Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (81 page)

Allen came in from the back of the house and
kissed Miri lightly.

“Gag,” Alexis said, still reading.

Allen grinned, “Get used to it, Shorty.”

“Dad!” Alexis yelled.

“Stop calling her short…
Check mate,” Chevalier said, and grinned.

“Damnit,” Kralen growled,
and then looked out the window as Jaron chased after naked Dain on
the beach.

Chevalier turned suddenly
when he heard his name called from the bedroom. He walked into the
room, shutting the door behind him.

Emily looked over at him when he walked in
and whispered, “Where are we?”

He sat down on the side of her bed and took
her hand, “We’re in one of my homes.”

She nodded and tried to take a deep breath
but started to cough.

“I brought you here to recover, away from
Council City,” he explained.

When she could finally talk, she looked over
at him, “Dustin?”

“I haven’t heard. They had
to call the Council back first.”

“Don’t leave me with him again, please.”

“I won’t, I swear. I
didn’t even know that the other Elders put Dustin in charge…
enter,” he said, and turned to the door.

Miri came in with a glass
of juice and a bowl of fresh fruit, “I thought you might be
hungry.”

Emily nodded, “I am.”

Chevalier helped her sit up and she took the
glass from Miri.

“Thank you,” she said, and
watched the pretty heku.

Miri smiled, “If you need anything, just let
me know.”

“I’m sorry,” she
whispered. Emily hadn’t notice before, but Miri had beautiful brown
eyes and possessed a natural grace and softness.

“It’s ok, I understand,”
Miri said, and then left her room, shutting the door behind
her.

“What will they do to Dustin?”

Chevalier handed her the
bowl of fruit and then sat back, “I’m not sure exactly. Zohn and
Quinn will try to find if he broke any laws, if he did, he’ll
probably be banished.”

“If he didn’t?”

“Then I’m not sure… it’s
not that easy to get rid of or punish a member of the
Council.”

“So he’ll still be on the
Council when we get back?”

Chevalier sighed,
“Maybe.”

After another coughing fit, Emily put the
empty bowl aside and laid down, “Who all is here?”

“The kids, Miri, Kralen and Jaron.”

“Where is here exactly?”

“We’re on an island outside of Palau.”

Emily smiled slightly, “You have another
island?”

“Yes, no one knows where this one is… except
Kyle, that is.”

Chevalier grabbed his phone out of his
pocket when it rang and answered it, “Yes?”

“Quinn here, just have an update for
you.”

“Go ahead.”

“We can’t find any rules
broken. She directly disobeyed an order from the leader of the
Council. Obviously, he went overboard and is aware that we’ll be
watching him closely.”

Chevalier sighed, “I figured as much.”

“How is she?”

“Awake, the pneumonia’s slowly going
away.”

“When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll let
you know as soon as I do.”

“We’re still looking for a way to relieve
Dustin.”

Chevalier answered by shutting his
phone.

“He’s still there, isn’t he?” Emily
asked.

“Yes, they can’t find a way that he broke
the rules,” he explained, obviously angry.

Emily took his hand and pressed it against
her cheek, “You need to eat.”

“I can manage.”

“Go, all of you. I’m ok
here.”

“I can’t leave you here
alone. You’re still too weak.”

“I’m just going to take a
nap. You’ll be back before I wake up.”

Chevalier sighed. He knew
it was getting harder for all of them to resist her scent. In the
three weeks they’d been on the island, no one had fed and most of
them were going on almost a month.

“You won’t get out of bed?”

“I swear.”

“This island is secure, it has a quarantine
warning.”

“Go,” she told him, and
then rolled onto her side.

He kissed the top of her
head lightly and went into the large living room.

“Anyone that’s not fed in
5 weeks needs to come with me,” he said, and looked over the
heku.

Kralen sighed, “That’s all of us.”

“Go, I’ll stay here,” Miri
said. “I fed the night before we were thrown into
prison.”

“Mom likes to ash you,” Allen reminded
her.

