Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery (The Gifted Series Book 1) (9 page)

“Emery.” Elijah’s tone is cold as I enter the hotel suite. He stares at me, his legs slightly apart and his arms across his chest. I can feel the tension in the room, it’s everywhere and emanating solely from him.

“What?” I ask slinging my bag onto the sofa.

“Don’t
what me
like this is some game,” he spits.

“You tried to put me to sleep, it’s not my fault it backfired!” I shout as I catch Kade’s questioning gaze skim over me.

“I shouldn’t have needed to even try. You should trust me enough to know whatever I do it’s for your own good,” he growls.

I shake my head laughing hysterically, then throw it back for dramatic effect. Snapping it forward while ceasing the laughter, Elijah’s eyes momentarily widen. “I’ve known you for four days, Elijah. Four days!” I shout. “Don’t tell me I should trust you, I don’t even know you!” A flash of pain hits me in my stomach, and I know it’s his pain from my words. “I’m trying here, trying to trust you, all of you. It’s not easy. The stuff you’ve told me so far. The things I’m seeing. Hell, the things I’m
doing.
It’s all unbelievable. I feel like at any moment I’m going to wake up from some crazy dream.” A cold laugh slips from between my lips. “You want to know what the hardest part is? The feelings. I get them a lot. I try to ignore them, but they flow from everyone. Most people I guess I can’t tap into at the moment, but you lot…” I gesture toward Elijah and Kade. “I can feel you. Maybe not all the time, but enough that it’s driving me crazy. I needed a few hours away today. I was coming back. I knew I was safe—”

“Em—” Elijah tries to interrupt me, but I hold out my hand.

“No. I get that people are after me, but I intended to stay in public places. And since you said Kade could feel me when I was scared, and that he’s the fastest one of us, I figured, unless he doesn’t care if I die…” I move my eyes to meet Kade’s and take note of the frown marring his face before looking back to Elijah, “…then I was safe.”

Sighing I sit down, all the annoyance and frustration drains out of me. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t know when you tried to put me to sleep it would backfire, and yes I took advantage of that moment, but I needed space. I’ve been alone my whole life.” I ignore the looks from them both, close my eyes and lay my head back on the sofa.

“You know she’s your other half.”

I can hear the voices, but my mind can’t quite reach them.

“Yes. Of course. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her when I was a boy. That doesn’t change anything.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything.”

“No. You know what happened with Kale and Tessa.”

“Yes, I’m very aware as are we all, but you can’t believe things like that will happen to everyone. Emery is different.”

“You’re right. She is different.”

“Then why Kade?”

“Because if I let her in… she’ll consume me.”

I wake with a start and instantly notice the room is quiet and dark. Rubbing my eyes, I move to search for the light switch.

“Here, I got it.” Kade’s deep voice rumbles somewhere in the black of the room, making me jump, then a dim light glows, outlining everything.

“You scared me,” I whisper.

“I doubt much can scare you these days. Far as I can tell, you were a survivor long before we entered your life.” He floors me before raising what looks like a beer bottle to his lips and takes a swig.

“Was that supposed to be a dig at me? I know I’m not what you want in your life right now, and I’m sorry, I didn’t ask for any of this… not that it makes any difference,” I mumble the last few words realizing whatever has happened there’s no one to blame. And what’s worse is that I could be creating more danger for Elijah and for Kade. The thought of Kade being hurt slams into my chest, and I finally understand the power he has over me. This other half business is starting to become annoying, especially when I have to be around him and my feelings grow daily. Soon it won’t be him struggling, it
will
be me.

“You scared him,” he offers, and I try to find his eyes.

It bothers me that I can’t see his face.

Suddenly, with that thought, his eyes blaze into the gold color I saw that first night.

“What is that?” I ask, standing and moving over to him.

“What?” he asks frowning.

As I make it into his personal space and my hand reaches up, almost of its own free will until I’m touching his face. “Your golden eyes,” I whisper.

Kade grabs my hand tenderly but doesn’t move it. “When I can’t control my feelings my eyes glow. It also happens when I’m fighting. Not scuffles with dicks like
that
that guy at your school, but real fights, one’s where I’m using my powers and my strength or when someone I care about is in danger,” he tells me without even blinking.

“So right now… you have feelings you can’t control?” I ask softly.

