Desire: #4 Brightest Kind of Darkness (12 page)

He slowly shakes his head like that would never happen. “There was something else etched underneath the message.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “What’d it say?”

“E.W.”

“Who’s that?”

“The watch belonged to my Dad. Evan Wicklow.”

I stare at him for a second. “Your dad was a member of the Order?”

A muscle works on his clenched jaw. “Just another thing about him that I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry, Drystan.” His sarcasm tugs at my heart. “For what it’s worth, there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t know about my dad until recently either.”

“At least he gave you his name.”

Resentment rolls off him in such strong waves, all I can do is try to distract him and give him something to focus on. “Maybe the words etched on the watch’s back don’t mean what you think they mean.”

He frowns, skeptical. “There’s a reason it was hidden underneath. I can’t help but think his message was meant for me. In case I came to the Order.”

I smile a little. “If that’s true, regardless of its meaning, the fact your father cared enough to leave you a message should make you feel good.”

He grunts and glances away, mumbling, “I suppose.” Swinging his attention back to me, his eyes flash with renewed resentment. “It also means he kept even more secrets from me…and my mum. It’s bad enough he never married her, but neither of us had a clue about his past in England. We only just discovered he had a brother after my father died.”

I push my hair over my shoulder and try to think what I would do if I found myself in the middle of the Order’s headquarters. “If you want my advice, I think you should take advantage of your time at the sanctuary. Try to find out about the Order’s past and your dad’s part in it. With your ability to sneak into places, I’ll bet you can uncover more. Maybe there’s some documentation or records that refer to your dad. I can’t believe it hasn’t come up that he was part of the Order.”

He grimaces. “That’s the thing.
No
one has mentioned it at all. Then again, most of the people here are much younger than my uncle and might not remember my dad. My father had been in Wales almost thirty years. But no, my uncle hasn’t said anything about his younger brother ever being here.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

His mouth slants stubbornly, then a thoughtful look replaces his distrustful one. “Some of the kitchen staff are older. Maybe if I get them talking, they’ll reveal something…”

“See, there you go. You have a place to start. And don’t forget to look for records too.”

He nods, offering a half smile. “I knew you’d have some ideas. Thanks, Nara. I miss you already.”

I smile. “You’re missed here too.”

Movement in my doorway draws my attention. Ethan’s leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed. I can’t read his shuttered expression. “I’ve got to go, Drystan. Keep in touch.”

He nods and taps the keyboard, logging off.

Once my screen goes dark, Ethan walks into the room. “Your mom sent me up.” His focus shifts to my laptop. “I thought he’d be on his way to England by now.”

After he pulls a chair up next to mine and sits in it backward, straddling the seat, I answer, “He’s already there. That’s why he called.”

Ethan grunts and folds his arms across the back of the chair.

I ignore his obvious annoyance. “He told me something interesting. His father was a member of the Order at one time.”

Ethan shrugs. “I guess that makes sense since his uncle’s their leader.”

“That’s the thing…Drystan’s dad never told him about the Order. And his uncle didn’t tell him his father had been a member either. Drystan discovered it on his own when he examined the watch his uncle gave him with the Corvus symbol stamped on the back. Apparently the watch was his dad’s.”

He frowns slightly. “Drystan’s going to be a Paladin?”

“I don’t know if he will or not. He’s having a hard enough time trusting anyone. I can’t say that I blame him. His uncle might’ve been trying to ease him into the idea of becoming a Paladin and joining the Order, but not telling Drystan the truth while he was here in the U.S. around a Corvus was a mistake. I know Mr. Wicklow regrets leaving Drystan unprotected and feels guilt over him being possessed by that demon, but I don’t see him forgiving his uncle for that anytime soon. He doesn’t trust easily to begin with.”

“But he trusts
you
.”

My attention drifts to Ethan’s clenched hand resting on his forearm. Even though he knows I see Drystan only as a friend, I guess he’ll always think of him as a rival. “Well, I’m glad he trusts someone. I think being possessed by that demon affected him far more than he’s letting on.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Hey guys!” Lainey says, strolling into my room. “Your mom was hanging a wreath on the front door and said you were up here.”

