A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (19 page)

After the queen finishes eating, she pats her mouth with a napkin and says, “Luke, I trust that you will go over today’s agenda with Holly and will be on time to all events. Also, please try to fit in some training. It is evident that she still lacks control.”

Luke sighs and slams his drink down on the table. “Are you serious? We are tired! You have to take into consideration everything that has happened in the past 24 hours, I do believe a day off is a
much
better idea.” Luke’s tone was harsh, and judging by the look on his face, his dad is not happy about this.

“Luke you will not speak to your mother in that manner. I understand your need for time off, but that will have to wait. There is a lot to do and even more to figure out. We still don’t know if the marriage did anything to create peace and a passage between Terre and Earth. We still have to figure out what to do with our prisoners. Our prison is full, now that most of the Poyen are in there as well as Lana and her parents.” Rubbing his temples, he sighs and continues, “That reminds me—we also have to create a new Poyen.”

“But, father, why do we have to have a Poyen? Can’t we just run Terre without them?”

Getting up from the table, Luke’s father says, “If only it were that easy, son. The Poyen are of great help—when you can trust them. I think the Poyen will be cut down in size to only ten or less. We will just have to put Versipellis we can trust in that position.” The king and queen push their chairs under the table and leave the room. As they’re leaving, the queen manages to shoot me one last disapproving look that makes me sink even lower into my chair.

I look at Luke. “Versipellis?”

“That is what we are.” He states it matter-of-factly, like I am supposed to know that already. In my mind, I have slapped him at least 10 times.

“And? You are going to have to explain more and stop assuming that I know these things already.” My frustration is growing rather quickly. He had better explain faster if he knows what is good for him.

“There is more to us that you don’t know.”
Thank you for stating the obvious, Luke.
“I haven’t had time to explain everything to you, and I am sorry for that. But now we have our whole lives for you to learn everything about all of this.” He stands up and pushes his chair under the table.

“Luke…” I cross my arms in front of my chest.

“Versipellis is what we are. The rough definition is a witch or wizard who can transform into a particular animal.” Did he just say animal? Witch or Wizard doesn’t shock me, but animal? I really wish I would wake up from this dream, because this can’t be real.

“Animal? Witch or wizard? I just thought you were people with magic.” I scrunch up my nose, a little out of confusion and a little out of frustration. This is all so exhausting!

I get impatient when Luke doesn’t answer and prepare to give him an ear full. Instead, I’m speechless when I notice the area around Luke changing. The area around him is different….Moving….Rippling?
What the hell?
Words of confusion are about to emerge from my lips, but the unnatural sight before me causes me to quickly become silent. Luke starts shaking violently and the whites of his eyes become visible. I am not sure how, but I manage to escape my statuesque trance and step towards him. I want to reach out and help him, but I decide against it when I realize there is nothing I can do. Luke becomes still. He is not Luke anymore though. At least not in the physical sense of the phrase. A wolf-like animal stands towering in the place where he just stood moments ago. His eyes are still his, just larger, and his fur is thick and black. He is so massive that I take a step back to see all of him. I have to close my eyes and open them again to make sure I’m not imagining things. I am amazed and a little uncomfortable.

“Does everyone do this?” I ask as I run my fingers through his thick rough fur. Is it wrong of me to be kind of pissed that he is just now showing me this? Because I am…

A low noise seems to be slowly resonating from his chest. At first unidentifiable, it has now reached an audible level. The sound is fierce and dangerous. He starts stalking towards me, slowly, each step exaggerated. I can’t seem to help myself when I take a step back. My heart is pounding hard and loud as he opens his mouth like he is going to attack. I close my eyes out of fear, although I know he will not harm me. I can feel each breath he takes as he comes closer to my neck, and I’m breathing heavily. I open my eyes and see the air around him starting to ripple as he transforms back into his human form. Once he is his normal self again, he kisses me on my cheek and laughs. I finally remember to breathe and push Luke hard in the chest, which makes him stumble a little.

“Luke, that is not funny! Why didn’t you tell me this already? And how are you still fully clothed?” I yell.

“Actually, it is pretty hilarious. You should have seen the look on your face! And what do you mean, how I am I still fully clothed? Of course I am.”

“Never mind…” Cleary I have read too many books and seen too many movies. “So, can all of you do that? That is, transform into a… Umm, animal?”

“Yes, we can all do that. I don’t know if you can, though. I am not sure how much magic actually transferred to you. I don’t even know if the magic will last forever or just hang around like the common cold that eventually goes away. Only time will tell.” He shrugs his shoulders and acts as if this is not a big deal. It may not be a big deal to him, but it is to me.

“So you are telling me that Brody, Jett, and Mason all turn into an animal? Are you a witch or wizard? I am so confused…” I’m growing more impatient by the second.

“Yes. And I am a wizard. Females are classified as witches, while males are wizards.” He says every word slowly as if I’m slow-minded, incapable of comprehending what he has just said. As many times as I have slapped him in my mind, he should be unconscious.

“Stop talking to me as if I’m a child! You do realize I was a human living a normal life on Earth less than 24 hours ago, don’t you? I’m sorry, but I fail to see the humor in all of this!”

