Aftermath (26 page)

“That’s ridiculous,
Ana! I was doing it for you! Look at me dammit!” He appeared in
front of me where I was standing by the stairs. I looked up, but kept
my eyes focused on something behind him because my throat was
becoming thick and I was afraid I’d cry.
No tears.

“When I said I can
sense how you feel, I meant it.” He went on, “If you were full
Hunter, you would have known that, you would have known how I felt
about you without me ever having to say a word. I wanted to give you
space, I wanted to be with you when you were 100 percent sure that
was what you wanted. I want all of you Ana. I want you to want all of
me, too. When you become a Hunter your senses are magnified. That
goes for your emotions, too. I was afraid that any doubt you felt for
us would be magnified. I didn’t want you to resent me. I didn’t
think you were vulnerable, quite the opposite. I didn’t want you to
resent me because you still have a lot of changes to go through. And
what if after going through those changes—I am not the one you
want. As your mother said, you are a Queen, I am simply your soldier.

Did he actually
doubt my feelings for him?
I opened my mouth to protest but he
cut me off. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. You are going to the
plantation and we are leaving New Orleans.”

That threw my
emotionless faux state out the window. “
What?
”

“We have to leave. We
are going back to my parents' in Tampa for a while. What Luke did
won’t go unnoticed. We need to lay low for a while. New Orleans
isn’t like it was. It’s a more grown-up city now since Hurricane
Katrina. We can’t get away with what we used to. Even Troy couldn’t
cover this one up.”

“You’re
leaving
me?”

One corner of his lip
curled up, “I’m not leaving you Ana. I was going to ask you to
come with me. You are leaving to your mother's now.”

My mouth was open but
nothing would come out. “I—“

“It’s the right
decision.” He nodded. Could Hunters cry? Because I thought I saw
his eyes glisten. “You deserve that life with your mother. You
deserve to be away with all the pain I have caused you.”

“Stop it!” I
shouted and dared to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder. It was
a hesitant touch at first, then it became a stroke and I trailed both
hands now down his chest. A deep groan sounded from the back of his
throat. “I love you. I really do.”

“How come I feel like
there is a ‘but’ attached to that statement?”

“But you’re right.
I need to figure out things. I can’t be the person I was. The girl
that was weak, that cried easily and fret over things she could or
couldn’t change... I need to figure out who I am and what I am
capable of.”

He bit his lower lip
and looked to the heavens with a pained expression. Finally, his head
came back down and he nodded. “Fine.” He nodded again; I wondered
if it was more for himself. “But don’t you dare think yourself
weak for having a big heart. The girl that cries during those damn
puppy commercials but didn’t bat an eyelash when I pulled her in my
truck and kidnapped her. I fell in love with that girl.”

I took a step back from
him. “I—I can’t. Mr. Christian died!”

“I know. And I am
sorry. I am so damn sorry, Ana.” He tried to pull me toward him and
I fought him. He pulled his arms around me and I beat my fists
against his chest and tried to fight the sobbing that was racking my
chest. “It’s okay.”

My protests were
muffled. And I relaxed, letting him hold me in mind-numbing bliss for
the last time in who knows how long. We stood there for the longest
time, perfectly still and silent until I heard the engine of a car
pull into the driveway. I pulled back like I had been doing something
I shouldn’t have been.

“It’s just
Christopher and Elizabeth.”

I nodded. Then wondered
if Luke was with them. I wasn’t ready to see Luke again. Not yet.
When I did I wanted to be ready. I wanted to know how to kill a
Hunter because when I saw him again, I would have to kill him.

“I guess this is
goodbye.” There was an odd detachment from my voice.

He licked his lips
sadly. “I will wait for you, Ana. However long it takes. I
will
wait for you.”

I looked away from his
intense gaze. Hayden gave me the opportunity to respond but I just
stood there stupidly until he walked away. He let out a regretful
noise as he opened the door, then with no other words the door
slammed behind him.

