Tempest (8 page)

“Well get used to
it!” She seemed to cry even harder.

I ran my hand over my
face. Man, why did I have to screw up everything ? I should never
have put her through all this. I should have just told her everything
from the beginning. About why I was avoiding her, about why I had to
kidnap her. “I am sorry for hurting you. I was just trying to
protect you.”

“I don’t care, ok?
Take me wherever. Kill me for all I care. I have nothing to go back
to, anyway.”

I smirked. “That is
just like you to be so melodramatic.”

` She was talking about
her conversation with her father. I had overheard him basically
kicking Ana out so his girlfriend and their baby could move in. I
wouldn’t have let her go back there anyway but I knew because of
the hurricane it seemed like she had lost so much. “You will always
have a place to go back to—with me. You can live with me. We have a
house in New Orleans,” came out of my mouth before I could think
how she would react to such a declaration.

I held my breath,
waiting for her response. I was relieved when she turned her back to
face me. Her tears had stopped and although she didn’t reply, she
seemed comforted at my words. She sat up, inching closer to me to
rest her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and
pulled her back down to the bed. I clenched my teeth together as she
squirmed in my arms. Again, satisfaction came over me that I was able
to comfort her, protect her. She nestled her head closer to my heart
and I made sure to keep it beating steadily. When her breathing
steadied, I knew that she had fallen asleep.
A human.
Falling
asleep on me. My arms tightened around her.

Hours later, Ana was
still sleeping. I wondered how much of her need for rest was due to
what she’d been through and how much was because the potion was
still in her system. I would be having a serious chat with Sansha
about this later.

Luke was getting
impatient and I ignored him as he went to wait in the car. Slamming
the door on his way out was intentional, and not shortly after Ana
awoke quietly.

She looked around,
letting the memories come back to her.

“Luke’s already
outside. The weather is calmer so we should get going shortly, if
that’s ok with you.” I had wondered why I even gave her the
opportunity to say no.

To my surprise, she
nodded. “When we get back home you can have your things sent over
to our house. It’s actually not that far from yours.”

“What a surprise,”
she had a hint of playfulness in her tone when she said, “and what
will your parents have to say about that?”

I remembered I still
hadn’t told her where we were going. “I guess we will find out.”
One corner of my lips pulled into a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you go
get changed and I will tell you everything when we get going?” I
leaned over, taking the opportunity to press a kiss to her forehead.
I could really get used to this, to having her be mine, to be able to
kiss her whenever I wanted.

“Everything?” She
asked, catching me.

“You're right, not
everything
.” I winked at her as she walked to the bathroom,
smiling.

While she was getting
ready, I left. I told Luke to watch the room while I ran an errand. I
had wanted to buy Ana something. But what could you get a girl like
her, and from where? I drove into the small town, finding a bookstore
on the main street. I smiled at my luck.

A bell chimed as I
opened the door. “Can I help you?” an elderly man behind the
counter asked.

“Just looking.” I
was quickly scanning the bookshelves, when something in the case at
the register caught my eye. I walked over to examine the
leather-bound journal.
Perfect.
“I’ll take the journal.”

“Young man, that
journal is really just for display. It is handmade and about fifty
years old. “

Perfect.
I
smirked at how he called me young man. I was older than his
grandfather. I took out the cash and set it on the table. “I’ll
take it,” I reiterated, trying to remain polite.

The man thumbed through
the cash and cleared his throat. “I’ll just wrap this up, then.”

The man was no doubt
suspicious of why I was in a bookstore in a small, unknown town
buying a nine-hundred-dollar leather journal with cash.

I shrugged. Can’t win
them all.

I looked at my watch,
knowing I didn’t have much time left. When the man finished, I
thanked him quickly and sped back to the motel.

Luke was still standing
outside the door when I got back, and I was a little relieved that he
hadn’t gone inside. “Thanks,” I said honestly as I opened the
motel room door.

