Bargains and Betrayals (26 page)

“
Duh
. Packing’s so passé.”

“Okay, just pack. Trust me. You are starting to see—um—energy traces like auras. You’re just seeing where they overlap first.”

“What?” Her eyebrows lowered. “Oh.
Ew!
Can you two
not
keep your lips off each other?” She rubbed her forehead. “This is not a socially acceptable gift—seeing where people have touched. I’m going to get such a reputation for gawking at people…”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Look. I have a lot on my plate right now. But as soon as things clear up, we’ll try and find a way to dial down your sight. The last thing I want is for you to be socially unacceptable,” I teased.

“Yeah. You have the market cornered on that, thanks to your willingness to help Sarah and duke it out with Jenny and Macie. I don’t want to usurp your title as school pariah.”

“Nice, Soph. Glad to be back at Junction High so I can be the source of your amusement.”

“Things aren’t nearly as exciting without you around,” she admitted.

Jessie

We were barely off the bus and back in the house after school when Max got on the house phone with Amy, checking up. He carried the phone upstairs, not worried at all about agents listening to the Rusakova land line. It cracked Max up knowing someone was listening to him flirt with his girlfriend—agents’ ears probably burned hearing them talk.

It was pretty miraculous to see, Maximilian Rusakova—
player
—moonstruck.

I called Dad on Alexi’s special cell phone and let him know Alexi’s tests proved Annabelle Lee’s blood had many of the same properties as mine. If he wanted, we’d find a spot for her, too, until things cleared up.

Dad explained Wanda was going to be staying over and that between the two of them Annabelle Lee would be okay. “But she’ll ask some hard questions,” he said. “Especially about Wanda spending more time over here. Do you think we should—”

“Should what, Dad? Tell her the truth?”

The other end of the line was quiet. “She’s smart as a whip.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked. “No, don’t try and explain it. Okay. I’ll call after dinner. You can drop her off to stay here tonight and I’ll give her the talk.”

“Good. Wanda and I’ll prep the house in case trouble heads this way.”

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“How much do you know about Wanda?”

“Enough to know I have a tiger by the tail.”

I grinned. “Be careful over there. I love you.”

Dinner was over and everything was following the plan—things looking amazingly normal and uneventful at the Rusakova house, even with “Uncle” Dmitri still lurking, and belated birthday presents still rolling in to better equip the army of mafiosos Dmitri would import.

Pietr looked at me wistfully as he stood up from the table.

Dmitri grunted, looking at him. “You need exercise—practice. Outside.”

Pietr nodded. It would give him the chance to work out some frustration and would probably keep Derek’s remote viewing abilities focused inside—on me—instead of realizing how rapidly Pietr’s skills were increasing.

I grappled with the bookbag I’d hung over the back of my chair. “Before you three leave”—I looked at Max, Cat, and Alexi—“I need some help with a homework assignment.” I turned to Dmitri. “
Uncle
Dmitri,” I used the term the Rusakovas suggested to keep up appearances, “you are free to go.
Anytime
.”

He glared at me and rose.

“I need to know about Pietr—before Junction. What he was like.”

Dmitri sat back down.

“Oh. Excellent. You’re staying.”

“Ask Pietr,” Max suggested.

“He won’t say. I think he wants me to work for this. I’m looking for defining moments from his youth—things you think made him who he is now.”

They looked at each other a moment. “The fire,” Max said.

They nodded and Alexi began. “Soon after Pietr turned thirteen and got his hearing, there was a fire in our neighborhood. Pietr was home, reading, when the fire trucks rolled past. Like most people, he followed them, stunned at the sight of flames devouring a house. The firemen rushed in, saved many young people—”

“A girl was having a party. No parents,” Cat explained.

Alexi continued. “They thought they had gotten everyone. But Pietr”—he smiled with pride—“he heard someone else inside. He convinced the firemen to go back in one more time.”

“And they found one more kid,” Max said, “that stoner—what was his name?”

Cat
tsk
-ed at him. “That doesn’t matter. The point is, Pietr helped save a life. With his special abilities.”

