Shattered Skies - Night Waves (22 page)

Less than twenty minutes later we were all seated around a long table in Akia’s private dining hall. It really was surreal, kind of like seeing worlds collide in slow motion. Darien sat with Walker and Jaden on either side of him. The other side of the table contained Jace and Akia. I knew this game. Whatever side of the table I chose would indicate to the others who I felt closest to. Nope, not this girl, none of that for me. Instead, I decided to drag a chair from the other side of the room and put it at the head of the table. I was being very, very careful to stay in the dead center of the seating arrangement. Maybe I was being childish, but if taking a neutral chair meant avoiding another argument, I was all for it.

The silence was nerve wracking. If someone didn’t talk soon I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. But if someone did talk I was equally positive that I wouldn’t like whatever they might say. Fortunately I didn’t have to decide which would be the lesser of the two evils for long because soon the inevitable talking commenced.

Darien was first to make his view clear. “Walker I cannot believe you are going to trust this beast. You are giving him the power to completely destroy everything that we have worked for.”

If I hadn’t been so pissed that I could kill all of them, I would have had to agree with him. I couldn’t see any reason to share anything with Akia. I thought what we needed instead, was to figure out a way to just part ways. It could still be that simple right? Why not?

“Stupid human, do you still really believe that I couldn’t kill you all in a less than a second? If I wanted to harm her I would have harmed her. As far as I am concerned you four are living on borrowed time anyway. I should have had the four of you executed as soon as I figured out what she was. I didn’t though, because for one reason or another she loves all of you and I couldn’t bear to take more than she has already lost away from her.” I could tell by the tone in Akia’s voice that he was getting tired of everyone questioning his intentions.

He was right. If he wanted us dead we would have been dead a long time ago.  Why did it seem to be Akia, more than Walker, even more than Darien that was worried more about my wellbeing than his own? Why did this monster have to keep surprising me? He was making what had to happen all the more difficult to imagine. I needed to think, to absorb all the factors. I couldn’t hear any more from him. I didn’t want to be forced to decide which one of the men I was going to hurt most when I left.

I studied each of them hoping it would help my mind defog a little. Walker was looking at his notes. I knew that his mind was already made up. He was going to tell Akia everything, no matter who protested. I was positive the others would keep our secrets for now. I could at least take a little solace in that. I wasn’t sure how a random unknown royal like Kira would go over in the Dominus world.   As calm as Walker looked, his strategy of presenting an illusion of peace and tranquility wasn’t fooling anyone else in the room. Akia and Darien were trying to will each other dead; glaring holes right though one another. As I took stock of the two of them, I really wasn’t sure which one of them would be most likely to make the first move, if there was a first move to be made, and that thought was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Even rational level headed Jaden was being affected by the mood in the room, sitting on the edge of his seat. He looked tense and ready to jump in if needed. His eyes never left
Darien’s. I knew all he needed was to see one muscle twitch in Darien’s face and he would lunge at Akia, no questions asked. If someone didn’t decide who was in charge here soon, a lot of people and maybe even a monster or two were going to get hurt. When I looked at Jace my heart skipped a beat and I blushed instantly. He was watching me with a level of concern in his eyes that I wasn’t used to seeing anymore.

“Are you ok?” he slowly mouthed to me. This man that I had known for less than a week was more worried about me than the men that I had known forever. How was that even possible? I wanted nothing more than to hug him and I didn’t even care what the others might think. I settled for shrugging my shoulders and faking my best smile. I didn’t need to know him forever to know that he didn’t buy my charade for a second. Yet, so unlike what either of the other two would have done, he smiled back at me and pretended to believe me instead of
arguing.

             
“We are getting nowhere here gentleman,” said Walker. “Darien, I know that you are concerned, but you have to remember when Akia found out what Cat really was and decided not to kill her, he became just as guilty as the rest of us. We have to figure out what to do before the Elders figure out what is going on or we will all be killed. Not even the Regent will be spared,” Walker said in a tone that told me Akia’s death would mean nothing to him.