“Holly, it’s not that big of a deal. Are you really upset because I haven’t shared the terminology of my world? And we never morph. It is not necessary. In the ancient times, Versipellis did, but it is unheard of now. It didn’t cross my mind to tell you. It was not important.” It seems that the more he talks, the madder I get.

There is no excuse as to why he couldn’t have filled me in on this bit of information. It wouldn’t have taken long to say that he can transform into a wolf, and that the correct terminology for his kind is Versipellis. I take my shoes off, not caring that I’m committing a huge sin according to his mother and start walking to our bedroom. At this moment, I really wish I had my own room to go sulk in.

CATCHING UP TO
me, Luke says, “And when do you think I actually had time to tell you anything? I was too busy trying to save your life!”

His words nearly knock the breath out of me. I brush it off, however, and I’m quickly engulfed by rage. I stop and turn around to face him. “Luke, I gave up my WHOLE life for you! I’m not even sure that I love you or if I did all of this based on emotions I can’t explain!”
Oops
.
Did that just come out of my mouth?
Too late to take back now. “The least you could have done was to tell me EXACTLY what I was getting myself into!” As my anger grows stronger, the doors in the hall start opening and slamming shut. I’m not sure if I am doing it or if he is, but I suspect it is me from the expression on Luke’s face. My suspicions are proven true when Luke speaks next.

“Holly, you are going to have to calm down.” Luke says gently while observing the slamming doors. They are about to come off the hinges, but at this moment I really don’t care. Yup, there goes about five doors slamming to the ground.

This is just great. I can’t even get mad without causing some sort of crazy thing to happen! UGH! As more doors start falling off the hinges, I start stomping off to our room. I walk in, and Luke tries to walk in with me. I put my hand on his chest to stop him.

“I need to be alone.” I say while avoiding eye contact with him.

“Holly… please…” Luke starts to plead with me, but I promptly slam the door in his face and lock it. I’m sure he could open it with his magic.
I am sure
there is a lot he can do with his magic that I haven’t seen. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen him do much with his magic. I remember him saying he and his parents are the most powerful in Terre. So why doesn’t he use it more? That makes me even madder at him! Why hasn’t he told me what he is capable of?

He has a lot of explaining to do, and I have a lot of decisions to make. As much as I don’t want to, we have to talk. I open the door and say, “Look, I’m not sorry for being mad at you, but you can come in.” After taking a moment to look at my face, probably gauging my anger, he walks in.

I cross my arms over my chest and sit down on the edge of the bed. Maybe I’m overreacting. I just feel like I was forced into a life of the unknown, and I’m not sure that I’m okay with it. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to think everything through. I honestly don’t know what was going through my head when I decided it would be a good idea to marry Luke.

Luke is pacing back and forth across the room. He must be trying to think of where to start. Anywhere would be nice. I really don’t care, just as long as he tells me everything. Not leaving out or “forgetting” one single detail.

He finally stops pacing and stands directly in front of me. He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. “I’m really sorry for not telling you more. I admit that my reasons for not telling you were selfish. I was scared that you would freak out and change your mind about me. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Well you had to know I would figure it all out sometime, right?” I ask, not hiding how extremely mad at him I am right now.

“Yes. I was just—” Luke is stammering between words, and he just needs to spit out whatever he is trying to tell me.

“Just what?!” I yell.

Remaining calm, Luke says, “I was just hoping that we would have more time together. More time for you to fall in love with me, before I had to explain everything. The comment you made about not knowing if you are in love with me—I understand. Love isn’t something that just happens instantly. It takes work, effort from both parties, and time. But we fit Holly. You and I work. My biggest fear is that you are going to regret ever knowing me.” He tries to grab my hands, but I pull my hands from his, which causes him to back up. He is mistaken if he thinks he is going to touch me again before he tells me everything.

“Luke, please, just tell me everything.” He comes and sits down beside me on the edge of the bed. He looks me straight in the eyes and then looks back down at his feet. Everything he is about to tell me must not be things I am going to like by the way he is acting. How bad could it be?

“My mom and dad are also able to transform into wolves. Jett, Mason, and Brody are also wolves. There are a variety of different animals, ranging from the typical house-cat all the way to the grandiose eagle. Most of the time, a family will all be the same kind of animal.” He looks up from his feet to look at me and continues, “We only change when we have to. It is extremely rare to morph.”

“Why would you
have
to morph?”

“If we were threatened by human made weapons, we would be immune to them in animal form.”

“It seems like morphing would be pretty important then. I don’t understand how it could be a thing of the past.”

“Because we fight with magic, not weapons. Besides, we can usually defeat our enemies with magic before a man-made weapon becomes a threat. There was a time when our kind lived with humans, and weapons were a threat. It is not an issue anymore and hasn’t been for a very long time.”

“Oh…So, what else have you not told me?”

He hesitates before he answers. “I’m not good, Holly. Or I should say I
wasn‘t
good.”

“What do you mean?” I scoot a little further away from him. I’m married to someone I don’t even know and may or
may not
be in love with. What is worse, he isn’t
‘good’.

“Everyone in Terre is afraid of my family and me.”