Then there was nothing. It dissipated so fast I was tempted to believe it was a figment of my imagination, but it rang too true for me not to believe.
“What did you see, Alex?” Jade was staring at me expectantly. Did she know? She couldn't.
“Jade?”
“It’s okay, sweetie.”
“Henry…”
“Alex, it wasn’t your fault.” She knew. She knew and it was real. I’d seen the truth in her eyes before she’d even spoken. “I know it's scary,” she continued, “but everything is not as it seems,” she continued to reassure me. “We're here to help you.”
I’m sure I looked a little crazy. I felt a little crazy. My eyes must be the size of saucers as my gaze bounced back and forth between Jade and Ash. Then I caught sight of Ash's eyes. I mean, I really looked at them. They were still gold. And glowing. I'd written it off before as a trick of the light, or of my mind in my jacked-up mental state, but I couldn't this time. This wasn’t a split second I could doubt. I was actively studying his eyes and they were, in fact, glowing. They were luminous.
The closer I looked, the brighter they got until I started seeing flickers of orange, yellow, red, and even blue and black flames. Fire.
There was fire in his eyes, and I do not mean that in the same sense as some cheesy line in a Fabio-covered romance novel. There was actual, honest to God, what-the-actual-fuck-is-fucking-happening flames. I didn't realize how close I'd gotten to Ash’s face until I touched his skin near his eye and the fire blazed. I jumped and backed quickly away, not realizing at first that it hadn’t burned me.
It did, however, elicit a strange purring growl from Ash which caused an entirely different reaction from me. I felt my own eyes heat instantaneously. At first it felt like the heat that usually preceded tears, but no tears flowed. They simply got hotter and hotter, until it felt like they would sear my flesh, and a strange tingling sensation grew out of the heat. I wondered if my eyes looked like Ash’s.
I reached for them, intending to check, but I didn't have much time to think on it. While I was frozen in shock, Ash had gained a significant amount of ground, gravitating toward me like he was pulled by a force outside himself. He dropped his head down and forward a bit like he was stalking me as he stepped boldly into my personal space. My nostrils flared, taking in the scent of him, and I swear to God I felt my eyes dilate, accompanied by a sudden dampness between my legs
I wasn't sure if I should feel threatened or not. That was definitely not the effect he was having on me, but my brain kept interfering, insistent this was not normal. I began slowly backing away, or rather backing myself out of the corner so Jade wouldn't get hurt, just in case. Though I didn't get the feeling he wanted to hurt me. At least, not in anger.
I heard Jade, vaguely, repeating Ash's name and mine. Then, “Fuck, if you two give me gray hair, I'm turning both of you into trees. Ash!” she hissed. Receiving no response, she purred, “Little Wolf?” which elicited a snarl. Jade cringed slightly, her eyes widening in shock. “Oh! Hey, big guy. I was wondering when you'd make your entrance.”
Ash continued moving toward me, his eyes never wavering from our locked gaze as he breathed, “Miiiine.”
I heard a whispered echo of Ash’s declaration in my mind, Miiiine. Then I felt the same excruciating pain near my shoulder blades I'd felt in dreams hundreds of times before, heard the distinctive snap of feathers and ripping of fabric, and I cried out as an enormous set of wings expanded behind me just like they had every dream. Only this was no dream.
What. The. Fuck?! I stood stock still for several seconds. Ash was still advancing toward me, but I wasn't sure which I feared more: the enormous wings I could feel behind me or the enormous fire-eyed man I could see in front of me. I chanced a quick look over my shoulder at the massive ebony wings now protruding from my back. My breath hitched as I spun my head back to face the other potential threat in the room, but luckily, when I looked back at Ash, his eyes were back to their normal, beautiful shade of gold.
He was staring at my wings like he might cry, scream, pass out, or all three. I wouldn't have blamed him if it had been all three, and when I sneaked a glance at Jade, her eyes reflected what I felt: shock, awe, concern. Only, hers were showing a blossoming grin I'm fairly certain was absent in mine.
