Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga) (12 page)

“I can speak for
myself,” she huffed. She now had both their attention. “Why does everyone deem
it necessary to talk around me like I’m not even in the room?”

Sean bowed again,
then
spoke to Drake. “I meant no disrespect, sire. I haven’t
been granted permission to speak to her directly yet.”

This is ridiculous, he did it again
, she thought.
The
man is a buffoon, he called me a queen. If I were a queen I’d order his ass
kicked for insolence.
She saw Drake smile.
No, it can’t be. He couldn’t have just heard my thoughts.

“No, the boy is not
hers.”

You stubborn ass, you talked around me again.

Drake tilted his head
and looked into her eyes.
Stubborn
ass?

Sherry’s eyes rounded.
You
can
hear me.

Yes.

How?

“Thank you, Sean. We’ll
all be in the library, and don’t wish to be disturbed.”

Sean bowed again. “Yes,
sire.” He left them.

Oh, no you don’t, mister. You are not going to ignore
me. I want some answers.

Later, vixen, we have others waiting.

Fine, but this isn’t finished.
She squeezed Mica’s shoulders. “Let’s go, hun.”

“I’m afraid, Aunt Sher.
What if…?”

“It’ll be okay, hun, you’ll
see. Everything will work itself out. Keep your chin up and remember that you’ll
always have me. No matter what happens in there, I’ll always be here for you,
kiddo. I promise.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

Two guards stood on
either side of the library doors and opened them when they approached. As they
entered the library, Sherry saw Mica and Desiree exchange a startled glance,
then
Mica bowed low.
“My queen.”

Okay, this is beyond weird.
Drake?

In a moment, love.

“What’s this all
about?” Caleb demanded in a defensive tone. “
Who’s
the
woman and the kid?”

Drake cocked an eyebrow
at his tone. “Caleb, this is your son, Mica.”

Caleb shook his head.
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not saddling a kid on me. I’ve never seen that woman
before in my life. If she’s claiming that—”

“
Enough!
” Drake roared. “You will be silent.”

Caleb clamped his mouth
shut and glared at Sherry.

“You see, Aunt Sher? I
knew he wouldn’t want me.” The dejected tone in Mica’s voice broke Sherry’s
heart.

She approached Caleb
and slapped him hard across the face.
“Why, you arrogant
ass!”

Caleb’s eyes turned,
glowing amber, as he shook with anger.

Drake snatched Sherry
away, out of Caleb’s reach. His eyes glowed red, his voice cold and
threatening. “Shift and it will be your final time.”

Mica gripped Caleb’s
shoulders and shook his friend. “Caleb, don’t!”

Desiree looked between
Caleb and the boy. She smiled at the boy. “You’re Celia’s boy, aren’t you?”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

“We all thought you
were dead.”

Caleb froze. “Celia. I
haven’t seen her in years.”

Sherry crossed her arms
over her chest.
“Obviously.”

“If she’s claiming I’m
the boy’s father, then—”

Desiree frowned as she
turned on Caleb. “Celia’s dead, Caleb.”

The look that crossed
his face was first shock then sorrow. “I had no idea.”

“It doesn’t take a
genius to see the resemblance between you two. Celia never told us who his
father was.”

“Those men killed her
‘cause of you!” the boy yelled.

“What men?”

Drake crossed his arms
over his chest. “From what the boy has told us, it sounds like it was your old pack
from England. It appears that they were here to take your son. Celia died
protecting the boy from a vengeance directed at you.”

Caleb sat down hard. “I
have a son,” he said in disbelief. “She should have told me.”

“A son
you
now need to protect from
your
pack,” Drake said.

Caleb shook his head.
“If he’s mine, I’ll protect him with my life, but with Celia gone how will I
know for sure?”

Sherry frowned. “He’s
yours, trust me.”

Caleb stared at Sherry
hard. “I don’t know you from Adam, lady.”

“Caleb!” Mica
interjected. “Watch your tone, she is Drake’s queen.”

Sherry caught her
breath and looked sharply at Drake.
I’m
your what?

Queen.
Her eyes bugged, then he continued out loud. “Mica, boy, show your father what
you can do.”

“Aunt Sher?” Sherry
threw Drake an exasperated look,
then
nodded to the
boy.

“Go ahead, honey. Show
him.”

The air shimmered around the boy as he shrunk down into the
clothes. He poked his head from the opening of the sweatshirt.

“Shadow,” Desiree said in surprise. She turned to Caleb.
“He’s yours. Humans and witches don’t shift into animals.”

“Okay, okay, you’re right. I see your point. Just give me a
second…I didn’t even know it was possible. It appears that I’ve been a father
for the last….” He shrugged. “How old is he?”

“Twelve,” Sherry answered. “And what do you
mean,
you didn’t know it was possible?”

Caleb shrugged, then picked the cat up and placed him in his
lap, stroking the soft fur. “I’m over four hundred years old. To my knowledge,
I’ve never been a father before. I wonder why Celia didn’t tell
me?
”

“We begged her to tell you,” Sherry said, “but she said it
wasn’t safe. Why would she say something like that?”

“Not long before we broke up we were attacked. I killed the
attacker, but she was never the same after that. She’d jump at every sound and
seemed to be afraid all the time. I tried to calm her fears but she wouldn’t
listen. She kept insisting that they were still out there. Nothing I did or
said was good enough anymore. She’d start a fight at the drop of a hat over
nothing at all. A month or so later she said that she couldn’t take it anymore
and she told me not to call or come by.” He sighed heavily. “I was tired of the
fighting. I loved her, but I thought she didn’t love me anymore. I guess my
pride was hurt, I don’t know. I did what she asked and left her alone and tried
to forget.” He cuddled the cat and rubbed his face over the top of his head. “Had
I known about the child, I wouldn’t have allowed her to have her way. I would
have demanded to be in their lives.”

