Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (22 page)

I shook my head. “Honestly? I think it fits.
I’ve never met anyone who makes as much of a difference as you
do.”

He dropped his gaze to the red sand. “I can
never do enough. No matter how many werewolves I save, there are
others out there being tortured and killed just because they can
phase into a wolf.” He glanced at me. “Having Nikki at my side
makes it manageable. She helps me see that while I might not be
able to save them all, I can try my best and it’ll make a
difference to each werewolf my team gives a new life.”

I ran a hand through my hair to push it back
from my face and asked the question that had been burning through
my mind since I met Nora. “Can you truly be complete with a
human?”

The smile he gave this time was heavy with
experience. Sorrow and laughter warred in his eyes, and the honesty
of his expression left no doubt in my mind. “Nikki is my night and
day, my moon, my stars, and every driving force that keeps my lungs
filling up with air and my heart beating to drive blood through my
body so I can fight to make a difference. Without Nikki, I am not
me.” He met my eyes. “Choose the girl who makes you more because
you are with her. It doesn’t matter her race. All that matters is
she does more than just completes you, she brings out who you truly
are.”

Chapter 19

I paced my quarters that night, unable to
sleep. Mom's crew had done their job. The new center was spotless
and ready for habitation, and the werewolves and Hunters from
Jaze’s team that helped out left without a word. Werewolves from
Lobotraz took up the various rooms, each one full of as much good
food as they could eat and sleeping in the luxuries of down
comforters, thick robes, and soft cotton pajamas.

The comforts that lulled them to sleep had
the opposite effect on me. I couldn’t relax in the fine
surroundings with the thought of Nora trapped in her father’s
grasp. I felt pent up and caged, but nothing held me in except the
fact that I had nowhere else to go. I paced the room so many times
I wondered that there was no groove where my feet walked.

The phone rang and I jumped for it. “Did you
find her?” I couldn't keep the hope out of my voice.

Mom took a breath. “I'm sorry, son, but
there's word-”

All of my emotions that had been roiling
beneath the surface came to a head. “What good is money if it can't
find her?” I yelled into the phone. I threw it across the room and
it broke into pieces next to the open door.

Gem watched me with lifted eyebrows from the
doorway, her blue gaze barely fazed. “That's how you talk to your
mother?”

A pang of guilt ran through me. Gem had been
looking for her own parents, and she hadn't given up hope that they
were still searching for her, that it was only a matter of time
until they found each other, and here I was acting ungrateful
toward my own mother who was very much in touch and as parentally
relieved that I was still alive as I could imagine her being.

“
Not usually,” I muttered,
refusing to meet her eyes.

Gem picked up the bigger pieces of the phone
and came over to the couch. She sat down lightly and tucked her
bare feet underneath her. She held out the pieces. “You need to
apologize.”

“
The phone's broken,” I
said stubbornly.

She rolled her eyes and dumped the pieces
into my lap. “Don't take the easy way out. You'll regret it.”

I wanted to argue, but it took one look at
her determined gaze, her petite arms striped with Rob's black
lashes, her pixie cut rebellious pink hair, and her blue eyes much
older than her sixteen years, and I couldn't help but remember her
passing over the cup of water through silver bars and the faith she
had that she would be rescued, a faith that had carried me when my
own soul was lost. My heart leaped at her nearness and gratitude
for all she had done filled my chest. I would have died if it
wasn't for her care, and I couldn't argue with her now.

“
Fine.”

“
Great!” She jumped to her
feet. “When are we leaving?”

I eyed her suspiciously. “We?”

She nodded. “I don't trust you to make a
good apology by yourself. It sounds like you need help with these
things, and I've got nothing else to do until my parents are
found.”

Her tone begged me not to leave her at the
rehab center with the other broken werewolves. I sighed. It was the
least I could do. “Fine.”

