A Man of Honor (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Honor Trilogy) (14 page)

Honor rides wit
h me to Mahlon Dickerson. Hunter, Elijah, and Tamlin follow us in Ethan’s car. After parking in the gravel lot, we walk the trail towards Saffin Pond.

“I sure hope this isn’t a set up,” Elijah says from behind me, Tamlin close at his side.

“Oh…you sound like Storm,” Honor quips before I have a chance to answer.

“I’m hoping the same thing.” I say, looking him in the eye for the first time since that day in my apartment. Since opening up to Ethan, my heart has gone soft. Forgiving my father w
ill never happen, but his sons’ aren’t to blame for his betrayal, and I’m trying to get over my hatred towards them. I guess what they say about love and hate being a fine line is true, because underneath all this hate I’d carried towards my half-brothers these past years is a layer of love for them I didn’t know existed.

Becoming soft is another result of falling for Honor. Her openness and honesty, combined with my unconditional love for her, is wreaking havoc on my bad boy persona –
not sure I like this side of me.

Reaching the beach at
Saffin Pond, everyone but Honor takes a seat on one of the several wooden benches scattered about the sand. I stand back up and follow Honor to the dock she’s headed for. “Hey, wait up,” I call out to her.

When Honor turns, I see a frown appear on her face.

“Do you not want me with you?” I ask, catching up to her and taking the space alongside her.

Stepping on to the dock, she shakes her head. “No. It’s not that. I’m…nervous I guess.”

“Ah. So you don’t completely trust him.”

“No. I do. I just feel…like something’s
gonna go wrong.”

I take her hand, and we sit on the dock, taking off our shoes to dip our feet in the water. “What do you think is going to go wrong?”

Honor leans her head on my shoulder. “I wish I knew…but something bad. I keep getting these vibes from him.”

“From Moore?”

“Yeah. I can’t explain it. I trust him, but…something’s gonna happen.”

“Today?”

She lifts her head from my shoulder and looks at me.

“I don’t know,” she answers, then puts her head back on my shoulder.

Draping my arm around her, I tuck her in close and kiss the top of her head.

We sit there for a while before Moore walks up the trail and leans against the back of one of the benches. I help Honor up and head for Moore.

All eyes are on him. We’re here for answers, and I see it in all my brothers’ eyes. They, too, don’t know what to make of the man.

“Moore.” I’m the first to greet him.

“Sutherland,” he mocks.

“Hi, Mr. Moore,” Tamlin
says with a giggle, and Eli nudges her in her side.

“Hey, Honor,” Moore addresses her, and that’s when I see it. He does like my girl. It’s in his eyes.

I’m so pissed at this, I clench my fists. “Cut to the chase, Moore. Who are you?”

He smiles one of those sly crooked smiles. “I’m Jared Moore. I’ve never lied about my name.”

“Keep going,” I order.

“I’m
Asa Moore’s younger brother.” He pauses, waiting for our reaction.

But since Honor and I are the only two who know that
Asa is the Gaffer, he doesn’t get the reaction he’s looking for.

“Okay. So you’re ancient,”
I wisecrack. “But you said you had nothing to do with the guy.”

“I don’t.”

“Wait, back up here a minute,” Ethan says. “Who the hell is Asa?”

Honor is biting her lower lip, and I can tell she’s nervous about the impending doom she expects to happen. Reaching over, I take her hand and gently squeeze it.

“Asa is the Gaffer,” I explain. “The one causing all this trouble.”

“So what do you want if you have nothing to do with him?” Ethan asks.

“I want revenge.” He pauses for effect again.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” I quip. “Why do you want revenge?”

“He took something that was mine. Or should I say someone.”

Ethan and I look at each other. Then it clicks. Didn’t Moore tell me to leave Ethan’s girl alone once?
“So this is about a girl?” I am disgusted with him. He is freaking out Honor all because of a girl.

