WB (11 page)

He did look sorry for me, and that, more than anything else, had me worried. Also, it really freaked me out that they kept referring to me and themselves as not being human. I WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 44

understood about the magic, it was crazy and against all the laws of nature. But two days ago I was just a normal woman, a human woman doing boring old human stuff. As far as I was concerned, I was still human.

Besides, I couldn't imagine why they thought it was necessary for me to have bodyguards with me in Portland. Portland wasn't even a dangerous city. If they were worried that Celia would try to snatch me again, they could rest easy on that score. I was so angry with her, she would be wise to steer clear of me, I wasn't sure what I would do if I saw her again.

“Anna, do you remember what I told you about the marriage contract my family made with yours?” Gage asked.

I nodded to let Gage know I remembered, oh boy did I ever. I wasn't sure where he was going with this and I wasn't enthusiastic to find out. Was this where he made a formal declaration that he didn't want to marry me? It would be embarrassing, being rejected like that, especially with my mother and brother as witnesses, but understandable.

It was ludicrous to think a man like him would want to marry me someone like me.

Strangely, I felt a sudden urge to cry and I stiffened up and widened my eyes to suppress it.

Why in the world should I care if Mr. Fireball didn't want to make me his wife? I just met the guy a few days ago!

He continued, “That was for your protection. Warlocks cannot breed with human

women. That is to say we can have children, but they have no powers, the children of those unions are born human. Warlocks and witches have children together so that we can preserve our genetic identity and the power that runs in our veins is passed on. This can only happen if a witch has children. If you were to leave my protection, return to Portland without a mate, another coven would steal you and use you as a breeder. They would be crazy not to, our numbers have been falling over the years. If Celeste hadn't put the muting spell on you all these years, you would have been snatched long ago.”

I looked at Helene and she was silently nodding her head in agreement. Laurent looked away from me with a shamed expression. He was uncomfortable with the discussion and I had a moment to wonder why.

“Are you saying that all the marriages in my family and yours have been arranged? That all the marriages in all magic families are arranged?”

Gage nodded, with a grim smile.

“But, that's horrible! So archaic and, and, just icky!” I sputtered, looking to Helene and Laurent for agreement. Helene gave me a weak smile and Laurent suddenly seemed to find his empty wineglass fascinating and was twirling it around with an absorbed look.

Gage continued, “Some covens don't bother with marriages. They make breeding

arrangements and exchange the resulting children for money or protection. Other covens keep a harem of fertile witches for the highest ranking members of their families to impregnate. The women are kept as virtual slaves; their children stolen away from them at birth and brainwashed and coerced into providing the next generation of children. Some are beaten and drugged to keep them compliant. As for their magical abilities, it is stunted and repressed with spells and salt water, so they can't fight back or try to escape.”

I felt sick to my stomach now. What had I gotten myself into? It was hard to believe that something like this was happening in the world and this was the first I had ever heard of it.

I wasn't a stranger to the misery and hardships of others. I cried over pictures of starving children in refugee camps in Africa and was enraged by news reports of pedophiles visiting child WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 45

prostitutes in Thailand, but this was something else entirely. Babies born into generational slave families? Women who willingly traded their wombs for money? This was a nightmare; sex slaves and babies traded like commodities.

Gage was talking again, I listened with rising horror to what else he had to say. “There are procurers; warlocks who seek out witches of child bearing age. Girls that, for whatever reason ended up raised in foster homes or with adoptive parents who don't know about their witch ancestors. They kidnap the girls and sell them to covens that need new breeders. Some of the girls are just children themselves and so they wait until they are a suitable age to allow the chosen warlocks to impregnate them.”

I stood up from the table and my chair clattered to the floor with a crash, “Stop! I don't want to hear anymore! How can you allow this to go on? You're all monsters.”

pointed a shaking finger at Gage, then Laurent and Helene. They all looked so calm, as if they were discussing a new restaurant they wanted to try. My heart was racing and the dinner I just ate was rolling in my belly in an alarming way. Truly, I felt sick with horror and I backed away from the table until I bumped into the wall.

“Whenever I can, I try to help them. But they are good at hiding. Do you know how many warlocks there are? How many more than witches? Warlocks outnumber witches twenty to one, maybe more, I don't know, there's never been an accurate census taken. I can't tell the police, I would be leading them into a slaughter. Besides, they wouldn't believe me. So I do what I can. I save the girls that I can and keep hope for the rest.” Gage said sadly as he looked me in the eye daring me to say more.

“There will always be those who prey on the powerless, who take advantage of the innocent. We can only be a scalpel to excise the evildoers when we find them,” Helene said with a mournful sigh.

She was right of course and so were Gage and Laurent, but I didn't like it. If what they said was true I wasn't sure I wanted to walk to the bathroom by myself, let alone to and from my front door to the small covered parking spot I had near my apartment.

On the one hand I had friends and a job in Portland and on the other I had my mother and brother and a disturbing attraction to Gage. To say I was intrigued by Gage was putting it lightly, every time I looked at the man I had to fight to tear my eyes away from him. The way that he stared at me, the look on his face, hungry and urgent was exciting. I felt like I was playing a waiting game with him and as soon as I let my guard down he would pounce. The real question was; would I try to get away?

I wasn't sure what to do and that was a new feeling for me. I had always been sure what my next move was. I was a natural planner. I arranged things out in advance, I wrote to do lists and checked off items as I completed the tasks I had set myself. All this prearranging made me sound like a rigid and controlled person, but it was the way I coped with all the moves and uncertainty when I was a child.

