rogue shifter 07 - cut off (3 page)

The mild stomach cramps caused by my not having fed, were a relief, informing me that I'd been here for less than a day. I knew all the symptoms of blood deprivation by heart, having been starved half a dozen times by Eleanor, my long dead maker. There was one main difference. Where in the past I could access magic to dampen the pain, here I was blocked from using that skill. I sighed, knowing I was in for some difficult days if this imprisonment went on for long without my being able to relieve the hunger.

Fae light lit up the room with a warmth opposite in mood to the female who appeared a heartbeat later. Dressed in a golden gown that shimmered with jewels, Fionna smirked as she took in my more vulnerable state. Her gaze slowly traversed my entire body, spending a few longer moments on my bare chest. Dressed only in sweatpants, my usual resting-phase attire, I felt like a horse at auction.

I stood still and waited for her to speak first, hoping she'd give me some information I could use.

She spoke in Seelie Fae, a language I could understand and speak fairly well. "I see Jacqueline has excellent taste in males. Are you hungry?" she teased, tossing back her long golden locks with an arrogant flick of her head. She knew I hadn't fed today.

I ignored her question. "Why am I here?"

"I will bring you a snack. Someone sweet."

"I don't take blood." I didn't mention that Jackie was the exception.

She tilted her head and frowned. "That is ridiculous. How do you feed?"

Seeing no reason to lie, I told her, "I can take energy from shifters by touching them."

Her frown became a scowl. "That will not be entertaining at all. You are the first vampire I have had at court and I was so hoping that witnessing you attend to your needs would cause some excitement among my people." She ran a hand over her hip, smoothing out her gown and showing off her lithe figure. "The centuries can grow dull."

"I'm afraid I'll be disappointing you and your followers." I made every effort to keep my tone neutral and non-confrontational. I wasn't an idiot. She could kill me with a snap of her fingers.

"When your hunger becomes too much to bear, you will take whom I offer. We have no shifters here." She said the word shifters as if it were abhorrent to consider having them at court.

"I won't feed from innocents."

"We will see how long your morals hold as your body begins to starve."

The room darkened and I fell to the floor, returned to my former state. Sadly, I was no wiser as to why I was brought here. Surely it wasn't for entertainment purposes as she'd hinted because, if that were the case, she could have taken any vampire.

Without stimulus, time slowed. I focused my mind on warm memories of Jackie and Charlie, doing all I could to stay sane and ignore the gnawing pain.

We were all in the living room. Charlie, only four, giggled from his seat on the couch. "Mommy, you can't dance good."

"I'm trying to learn. It's hard."

"S okay, 'cause you fight really good. Fighting's more 'portant than dancing." As usual,
Robin Hood
was carefully placed beside him on the couch, open to an illustration of Robin fighting with Little John in the river.

"Not at a wedding," Jackie sighed. Sinc and Gabe were having their mating ceremony soon and Jackie was practicing with me. Sinc had told her there'd be lots of dancing.

She was fighting my lead. I pulled her closer to my body, her lean muscles molding to mine perfectly. "Relax. You're having trouble giving up control."

"Duh." She rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow. We were trying to break Charlie of that same habit. "This partner stuff doesn't come naturally to me."

I grinned. "Kind of late to tell me that, don't you think?"

She whacked my shoulder. "You know what I mean."

I tucked a clump of hair behind her ear, then kissed the perfect line of her jaw. "There are times when you allow me to take the lead." I teased.

"Mmm. Hmmm." She nuzzled against my chest, her mouth curving up.

"Dancing is similar." I spoke into her fragrant hair.

"I don't think so..."

"Think of it as foreplay." I whispered. She gasped then giggled against my shoulder.

"That's better, Mommy. You're 'laxed now."

Sprawled on the wooden floor of my prison, I could not contract or stretch my muscles to form a smile, but it was there just the same.

CHAPTER FIVE

"Where the heck are we?" Charlie asked, throwing the leather jacket Sash had gotten him for his last birthday on the floor by his feet.

