Deadly Expectations (59 page)

I lifted my chin so I could whisper right into his Paul’s ear.

“Paul … the one in the red shirt is ours.
 
I guess we’ve been busy.”

He smiled at me and kissed my cheek.

“The other is Ross’s line … the ones that aren’t in our lines don’t seem to be as independent as I thought.”

Paul nodded.
 
“Most of the mates are from outside our lines.
 
My father says the ones who’ve been around the longest like us mated before the other ones started showing up.”

That made sense.
 
When I thought about it the first three lines seemed as unrelated to each other as the ones like Ross seemed related to them.
 
Maybe the first three just called themselves brothers.
 
It would give them authority over any newcomers.

“What exactly did you tell Keith I used to do?” I asked Paul.
 
My arms felt like they wanted to cross so I put one around him and the other on his chest.
 
I didn’t want to look like I was challenging him in front of his family.

“What do you mean?” he asked so I repeated what he had said to Keith.

“Oh, that.
 
The men are always protective of the man they are loyal to.
 
It’s unusual for a mate to be.
 
She usually needs protection,” he paused.
 
“I know you can look after yourself but I have a deep need to protect you too.”

“And?”
I asked.
 
He hadn’t given me the whole answer.

“And you served under me until I knocked you up …” he admitted.

“I see … it’s not like you to tell a fib,” he looked a little sheepish.
 
“But that’s exactly how I got knocked up.”

He laughed. “Yes.
 
They need to have a healthy respect for you.
 
Like my men back home.”

I understood.
 
“I didn’t mean to cause a problem on the stairs.
 
I’m protecting the baby and me as well as you.”

“You didn’t,” Paul said.

I remembered how helpless Catherine was.
 
Like a toy in Damian’s hands.
 
But she wasn’t afraid … just incapable of defending herself.
 
Angry and sickened by the violence.
 
She stayed so still to try and protect her lover.
 
She was loyal to Paul then; willing to sacrifice herself to give him a chance.
 
Paul put his hand under my chin and pulled it up to kiss me.

“Get a room you two,” Keith said.
 
He had just come up the stairs and was walking past.
 
Paul looked right at him and kissed me again.
 
I giggled and tried not to turn pink then he turned us around so I was between him and the wall.

“Ray wants to know more about what you found out last night … but he doesn’t want you to tell him.
 
He wants me to.”

I didn’t really understand the difference but Keith said he was funny about things so I would go with it.

“Keith and Ray are both Pilots,” I told him.
 
“They’re … brothers?
 
Does that work?
 
Different mothers.”

“That works,” Paul said.

“Patrick is Ray’s.
 
I guess he inherited your sister from Pilot?
 
Does that make sense?”

Paul nodded.
 
“He was interested in which one was his.
 
He’d like to visit some time after we get back.
 
Ray says you can talk about him to Patrick to help him learn … but Patrick needs to keep it to himself.
 
He should understand that already.”

I agreed.

Lunch was coming up the stairs so we joined the rest of them to eat.
 
I only had a couple of hours with Patrick today before Marie would arrive so we needed to get to work.
 
Keith explained that the two who were missing from last night would be with us by dinner and he would need to open the top floor up to customers.
 
We would keep our table but would have company through the evening.

Patrick pushed his plate back before I did and looked over to see if I was ready but I wasn’t so I decided to start off by making sure I would be listened to.
 
I waited until he stopped looking at me.

“Patrick,” I said a little sharply.
 
He looked back.
 
I tilted my head to where I’d been working on Keith’s question the night before.

“In the corner please.
 
Take your napkin.”

“There?” he asked.
 
I just looked back.

“Okay,” he took his napkin and went over to wait.

“What are you doing?” Paul whispered to me.

“Even though I’m the kid he needs to know he’s my apprentice.”

Paul put his nose in my ear.
 
“Okay.
 
I know you only take shit from them when you choose to.”

“That’s right.”

I went over to join Patrick at the small round table in the corner.
 
There were only two seats so we sat across from each other.

“So,” I said to Patrick, “ready to start?”

He nodded.
 

“How are your manners?” I asked.

“Fine?”

“Ground rules first then,” I sighed.
 