Moore smirks. “
No.” He looks from me to Ethan, then keeps his gaze on Honor – which pisses me off. “Though I can see where you’d think that.” He flashes that crooked smile, and I wonder –
what is it that Honor trusts in him. He’s slimy.

“Cut the bullshit, Moore. You may be their teacher, but really, you’re no one to me.”

“I beg to differ, Sutherland. I think you may need me now more than ever.”

“Yeah? Why?”

It seems while everyone else is processing what’s being said, I’m the only one carrying on the conversation with Moore.

“Because I can get
Asa to come to me.”

“And why would I want that? I need to get him
away
from here.
Away
from Honor.”

He shifts a little against the seatback of the bench. “Because once we have him…we can kill him.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Ethan chimes in.

Honor squeezes my hand so hard, I know she’s holding back tears.

“Who said anything about killing anyone?” Ethan asks. “I ain’t killing anyone else. Two is my limit.”

This makes me chuckle for some reason.

“Explain it to me, Moore.” Pulling Honor under my one arm, so it’s draped around her shoulder, I’m able to rub her arm. “Why do you want your brother dead?”

He folds his arms across his chest. “Because he deserves to die. He has it coming to him.”

“That’s no explanation,” I say, lowering Honor to the bench next to us. When I look at her face, she is whiter than white, so I sit down next to her and hold her. “Why does he deserve it? What has he done to you? Who did he steal from you?”

Moore swallows hard and looks directly at Honor. “He stole my partner. Honor’s great-great-great granddad was my business partner. We worked on that elixir together.”

All of us, including me, gasp at this statement. I was not expecting that.

Moore continues. “He put me in a coma. Of course he thought he’d killed me and left me for dead, but I came to. It took a while. I’m not even sure how long I was out. All I know is when I woke up, blood had dried all over me. But my heart was still beating. He drove a stake through my chest.” He laughs. “Maybe back then he thought one killed empaths like they killed vampires. I have no idea. Guns had been invented for goodness sake. I mean we’ve been killing for years.” He ponders that for a moment. “I made my first kill when I was thirty-three.

“Anyway, it took a while to find him. Evidently he fled the state. I found him in Pennsylvania a couple months later. He had convinced Seth, Honor’s granddad, that I was working against him – using his elixir against him. When I caught Seth alone, he’d said he’d had it with both of us and he was taking his elixir and leaving it someplace safe.”

Honor is shaking under my arm. I shift her atop my lap and try to comfort her with my embrace.

Moore continues his spiel. “I was pissed. I had worked so hard on that elixir, but Seth had kept the ultimate ingredient a secret. We had everything else.”

I didn’t like where this was going. From the way my lap was shaking because of Honor’s tremors, I’d guess that she felt the same way.

“What was the ingredient, Moore?” I ask with clenched teeth.

He looks at Honor, then at the ground.

“Tell us,” I demand.

With his eyes still cast down, he whispers, “Seth’s own blood.”

I close my eyes, leaning my forehead against Honor’s.

“So that’s why you need Honor’s blood,” Ethan declares, since I was stunned into silence.

My biggest fear has come true – Honor is
not
safe.

Moore nods, than inches toward Honor.

Instead of sticking around to see what he’s going to do, I pick up Honor. With my arm tucked under her knees and my other arm around her back, I make a run for it.

There is no way I’m taking a chance at having him come after her. Who knows if he has a
gun? He’s not going to care about witnesses. He’d kill us all.

Well, all I care about is what he will do to Honor, so we flee.

The fading voices behind us are demanding that we return, but I won’t. It may seem cowardly to them, but I’m too afraid for Honor.

Not uttering a word since bolting from Moore, Honor keeps her face buried in the crook of my neck.

“I need to put you down, princess. I’m sorry, but we need to run faster. I’m not sure if he’s coming after us.”

I put her down, grab her hand, and continue running at full speed. There are two trails up ahead. Following my gut, I lead her up the trail that goes directly into the woods. Once we’ve reached an area where the gravel ends and the dirt path begins, I take her up behind some large trees and overgrown bushes. We hide behind some seven-foot broken tree trunk that at first glance looks like a huge black bear.