      My breath caught in my throat. I’d always known we would be dead if anyone ever found out we were human, that was a risk we all had decided to take. Akia however, was really never given a choice. How could he not hate me for dragging him into this? He was living the royal life until I crashed through the ignorance that was bringing him bliss. He should have just killed me back in that cave; that was truly the only thing that would have established him as nothing more than
an innocent victim.

             
Darien wasn’t going to let it slide no matter how much Walker tried to make peace. “Oh come on Walker, would you stop defending him? You know that there has to be something in it for him or he wouldn’t be trying to help. What is it your Majesty, what are you hoping to gain from this little game?”

             
“Darien that is just about enough, one more outbreak and I will ask you to leave. Do you understand?” I wondered just how much longer Walker was going to get away with controlling us as he’d done so effortlessly in the past.

      “No offense Walker, you can ask me to leave all you want but unless you physically remove me I am going absolutely nowhere.” He glanced at Akia. “So come on you coward, tell us all why you care so much about us stupid humans? You know as well as I do that you could kill us where we stand, make the bodies disappear, and no one would ever know your dirty little secret.” Akia wasn’t my biggest fan right then, but he didn’t deserve disrespect from Darien. I just had to speak up.

“Lay off him Darien. There is no reason for you to be ripping into him the way you are.” I wish I could just learn to keep my mouth shut. How much easier would my life be if I could just sit back and play the victim? I could let them destroy each other and my hands would be clean of the burden of having to pick sides. Darien was still going strong.

“You want
him to know everything Walker then you tell him.  I just want to say here and now that I think that it is the dumbest idea that you’ve ever had. And let’s face it, you’ve have had some bad ones lately. It’s over Walker, I am done with this. I am not going to sit here and listen to you and the woman I love defend that bastard anymore.” Darien started to stand and leave, and that wasn’t good. He didn’t need to be out wandering around alone. Then Akia’s words stopped him in his tracks.

“I am helping all of you because I love her.”

“Oh come on. You don’t love her, you don’t even know her. It makes me sick that you would even associate love with her. Oh and let me guess. Hey new guy, you love her too right?” Darien was pissed at the world and every species in it tonight.

I was hoping that Jace would have enough common sense to keep curt remarks to himself, but as soon as I saw the flash of anger in his eyes I knew I was wrong. What
ever came out of his mouth was going to be enough to increase the tension in the room by ten.

“Yeah, so what if I do? You know what? I think if I have to play second fiddle to someone else that loves her; it will be beast boy over there, not you. You don’t scare me Darien; I don’t even see you as a serious threat. You might be a big man, but I haven’t seen much action from you so far. So far, all you’ve done is just whine a lot.”  There was that wild smile again, the one that meant Jace had no
fear of dying and no intention of backing down from anything he’d said. Both Akia and Darien had challenged his claim to me, to the point where he felt that he had to step into the ring with them and go a few rounds at a two to one disadvantage to himself. And they said chivalry was dead? Well it wasn’t, and for some reason, that thought lifted me.

Then surprise sliced through my
thoughts. What did Jace really mean? Had Jace just sided with the beast that tried to kill us both in the cave? I didn’t know if Jace was just trying to get under Darien’s skin, or if he was hoping to stay in Akia’s good graces, but whatever the reason, I could see that Akia was smirking in victory as much as Darien was fuming. I bent forward, put my head in my hands and I waited. I couldn’t protect them from each other and frankly, at this point, I could have cared less what happened to any of them. If their manly pride was more important than all our lives being on the line, then fine. I wasn’t going to fuel the flames anymore. So be it. Maybe they would kill each other and I would be left alone to deal with Trāves. I sat there thinking a period of solitude would be preferable to putting up with these babbling idiots anyway.

“What in the hell is wrong with all of you?” Jaden’s voice surprised the room and made them all stop what they were doing and turn to look at him. “Do you see what you are doing to her? If you all love her so much, why aren’t you noticing that she is sitting there inches from tears? I have no idea where you all come into play. Akia fine, you love her, but it’s time
to let her go. New guy, just sit down and shut up OK? And Darien, I am so sick of having the same conversation with you day after day when all it dies is go nowhere. The best thing she could do right now would be to walk away and let all three of you self-destruct.”

