by Amy Marie
The last name caught my attention immediately, and my head snapped around to search out the man who went with the name. There he was. Max Lux. His blue eyes were bluer than in my dreams, but unlike the emotion I had seen in my visions, these were as cold as ice. He was shut off to the world. There was a on his face, but I had a feeling that was nothing more than a pretense. This was the man I had come to destroy, the man who would pay for the sins of his ancestors. I couldn’t allow anything to distract me from my mission…my destiny.
“If you’d like, I could introduce you,” Pat offered, smirking. She’d planned this. I was willing to bet she had her own vision and set this whole thing up.
My mouth felt dry, and cottonmouth set in. “No, thank you.” Picking up my water, I gulped it down and then drank hers when she pushed it toward me. “Thank you,” I said, breathlessly.
“Thirsty?”
Closing my eyes, I tried to center myself, but it wasn’t easy with my aunt sitting next to me.
“He really is a nice guy, but I haven’t had as much interaction with him as I have with his parents. Now, those two are total sweethearts, and their cook, Gina, creates amazing meals. Puts me to shame.” She tapped my hand as she spoke, breaking my focus.
“Aunt Pat,” I growled in warning.
“What? Are you telling me you are going to take care of him tonight? No, you’re not. Instead, you will sit here, order dinner, and spend some time with your favorite aunty,” she ordered in a harsh voice with a giant smile on her face.
“Yes, ma’am,” I quickly agreed, my eyes seeking out and promptly finding Max. I couldn’t bring myself to avert my gaze. I was drawn in a way that could either be my saving grace or my undoing.
Chapter 7
Lorde
I couldn’t get Max out of my head, and nothing I did could banish him. He clung to my subconscious as if superglued to me. Sadly, none of the spells I’d learned could make me forget the way his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes or the richness of his voice when he spoke—not that I really tried because I was afraid I would forget everything.
My aunt was zero help and a bloody nuisance. Every morning when I awoke, she would be downstairs waiting for me and ask, “Have any interesting dreams?” I refused to divulge anything. She didn’t need to know I saw him every time I closed my eyes.
His haunting presence threw me off-kilter, unable to find a stable surface to balance on. I was floundering.
But it wasn’t only Max’s fault, my mother contributed as well. I’d been avoiding her calls all week. Each voicemail she left me, she sounded more agitated and angrier, her tone shriller. Each text she sent demanded I call her immediately. The last two days, Mother had even called Aunt Pat, ordering her own sister to put me on the phone or force me to call. I obediently said I would. More than once, I dialed, hit talk, and hung up immediately, not allowing the call to connect. Why was I acting this way? We had a plan, I had a purpose, and with one encounter, I couldn’t think straight.
The morning of the party, I finally phoned my mother, prepared for the lashing I would receive, understanding that when I returned home to England, she would probably punish me severely. Of course, if I completed the job I’d come to do, maybe she would spare me.
Doubtful, I thought to myself as I listened to the line ring.
“How nice of you to return the multiple messages I’ve left you,” she sneered, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Hearing her voice made my heart speed up and chills to cover my body. I was no longer a twenty-nine-year-old man. In my head, I was a ten-year-old little boy who constantly tried to please his mother, failing more times than not and suffering the consequences.
Licking my lips, I tried to swallow and wet my parched throat. “Good morning, Mother. I’ve tried to call you on multiple occasions, but was unable to reach you.”
Her laugh made me cringe. “I see. Your aunt said the same thing, the useless bitch.”
I opened my mouth to argue and defend Pat, but I snapped it closed with my mother’s next words.
“Maybe I expected too much of you. I do believe I need to travel there myself to take care of our little problem. Both of you are too weak to do what needs to be done.”
“Mother!” I shouted.
“Excuse me?”
“I beg your pardon. Mother, you have trained me since I was a child and prepared me for this. You instilled in me that this was my destiny, not yours or anyone else’s. Mine. I have a plan, and I will follow through. Tonight, I have obtained a ticket to a party he is hosting.”
“Doing anything in front of too many people is dangerous,” she stated the obvious.
I’m not an idiot!
Taking a deep breath, I continued, “I agree, which is why I am biding my time. I’ve found out much about Maximillian Lux this week. I have not been able to return your calls because I’ve been out doing research.”
“And what, pray tell, have you discovered? Hmm?”
I swallowed hard again, but it didn’t help. “He is single—”
“As far as you know,” she interrupted. “He could be hiding someone in the shadows, using them to get what he wants like his ancestors did ours.” My mother had tunnel vision.
“It is possible. However, if he truly does have someone, they are extremely well hidden.”
“What does his relationship status have to do with you?”
My irritation was growing, and I had to tap it down. “He’s gay,” I rushed before she could say anything else. I released the breath I’d been holding. “He’s gay and single. I plan on going to the party tonight and winning him over. He’ll fall in love with me, and that will make it easier to get closer to him and his family to deliver the killing blow.”
The only sound I heard was a soft hum, and I assumed she was contemplating my plan. “Very well, but if there are any issues, you must inform me at once.”
“I will, Mother.”
“And, Lorde?”
