Fate Revealed, page 16
When he came back, he looked down at the page. Under his question was written: It’s me, your buddy.
TWENTY-THREE
“Are you sure you want to come back so soon after getting out of the hospital?” Jerry asked Indi for the twentieth time as they drove to work the next morning.
“What else would I be doing if I weren’t at work?”
“I don’t know. Resting?” Jerry replied, parking his car in the secure parking space behind the cafe.
She laughed. “I can sleep when I’m dead.” Indi stepped out of the car and shivered. Winter was definitely here now. Jerry slung an arm over her shoulder as they walked around the building to the front of the cafe.
Indi was staring at the snow at their feet when Jerry whispered, “Oh, my god.”
Indi looked up. “Barb?” she asked incredulously.
“Indigo,” Jerry’s mother purred, stepping away from the Mercedes she just got out of. “When did you get out of the hospital?”
Indi glanced at Jerry from the corner of her eye. He was still standing there, which was a good sign, but she wasn’t sure if he was still breathing. She turned back to Barb, begrudgingly giving her answer. “Yesterday.” Indi hadn’t wasted good manners on Barb since the clusterfuck with Jerry’s dad.
“Well, then, I can forgive you for not coming to see me.”
Indi bit her tongue, stopping herself from saying she’d rather swallow razorblades than do anything for her. Looking Barb over, Indi took stock of her injuries. The shadows of bruises on her face and neck didn’t detract from the fact that she looked great for fifty-something. Her left arm was in a cast and held in a crisp, white sling across her chest while a small butterfly bandage clung to her hairline unobtrusively.
“So I guess that answers my question about whether being hit by a car would stop you dressing in the expensive stuff.” Barb was always dripping in designer-label clothing that managed to highlight her slim waist and big bust. And, apparently––car or not––she always would.
Barb laughed derisively. “Oh, Indigo. You were always so funny.”
“Well, I’m not dead yet, Barb,” Indi replied sarcastically. No matter how much you would like that to happen. Barb smiled at her, but it didn’t last too long, dripping from her lips like a candle drips wax––slowly yet obviously. Indi was under no illusions that Barb hated her. She could see it in her eyes, but Barb maintained the charade of cordiality. Good breeding would do that though.
“I bet you’re wondering why I’m here,” she simpered. Indi arched an eyebrow in response. Giving her a contemptible smile, Barb explained, “I want to invite you out for lunch. Say, today at one?”
“Why?”
“Can’t a mother want to have lunch with her daughter?”
“I’m not your daughter,” Indi deadpanned.
Barb rolled her eyes. “Indigo, we’ve been through this already. When will you accept I’m the closest you’ll ever come to having a mother?”
Folding her arms across her chest, Indi said, “When hell freezes over.”
Barb smiled, but it was forced. “So, that’s a no to lunch? How about dinner then?”
“Not going to happen,” Indi replied, watching Barb’s mouth rearrange into a snarl as her cruel, dark eyes found Jerry for the first time.
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider dinner? Jerry, you are invited, too, of course,” she said in that same obnoxious purr of hers.
“Why, Mother?” he asked cautiously.
“I want to make it up to you––to both of you––for my awful behavior. I haven’t been a very good mother to either of you these past six months, and I would like to start making amends by having a meal with you.”
Jerry seemed to take that all on board for a moment before staring into Indi’s eyes.
“Ah, fuck,” Indi said before turning to Barb. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “Dinner tonight. What time?”
“Half past six. How does that sound?”
“I’d rather stick pins in my eyes,” Indi muttered under her breath.
“What was that, dear?”
Indi thought she said “dear” like she wanted to say dirty, home-wrecking whore. Her lip curled into a cruel twist of a smile. “I said, I can’t wait.”
“Great. I’ll see you then.” Barb smiled at her son as she popped open the door on the black Mercedes. “Oh, and Indi?”
“What?” Indi snapped.
Barb smiled maliciously. “Don’t be late.” She slid into the backseat like the snake she was, the car pulling out smoothly into the sparse morning traffic.
Indi turned around to stare at the man she would do anything for and raised her eyebrows at him.
“What did you want me to say?” Jerry asked, affronted.
“You could have told her to go to hell.”
“She’s my mother.”
“No, Jerry! She was your mother. After what she’s done to you, she doesn’t deserve the title.”
“Maybe she really does want to patch things up with us?” Jerry said softly.
“I really doubt that.”
“She nearly died in that accident. Maybe she’s seeing things differently now?”
Indi walked a few paces away, turning around to face him again once the urge to kill his mother had subsided. “You think one little brush with death will be enough for that woman to change her mind about me?” She barked a laugh, humorless and sharp. “Maybe she wants you back in her life, but I’m still just the dirt stuck on the bottom of her shoe.”
“Why did she invite you around for lunch then?”
She shrugged. “To test my trigger finger; I don’t know.”
“I think we should give her a chance.”
“I know you do,” she replied snidely. Taking a deep breath, Indi rubbed her temples with her fingertips and closed her eyes. She could feel the colossal headache ramping up behind her eyes. “I just…”
“What?” Jerry asked, his voice a lot closer than before.
