Loving Lucius (Werescape) (13 page)

I want to make her feel better. To ease her worry and help her find the confidence to look people in the eyes again. But not today. I can't control Wolf just yet. Or tuck tail and whimper. I grated my teeth and nodded.

"Today, Lucius. There won't be any friction between anyone at my outpost. Clear the air between you and the woman. Then I will deal with you and Marcus. Now, explain this shit about you forgetting to tell me something as significant as these women are healers. I don't like nor understand why you forgot to mention something so important." He leaned back again.

Allowing me breathing room to cough up what he wanted. But never relinquishing me from the lance of his piercing glare.

"You will explain everything to me now," he snarled a gurgling threat of his Wolf's.

I offered a consolatory nod. "The female's got me flustered."

He just stared with his Wolf in his eyes.

Fine. "The little one said they were healers. Not the kind with herbs, Augustus. The kind with psychic powers of touch."

His brow knitted.

Would he speak?

He waved me on with a thick impatient finger.

"That was the first time Elise panicked at the mention of aliens."

"And what about the second time?"

"We were alone. She wanted to speak with me alone."

He sat up in the chair. "Alone? Her? Did you know she's always had a Guardian with her? That she'd never been allowed to be alone with men?"

No.

"Lucius, don't you see? It's obvious?"

What is he rambling about? "You'll have to tell me."

"She panics when you're around. It's you."

"And I'm supposed to feel better because I intimidate women?"

His curving lips warned with a budding scowl showing how my reply was totally unacceptable.

"Alright. Why does she panic around me?"

He chuckled an evil laugh, watching me as if he fed off my reaction. Or purposely wanted to make me uneasy. Probably trying to teach me a lesson for my poor choice of actions on the trail.

"You can't think because she's got you all flustered. I can't believe my eldest son is as clueless as a young lady who couldn't tell the man she became smitten with was as clueless about her feelings as he was about hers."

No Gods-be-damned way. "You're joking."

He wagged an evil grin at me. "She as much confessed it in what she said as openly stated it, Lucius. So now we both understand the reason for her anxiety. Do you feel as stupid and asinine as you should?"

Sires shouldn't be this arrogant. But he's right. As always. "Yes."

"Does your Wolf still want her?"

I never said Wolf did. Why did he phrase the question that way? I studied his glinting eyes.

"Well, then, we'll tell Marcus he can have her."

Mine
, Wolf growled, pressing up with his sharp claws, scraping ruthlessly at the underside of my ribcage.

I choked down Wolf's warning before Augustus laughed at the full growl.

"Well, we're done here." He waved me off.

No. We aren't. "Marcus better stay away from Elise."

Wolf fisted my hands so tightly that pain knifed through my fingers.

"Oh?"

The exaggerated "o" to his lips and his arched brow showed he enjoyed toying with me. Probably lied about Elise being clueless. A woman like her couldn't be.

Augustus' lips spread into a broad smile. "Then you have much work to do to make amends. Don't you?"

When I take the place of clan head, I swear I'll never do this to one of my sons. I nodded just so I could leave.

"I don't want to lay eyes on you again until she can stomach looking into yours. When she can sit with you at my table and treat you as if you've never done anything wrong, you are welcome to dine with me again. Until then, you better tuck your tail and kiss her ass. Because Marcus gets her if he wins her over first."

Mine
, Wolf snarled.

"Mind where you growl, Lucius." He waved me off with two fingers.

Fuck Marcus. I bit my tongue to keep the words to myself.

Pissed. My sire was angered beyond belief. But Marcus could chew an arm off to win Elise. I'll be damned if his attention worked. Because she's mine. I almost leapt at the door.

A lot of trudging between the lodges helped clear my head of Augustus' mind games while Wolf scanned the area for any sign of my scrawny deceptive brother. But, in the end, Augustus made me realize the true impact of my actions. Made me understand how I'd attacked a weaker person who should have been protected. Gods. Rather, adored. And the biggest battle was yet to come. All I could do was prepare for her rejection.

Surely she'd reject me. I would.

****

We'd bathed and met the outpost's women. Not a bad morning. Really. But Augustus was right. My secret devoured me from the inside out. Spending time with the chatting women who stared only made me feel more self-conscious. I gladly returned to hide in my cabin.

Alone.

At least no one witnessed my agony. Drea ushered Violet away to meet others her age, saying Violet would be busy until supper. Sherry had disappeared with Tacitus. That had to be far more pleasant than sitting here with a comb. All the implied touching and all. But being alone had its advantages. I could wallow in the memories I wished to forget without people nagging me about my expressions.

Alone. My lovely future. At least I had a few years with Violet before I'd live alone.

A knock rattled at my door.

Not the women. Dealing with them again seemed so smothering. Unavoidable. I left my comb on the table and pulled the door wide.

Lucius strong large form filled the doorframe.

Massive. Jaw set. Those blue eyes staring me down. Through to the core. Why? To torment me further?

