Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (28 page)

Mena looked at me, “You know you just
threw down the metaphorical gauntlet, don’t you?”

“Well he started it” I said petulantly
“and if you were listening you’d have heard me say
not
a challenge.”

Demi spoke up “Yeah, good luck with
that” as they too, walked off, leaving me and Annabella at the table alone.

“You’re really not dating?” she asked
sadly.

I shook my head. “No, things were
leaning that way last night but we had another fight today. You guys sure make
things awkward, talking about personal stuff in front of everyone.”

“Yeah, sorry, we’re just used to it.”

“That’s ok. It’s more of my own fault
than anyone else’s. I’ve just been confused and I rather cut someone off than
get hurt. If it weren’t for you guys I wouldn’t have realized how stupid I’ve
been.
I..
I really like him, Annabella.”

“You’re not stupid, Kira. Jay is
complicated. He always has been, especially lately. You guys will get it
together though, don’t worry.”

“Thanks. So do you want to play games?”

“Not particularly, let’s get the girls
and go shopping. I saw some cute boutiques on the way in to the club last night
and they were open late.”

That actually sounded perfect. “Great
idea, let’s do it.”

“Kira. Kira, wake up.”

I felt a warm hand run down my hair,
shake my shoulder. “Huh? What? What are… Jay?” I could barely see anything in
the pitch black room but I knew it was him. I wondered if I was dreaming but I
felt really groggy so probably not. “What’s going on? It’s…” I leaned over and
grabbed my phone “
5:30
in the morning? What the heck? What’s
wrong?”

“Nothings wrong, we’re going somewhere,
wake up.”

“Are you insane, I just went to bed
like 2 hours ago?”

I saw him smile in the darkness.
“Really?
Me too.
Why were you up so
late?”

“Reading, as usual, I” I yawned “couldn’t
put my book down. Look I really need you to go away and I’ll see you in like 5
hours. Ok?”

“Not this time, we’re going somewhere.
You better throw some warmer clothes on”

“You can’t be serious!” “I am actually
and you have ten minutes. So here are your options, you can get up now and get
ready or when times up I’ll throw you over my shoulder and you can go as you
are, but you’ll be cold.”

I sat up although my entire body was
weighing me down like led. I knew he wouldn’t make me go if I didn’t want to
but I also knew he didn’t make empty threats. Basically, he knew I would be too
intrigued by the mysterious offer to resist but just needed a little push. “You
are an evil, evil person. I’m up, all right. I’ll throw on some jeans and a
jacket and meet you in 15 minutes.”

“No actually you now have nine minutes
and the clock’s still ticking.” He said that, smiled and as he was leaving the
room, flipped on the light switch and closed the door. Sudden light burned into
my retinas

“AHHH” my poor eyes.
I screamed after him “You suck” and
chucked a pillow at the door but he was already gone. He was going to pay for
this, then again he was responding to the challenge I sent him so it was kind
of my fault. But ugh it was early.

I jumped up quickly, locked the door
for good measure and tried to brush my hair, teeth, and throw on clothes all at
once. I admit I used a little magic to help. I couldn’t help but also feel
excitement deep within myself. I tried to contain it by reminding myself to
relax and just go with it. No pressure. I grabbed my cell phone as I was
putting on my shoes and saw that I was right on
time
just as he was knocking on the door. “Ready” I shouted to him.

Immediately he tried to turn the knob.
When it didn’t budge I heard quiet laughter. “Do you really think a lock is
going to help you?”

I opened the door “Chill, I’m here and
on time, I might add.”

He stood in the light of the hallway,
the rest of the house beyond covered in darkness. His eyes went from my head to
my toes and back again. I shivered. “Yes, yes you are. Pity you had to change
though, I liked the
P.J’s
.”

I had been wearing a cami tank top and
long cartoon character pajama bottoms. I wasn’t embarrassed that easy though.
“Who wouldn’t, Felix the Cat is kick-ass. So, we’re going somewhere?”

His eyes lit up “Yeah” He grabbed my
hand and pulled me through the house to the back entrance.

“Where are we going?” I whispered
because we were in darkness and I felt like I should.

“We’re going for a walk” he whispered
back.

I tried to stop but he kept pulling me
along. “Jay, seriously I might just kill you for waking me up this early and
now you want me to move around? You must have a death wish.”

“Nope and don’t worry it’s not that
far.”

“What’s not that far and how can you
tell?
It’s
pitch black out here. There’s hardly any
moon and it’s overcast.” I said as I tried not to stumble on the rocks below my
sneakers.

He pointed to himself “Werewolf. So how
do you like the beach house so far? Getting sick of us yet?” He was obviously
changing the subject but I would let him. I knew what is like having a secret
to keep.

I sighed and resigned myself to the
small talk keeping my eyes to the ground so as not to trip. “I love it. I think
it’s beautiful. I’m used to it being quiet all of the time so it’s a big change
but a good one, I guess. So would you please tell me where we’re going?”

“No need, we’re here.”

I finally looked up and saw where he’d
taken us. We were standing at the dock off the boardwalk, where a blanket lay
with a picnic basket and food spread out. It also held two lit candles that
pierced the darkness and reflected onto the ocean’s water. I definitely smelled
coffee in the two mugs sitting there and sang a silent Alleluia in my mind. I
stood there staring.

It was so sweet for him to set up a
picnic, I didn’t know why it had to be now, when I was dead tired and looked
like I put myself together in five minutes, because I had! But I didn’t care so
much anymore. Naturally my mind jumped to yes, yes, yes, yes. He likes me and
he set up a weirdly timed but still romantic date. I mentally did a happy
dance. I admit a Spice Girls song was involved.

