea whether my choice of restaurants was a good one or not.

  I had picked this one mostly because the parking lot looked empty save for some trash people had at one point in time tossed to the pavement instead of putting it in the bin outside of the restaurant. Humans, as a whole, could be very disgusting creatures. If I didn’t think it would have made me look weird, I would have gotten out of the Rover and run over and picked it all up and thrown it away in the garbage bin. I shook my head to clear the thoughts away. It wouldn’t matter if I picked up the trash or not, more would come to replace it if I did, and it would have just been a waste of my time.

  Tyson stared out the window with a look on his face that said he could care less about where we were because, clearly, he was somewhere else in his head. And that somewhere he was wasn’t a happy fun place to be. I wished he would open up and talk to me about it. I didn’t like him looking so lost and sad.

  As I parked in front of the building, I remembered what he’d said… he’d gone to see her. But, her who? Who in the hell was he talking about? He never talked about girls and, as far as I knew, the Alexander boys didn’t have any relatives to name, they were all dead.