Kindred (5 page)

I notice Daisy’s head move side to side in an intense, solid motion, but to my semi-surprise, Cecilia saves me and continues rambling.

“My dad’s awesome,” she says, shaking her feet crossed at the ankles, back and forth as if she can’t sit still. “I think he’s getting me a car for my birthday.”

I smile over at her.

Suddenly, Cecilia’s face falls and she leans back up from her casual lounge and crosses her legs in front of her again; her shoulders fall over into a slouch.

Of course—Tori and her minions. Tori doesn’t seem to like Cecilia, either, even though she really isn’t part of the I Hate You Because of Sebastian group. The fact that she’s sitting with us right now only makes Cecilia that much more target-worthy.

“You know,” Tori says, stopping a few feet from us with a hand propped on her hip, “I think maybe you should watch what you say about me around here.” She’s glaring down at Cecilia and I’m quietly trying to figure out where this is going. “Marc dumped you because you’re a freak. He’s with me because I’m not. Get over it.”

Okay, I don’t generally get involved in this leftover Jr. High angst stuff, but I’ve had just about enough of Tori’s ridiculous, immature antics.

Cecilia may be annoying as hell, but….

I’m probably going to regret this.

“Tori,” I say glaring up at her, “why don’t you get over
yourself
? Just back off.”

Tori sneers down at me like I’m a bad outfit, but I seem to have successfully gotten my point across because she scoffs and walks away. I’m completely surprised; I expected a bit more hostility from her, but I’m not complaining.

I notice out of the corner of my eye Daisy grinning.

Cecilia watches Tori and her friends for a disparaging moment and then she looks back at me. I’m scared of that overly thankful, I-like-you-now-more-than-ever look on her face right about now.

Yes, I’m already regretting it….

“Isn’t she
vulgar
?” Cecilia says with a misshapen expression. “One time, she….”

I don’t know what she’s rambling on about, but somehow my ears have closed off all sound coming from her. I look over at Daisy, who still hasn’t bothered to jump in. She’s staring off toward the skate bowl now, watching Harry speed back and forth across the concrete.

It might’ve been worth it to see what Daisy would do if Tori hadn’t backed off. Tori I can handle, but trying to hold off three at the same time might not end as well. Daisy, on the other hand, can take on anyone out here. Funny how soft and sweet Daisy comes off to people, but the reality is that to piss her off is a serious death wish.

“Hey girl,” Cecilia says, waving her hand in front of my face, “I said here comes your man-candy.”

I snap back into Cecilia’s voice, glad that she’s done with her little gossip tirade.

“I
really
would like to know how you managed to snag
that
one,” she adds, watching Isaac approach us from the parking lot. “Does he have a brother? Seriously—I’ll take his second cousin.”

“Yeah, he has a lot of brothers,” I say rising to my feet and not really paying much attention to her. Definitely not realizing what kind of damage my off-hand answer has probably done.

Isaac smiles the whole way across the pavement and the grass. He takes me into a kiss, pulling me a little off the ground with his hands locked firmly on my hips. Instinctively, I pull away and scan him over, looking for any signs of new scars, or anything that might tell me his time in the mountains wasn’t an entirely decent one.

“Not a scratch,” Isaac says with a grin, knowing what the investigation is all about.

“I’m Cecilia,” she introduces herself, again. They’ve met before, but like I said, Cecilia is quite eccentric. “I hear you have a big family.”

I freeze up, my eyes bulging. Isaac looks right at me curiously, probably wondering just what I’ve been telling Cecilia.

“I uh…I was just telling her that you have a lot of brothers.” My face is hot with a twinge of embarrassment.

But Isaac’s smile just gets bigger and he pulls me toward him again, encircling me in his arms.

“Yes, Cecilia, I do have a big family,” he says smiling, and I feel his arms tighten around me as if to let me know he’s fully aware of the reason behind Cecilia’s harmless inquiry.