His words were all it took for me to find my courage. I didn’t need any of them. I really didn’t. I had always managed just fine alone, before I let the stupid emotions that come with love take over. I still wasn’t sure I believed in love. Lust I could do. Lust? That was easy.

I stood up. I looked at Jaden and I silently thanked him for being the only one in the room that was thinking straight. I wasn’t sure how I was rating Walker today, so I excluded him from my judgment.

“Look, you all have exactly three seconds to sit there and shut up or I am walking out of this room and I swear on everything that has ever mattered to me, I will never give any of you a second thought.” Much to my surprise, I saw they were all suddenly listening. None of them were happy, but they were listening to me just the same, and at that point I figured I would take advantage of my momentum.

“Seems like you have the floor now Cat, so tell us how we fix this and find a compromise.” Walker was still nose deep in his notes and seemed to be completely unaffected by all the recent declarations of love. Maybe I should try to be more like him.

I didn’t have time to second guess myself. There were so many ways that I could have chosen to go. I could have appealed to their emotions, begged them all to calm down and
bought myself some time to think. I could have fanned their flames of anger, and pinned them against each other until they either killed each other or figured things out on their own. That way I’d be free of making any fateful decisions. My last option was my least favorite. I could play the truth card; I could hope I could make them see just how bad this really was and then count on their fear of losing me to make them get along long enough to protect me.

I didn’t want to tell anyone the thing that I felt destined to admit, but I knew if I didn’t admit it quickly we would all be tracked down and killed one by one. Together we stood a chance, as risky as that sounded.  Before I had time to change my mind I ripped my shirt off. The only two that had never seen me exposed like this, Walker and Jaden, were trying really hard not to
stare; the other three just looked puzzled, trying to figure out what I was up to.

“We have bigger problems to deal with. So take a look.” I turned around and I let them see the rose on my shoulder. 

No one made a sound. Jace was completely lost, since I told him that the rose had always been there less than an hour ago. “Holy Mother of God, Cat! Where did that come from?” Walker changed gears from cool and collected to agitated quickly. “That can’t be what I think it is. Please tell me it isn’t.” 

Walker was standing now, a glazed look in his eyes. This was worse than I expected. Darien looked like he was busy explaining things to himself, trying to figure out how I had managed to get inked w
hile kidnapped, pissed as usual that I had done something without asking him first. Jace was just blankly staring. Akia confirmed my worst fears though. He put his head in his hands, no longer able to look at any of us. He looked defeated and he never even raised his head when Walker continued shouting.

“Cat, how did that happen? Where did it come from? Because as far as I know, the mark of the Rose was lost a long time ago, and there’s been only one way ever to get the mark in the first place. If this is some
sort of joke, please tell me!” He sounded excited and devastated and confused all at once. His voice was muffled and child-like. 

Walker moved up behind me with a Vampire’s speed. He was so close to my skin that I was uncomfortable and starting to think revealing the Rose had been a bad idea. What he did next made me rethink just what Walker was to me. Slowly he traced his fingers along the rose on my shoulder and goose bumps rose up on my arms. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. Then came the sniff.

“Cat, you smell just like her.” He was dreamy and lost and then a growl escaped his lips. “I can smell him on you too! What were you doing with Trāves Cat? Where is he? Was he at the Hunt? That stupid bastard. I have been waiting my whole life for him to resurface.”  Walker spat out the name Trāves like a bad taste in his mouth better left on the sidewalk.

I was too scared to look at Akia. I could feel his eyes boring into me. The mention of his father had shocked him deeply. I knew that I better choose my words carefully.

“It was a dream Walker. Trāves came to me in a dream. I dreamt we were together, just like the dreams I have had about you, Akia.  Trāves told me that he was going to kill me, that he had to before he lost his son to me. He said that I was a demon, that I was cursed and that he wasn’t going to let me take down centuries of his careful planning and work. I waited for him to kill me. I didn’t think that he could do it in the dream but I will be honest, I’m not sure just how real these dreams can get. Before I had enough time to think things through, he switched directions. Something changed in him. He called me NYX, the name on the inside of my ring and things changed.”