I looked around, not sure where we'd ended up. The room was full of exercise equipment. "The gym."

My sixteen year old son gave me that sneer that's unique to teenaged boys. "I can see that it's a gym. I worked out at the vamp villa with Sash for two hours yesterday." He rubbed his shoulder as if it was still sore. "I don't need more time in the gym."

"This isn't what you think. Calm down."

"You want me to calm down?" He took in my attire and groaned. "You showed up in the middle of the movie looking like some kind of terrorist. Then you dragged me away before it ended like I was a little kid," he bit out, fuming. "Jay and Grady are gonna be worried." He ran a hand through his hair, the same way Garrett did whenever he was stressed. Not being related, they looked nothing alike, and yet they were father and son in every way.

I fisted my hands to fight off the tears. "Aislin will make sure that Grady and Jay get home before she returns to Faerie."

"Why are we...?" He took a closer look at the equipment, then twisted toward me, his eyes wide. The language on the instruments made everything clear. "Are we...?"

"Welcome to my home, not so tiny demon. Your visit is unexpected, but I'm certain that your mother has an extremely good reason for barging into my home without permission." Isaiah was furious too. "Jacqueline, I gave you the ability to slip through my wards with instructions that I would only allow it in an emergency." He looked us over. "Neither of you appears to be missing arms or ears. I see no blood."

Wishing I'd had a few more sips of coffee before being forced to deal with two large angry males, I sat on the weight bench, my shoulders sagging. "Fionna has Garrett. She wants Charlie in exchange."

Charlie lowered himself next to me, his face pale with shock. "Holy crap."

I had to make Isaiah agree to this. "Caelen wants him in Cascade, but Liam says it's not secure. Can you protect him here? Naberia can't find him."

Isaiah's demeanor changed in a flash. "Yes. You did the smart thing. Good girl. I'm shocked that Liam suggested it."

"Liam has always been honest with me."

"Mom, we have to go back. We have to find Dad." Charlie stood, pulling me off of the bench.

"Your dad would never forgive me if I sacrificed you to get him back. The team and our fae allies will find him and bring him home. Then I'll come back for you."

"That's total bullshit! You need to..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Charlie was thrown against the wall and suspended there while Isaiah stalked closer, his eyes flaming. "You will speak to your mother with respect, or I will beat some sense into you. And my beatings don't heal so quickly. Your mother was..."

"Isaiah. Please, don't." Seeing my horrified expression, he stopped mid-sentence. Charlie could never know about the rape. He wouldn't understand.

Isaiah took hold of my son's chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Jacqueline is a warrior who's protected your ungrateful ass with her life for over sixteen years. You know nothing of her sacrifice."

Charlie struggled to pull away, but he shouldn't have bothered. We were on Isaiah's turf and his magic trumped anything Charlie could come up with. Unfortunately, Charlie's mouth was working great as his gaze locked on mine. "You're wasting time. Don't you give a crap about Dad?"

Isaiah's voice chilled the room. "Apologize." Charlie scowled, then winced. Isaiah's grip must have tightened. "Apologize and mean it, or I'll exchange you for Garrett myself, and good riddance. In the DR, especially in my home, teen angst is a punishable offence."

Charlie looked in my direction, seeing the tears for the first time. "Jeez. I'm sorry, Mom. Let me down, Isaiah." Isaiah frowned but waved a hand, causing Charlie to fall like a rock to the floor. Fortunately, his shifter reflexes kicked in and he landed easily on his feet. He sat beside me on the bench, pulling me into a comforting hug with arms that seemed to grow longer on a weekly basis, along with the rest of him. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk."

I wiped another tear from my cheek with a rough swipe of my sleeve. "You're my favorite jerk." He laughed and we were okay again.

"Charles." My son twisted Isaiah's way. "This will give me the opportunity to train you in skills we haven't yet broached."

Charlie thinned out his mouth. "You were kidding, right? About exchanging me?"

"Alas, I wouldn't be welcomed at the Fae Court, even if I brought you wrapped in pretty flowers with butterflies on top. However, there are other ways I can torment you if you continue to disrespect Jacqueline. Or me." His evil grin should be patented. No one could do it like him.