“Yes, Mother?”
“I recommend you report in as you were instructed to do. Do you understand?” I heard the threat in her voice and clenched my teeth together.
“Yes, Mother,” I choked out, surprised I could force anything out past the knot in my throat.
“Check in tomorrow,” she instructed, her tone telling me to do it or else.
“I will,” I quickly assured her, silently begging her to end the call.
The second ticked by, and then the line was dead. No goodbye or I miss you, but she’d never been one to say stuff like that, never been one to embrace me when I had a bad day or hurt myself. After we moved, I lost Pat. My father tried to be a buffer, but he was weak-willed and couldn’t do much. Eventually, he stopped trying. My mother always won.
My phone fell to the floor, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It only lasted a moment. Tonight, I would see Max, follow through with my plan, make him fall for me, and then destroy him. I had no choice. I would not allow him to distract me any longer. My purpose and destiny were to end his.
Hearing a soft knock at the door, I scrubbed my hands over my face before getting up from my bed.
“Lorde?” Aunt Pat called through the door. One of her gifts allowed her to see things others tried to hide, and that meant she probably already knew about the phone call.
With a forced smile plastered on my face, I opened the door a crack, afraid if I didn’t, she would breeze into the room when I’d rather be alone. “Yes?”
She tilted her head and closed her eyes briefly. Slowly, they reopened. “Are you all right?”
“Perfectly. Thank you for your concern,” I answered, my fingers tightening on the wood of the door.
“Did you know that after you talk to Kelly, the way you speak is different, more polite?”
“Are you saying that manners are a bad thing?”
She hesitantly shook her head, frowning as she did so. “No, they aren’t. Have you prepared yourself for tonight?”
“Of course, I have. I know
who he is and what he looks like. I plan to win him over and then deal with him as instructed.”
“What then?” she asked, as she had previously. I did not answer, ignoring the way my stomach flipped when I thought about Max and my purpose here. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, and I wasn’t sure I cared.
When Pat said nothing else, I began to close the door, but she stuck her foot out to prevent it from shutting.
“Yes?” I asked.
“The car will be here at five to pick us up. Be ready,” she stated and spun on her heel to leave me alone.
Gently, I closed the door and leaned against it, listening to her footsteps fading away down the hall. “You can do this, Lorde. Maximillian Lux is your destiny,” I declared, pushing away the thrill those words created.
Chapter 8
Max
This had been the week from hell. Not only did I have to suppress my shift because my swan wanted to come out with a vengeance, but I had to deal with so many emergencies at work. Most nights, I got home with barely enough energy to fall into bed sometime after midnight, only to be back I was back at the office the next morning by seven. It was a vicious cycle, which always happened the week before the party. Thank the universe, it would all end tonight.
All of our hard work, everything we had planned, it all reached its crescendo tonight. People were coming from all over the world to see and be seen, and hopefully, donate to a worthy cause.
And for whatever reason, I felt more anxious than usual. Maybe it was my talk with my father that had given me a sense of foreboding, as if a black cloud hung over my head, threatening to take me down. It was more than that, though. The dreams I’d been having, the feeling someone watched every move I made…I felt buried, unable to breathe.
Tonight, I had to try to ignore everything swirling in my head because I had an event to host and a show to put on. With this bunch, feigning it was easy. Hell, most of them were faker than Hollywood. Then again, some flew in from Tinsel Town to attend the gala.
“Sir, we have people beginning to arrive, the press is being pushy, and everyone is waiting on you to make an appearance,” Mrs. Harris spoke through the phone.
Was it too late to cancel everything and just hide out in my tower? “I’m on my way. In fact, Fizz and I are in line now to get out.”
“You were supposed to be here an hour ago. You know as well as I do, once that line starts, it will take forever for you to get in here. The Adler Planetarium was a great location, but it also means limited access to bypass the traffic.”
I grimaced. “I know, but there was an…Fizz had a slight accident. The whole apartment filled with smoke, and the fire department was called.” She’d know it was a lie, and a simple check would prove it.
“Fizz? An accident and Fizz was the cause?” While she was questioning me as if I’d said the most unbelievable thing in the world, Fizz was glaring at me from his seat. “Now, you listen—”
“Have to go, almost to the front of the line.” I hung up and slunk back, sinking into my seat. Eve Harris had been with me since I began working at Swan International, Inc. and probably knew me as well as my own mother, which also meant she would call me on my shit on a daily basis, but I couldn’t tonight.
We were late because I almost shifted. Something happened. It was as if something called to my inner bird and entranced it, pulling it to the surface. Typically, even when the pull came over me, I could ignore it and not shift. Not tonight. Tonight, I stood from my bed, dressed only in my black tuxedo pants, and moved to my balcony. I was fully aware of what I was doing, but I couldn’t control anything. My swan came to the surface, screaming to get out and flee, the feeling stronger than any other time in my life with one exception.