She grinned and led the way out the door. I
was tempted to point out that it was almost midnight, but she was
already halfway down the hall. I sighed again in exasperation and
followed her. I wanted to forget my conversation with Jaze and just
enjoy being with her. The energy that surrounded Gem made me feel
younger, like the days we had survived together were only a dream.
I laughed as she skipped down the hall, my tiny sprite full of
fire.

“
Are you coming?” she asked
when she reached the door. She gazed up at me, her blue eyes
reflecting the light of the moon, and my breath caught in my
throat. No matter what Jaze went through with Nikki, he hadn’t had
to look on such a warm, carefree face and try to convince himself
he wasn’t in love.

***

“
This is fancy,” Gem said,
her eyes wide as I passed through the gate and drove down the
tree-lined driveway to my parents' mansion.

“
Cold and lifeless in its
own sort of way,” I said softly.

She shot me a glance, but didn't comment.
Her mouth fell open when a servant in a tuxedo came out to open the
door.

“
Good to see you back,
Master Vance,” James said. His brown hair was streaked with gray
and blue eyes were now spectacled with fine lines at the
corners.

“
Good to see you, too,
James,” I replied. My chest had grown tighter with every foot down
the driveway. It was hard to breathe past the knot in my throat at
the familiar, aged faces of the servants who were once my only
companions peering from the doorway. I swallowed and led the way up
the eight white steps to the gilded front doors tall enough to
allow entrance to an ogre.

Pat met us at the door, pretending to hold
it open with a white-gloved hand even though we both knew the
lion's-claw door stopper really did the work. “Splendid to see
you,” he said. His Irish accent was more faded than I
remembered.

“
Thank you, same to you,” I
said honestly. “I've missed everyone.”

“
We've missed you, sir,”
Rosemary, the woman who had once been more of a mother to me than
my own mom said with a sincerity that shone in her soft brown eyes.
“It's so good to have you back. How long will you be
staying?”

“
Just an hour or so.” The
understanding and regret in her gaze ate at my heart, but I could
barely stand to pass through the doorway, much less stay longer in
the house than necessary.

“
Madam is through here,”
Jerry said, leading the way. Light played off the top of his head
that had once held hair, at least as far as my younger self
remembered. His stature held dignity and grace, but his steps were
slower and his shoulders bowed at an angle that hadn't been there
when I was small.

“
Been a long couple of
years?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible. Gem walked beside me,
pausing now and then to study the paintings Mom collected and the
fine tapestries Dad traded for overseas. She fell behind, then
rushed to catch up with staccato beats of bare feet. She looked
like she regretted not wearing shoes. I wanted to tell her it would
give the servants something to do besides cater to my parents'
every whim, but I decided to keep things at a low roar as long as I
could.

“
It's definitely been
interesting,” Jerry replied in a tone that revealed nothing. He
glanced at me, but when I met his gaze he dropped his eyes and fell
silent.

“
I'm not a child anymore,”
I said quietly. “You can tell me what's been going on. It's obvious
everyone's been run ragged.”

“
It's not my place to say,
Master Vance,” he replied, his eyes straight ahead.

I gritted my teeth and we followed him
through two more sets of doors to Mom's favorite sitting room. Our
feet sunk into red plush carpet and a sigh of contentment escaped
from Gem. She threw me an embarrassed look, but being absent from
the mansion for thirteen years had also dampened my memory of the
grandeur of the rooms. Two had been stark and bleak compared to the
gold-gilded white walls, the intricate scroll work on the mahogany
furniture, and the fake fire in the fireplace that danced without
giving off heat.

Mom sat in a day lounge by the fire, her
velvet-slippered feet resting on a white cushion while she read a
book with a muscle-bound man on the cover. She looked up at our
entrance and her face paled an instant before she rose and rushed
over.

“
My goodness, Vance. Why
didn't you tell me you were paying a visit?” she asked, her tone
strange. She put her arms around me in an awkward hug, her hands
fluttering at my back like a pair of doves trying to
escape.

