Feral Passion (19 page)

Mary rubbed her eyes, head nodding her
consent to her statement. “Stressed,” she said, sighing. “I felt
like the world was falling around me.” He wondered at the faint
ironic tone in her voice.

He was about to ask “why”, when Mary looked
up at him with intense eyes.

Then, Mary asked a question.

One that would damn them both.

“Do you know who Kevin is?”

Chapter 30

Mary stared up at Jacques, awaiting his
answer. It didn’t seem like she would be getting one anytime soon
though; his eyes were set hard, lips pressed tight, and
eyes...emotionless. She twisted her hands, frightened by his
reaction of her question.

“Kevin.”

That one word, uttered word was so full of
hate, so...pact with emotion that it made her blink. “Do you know
who, then?” she asked, unsure.

Jaques nodded shortly, extracting himself
from her as quickly as he had gotten close to her. He stood slowly,
like a panther waiting to attack, waiting for the perfect moment to
leap.

Mary backed away from him.

She was shocked, worried, her emotions
scattered. At any other time, she wouldn’t feel so...vulnerable.
The coldness in her body was slowly leaving, replaced with a
shallow warmth that barely reached her soul. Of course, right when
she finds a moment of something...warm, it turns around, leaves as
if it were never there.

“Kevin, the weak mongrel who can’t take care
of his own race properly,” Jacques said, expelling all doubt that
they might be talking about a different Kevin completely. Mary
grimaced, but nodded.

His final words before awakening her came
back to haunt her, and her face paled. Staring up at Jacques, she
realized that she couldn’t go through with that Kevin had told her,
couldn’t hold down Jacques by the abused power of Kevin.

She just couldn’t. It would be like taming a
wild animal, a lethal panther which would fight it’s way for
freedom.

Binding with Jacques would hurt them both. No
matter the words that Jacques had said moments ago, words so sweet
and tender, so unexpected of him, that she felt as if she had been
made to listen to that voice.

“I’ve known Kevin most of my life,” she
started awkwardly, running a hand through her hair. “When I was a
kid, I would go to sleep and he would be there, telling me things.
Like, things about the future and what I had to do. Who I would
meet, who I had to look out for, things that I would have to do. A
lot of the time, I had just thought that it was normal for him to
be there. Then he had said
pacchetto
, I can remember that,” Mary said,
looking at her lap. “I asked my mom what it meant--I was only ten,
I didn’t pay attention to things that didn’t concern my dolls or
nail polish...

“She wanted to know why, and I had just
mentioned Kevin. Her reaction had been a lot like yours, all tensed
up and stuff. But she hadn’t known who or what I was talking about.
Later, I asked Kevin why she had gotten like that... The words he
said scared me. Sometimes, remembering what he’d said, I
still
get scared. It’s not often that
a child of ten is told that she is a Chosen, that the death of
thousands would be on her hands if she didn’t do things
properly.

“Thinking back, I understand why he put such
a heavy load on me when I was just so little. A couple of years
after I got out of college, the old leader died.”

Mary paused, not looking at Jacques, who
hadn’t said a word since she had started talking. The silence was
tense, quiet.

“Kevin told me... He told me I was a Chosen?”
she said, more like asked. Kevin had never explained that to her,
never even answered her questions about if there were more like
her.

She looked up nervously, wondering what he
was thinking. He was a leader too, surely he would know what she
was talking about. Pressing her hands together, trying to still her
nerves, she watched as his eyes hardened even more.

The room was tense, the silence blaring in
her ears, as he stared at her with what looked to be an angry
expression. “Stuart, another Creator, said just the same thing to
me.”

For a second, she barely registered what he
was saying. When she did though, her eyes widened, mouth opening
slightly. “You are...”

Jacques nodded, lips pressing tightly
together, a look of displeasure on his face. “Yes.”

Had the revelation not been so astounding,
she would have realized that he was distancing himself from her,
pulling back from her as quickly as he had inserted himself into
her life. She didn’t realize that his thoughts were ranging from
shock, panic and...something close to rage.