“He didn’t get any credit for it,” Max pointed out. “The guy who came out of the building with the boy did.”

“But that didn’t matter to Pietr,” Alexi clarified. “Because
he
knew what he’d done. And he was proud of what he was becoming.”

There was a long pause while everyone avoided looking at everyone else. We all thought the same thing—that Pietr once wanted to be the thing he now fought so hard against finally becoming.

Cat finally broke the silence. “He used to be very popular,” she said softly. “He’s always been handsome, but it seemed there was some sort of inner light that glowed in Pietr, something that made him special. We had to collar him early,” she said, touching the spot on her neck corresponding to where the boys wore special silver necklaces. “The girls started coming on strong at an early age,” she said distastefully. “He didn’t understand it—none of us did.”

“Perhaps it was the alpha aspect kicking in early?” Dmitri asked.

I had nearly forgotten he was still there, intruding.

Alexi shrugged. “Does that make you proud that you are holding such an alpha’s leash now?”

Dmitri glared at him. “It could be a far worse man than I.”

“So he had girl trouble early?” I asked Cat.

“He made Max look like chopped liver for a while,” Cat replied.

“Bad for the ego,” Max chuckled.

“Do you remember Rachel?” Alexi asked the others. “I think she was, what? Were they fourteen? Freshmen.”

Cat nodded. “That went badly,” she recalled.

“But, when you consider defining moments…”

Cat picked up the tale. “Rachel had a cat she loved very much. She kept it indoors, safe from the neighborhood dogs, very much loved.”

“Spoiled,” Max specified.

“Pietr and Rachel’s relationship was”—Cat eyed me carefully—“heating up. They had dated steadily for a few months. They were frequently together, holding hands, kissing…”

“Groping,” Max added.

Again, Cat gauged my expression. I stayed perfectly still except for my head, which I nodded. Pietr was still a virgin by his own admittance, so I knew things hadn’t gotten too hot with this Rachel girl, but at the idea of him pawing someone else … my stomach twisted a little.
The past,
I reminded myself. It’
s just part of his past.

“He probably loved her,” Max said, trying to excuse Pietr’s past explorations.

“
Nyet
,” Pietr muttered, making us jump in our seats. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. His eyes trapped mine. “I did not love her, but I was crazy about her.”

“She was very pretty,” Max said in consolation.

Pietr shrugged. “One night, in the worst bit of winter, she called me, frantic. The cat had gotten outside and disappeared. No claws, bad teeth—it would be no match for the neighborhood dogs, and we were expecting more snow. Rachel was desperate. She wanted my help.” He shrugged. “Her parents were out at some event and there was no one to help her look for the cat. I wanted to help her. Perhaps I wanted a reason for her to feel grateful.…” He shook his head, clearing his mind of the memory.

“I went to her house. It was a very clean place, everything neat and tidy. You would not know a cat lived there—not by scent or sight. Rachel had already gone into the snow and come back unsuccessful. She was crying.” He looked at the floor between us. “I wanted…”

“You wanted to be her hero,” I said with a smile.

“I had been a hero before—why not again? It seemed such a small thing, to scent after a cat. She tried to tug me out the door into the backyard to look.… I pulled away and went to the cat tree they had in the corner of the kitchen. I tried not to be obvious, but her mother had mopped and vacuumed and there was so much disinfectant in the air…”

“She saw you smell the cat tree.”

“
Da
. She must have.” He rubbed at his eyes. “We plunged into the snow, her hand in mine. I dragged her all over. There were moments she argued—pointed to small snatches of tracks—trails I knew had gone cold. And I pulled her away. I caught her staring at me, at my nose as my nostrils flared. I should have known. The look on her face…”

“But I pushed on. I found the cat. Alive and scared. I even scared away the dog that was digging at its hiding place.”

“By
growling
,” Max pointed out.

“
Da
, not my smartest move,” Pietr said. “I couldn’t carry the cat. It wouldn’t let me. But I saved the snubnosed beast.” No pride marked his voice—no sense of accomplishment colored his tone.

I reached out and touched his arm. “You were her hero.”

