Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) (10 page)

“Let’s get through this shit, and then we’ll plan a wedding,” I say with a noncommittal, humorously exasperated tone.

“I’ll make sure this ends soon then,” he smolders out, and then the shirt I’m wearing is suddenly being ripped over my head as his lips scour my body.  “Very soon,” he adds.

If I don’t marry him soon, then someone needs to have me put in lockdown with the other psychos.

Chapter 3

All Hale Breaks Loose.

“I hate leaving you again so soon,” Brazen grumbles.

“I would go back to Javeline, but I’m a little too scared to risk it now.  I wouldn’t have made it there in time yesterday if I had been back at home.  I was minutes away from leaving.”

“Don’t start doing that to yourself,” he soothes, and his lips close over mine before taking my hand in his.

“I’ll be here when you get ready to come back,” I pout, and the thought of more time alone with Hale is starting to excite me, while forcing more shame onto my already guilty mind.

“I’ll be back soon.  I told you, I want to marry you as soon as possible,” he coos, and my eyes drip to release their guilty flow.

“Please don’t cry, baby,” he breathes comfortingly, but he doesn’t realize why these foolish tears are falling.

“I love you,” I choke out,
and I do
.

I love Brazen.  I just happen to also love Hale.

“I love you,” he returns, and his hand wipes away my drizzling tears scaling down the sides of my cheeks.

“All guests of the Seminole, please report to the gate for departure,” the announcing speaker blares.

“That’s me.  Walk me out?” he sighs, digging back into our usual routine.

“You know I will,” I say with dread.

What if Hale is just waiting on him to leave?

After our stare-down in the car, I’ve avoided him.  I only had Brazen for one night, and we didn’t leave the room.  I had completely acted like a crappy fiancée when I dismissed Brazen’s touch in front of Hale.  It was discreet enough to fool my full blood, but not my hybrid counter.

We make our way down hand in hand, and Hale’s scent finds me before my eyes find him.  He’s talking to Clay.  Drool tries to form when I see his lips moving.  I instantly envision those lips on my body, and guilt moves back into full swing, forcing me to shiver.  His eyes don’t lift to meet mine the way I thought they would.  Maybe he’s finally accepting Brazen and me. 
Do I want that?  Yes.  Yes I do.  I actually need that.

“I’ll check in when I can.  I love you,” Brazen huffs, and then his lips offer me one last taste of his perfection before swishing away.

“I love you,” I say into the wind following his vanishing trail, and I turn back to see Clay has already gone.

Hale is leaned against a wall talking to a girl about something I’m apparently not supposed to overhear because they’re talking too low for me to catch a word.  I turn away and start heading back to the solitude my room offers when I feel someone suddenly behind me.

“Ms. Crush?” a guy’s voice chimes out.

“Yes?” I ask while turning around.

“I was hoping you would be my date to the function this afternoon,” he murmurs nervously.

I let a laugh escape, and I quickly mask it to spare his feelings.

“Function?” I ask curiously.

“Yes ma’am.  They always have a gathering to celebrate the first week of training being completed.  I… I was hoping… um… well… that… I could escort you,” the nervous man stammers.

“She’s already got a date for this evening,” Hale interjects, and then I feel his arm slinking around my waist while pulling me away from the disappointed man.

“That’s rather presumptuous of you,” I play.

“Would you prefer Mr. Drool All Over Himself?” he teases.

“Definitely not, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go to this together,” I hesitantly reply.

It’s a bad, bad, very bad idea to be more specific.

“It’s not like we’re going to be fucking in a back room,” he jokes, and I feel the throbbing growing from his crude remark.  “Unless you want to of course,” he seduces, and I would fan myself if I wouldn’t look like a stupid fool.

I’m worried I
will
fuck him in the back room if I let him take me.

“Funny,” I shortly respond.  “When do I need to meet you?” I ask while trying to hold back my shaky nerves.

“I’ll swing by to get you around six.”  He stops talking for a second, his eyes gauging mine, and then a small, devilish smirk appears.  “Are you okay?  You made that way too easy.”