When I was a little boy, a kid was in trouble after falling into a hole in a graveyard. Looking into his eyes, something happened to me. The swan inside me fought to escape, and a moment before I shifted in front of a stranger, I told him, “I’ll be right back.” Shuffling away from the pit to where he could not see me, I shifted, turning into a brilliant white bird who loved to spread his wings and take to the air. I’d just learned to fly, and it was glorious to feel the wind glaze over my wings. It tickled a little, but at the same time, I was utterly free up there.
That happened when I still believed having an animal inside me was one of the best things in my life. I’d been so naïve. That day, I flew and got help, bringing my father with me to save the boy. All was well, but there was something about him. After we dropped the boy off at his house and began driving home, my father said, “Stay away from him.” I tried to tell him that I didn’t really know him, had only seen him around and knew of him, speaking to him once before that day. We weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination, and before seeing him in the hole, I’d never had that sort of reaction to him. My father growled, “Stay away from him.” He didn’t explain further, and I didn’t ask.
Shortly after that, I never saw that little boy again, and the house was empty. I remembered flying over it one day, trying to figure out why that kid made me feel the way I did, why my father forbade me from having anything to do with him.
“You blamed it on me?” Fizz asked incredulously.
He’d been the one to come into my room and find me standing on my balcony, looking down over the city. He’d been the one to pull me back inside, slap my face, and throw me in a cold shower trying to get me to respond to him. I could see him, but couldn’t react. To him, I stared at him with a blank expression, and he said it reminded him of the phrase the lights were on, but nobody was home. I scared him. Hell, I scared me.
After taking a hot shower to rid me of the chills and so my lips would change back to red from purple, I pulled out my other tuxedo. This one was a dark royal blue that appeared almost black. In the end, we’d been over an hour late leaving, and the car had been waiting for us longer than anticipated, but as long as the driver was getting paid, he didn’t care.
“It’s plausible,” I finally said.
“Yeah, and so is you saying you will become an Olympic swimmer. Plausible, but unbelievable. She is going to give you so much shit when we get there.”
“Maybe not. There will be too many people around.”
“And you used me because?”
“It was the first thing I could think of.” I shrugged. I was still weary and on edge from what happened earlier, plus everything else that happened this week. Maybe it was my swan. I’d been fighting it all week, and it was tired of being neglected. Flying, and I couldn’t believe I was admitting this, would probably help clear my head and let me find center again. That had to have been what happened tonight, because if it wasn’t, I didn’t know what else it could be, and that terrified me. I couldn’t lose control. Losing control meant that people could find out my secret, and unless they were the trusted few, no one would ever know I transformed into a swan.
“What happened tonight?” I’d lost count of how many times he questioned me after he found me about to leap.
I hadn’t shifted, and if I was going to, I could have done it in a split second, and he would have never caught me. Was I going to jump without shifting? No, my swan wouldn’t have allowed it. There were times when I was a teen and a bit of a daredevil when I would jump off the roof in human form and shift during the fall, barely missing the ground. My antics made my mother screech and my father turn so many colors, I accused him of swallowing a rainbow, which got me into more trouble.
I told him what I’d been telling him since I came back to my senses in the freezing cold shower, my pants soaking wet and my body shivering, “I don’t know.” To anyone else, I would have blown it off as nothing, but I couldn’t with Fizz. First, he knew me too well, and second, I was afraid. He lived in the apartment with me, keeping me safe, and he had to be aware of how fucked up tonight was for me.
“Maybe it would be best if, after the gala, you snuck up to the roof and flew home. If anyone sees you flying off, they’ll just
think a bird landed on the room.”
Shaking my head, I grunted in disagreement. “I can’t take the chance.”
“The planetarium roof is surrounded by a short wall so no one falls off. There aren’t any buildings close to us, and there is water at the rear.”
“Too many eyes around here. I can’t take the chance,” I rejected his argument. I was careful, maybe a little too careful, but I refused to allow my secret to be discovered by anyone.
He groaned in frustration and crossed his arms over his chest. I was annoying him. “Fine, but when you get home, you need to shift.”
“I will. The swan is demanding freedom, and I don’t think I can fight him off any longer.”
His gaze studied me for a moment, causing me to squirm in my seat a little. “You, more times than not, talk about your swan side as if it’s a separate entity. You do realize it’s a part of you, right? It’s as much a part of you as your eyes and your heart.”
I didn’t answer him, didn’t acknowledge his words. I didn’t want to. The swan, the animal side I’d been cursed with, was separate. We had learned to co-exist in the same body, and that was all.
Thankfully, Fizz shut up after that, and when it was our turn to get out of the car, he exited first while I waited for his signal.
Slipping on my sunglasses, I stepped out and was immediately greeted by the multiple flashes from cameras and people yelling at me to turn their way. The lights were blinding even with the shaded lenses I wore, and the sounds, deafening.
I would move a few steps, pause, and pose. Move a few more, pause and pose. This went on until I was almost to the door, and only then, did I stop to talk to the press, delivering my prepped statement, “Tonight is going to be bigger than any of our previous events, and The Adler Planetarium is the perfect backdrop to a wonderful evening. As you know, we are raising money for The Sky’s The Limit, an amazing charity, which helps fund literacy and education programs for people of all ages. If someone knows how to read and understands what they are reading, nothing can hold them back.”