“I’ll stay out of her way
unless there’s a problem,” Miri said, and smiled.

“Can I come?” Alexis asked.

“No, you can survive off of mortal food,”
Chevalier told her.

Alexis wrinkled her nose, “I can… but it’s
gross.”

“We’ll bring you and Dain back some.”

“Fine,” she said angrily,
and went back to her book.

Chevalier grinned and followed the others
out to the beach where his boat was waiting. Miri waved as they set
off for the mainland and then returned to the house.

“Mom’s calling you,” Alexis told her.

Miri turned to the door
and cringed slightly, “Ok.”

Alexis grinned and watched Miri nervously
walk into her Mom’s room.

“You called for me?” Miri
asked softly when she walked into Emily’s room. Emily’s breathing
was not as raspy and her color was returning.

“Sit, please,” Emily said,
and watched Miri pull a chair up by the bed.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, just visit with me for a bit.”

“Ok, about what?”

“You… Chev said you were turned very young
by the Encala?”

Miri shifted slightly, “Yes, I was only
18.”

“Why did you, then?”

“Well, my Mom and Dad died
of scarlet fever,” Miri started. “I was engaged to a family friend,
but he was sent to war and killed. When I first became familiar
with the heku, I was instantly infatuated and just decided to join
them.”

“Why did you leave the
Encala for the Equites then?” Emily knew it was a rude question,
but wanted to know everything about this heku.

Miri smiled and Emily
found it hard not to notice how pretty she was, “I quickly found
out that the Encala attacked others unprovoked, and that’s not the
kind of life I wanted. I got to know someone from Council City and
the Equites seemed like a perfect fit.”

“And Allen?”

“I love him, very much.”

“He’s only 16.”

“I know that he was born
16 years ago, but he’s more than that.”

Emily sat up slightly and slid another
pillow behind her head, “Why would you try to rescue me after I
turned you to ash?”

Miri smiled again, “I told
Allen that we made a huge mistake in not telling you about our
relationship, and then on the island… well… another mistake. I
don’t blame you for what you did. It was our fault for keeping it a
secret.”

“Why did you keep it a secret?”

“Allen was afraid about how you might
react.”

Emily smiled slightly, “Do you realize how
completely screwed up this family is?”

Miri laughed, “Let’s see…
the Chief Enforcer marries not only a mortal but the last
Winchester, and then becomes an Elder. They have a son that tries
to eat his Mom, a daughter that can ash her brother, and another
son who is full heku… yes, I see how that could be considered
screwed up.”

***

“Are we taking bets on if Miri is ash or
not?” Kralen chuckled as he steered the boat toward Chevalier’s
island.

“Ugh, I just hope Mom
stayed asleep,” Allen said, and looked out over the clear blue
water.

Chevalier grinned and
slapped him on the back, “If she is, it’d be your fault for
bringing along your girlfriend.”

“Is it true that Em… ya know… caught you?”
Kralen asked, grinning.

Allen nodded, “Sadly, yes.”

Jaron’s eyes grew wide, “Did she ash both of
you?”

“Not that time, no, but she did drag me off
to the middle of nowhere and made me do things like go to barn
dances.”

“Keep it in your pants,
Boy. It’ll make your life easier,” Kralen chuckled.

“You’re one to be talking.
I’ve yet to see you merely feed,” Allen reminded him.

“What? I like to explore.”

Chevalier shook his head, “Your Mom would
kill us if she knew we had to take you to a brothel to feed.”

Allen laughed, “Mom would? Miri would kill
me first.”

“You have double the
trouble coming,” Jaron said, and grinned.

“Well… didn’t see that
coming,” Chevalier said as he looked out toward the
island.

Allen joined him and gasped, “Wow.”

“What?” Jaron asked, and
stood up to look. He quickly turned away when he saw Emily, Alexis,
and Miri all lying out on lawn chairs in bikinis, while Dain ran
across the beach naked. Miri had the addition of a sun hat and
sunglasses, but they were all talking as they watched the boat come
closer.