Charlie's expression grew sheepish as he turned back to me. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be making this harder."

"I get why you're angry. I'm angry too," I paced and huffed out a quick breath. "I have to follow my instincts, and they tell me that you'll be safer here where Fionna can't get to you."

"Your mother has exceptional instincts." Isaiah gave me an encouraging smile.

I stopped my pacing. Could I trust him with my son's life? We stared at each other for a few silent moments. "I guess...I guess now I find out the truth."

Isaiah replied with some affection. "You know the truth. You're one of the few who does. Your trust is a gift I'll never take for granted."

I sent, "
I'm leaving you with half my heart. Please..."

"
He's one of the only relatives I can bear to spend time with
," he teased. "
Even though he's at a horribly annoying age
."

I wiped away another tear, frustrated that I was losing control in front of them.
"What do you want in return?"
With demons, everything was arranged as an equal exchange of favors.

He shook his head.
"We can talk when this is over."

"I'll be in big trouble with Caelen and Garrett for leaving him here."

"
Somehow that doesn't bother me."
He smirked
. "He's safe with me. Now go get your other half back."

I looked closely at my son. Handsome, and already taller than Garrett, his lavender eyes reflected some fear and worry of his own. "It'll be okay," I tried to reassure him, my feeble attempt only producing a frown.

"I want to help find him." He was hurt that I wasn't including him in the planning.

"You'd be a big help, but then Fionna might find a way to take you away from me, and I can't chance it."

He didn't argue again. "Did Kennet have anything to do with this?" Charlie asked.

Lord Kennet was his birth father, but Charlie had never called him
Dad
or
Father
. Garrett would always hold that position in Charlie's heart. Kennet had forced me into an agreement to bring Charlie to him twice a year. We'd spend the day together, usually with Kennet telling him stories about life at court when he was younger, sharing books, or teaching him basic knife skills. Those lessons seemed to interest Charlie the most because Kennet had given him a magically powerful dagger for his fifth birthday.

Those same meetings were torture for me. I couldn't look at that male without remembering what he'd done to me, and also what he'd done to Aedus and Ethan. Happily, Charlie decided not to continue seeing Kennet after he'd turned fifteen, which was the age of majority in Faerie. I'd thought that Kennet was out of our lives for good. I just couldn't be that lucky.

I answered Charlie's question. "The letter the queen wrote mentioned Kennet, but I got the feeling it was all her idea."

"You'll make sure everyone is working on it, right?"

"I will. And I'll send Marie to tell you how things are going. I promise." Marie was Garrett's long dead sister, a shade who'd become my familiar and was able to travel back and forth between our world and the DR.

He nodded, then turned his attention toward his long-time trainer, challenging him by locking gazes. He drew himself up, looking taller and more confident, although, even at 6'2", he was still a few inches shorter than Isaiah. "I'll train hard, like I always do, but I won't be treated like your pet fae. I'm not some freak on display for your demon pals."

Although Charlie had never been on Isaiah's turf before today, they knew each other well, having worked together every month for ten years. Those lessons had also come to a halt when Charlie turned fifteen.

Garrett, had taught our son that respect was something earned, not always by skill with a sword or a spell, but more likely with strength of will and character. Today, Charlie had accepted his fate and was negotiating boundaries. Sixteen going on thirty.

A table and three chairs appeared and Isaiah indicated that we should sit, his eyes glittering with humor. "Your mother has always shown me respect when I'm her guest and you'll be treated the same way in my home." Isaiah leaned back in the chair, tipping the front legs up in a relaxed pose, but alert to every nuance of Charlie's behavior. "I understand you've already come into most of your powers as a fae?"

Charlie nodded, looking wary. "Yes, but they're not at full strength."

"Nor will they be for some time. Your fae powers will not available to you in the DR. At least not yet."

"Okay." Charlie shrugged.

"Your healing powers came on very early, I recall, but have you shifted to your cheetah?"