River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (12 page)

Ryder watched as
recognition dawned in Jaeden’s eyes. She remembered whoever it was
the guy was spewing about.

“
She murdered
a human boy.”

The gun pressed even
harder to his head now. “Well, you took care of her for that didn’t
you. Now I’m going to take care of what’s important to
you.”

The gun cocked.

“
No!” Jaeden
shouted and threw up her hand.

Suddenly the cold metal
disappeared from his temple, and the gun, with its sinister
silencer attached, flew past his face and into Jaeden’s waiting
hand.

What the...

She took aim immediately,
and shot behind Ryder as he ducked for cover. Ryder whirled to see
an abnormally thin, tall male in slacks and a striped sweater,
stumbling back against the wall. This... this was the would-be
assassin? Holy Artemis.

The vampyre regained his
footing. A bullet wasn’t going to do much. He saw Jae make a move
towards the guy out of the corner of his eye and hissed in
disbelief. He threw out his arm, pushing her behind him more
roughly than he intended, and then turned on their attacker. The
guy threw a punch that would have sent him through the wall had he
made contact with him, but he missed having thrown too much weight
behind it. Ryder jerked to his side, grabbing a hold of his arm,
and twisted it hard enough to break it. The vamp howled. This gave
him the leverage to whip the supernatural around and grab a hold of
his head. As quick as lightning, Ryder wrenched it clean off his
neck.

“
Yuck.” He
sighed, dropping the dismembered head on the body. He turned back
to glare at Jaeden, who stood watching him in awe. “Well, don’t you
have some explaining to do.”

***

Oh crap! Why did he have
to go and ruin the moment? Here she was, trembling with shock at
the violence, and yet overwhelming admiration with the quick way
Ryder had dispatched the vampyre who had come after her. She could
tell by the way he hadn’t lingered over the kill that he was a
Hunter not because he enjoyed it, but because he was strong and
good at it. Fast, efficient.

But noo... could he allow
her to stand and ogle him in admiration for just a few minutes.
Nope. He had to crack right to the fact that she had used her
telekinesis. And whatever friendship they had formed in the last 36
hours was going to die a sudden death when he realised she was
polluted.

Maybe she could feign
ignorance.

“
I think we
should get rid of the body just before dawn. We’ll put it out back
and it’ll be gone within seconds. Nice job by the way. I’ve not
quite managed the art of decapitation by bare hands but I’ll work
on that. Yes siree. Is there a technique-”

“
Jaeden,” he
warned quietly, and took a few intimidating steps towards her.
Automatically she backed up against the wall. “Jae, is this what
you’re hiding?” He pointed to the gun she didn’t realise was still
in her hand. “How did you do that? And before you ask, yes, I mean
how did you whip the gun from his hand to yours?”

Aw crap, her life was so
over.

She heaved a heavy sigh
and flopped down on to the nearest bed, placing the gun gently on
the bedside table. She couldn’t look at him as she began, “I don’t
know. I can move things with my mind, I guess.”

“
Like
Caia?”

No, not like
Caia!
She wanted to scream. Caia could do
that because she was born to do it. Half-magik, half-lykan. She
hadn’t been tortured to near death, and imbued with her torturers
gift for ‘look no hands!’

Instead she shrugged. “I
don’t know. I think...”

“
You think?”
He prodded gently.

She curled her hands into
fists. She didn’t want to talk about this! How dare he force her to
talk about it? It was none of his goddess damn business!

“
Jae?”

“
I don’t want
to talk about it,” she clipped out.

“
Well, you’re
going to have to cos’ I do.”

Arrgghhh!

Her eyes flashed up to
meet his, blazing with shame and fury. “Go to Hades,
Ryder!”

He flinched, obviously
taken aback by the venom in her voice. “Jae-”

“
What, are
you deaf?! I don’t want to discuss it. Not with Caia, not with my
dad, not with Lucien, and most definitely not with some two-bit
Rogue Hunter!”

A growl that built into an
almost roar ripped out of him, and he suddenly had her by her upper
arms, shaking her like a rag doll.

“
Let go!” She
yelled, pulling and twisting ineffectually in his grasp.

“
No!” He
bellowed in her face, her hair blowing back with his anger. “You’re
going to tell me what is going on. Now!”

She had never
seen Ryder angry before. He was the most together male lykan she
had ever met. She began to tremble.
Oh
goddess, don’t let me cry. No!
The tears
streamed down her face with a mind of their own, and she felt
Ryder’s death grip ease. Abruptly she was pressed against him, her
face snuggled into his chest whilst he sighed and stroked her
hair.

“
Dammit,
don’t cry, Jae, please don’t cry. You know I can’t stand to see a
woman cry.”

“
I’m
s-s-sorry,” she managed, hiccupping. But the tears wouldn’t stop.
She continued to sob in his arms as he cradled her against him,
whispering soothing nonsense in her ear. She cried all the tears
she hadn’t allowed herself until now. She cried for the way her
captivity had broken her innocence and faith; she cried for letting
fear get the best of her; she cried for the sharp, breathless pain
any remembrance of Sebastian brought; and she cried for the shame
of having the telekinesis as a permanent scar from Ethan’s
torture.

After a little while her
tears subsided, her trembling eased, and she managed to catch her
breath.

“
I’m sorry,”
she apologised hoarsely, trying to pull away, but Ryder wouldn’t
let her. Instead he brushed her hair aside, stroking her face
tenderly. His warm eyes seared into her own cool ones.

“
Don’t be. I
think it was a long time coming.”

She nodded, unable to tear
her gaze away from his.

“
Jaeden...”
he seemed reluctant to continue.

She decided to put him out
of his misery. “I have telekinesis because of Ethan.”

He shook his head. “How
did that happen?”

