Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) (28 page)

“Now it’s time to plan,” Joey said. “How much time do you think we have before they come at us?”

“Couple of days. Maybe a week,” Caden said.

As we sat in silence, a somber feeling fell over the room. At some point, we stopped using glasses and we were now just passing a bottle from person to person. Sometime right before dawn we called it quits. Dave stumbled up to his place. Mike and Joey passed out in the booths with a bottle of whiskey still sitting on the table between them. Alex was in the kitchen, he had decided to make himself some breakfast before crashing.

I half walked, half stumbled toward the elevator, partially leaning on Caden to make it.

“How come you’re not drunk?” I asked eyeing him suspiciously.

“It doesn’t affect me as much. Whoa!” He reached out and grabbed me before I took a nasty fall. “This might be safer,” he said as he leaned down and hoisted me over his shoulder.

“You’ve got a nice butt,” I said as I hung down his back. I reached down and grabbed it. “Wow. It’s really hard too.”

“Stop that!”

“How did it get so hard?” I asked as I kept touching it. All shyness gone after the copious amounts of whiskey I’d consumed.

The elevator doors opened, and he walked me into my room and tossed me onto the bed. He pulled my shoes off and tossed the down comforter over me.

“Get some sleep,” h
e said as he was walking out of my room and shutting the door, but I didn’t want to get some sleep. I laid there for all of ten minutes before I got up and walked into his room without warning.

He stood there, in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. The lights were dimmed low, and it made him look even sexier if that was possible. I smiled as I looked at his perfect tan body. Muscles rippling all the way down his abdomen.

“I can’t give you what you need.”

“You don’t know what I need,” I said brazenly. I’d never been so forward in my life, but I wanted him, even if it was just going to be for one night. I wanted him before this all ended. A war was coming, and whether we won or we lost, I might never be here with him again.

“You’re drunk.”

“I am,” I said as I slowly lifted my shirt over my head. I had great breasts. I’d seen him noticing them many times and the look in his face showed he wasn’t immune now either. I striped of my pants next. He wasn’t speaking anymore but watching my slow strip tease, as I tantalizingly removed every article of clothing until I stood there completely naked.

“Do you really want me to leave?” I asked as I wet my lips.

I could see his chest move with labored breathing and in the next second, he was on me. We didn’t even make it to the bed. He took me down to the floor right where I had stood and he was all over me. His mouth kissed, bit and licked every inch of my fevered skin. I’d never felt so hot for a man in my life. When he entered me, he filled me entirely. I wondered if demons were all built like this, or if I was just lucky. He moved in ways that I knew no human man could and I barely caught my breath before another wave of pleasure would come over me.

I couldn’t get enough, I wanted to crawl into his skin and merge with every cell. We came together with me breathing his name as he covered my mouth with his own and I knew at that moment I’d lied. I’d lied to him and myself. I needed more than one night. I’d never be able to walk away from this man.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It was three p.m. the next afternoon, and I was in the upstairs kitchen scrambling eggs. It wasn’t my normal omelet, but I had a headache and scrambled was all I was capable of at the moment.

Caden was pacing around the front room like a caged lion with Mike and Joey in attendance. Caden was already up here when I came up and we hadn’t been alone yet. I’d awoken this afternoon alone, wrapped in his sheets, feeling like a rag doll with every muscle sore and spent.

Mike and Joey were talking about how Dave had sent Diane to her mother’s full time for an extended stay until this situation calmed down. He didn’t want her in a ten mile radius of what was going down. I’m sure just another reason he’s going to hate me. I couldn’t blame him either. From everything I had heard, and seen, it did seem to have gotten much worse since I entered their lives.

A pounding at the front door made me look up from my eggs. It was unusual for anyone to show up unexpected. Since they had closed the doors to the public, only people who were welcomed and expected came anymore. I had to do a double take when I saw who it was. Sergeant Metulla was striding into the middle of the room and shaking hands with Caden. I left my eggs to dry out in the hot pan and walked just within the room. He looked my way and seemed to hesitate.

Caden looked in my direction and our eyes met and locked for a moment. “It’s fine. She’s with us,” he said to Sergeant Metulla.

“Robbie hasn’t been seen in weeks. This is the third man that went missing in the last two months. We don’t know what to do anymore. They’re completely out of control. We need help,” said Sergeant Metulla. His voice had been cracking from desperation and he collapsed on the nearest chair. His shoulders slumped, and he looked ten years older than the last time I had seen him.

“You knew what they were,” Caden said in harsh recrimination, and the guys just nodded and agreed.

Metulla’s head dropped a couple inches lower. “This wasn’t what we agreed to. I never would have agreed to this. None of us would have. The things they are doing, the missing people, the missing cops. People are getting suspicious. They aren’t buying the excuses anymore. The mayor is asking questions.”

“I warned you. You didn’t listen. You and your guys wanted the perks and now you want me to clean up the mess?” Caden stopped and stood in front of him.

I didn’t think Metulla would look at him but then he did. There were tears in his eyes. “I don’t know what else to do. They’re threatening my daughter.” He bent his head into his hands and his shoulders started to shake.

I’d never seen a nervous breakdown, but he looked like he might be on the verge.