“Is that how you know Kevin?” she asked,
brows scrunching.

Raffaele shook his head. “I know him from
Stuart, another Creator.”

Mary’s eyes popped wide. “There are more of
them?”

His head nodded, but he didn’t say anything.
For the first time, Mary saw that Jacques was distancing himself
from hr--quite a lot, in fact. He was almost on the other side of
the room, arms crossed over his chest, face unreadable.

She felt like she had been slapped. Or
punched--or, wait,
gutted
.

Mary strode to the door, wishing her mother
were here for her. Pushing it open, not looking at Jacques for a
second, she walked out into the plane hallway, searching for a
familiar face.

Jacques followed, but didn’t try to talk to
her.

Her heart was pounding with not only hurt,
but with a sick relief that at least she would have a way to spare
him any holdings--with hate, or whatever he was feeling for her.
Why was it so hard for someone to decide their emotion and stick
with it?

It would have saved them a whole lot of hurt,
had he just figured out what was going on internally.

“Mary?” a loud voice asked, drawing her
attention to the woman who was practically flying down the hall to
meet her. “Oh, my precious baby!” her mother exclaimed, grabbing
Mary up in a tight hug.

She tried to laugh, to be cheerful with her
mother, but failed and ended up just hugging her back. “I’m fine...
The most that happened was me falling asleep by the river and
freezing my feet off.”

Her father came up to them, fierce
disapproval etched into his expression. “Mary,” he said in
greeting, watching her pull away from her mother.

“Daddy...”

“I was so worried,” he said, then pulled her
into his arms tightly. She clung to him, thought of Jacques hugging
her back in the hospital room, and almost started crying on his
shoulder. “If you ever do anything like that, I will ground you for
the rest of your life! You had your mother crying and--hell, I
almost did too.”

She flushed guiltily, moving out of his grip
even though his arms tightened.

Alicia tutted, shaking her head. “Samuel,
don’t lie. I saw you run to the other room, eyes all puffy.”

Her father turned a quieting glare towards
Alicia. “I could say the same.”

“Well,” she started, sticking her
tongue out at him, “I can do that; I
am
a woman.”

His cheeks darkened.

“You guys are horrible,” she said, distraught
as she watched her parents and their light arguing.

“We’re only kidding, hun. How are you
feeling?” Alicia asked, taking her from her father and pulling Mary
into her arms.

“Headache, legs are sore... I’m fine though,”
she rushed to say when her father started to get worried.

“Ulrich here?” Mary asked, looking around,
barely glancing at Jaques--and on purpose. She couldn’t bare to
look at him after the moment in the room, then the harsh reprisal
he had given her by acting as if she were no more than a
stranger.

“Talking to Romero and the coroner,” Samuel
said from behind Alicia, nodding his head a round the corner.

Mary tensed. “There was another murder?”

“Talk to Ulrich about it. He won’t tell me
anything, and neither will Jackson. We go way back, Jackson and I.
It must be pretty serious that he isn’t telling me anything. Ulrich
was practically dragging the old brute in here by the collar when
we pulled up. Your brother called us right when they found you, and
we rushed over here immediately.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to...” Mary worried her
hands together, feeling guilty for causing so much trouble for one
act of carelessness.

“You’re our daughter. Of course we had to!”
Alicia exclaimed, outraged that her daughter would suggest
something otherwise.

Mary rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to limp
my way over to Ulrich,” she said, grimacing.

“Here, I’ll--”

“Dad.” She stared at him earnestly. “I’m
fine.”

“Are you--”

“Oh my gosh!” she groaned dramatically,
throwing up her hands. Leaving them with that, she stalked away and
tried to scope out her brother, shoving Jacques out of her mind
completely. Just thinking about him brought pains to her chest that
hurt enough to stop her breathing.

