Feral Passion (4 page)

His words were hissed, taking Kevin back a
step. Not everyone was perfect, he defended her mentally, wishing
that he was strong enough to stand up to his blood.

“Is she strong enough? Or will she be the one
to fail,” he said, voice as hard as his eyes. The pure, navy blue
eyes bore into Kevin and he realized that he might have been the
one to kill his Mary, before even knowing what was happening.

Stuart left silently, leaving Kevin to think
over his brothers words.

His head fell into his hands in despair.

Chapter 6

Mary pulled into her driveway, unaware
of the conversation that was going on between Kevin and Stuart. Her
head was hurting, her feet were killing her, and she felt as if her
arm was
still
on
fire.

Honest to god, it felt like someone was
holding a lighter to her arm and the sensation was in no way close
to leaving. She sighed, running a hand through her hair before
snatching her keys out of the ignition and opening the door of her
car.

She looked at her yard, grimacing. Mary hated
mowing, she really did. She also hated the erratic weather, the
coldness and the closed-off feeling that she got from living there.
Maybe she could get her friend’s son to mow again, she thought as
her heels clicked along the pavement.

Mary hadn’t even bothered to lock her door.
What would have been the point? Iowa was so run down and country
that the neighbors around her had been her best friends growing
up.

Flipping on the switch and getting out of her
heels, she was walking into the living room when a cupboard
shutting in the kitchen made her jump.

“Mary?” the voice of her mother asked from
inside the kitchen.

With a frown on her face, she walked her way
into the kitchen. “Oh god, you scared me. Leave me a message or
text or something before you come over, would ya?” Mary let out a
breath and dropped her keys onto the counter.

“I’m sorry, dear,” Alicia Waters said,
distraught. She came around the counter to wrap her daughter up in
a bear hug.

Mary hugged her back. “What are you doing
here?” She frowned. “Are you okay? Want me to make you a salad or
something?”

“Oh, no,” she said, waving a hand
dismissively. “I just wanted to check on my eldest daughter.”

“Mom.” Mary gave her mother a look.
“I’m your
only
daughter.”

“What does that have to do anything?” Her
mother gave a snort and left her standing there to go out into the
living room.

Mary rolled her eyes. “That’s great, Mom.
Just great.”

“Well? Ulrich is my only son and you
don’t see
him
complaining!”

“I’m sorry for mentioning anything,” she said
drolly.

“Good, now let's watch some TV, shall we? I
wanted to talk to you about some things.”

She could only imagine what her mother wanted
to talk to her about. It felt like her tail was being stepped on,
and as in that situation? She couldn’t get out of this one
either.

“I’ll just have a seat then. . .”

Alicia made the flapping hand motion again.
She sat down with a sigh, across from her mother.

“Your father and I. . .”

Mary groaned.
Great. . .

“Are getting old. You and your brother have
not married at all, and we want. . .”

She held up a hand, silencing her
mother. Mary knew her face was pale. She
knew
that her mother was insane. She must be,
right?

“I think that you and Dad need therapy. You
are certifiably insane.”

Alicia rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m
just trying to hint at the fact that
we
want grand babies!”

Her face flushed. “Oh. . . Mom, oh my god.
Get out!” Mary stood up, laughing.

Alicia followed her, frowning. “What? I’m
serious, Mary! Your father and I suspect Ulrich of being gay, so
it’s up to you to carry on the Waters line.”

She shook her head, chuckling. “I think
you need a reality check. As Ulrich what he was up to last weekend
and then go to
him
for
grandchildren.”

Her mother’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” She waved a
hand back at Mary as she walked out. “This is awesome! I have to
talk to Sam about this. Gosh, why didn’t he mention anything?”

Alicia’s voice trailed off at the end, tinted
with confusion. Mary closed the door, laughing.

Of course her mother would react that way
after finding out that Ulrich was sexually active. Her family, she
swore, was a wackjob. She was clueless as to how they weren’t
thrown up, instead of running a race.

As she walked throughout her house and into
the kitchen, light pouring in from the open windows, she thought
about how crazy her mother’s suggestion had been.

Kids? How was she going to have
kids
when she didn’t even have a
boyfriend, or husband, to have them with?

Mary snorted.

Men were too put off by her to hold an actual
conversation. She had always wondered what it was about her that
did it, but hadn’t really taken anything to heart. Her mother had
always said that when the time was right, things would happen and
screw the other assholes that turned her down.

Of course, that had been after a rejection to
Prom, but who was counting the times that she had heard “no” and
not cared enough to feel anything about it?

Not her, she thought mockingly.

Mary opened the fridge, grabbing for the
lettuce and a bottle of ranch.

She had enough on her plate as it was. It
wasn’t like she needed a male attached at her very hip, growling at
every business acquaintance that came by at irregular intervals.
The organization, the processing, and the people who worked within
it were too important to her.

Meaning her
pacchetto
members.

Mary got to making the salad, mind
preoccupied while her feet and hands went on auto.

She prayed that when it all came down to it,
the people would realize that the change was for the better. Mary
had been studying the past, the present, and even trying to predict
the future. As it had been, Acutos and Archaeos had been separated
from the beginning, and death to the leader that tries to bring
them together.

Although Mary hadn’t been the one to do so,
bring them together—more like force them together—she knew that
once they were no longer forced to converse and live together, life
would be better for everyone.

For the longest time she had felt that
life had kicked the races in the ass. Courts who had knowledge of
the race had forced marriages, bonds, couples-everything. The past
couple of years, officials had been noticing strange things near
her
pacchetto
, things that
even worried the humans who unknowingly were surrounded by
animals.