“Jade, what just happened? And what the fuck is so amusing?” I demanded.
“Nothing. Nothing about this is amusing.”
Smart girl, the voice in my mind purred, again.
“I think I'm just running out of stunned and horrified faces,” she continued, in a much higher tone of voice than normal, “and they're starting to cycle through to hysterical, which, I’ll grant you, probably looks a lot like amusement. I mean, I've seen a lot in my lives and this is the most fucked up, shit storm of an ordeal I've ever borne witness to,” Jade finished, speaking so quickly her last sentence ran together like it was all one word.
I’ll take ‘Hysteria’ for two hundred, Pat.
She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, then continued more slowly, and in a much lower timbre, “As for what just happened, I have a theory.”
“What theory?” I began but interrupted myself, shaking my head as something registered. “Wait. Lives?” I stared at my friend, reviewing everything she'd said since I woke up and wondering if I really knew this woman, this woman I considered a sister, at all. “Jade?” I questioned, genuinely hoping she was going to tell me this was all a misunderstanding, but deep down I knew the truth.
“Yeah, okay. I suppose it’s time. We need to talk.” Jade looked suddenly older, ancient even, and more tired than I'd ever seen her. “Everybody, sit. This is gonna take a while.”
Ash was still frozen in place looking ashamed, horrified, guilty, panicked... everything I was feeling. His eyes darted over to me, but I averted my gaze quickly. I felt a little uncomfortable looking at him after whatever that was. Now that it was over, I was almost too shocked to be embarrassed. Almost. It had felt like he was the strongest magnet in the world, and I was just a nickel. A nickel with an iron will. I had made a conscious choice to back away from him, but not without some serious effort.
As Jade took my hand and led me to the den, I could feel Ash behind me. I could feel his eyes on my back, now exposed through the tears in my shirt, and I could feel him finally turn and follow behind us. I could feel the air filling his lungs and relenting as he sighed deeply. I could feel his heart beating.
He walked to a chair in the corner as Jade and I sat on the large white sofa in the center of the room. I heard a rustling behind me and turned. Oh, yeah… Wings… right. Distracted by Ash’s presence, which felt so heavy it seemed to take up the whole room, I’d actually forgotten they were there. They weren’t heavy at all. In fact, I could barely feel them aside from the slight shift in my center of gravity. They had lifted out of my way without so much as a thought, one draping over the back of the sofa and the other pulled against my back and laying along the floor.
Wings… I took a deep breath and released it slowly.
I risked a peek over at Ash. He was staring out the window, his eyes dark and hooded. There was just something about Ash that drew me in. Something besides the fact that he was so beautiful that looking at him was like trying to look directly at the sun. He made me feel safe and protected, even when he was being a total asshat, but I hadn't felt safe a few minutes ago. I'd felt raw and exposed, vulnerable in a way I'd never experienced, and painfully drawn to the savagery in his eyes. That growling... My whole body shivered with pleasant expectation.
I was ashamed of how my body had reacted to him... Ugh! Is reacting. I had no control over it, but it still felt like a betrayal. I just felt this pull toward him that I couldn't seem to shake, but it made my stomach twist. I didn't want to. Andrew was barely gone. His death was horrific and would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I'd been convinced my heart would be incinerated by his wedding vows and now, now I'd give anything for him to be
happily married to someone else. More than a piece of me had died with him, and I didn't think what was left would ever be able to move on. Especially not with Andrew's brother, and especially, especially not now. My entire life was falling apart. I'd lost everything, and I'd done things...
I shivered again, but there was nothing pleasant about it. Whatever was happening, I felt like my life would be something else.
I guess I was still absent-mindedly staring at Ash, because he suddenly flicked his eyes to mine. The cold, detached indifference there froze my blood. Outright hatred would have been easier to stomach than this. “You like what you see, Princess?” he taunted. “I'm sure we could convince your friend to go for a cup of coffee.” He winked at me. “Unless, you guys are into that sort of thing.”