“Shadow…I mean Mica.” Sherry
said. He lifted his head and made eye contact. “Follow me to that doorway. I’ll
bring your new clothes. You need to phase back now.”

Mica leaped out of
Caleb’s lap and waited patiently on Sherry,
then
he
followed her across the room.

Caleb watched them
leave. “He seems to listen pretty well.”

“He’s a good kid,”
Sherry said from across the room. “He needs his father.”

Caleb stood and
approached Mica. “Hey, buddy, I’m gonna need your help. We need to track these
guys down before they get away. Celia deserved better than that.”

Desiree interjected.
“Caleb, Celia died two years ago.”

He raked his fingers
through his hair. “Two years ago? I don’t understand. Why am I just now hearing
about all this?”

“For starters, we
didn’t know who you were,” Sherry said as she joined the group again. “Young
Mica here has been living as my cat, Shadow, for the last two years. I had no
idea.” She ruffled Mica’s hair. “Drake recognized him as a shape shifter this
morning, and patched together all the missing pieces of the story.”

“Thank you for taking
such good care of him, and I am sorry for the way I treated you earlier. It was
uncalled for.”

Sherry smiled. “Apology
accepted. I know what a shock this is, and believe me, I was shocked this
morning too. He’s been through a lot in his young life. I’ve told him that I
will always be there for him, and I will, but he needs a father—his father—and—”

“I want my son.”

She felt Mica relax at
her side, and she squeezed his shoulders. “Good. He needed to hear that from
you, Caleb. He was so afraid that you wouldn’t.”

Caleb reached his hand
out and grabbed the boy, pulling him into a bear hug. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for
everything, Mica. I’ve been livin’ solo for so many
years,
it’ll take some time to adjust. You’ll have to be patient with your ‘old man.’
I’ve never had to do the father thing before, and you’re half-grown. I’m
getting a late start.”

The boy hugged him
back. “What do you want me to call you?”

“I’ll answer to most
anything, but I’d like for you to call me dad.”

“So the mangy cat does
have a heart,” Drake said.

Caleb took a deep
breath,
then
reluctantly looked to Drake. They had
never seen eye to eye on anything. He kept his son in a hug and stuck his hand
out to Drake. “I know that we’ve never gotten along…thank you, sire, for this.”

Drake kept his face
sober. “That had to hurt.”

“It did.”

Mica laughed and
slapped Caleb on the back.

Chapter Fourteen

Drake placed an amulet
in Sean’s hand. “Follow them, and do not let them out of your sight.”

Sean fastened the heavy
gold chain around his neck. “Is there anything that I’m not supposed to let
them do?”

Drake considered the
question. He knew that Sherry wasn’t going to be very happy to learn that she
had a bodyguard following her around, but she had to be protected. He and Mica
were stuck at the warehouse with a few issues that needed to be dealt with
immediately or he’d be with her himself. He looked to Mica and Mica shook his head.
“No, they are free to move about as they wish—for now anyway. I just need you
to keep an eye out for Hargrove’s son.”

Sean bowed to Drake.
“As you wish, sire, I will protect the queen….” He stole a glance at Mica.
Mica’s cold glare had him amend his sentence.
“And the witch,
with my life.”

“Then go.”

Sean bowed again and
left, closing Drake’s chamber door behind him.

Mica stared hard at the
closed door and grumbled, “I don’t trust that little weasel.

“Drop it, Mica. I know
you two have issues, but—”

“He is insolent and
disrespectful.”

“But he is loyal to me
and will do as he’s told. We have other, more pressing, matters to discuss than
your disdain for my bodyguard.”

“If he allows harm to
come to my mate, I will kill him.”

“Noted.
Now for the next topic—Caleb.”
Drake motioned for Mica to be seated.

Mica sat down in the
chair and let out a collected breath, then glared at Drake. “What about him?”

Drake took a seat on
his throne. “Sherry is fond of the boy.”

Mica nodded. “Desiree
is too.”

“I’ve never pressed the
issue. I know it’s been three hundred years, but I need to know what happened
with Caleb and his pack.”

“That’s Caleb’s
business, you should have asked
him
.”

Drake folded his arms
across his chest. “I’m asking
you
.”

Mica raked his fingers
through his hair in frustration. “I swore to him that I’d never speak of it.”

“It’s a little late
now. The trouble has followed him here, onto our turf, and it has suddenly
become
my
problem. We also have our
own conflicts to worry about; Santana and his clan could be heading here as we
speak. He has made it no secret that he wants control of New Orleans. I’ll be
damned if I’m gonna lose this war because I was kept ignorant of the details of
Caleb’s fuckup in England. Now, here’s what I
do
know. He was nearly dead when you brought him back that day.
What I don’t know is the details.”

Drake watched the
muscles in Mica’s jaw tense. He didn’t want to have to order Mica to tell him,
but he would if he had to.

“Okay, you already know
some of it anyway. You might as well know the rest.”

Drake frowned. “I do?”

Mica nodded. “You
remember the other night when we arrived back from Tennessee?”

Drake gave him a
puzzled look. “What does Tennessee have to do with it?”

“Caleb has a compulsive
disorder. When he gets a thought in his head that he wants something…well, he
becomes obsessed with it until he just takes what he wants, or attempts to
anyway.”

Drake rubbed the
tension from the back of his neck. “Are you referring to the issue you had with
him and Desiree?”