Waiting (35 page)

My mom,
bless her, wasn't the clingy type. Growing up
,
my parents were loving, caring and there for me, but we weren't exactly close.
 
It was no secret they weren't my real parents, though I still called them mom and dad. The
y never wanted to have children
so I kind of felt like a burden, though they would never
admit
that. They loved me and I loved them. We had the perfect relationship that we both wanted.

“I'm fine, mom. I took a vacation to be with my boyfriend. He's having family problems and I'm helping him with them. Kind of. Ther
e's nothing to be worried about.  P
romise.”

“Boyfriend?” That's probably the only word she heard. “When did you get a boyfriend?” She sounded utterly shocked.

“A few weeks ago. I was planning on bringing him for dinner on your birthday, if that's alright. It's kind of serious and I
'd love for you and d
ad to meet
him.”

“Hells, Bells. I'd love to meet him.” She turned to yell at my dad that I finally got a boyfriend and they'd get to meet him in two weeks. They sounded as excited as Julie had been. Was I that much of a loser?
Oh right, yes.
“What do you want us to make? Does he have a favorite food?”

I laughed out loud. Yea
h he has a favorite food.  And
I'm one hundred percent sure it won't be on the menu.

“I'll bring some steaks, anything else is up to you. No garlic, though. He's allergic.” Not really allergic, but I didn't
want to watch him choke it down
since he's too polite to refuse. “Let's make it Saturday, instead of Friday. That okay?”

“Of course!”

A loud boom ha
d me jolting up just as Brian whi
rled with inhuman strength. Goo
d. I'm glad he was still strong
in
case there was danger here now.

“I've got to go mom. Love you both. Bye.”

I didn't wait for
a response
but hit
end and ran to grab the remote.
Brian beat me, quickly looking over all the screens and dismissing ones that didn't have any movement.

“Go back!”

He hit a button and soon clicked on the one I'd noticed and zoomed in. In the kitchen upstairs there was now a thick silver cage encasing someone. A small someone.

“Tiny!”

Grabbing Brian's arm
I dragged him
up the hallway to the entrance
where we hit the
key pad
to open, then quickly climbed the stairs to find Tiny lying on the ground in the middle of the cage, trying to be as far from the edges as he could.

“What are you doing here? Where's parker?”

“Piper, thank goodness!
Wait, what do you mean
‘
where's Parker
’
? Why isn't he here?” He stood and looked around as if I'd set a trap for him
deliberately
.

“He went with everyone to get Francis. He should be back within an hour or so.”

“Cripes. Blasted fool
. I've got Francis!
He knew I was going to get him.” A few low curses flew out of his mouth before looking up at me curiously. Mad almost. “
Blast, why am I still in this cage? Let me out.”

Before I hit the correct button a
nother thought
occurred
to me. Francis was safe and I'd call Parker right after we let Tiny out, but first I had a question for him.

I stilled
Brian's hand when he reached
out
to push the
release
button.

“Parker told me not to trust anyone, so you'll have to answer a question that I know only his closest friends would know.” His chest puffed up, proud to be called a close friend. “What was the accident that happened years ago? The last time he killed a human.”

I waited, trying
not to look too anxious.  H
is lips cracked into what looked to be an admiring smile.

“Dear Piper, since I
am
one of his closest friends, I know
that he does not speak of that.  A
nd that he would be
severely
cross with me if he found out I was the one who told you.”

He let slip just enough for me to confirm my suspicions.

Walking up to the cage
I grasped two bars and knelt on the ground, staring into his eyes as I asked my next question.

“Because it was my parents that were killed?”

Why else would it be difficult for him to tell me something? Everyone who knew wouldn't tell me anything.

The
look on his face for a split second answered me
completely
.
Brian gasped loudly but remained still by my side.

I was right.

I had a split second feeling of euphoria before the pain took over.

“Thank you.”

I stood and gestured for Brian to go ahead and hit the button. The cage shot up into the c
eiling and down into the ground.  Tiny visibly shook
off the effects of the silver before taking my hand in his.

“It truly was an accident. Parker is a good man.” I swallowed and nodded. I knew both of those statements were true. “Besides, it's not like you had a bad childhood after that, right?”

No, of course n
ot. My parents loved me, always.
I got in trouble when I was bad, t
hey showered me when I was good. T
hey were given more raises at work than anyone ....

“Parker made sure of it.”

I wasn't mad, though now it truly donned on me just
HOW
long he'd been watching me. I'd been three months old when my real parents died.
I think it'd be safe to say he's
been watching me since I was a baby. Which was kind of sick, if you think about it.

He's watched me since I was a bab
y, drooling and pooping.  T
hrough my gross teen and pre-teen years with the acne, braces and horrible fashion sense. Through my lame attempt at boyfriends and dating. How on earth could he be attracted to me through all that? And why?

Yes, I know I'm his
mate, or whatever, but he nev
er would've taken a second look or even been around
if he hadn't been the one to cause my parent's car accident. He felt horrible about it. That's why he had an interest in my life.