Aaaaaaaand, we're back. This was the Ash I met and instantly loathed at the wedding. This arrogant, vapid playboy I'd heard about most of my life. Andrew's family had always referred to it as him battling his second nature. Well, if his first nature was this big of an asshole, how bad was his second?
“What?” he spat at me, and I rolled my eyes at him. His eyes tightened, but he didn't respond. I knew it was childish and I didn't have time for this BS right now, but part of me enjoyed tormenting him.
“Are you two quite finished? I mean, I'd hate to interrupt this adolescent mating ritual with our life or death situation.”
“Mating ritual?!” Ash and I yelled, simultaneously, heads whipping toward Jade.
She raised an eyebrow in the way she did when she knew she was right and was daring me to challenge her. I turned away, catching Ash’s gaze as I did, and we both immediately averted our eyes.
“Just talk, Jade,” I began. “I seem to be the only one in this room that has no information. Jesus, I don't even know where we are, and given the circumstances, I need whatever you can give me that in any way resembles an explanation or my grasp on sanity, tenuous as it is, is going to snap and leave me rocking and crooning on the floor in the corner.”
“Oh, girl, I'm surprised it hasn't already. The fact that you're still mentally present to have this conversation is seriously impressive. There's just so much... I'm not even sure where to start.” Jade was looking at me with a combination of awe and a little pity.
My skin broke out in goosebumps as a sudden chill shimmied down my spine. That was the moment I realized that having all the information wasn’t going to make things clearer. It wasn't going to get better after this, only worse. So... might as well rip the bandage off.
“Let's start with what happened at the wedding. Why would Mr. Tennyn hurt Andrew? and did I really...”—Nope, can’t say it—“hurt him?” I asked, fearfully.
It was Ash who spoke up then, nothing gentle in his tone. “Nobody ‘hurt’ anyone, except the guys I layed out, of course,” he added, a smug grin pulling at the corner of his lips. Then his face darkened, and his gaze took on a haunted distance as he continued. “My father killed my brother, and you killed my father.”
I stared at him, speechless for a moment as my eyes widened, horrified and still desperately clawing at my shield of denial, but it couldn’t protect me anymore. “How is that possible? What I saw, what I remember, it’s not... possible.”
“Not possible for a human.” Ash’s tone was steely, cold and detached. He didn’t sound angry, but he also didn’t sound particularly kind, and his deadpan expression gave nothing away as he continued to stare at me.
“It’s… That’s the same… thing. I… What are you saying?”
“Welcome to the world of fairytales and nightmares, Princess. You need to reevaluate your concept of what’s possible. And of what you might be capable.”
My blood ran cold as my mind rejected his implication, but there was a primal truth in his words that was undeniable. I’d read a lot of paranormal lit, but even my imagination wasn’t equipped to come up with the images I was recalling. Was this really happening? I had just sprouted wings for God’s sake, but was he really suggesting I was no longer human?
“Relax, Princess. What you did was beyond justified. That was something my father had coming for a long time. You didn’t kill a man; you killed a monster.”
I was hearing his words, but not truly registering them. Justified? For a human? I’d killed a man?
I’d killed a man... Oh, God…
“Oh, great, we’ve lost her again. I told you she couldn’t handle this.”
As Ash’s indelicate comments sunk in, my head snapped toward him painfully. I could feel rage bubbling up inside me. My eyes were burning, and my wings were rustling again. This time I actually felt them extend slightly from my body. It made me feel bigger, stronger, intimidating.
“How dare you. I watched the love of my life marry someone else, then get murdered in front of my eyes ten days ago. I’ve just learned that I killed a man, and I’m pretty sure you just implied nonchalantly that I’m not human anymore, so I think I’m handling myself pretty fucking well.” Assface.
“Well, that’s the first fight I’ve seen in you since you woke up. Glad I could help.” He turned to look at Jade with the same douchey smile he’d worn when we met at the wedding. “Maybe we’ll all survive this after all.”