Starting a new school every five to six months is taxing for an extrovert, but for someone like me, who found new people troubling and the changing environment stressful, it was hair raising. As I child I had carefully observed and experimented with the best ways to find a place in a new school.

The trick was to make one friend the first day. If you didn't make a friend your first day, it was likely you never would. I don't understand why, but that's just the way it is. You would get labeled stuck up or nerdy and then the other kids would avoid you like the plague.

WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 46

So I worked hard to find a friend. You had to pick someone who had a couple of other friends that you could join in with. This sounds calculating and unemotional, but after spending months eating alone in the cafeteria and hiding out in the school library during recess, I knew I had to do something different at the next school.

By the time I was in the sixth grade I was a pro at making a place for myself at new schools. Surprisingly, High School was the easiest. I joined the dance club even though I couldn't dance and the computer club even though I didn’t have one at home.

These kinds of fringe school groups were the most welcoming. They were made up of the rebels, the geeks and dreamers that didn't fit into the rigid school social structure. I didn't really fit in either and so I found a home with them and had a nice High School experience, considering my rambling past.

What I needed right now was a couple of days to think this over and set out a game plan to try and adjust to my new life, but I didn't have time for that. My family and Gage were waiting for me to make a decision, right now. Scratch that, my family was waiting for me to make a decision. Gage looked more than willing to make a decision for me and to take over my life.

I still felt angry about the way he kidnapped me and scared me half to death. What kind of man locks up a woman in his mansion? I was pretty sure if my mother and brother weren't around he would still have me locked up, in his bedroom probably. My mind wandered down this path a ways, imagining the two of us, locked in his room with no clothes, alone with nothing to distract us. I shivered at the thought of being in his bedroom and it wasn't just in horror.

He wasn't one to wait around. If I was the shy, retiring type I would probably find that facet of his character admirable. But, I was used to taking care of myself and I knew that if I didn't make a stand now, he would ride roughshod over me and have me cocooned in a silk and marble cage of his devising before I could shout, “Votes for Women!”

“Well, I think I should leave for Portland in the morning. Gage, if you would be so kind as to arrange a flight for me, I would appreciate that. I have to try and salvage what I can of my job and my apartment,” I said in a sensible way, silently patting myself on the back for being so decisive.

I didn't want him to pay my way back but, I didn't have any choice right now and I consoled myself with the thought that I would ask for a receipt and pay him back as soon as I could.

Gage smiled in a way I didn't like and I saw Laurent and Helene stand up slowly and move towards the door. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I didn't like it. Something had changed and I had the feeling it wasn't good.

“Where are you going?” I asked when what I really wanted to know was why they were leaving.

Laurent stopped for a moment in the doorway and turned to look at me with a pitying expression. He gave Gage a warning glance that he returned with a bland smile and then answered me, “Mother is tired and I have a few calls to make. I will see you both in the morning. Bon Nuit Anna, Gage,” with quick nods in our direction he left the room.

I was alone with Gage, again.

I straightened the collar of my shirt, picked my chair up where it had fallen on the floor when I got so angry earlier and set it carefully upright again. I refolded my used napkin next to my plate and lined my empty water glass up with the edge of my dessert spoon. I looked around WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 47

the table to make sure everything looked the way it should and glanced towards the door that led to the kitchen.

Maybe I should load up the dishes? It would save Harrison and his staff a trip. Then again, that might be rude, I didn't want to make Harrison uncomfortable or make him think I was trying to move in on his job. I was stalling and with a feeling of nervousness I glanced at Gage.

He had a slight smile on his lips as he watched me. He was leaning back in his chair with one hand drumming lightly on the table. He looked casual and relaxed, his feet were stretched out to the side and crossed at the ankle. When he started to stand up I gave an involuntary gasp and stepped back.

I stopped myself with an annoyed frown. What did I think he was going to do? Ravish me on the dining room table while my mother and brother were in the house! Ridiculous! Leah and Patty were right, I did watch too many melodramatic movies.

He walked around the table towards me and stopped when he was inches away. He was taller than me and I didn't like the way my eyes were on a level with the button open at the top of his shirt. His hand came slowly up and he ran his fingers gently through my hair and then put a finger under my chin and gently pushed my face up until I was looking into his eyes.

His gray eyes were hot with need as they looked into mine and I was transfixed. His head lowered and this time I didn't pull away. His lips were warm and tasted faintly of wine.

He was gentle as he pulled me in closer to him and I felt my breasts crushed against his chest and his hands started a soothing motion on my back as the kiss became deeper. His tongue slid smoothly between my lips, rubbing against mine with a sensual motion. I moaned in pleasure and his fingers rubbed the sensitive skin at the base of my neck. The kiss deepened until our tongues were twining around each other faster and faster. I barely had the time to register that I was kissing Gage Hawthorne when his kiss moved from my mouth to the sensitive spot under my ear.

My heart was fluttering in excitement and I felt breathless when he pulled away. He stared at me with a brooding, slightly grim expression that was at odds with the sensual kiss we had just shared.

“You are my woman Anna and you will not go anywhere without me.”

I twisted away from him with an oath, but he grabbed my arm before I could walk away and pulled me back to him. In a reflexive motion I raised my knee to kick him in the groin and with a muffled laugh he blocked me and held me so tightly to him I thought a paper wouldn't fit between us.

“You know it. That's why you visited me all those times. I didn't initiate those dream visits. I sought you out one time and you came to me each and every time after. I tried to come to you again, but you blocked me. So I did the only thing I could to be near you; I made myself open to you, so that whenever you visited, you could access my life without any of the blocks I put up for everyone else. But when I tried to speak to you, when I let you know that I knew you were there, you vanished. So I waited and kept looking for you. While you came to see me over and over again.”