Breathe Into Me (17 page)

“
Does Nathan know that you’re fucking this asshole behind his back?”

Jamie’s face goes from amused to lethal in the blink of an eye.

“Watch it, Davenport. If you want to trade insults with me than go right ahead, but do not fucking disrespect her again.”

T
he deputy looks from Kelsey back to Jamie. “Is she as good in bed as everyone says?”

With that
comment, Jamie lunges at the deputy. Thankfully, Adam and his brothers were ready for the attack and grab ahold of him before he could get his hands on Tim.

“That’s enough
! Officer Davenport, I want you in my office immediately.” Henry’s dad grabs Tim by the arm and pulls him toward their car.

“This isn’t over
, Trudeau.”

Jamie promptly flashes a finger
while hurtling a few choice words at the cop. Adam pulls me close and wraps his arms around me.

“I need to talk to you g
uys, alone.”

Gary steps forward.
“Come on kids lets go pack a bag, Andy, we’ll be inside waiting for you.”

God I love that man.
“Thanks I’ll be right there.” I wait until Gary has led Kelsey and Henry into the house. I lead the men further away from the lingering forensic team.

“I know who killed
, Vanessa.” The four men stare at me as if I have three heads.

“Angel-
”Adam begins, but I cut him off.

“It was that guy from the bar.
The one who wanted to dance with me, he cornered me at the hospital parking lot a couple of weeks ago. He told me to tell you and your Enforcer buddies to leave town or it would get bloody.”

Adam’s eyes change from
warm honey to bright gold,

“Did
. He. Touch. You?” he growls through clinched teeth.

I shake my head and force myself to remain calm as his ey
es change back to normal.

“Damn
it why the hell didn’t you tell me this sooner? That guy isn’t human he’s a werecoyote. You can’t keep shit like that from me, do you understand?”

I nod my head.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t know that he wasn’t human. I just thought that he was mad about the fight and I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Adam pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one.

“When did you start smoking?” I know this isn’t the time or place, but it isn’t healthy. 

“When you left me and don’t worry
, angel, it’s not like I’ll get cancer.”

Well that must be nice. I’ll deal with his unhealthy habits later.

“We need to get Lincoln out of jail and hunt that bastard down. He’s probably behind all of the murders,” Cass says.

“Yeah
, but it’s not like we have a fucking clue where to start. We don’t even have a fucking name,” Jamie adds.

“I’m going to the station to check on
, Lincoln. I want everyone at the house. We’ll figure out what to do when I get back.” Micah turns and jogs toward his bike.

“Go pack a bag
, angel, you’re coming home with me.”

Chapter 14

“What a fucking me
ss.” I stare at the lake and the inky black water seems to reflect my mood. I light up a smoke and try to make sense of the cluster fuck of a situation we’re in now. I should be inside with Andy, but at this moment, I don’t know how to feel about her. When Gary had called me and told me to get to her house, I was sure that I was walking into my worst nightmare. Instead, it was Lincoln’s.

If Andy had told us sooner this might have been prevented. I’m incredibly thankful
that she’s safe, but I’m so pissed at myself. I never should have left her unprotected. Not only did that coyote know where she worked, but he had also been outside of her home. Any number of things could have happened to her, all because of me.

“Hey.
”

I take a drag off my smoke and let the nicotine do its job. “Hey
, angel.” I force myself to stay where I am, if I hold her, I’ll lose focus and my head needs to be in the game. Her nearness causes my body to stiffen to a painful degree. Now is definitely not the time, my hard on will have to wait.

“I’m so sorry
, Adam, not just for tonight, but for everything.”

I close my eyes and let h
er words sink in. “I’m sorry I yelled. I never should have disrespected you like that.”

She wraps her arms arou
nd my waist as her head rests against my back. She’ll never know how sorry I am, not just for losing my temper, or the death of her friend, but for putting her in the cross hairs of that psychopath.

“
Thank you for letting me stay here, I could have stayed with Gary, but...”

I quickly cut her off. “You belong here
, Andy, you’re my mate remember?”

She begins to pull away from me. “You still w
ant to be with me after the way I treated you?”

I turn around and face her.
“Andy I love you, yes it hurt me when you left, but it wasn’t’ entirely your fault. I’ve always known what I am. I grew up knowing what evils lurked in the shadows. I should’ve taken into account how scary this whole thing would be for you. I dumped this entire mess in your lap all at once when I should have eased you into it.” I tuck a strand of her silky hair behind her ear and begin caressing her cheek. God her skin is so soft, memories of how her skin felt against mine sends chills over my body.