Cecilia’s face stretches into the biggest shit-eating grin I have ever seen. I’ve never noticed how straight her teeth are.

I wonder if Isaac knows exactly what’s he’s getting himself into, but I just leave it alone. If anything, it’ll make for some interesting predicaments that might be fun to watch Isaac try to worm himself out of later.

Daisy stands up and is staring off toward the road, but I don’t think anything of it at first.

The dizziness comes out of nowhere again, but it’s only mild. I reach over and hold onto Isaac’s arm for balance.

He notices right away. “Adria, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing,” I say, letting my vision pull together properly. “Really,” I add because Isaac doesn’t look like he’s buying it, “I’m fine now; just a head-rush.”

“Oh
shit
…” Cecilia grumbles. “My brother’s here, I have to go. He’s such an ass—Mom probably sent him out here to look for me.” She puts her hand on Isaac’s shoulder and says with a smile, “Don’t be such a hermit—and bring a brother next time!” And then she scurries off in the opposite direction of the tall, brooding guy walking our way and looking as if he’s searching for someone.

“Isaac,” Daisy says with her gaze still fixed out ahead, but finally she tears her eyes away from the road and I’m not sure I like the look on her face.

I look to and from them both as they stand with their eyes locked.

“What’s going on?” I say.

Nathan’s Cruiser comes tearing around the corner toward the skate park. I feel Isaac’s hands tighten around my arms.

“Seriously,” I say, my chest swirling with unease, “Isaac what’s going on?”

Still, neither of them answers, but I’m getting the feeling that as Nathan gets closer, practically ramping the speed bumps, they are still trying to figure it out themselves and just don’t have a solid answer for me yet. Isaac pulls me along with him toward the parking lot where Nathan squeals his tires into two parking spaces.

“We’ve got company,” Nathan says from the driver’s side window. He doesn’t look nervous; he looks kind of…
excited
.

“Who is it?” Isaac says and I glance carefully over at him, noticing the same sort of excitement hidden just beneath the surface of his face.

“Not sure yet,” Nathan says. With his arm hanging out the window, he pats his door hard twice with his open palm. “It’s a challenge though—Xavier just called me—so let’s go.” A devilish grin spreads across his face and while I’m still trying to figure out which emotions to activate, I feel Daisy step up behind me.

“She can stay here with me,” Daisy says.

“Uhh, no,” I object. “Not this time.”

Isaac looks over at me and his expression softens, but before he gets the chance to tell me about how I really should stay with Daisy, or that I could ‘get hurt’, I stand my ground.

“I’m not staying here,” I say resolutely. “I’m going.”

As Isaac’s face falls, Nathan’s grin just gets bigger. His girlfriend, Hannah, sits coyly in the passenger’s seat looking at me.

“Oh, let her come, bro,” Nathan says, patting the door again. “They’re not rogues.”

Okay, so ‘they’ are obviously werewolves and I’m not liking where the word ‘challenge’ is starting to fit into this conversation. And despite them not being rogues, I’m all of a sudden feeling like I should probably stay behind with Daisy anyway.

But I can’t back out now. Nathan will screw with me about it forever if I do. I’ve already flipped my stupid switch and the only way to come back from it is to stick it out and prove myself.

Isaac sighs deep and takes my hand.

“We’ll follow you there,” he says to Nathan.

Nathan winks at me and backs the Cruiser out fast as Isaac pulls me toward his Jeep.

4

“OKAY, NOW TELL ME what this is about,” I say looking over at him from the passenger’s seat.

We speed out of the skate park, hitting the speed bumps as roughly as Nathan had coming in. Instinctively, my hands come up, bracing my palms against the roof to keep my head from hitting it.

“When another pack comes to town,” Isaac says, watching the road, “their Alpha catches wind of who runs the place and naturally he wants to challenge us for leadership.”

“But your father is Alpha here.”

