Secrets and Shadows (37 page)

“
football star
. Over my sister. A
farm
girl.”

“And what did you say?” Cat wondered aloud.

“I said they’re doing it because my sister’s pretty damn—”

I looked at her.

“
Darn
—awesome.”

“Hey. Where are Hunter and Maggie?”

“Wanda stopped by to take them for grooming.”

“Grooming?” I asked. “Wanda?” I glanced around. Something felt wrong.

“I’l stay,” Pietr volunteered.

Annabel e Lee shook her head. “Dad won’t have it after he hears about the fight. Amy and Max could stay, maybe Cat, but you”—she frowned at Pietr—“would get in massive trouble if Dad finds you here now.”

He leaned over her and patted her head. “Perhaps you wil put in a good word for me.”

She tilted her head. “Maybe. If you’re doing what’s right by my sister,” she offered.

One more protector.

“He is,” I assured. “Taking care of me’s not an easy job.”

“Amen,” Pietr and Annabel e Lee said in unison.

“Unfortunately, if I must go, we al must go. Max drives,” Pietr pointed out with a shrug. But his eyes held worry.

worry.

Max jogged around the corner of the house, stopping short when he saw Amy’s expression. “I had to…”

She frowned. “Jessie lies. Are you going to start? If you wanted to go for a run, I would have gone,” she added, noting his damp shirt and hair.

“Maybe someday,” he agreed.

I shot him a look of warning, but I was beyond preaching about leaving Amy alone. The way she looked at him, I had no right to tel him to stay back. Max would do his best to be good to her. Good intentions.

What a road they paved. “So, you guys gonna go?”

Max nodded. The coast was clear.

Pietr grabbed me for a quick kiss. “I’m only a phone cal away,” he assured me.

“I know.”

As they drove off, I told Annabel e Lee, “I’m going to do the horses.”

She nodded.

“Going for a book?” I asked.

“Eh.” She shrugged. “I was thinking about borrowing one of your monster movies.”

“Go ahead,” I offered. “I’ve pretty much had my fil of Hol ywood werewolves.” I strol ed across the broad field separating our house from the barns, missing Hunter’s and Maggie’s eager, ever-sniffing presences.

When his hands grabbed me, there was no time to react. Images vol eyed at me so fast my head spun and my stomach shook. Each one, Derek … always Derek … His breath was sweet and hot on my face, fingers digging into my arms brutal y. “One more chance, Jessica,” he whispered. “Let’s get things right this time, shal we? Let’s give that boyfriend of yours a good show. We’l start by getting Rio,” he whispered, “and go for a nice ride by the window so Annabel e Lee cal s him…”

Fingers dug through my mind, pul ing at it and letting things I’d seen and done run through them like sand. My knees buckled and I whimpered, eyes itching and blurred.

“Okay, okay,” he whispered. “A little
too
much…” He adjusted the way he raked through my mind, gentler now that I’d nearly col apsed in a heap. “Yes. He guaranteed he was only a phone cal away. Let’s see if that’s true.”

I heard Rio snort, a distant sound, and felt myself being lifted into the saddle. “Harnek thinks I failed the company, do you know that? But the way I see it, if I control you—I control the cure. And if I control the cure … wel , I haven’t failed, have I? So maybe I can stil drive a wedge between you two,” he cooed. “I mean, love and passion—it doesn’t last. A heart can be splintered if hit hard enough.”

Derek slid up behind me, bumping me into his lap and taking the reins. “And I do have some experience with this sort of thing.…” The reins snapped, his legs flexed, and I knew from the swaying of my hips that Rio was on the move.

“Excel ent,” he said, words blowing into my ear to scatter my brain. “She’s seen us. Yep. Phone in hand … Now we have what? Ten minutes. Very good.” The swaying stopped. “Hmm. Maybe I
should
rethink this,” he muttered, staring into the shel of my skul . “The barn does have some useful things.…

Let’s return, shal we? Such a good horse,” he muttered. “Too bad.”

We came to a stop and he dropped me down from the saddle, my legs only holding me briefly before I flopped like a rag dol into the straw. He was tying Rio’s reins to a post as my eyes began to clear, my brain began to resolidify. My body uncooperative, I tried to heave myself away from him.