Indi opened her eyes. “Remember what we talked about last night? I can’t lose you.” The words tasted like acid on her tongue.
“You’re not losing me to her. I just think that forgiving her for what she did would be a good place to start. She’s my mother. She could have died. If she had died in that accident, I don’t know what I would have done. We can’t go on as we have been for the past six months. I’m tired of it, Ind. She’s offering an olive branch and I’m willing to take it.”
Indi sighed because the smell of defeat was in the air. “If you want to forgive her, knock yourself out. But I’m all up for staying pissed at her.”
“So why are you coming to dinner? I can do this on my own. You don’t have to come.”
Indi glared at Jerry, wondering how he didn’t get it. “I’m not leaving you alone with her now she’s slithering again.”
Jerry smiled sadly. “Are you going to protect me, Indi?”
Indi crossed her arms across her chest, flexing her body until she felt the scar between her shoulderblades strain. “Until my last breath,” she vowed.
Jerry pulled her into a hug and just held her there for a few minutes. Indi hadn’t even realized she’d started crying until she squeezed her eyes shut and a burning tear rolled from the corner, cooling to a trickle of saltiness on her cheek. Wiping it away quickly, Indi pulled out of the hug. Barb was Jerry’s kryptonite––his one weakness––and the only thing Indi couldn’t win against no matter how hard she fought.
After clearing her throat, she asked, “So are you going to open the cafe or what?”
TWENTY-FOUR
Rhett’s whole body was buzzing. Indi was at work and she was okay. Her back was to him as she worked, wiping down a table in her section. Of course he knew she was okay. Laithe had been giving him regular updates. He even told him how she’d slugged him when she’d woken up disoriented. But being told something was one thing; actually seeing it was another. And she was okay.
“Indi,” he breathed, relief taking the words from his lips before common sense stopped them. She paused in her work and turned around to stare at him. He looked her over, noting the healthy flush to her cheeks. No wonder lycanthrope blood was so sought after on the black market—it healed near-fatal injuries in no time at all. Licking his lips, he took a few steps forward, aching to touch her.
The curve of her lip seemed to invite him to step closer. When he didn’t do anything more than stare, one of Indi’s brows arched. The compulsion overtook Rhett before he realized what he was doing. His huge arms wrapped around her, lifting her off her feet and holding her close so he could breathe in the smell of her skin and revel in the warmth of her body; something he thought he’d never be able to feel again.
Rhett expected her to fight, to break free of his grasp, but she didn’t. Relief washed over him for several reasons. “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured into her hair. He put her down, but still held her close to his body, his hands on her waist. God, she felt good under his fingers.
“I’m not that easy to get rid of,” she said, smiling up at him.
“When Jerry told me you were in the hospital, I tried to come and see you, but they were only letting family visit at the time,” he lied. “When did you get out?”
“Yesterday morning. Jerry picked me up.”
“Do you know what happened to you?”
She shook her head. “The doctor said they had no idea, and I can’t remember what happened after I left my apartment.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said softly, saying it to himself more than he was saying it to her. The fact that she was alive and breathing meant he’d done the right thing by giving her his blood. “Were there any marks on your body? Were you injured in any way?” he asked. As Indi looked down, Rhett stared at her collarbone and neck. He had a flashback to that night, his memories taking him back there even when he didn’t want to go. She was so pale and cold again, her throat nearly torn out. Seeing Indi so close to death had broken something inside him, and he promised himself he wouldn’t ever let her out of his sight again. Her artificial blue eyes fixed on his before her hand gravitated protectively towards her clavicle that had been destroyed by Nox.
“No. Nothing,” she replied slowly, her brow creasing like she was trying to find a memory from that night.
“Indi? Can I get some help up here, please?” Jerry called from the front of the cafe.
“Sure, Jer. Just a minute,” she called back. She gave Rhett an apologetic smile and went to help her brother.
When Indi’s shift came to an end a few hours later, Rhett pulled her aside gently.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I’m walking you home,” he said in a tone that left her no way of talking her way out of it. She opened her mouth to argue, but after he fixed her with a stare confirming his don’t-fuck-around-with-me attitude, she nodded and started to untie her apron strings.
“I’ll just tell Jerry,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. She walked around the counter to where Jerry was working on an order. “Rhett’s walking me back,” she told him, glancing at Rhett for a second before turning her attention back to her brother. “I’ll see you at six?”
Jerry’s head whipped up, nailing Rhett with a look that was very much like the one Rhett had given to Indi only a few moments before. Rhett nodded. Yeah, they were on the same page.
Jerry said, “All right. I’ll be at your place at six.” He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek before going back to his order.
Rhett opened the door for her as she slid on her coat, the scent on her skin drifting up to meet him like a long-lost lover. Indi shivered when the near glacial air hit her exposed skin. It looked as if there had been a flurry while they’d been working, the snow lying in a thin layer on the sidewalks. Indi pulled the collar of her coat closer to her throat and set the pace.
“So, did you miss me?” Indi asked him teasingly. Rhett snorted, which earned him a playful smack on the arm from Indi. “Jerry told me you took unpaid leave while I was laid up. Is that true?” Indi asked after they walked for a few minutes in silence.