I just heard the shower
turn off as I stepped inside, and was pleased that she had taken the
time to relax after all of her ordeals. I started packing the rest of
her things and put them in the car with Luke. When I got back to the
room, she had emerged. Damp hair clung deliciously to her cheek. She
smiled at me and the breath left my lungs.

I was propelled to her.
“I have something for you,” I said as I brushed my lips against
hers, no longer having the willpower to keep from touching her.

“Really?” she asked
distractedly as I traced two fingers down her collarbone. My hands
brushed her necklace and I picked it up, remembering when Luke had
touched her there in the car, giving the first compliment I have ever
heard him make.

“It really is a
pretty necklace.”

Her forehead creased
and I knew she wanted an explanation.

“Here.” I tried to
change the subject by holding up my gift.

“Thank you.” She
looked baffled that I would buy her a gift.
Oh, Ana. You'd better
get used to it, you are mine now.
She took the wrapped journal
from my hands and slowly began to peel back the brown paper.

“It’s a journal,”
I said as she freed it from its wrapping. Her hands ran over the soft
leather and I watched her eyes light up.

“I know how you like
to write…”

She still didn’t say
anything, just continued to stare at the journal.

“…and I am sure now
you will have a lot to write about!” I tried to lighten the
situation.

Perhaps she doesn’t
like it? Perhaps she—

“Thank you.”
Suddenly, she flung her arms around me, crushing her lips to mine.

Before we could get any
further, the horn from the truck blasted.

Ana jumped back in
surprise. “He has got to stop doing that!” I was amused that she
was irritated.

“Shall we?” She
took ahold of my arm as we walked outside to the truck.

I had opened the
passenger side door for Ana when I noticed Luke was now occupying it.

I questioningly threw
my hands up in the air.

“Your turn to drive.”
He didn’t even bother looking up from the book he was flipping
through.

“Here, you can get in
on my side, Ana.” I didn’t know what game Luke was playing but I
was irritated that he was starting it now. Now that Ana and I were
finally getting along.

“What'd I do?” Ana
whispered, Luke’s behavior not going unnoticed.

“You didn’t do
anything.” I shook my head in Luke’s direction as I helped Ana
get in the truck.

We had barely pulled
away from the motel when Ana began her inquisition. “Well, go
ahead. You promised to give me answers.”

“What do you want to
know?”

“What did you mean by
'we’ll find out?' About your parents, I mean? And where are we
going?

“We are going to my
parents' and that’s why we’ll find out.”

“We’re going back
to New Orleans? But the aftermath…”

“My parents live in
Tampa.”

“So who you live with
in New Orleans?”

I glanced at Luke to
answer her question.

“Oh,” her mouth
formed a perfect
O
shape as she thought over the information I
had just given her. “So you live in a house by yourself in New
Orleans while your parents live in Tampa?”

“Precisely.” This
wasn’t so bad after all. She could handle the truth.

“And don’t you
think that’s a little odd, two seventeen-year-olds living alone in
a house?”

I winced. “We may not
be exactly the age you think we are.”

“I don’t
understand. Why do you live in New Orleans then?” Her voice had
risen and I was starting to rethink how good an idea this was.

“Ana, please calm
down. I can explain.”

“No! Stop telling me
what to do. Answer my question. Why were you in New Orleans?”

“Because of you,”
Luke took that moment to answer one of her questions.

“Don’t,” I warned
him.

“No, I have the right
to know,” she told me, then turned back to Luke. Why were you in
New Orleans for me? I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of
it! You went to my school!”

“That was an act,”
Luke shrugged, unconcerned with the consequences of his words.

“You were in my
classes…” Ana’s voice trailed off and she gasped. I knew that
she had put too many pieces together. “Oh my God.” She hid her
face in her hands, horrified.

