BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (36 page)

“No human is powerful on their own, and Voodoo is just a bunch of tricks.” 

“That may be.”  Joseph said.  “But he can call the cannon fodder.” 

“Now that’s an interesting expression.”

Joseph smiled coldly.  “He has humans at his disposal who will do most anything for him.  Plus, he’s running guns.  So, there you go.”

“And your own following?  How strong is it?” 

Joseph’s face turned red.  “I had nearly a dozen, but Claude being the bastard that he is sided with that witch and her new pet tiger!  I lost four.”

“Dead?”

Joseph rolled his eyes.  “Two are.  The other two are…just not around anymore.”

Enrique made a
tsk tsk
sound.  “Abandoned ship.  You better get a handle on your people.”

“It’s easier said than done.  I need to know how to use the stone!  They’re getting tired of not seeing results!” 

Enrique’s face stilled.  “You’ll do as your told first, then we can discuss you
borrowing
the stone a bit longer.”  Enrique forced Latasha closer to him with his fingertips.  “Right now I would like some fun.” 

Latasha shuddered. 

Angela sent her motley crew away after making Niall promise that he would stick to her original advice and allow the rest of the day to be a time of rest.  When Niall had asked why she had sent James in the middle of the night if she wanted he and Sinclair to rest and he have time to woo her back, she had benignly lifted a shoulder and explained that James was sometimes a loose cannon, and did things based on his own time schedule.  Then she had covered her own butt entirely and stated that she didn’t really
know
James, but he was the most reputable paranormal tracker on the east coast.  Niall had bit back a tart response.       

Sinclair felt hot tears sting her eyes and roll down her cheeks.  She had the pillow bunched under her head, and wanted to just cover her face and scream.  She didn’t want this new world she was living in.  She didn’t like to think that there was even more badness in the world; a world where children were sacrificed for greed.  It was a pointless thought.  Children had been exploited since the beginning of time, but until now, she had never been face to face with it.  Gabriel’s predicament, and Angela’s story had brought all of it to the surface.  Like the five o’clock news didn’t have enough gruesome stories. 

Sinclair thought about her mother, and an aching homesickness over took her.  She and her mother had never been truly close, not the way a mother and her only daughter should be, but she was Sinclair’s
only
mother after all. 

She sat up and wiped at her face before grabbing the cell phone out of her purse.  There were things that Angela had said which had tickled the back of her mind.  Things about witches rarely marrying, and there being a need to produce other children.  She wondered why her mother and father hadn’t stayed together.  Her mother had never been forth coming about, she had simply said that it was a mutual agreement.  How could a father mutually agree to leave his daughter and never speak to her again? 

Sinclair waited through five rings before her mother breathlessly answered.  As usual she had looked at the caller ID before deciding to answer. 

“Sinclair?”

“Hi, Mom.”

“Why haven’t you called?  Why didn’t you give me your new number?”

“Mom, I gave you that number over a month ago, right after you bailed me out of jail.” 

“Well, I don’t remember.”  The uncertainty in her voice made her sound like a child.  She was forgetting more and more on a daily basis.  Sinclair knew it was an issue that would soon need attention.  If her mother was heading into early dementia or Alzheimer’s, she would need to have her tested to be sure.    

“Mom, I want to talk about Dad.” 

There was hesitation.  “What’s there to talk about?  He left when you were a small child.”

“Why didn’t he ever visit?  Why couldn’t I talk to him?”

More hesitation.  “Sinclair!  Why all these questions now?” 

Sinclair plucked at the comforter.  “I don’t know.  I just wonder sometimes.” 

“You have bigger problems right now than just that!  Is that bounty hunter Tina told me about helping you at all?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Is he single?”

Sinclair rolled her eyes.  “Why, Mom?”

“You’re not getting any younger…I’m not getting any younger either!  I would love to have a grandchild!”

“If I have to go to jail it won’t matter if he’s single or not.”

Her mother sighed.  “Well, just look to the future…plan a future, Sinclair.  A spouse, children, house with the picket fence.  Plan something normal.” 

Sinclair’s brow drew together.  “What’s wrong, Mom?  Why are you talking like this?”

“I just want to see you happy.” 

“Me too.  Look, I better go.”  A thought crossed her mind and she blurted it out before she could stop herself.  “Did we ever have any witches in the family?”

Sinclair pulled the phone away from her ear as she heard the receiver of her mother’s wall phone hit the floor in a clatter.  She could imagine the bulky yellow receiver spinning on the floor, attached to its cork screw cord.  She was sure her mother cursed quietly. 

“Mom?  Mom, what happened?”

Sinclair could hear the muffled noise of the phone receiver lifting and moving past her mother’s coarse wavy hair. 

“I dropped the receiver…sorry.”  There was a sharp exhalation, and Sinclair knew her mother had lit a cigarette.  “Why would you ask such a wild question?” 

“I don’t know…curious.  New Orleans has a lot of…well weirdness.” 

Neither spoke.

“Well, was there?”

“Of course not!”  She chuckled.  The sound was dry and forced.  Sinclair recognized it immediately as her lying laugh.

“What are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything!”

“Right.  I guess when all of this gets cleared up, I’ll just have to come home to visit.  Maybe you’ll talk to me about it then.”

Sinclair hung up without saying goodbye.  Whatever her mother was hiding, it obviously concerned her absent father.  She wasn’t surprised that her mother hadn’t immediately called back ranting that a good daughter would never hang up on her mother.  It placed in concrete the fact that her mother was hiding something.  

“I thought you were going to take a nap.”  Niall said as he appeared in the doorway.