“Yeah, it’s true. I think Jerry’s struggling with money right now, so I wanted to be as flexible as I could for him.” Indi had tried to keep the look of surprise off her face, but Rhett saw the flash of shock. She didn’t know how hard up Jerry was. “You didn’t know, did you?”
Indi shook her head. “No,” she replied softly then cleared her throat. “But don’t you need the cash? This is your only job, right?” she said, steering the conversation away from her brother’s financial problems.
“I don’t do it for the cash.” I do it for you. He studied her expression carefully. “I also work for my uncle…you know, a family business of sorts.” A family business that had to do with patrolling the territory’s borders and defending it from rival packs, lone wolves and vampires—just the kind of thing you wanted to brag about.
“Do you still live with your folks?” she asked curiously.
He barked a humorless laugh. “No. I live with my uncle and his family just outside town.”
“Where are your parents?”
A rush of arctic air rushed into his chest and froze his heart again. Eventually he said, “They died in a car accident when I was four. I was sent to live with my uncle and his wife. They took me in, raised me like their own, but I’ve never felt like I was part of the family. I’m…different, and everybody treats me differently.” Rhett swept the bitterness out of his voice. His uncle and aunt had always been good to him, but their kindness had landed him with a whole lot of cruelty along the way.
“Different, how?” He fixed her with a stare, his mismatched eyes holding all the rage and hurt he’d carried since he was born, until eventually she said, “Oh. I get it.” Her voice was small. She turned away from him and when she looked into his eyes again, he staggered back a step—not because he was horrified, but because she was even more beautiful than before.
Her purple eyes were guarded like a dog waiting to be struck. “The nuns thought it’d be funny to name me after the color of my eyes,” she shrugged. “So, yeah, I know what it’s like to be different.”
“You’re beautiful, Indi. You shouldn’t hide behind those contacts anymore.”
Her mouth twisted into a grimace and she looked away before slipping the contacts back in again. “This is the only part of my life I can control,” she replied softly. “Why do you still live with them? Why not just move out on your own?”
“With my uncle and aunt?”
“Yeah.”
He smiled bitterly. He couldn’t tell her the truth yet: That without his uncle’s protection he was as good as dead. The warrant for his death still stood from when he was a pup. If he left the pack, he would have to leave the territory where—no doubt—other packs would be more than willing to make good on the ninety-year-old warrant. The only thing saving him was that farmhouse.
“I can’t afford it,” he lied.
“And you think I can?” she countered.
He shrugged. “It’s not so bad. At least I can get some cash to spend on myself by working at the cafe.”
“You must have gone to school around here then,” Indi said after a long minute.
“No. They sent me away for school,” he lied again. Christ, he was beginning to wonder what truths he had actually told her. “Why?” When she didn’t answer, he took her gently by the shoulder. “Indi? Why?” She cursed under her breath before lifting her eyes to his.
“I met someone who said they knew you, said they went to school with you.”
Rhett’s entire body stiffened. Tension swirled around him, and with gritted teeth he forced himself to relax a little. “Who was it?”
“Some guy called Sam. He turned up at the cafe about a week ago. I was closing up and he asked if I needed any help.”
Rhett didn’t know any wolves called Sam, although they could have lied about that. Maybe it was another wolf from another pack, or maybe it was a lone wolf looking for trouble. Indi’s existence wasn’t unknown to the species, but her whereabouts were—for now at least. He refused to think that maybe it was the Sicarii they’d saved her from.
“Why didn’t you lock the door and call me?” he asked, swallowing down on the growl vibrating through his chest. His wolf was pacing inside him—agitated—which was jacking him up further. His eyes would soon start to slip if he wasn’t careful. He was barely hanging on to his humanity as it was right now.
“I was going to call you, but then he said he knew you.”
“Did you ever think he was lying to you?” he growled.
Indi glared at him, her rage palpable. “Of course I thought of that!” she snapped. “But when I asked him what color your eyes were, he answered correctly.”
He could smell his menace polluting the air. It was his anger and self-abhorrence that was responsible, and that only made it worse. He was supposed to be protecting her, but every time he tried to watch her, pack business got in the way. Rhett pinned her with a look that he was sure was going to make her run from him. But he was wrong; boy, was he wrong. She met his gaze and held it, the wolf in him loving the dominance she showed.
When her arms crossed her chest he knew she was standing her ground. And in case all those body language clues weren’t sticking everything together, she raised her chin a fraction—challenging him to speak like that to her again. What a turn on.
After getting his head back in the game, Rhett had to admit it was a good question to ask, but it didn’t rule out the vamps. Some of them could read human minds.
“What did he look like?” he ground out.
Indi swallowed. “Dark hair, maybe six feet tall with dark brown eyes. He had a tattoo on his neck…maybe the tail of a snake.”
Rhett thought the ground had started shaking beneath his feet, but he soon realized he was shaking with rage. He walked a few paces away from Indi to stop her from seeing, and sucked in a deep breath around the curse that had just left his lips. It was Nox. Nox had found her, but hadn’t killed her right then. Why?