My heart thrashed.

What do I say? I searched the ground, the bloused hem of his camouflage pants, his polished black combat boots, anything as far from his blue gaze as possible that might offer me some sort of
reason
.

"May I speak with you, Elise?"

Can he be trusted? This has to be another aspect of the interrogation. Must be. He's here to rip out my voice box. I'd be better off dead anyway. He certainly couldn't have come to seduce me. Not after that bizarre talk his sire had with me last night. I can't risk any male touching me after that interrogation. Unfortunately, Lucius probably listened to my tattling heart right now. It's best to play along. I nodded.

"I was hoping for a little privacy," he whispered.

No. Why?

This can't be good. No. Not with him. I shoved, slamming the door shut and pressed my shoulder blades into the hard biting wood.

A tap rattled softly.

He's still here. "No." Go away. God. What could he possibly want to say? To me? In private?

"I'm setting the basket down. Don't leave it long. The bugs will get to the food. I'm leaving now."

Okay. He's leaving. Everything will be alright.

My heart drummed so hard I had to press a palm against it to keep the pounding organ from breaking through my chest. But the beat helped tally the moments. So many breathable seconds I struggled to calm my unruly organ by gulping for breaths.

Finally, my body allowed me to move.

Basket. I could ignore it. Yes. But food isn't something people wasted. And if I ate whatever he brought, I could hide in here. Avoid moments where I'd encounter people and be forced to socialize. Where someone else might begin to think I harbored a secret that risked them all. And everything would begin all over again. Even with him. He's looking for me. That food would help me hide away. But is he out there? Waiting? I just need to hurry. I yanked the door open to an empty shady stretch of grass, a basket stuffed with objects, and the log wall of the neighboring lodge.

Nobody's here. I snatched the thick bent handle, slammed the door, placed the basket on the table, and dug through the large fabric bundle.

More than dried berries, biscuits, and fried chicken lay hidden in the basket. Soaps. Not just any soap. Bars that smelled of flowers and lemon. And a mirror. Why a mirror? Who needed a mirror out here to survive?

A blank book of paper. A pencil. Violet would scrawl her secret code across every page.

My gut somersaulted.

I'd have to hide both. There's too damned many things needing to be hidden. I turned back to the basket's final contents.

To a tiny vial of some kind of floral oil. Maybe rose. Peppermints. It looked like he'd broken into a trader's shop and stolen the good stuff. And given it to me? Why? Is this another way to trick me into a dangerous confession?

Unless…Lucius is apologizing. Why? After what he did. How could he have treated me like the enemy then try to win my friendship in the same breath? He's pretending to be nice to draw me into a false sense of security. To lure me into dropping my guard. To discover my secret. Well, that won't happen.

****

Where had Tacitus disappeared to? He wouldn't have gone hunting without me. We always went together. But he had a project now. Mouthy Red. Had he marked her since the first night I ate with my sire? If so, they'd be underground. I went through the secret entrance, down the concrete stairs, into the main hall of the compound's subterranean community.

Empty now. Most people only congregated here for breakfast and supper. The youths were in class in the lower level. Now is a good time to check the suites for new occupants and names of mated pairs who earned the right to claim a room because they had mated. I hurried to the corridor beyond the kitchen and passed the thirty doors. Each had a Shifter's name written on a small rectangular slip of paper in a metal frame to the upper right of each door. The last door on the right had Tacitus written on the plaque.

He'd be engrossed in the Mating Fever until Sherry nurtured his growing seed. I waited with Wolf in my ears.

Not a sound indicating they were caught in a mating frenzy seeped through the wooden door. Knocking couldn't hurt. I needed something to do. Something to keep my thoughts off Elise. Like hunting. I banged my knuckles against the door.

A second passed. Then another.

The doorknob rattled. The door jerked open about a foot.

Tacitus filled the entire gap, bare-chested, wearing combat boots and camo pants, eyeing me over.

"Fancy meeting you down here." I eyed his name next to the door. "Ta-ci-tus."

He smacked his lips as if unimpressed by my joke.

Typical reaction. "Busy?"

He shrugged.

"Too busy to go hunting?"

"Just a minute." He closed the door.

Hell. The only problem with your friends mating is that they suddenly left you standing in the corridor facing their door.

The door jerked back open, producing him with one arm in a sleeve, carrying his compound bow and quiver. He pulled the door tightly shut at his heels. "Let's go."

Asking what his mate did wouldn't get me anywhere with the big Shifter. I'd just have to be thankful hunting would help the afternoon pass.

We saddled horses and rode out of the sanctuary, into the broad-leaf forest of the southern Big Woods that was once called Townsend Woods, AEI. The various hardwoods leafed out in vibrant greens that stretched as far as the eye could see. Into a deep thick shadowy forest with little vegetation over a couple inches tall carpeting the forest floor.

"You haven't asked yet," Tacitus said where he rode behind me.