Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (220 page)

“
There’s, um…The bandage is
still on.”

“
Oh, yeah.” My eyes
adjusted to the light and I propped myself up on an elbow. Taking
up one side of the taped gauze, I ripped it off.

Aiden blinked and then leaned over my
legs to get a closer look.

I stared, too. All the raw skin that
should’ve taken days to heal healed overnight. There wasn’t any
sign of a wound, not even redness: Just smooth, tanned skin
overtaken with some scribble mark.

“
Weird.” With the tip of my
finger, I traced the black line. Nothing felt off. Well, not that I
could tell.

“
How does it feel?” He
spoke barely above a whisper.

“
Normal. Like skin…I
think.”

Aiden continued to stare like he was
touching it with his eyes. “So, it’s not coarse or…”

“
No. Feel it.”

Shifting
his position on the bed, Aiden cautiously reached out. Pausing,
hand midair; he hesitated briefly, like he wasn’t sure
how
to touch
it

As his
fingers swept over the tip of the mark, I inhaled and looked at the
wall. His movement stopped, but he didn’t pull his hand away.
Instead, he slowly proceeded to trace the entire tattoo. My body
tingled and something told me it wasn’t a side effect of the mark.
I tightened my grip on my shirt, giving myself a mental
reminder:
Kember
.
Drea
.
Kember
.
Drea...

After repeating those words probably
close to a hundred times, Aiden removed his hand and placed it on
his leg. “It doesn’t feel any different than mine. Then again,
normal tattoos don’t change or cause pain.”

I sighed. “Or randomly appear.” I
dropped my gaze to his side. “What’s your tattoo, anyway? Some kind
of Chinese writing?”

He glanced down at himself and shook
his head. “Arabic.”

“
Arabic?
Why
?”

“
My first assignment with
the Guard was in Saudi Arabia.” He pulled his shirt up, revealing
the black dots and curvy lines. “The Authority requires all members
to have a tattoo of their ability.”

“
It’s way
cool.”
And incredibly
hot.

He released his shirt, and it slid
down, covering his torso. “Listen. Let’s head home, research the
mark and see what we can find. In a few days, if it’s not gone…we
should call Ian.”

I sat up. “No, you said—”

He reached out in a calming gesture.
“Before you get upset, let’s see what we find. I just don’t want
anything bad to happen.”

I chuckled darkly. “Yeah, knowing my
luck, it’s gonna slowly suck away my life or something.”

He stared at me, straight-faced, and I
knew I’d said the wrong thing—as usual. I could almost see the
wheels turning behind his heart-stopping green eyes as he
considered that theory.

“
I—I was kidding. You know,
like a joke.” Oops. I dropped my gaze and cleared my throat. “So,
what now? Can we keep looking for things on that Sable Gage
guy?”

He sighed, seeming reluctant about
changing the subject so soon. “I don’t think so. The last thing we
need is for him to think we’re curious about him. By the sound of
it, he has multiple Rygons waiting for a command.”

“
So that’s it, huh? We came
down here so I could get harassed and branded?”

“
No.” He raked his hand
through his hair. “We came down here to be in a huge crowd and find
out if this Sable Gage was the man we were searching for. That
didn’t mean we were going to snoop or overstep our boundary. We’re
on his territory; we don’t want to raise suspicions.”

I slapped my hands down in my lap,
narrowing my eyes. “So we go home and sit?”

“
No.” He stood and walked
toward his bag. “We go home and search for the girl. She’s the only
one, aside from you, that we know has seen the Kember—or will see
him. Maybe she knows something about your mark.”

“
We looked everywhere. We
couldn’t find her.”

A glint of what seemed like
determination shone through his eyes. “We’ll find her.”

His cell started to ring and he
clutched it harder in his hand.

“
That was fast.”

“
It’s not Ian.” Aiden took
a deep breath and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey,
Joshua.”

I pointed to the bathroom and
whispered, “I’m gonna shower.”

Nodding, he leaned against the desk.
“Good. Everything’s great here.” He pinched the bridge of his nose
and closed his eyes. “We’re getting ready to head out.”

He hated to lie. I could tell. But…he
did. Just as he promised. I bit my lip, feeling things I hadn’t
felt in a long time. Trust. Gratitude. Climbing off the bed, I bent
and grabbed my bag from the floor.

“
Rygons?” he sounded
bewildered.

I straightened my stance and glanced
back at him. The suitcase fell from my hand as he pushed away from
the desk, wide-eyed, jaw clenched.

Chapter 16

Aiden paced the room. “Four?
What—”

I scrambled to stand in front of him
and tripped over my suitcase in the process. Jumping forward, I
yelled, “What happened?”

He held his hand up and turned
away.

Running in front of him again, he must
have seen my concerned expression. “Skyler’s fine?”

Oh hell. A sick feeling squeezed my
stomach. I held my breath and waited.

He nodded, and I collapsed back onto
the bed, relieved.

“
We ran into two last
night, but they didn’t give us any problems.”

Sitting with my legs crossed, hands in
my lap, Aiden strode around the room. His free hand swept through
his hair every few minutes as he talked. Finally, he lowered the
phone and dropped into the chair. He seemed to forget my
presence.

I snatched a pillow from behind me and
chucked it at his head. He caught it, before it connected, and
looked up.

“
Hey, you gonna fill me in
on what happened or sit there and meditate?”

“
Oh…um.”
He cleared his throat and straightened. “Joshua and Skyler were
attacked by Rygons. Four
very
strong ones. ”

“
Skyler said they weren’t
going out.”

“
They came to the
house.”