“...late to the site,” Jackson was saying
when she found the two, huddled in a corner a couple of halls over
from her parents. He stopped when he saw her. “Mary!” he exclaimed
pleasantly and with relief.

Ulrich looked up, eyes alert.

“How are you feeling, and what
the
fuck
were you doing out
there?” he demanded, stomping to her.

Mary narrowed her eyes on him, refusing to
let him take over her life like he had been trying to for the past
week. She had let herself become vulnerable to Jaques, and look
where that had gotten her. Nothing but heartache and feeling like
an inept little girl.

She was
so
not going there again.

“I was taking a break,” she said shortly,
eyeing the coroner. “What are you doing here?” she asked
conversationally, ignoring the faint ache in her bones. At that
moment, Mary was grateful that she was immune to half of the shit
that humans had to go threw.

“Well, your brother dragged me here,” he said
drolly, casting a mean glare at Ulrich, who didn’t even notice.
“Just came from the Maddison site. Had some problems with the
prosecutor and the new attorney, but it’s all good. The man that
you talked to, he got let go.”

Mary smiled at that. Then realized what he
had said... “There hasn’t been a Maddison site yet, though,” she
said uneasily, crossing her arms over her chest against the sudden
chills spreading over her arms.

“As of about three hours ago, there
was,” Jackson said, a scowl on his face as he looked at Ulrich.
“And while we were all getting together there, Ulrich here was
going insane and making half of us search for
you
.”

She flushed, feeling horrible. “I really am
so sorry... I should have said something.”

Ulrich growled, looking like he wanted to
claw Jackson’s face off. “Don’t make it all her fault, she’s had
enough trauma this night.”

Jackson held up his hands, not looking
worried at all. “Sorry, just stating facts. The woman was pregnant,
a friend of my brother’s. My old high school sweat heart,” he said,
dropping his eyes. Clearly, the man had still felt feelings for the
woman. Mary ached for him, walking closer to give him a hesitant
hug.

“I’m really sorry, Jack. If you want to go to
the site now, I’m fine enough and I can hold Ulrich off your back
for a bit,” she offered half heartily, feeling him return her brief
hug.

Behind them, Ulrich glowered.

And
also
behind them, a short snarl ripped through the hall way, and
then Jacques came striding forward, eyes blazing and looking
murderous. Mary rolled her eyes, dropping her arms from Jackson in
exasperation. “Is that all you males do? Growl and piss on what’s
yours? Honestly, I thought you were all better than
this.”

She gave a hard glare toward Jacques, who
stopped just short of pressing against her. Huge hands were
clenching at his sides, he looked like he was going to murder any
one who laid a hand on her. Earlier, she would have been fine with
it. But after his coldness and retreat, she found it annoying.

“And
you
,” she snapped, stabbing a finger at Jacques.
“I don’t want to see or hear you growl or get pissy again. I swear,
you act like more of a mutt than a feline male does. One second,
you’re all nice. The next? You act like I’m not even alive and then
you think you have the right to get angry that I’m consoling a hurt
friend?”

All threw her raging, he stayed silent, eyes
not leaving Jackson’s, who was returning Jaques exactly what he was
giving.

Mary stamped her foot. “Fine! I’m
going. I’m going to go walking
alone
,” she snapped, emphasizing the word
alone,
hoping to get his attention,
“in the
dark
, helpless and
awaiting my death at the hands of a freaking serial
killer!”

Then she stomped off, not noticing the
shocked look from her brother and the sudden comprehension on
Jacques’s face. Her feet thudding against the ground echoed, along
with several heavier sounds, indicating that they were following
after her.

Shoving the door open, not listening to the
objections of the nurses and the men following after her. Reveling
in the coldness of the air, the ache in her leg settling as the
familiar chill covered her, she walked aimlessly, focused on
getting away from overbearing men that had a problem with
control.

“Mary, get your ass back here!” Ulrich
shouted, and she looked behind her long enough to see him shove
Jaqcues out of the way as he came after her.