Sitting her down on a rock behind the tree, I settle next to her. “Are you okay, princess?”

She nods. “You
thought he was going to kill me right there, didn’t you?”

“I’m not sure, baby. I just knew we couldn’t take the chance.”

Honor nods again.

“Did
you
think he was going to kill you right there?” I ask.

Shrugging, her eyes fill up, and she says, “I don’t know. I…felt at first…that he was okay, but then, I’m not sure if I felt your fear or mine. I do know I was scared.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologize quietly.

“I wish I were able to distinguish…
y’know…between my fear and yours. But…he really was scaring me.”

“Me too.” My head aches from thinking about this.

“What do we do now, Storm? Do we stay here?” You know they’re going to look for us. What if he killed Ethan and Tam and them? Just so they wouldn’t tell? Oh my god.”

I pull Honor back on my lap. “
Princess, shh. We’re okay. I just…I wish I’d grabbed my gun before school. I should have had it on me.”

“Your gun?”

“Yeah. That’s why I brought it to your house in the first place. To protect you. But what good does it friggin’ do me in your dresser…I just didn’t think I’d need it at school…fuck.” I realize I just cursed bad in front of Honor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”

She chuckles a little. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

I run my thumb along her bottom lip. “Yeah, but you make me want to be a better person. I’m trying not to curse in front of you.”

My thumb moves along her lip as a smile forms on her face.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

We stare at each other a long time, but before I move in to kiss her, my cell
phone dings.

“It’s a text from Ethan,” I inform Honor. “He says that Moore’s gone. They walked out with him and watched him drive away. Ethan says that Moore does not want to kill you. Yes he wanted your blood, but just to be sure you were Seth’s granddaughter.” I look at Honor who is looking at the phone with me. “Ethan says Moore insists you are safe with him. But not with
Asa. We need to talk with Moore some more.” I look back at Honor.

“What if he killed them…and took Ethan’s phone?” she whispers.

God bless her, she’s thinking like me. “How ‘bout I give Ethan a shout?”

A tentative smile forms on her face.

“Storm,” Ethan answers his phone.

“Just making sure it was you who texted.”

He laughs. “What’d you think Moore killed us and took it?”

I say nothing.

“Lighten up, dude. Why the hell did you take off like that?”

“I wasn’t taki
ng a chance with Honor’s life. I’m not an empath anymore. I can’t actually
feel
what’s going on. Sue me.” Now I’m annoyed.

“Hey,” he says, laughing aside. “I’m joking. It…it makes me feel good that you protect Honor like that. Now get her ass back home before her parents worry. We’ll talk about Moore later.”

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

Honor watches me slide my phone back in my pocket. “Did you hear?”
I ask her.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I ask, running my thumb down her cheek.

“For making you scared…or whatever. You’re usually so…I don’t know…unaffected. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Honor.”

This time, instead of waiting and chancing another interruption, I kiss her mouth. At first it’s a tender kiss – I lightly touch my lips to hers, taking her bottom lip in between both of mine. But as my heart pounds, my kiss gets stronger – as if I would die right now if her lips were not fully engulfed by mine. When she parts her lips, I slip my tongue inside and let my passion take over. I
lift her so she straddles my lap and vigorously pull her down on top of me. Our kiss deepens while I thrust my hips up and down. Her body rhythmically moves with mine, and I want to take her right there.

When I pull back, she looks at me as if I’ve rejected her. “Don’t stop,” she pleads.

“Princess, if I don’t stop, it’s not going to be pretty. And I’m sure you don’t want me tearing your clothes off out here in the woods.”

She lets out a loud disappointed sigh. “Oh, Storm, I do want you to do that. But…I guess I don’t. Not yet,” she finishes her sentences softly.

“Not yet,” I repeat. Wrapping my arms around her, I let her lay her head on my shoulder. With her arms and legs wrapped around me, it feels so natural – like this is where she belongs…in my arms forever.