“I only provide information about a relation if I’m asked by the man it pertains to.
 
But in the course of answering his question I learn a lot about other relations … build on other answers like last night.
 
I won’t share those answers even to the men they pertain to.
 
They must ask their own questions.

“I’ll share with you while you’re learning but you have to understand how completely personal that information is.
 
Even Paul doesn’t know the extent of my knowledge of the family and nobody else can know yours.
 
It protects us in a way … if the third line knows what a resource we are it may decide to silence us or try and take that information from us.
 
Your discretion protects us both, as does mine.”

“I understand,” Patrick said.
 
“Where do we start?”

“Your questions first.”

He thought a bit.
 
I noticed Paul kept glancing over as did Keith.

“What was that blue light?” I suspected that was Keith’s question.
 
My guess was he wanted to make sure that I didn’t understand it.
 
That was fairly close to the truth, my understanding of it was quite limited though a lot more than Paul let on.

“I did it once before … I was really focused on something and I guess it got out.
 
Paul was upset with me.
 
I think my self control is lacking because I’m just an over-informed child this time around.
 
Like bed wetting maybe?
 
I think I made him feel awkward in front of you.
 
I know he’s disappointed in me.”

I sighed and leaned toward Patrick.
 
“I don’t understand what I did.
 
I think it’s more like we feel about hearing voices.
 
Do you think I could be crazy?”

Patrick laughed.
 
“No, I don’t think you’re crazy.”

I acted relieved.
 
“I just don’t want to embarrass him like that again.”

“What relations can you find?” he changed the subject.

“I can find a sister’s fingerprint from her brother’s and probably the other way around but I haven’t done one yet.
 
I can remove the father’s print from the son’s and what is left of his is the mother.
 
Each one is time consuming … it leaves something here.”
 
I touched under my nose.
 
“That’s why I kept sneezing.
 
To clear it I think otherwise what’s left might interfere with my next comparison.
 
It’s tiring.”

"How?"

I thought as Patrick waited.
 
How was the
question.

"You do it here, don’t you?" he asked pointing under his nose.

"No, here," I shook my head and laughed pointing under mine.

"Fine … yours it is," he said.
 
"I’ll focus there."

"I …" but he was already leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed.
 

"Ready?"

“Yeah,” he sounded drowsy already with concentration.
 
I felt the same way.

“I’m going to put two prints there.
 
Don’t say the names.”

First I put in Paul then I put in
Warren
, the man in the red shirt.

“Do you know who they are?”
 
I asked him.

“Yes,” he spoke even more slowly.

“When I look at them closely I see a lot of things.
 
Words, colours, feelings …” I said.

“Shapes, smells … I feel like parts of me are being touched,” he continued, “other things I can’t describe.”

“Very good … you’re going to help.
 
We’re going to start by taking things from the son and father that match.
 
Keep what’s left separate.
 
We can’t mix them up or we’re starting over … no harm done just extra work.
 
There will be things left over in both prints.
 
We can ignore the father.
 
We’re only interested in what’s left in the son.”

“Okay.”

I started with something I found in Paul and Warren and removed it from both.
 
Patrick picked it up quickly and I watched as he did the work.
 
By the time we were done he was as fast as me.
 
All that was left of
Warren
were pieces of me.

“Well done.
 
I think male energy is stronger … more concentrated.
 
You’re fast and accurate.
 
Now focus on what is left of the son … can you match it to a mate you have met?”

“Yes,” he said quietly, “does the son know?”

“He doesn’t, the father can tell him."
 
I sneezed.
 
"Next one we’ll do in you.
 
You’re going to find my brother … your father."

"Auntie?"

I laughed.

"You do it this time."
 
I focused under Patrick’s nose.
 
He didn’t seem to notice.

"I’m not reading anything."

"Put me there," I prompted.

"Right …" He did and I read myself.

"Tricky part is not losing anything or getting what you’ve done mixed up with what you haven’t," I explained.

"Okay," Patrick sounded even dopier.

It took him two tries.
 
His first attempt was more like Keith than like Ray.
 
I suspected that was because he was familiar with Keith.
 
Second attempt he nailed it.
 
Then he proceeded to find his mother and reverse her into Paul.