“
I, uh, thought it'd be
okay to stop by,” I said, stumbling over my words in a way I never
did. Mom's embrace, though clumsy, did more to remind me of her
love than a thousand phone calls. I didn't realize how much I had
missed it. Nora's voice whispered in my head that I did know, I had
just shoved it down behind a wall of anger and resentment
camouflaged in indifference. The need to hear the words from her
lips rushed through me with a longing ache.

“
Of course it's okay,” Mom
said, stepping back. Her hands quivered in front of her until she
locked her fingers and stood in a semblance of composure. She
noticed Gem for the first time. “Oh, and who is this?”

Gem stepped forward before I could introduce
her and shook Mom's hand. “Just Gem. I'm here for moral
support.”

I shot her a look, but she pretended not to
notice.

Mom's brows drew together. “Moral support?”
Worry touched her brown eyes that were a shade darker than
mine.

I looked at the ceiling, but didn't find any
help there and sighed. “I owe you an apology for the way I spoke to
you on the phone.”

“
And you threw the phone at
the wall and it shattered,” Gem put in helpfully.

I glared at her this time, but she merely
smiled her sprite smile and waited for me to continue. I turned
back to Mom. “And I rudely hung up.”

Gem sputtered, but I ignored her.

A smile of understanding touched Mom's lips.
“Oh, darling, you don't have to apologize. You're so worried about
Nora. I would never hold anything like that against you.”

Her comment brought an ironic smile to the
corners of my mouth. “Need I remind you that you wanted me to kill
her when I first found her?”

She laughed and sounded very much like the
mother I was used to arguing with over the phone. “Semantics,
Vance, dear. She is a Hunter's daughter and I didn't want you to
get hurt.”

“
So why the change of
heart?” I pressed.

She shrugged, but the lightness of the
action was belied by her forced smile. “It's obvious that you've
come to care about her very much, despite the fact that she’s
human.” The last word came out of her mouth liked it tasted
bad.

“
Being human doesn’t make
her less than we are, Mother,” I said with a touch of bite to my
tone.

“
You keep telling yourself
that,” my mother replied quickly. She glanced at Gem, then forced
another smile to her face. “How is the new rehabilitation center
coming along?”

“
It’s done,” Gem said
before flitting away like a ballerina to take a closer look at the
fire.

Mom nodded. “They do work quickly. I hear
you have Jaze helping you.”

“
It’s really the other way
around,” Gem said. “Jaze has all the help he needs; we just try to
stay busy.” She shot me a triumphant look and I rolled my
eyes.

Mom searched for something to say and
settled on, “Your father will be home soon. Perhaps we can have
dinner together.”

The thought of Dad sent a sharp pain through
my chest. I gave Mom a searching look and she dropped her eyes. We
both knew Dad could care less about whether I was home for dinner.
I turned to the door. “I'll be going. It's just, well, I'm sorry
about the way I spoke to you.” Gem cleared her throat daintily and
I grimaced. “And about breaking the phone. You deserve more respect
than that.”

“
Thank you, Vance,” Mom
said.

She made no move to stop me. Gem skipped
back to my side and Jerry opened the door for us to leave, but Mom
spoke at the last moment. “Vance?”

I turned slowly; the knowledge that the
visit had gone just how I knew it would sat heavily in my chest.
“Yes, Mother?”

Her voice revealed nothing. “I'm glad you
came to visit.”

I watched her for a second, wondering if she
had any regrets, but no tears glittered in the firelight, her hands
now held her book firmly again, and she stood by the day lounge
chair as if ready to take up where she had left off. I pushed down
the emotions that rose unbidden and nodded. “It was nice to see
you.” I left through the door and Jerry pulled it shut behind
us.

***

“
Who would have thought
someone like you could have come from all that?” Gem mused aloud on
our way back to Two.

“
You mean the money?” I
hazarded as I turned the jeep onto one of the many trails in the
red rocks.