Before I could continue I felt Walker tense. He pushed against me even closer now. I could feel the energy vibrating off his body, merging and mixing with mine. Walker had amazing self-control but something had him so worked up that he was spilling wave after wave of energy that was
shooting in all directions. What was going on? I had to finish my story; I had to tell them all what happened, before I lost my nerve.

“
Trāves said that something had to be wrong, that there was no way he could explain feeling so drawn to me, and then he kissed me and told me he had to know.” I saw Akia wince at the mention of his father kissing me, but he said nothing. “I am sorry,” I continued. “I don’t know what any of this means, but I know that we have to get out of here fast. All of us. And we have to hide before Trāves tracks us down. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. After the dream, I woke up and the rose was there. Trāves said something about the mark of the Black Rose, something like that, but none if it was registering with me. None of what he said had any meaning. All I knew was I had to get free of the dream, before he saw the rose on my shoulder and confirmed for himself whatever it was he was thinking.”

What happened next was something that burned into my mind and will remain there till the day I die. Walker grabbed me. It wasn’t a loving nurturing grab; it was a possessive lover’s grab.  I didn’t know how to react and neither did anyone else.

“You weren’t supposed to come into power this quickly. I’m not ready for this. Please Cat, you have to forgive me.” The words that poured out of his mouth made no sense to me. 

I tried to struggle and I tried to get away but he was a Vampire. The blood
we had fed him kept him strong and now the nourishment we had provided meant I couldn’t subdue him. He lifted me clean off my feet. He was going to kill me or do whatever else in the world he had in mind.  His lips were on the tattoo, kissing it, licking it, he even bit it just a little and the feel of his fangs brushing my skin caused me to moan, sending jolts to ever intimate place in my body. It wasn’t my moan though; it was hers, the voice from the dream.  No one was moving, there was too much fear in the room. I could feel the fear wash over us, smothering us in waves. 

Walker was like a man possessed. “You taste like her. Like power! I have missed that taste.” He was in a world of his own. He sounded like a man
without a mind. He spoke in a voice that I hadn’t heard for a million years, and I longed for that voice, father or not.

“Walker, put her down now!” That was a female voice. I looked around but there was no other female in the room but me. Everyone was staring at me. Had I just said that? 

I felt his grip loosen a fraction before it tightened again and then his lips were back on my neck, sucking and nipping. I was going to be lost to him soon and I couldn’t fight it. I had no idea what was going on.

Then the unknown female voice split the silence
again. “Akia! Go get the necklace that holds Trāves’s blood, the one that he gave you before he left. Bring it to her and place it in her hands.”  My mouth was moving, the voice was coming from my lips, but the voice wasn’t mine!

Akia didn’t hesitate. He was up and gone with no questions. My voice or not, he didn’t care.  I struggled to focus on anything except what my body was feeling in response to Walker. I looked at Jace; I looked at Jaden and Darien. I could only imagine what was going on in their minds. If this didn’t prove to them that I was a monster then nothing would. I wanted them to know I was still me.  I begged for the concentration I needed regain my voice. The effort was draining me. I felt like my body weighed a ton.

“Please help me! I don’t know what is going on. Walker please let me go!” Every word I spoke sounded weaker and weaker to my ears.

The other three men across the room were slowly edging closer to me. I wasn’t sure what they were going do once they got to me, but I trusted them enough to know that they would figure it out. But Walker saw them coming.

“If any of you take another step, then I take her and I disappear. None of you are fast enough to stop me and you know it, so back the fuck up.” The breath from his voice was warm and wet against my cheeks. I was humming in anticipation of the thrills that each warm breath sent through my body. Jaden slowed his footsteps but kept inching forward.

“Walker! I don’t know what has gotten into you but this isn’t
right. It’s Cat for Christ’s sake! Put her down now.” Jaden was trying the calm approach. I never needed anything to work more in my life. I was panting rapidly, but I willed Walker to listen.

“Get the hell back all of you or I swear you will never see either one of us again,” he shouted. In a move quicker than I could blink, I was in his arms and across the room and much closer to the door than comfort allowed.