He walked us over to the blanket, let
go of my hand and nodded for me to sit. When I did he walked around and sat
across from me. I picked up a mug “Please tell me this coffee is for me,
actually I don’t care really. I’m just going to drink it.” Then I muttered
things like “dressed in five seconds” and “
five thirty
in the freaking morning” and “crazy
retina burning sadist” in between sips.

He laughed and I really liked that
sound. It warmed me up more than the coffee. “It’s all yours.”

“Thanks. So what’s this all about?”
“Glad you asked, I want to be clear-”

I cut him off “Oh that shouldn’t be a
problem because you’ve been so good at that…” He gave a self deprecating smile
at my sarcasm. I couldn’t help notice how good he looked as the candle light
flickered and cast shadows on his face. His deep eyes turned even
more purple
in the glow.

“I know. I know I haven’t been clear. I’m
going to change that now, so let me just get this out. That means no
interruptions from the peanut gallery.” I raised an eyebrow and mimed zipping
my lips then waved my hand for him to continue. “Ok, I think my only option
here is honesty and since you were honest with me last night, I’m going to
return the favor.” He took a breath and I stayed very still, not wanting to
break the spell, as I waited for him to continue. “You’re different. Different
from anyone I’ve ever met and trust me, that’s saying a lot. I never know where
you’re coming from or where you’re going, it keeps me guessing, wondering about
you. You’re always on my mind and things are better when you’re around. So this
is me telling you that I want to be with you.”

I took in every word he said and still
I had trouble comprehending him. I had to think over each word in my mind at
least twice to get it. I realized I left him hanging, waiting for my reply.
Right, I had to say something now. I smiled shyly up at him “I want this too. I
do. As much as I tried to get you out of my head, I just couldn’t. If we’re
both feeling this way then I think we owe it to ourselves to give it a try.”

“Good we can consider this our first
date.”

I looked to the water and back at Jay.
“Do you think we could make this work? I mean first of all, I’m a witch. Second
of all, my life isn’t as stable as I pretend it to be. I’m in hiding and if
that warlock at the rest stop has anything to say about it, this might just be
the beginning of my problems. Third, we tend to fight easily.”

He reached up to cup my face, stroked
my cheek with his thumb. “As for you being a witch, I’ve been giving it some
thought and I think it’s actually amazing and all that power is definitely hot.
I mean, I’m a werewolf and you accept me. I live in hiding every day from the
humans so I know what that’s like. I don’t think anyone else in the world is
more able to make it work than we are. Think about it. I’m crazy and you calm
me down. You’re in trouble and I’ve got a whole pack to protect you. We got
this.

As for the second thing, it’s all good
because I don’t know a thing about stable. I wouldn’t know what to do with it
if you were so that’s not a problem. The last thing is mostly my fault and the
keeping secrets thing is just not for us. We won’t do that anymore.”

I smiled. “How about this, just don’t
lie to me. Tell me when there’s something going on that you can’t explain. I’ll
try my best to understand and you’ll do the same for me.”

He waited a beat. “That sounds fair and
I know that you’re right. So you see
,
this is going to
be perfect.” Then he leaned in and kissed me. It was slow and sweet and yes,
just perfect. He ended it but not before I felt him smile against my mouth.

He reached into the basket and handed
me a Pop-tart. I took it happily.
Mmm S’mores, my favorite.
“Thanks. By the way why the heck am I up this early? Did you think it would
weaken my defenses?”

I looked up from my Pop-tart to see him
blowing out the candles and submerging us in darkness. “No I didn’t think of
weakening your defenses although, I’m glad to see it helped. I brought you out
here this morning for this.

He pulled me over next to him and
turned me toward the edge of the dock where a sliver of the sun was just
breaking through the water. I was stunned speechless by the multitude of the
ever changing colors. It started out a lone, bright orange ball, but quickly
turned the sky around it to all shades of yellow, red, pink, purple, and blue.
The sunrise was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful things I had ever seen.
I reached out for his hand again as we sat there, not saying a word and watched
the sun push up from the ocean and into the sky.

After the sun rose, I walked with Kira
back to my house. I’d never felt as incredible or as triumphant as I had with
her hand in mine. On our way to the porch steps Kira froze. “What’s wrong?” I
asked.

“The wards… they’re gone. My wards are
gone. We have to get inside now. We have to alert the others.” She started
running.

“Slow down, can it be an accident?”

“No, this was completely deliberate
they’d had to have known the wards were up and taken them down without trying
to breach them first. This is the work of a magic user, a powerful one.”

Shit. We heard a commotion and we ran
into the house. Inside was a man and two girls pointing their wands at all
eight of my pack members in their wolf forms. They were jumping around trying
to avoid the sparks being aimed at them. They must’ve shifted when they sensed
the danger.

I shifted too as I jumped at the man
from behind and took him down. We wrestled for control as I heard Kira
screaming but one of the girls grabbed Kira and dragged her towards the door.

“Relax. I’ve got you now, stop
struggling. We’re going to get you out of here.” A roaring, flaming ball of
light flashed and suddenly the girl flew back. The witch coughed and screamed
“What’s wrong with you, we’re here to help you.”

“Grab her and get her out of here” the
man said scratchily from beneath my paw on his throat.

In a flash, Kira had the two witches
hanging upside down in midair, frozen. They’re wands in Kira’s hand. “No one is
taking me anywhere. Jay, get off that guy for me real quick.”

I did and he was suddenly lifted in the
air too as his wand flew to Kira. Their suspension didn’t last long however as
the man closed his eyes and suddenly he and his friends were on their feet. He
must have undone her spell. “What are you doing? We’re trying to rescue you.”
The guy asked as he positioned himself in front of the other two girls.