Chevalier looked surprised, “Maybe they made
friends.”

“How the hell does she stand the sun?” Jaron
asked.

Allen chuckled, “She said she refuses to
hide from it, though I didn’t know she had a bikini… I kinda like
it.”

“Of course you do,” Kralen
said, and then grinned. He docked the boat off of the small pier
and the heku walked toward the women.

“Feeling better?”
Chevalier asked as he reached down to kiss Emily on the tip of her
nose.

“Some, the sun helps,” she told him.

“I called the doctor first and asked,” Miri
told him. “He agreed as long as she didn’t walk.”

“Never been carried by a
woman in a bikini,” Emily said, and laughed. “So I opted to
walk.”

“Hmm,” Kralen sighed, and
then headed into the house when Chevalier looked over at
him.

Allen bent down and took Miri’s face between
his hands to kiss her.

“Ew,” Alexis groaned.

Chevalier sat down on the chaise beside
Emily, “I take it things went well.”

“Yes,” Emily said, after a
short bout of coughing. “I’ve gotten to know a lot about Miri.
She’s just as screwed up as the rest of us.”

Miri started to laugh, “You swore you
wouldn’t tell!”

“I won’t,” Emily promised her.

“Tell what?” Allen asked,
and sat down beside Miri.

Alexis made fake gagging noises, “Those two
didn’t shut up long enough to get any reading done.”

“Stop complaining, Alexis,
your two hours is up. You can go inside,” Emily told
her.

“Finally!” she yelled, and
ran into the house after Jaron.

Chevalier watched Dain run past again
without any clothing on as the dogs lopped after him.

“I am no longer dressing
that boy. He won’t keep it on,” Miri said, and shook her
head.

Emily grinned when her cell phone rang from
inside the house.

“Want me to go get that?” Allen asked.

“Nope,” Emily told him,
and glanced at Miri.

Miri smiled and leaned
back in the chair.

“Em, caller I.D. says
Valle Council,” Kralen called out.

“Oh, I know who’s calling,” she told him.
“Just let it ring.”

Miri grinned, “Are you going to tell him or
should I?”

Emily shrugged, “We could make him suffer a
few more days.”

“Me or Dad?” Allen asked, frowning.

Miri leaned up and kissed him softly and
then grinned, “You, I refuse to torment the Elder.”

“At least someone refuses
to,” Chevalier said, and stood up. He reached down and picked Emily
up, “You’re burning.”

“Tell me what, then?” Allen asked.

Chevalier turned when Miri grinned, “Your
Mom said it’s ok… as long as the Elder agrees.”

“Wait… she did?” Allen gasped.

Miri nodded, “Yes, but the
final say is the Elder’s.”

Allen grabbed Miri out of her chair and
wrapped his arms around her, “She really said yes?”

“Yes, I did… now you just
have to convince your Dad,” Emily told him as Chevalier carried her
inside.

“What am I having to be
convinced of?” he asked as he laid her down. He sat down on the
side of the bed and waited for her to stop coughing.

“I’m ok if they want to get married.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I got to know Miri and she’s really
sweet and cares a lot about Allen.”

“Still, he’s
16.”

“I guess we just hope that his judgment is
better than mine was at 17,” Emily told him.

Chevalier nodded, “I’ll think about it, both
of them are pretty young.”

“She’s 225, Chev.”

“That’s young,” he told
her, and then smiled.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “No, it’s not.”

“No clothes!” Dain
screamed, and they heard him run across the living room followed by
heavier footsteps.

“Let’s give them Dain as a
wedding gift,” Chevalier said, and then grinned.

Emily leaned up and coughed before finally
laying back down.

Chevalier got up and went
through her bag. He tossed some clean clothes on the bed, “Get some
rest, we’ll talk more later.”

She nodded and watched as he left.

“Elder?” Miri asked when
he stepped out into the living room.

Chevalier turned to the young heku,
“Yes?”

Miri sighed and took Allen’s hand, “I spoke
to the Valle Council, without authorization.”