“I’ll be right
out.” I called my mother from my cell phone and then left it
permanently on the table in the foyer. I walked up the stairs to my
room to change out of the dress, knowing I would be more comfortable
in jeans for whatever my mother had planned for me. I planned to
leave everything behind as I didn’t have anything that truly
belonged to me except my charm necklace and the journal Hayden had
given me.

Every move I made was
deliberate and calm. It took all my concentration to place my hand on
the railing, lift one foot and set it on the next step, and repeat.
Place hand on door knob, twist gently and push.
I suppose
thinking about that was better than letting the flood gates open to
all the emotions I had to have in me. My grief for Mr. Christian, my
joy for having my mother, my love for Hayden, my hatred for Luke. I
was a walking contradiction. I tore my mask off and threw it on the
bed. Now if I could just get out of this dress that easily. I reached
my arm behind my back, struggling to find the top of the laces. I
felt a hand brush up against my skin and the laces slowly being
loosened. I spun around to find Luke standing in front of me.
Luke.

“What are you doing
here?” Hatred dripped with each word.

He didn’t reply, only
stalking my every move as I backed up. “Get away from me, Luke.”
I backed into my dresser. “Leave me alone. My mother is in the car
outside.” I used her as a warning.

He looked up at me
through his eyelashes, his eyebrows were drawn together and he was
exhaling forcibly. I didn’t at first comprehend this look Luke had
on him, and then I understood. He was Hunting. I looked down at his
hand in which he held a small vile filled with an amber liquid. I
sighed from relief. No weapons, but did Luke really need a weapon?
And why did he have what looked like a potion? I turned and ran as
soon as it dawned on me.

Luke grabbed my arm
before I even took a step. He bent down, pulling me backward over his
knee. The cork flew off the vile and he held it to my mouth. “Drink”
his voice vibrated. It was like he was possessed.

I pressed my lips
together and shook my head, too stunned to speak let alone scream for
help.

Luke grabbed my face,
forcing my mouth open. The liquid burned as it went into my mouth,
somehow working down my throat. I sputtered, trying to spit the
liquid out. Luke shut my mouth with his hands. “Swallow,” he now
instructed.

I shook my head again,
tears now spilling down my cheeks. The liquid was burning in my
mouth. It was almost as painful as the fact that Luke was trying to
kill me.

He growled and I
trembled in his arms. His lips twitched but he didn’t hesitate
before pinching my nose shut. I tried to take a breath but my lungs
just constricted without air. The pain in my chest and burning in my
mouth was too hard to bear. I moaned from under him, pleading with my
eyes to have him release my jaw.

“Swallow first.”

The liquid slid down my
throat and he let me go, I flew across the room, gasping for air the
entire time. I could feel the liquid burn as it went down my throat,
and into my stomach. I felt a similar burning sensation through my
veins and the feeling spread as it made its way through my blood
stream, and finally to my heart.

Damn. This is not how
I thought it’d go down. What is this emotion that I feel? Guilt?
Remorse? No, how can I feel that when I have the girl of my dreams
sleeping on my lap. We are in the backseat, Ana in the middle of
Hayden and I as our parents drive us back to the beach house in
Tampa. But damn, everyone is pissed at me. Everyone except the only
one who matters: Ana. I know I maybe didn’t go the best route in
getting her to fall in love with me. Forcing her to drink a love
potion is pretty unforgivable according to my family. But I couldn’t
help it.
I love her.
I love her so damn much. I place my arm
around her.
She is mine.

“Get your hands off
my girlfriend.” Hayden is pissed.

“What?” I try to
play it off. “I’m keeping her warm. And I don’t know if she
would agree that she is your girlfriend anymore.”

That pisses him off
even more. “The only reason I’m not killing you is because she’d
hate me. Although if she wasn’t under your spell, I’m sure she’d
kill you herself.”

“Well more power to
ya then.” I sneak at glance at our parents who are doing a bad job
at pretending not to hear our conversation.