“Uh-oh—not yet,” he mumbled, grabbing my arm and pul ing me to my feet. He wrapped himself around me, squeezing me so tight even breathing was a battle.

I flailed a moment, hands thudding against his chest. “Jess,” he whispered.

“Don’t cal me that.” The words slurred across my tongue. “Only two people have ever—
ever
”—I struggled, blinking, brain stuttering to find the words—“cal ed me that.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Your mother. And Pietr.” He ran the back of his hand along my cheek, and my vision fuzzed. “The two you trust the most.” His hand traced my jaw, ran down my neck, and played along my col ar. “You can trust me, too, Jess,” he whispered with such urgency, such blinding vehemence, something twisted in my head and for a moment I believed him.

And then it didn’t matter anymore, because his lips were al over mine.

In the back of my head a little voice was muttering. Tel ing me it was okay, that I had always wanted Derek, that now I had my chance, he was safe—secure. Stable. That I’d never be pul ing bul ets out of
his
flesh after a horrific fight …

The scene from that awful night played out al over again in my head as our kissing deepened and my hands pushed his jacket off his shoulders and found the bottom of his sweater. My fingers ran along his stomach and chest—just like I’d imagined doing with Pietr.… And I was safe, the voice insisted, no rage-fil ed wolf eyes, no teeth, no claws … no danger … just kissing … heady kissing.… I moaned, sinking against him, just as he was torn out of my arms.

“Wha—?” My eyes came back into focus, and I fel to my knees, breath jolting out of me, head throbbing like I’d been baked in the noonday sun. Not five feet from me, Derek and Pietr battled.

“Don’t you ever—” Pietr snarled, grabbing Derek by the front of his sweater and lifting him off the ground.

“She doesn’t want you, Pietr.” He laughed, pushing the words out as his col ar choked him. “She wants safety. Normalcy.”

Pietr tossed him to the ground, straw and woodchips flying up from the impact.

Derek grinned up at him, fixing his hair with a steady hand. “I know she’s said it—she
dreams
of it—a
normal
life. It’s in her blood, like the farm and the horses. Like the stink of manure on a summer day. A normal,
absolutely average
, life. And you can’t give her that, can you,
dog?
”

Pietr roared, body quaking as he held back the change.

“Pietr,” I whispered.

He turned his head to me, face red, cords standing out on his neck—so much anger bubbling, surfacing … My head stil scattered from Derek’s touch and Derek’s taste, I shrank back.

“Go ahead, Pietr,” Derek taunted. “Remind her of the monster you real y are.”

Pietr ran his hands through his hair. A breath racked his body. “Jess,” he hissed, stricken.

I wanted to vomit, stil feeling Derek’s tongue in my mouth. I clutched a nearby haybale, dragging myself to my unsteady feet. “You
know
,” I accused Derek. My eyes flew to Pietr, begging him to trust me. To know I trusted him beyond definitions of man and monster. Beyond judgments of how far he was wil ing to know I trusted him beyond definitions of man and monster. Beyond judgments of how far he was wil ing to go to save me, his mother, or himself.

“What?” Derek snapped.

“You know what Pietr is.”

“I’ve known since I first saw him,” he confirmed. “Near my parents’ vacation place in Farthington. A little powder blue Cape Cod.”

Pietr jumped, his lips sliding back, teeth pointing.

“I didn’t get to visit often,” Derek said almost apologetical y. “My parents liked to keep me on the Hil , watched by the help when they worked. I learned a lot in one visit, though. What pushes people apart and what slams them together.”

Pietr snarled, and I reached for him.

“Yeah,” Derek blustered. “My old man and your old woman,” he grinned, mouth ful of malice. “Who would have guessed it? Oh. Yeah.
Me.
I gave Pops the big idea.” He looked at Pietr, his hand twitching toward a shovel resting by the wal .

My hand slipped along the wal and silently I pul ed down a loose set of reins, weighing them inconspicuously in my hand.

“So what do you think?” Derek chuckled. “Did they do it—
doggy style?
”

I snapped the reins out, the length of leather slicing across Derek’s face and cutting his cheek as Pietr launched at him with a roar, pul ing the shovel from his hand as he swung it toward Pietr’s head.