Caden rested his hand on Metulla’s shoulder as the man’s head remained cupped in his hands. “Things are about to be handled. It’s not going to be a problem very soon. Go back to your squad and let the guys know to just lay low for another week or two. After everything is ironed out, we’ll sit down and work out the details. Get me the names of the families of the missing men I’ll take care of it.”

He looked up at Caden, and I could see the faint wetness that he hurriedly tried to hide, still dampening his cheeks. “I know we’ve had our differences. You have to know we never wanted to take sides. Thank you. The guys will feel much better after I tell them.” He stood and before I knew what was happening, he was hugging Caden. It was an awkward scene to say the least. Mike and Joey high tailed it out of there. I think they were afraid they would be next. Caden, who always knew what to do, was standing frozen, locked in the sergeants embrace. Luckily, it ended quickly and he left thanking Caden profusely.

“That was the cop that wouldn’t help me.”

“I know. Sometimes things aren’t that simple. He wanted to, he just couldn’t. He made a bad choice that he has to live with. His daughter is probably already dead. They don’t hold onto mortals.”

I hoped he was wrong and that his daughter was okay. I thought back once again to my short time with them and shivered. I had been treating well compared to what a young girl with nothing to offer would get.

Forcing the dark thoughts from my mind, I looked up and realized the room stood empty now, except for him and I, and neither of us seemed to know how to act.

“We should talk,” h
e spoke first.

Not knowing what to say, I simply nodded my head.

“You’re a beautiful woman.”

Here it comes is all I could think. This wasn’t going to be what I wanted to hear, but I had expected it. I just needed to know, why did it have to hurt so much.

“I just can’t have a relationship with you.”

“You can’t have a relationship or you can’t have a relationship with me? Which one is it?”

“Both.”

Wow, that went even worse than I had expected.

“If you’ll remember, I didn’t ask you for a relationship.”

“It’s who you are.” He looked like he was sad about it. Like it would have so much easier if I was different.

“You’re right. I deserve more.”

“I know you do, but I can’t give it to you.”

I nodded, afraid to speak, clinging hard to retain my composure.

“So then we are okay?”

I nodded again and cleared my voice. “What are you going to about Metulla?”

“I’ll handle it. We probably shouldn’t talk in too much detail about that since you aren’t going to be staying with us, unless you changed your mind?”

“No, I think it’s for the best if we both do our own thing.” I wanted to tell him I had. That I was going to stay, for whatever that meant, but I couldn’t. He’d think it was solely because of what happened between us and he would be right. How embarrassing would that be? Did I really want to write a banner for him that I’m completely utterly into you even though you don’t want anything to do with me?

“Do you know what’s going to happen with Rufus now that Carl is dead?”

“The board called a meeting for tomorrow night. Seems I’m getting called out on the carpet for his death.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that it might be a meeting or it might be a set up. Either way, I’m going to go.” He paused for a moment. “They want you there as well, but I told them no. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” He was watching my reaction.

The idea of sitting and waiting to see if he made it out alive wasn’t even slightly appealing. “What about the other guys?”

“No, they just want me and you. I’ve made plans for you to be somewhere else when I go to the meeting. I want you to leave tonight.”

“You mean you are going alone? You won’t even bring Mike?”

“I’ll be fine, but if it gets too ugly it might be better if you’re somewhere else for a while.”

“You told me that I couldn’t hide from this?”

“You can’t for the long term. Eventually, they will find you, but I’m hoping that you’ll be stronger by then.”

“Would I ever see you guys again?” I said guys, but what I meant was him.

“We live a long time. I’m sure we’ll cross paths at some point or another.”

That’s not what I had meant, but if he didn’t care I wasn’t going to push to see someone that didn’t want me. I guess that walking away or not, wasn’t going to be my choice after all. I was being shoved away.

“I’m not running away and hiding. I’m going to the meeting tomorrow.”

“I told you…”

“And I’m telling you. This isn’t your decision. I was invited. I’m going.” I wasn’t going to allow him to make my choices any longer. There was nothing left to say, and I left him standing there as I walked from the room. I needed space. I needed to clear my head.

The meeting tomorrow might change everything. I’d just started to get my bearings and I was spinning like a top again, dizzy and wavering. It might be the end or maybe it would resolve everything. Maybe they would listen to reason and handle the Rufus problem. I could go back to a somewhat normal existence. No one would have to know I was different.

I’d miss the guys, especially Mike. He’d become one of my best friends, but nothing even came close to how I felt about never seeing Caden again. That didn’t matter, or at least I couldn’t let it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I walked through the next day like a zombie, trying to get what affairs I could in order. I left letters to my friends and family with Mike if I didn’t make it back. Mike tried to reassure me it would all be fine, but I didn’t feel it in my heart.

It was an effort to speak as a depression settled over me. I had thought the worst would be to never see Caden again, but I realized his death was far worse. I shouldn’t care, but I did. Mike said Caden would be fine, and I clung to that. We were a tough breed and he was even tougher than the rest of us he had told me. I’d be there. I wouldn’t let it happen, if only by my sheer will alone. As long as he lived, there was always a chance it might work out in the future but death was finite. That would be it. There would never be a happily ever after.

I knew he wanted me. I just didn’t know why he was pushing me away. If he died, I’d never know, I’d just mourn what might have been for the rest of my life.