More decorations? Sheesh, Mom!
Of course only Lainey would manage to look chic in a puffy jacket with a fur-lined hood and bright red Christmas socks. She must’ve left her designer snow boots by the front door. When she pushes the hood off, revealing her naturally curly red hair, I grin and take the shopping bag from her. “I see you didn’t bother with the flat-iron.”

“Why bother with this crazy weather.” Rolling her eyes, she shrugs out of her jacket, then tosses it onto my bed. “Can you believe they’re calling for a full-on blizzard tomorrow night?”

“A blizzard?” I say, holding the bag out for her.

“Yep. That’s why I’m here now.” She shakes her head and pushes the bag toward me. “Merry Early Christmas.”

“Oh, it’s for me?”

“I might not get back here for a couple of days if a ton of snow comes, so…” She nods to the bag in my hand. “Open it.”

I pull a hot pink T-shirt wrapped in tissue from the bag and hold it up.
Adder’s wheel keeper with certified street tread
is printed across the chest in black letters.

Ethan lets out a laugh and hooks an arm over my shoulders. “Love it, Lainey.”

She nods, giving him a knowing smile. “Thought you would.” Pointing to me, she says, “And you’re wearing it the next time we see Ethan play with Weylaid.”

“Um…I am?” Blatantly rubbing the fact that Adder’s taken in his fans’ faces isn’t my style. I look at Ethan for some help.

He chuckles and curls his arm, his muscles pulling me close. Pressing a kiss to my cheek, he says, “She’ll wear it.”

“You’d better.” Lainey huffs, putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t care if Ethan goes by a stage name, all those girls cat-calling Adder’s name need to know who holds the keys to his heart.”

When I glance at Ethan, his blue eyes hold mine, full of sincerity. “Yeah, you do.”

“If I didn’t have Matt, I’d be so jealous of you two right now.”

Laughing at Lainey, I reach over and hug her. “Matt’s a lucky guy. Thank you for the gift.”

Lainey hugs me back, then grabs the bag in my hand with a sigh. “Remind me never to pick you as my Easter egg hunting buddy. You suck at turning over every rock.”

“Huh?”

Reaching inside the bag, she pulls out something small wrapped in tissue. “Here’s your main gift. The T-shirt was just for fun.”

I unwind the tissue and a pair of quarter-sized silver hoop earrings falls into my hand. “Aw, thank you, Lainey.”

“Put them on,” she says, gesturing to my earring-free ears.

As I slip the earrings on, I smile and nod to the small box on my dresser wrapped in red paper and sporting a small white bow on top. “That’s your gift. Open it.”

With a wide grin, Lainey retrieves the box and quickly tears through the paper.

I grab the bow from the paper she’d torn off and stick it on top of her head as she pulls the silver charm bracelet out of the box.

“It’s gorgeous, Nara!” She quickly hands it to me and holds out her wrist.

As I hook the clasp, she inspects the charms I had the jeweler add to the links. “A horseshoe, a wishbone, a four-leaf clover, a rabbit’s foot, a cat’s eye stone, a hand with crossed-fingers and a locket?” Glancing at me in confusion, she says, “I definitely detect a ‘good luck’ theme here, but what does the locket do?”

I open it and show her the Corvus engraving the jeweler copied from the one Ethan had placed on my ring. “This symbol is also good luck. Always wear this and it will keep you safe.”

Lainey rubs her finger over the engraving, then closes the locket and lifts her brown eyes to mine. “Whew, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that about this symbol.”

Ethan and I exchange glances. “It’s a pretty rare symbol,” I say. “Have you seen it before?”

Lainey bites her lip and nods. “Yeah, Matt’s been drawing it a lot lately. He said he keeps seeing it and can’t get the image out of his head. At first I thought it was kind of neat, but now I don’t know. He can’t seem to stop drawing it. It’s the same image over and over. Like the one in the locket, but different.”

“How is it different?” Ethan asks.

Lainey doesn’t see it, but I notice the tension in his face as she says, “Well, it looks like it started out like the one Nara has inside the locket, but the way Matt’s drawing it, you realize that the one black bird was never a bird at all but thousands of smaller black birds that had formed the larger shape. It gave me a sense that it’s crumbling, or falling apart…” Straightening her shoulders, she offers a shaky smile. “He plans to get it tattooed on his arm, so I’m glad it means good luck.”