“I have to be honest with you. Most of what you told me still freaks me out and I have a lot of questions
, but I’m not scared of you, Adam. I think it’s kind of amazing what you can do.”

I shake my head.
“You say that now, angel, but you have no idea what I’m really capable of.”

God if she knew half the things I’ve done to protect mankind
, she’d be horrified.

“So tell me, I want to know everything about you and your world.”

I begin to argue, but she covers my mouth with her fingers.

“If we are going to
make this work I deserve to know it all.”

I move away from her and begin to pace. “The last time I revealed things you left me. Do you honestly think
that you can handle anymore right now?”                                                                                                  

“Adam, I just found my friend’s dead body in front of my house, my asshole
ex-boyfriend is in town, and there is a killer on the loose and that’s just the stuff that’s happened in the last few hours. If anything, I need a distraction. I promise I won’t go anywhere.”

God I know I’m going to regret this, but
she’s right. She deserves to know everything.

“I was born in
Worcestershire, England on October 14, 1761. While my mother was giving birth to me, a tornado destroyed most of the city and a neighboring town. When my parents saw my brand they believed it to be a sign from god.” They were almost right.

“Jeez, s
o are your parents still alive?”

I take a drag off my smoke and continue my story, “My father is, but my mother died while giving birth to my brother
, Landon, I was two at the time so I don’t really remember her. After she died, my father brought us to America along with my uncle Zach. My other two uncles stayed behind. I also have a younger sister named Izabella, my father remarried in 1877.” I leave out the part about having a bitch for a stepmother and sadistic half-brother. It’s not as if she’ll be meeting my family anyways.

“I’m sorry
, Adam. I can’t imagine what it’s like not knowing one of your parents.”

I nod at her words. Personally, I think it would’ve been worse if I had known my mother and then lost her.

“I grew up here in Westhaven our home was actually on this property. My dad gave me the land so we could build a safe place for Enforcers to live and train.”      

“How did you learn you had powers?”

I point toward a spot near the shoreline. “It was my tenth birthday, and my brother and I were playing right over there. I don’t remember what happened, but he started to cry, and wouldn’t stop. I panicked and tried to come up with ways to cheer him up. I tried everything, but nothing worked. So I brought him over to those trees over there so I could make him a pile of leaves to play in, but there were hardly any on the ground and I remember wishing for a huge gust of wind and that’s when it happened. The wind picked up and leaves began to fall all around us like rain. Landon was so happy he started to laugh and dance around. I on the other hand was scared to death. I thought I had been cursed by a witch or something.” I shake my head at the memory.

“After I had brought my brother back into the house I came back outside and tried it again and that’s when Raphael appeared.” I glance
toward Andy. She’s been awfully quite during my story. She has a look of awe on her face.

“What?”
I ask as she begins to chuckle.

“Y
ou are too cute. When I was that age, if Kelsey started crying, I’d call her a name and pull her hair.” 

I roll my eyes at her.
“That’s what you got from my story? Not that I thought I had been cursed or that I was terrified?” Women, I’ll never understand them.

“I’m sorry
, you’re right that must have been scary. Tell me about him, I mean I can’t imagine what it’s like to know an honest to god Angel.”                                                                                      

“I was never scared of him
. I think I was more in awe than anything else. Raphael seemed larger than life, strong, wise, and powerful. He would show up once a week and teach me how to control my powers, and about my new world. The Archangel was like a second father to me.” Raphael had even given me advice on women. I can still hear his voice in my head.

“One day my son you will fall in love and start a family, you must remember to cherish what you have been given. Never take
them for granted, always show them your love and devotion. Love, joy, and laughter, my son, those are the keys to a happy life.”
                                                                    

“You love him.”

I nod my head even though it wasn’t a question. “I miss him to, especially at times like this. He always gave the best advice. Although I think if he saw the mess that I’ve made of things he’d probably smite my ass into next week. He always used to say how special I was and how I’d become this great man, I bet he’s rethinking that now.”

Andy suddenly jumps out of her seat and stands
before me. “Adam Stone you are a great man, even before I knew about your gifts I thought that you were too good to be true. None of this is your fault, you have to believe that.”

