Chapter 6
I ran for a long time before returning to Stratford. I’d passed others in the wolf-pack, but I’d stayed solo for this journey. It was almost lunchtime and I’d more than burned off breakfast. As I shifted to human form, my worries flooded back in.
I was at the front of my house. I wanted to wear my own clothes for once. We lived in a double-level bungalow-style residence, two blocks from the Compass boys. I loved my home. It was all wood and slate inside, everything very earthy and natural.
Climbing the stairs I pushed open the door to my room. Stepping inside I was so consumed with my thoughts I never noticed or scented that I wasn’t alone. Not until the shadow zoomed across the room and to my side.
I shrieked. “Braxton, what the frick? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
His head was sweeping awfully close to the ceiling as he stared at me, his eyes firmly locked on my face, which was good considering I was butt naked. I quickly grabbed underwear and clothes, slipped into my bathroom and slammed the door in his face.
“Can’t a girl get some privacy?” I grumbled, knowing he’d hear me.
“I’ve been worried about you, Jess.” I could tell by the muffle of his voice that he was resting his head against the door. “You disappeared with your parents hours ago to hear this bad news and … well, let’s just say I was worried.”
How could anyone as caring as Braxton be meant to take innocent children and slaughter them? I could not believe that. Stupid dragon mark, stupid hunters. I examined myself in the mirror, wondering where the hell this mark was hidden. My body looked the same, but now I felt as if I didn’t know myself. As if there was something hidden on and under my skin.
“Jess?” His husky tone washed over me and I shook off the melancholy and dressed quickly.
As I opened the door he pretty much fell in on me. He must have had all his weight leaning on the poor frame. He steadied himself – thankfully, because I’d probably have died if he’d actually landed on me – and reaching out gripped a big hand around each of my biceps.
“What the hell happened, Jess? You’re as pale as anything and I can feel your sorrow.”
I shook my head and pulled myself free. “Please don’t. If you’re nice to me I’ll cry and I don’t want to cry.”
“I’m always nice to you,” he said, bunching his eyebrows together. Then he smiled, flashing both dimples at me.
For a moment he looked like a little boy, the same little boy who’d been with me my entire life. So beautiful and innocent he’d been as a child, and now he was beautiful and hard. All man. But still my Braxton.
I attempted to smile. “Come on, I’m starving.”
For once I actually wasn’t hungry but I needed to do something normal.
“Can you tell me anything?” he asked, as we walked toward the dining hall. I should have known he wouldn’t leave it alone.
“Um…” I thought about it. “Well, Mischa is my younger sister.” Not completely a lie, just an exaggeration … a really big one – our age gap was about two minutes. “Apparently our parents have had a few rendezvous over the years. It was a mutual decision to be apart and now they’ve decided to try and be a family.” I wasn’t certain when I would tell them the truth. I was heeding Jonathon’s words for now, but it would come out eventually. I sucked at keeping secrets.
Braxton’s features were hard as we continued to walk. “Still sounds like Lienda’s a selfish bitch.” His voice was low. “I don’t understand how anyone could leave their child behind. At least she had the decency to raise Mischa.”
I guess you could leave your children to save their lives. It was actually a very good reason, as reasons go. I wished Braxton knew the truth, I didn’t want people to hate Lienda anymore. Did I agree with what my parents had done? I wasn’t sure, to be honest. I guess it’s hard to know if they’d stayed together whether I’d have been taken and killed. In that case, they’d definitely made the right decision, but maybe simply spelling the marks would have been enough. I’d missed so many years with my full family. I wanted those years back.
“No point dwelling in the past,” I mused. “I can’t change that, all I can change is the future and how I decide to handle the return of my mother and sister.”
Braxton laughed. “Gee, that’s very rational of you. Did some sort of mind meld happen in the forest?”
I punched him; it was like hitting a rock wall. Dammit, why did I continue to punch these men? It was killing my hands. He laughed again, shaking his head like I was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I needed a better way to smack some sense into them.