What does Matt’s drawing mean? How is he seeing the Corvus symbol?
I clasp Ethan’s hand and ask Lainey in a calm voice even though my insides are tense with worry. “His parents are going to let him get it?”

She nods. “Yeah, his dad thought it was cool.”

I shake my head and nod toward her bracelet. “Tell him I said to get the tattoo like the one in your charm if he has to get one.”

“And for God’s sake, tell him to get it where he can cover it up, like on his hip or something.”

“Why?” Lainey asks, eyes wide at Ethan’s brusque comment.

I squeeze his hand to calm him down. “Depending on the job Matt plans to go into, certain ones won’t allow tattoos to be seen. Why limit his options?”

When Lainey cocks an eyebrow, her gaze shifting to the ink on both of Ethan’s arms, he raises our clasped hands, a wolfish smile tilting his lips. “I don’t plan on having a career that’ll keep me from showing mine.”

“But it’s definitely something Matt should consider,” I jump in. “I hear removing tattoos is more time consuming and costly than getting them.”

“Oh crap.” Eyes wide, Lainey moves to pick up her coat. “Matt wants to be a doctor. I’d better get going.” Shrugging into it, she continues, “He was looking up a friend’s name, an artist who does tattoos, when I spoke to him earlier.”

“Thank you for my earrings, Lainey,” I say as I walk her to my doorway. “If Matt has any questions about the symbol, tell him to call me or Ethan.”

“Will do.” Lainey nods, then glances at Ethan over my shoulder. “Merry Christmas, you two. See you after the snowpocalypse is over.”

Once Lainey leaves, I turn to say to Ethan, “That was interesting,” but I bump into him instead. His chest is flush with mine as he cups my jaw. I shake my head and chuckle. “I’ll never get used to your speed—”

Ethan kisses me, cutting off my comment. I smile against his mouth and press my hands to his hard chest, kissing him back. His fingers slide along my jaw, just before he deepens our kiss.

My heart pounds and I surrender to the magnetic pull of his mouth moving over mine while his other hand applies pressure against the small of my back, tugging me closer, aligning my hips with his.

Just when our breathing starts to elevate and his hand slides to my rear, Ethan breaks our kiss and presses his forehead to mine. I sigh quietly, loving his intensity so much my heart aches. Touching his cheek, I say, “What was that for?”

He lifts his head, his thumb moving along my jaw in a rhythmic caress. “It just feels like something new is always being thrown at us.” Cupping my face in a tender hold, he continues, “But you and I—this—it’s the one thing I know is real. It’s not sand shifting under our feet.
We’re
rock solid.”

I feel the tension in his hold even if he doesn’t realize it. Clasping his wrists, I squeeze gently. “I’m here, Ethan. I’m not going anywhere. Yes, there seems to be constant changes and things tugging us in many directions, but I’m not running away.”

He kisses my forehead and murmurs, “I refuse to be kept away from you.”

Kept away? What is he talking about? I start to ask, but he pulls me close and wraps his arms tight around me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.

I lay my head on his chest and hug him back. No one’s trying to keep us apart. Why would he think— I quickly lift my head. “Did my mom say something to you about us downstairs?”

He looks down at me, confused. “No, why? Is something going on?”

“I’m just wondering why you’re suddenly so worried someone’s going to try to keep me from you.” I pat his jaw. “No one has the power to do that. Not even my parents.”

“Parents?” His brows pull together. “Did your dad say something?”

I start to say no, then realize it’s probably best to give him a heads up. “Um, I meant to tell you that while my dad was in my room this morning he used the bathroom and happened to see the wastebasket I hadn’t cleaned out yet.”

It takes a second for Ethan to make the connection, but when he does, his hold on me tightens. “What did he say?”

I shrug. “He tried to play the parent card. I called him on it and told him he didn’t know me well enough to judge me or my choices. Mom knows I’m on the pill; she’s the one who asked me about it a while back after she first met you, so…” I trail off and shrug. Ethan doesn’t need to know that my conversation with my dad was about his concerns over him being so darkly layered on top of the sexually active part.

Ethan’s blue eyes never leave mine. “So what’d he say to that?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course he’s not thrilled. He still sees me as a little girl. Anyway, I just thought it would be better to warn you so you’re not blind-sided if my dad tries to corner or intimidate you.”

Ethan shakes his head. “You’re the only one who can intimidate me.”