“Don’t pretend like your shitty attitude, disrespect, and general state of being a dick are for my own good.”
“No, they’re for both our good.”
“Enough!” Jade yelled. “By the Entity, you two! Just call a truce until the end of this conversation!”
Ash and I continued to stare each other down, but our scowls were accompanied by no further commentary.
“Neither of us know everything, so please understand that you will still have unanswered questions at the end of all this. But we have those same questions, and we will find answers. Somehow. Okay?” She turned to Ash. “Can you please go make us all some coffee? This is going to take a bit, and I’m sure we’ll all be more comfortable and affable with something to drink. And some calories in our systems,” she added with a pointed glance in my direction.
Ash heaved an exaggerated sigh but stood up and walked toward the open kitchen behind us. If I’d turned my head slightly, I could’ve seen Ash over the room length island separating the kitchen from the den, and even without turning, I was acutely aware of his presence at the periphery of my vision. My eyes hurt a little with the effort it took not to turn and look, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Plus, there were more important things to worry about at the moment.
“Where are we?” I asked again, staring hard at the entrance to the hallway.
“My place,” Ash responded, and I turned to Jade, pulling a face.
“Yes, thank you. We’ve established that.”
Jade chuckled but filled in the gaps for me. “It was the only place we could think of on short notice, and he was pretty adamant it would be safe.”
“No one knows about this place. I paid cash that I made on my own, with no involvement from my father. He still thinks I have an apartment in the city.” Then he stilled for a moment. “Or he did, I guess,” he added quietly.
“Which city, Ash?” I asked a bit more gently, but his moment of authenticity had passed, and he smirked at me.
“Several.”
I rolled my eyes, again. I was going to pull a muscle if I wasn’t careful. “Which city are we closest to right now, Ash?”
He grinned that lopsided grin I was becoming so familiar with. “We’re closest to Seattle, but Vancouver isn’t too much further away.”
“We’re in Washington?”
“Yes. Between Lake Cavanaugh and Round Mountain, but this house isn’t on any map, and there is no address. It technically doesn’t exist.”
“How did you pull that off?”
“A witch that I... befriended.”
Oh, gross. I rolled my eyes as he continued.
“She also warded the house so that people would wander around the edge of the property and think they’re going in a straight line. Anyone comes w
ithin a mile of the house and I get alerted. Magically.”
“Alerted how?”
“Just a feeling, like the twinge of a little static shock.”
I nodded slowly. His answer didn’t really make anything clearer, but it also didn’t make it any weirder, so… “So we’re in the wilderness of Washington, somewhere near Canada. And how the Hell did we get to Washington?”
“Poof,” Ash said, ‘exploding’ the fingers of both hands for emphasis.
“Teleported…” I exhaled, still nodding as I tried to wrap my brain around my new normal.
“You’re welcome,” Jade literally sung, and I laughed. Even in the face of this madness, Jade could bring the sunshine. I needed it. The intensity of the past few days and the... changes my body was going through were taking their toll. I needed to find my way back to some semblance of normality.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” I chuckled. “So, this is what Ash’s bachelor pad looks like…”
I evaluated my surroundings a bit more consciously. The floors were all a dark hardwood, as was most of the furniture, but the walls and decor were light, and the design was open. The white sofa was facing a stone fireplace, a matching pair of comfy-looking armchairs were arranged around the sizeable den, and numerous windows bathed the room in natural light. There was a sliding door on the wall that looked like it might open to reveal a tv. The kitchen was sizeable from what I could see. Black granite countertops and white cabinets made it look even more spacious and open. And clean. The whole place was clean.
The bedroom had been the same, all dark wood, white walls and linens. It was beautiful. Light and peaceful. Not at all what I would have expected for Ash.
“You like it?”
“Huh?” I’d disappeared into my thoughts again, and I turned to Ash a bit confused as I tried to process his words.
He raised his eyebrows at me with a knowing smile. “The house.”
Veiled Guardian: A Borne of Angels Novel (The Awakening Book 1) Page 9