I jumped from the bed. “What? Like—
like—”

“
The Whitmores? Yes. Only
Joshua was able to hold the Rygons off. Two other Drea homes were
hit earlier near Portland, and they weren’t so lucky. Kembers dead,
Dreas missing…Something’s going on.”

I swallowed hard. If anything happened
to Skyler and Joshua…I didn’t even want to consider it. “Think
they’re the same Rygons?”

“
I’m not sure, but it seems
likely. All the attacks have occurred the same way.” He paused,
staring into space. “It’s rare for Rygons to ambush homes. Usually
they stalk Dreas and pick them off the street.”

“
Maybe Kembers are making
it too tough on Rygons, and they’re getting desperate.” I shrugged.
“They could have a new game plan.”

Aiden seemed to consider it. “Maybe…”
He stood and shrugged. “Either way, the Authority will deal with
it. It’s not my place anymore.”

“
Couldn’t have said it
better myself. So…we still on for breakfast?”

Still appearing distracted, he
nodded.

*****

Breakfast
was quiet. The ride back home wasn’t much better. Occasionally, I
asked a question and got a simple, one syllable answer. I took the
hint. Aiden kept his word, so I finished reading
To Kill a Mockingbird
in
record time, convinced I could write a snooze-worthy paper about
it. Three long hours later we arrived home and did exactly what I
was afraid of: sat.

For two days, Aiden searched for the
mark in all kinds of languages. What he really wanted was Ian to
take a look. Um, no thanks. In that case, I’d down a bottle of
vodka and take tattoo removal into my own hands.

Sure the mark freaked me out, but I
still couldn’t quite decide if I wanted to know what it meant.
Possibly, Ian knew. I just didn’t know if I wanted to be informed
about my impending doom. If the mark was slowly sucking the life
out of me, or if the Kember placed it there to lure me in front of
a semi going full speed, fine. I’d face it head on. Nothing like
being thrown into the water to learn how to swim.

Chewing the bottom of my lip, I
continued brushing my pencil across my sketchbook. I stopped on a
dime, realizing I’d subconsciously drawn the mark. I snapped out of
my zone further. Aiden knocked on my door. Lying on my stomach, I
shoved the sketchbook under my pillow and pulled my Algebra book
and notebook back in front of me.

“
I know. I know. I’m
studying.”

Aiden stepped into my room holding a
cardboard box big enough to fit all four of my school books
in.

“
You know, I was thinking
bonfire, but I like this idea better.” I closed the book and held
it out to him.

“
Nice
try.” Sitting on the end of the bed, he reached in the box and
pulled out an iPhone. “Here I programmed in my number, Joshua’s and
Skyler’s.” He held it out to me. “Call Skyler
soon
so he’ll stop calling
me.”

I sat up
and scooted to the edge of the bed. Giddiness took over common
sense as I snatched it. “It’s mine?” I turned it around in my
hands, noting Aiden had the same one, only black, and admired the
sleek design. Music
and
connection to the outside world, all in one.
“You’re a saint!”

He blinked. “Uh…I have music on my
laptop you can download onto it, if you want.”

I tried to arch an eyebrow like he did
to me sometimes. “Country?”

He bit back a smile.
“None.”

“
Sweet!” After everything,
this brought a bit of light in. “Um…” I glanced around the room
unsure how to say the next part. “T-Thanks.”

He dropped his gaze and nodded. The
corner of his lip lifted into a small, crooked grin.

Bam
! I stared stunned. A smile. An
actual smile. Okay, more like a half one, but still, enough of one
to send his “good looks” status off the charts and into the “words
couldn’t even skim the surface” category. I briefly wondered if I’d
ever get to see his full grin.

He stiffened. “Did you hear
that?”

I cocked my head and listened.
“Hear—”

“
Shh.”

“
You just—”

“
Shh.” Aiden held his hand
out in a “shut up” gesture. His eyes locked with mine, but his
attention appeared far away. I jumped when he sprang from my bed.
He bolted out of the room.

Before I could comprehend anything
other than “damn,” he rushed back through the doorway. “Get your
shoes.”

Damn was right. My adrenaline kicked
into high gear. I leapt from the bed. My mind jumbled, unable to
comprehend what I needed to do. “Wh—”

Aiden grabbed my DC’s from beside my
dresser and dropped them at my feet. “Now.”

Wind
ruffled the curtains when he threw open the window. I stared
blankly, anxiety creeping up on me when I heard Delmari’s words in
my mind.
Run.
The
brief picture of him grappling with the Kember rolled through my
mind.

“
Taylee!” Aiden had already
hopped out and was beckoning me. I snapped out of my zone,
adrenaline spiked, and slipped into my shoes. I didn’t know what
was going on, but by now, I knew not to question. Shoving my phone
in my pocket, I grabbed his outstretched hand and jumped into the
night.

My feet hit the ground and we sprinted
toward the towering pine trees, twenty-five yards away. I’d always
been active. The running I could handle. Darkness, on the other
hand, proved a challenge. When we passed the tree line, the little
light the moon cast got completely swallowed in the thick coverage
of branches and foliage. Why we were headed into the forest and not
for the truck, I didn’t know. I only knew a threat was coming.
Weaving around boulders and logs, underbrush tangled my feet. I
tripped and stumbled on the uneven ground, even slipped on leaves
like the most ungainly idiot while I struggled to keep up with
Aiden. The snapping of branches echoed and carried over the sounds
of the howling wind. Mercifully, he tightened his hold on my hand
and kept me from face planting.

My eyes watered, but I ignored the
branches scraping against my cheeks and tugging at my hair. We’d
run for so long my throat turned dry and my lungs felt ready to
burst. I couldn’t take it anymore. Not all of us possessed his
forbearance. “What’re we running from?”

He didn’t answer; he only pushed
forward harder.