“I’m fine.  The last twenty-four hours have just been a little exhausting.  I think I’m going to go get some more rest before this party I
just
learned about,” I sigh out in an effort to keep my true feelings hidden.

“Do you need something to wear?” he asks curiously while following me up to my room.

“No.  I’ve got several things I can wear.  Just don’t make me wait forever,” I grouse.

“I don’t plan on it.  A lot more about me has changed than you realize.”

I lean against the door in the hallway that promises to remove me from our intensely locked stare, but it’s almost impossible to open it all the way.

“I’ll see you later then,” I force out as casually as I possibly can.

“Definitely.”  He leans in closer to push open the door I haven’t been able to attempt to open.  “Make sure you’re ready,” he says with obvious innuendo, and I’m worried I will be ready - for him.

I can’t do this.

I shut the door the moment I’m inside, and I flop my head in my hands before more of my shameful tears fall free.

I can’t make this mistake.  I love Brazen.

“Ms. Crush?” asks Wendy - Hale’s personal
assistant and human groupie.

“Come in,” I say a little too casually considering the daring dress I’m wearing to join Hale at this
function
.

“Wow,” she gushes when she walks in, and she very slowly shuts the door while her mouth gapes open.

“I shouldn’t wear this, should I?  It might give him the wrong idea,” I grumble.

I start rifling through my closet while trying to find a more suitable replacement for this very snug, slinky one strap dress.  It’s much shorter than I realized, and I don’t even know why in the hell I brought it to begin with.

“I have a skirt in here somewhere,” I murmur aloud.

“You have to wear the dress.  The function is a little too formal for a business skirt.  There’s nothing wrong with looking good,” she says with a devious smile.

“I wish I had brought something a little less showy.”

“Can I ask you a personal question, Ms. Crush?” she asks curiously.

“I suppose,” I warily respond.

“I’ve always wondered about you.  I’ve seen your pictures, but I’ve never heard the story about why the happy girl in the photos left,” she says with gentle prying finesse.

“Oh,” I huff, then I feel confused about her plural phrasing.  “Pictures?”

“Yes.  There’s a couple in his room, and there’s several in his office.  He keeps one in his wallet as well as one in each of his personal vehicles.  Not to mention his personal and work computers.  They’re all loaded down with pictures of you that scroll across at all times of the day.  And his phone-”

“Okay.  Okay,” I interrupt with a little bit of startled shock.  “I get it.  Hale has a lot of pictures of me.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to be too… annoying.  Captain Banner just seems like a really great guy, and I couldn’t help but be curious about the girl that stole his heart before walking away.  He won’t even look at another girl, and I’ve never seen that sort of loyalty demonstrated by anyone.”

I’m on the verge of tears, and it’s all I can do to keep standing up right now.  My mind becomes overwhelmed with all the good destroyed by all the bad.

“He missed my birthday party,” I say very casually.

“Birthday party?” she says with complete bemusement.

“Along with my award ceremonies, my rank ceremonies, and every other event he promised to attend.  When he was home, he was working.  Most of the time he lied to me about where he had been or what he had been doing even if I had the security clearance to hear it.  My birthday party was the last straw,” I say with a sigh, and my eyes fall to her immortality promise bracelet.

“You’re not far from being turned, are you?” I ask bluntly.

“No ma’am.  I have two years of the five year reconsideration period before they carry it out.”

“You’ve probably been a normal human with normal parents for the majority of you life, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then a birthday party might seem a little petty to someone like you.  Let me ask you something, have they told you of what’s to come after your initial change?” I ask softly while sitting down behind the bar.

“The first twenty to thirty years I’ll have to be locked up until the rabid thirst subsides.  Then I’ll be coaxed back into society,” she murmurs with very little hesitance for her bleak first years.

“Did they tell you what else would most likely happen?” I ask curiously.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

I take a deep breath, and I swallow hard against the emotional knot in my throat before continuing.