“I was.”

“Who were you talking to?” 

“My mother.” 

“I guess that didn’t go well?”

Sinclair sighed and laid back.  “It rarely ever does.” 

Niall stretched out beside her, and was shocked when she rolled to face him, her head resting on her hands. 

“Do you want to get some dinner?”

“Aren’t you about out of money?”

“You have no idea what Enrique paid me to do his job, and you definitely have no idea as to what’s in my savings.”

“I guess we can eat then.” 

“What do you want?”  Niall fought the urge to touch her face.

“Nothing really.  I’m not actually hungry.  Has James left?”

“He took Gabriel to some toy store.  I let him use the Mustang, if you can believe that.”

Sinclair’s eyes grew large, and she tried to sit up.  “You let him take Gabriel out?  We hardly know him!”

Niall forced her back down.  “Calm down, Momma.  He seems to like Gabriel, and Gabriel him.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”  She was still uncertain.  “What if he doesn’t bring him back?  What if Gabriel bites him?” 

Niall sighed.  Sinclair’s attachment to the boy was strong.

“What are you going to do when the time comes to give him up?”

“Maybe I won’t have to.”

Niall shook his head.  “I don’t think that’s a good thought to entertain, Sinclair.  He may have family that will come out of the woodwork.  Besides, he’ll need special care.” 

“Maybe he won’t.  Maybe he can be fixed, or maybe he can complete his transformation.” 

“A person turned that young…there could be growth problems.  It’s not the same as if he was born that way.” 

“Were you born this way?”

“Yes.” 

Sinclair felt her stomach drop.  “When did you first turn?”

“Around the age of puberty.  Twelve or thirteen, I think.  That’s the natural time a shifter comes into their own.”

“I guess your parents are shifters?”

“My father.  It seems to be the norm if a child is born of parents that aren’t both shifters.  The father seems to carry the passable gene more than the mother.” 

“I wonder why that is?”

Niall shrugged.  “Sometimes the mother can pass it on, but for some reason it’s rare.” 

Sinclair looked at him with her bottle green eyes.  He hoped they would stay like this; just talking on the bed for a long time. 

“Were you scared?  The first time you shifted?”

“Yes.  My father had prepared me for it, but no words can truly prepare you for the real life experience of it.  I had seen him shift a few times beforehand.  I guess that helped.”   

“Is he a tiger too?”

“He is.” 

They laid like that, looking at each other for several minutes.  Niall could see the flutter begin in her eyes.  After her eyes had stayed shut for more than a few seconds, he eased towards her and draped an arm over her hip bone, allowing his own eyelids to flutter closed. 

“What’s going to happen to us, Niall?”  She asked softly.

He looked at her, but her eyes were still closed. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean after New Orleans.  What happens when all of this is over?  What will become of you and me?”

Niall pressed on her lower back and pulled her closer.  They were forehead to forehead, and he could still smell the Juicy Fruit she had been chewing earlier. 

“Will you marry me, Sinclair?”

Sinclair’s eyes flew open.  “What?”

“There’s your answer.  Will you marry me?”

“I…”

“Don’t answer me yet if you don’t want to.  I ask that specific question so you’ll know what my intentions are.  People should mate for life.  Shifters
do
mate for life.”  He searched her stunned face.  “Do you understand?”

Sinclair nodded slowly and nestled into his neck.  She didn’t want him to see her smile just yet.  She pressed herself closer to him, running a hand under his shirt.  The time for being angry with him had passed.  He was promising her a future. 

Sinclair’s cool hand under Niall’s shirt was all the invitation he needed.  He mimicked her, rushing his hand to a full breast, forcing one side of her bra over it.  He thumbed her nipple in small round circles until it was taut and begging to be suckled.  Sinclair drew in breath as he slid down, pushing her shirt up, and covering her nipple and the smooth skin of her areola with his mouth. 

The heat between them increased causing Sinclair to feel her stomach tighten and moisture gather between her legs.  She reached a hand to his crotch smiling lightly at how hard he was beneath the denim of his jeans.  Niall reached behind Sinclair and unclasped the bra, freeing both breasts to his roving hands. 

Sinclair was losing control of herself and it felt good.  Niall gently pushed her onto her back and she opened her legs to him, allowing her eyes to close as his lips found her neck and began a slow exploration with his teeth and tongue. 

I hope he goes all the way to my
…  Sinclair’s eyes flew open as the promise she made to herself came back to remembrance.  She struggled against Niall, pushing at his chest. 

“What’s wrong?”  He asked breathlessly.  “Did I hurt you?”

“No.  I just…I just don’t want to keep making this same mistakes, Niall.” 

“I told you I want to marry you.”  His dark eyes were large and intense.  The confusion was written all over his face.

“I know, but that could just be words, Niall.”  She re-clasped her bra, and Niall regretfully watched her breasts go out of view.

Niall sat back on his heels, a fist supporting him on either side of his legs.  He couldn’t let her think this was his idea of fringe benefits for this job.  He meant what he said to her, but now he had to prove it.  He willed his erection away, but sometimes mind can’t go over matter.

“Ok, Sinclair.  I understand.” 

“Do you really?”

He reached for her and pulled her tightly to his chest.  “Yeah.  I do mean it.  We can wait.  And if we can’t wait…we’ll just have to go to the justice of the peace.” 

Sinclair drew her head back and looked at him with her sparkling eyes.  This time she did allow him to see her smile.                              

“I think there may have been a witch in my family after all.” 

Angela stopped writing in her ledger, and raised only her eyes.  “Is that so?”