Mary has been searching, trying to find
pieces to fix this, and every time she had come up empty, it had
tore her to bits and then some. Missing persons, missing things,
missing lives. . . The killing had come as a shock to her more than
anything else. Yeah, her people were aggressive and dangerous, but
only when it came right down to it. If one was murdered, the
murderer was either put down or exiled.

All she wanted to do at that moment was go
down to her room and black out for the next decade.

Unfortunately, though, her phone was set on
keeping her busy. The ringing only made her groan internally.

She answered the call. “It’s Waters.”

“Hey, mind coming into the station at like
three? It’s Romero,” he said in clarification.

“Sure,” she said, sighing. “Might I ask why?”
Mary moved to the couch and took a seat, forgetting about her
salad.

“Questioning. We have an out-of-town officer
who wants to have a word with you. About Jared, I think. Did you
hear about the accident?” The deep Mexican drawl that came through
the line made her grimace.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Ah, well I hope you know that in a couple of
days, he’ll be out again. . .” There was a warning in his voice,
and it made her scowl more pronounced.

“I think it’s obvious that you don’t need to
keep an eye on him, Romero. He risked his life for another woman,
none of the crimes have been connected to him, and he is as clean
as my tail. I really don’t think. . .”

“Hun, you know why we have to. Stop playing
hero with the bad guys, alright? Remember what happened last time?
You were out of it for weeks, all because you had misjudged the man
that you had thought to be as innocent as an angel.”

Mary could have hissed. “Romero,” she
warned.

“You know I’m right.”

“I don’t care—”

“Well you should! It’s your life at stake—and
you know how your brother gets. I don’t need him coming over to my
house and bitching about his sister getting her panties in a bunch
over a convict.”

“Oh, my god, are we still on that?” she
asked, incredulous. She would never hear the end of it, would she?
One time, just
one time
, her
brother had complained to Romero about
everything
, drunk off his ass.

Ulrich and Romero had been best friends since
grade school. The relationship had been stoic—each knew the meaning
of survival and trust, so they rarely shared deep secrets or
complained about anything.

The one time that Mary
really
gets into trouble, Romero is
brought in and things only got worse. She could
still
remember the loud curses that had come
right before the pain. . .

Mary heard a frustrated sigh on the other
line, then the sound of rustling paper. “I’ll make sure to have the
men waiting at the door when you get here. I hear that this guy is.
. .ruthless, and I don’t need no brother getting his jock strap in
a twist.”

Her eyes crossed. “Fine, whatever. Meet you
in thirty. I have a lunch appointment that I have to get to.”

“Just be there on time,
gringa
.” The line dropped.

Chapter 7

Acutos.

Strong fierce, and scary. Mainly feline,
although you occasionally had the stray bear or wolf. Their powers
rooted from the moon, stronger and more keen at night than in day.
Acutos were known to be nightly, sleeping during the day and
hunting throughout the night.

All of the Acutos that Mary knew worked at
the club downtown, and she rarely walked into a grocery store to
find the scent of the animals. The intake on their life? Easy to
the point of stupid, which they thought everyone generally was.
Arrogant, rude, cocky—you name it. Mary didn’t know much about them
except that, and she had no real desire to gain any more
knowledge.

Most of the time, Mary stayed away from
them.

She had her reasons.

Kind of.

Pushing open the door of “Catch-a-Cup”, she
breathed in the scent of assortments of cakes, soups, and breads.
Her dark-haired friend was sitting in one of the booths near the
register.

Mary walked over and sat down with a smile,
plopping her purse on the table between them.

“I thought you would be late—again.” The
greeting was nothing that Mary wouldn’t have expected from her long
time friend. Black-haired, short, and Asian, Melany was her dearest
and closest friend, and knew almost everything that there was to
know about Mary.

Sometimes, it amazed her at how they had
become friends. Melany had shared a psychology class with her in
collage, and after a strong. . .okay, maybe violent debate about
how a panda would react to a stalk of bamboo being thrown at
it.

How it had turned into a fight, they would
never know—especially the professor, who had been the one to break
his pinky in the middle of separating them. Whenever she thought
about it, she chuckled.

Was it bad to say that she hadn’t even made
her feel the slightest guilty that he had broken his finger over
her?

Melany hadn’t thought so.

“Life has been. . .busy,” she said to her
friend, sighing.

“I see. Ulrich called me a bit ago.” Melany
looked at her from the corner of her eye, looking much like the
mother she soon would be. Archaeos and married to the man of her
dreams, Melany had a lot going for her in life. Mary just hoped
that when the time came and the Separation—as she was starting to
call it—was starting, it didn’t affect Melany and her new-found
happiness.

Mary raised a brow. “Oh? Great, what
about?”

“Just that I should keep an eye on you when I
see you. Wanna let me know what that’s about?” Melany leaned back
in her chair, arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping along the
floor.

She looked at her friend innocently. “I have
no. . .idea.”

A rolling of the eyes. Then a snort.

The waitress, dressed in a green shirt with
the logo on her breast, walked over to them and sat down a plate of
pumpkin cake with some kind of white cream on top. “I’ll be back
shortly with your receipt, but until then, enjoy!” She walked back
to the counter with a forced skip in her step.

Mary grabbed for a fork just as Melany did,
and they dug in. She practically moaned when the delicious taste
hit her full force. “My god,” she said, eyes closing.

“Oh, I know!” Melany sounded just as orgasmic
as Mary did.

The next couple of minutes was spent eating
the cake with small chatter on the side. They normally didn’t talk
as much as other old-time friends, but they still had the closeness
that everyone needed.

“Any word on the latest murder?” Melany asked
nonchalantly, looking up with the fork in her mouth.