Sucking in a deep breath,
she prepared herself to say the words out loud. Admitting it all
would just make it… real.

“
He tortured
me for weeks. He was a fire magik. A good one. Very inventive…
creative.” She laughed bitterly. “He used fire as a whip. He lashed
me dozens of times, and then allowed me a day to heal before he
began again. Sometimes he didn’t use fire… he would just use his
energy to slice me open.”

“
Oh god-”
Ryder’s hold tightened on her, his lips pressed thin with white
fury.

“
He used to
play ‘bloody’ knots and crosses on my stomach, or quiz me about
literature, movies… whatever. And if I got the question wrong he’d
score my skin... everywhere... my back, my legs, my breasts, my
face, my arms... sometimes he would use this illusion on me, make
me think my entire body was burning from the inside out. I’d scream
and scream until I passed out with the pain, and then when I woke
up... I-I was OK again. Then he would just start it all over again,
laughing the more I screamed, the more-”

“
Sshhh.” He
crushed her so tightly against him she could hardly breathe. “I
don’t know if I can hear anymore.”

“
I’m just
trying to explain,” her voice was muffled against his throat, “he
used his energy on me so much that I think it seeped into my
blood.”

“
Can you do
anything else?”

“
No.” She
managed to pull away. “Just telekinesis. I ran away because I
couldn’t control it.”

“
And
now?”

“
I’m getting
better. When I have nightmares I can’t.”

His jaw clenched, his eyes
blazing. “Do you have nightmares a lot?”

“
Sometimes.”

“
Jae...” His
eyes seemed to glisten, and he abruptly looked away, fighting his
emotions. “We should have gotten to you sooner.”

“
No!” She
grabbed his arm, tugging him back to face her. “Don’t. You all
saved me. Don’t do that.”

“
I can’t help
it... I had no idea it- I knew it was bad, but that-”

Panic shot through her.
“Ryder, you can’t tell. Please,” she pleaded.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I don’t want
anyone to know how bad it was. I don’t want them to know about the
telekinesis.”

“
Why, it’s
not your fault?”

“
I just
don’t.”

Please, please,
please, please.

He took a hold of her
shoulders and shook her gently, his expression darkening. “You
better not be ashamed, Jaeden Rodriguez, because you have nothing
to feel ashamed of. You are the strongest person I know. I’m proud
to know you.”

Oh goddess. She felt tears
choke her throat again. Why did he have to be so
perfect?

“
Please don’t
tell,” she persisted.

Ryder sighed, shaking his
head. “I won’t. But it’s not something you can hide easily, Jaeden.
And no one will care. The pack is just happy to be getting you
back.”

“
Still...”

He held a hand up in
surrender, smiling gently. “I promise, I won’t tell.”

Relief flooded her, and
then immediately dissipated when his expression sobered, and he
said, “But Caia already knows everything. She could see your...
torture... through Ethan’s eyes.”

The blood drained from her
face.

9 - Darker Side

She felt awful.

Sleeping had been an issue
after Marita and her ‘operatives’ had worked out a plan of defence
against Du Bois and his gang of rebels. And it wasn’t because her
body had still been pumping with the adrenaline of doing so well in
classes at the Centre; it wasn’t because she was juiced with
excitement over how efficient and determined the team had been when
discussing the MacLachlan attack; it wasn’t because she was nervous
about her next day of classes ahead.

It was because of the
beautiful redhead who had disappeared into Lucien’s room with him
last night so ‘they could talk’.

All night she had tossed
and turned, straining to hear any sounds from next door, and
fearing what she would do if she did. Finally, she had used the
telecom system by her bed to contact Noble and ask him if it was
possible for her to have private use of the woodland simulator so
she could go for a run.

Of course it wasn’t a
problem.

As she stood
there alone, breathing in what she knew to be fake, fresh, woody
air and yet exhilarating in it anyway, Caia willed her body just
this once to change like it used to. She remembered how afraid she
had been of telling Lucien and the others that her body slipped
into wolf like magik. Remembering the day they were scheduled for
their first pack run together since
it
had happened, Caia felt her anger
build irrationally. Lucien had been so kind as she explained the
situation, and she had been so scared he would look on her as less
of a lykan because of it. No one in the pack had sneered at her, or
condemned her, and she knew it was all because of him. So, why did
he have to be big jerk now - taking some, six foot-nothing
bombshell back to his room? A bombshell he most obviously had a
sexual past with, she rippled with fury, her eyes glaring at a
large tree in front of her.

Rose had clung to his arm
like a burr the entire evening.

A growl ripped out of
Caia’s chest, and she felt white heat building from her toes
upwards.

No, no, no,
no, no!
She cried. But too late, she was
stumbling back blinded. Afraid of what she would see, her eyes
peeled open slowly, and she grimaced at the large pile of ash in
front of her. She had destroyed the tree. She was really going to
have to work on that.

Although most
of her pent up frustration had expelled from her, she still shook
with the agony that Lucien had been in love with someone; that he
loved another woman and couldn’t be with her because of
her
. Did he resent her?
Please, Artemis, she pleaded silently, let the change be slow. Let
my bones crack and my muscles ache, and my eyes tear.

She stripped naked,
folding her clothes at her feet. And then she pushed the change.
All too quickly she was a wolf, her hard paws sinking into the
dirt. No cracking, no aching, no tearing.

Caia pelted straight into
the heart of the woodland, the added feeling of impotence peddling
her speed. She hated that she felt this way, hated the rage that
gripped a hold of her heart until she was almost blind with the
pain. This was what it meant to be his mate. To hurt with a jealous
longing so intense it was as supernatural as the world she lived
in. Jealousy, she was beginning to realise, was like a cancer. It
ate at your very being.