Phobia (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria) (30 page)

“
Enough, Alba.” Enric snapped. “Wisteria, this will all make sense once we have discussed it.”

“
There’s nothing to discuss,” Wisteria replied.

“
Do not order me. I do not answer to you or anyone.” He stomped out and slammed the door behind him.

Opening the door, she peered out into the darkness.
At first, she wanted to storm after him, but didn’t.

If Enric lost his temper
, he might make enough noise to attract trouble.

Instead, she closed the door and picked
up the dress Alba brought.

“
What are you thinking?” Garfield asked.

“
I can’t do anything about Alba or Felip at the moment. Right now, everyone wants to get to the Hall of Ages, so we’ll play along. I have the feeling we’ll have the upper hand once we arrive there.”

“
But you don’t know what you’re looking for,” Garfield noted. “And from what they’ve been saying, there are millions of artifacts and stuff in there.”

“
I overheard my mother say there is away to seal all the thresholds from there, maybe there’s a way to get home.”

“
What if you can’t find it?”

Dropping onto the bed,
she shook her head. “Merce told me that I’m driven, or rather the First Pillar is driven, by a powerful instinct. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out.”

Sitting
next to her, Garfield wrapped one arm around her in silence. Neither seemed to have the words to make each other feel better, so there was no point trying.

Clutching the tattered green dress,
she thought about what lay ahead of her. She wondered what difference she was really going to make. Even if she stopped the Dy’obeths, she still had to face Nero. Was that world any better for them than the one she’d be trying to prevent? She rested her head on his shoulder.

“
Where did Bach take you?” he inquired.

“
Somewhere in Jarthan. I guess.”

“
How was he?”

“
Changed. He isn’t the same person. I sensed a very dark entity inside him. Like he was—”

“
Possessed?” Garfield suggested.

She nodded.
“There were times he was almost himself and he begged me to kill him.”

“
Did you?”

“
I couldn’t. I wanted to help him, but I’d no clue how.” She recounted everything that had happened from Bach’s den up until she arrived at the barn.

“
What are you going to do when he shows up again? Because he will.”

“
All I know is I’m not going to kill him. Beyond that—I’m not sure.”

“
What if you find something in the Hall of Ages to destroy the Dy’obeths? He’s one of them now, so it’ll affect him too.”

“
I didn’t come here to murder Bach.”

“
Just think about what you’re going to do if you can’t help him.”

“
I should change because we’re going to have to leave here soon.” Changing the topic, she looked at the dress in her hands.

“Sure.” Garfield got up to leave. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

W
hipping off her top and jeans, she slipped on the dress. It fit slightly tight, but she managed to get it over her breasts and hips. Once dressed, she left the room in search of Garfield. Opening one door after another, she saw no one until she came to a kitchen of some sort, because it had an antique stove sitting in the center.

Enric stood in front of
it, stirring a small pot filled with something that smelt good.

Wisteria
’s stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten in days.

“
Eat.” Enric offered while not looking at her. “Felip said you saw one of his reapers, so we have to get moving. Merce and Turia will not be coming with us. With the reapers chasing them, they are keeping as far away from us as possible.”

“
Why is Alba here?” she asked calmly.

“
Our bloodline is buried on Sable Mountain. We will not have to worry about them coming here since they will have to cross the Jade Ocean.” He didn’t answer her question. “I suppose that is a silver lining.”

“
You bring in Felip and Alba? Are you out of your mind?”

“
You should thank me for getting you out of there.” Angrily dropping the spoon he was using to stir the pot, he turned to her.

“
Why? You’ve brought me to a worse place. Alba being here is far worse.”

“
Find your friend Garfield and get him ready so we can leave. Do you understand?” He barked and walked off.

“
We’re not done.”

“
Yes we are.” Waving his hand at her as if to dismiss her, he turned away again.

This
time, she grabbed his arm.

“
Do not touch me.”

“
I’ve told you never speak to me that way. You came looking for me because you need me, don’t forget that.”

“
Oh, I have not forgotten and once you are done, I will never see you or your kind again.” He squinted at her.

“
My kind? Wait, you don’t care that the Dy’obeths are killing the humans.”

“
I intend to free my people from Dy’obeths. I never will give a damn about Terrans.”

“
Then I’ll figure this out without your help.” Her hand itched to slap him.

Beating her to it, Felip punched Enric in the fac
e, knocking the bigger guy down. “
Qwaynide
, never talk to her like that again.”

“
D’cara
,” Fuming, Enric cursed. “Stop being an ass and get yourself and the girl ready.”

“
Wisteria, did he hurt you?” Felip asked.

“
I’m fine.” She walked away. When she re
turned toward the room where Garfield went, she found him hurrying in her direction.

She walked past him back to their room.

He followed. “What was that about?” Garfield asked once they were alone again.

“
Felip’s trying to prove a point.” She put on her jacket.