“They’ll choose someone deserving of the opportunity to feed from a vein, and then they’ll come for you.  You’ll feel the bite, and it’s going to feel like erotica has just exploded in your body.  You’ll be completely and utterly in love until the effect wears off, and by then, you’ll already be pregnant.  You’ll be unable to care for a child, so it will be up to the father to assume responsibility, or they’ll hand the child over to the United for placement.  Almost always, the child is orphaned.  The full blood society outside the United frowns on species mingling, and it’s not an easy task to take on.

“That child will then grow up with soldiers instead of parents, martial arts instead of playgrounds, and survival skills instead of hugs.  It’s a tough life to go through, and it’s hard - very hard - to trust anyone.  It’s even harder to fall in love.  When someone says they’ll be there and they’re constantly not, that small, terrified child inside comes back out.

“I’ve been around a long time ago, but three years ago is the first time I’ve ever had a birthday party.  Clay - Commander Jude - planned an elaborate party just for me.  Everyone was invited, and I can remember crying I was so excited.  Hale promised me over and over he’d be there.  It’s Hale’s nature to forget what day it is, or be three hours late to a one hour event.  He promised me he’d be there and be on time before leaving three days earlier on a scouting mission he didn’t have to take.  He was so ambitious, and in the end, he proved he loved the job and the United more than me.

“He didn’t show up until the next morning, and he didn’t even have an excuse worth hearing.  I was always there for him - any time he needed me - so it cut pretty damn deep when he couldn’t do this one thing.  I finally realized he was never going to love me the way I loved him, and it nearly tore me apart.  It was never really about the party, it was more about the fact he didn’t care enough about me to be there,” I murmur with a very deep explanation.

“Oh,” she sighs with a taken aback stare.  “That’s so weird to hear because Captain Banner is so prompt now.  I suppose it’s because he lost you due to his inability to be such,” she murmurs, and I know she’s doing her best to defend him without offending me.

“Sometimes people wait too late to change,” I sigh out.

“Did Captain Mordel have a child when he was turned?” she bluntly asks.

“No.  Brazen was born a full blood.  They’re a lot like us - the hybrids.  They age normally until they peak, and then the change slowly sets in.  It takes about seven or eight months to fully turn, and then they’re frozen n time, never aging.  Unlike us though, they’re immortal, well they don’t have a span like we do rather.  Hybrids have so many hundreds of years to live.”

“And yours?  How long is your span?”

“I never let them test me to find out.  I rather like not knowing.  Since I’m a gifted hybrid, I don’t age.  The ungifted do age, just much, much slower than the… your kind.”

“I’m sorry I grilled you so much,” she says with a grimace.

“It’s fine.  I think the more educated you are the better.  This world you want to live in, well… it has its prices for all of us.  I just hope you’re ready to pay them.”

She exhales as all the crazy pieces scatter throughout her fragile mind, and then she starts to walk out the door.

“Oh,” she says while turning back around.  “I almost forgot why I came in here.  Captain Banner asked me to tell you that you could join him in his cabin if you got ready early.  He was wanting to show you something you can only view from his room,” she says with a growing grin.

I bet he does.  Smug bastard.

“Thanks Wendy,” I say softly, and then I glance over to see it’s barely a quarter after five.

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see what he’s talking about, though my conscience immediately screams at me for considering it. 
Don’t go!

I walk the short distance to his room, and I rudely open the door without so much as knocking.  I instantly regret such a bold maneuver when I see him standing by his huge window that overlooks the back half of the compound.  He’s on the phone, and he’s in some low pants that are barely hanging on his waist enough to cover up the area I’m far too familiar with.  His shirtless upper body is calling to me, taunting me with his dripping seduction.  His perfect V is showing from his lower abdomen to his before the waistband of his pants hide the rest, and his rippling abs stretch up to meet his exquisitely toned, smooth chest.  The throbbing I’ve felt in dull beats now pounds fiercely inside my walls, making feel the urge to double over.  I shift my weight from left to right instead, though I lack subtly.  It’s just too much for me to ignore, and I squirm as an effect, my temperature rising as it always does around him.