The muscle in his cheek jumps. I bring my other hand up laying it on his chest, much like I’ve seen the popular girls at my school do with the guys. I’ve never behaved in this way, I’ve never flirted, and I have no idea why I am now. It’s like there’s a puppet master pulling my strings. Kade is resting on a stool so he isn’t too much taller than me, without thinking I take a step forward and raise up onto my tiptoes leaning into him until my lips are nearly touching his.

“What feelings do you have?” I whisper the question, willing Kade to kiss me.

He opens his mouth to speak, and I can feel his breath against my lips, hot and minty. “The way you feel right now… that’s not you, it’s all me.” His words are like cold water running down my back. I take a step away, pulling myself from him and hiding my face behind my palms. His big hands gently pry my fingers away from my eyes. “It’s okay. I can control myself… just.” His eyes have morphed back to hazel and he shakes his head slowly, standing up and moving off his stool. “I have feelings for you, Emery. You’re my other half, it’s only natural. I’ve always had my powers, so I’m strong, but I’m also experienced and I can control those feelings. I hide my emotions as I know others, like Elijah, can feel them if I don’t. It appears, however, that I can’t hide from you. I guess that’s because of our connection. So when we’re around each other you need to learn to control yourself.”

“God! You make me sound like a silly schoolgirl who has a crush on you.”

Kade chuckles. “I know how this feels, remember? I do understand. But I’ve learned to command my body. You have to learn to channel your powers. Elijah says you’ve been practicing.” I nod pleased that I’m doing at least one thing right. “It’s not just
my
feelings projecting onto you anyway. You left here before, went off because you needed space. All that amounts to is not being able to control the emotions that filter into your body. You need to shut them off, so you’re not swallowed up by everyone else’s feelings. It will take time. I still struggle you know.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“You feel?” I ask.

“No, I mean not like you and Elijah. I can’t feel people, I just feel you.” He sits back on the stool.

“Just me.” I contemplate his words. “But you have it under control?” He doesn’t answer. “I have feelings for you,” I tell him, and a blush creeps up my neck.

“Of course you do.” His reply is clinical and a wave of unease comes over me.

Deciding to change the subject before we travel into unchartered waters I ask, “Where’s Elijah?”

“He went back to the house, he wants you to go back there and he needed to speak to the rest of them. I told him I’d stay with you until he’s back.”

“I just fell asleep, in the middle of our argument… he must hate me.” I stand and walk to the balcony, worry climbing up my stomach.

“No, he’s fine. Elijah is strong and I’ve never known him to be scared of anything. Until you. He’s so scared that something is going to happen to you, Emery. It’s making him all kinds of crazy and overprotective. You’ve only known him for a few days, you were right when you said that earlier and you can’t help the truth. But you need to understand that he’s been watching you for a long time. Cut him some slack.”

I lower my head feeling awful. “I need to tell him about our parents, about me. He needs to know I’m dangerous.”

“You’re not a danger to us,” Kade declares.

I spin around. “I am! Don’t try to downplay this. I may have only known you all a few days, and I may have said some harsh things to Elijah earlier, but the truth is I
feel
for you, especially you two, and these aren’t feelings that have been projected onto me, these are from me. They’re mine to own.” I move inside to sit back down on the sofa. “I can’t bear the idea that I might cause either of you pain.”

Kade comes to sit next to me. “Listen, I know I’ve probably seemed cold over the last few days, but I had to make sure you knew where we stood. I will always care for you, but I’ll never want to take it further. I just can’t, Emery.”

“I know that
,
you don’t have to keep telling me,” I say, feeling humiliated again.

“Hey, that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. If boundaries have been firmly established, then we can both move forward. I’m not going to lie, it will be hard. But seeing as we can use each other’s powers it might be good to work together, so you can learn mine.”

“And you can learn mine,” I chip in.

Kade grins. “Let’s take one step at a time…
you
have to learn your powers first,” he says, and I grin right back at him.

“Why can I use your powers without your permission? At least I think I was using your powers…” I ask, realizing Elijah never answered that question for me.

“You’re a Laird. The six head houses have some kind of ability passed through the ages. The head female, if she ever meets her other half, can use his powers at will without his permission. You’re kind of like a princess.”

“Princess…” I mumble.

“You like that? I’ll make sure to remember that name from now on,” Kade tells me still grinning.

“This is the most time you’ve ever spent near me,” I say tilting my head and taking him in.

His grin drops. “Yeah. You can be addictive. I need to get a handle on that,” he mutters quietly.