“She will always be
mine. It doesn’t matter what kind of potion you gave her that will
fake these feelings towards you. When she had free will, she chose
me.”

I shrug slightly,
careful not to wake up Ana. He is pissing me off and I can’t help
but to make him angrier. Now he knows exactly how I felt all those
times seeing him with Ana, seeing Ana love him and kiss him. Just the
mere memory was enough to drive me insane. “You should be thanking
me. If it wasn’t for me, she never would have gone with us. She
would have stayed in New Orleans and neither of us would have had
her.”

“You are irritatingly
naïve, Luke. It wasn’t our decision to make. If she chose to stay,
then so be it! It is far better than the fate you bestowed upon her.”

“Oh, this is coming
from the guy who kidnapped her.” Heavy sarcasm.

“That was to keep her
safe!”

“And that’s what I
am doing now. She wouldn’t have been safe in New Orleans without
our protection. And don’t get me started on her mother…”

“All I want to know
is what the hell did you have to do to get that potion?” Hayden
swore. He must be really losing it.

“None of your damn
business. Just be glad that she is with us and we can protect her
again.”

“Don’t think for
one second I agree with what you’ve done, or am grateful
whatsoever. I would rather have her in New Orleans alone than in love
with you,” he spit out the last words.

“If you can’t have
her then no one can? That’s pretty selfish coming from you.”

“She is not an
object, Luke.”

“I don’t care, she
is mine.”

“Don’t think for
one second I will allow you to bind to her.”

“So, what, you’re
going to just let her remain mortal?”

“Yes. Until, I find a
cure.”

“There is no cure!”
He is in major denial that this is happening.

“I will
never
stop looking for a cure.”

Missed
Tempest
? Want more of the Boudreaux brothers? Read on
for a preview of
Tempest
in Hayden’s POV!

Hayden
Boudreaux couldn't decide which was worse— that he was falling in
love with a mortal or that the only way to break his family's
centuries-old curse would be to kill her. Of all that he was certain
was the more time he spent with her, the more he knew he would do
anything to protect Adriana Alexander, including sacrificing his
eternity. What he wouldn't expect was that Luke - his brother that
hated Ana, who wanted to kill her - would decide he would want her as
his own.

Chapter One

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, rounded with a
little sleep"

-
Tempest
by William Shakespeare.

What had I become? I
hadn’t even bothered paying for the car I was driving. Worse, it
was as if I didn’t even give the stealing a second thought, like it
was second nature to just take and not think of the consequences to
others. Wasn’t that exactly what the Supernatural thought they
were?
Super
, as in superior to the normal, tedious doings of
the human world? So what if the entire human world depended on the
balance that we as Hunters gave it? What I do is nothing to be proud
of. I would never be arrogant about it like some of the others…

My hand clenched the
leather of the steering wheel at the thought. It took me a while to
get off the main road. Soon, the entrance appeared through the
vegetation. This was Louisiana and in swamp territory, what’s not
there one minute can appear the next. Unfortunately, the same theory
applied to the opposite. I turned into the unpaved entrance. The
thin, one-lane road was the only thing cutting through the swamp. As
I drove, the trees were becoming thicker, almost more sinister, like
they knew what the end of this road held. I was almost there, I could
smell it. It was the scent of incense, of candlewood, of death.

I pulled in front of
the run-down house, barely putting the car in park before running to
the front door. I was already doing everything else in supernatural
mode, why not go all in? The humor almost led to a smile.

Sansha was at the door
before I could give it another thought. She wasn’t surprised in the
least to see me. Of course not. Giving me her pearl-and-gold smile,
she held out the door for me to enter.

I kicked away empty
bottles as I walked into her clutter. I would never pretend to
understand the supernatural. Although, Sansha
did
chose to
live in this modest house and that was something I
could
understand.

I realized that I
hadn’t said a word of greeting, which may have triggered the
intense silence between us. Before I could offer a hello, she spoke.

“I hear you were out
of your territory.”

“You hear or see?”

She laughed without
humor.