A million emotions were running through my veins as I watched Tiny walk back out to the car he'd apparently driven here.
There’d be time for my questions and internal bashing later.

I followed, ran to catch up as I remembered him saying he had Francis, then skidded to a stop when he opened the back door an
d revealed a very boney Francis
with a young girl sitting up straight looking out at nothing. Mind fucked.

“Francis!”

I ran to him and tried to help him out of the car, but how, without breaking him?

“
He's too weak to drink and I couldn't make the girl do anything while I was driving like crazy to get here, but we have Brian and we can cut open his arm and drain it into...”

“No.” I cut him off. No more using my friends. “He can drink from me.” Tiny stepped in front of me but I simply walked around him and took the knife out of his hand. “Get the girl out of the car.”

I got in the front passenger seat and looked back at Francis who laid with his feet still bent from propping them against the car door when it was there. Most of his skin had withered away, his bottom lip gone and his head
completely
bald.

“Francis...” Without much thought I dug the knife into my wrist
, winced at the intense pain,
and helped it pour into his open mouth, then used my other hand to work his throat, making sure it went down. “You're going to live. We need to get Parker and then the three of us are going to have a
long,
very
overdue
talk.”

I'm pretty sure he chuckled, but
it sounded more like a gag.  A
lready his skin was growing back. After a few minutes and a couple more cuts later, that hurt like hell, his fangs shot out. Thank God.

Franci
s had enough strength to sit up
though his fingers were still all bone.

He grabbed the girl and sank his teeth into her arm as I s
ank against the back of my seat
.

Tiny bit into his own arm and held it out for me. If I didn't feel so sick, I would've turned it down, but I needed the blood.

I only took two mouthfuls, real mouthfuls, before I stopped. He offered more but I shook my head. His blood was tart, tangy kind of. I still liked Parker's the best.
His tasted rich, with a hint of
a
cinnamon
. That
sounds impossible, I know.

Francis finished with the girl and sat back, seeming tired from it all.

Two figure
s
appeared behind Brian and I instinctive
ly got up to protect him.  H
e turned and I recognized them as Gunner and Tommy almost instantly.

“Were you with Park
er?”

I hadn't seen them earlier
but it doesn't mean
t
he
y weren’t
here.

“No, we've been here, keeping watch. Do you really think Parker would just leave with no
one here to protect you?”

“Yeah, whatever, question my sanity later. Francis needs more blood and this girl needs to go back to wherever she came from before someone realizes she's missing.”

Tommy nodded and gently took the girl away, whispering to her that she was safe.

“I need to call Parker and let him know Francis is here...”

“I tried, he isn't answering.”

Shit. Gunner looked worried too.

“I'm leaving them in your hands, Gunner.” Tiny disappeared
before a reply could be made
, hopefully going straight to Parker.

“Brian, let Francis feed off you.”

He obeyed as if his life depended
on it. I might've spoken harsh
ly
but I wanted to get to Parker, and fast!

“Gunner, I'm going to ask you to s
tay here and take care of Brian
but I need some of your blood, along with Francis', since I'm going to make him take me to where Parker is.”

Gunner was in front of me wit
h his wrist extended in a heart
beat. I bit into it too harshly, but it took quite a bit of strength just to break into their hard skin. I sucked as if my life depended on it, or Parker's rather, swallowing a good five times before I released him.
  Without the knowledge that Parker might be in trouble, I would’ve gagged on the substance in my mouth. Gross!

Already my senses were on high alert. I could hear the rustle of tree leaves from a mile away and the smell of Brian's lust, though he was being fed on from Francis.

Eww.

I inhaled and almost fell over with my overwhelmed senses. No time to
analyze everything.  I have a
mate to get back, if he was even in danger. I hoped not.

Francis released Brian and Gunner let him take a few sips of blood to re
main conscious
as I bit into Francis, taking another good
four
pulls from him before I felt invincible.

He pulled me off him, holding me steady as I adapted to the whole new world in front of me.
Colors brighter than I’ve ever imagined, smells stronger and evident on every level. I could smell lust? That’s just weird.
This was amazing. Simply amazing.

“Let's go. Are you well enough?”

“Better than ever. Thank you. I'll thank Tiny later for his death defying driving,
but he did get me out of there
so I guess it evens out.”

“You looked horrible, no offe
nse, but look at you now! Your
hair is back, your skin is eve
rywhere and you have lips again!
” He rolled his eyes. “Yeah!”

“Into looks are you? Good thing Parker's not a sore for the eyes.”

“Oh, please. I'm not into him just for his looks.” I pulled down the collar of my black shirt and showed him the mark. “See.”

“Very nice, darling,
” he drawled in an awestruck
tone.
“W
e really should get a move on things. I've got payback on the mind and I know they had traps setup in case anyone came to my rescue. It's a damn good thin
g Tiny's very near undetectable
or I'd still be in that hell hole.”