“
Nyet
. Heroes don’t get dumped for
weirding out
their girlfriends,” he stated. “We were barely back in the house, I leaned in for a kiss—and she ended it. Then and there. She called me a freak and kicked me out.”

“Oh, Pietr,” I murmured. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged.

“And the next day?” Cat prodded him gently.

He glared at Cat. “Thanks for reminding me.
Da
. The next day at school I was suddenly friendless. She made up a reason we were no longer dating—the truth was too weird. So she said I’d gotten … pushy.” He looked away, still stung by the lie.

“He couldn’t get a date for the next two dances,” Max said.

“I finally left my necklace in my locker out of desperation.”

Cat hissed. “You didn’t—” She blew out a long breath when he nodded. “Was that how…?”

“
Da
. That’s how I wound up with Sonja at the spring formal.”

“
Dog!
” Cat declared. “Max was after her!”

Pietr grinned devilishly. “My ego was shot, but I couldn’t stand seeing Max on the rise so soon.”

“Do not feel guilty,” Dmitri said. “Simply another alpha trait. The need to dominate.”

Pietr looked him over. “You’re too quick to embrace the more dangerous side of our behavior,” he said. “You and Jess have more in common than you think.” Glancing pointedly at my notebooks and pencil, he left the room.

Jessie

“Hey, Max, I just wanted to—” I froze in the doorway of Max’s bedroom. He froze, too, picture and thumbtack in his hands, caught just before he hung it on the wall. With about a dozen other drawings.

Of Amy.

“Whoa,” I whispered. “Maaax.”

He hung his head, letting his hands drop and hide the drawing behind his back.

“Did you…?”

“Yeah.”

I trotted into the room. “Max. These are really good. I mean, really—seriously…”

He moved back as I reached around to grab the one behind his back.

“Come on. Lemme see, lemme see, lemme see.” I hopped up and down until he grinned.

“Okay,” he said reluctantly, slowly sliding the picture around in front of me.

“Wow.”

Amy in her Little Red Riding Hood outfit from Halloween peered back at me in a classic pinup-inspired pose. She was absolutely gorgeous and nearly animated.

“Holy heck. You really captured her.”

His smile broadened into a goofy grin. “That’s when she captured
me
.” He chuckled.

I examined the pieces hanging on the wall. “Wow. I mean, Amy’s good in that serious art student, going to be an art major and create beautiful paintings way, but these—these are graphic-novel good.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“That’s exactly how it’s meant,” I stated firmly. “So what has Amy said about all these?” I handed the Red Riding Hood one back and finished skirting the room.

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“She doesn’t know.”

“She. Doesn’t. Know?”

“
Nyet
. I do these when we’re not together. I wouldn’t have the guts to draw her—in front of her. She’s the artist. I sketch.”

“Pfffft. She’d be so frikkin’ flattered.…”

“And embarrassed.”

“What? Why?”

“She doesn’t see herself like this. She doesn’t think she’s hot. Doesn’t realize she’s beautiful.”

“That’s a common ailment among girls,” I muttered. “Luckily, if you boys play your cards right it’s totally curable, too. Show her these. Sometimes we have to see ourselves through somebody else’s eyes before we can imagine being more than we give ourselves credit for being.”

“Why did you come up here?”

“I wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“Two things. Trying to explain Pietr’s past—
fun
—with some other girl. Only a good brother would try to protect him like that.”

“He was just a dumb kid.”

I shrugged. “Aren’t we all? And I wanted to thank you for Amy.”

He glanced at the wall of images and looked down at the one in his hands.

“You’re being exactly the kind of guy she needs right now,” I confirmed. “You’re doing your best. Being supportive and protective. I told you you’d grow into the title of hero.”

“I’m not there yet,” he admitted.

“Give yourself time.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Jessie

I found Pietr out back a few minutes later, working slowly through some sort of kata—part martial arts, part dance. He flowed more than moved through each strike and kick, testing his balance, working to perfect control of his body. Watching him, I nearly forgot my purpose for being there, but he spotted me during a sudden turn, kick, and punch combination and paused.

“
Da
?” he said, raising one eyebrow at me.

I clapped my hands together twice and called, “Time to alpha up!”