“No,” Isaac says looking right at me, “my father is Alpha
everywhere
. No one challenges him. No one since Viktor Vargas has ever challenged my father for Sovereignty.” He looks back out at the road as the Jeep hugs the curves a little too tight and fast for my nerves. “This is on a smaller scale and my father could care less about these kinds of things.”

“Okay, ummm, so then why does Nathan seem so excited about being challenged?”

Isaac grins, letting me know that Nathan isn’t the only one who’s excited. I don’t know if I like that or not, either.

“We live for this,” he says and I swallow hard. I notice too that he’s white-knuckling the steering wheel. “Just stay in the Jeep.”

I grit my teeth and bite the inside of my bottom lip. “Let me make one thing clear right now, alright?” I glare at him from the side and he looks mildly surprised by my reaction to his words. “The next time someone says to me the words ‘get in the Jeep’ or ‘stay in the Jeep’, I swear I’m gonna’ combust.” I point my finger at him. “I’m not staying in the Jeep. If it makes you feel better, I’ll stand right outside of it and even leave the door open in case I have to jump back in, but I’m
not
staying
in
it.”

Isaac barks a laugh. “God, I love you!” he says, breaking a smile in my serious expression.

A few more minutes and we’re turning north away from the direction of their house.

“Just out of curiosity,” I say, hiding how nervous I really am, especially after my little rant, “why is it okay to bring me, anyway?”

Isaac smiles knowingly. I can’t hide anything from him it seems.

He reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh.

“Rogues would have no problem using you to get to us. They have no honor,” he says. “The kind challenging us now would never disgrace their name with tactics like that.”

“So then I’m perfectly safe?” I need more assurance. A lot more.

“Yeah,” he says, grinning, “If we win.”

I feel my eyes get bigger.

“And if you
don’t
?”

Isaac moves his hand farther up my thigh and my body reacts to it instantly. Of course, I don’t let him know that. He’s grinning wider now, full of confidence, which eases my mind somewhat.

“It’s a possibility,” he says, “but not likely.”

“How can you be so sure?” I’m still nervous. I doubt anything he says will really change that. “And how do you know they’re not rogues if you don’t even know who they are?”

“Have a little faith,” he says and then adds as he puts his hand back on the steering wheel, “and they’re not rogues because rogues never challenge anyone; they just attack.”

I should’ve known that, having experienced it and all.

We get off the paved Town Farm Road and white dust engulfs the Jeep as the dirt and gravel road extends out ahead. Nathan’s Cruiser is in front of us spinning up even more. I press the buttons to raise both windows but still taste the nuisance coming in through the vents. Our vehicles slip quickly down the bumpy road between engulfing trees on both sides until we shoot out at the end into a clearing. It looks like an abandoned construction zone. The trees have been stripped from this place, leaving a small circular landscape of large rocks and white, chalk-like dirt. Parked in the far corner are two bulldozers that look like they’ve been sitting there for months.

When we get out of the Jeep, I decide to do exactly what I said I’d do by leaving my door open and standing beside it just in case. I’m not doing it for Isaac. I’m doing it for myself. I swallow hard and brace my hands against the door. I’ve never seen all of Isaac’s brothers in one place before, not even at the Mayfair house. When Nathan and Isaac were in one room, Xavier and Seth would be off somewhere else. And it’s been only on a rare occasion that I’ve ever even spoken to Xavier. I’ve
never
spoken to Seth.

I glance over into their vehicles and notice a girlfriend in the front seat of each one (except for Xavier’s—he’s kind of a man-whore and doesn’t believe in having one girlfriend). Apparently, I’m the only one with the stupid switch still on. I move a little closer against the opened door.

Isaac looks back at me once as if to make sure I’m not going any farther. Yeah, there’s really no need at all for him to worry about that.

“Where are they?” Xavier says looking with his brothers out at the thick trees encircling us on the ledge. Xavier, being Daisy’s twin, definitely resembles her with that blond hair and soft eyes, but like Isaac and the rest of his brothers, he has that whole savage beauty thing going on.