I wish I could have the same faith in myself that
Andy does, but the guilt of the situation is eating me alive. “You said you had questions, ask away.” I need to focus on something else before I start to drown in guilt.

“Nice change of
subject, I’ll let it go this time. Okay first question what can you do with your powers?”

We
ll that’s an easy one to answer. “Besides summoning the wind I can manifest and control tornados, cyclones, and hurricanes.” I’ll leave out the fact that I can remove air from someone’s lungs or enclosed spaces.

“That’s impressive,
Okay next question you said that you are immortal does that mean you can’t die?”

I suddenly realize
that this must have been how Raphael felt when I would ask him tons of questions. I’m actually happy with her enthusiasm. “What I’m about to tell you isn’t common knowledge, we don’t usually share our weaknesses with humans. If you wanted to kill a shifter, you would have two options, beheading, or a silver knife to the heart. Piercing the heart won’t do it. You’d have to shred the heart for it to take effect. Silver bullets would work, but you would need a lot of them and we aren’t going to stand there and allow you to shoot us.”

She seems to be contemplating what I’ve said when her scent changes. “
This is the type of danger you face every day isn’t it?”

I nod my head
. “Yes, and someday my enemies will succeed in taking my life. It’s inevitable, Andy. You also need to know that as long as you’re with me you’ll be in danger and so will our children.” I might as well warn her now.

“If that’s the price I have to pay to be with you, than I accept.”

I can hear the sincerity in her voice and it only makes me love her more.

“I love you
, Andy, and I will give my own life to keep you safe and happy.” I pull her close and breathe in her scent.

“I love you to
o, and I hope it never comes to that. Our time together is going to be short as it is.”

I
immediately start to panic at her words. “Why, are you planning on leaving me again?” Dear god, I don’t think I could live through that again.

“No
, but you’re immortal and I’m not. I’ll grow old while you stay the same.”

I
throw my head back in laughter. “I can make you immortal, angel.” God I’m an idiot for not mentioning that tid bit sooner. “I can’t make you a shifter, but you could spend eternity with me just as you are.” God I hope she wants that as much as I do.

“So I’d never age
, or get sick, but your mom…”

I cut her off before she begins to panic. “My mother was human and also
sixteen when she met my father. She wanted to age a bit before she became immortal.” My dad thought he would have an eternity with his mate and only received six years. I never understood his pain until now. I couldn’t imagine only having that short amount of time with Andy.

“God that’s so sad.”

I have to agree with her. “Come on, angel, let’s get you something to eat.” I lead her inside and find Grace busy in the kitchen. Poor woman has been upset since she heard the news about Lincoln and, by the looks of it, she’s cooked enough food to feed an entire army.

“Evening
, Grace.”

She nods her head refusing to look at me and that’s when I’m hit with her emotions. I pull the woman into my arms.

“It’ll be Okay Grace, Lincoln will be home soon.”

She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes. “I know, I just feel awful for what he’
s going through and the thought of my baby sitting in jail, it just breaks my heart.”

I don’t like the thought
of him being there either. Shifters, just like humans, have regular jobs, for all we know some of the guards could be our enemies.

“Grace
, the man is fifty-nine years old. I think he can take care of himself.” I need to get her to focus on something else or she’ll worry herself to death.

“It doesn’t mat
ter how old he is, what if the Feds figure out what he is? He’d end up in some government facility being poked and prodded or dissected like some sort of an experiment.” Unfortunately, that is one of our fears. It’s a major reason why we don’t go to hospitals.

“Micah is with him
, Grace, if anything like that happened he would call in back up and memories would be erased.”

Thank god, that man knows some friendly vampires. Their mind control comes in handy from time to time.

“You guys can erase minds?”

I shake my head at my mate. “No
, luv, but vampires can.” At least with the humans anyways. Shifters can only be controlled by magic, which is why witches are so dangerous.

“I know you
’re right, but I won’t be able to relax until I see that boy walk through the front door.”

I pull out my phone and try to call Micah
, but it goes straight to voicemail. That's never happened before he always answers his phone.

“Have you heard from my brother?” Jamie asks as he and Cass enter the kitchen.

“I just tried calling him, but the call went to voicemail.” I watch my best friend as he begins to pace.

“Fuck, what the
hell is going on down there? Micah should’ve been back hours ago.”