“
What point?”

“
That he’s changed or something.”

“
And you don’t think he has?”

“
He hasn’t.”

“
Well, he didn’t kill Bach when he had the chance. That doesn’t sound like the old Felip,” Garfield noted.

Wisteria paused.
“You’re right.” If there was one constant about Felip was his hatred for Bach. “Why didn’t he?” She then updated him on what Felip told her in the barn.

“
Perhaps he’s actually changed.”

“
He’s a liar and the murderer who killed Ollie and Piper.”

“
According to
Enric
, he killed Piper and we don’t know what actually happened to Ollie,” Garfield pointed out.

“
How can you defend Felip?”

“
I’m not, but maybe the guy made a mistake and is trying to do the right thing.”

“
The right thing in Felip’s mind is to look after himself.”

“
And you. He’s in love with you.”

“
Seriously, Arnold Ambrose or whatever your real name is?”

“
I’m a guy and I see the way Felip looks at you, even back in Smythe. Remember I used to live with him and even then, he was more into you than you realized,” he revealed. “And the name isn’t Arnold Ambrose.”

“
Felip isn’t in love with me. He wants to use me.”

“
A guy can want both. Men are complicated that way.”

“
Yeah, they are, Richard Augustus Stephen Hanover. Why did you hide who you were from me?”

“
I changed who I am. It isn’t the same as hiding.”

“
You know everything about me.”

“
Wisteria, I’m ashamed of my past. My family is a group of repressive overbearing blue-blooded cretins. They fundamentally believe they’re better than most people and did everything in their power to control me. I went to London with Harry to escape the pressure and party big, even though my dad got word of a public health threat,” he admitted.

“
And Owena, the woman from the dungeon, was she really your grandmother?”

“
Yeah, my mother’s mother.” He nodded. “My maternal grandfather’s family never approved of her and cut her out of our lives as soon as my grandfather died. My family was going to leave her to face the public health crisis on her own, so I told them if London is safe enough for her, then it was safe enough for me too. I came down here to party and have a good time, assuming they’d send bodyguards or whoever to bring me back kicking and screaming.”

“
But they never came.”

“
I’m sort of glad they didn’t, because I’m ashamed that my family learned something like Nero was coming and did nothing to protect anyone except themselves.”

“
What could they’ve done?”

“
More than you can imagine.” He shrugged. “But they ran away.”

“
So, they could be living up North somewhere? You might see them again.”

“
I doubt it. They didn’t have shares in RZC.” He nudged her. “Only those people survived.”

She smiled.

A knock sounded on the door and Enric entered.

“
You should wait until I answer,” she sneered.

“
We are leaving.
Put this on. It will protect you from the winds when we go,
” Enric offered her a dark cloak.
“I should not have lost my temper earlier. Alba being here is putting me under a lot of pressure. I have to protect her and ensure Felip does not revert too.”

“
Thank you.” She took the garment from him. “Aren’t we going to journey via threshold? Wouldn’t it make sense to use the dark glass to get closer to the Hall of Ages?”

“
If it were that easy we would have done that by now. No one has the coordinates to get into the Hall of Ages, so we’ll use the overland,” Enric replied.

“
So, we can’t journey even three feet closer via threshold?” she asked. “That would make more sense.”

“
We cannot,” Enric told her.

“
Of course we can. You’re being stubborn because—hell I don’t know, but I’m saying it will be better than trekking through the Moon Desert,” she maintained.

“
Besides the fact there is no glass in this house. We destroyed the threshold in the barn, so Bach would not simply journey through after you,” Enric elaborated. “So, we
are
going to use the overland.”

“
Right,” she said.

“
I know what I am doing. You were more concerned with picking a fight about Alba,” Enric retorted. “If you put your personal feelings aside, we could have a decent conversation.”

“
You relied on my personal feelings about Bach and about my people to enlist me to come here. Don’t—”

“
We will be on the roof.” Enric stomped off.

“
I have to say, he is still nicer than Bach was.” Garfield chuckled.

“
It’s like their arrogance is a disease,” she fumed

“
They’ve been raised their whole lives believing humans are beneath them. Bach only changed because of you. Enric didn’t have the luck of bonding with a human, so he’s got to come to accepting a human as his ally the hard way,” Garfield commented. “That might never happen for him.”

“
Since when have you become so profound?”

“
There’s more to me than meets the eye.” He winked.

Moments later, the
pair made their way up the ladder that led to the roof where Felip, Enric and Alba were waiting.

“
About before—” Enric said to Wisteria.

“
Do not give me a phony apology. I get enough of those from Felip.” Wisteria strode past him to the side of the building

“
I was not going to apologize,” Enric replied.

“
Fine, then let’s go.” She continued moving.

“
I wanted to explain why Alba’s here.” Enric followed her to the edge.

She
stopped. “That sounds like it should be an apology.”