“Listen to him!” it was that female voice again. “He will take her. He isn’t in his right mind. He can barely control himself. I am proud of you Walker. The rest of you, ignore your instincts and stand down now!”

Whoever it was, her voice had the power to make people listen. All three of them stopped moving. It was a standoff. Everyone was close to their self-control breaking. Walker knew he was one step away from carrying me off into the black of the night. I could feel him fighting his
urges off, but they were getting stronger, and he was losing the battle. He had one hand wrapped tightly in my hair.

     He was pulling my head in the opposite direction from my body, exposing my neck for his slithering tongue. Every lick and every sniff was bringing me closer to forgetting that this man had raised me. Was the line between black and white and right and wrong really fading so quickly for me?  If so, I was in a lot of trouble. How was it possible that I was this turned on? I should have been disgusted to say the least. But somehow, the sane part of me wasn’t able to convince my body that this was all wrong. I couldn’t focus on anything except the pleasure his lips and fangs were bringing.

              I was so lost in sensations that I didn’t hear Akia come back in the room from a side entrance. He was edging closer and Walker moved again, standing with one foot outside the main door. This was about to get even worse. Maybe if Walker fled with me in tow, maybe Akia catch us. Then the voice spoke through me again.

             
“Walker, be a gentleman and let Akia hand Cat the necklace. Please do it for me. That is the only way this will stop, you know that.” The voice was soft and soothing now, creating a mood that made me want to listen, just so my ears could have the pleasure of hearing her purr.

             
“I am not ready to let you go, Nyx. If she gets that necklace, then I lose you again. That is why you gave it to him. You knew they were never supposed to meet, they were never even supposed to know each other, and never, never in a million years were they supposed to fall in love but you wanted some insurance.” Walker was begging her to back down. He was hoping beyond all hope that the voice would reconsider and allow him to flee with me into the moonlight.

             
“Walker you know that isn’t true. You have spent decades of your life planning for them to meet. You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment and there is no time for that right now. Right now you need to lead these kids to their destiny. Whatever happens after you release her, we can still figure out.”  Wait, these kids? Was she talking about us?

       “I know NYX, you are right,” he said suddenly calm. “This is just what we wanted. I didn’t know how to get them all together, but fate did it for me. But it wasn’t supposed to happen like this, out of my control, and it wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. And surely not before I figured out
how to keep you with me.” What was Walker talking about? He sounded more lost than Trāves had.

             
“Let her take the necklace Walker. If you run off with her, I will be lost to you forever, that I promise. Now hear me and do as I say.” Keep talking, whoever you are I thought and then I laid lifeless and still against Walker’s chest, daring not to breath as I watched Akia inch ever closer.

             
“Damn it!  Hand her the necklace now Akia, before I change my mind,” said Walker. It was the cry of a man fighting personal demons and way too close to losing for my liking.

             
Akia was standing beside me now, and in a flash of motion, he grabbed my wrist and caused enough of a distraction to break the spell that Walker had bestowed on my body. I could feel the electric shocks that I had come to associate with Akia’s touch again. Akia gently laid a silver chain that held a glass vial across the palm of my hand. The weight of the glass was quite impressive. The glass was filled with a beautiful rich crimson liquid that the voice had insisted was Trāves’s blood. I shivered as the reality of what I was holding hit me. Akia quickly released the necklace, taking his other hand and closing my fingers around the chain, securing my grip on it.  As soon as Akia let go of the chain and the necklace was firmly in my hand, Walker groaned in agony. He dropped me as if holding me had burned him, and then he threw himself against the wall, a broken mess. I braced for the impact of the hard floor but Akia caught me in mid drop, a handy characteristic to have when you were a candidate for boyfriend!

       Walker spoke, his back to the wall. “Put that on and never take it off Catalina. Do you understand me? I can’t promise that I will ever be able to fight myself off like that again. That necklace is the only thing that is strong enough to quell the hold you have over me now,” said Walker slowly. My jewelry collection was becoming quite impressive for a girl that preferred weapons.