“You’re the reason we failed that night,” Pietr growled, “your vision … I’l pluck your eyes out.…”

My heart pounded and I twitched the reins in my grasp, eyes wide as Derek wiped blood off his face with the back of his hand.

“Yeah, I’m the one who got you shot,” Derek grinned. “You won’t get near Mother while I’m with the company. You need to just heel, boy,” he said. “Cooperate. Obey.
Submit
.”

“We’re not out of options,” Pietr promised. “We wil free Mother. Maybe Max is right,” he muttered, eyes cooling by mere degrees. “Maybe we must
eliminate
you.…”

Derek flinched.

My eyes widened.

“Where’s your audience now?” Pietr chal enged him, pacing off a slow circle. “Where’s your power?”

“Pietr,” I warned.
Eliminate
Derek?

With a flourish, Derek bowed and pointed at me, flicking blood from his fingertips. “Jessica’s al the battery I need, hound. Her emotions are
rich
. She’s so easy to get going.… Has she told you how easy it was to
get her going
in my room? On my
bed?
” He screamed with laughter, holding his gut at Pietr’s stunned expression.

“Pietr,” I whispered. “Pietr, focus. Nothing happened between him and me.”

“God, the way she
lies!
” Derek roared. “And the way she
lays
…”

I fought for words. “Nothing, Pietr. He’s trying to get you to make a mistake. Focus, Pietr,” I begged.

“I wonder if this is how it went down with your folks on their last night together,” Derek mused, watching Pietr’s face turn from him to me and back again. “Did she beg forgiveness? Did he go so nuts they
had
to put him down? What total y broke them? I wonder if it was something Pops said. What could
I
say…?”

put him down? What total y broke them? I wonder if it was something Pops said. What could
I
say…?”

The words poofed out of him as Pietr bowled him over, their bodies rol ing together in the dirt just outside the barn’s open door.

No battle of titans, just two teen boys, wailing on each other like mad men with wild punches and kicks.

Until Rio stomped her hooves, snorting, as she caught a good look at the insanity. And Derek yel ed, flinging Pietr off of him and al the way into the barn.

Haybales tumbled as Pietr crashed into them.

Derek was juicing up. I tried to tamp down my emotions, tried to limit his pul on my stress and fear.

Pietr stood, covered in hay, eyes blazing. He shook himself like a wolf coming out of the rain and he peeled off his shirt and unbuttoned his pants, eyes never straying from Derek—steaming with vengeance.

He’d barely unzipped when the wolf tore free.

Derek scrambled to his feet in the swirling chaos of fal leaves, keeping a measured distance as he watched the wolf. “His kind are dangerous, Jess. They need to be control ed. Tamed and trained.”

“What about your kind, Derek?” I whispered, struggling for calm.

“My kind’s who
does
the control ing. You think a werewolf can be top dog? They can’t even show their real face in public. My kind is built to hold their leashes. Teach ’em to rol over and
beg
.” Just inside the barn, he reached for a pitchfork.

This time I lunged, wrenching it away from him with al the force my weight carried. It flew out of my hands, landing in a haybale, quivering. He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me, and I kneed him in the groin, fal ing out of his grasp, my vision clearing just as it had started to fog again.

I had to stay out of his reach.

Pietr’s wild red eyes rol ed from Derek to me. He leaped, knocking Derek back, their bodies rattling the stal door of one of my geldings. Derek seemed to grow a little more, and he threw Pietr back again, so hard the wolf yelped when he hit the wal .

“I guess I wil need a little extra juice after al ,” Derek muttered, rubbing his hands together and stumbling to the haybale to pluck out the pitchfork. He smiled at me as he drew back and flung it.

Into the wal just beyond Rio’s neck.

“Damn,” he said. “Missed.”

Rio reared up in terror, snapping the reins, hooves flailing and slicing as she screamed in fear. Pietr knocked me out of the way and fal ing to the ground, I heard Rio squeal as she turned and bolted from the barn.

Derek crowed with laughter. “That’s a rush!” he said, his voice deepening, eyes darkening with the power brought by Rio’s fear and my worry.

The wolf fel on top of me, straddling me, anger boiling in his body alongside his growl.

The horses went wild, panic-stricken by Rio’s frightened departure and Pietr’s fury.

“This is the problem with your breed, Rusakova—when the wolf takes over, you’re quick to react but slow to learn.”