“Ana, please calm
down. You have been under a lot of stress lately. Sansha’s potion
may be still in your system. When we get to my parents, they will
explain everything.” I had no choice but to introduce her to our
world now. Luke screwed up my plan to ease her into to it.

Ana’s body was
responding at an alarming rate. She sucked in breaths, reminiscent of
the time she fainted near Sansha’s. Before I could respond, her
body went limp.

Luke caught her in a
surprisingly gentle motion. “Keep driving, I got her.”

I looked her over as
Luke laid her down to rest on his lap. I clenched my jaw. He wouldn’t
have had to “get her” if he had been the one driving. It had
started bothering me every time he touched her. Ana looked peaceful
yet again, now that she was asleep. I listened to her breathing for
any signs of trouble.

I shook my head. How
could I forget she was human, how much she has been through? Her mind
had taken in too much and her body was trying to preserve itself. We
still had a few hours until we got to Tampa. I looked over again at
Ana on Luke’s lap and cursed. It was going to be a
long
couple of hours.

“Hayden!” My mother
met me in the driveway, hugging me with relief.

“Mother,” I smiled,
though I had nothing to smile about. Luke remained in the car with
Ana who was still sleeping it off. He didn’t want to disturb her
until we moved her inside because he said he was “like her pillow.”
I clenched my fists. That was not
his
job to be her pillow!
What was going on with him, anyway?

My father stood inside
the front door. “What are you all doing out here? Come inside,
already.”

I cleared my throat.
“Well, we are not alone.”

My father’s lips
parted and my mother could barely hide her excitement.

“Where is she?” My
mother asked.

“She has been through
a lot, especially with the kidnapping and the hurricane. She is still
sleeping it off.”

“Kidnapping?” My
mother gasped. “You had to kidnap her?” Her tone was instantly
scolding.

“Mother, it’s ok.
If we hadn’t, she would have stayed behind, suffered the storm and
been left vulnerable to the Vasquez.”

My mother’s head
bobbed up and down in a nod. “Ok, well, what’s Luke still doing
in the car?”

“He… The car is
small and she is lying on his lap. He didn’t want to disturb her by
getting out.”

My mother and father
each held the same dumbfounded expression.

“
Luke
?” my
father even thought he didn’t hear me right.

“Well, ok then. I
will have to get the guest room set up for her, then he can bring her
in. I suppose.” She looked at me to judge my reaction. My father
must have filled her in on the conversation we'd had. The one about
finding your mate.

That conversation would
have to be left for a different day. “I’ll meet you inside with
her things.”

* * *

I prolonged getting Ana
settled in. I knew that my parents would want more of an explanation
for everything when I was finished. My mother jumped right into her
role as nurse and a smile tugged at my cheeks because of this. She
had always wanted more children, especially a daughter, but Hunters
only had one son. Their heir.

I stood in the kitchen,
thinking.

“She was awake the
last time I went in, Hayden,” my mother told me as she stirred the
broth boiling on the stove.

I immediately started
toward the guest room. “No, don’t. She is still resting. Besides,
she didn’t seem too thrilled about being here.”

“We had an
argument...” I let my words drift off.

“About what?”

I shook my head, “She’s
human. I couldn’t tell her everything from the beginning. She would
have never believed me and then I would have lost her forever.”

“You were worried
that she would look at you differently if you told her what you
were?”

“Perhaps.” I
rounded the kitchen island to sit on the bar stool.

“So you told her and
she reacted how you thought. Her mind couldn’t handle it, which is
understandable.”

“I haven’t even
told her everything yet. I was trying to explain things but she put
the pieces together, about us living in New Orleans, about why we
were there, why we were at her school. She probably thought we were
serial killers.” I winced, remembering the real reason why we had
came to New Orleans; because someone offered us our freedom in
exchange for killing her. “So yes, she reacted badly. And Luke was
not a big help,” I scoffed.

“Luke. Hm.”

“What?” I asked
her.

“Nothing. So you
are
going to tell her everything, right?”