 
PIPER LEVINE, A GYPSY'S TRUTH

Piper LeVine,

A Gypsy's Truth

By Eris Kelli
Piper LeVine

A Gypsy's Truth

By

Eris Kelli

Copyright © Eris Kelli 2013

Cover Artist: Blood Moon Designs

Stock: http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

Published by Eris Kelli

Smashwords Edition

ISBN-13:978-1500567385

ISBN-10:1500567388

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher/author. Printed in the U.S.A.

Books By Eris Kelli

Piper LeVine, A Gypsy's Truth book 1

Piper LeVine, The Path of Betrayal book 2

Piper LeVine, Follow the Leader book 3

Piper LeVine, They Call me Assassin book 4

Short Stories

Lost (The Story of Richard)

Carry Me Home

Dedication

To my sweet little loves, Sammy and Phoenix, I never finished a story until after I had my first baby. You made my dreams worth reaching for in the hope that I might help you to accomplish yours. I'm so blessed and grateful to be your mommy and I love you dearly.

Also to my mother, no matter what I've written you've always been ready and willing to read it, even when it scared you. You are the leader of the family and a treasure to me. Thank you for pushing me harder and believing in me. Thanks for being my Mama.

And to Rachel, the reader/listener/fan every writer dreams of. You're responsible in a major way for my love of great stories of all kinds. With you I've battled the Nazi's, sniffed out the killer and many, many times been a rock star. Thank you for demanding the endings and for always wanting more.
Preface

I was in the kitchen when someone pounded on the front door. It scared me. It was just after two in the morning. Though it wasn't uncommon for my father, Harold LeVine, a Senator for the State of California, to receive calls and even unannounced visitors at strange hours they'd never knocked like that.

The whole house was asleep, and I was too freaked out to go and open the door. I was relieved when after another forceful beating on the door; my father appeared at the top of the stairs with my mother looking on behind him. He stopped to fix his hair in the hallway mirror, and despite the unrelenting pounding on the door, he halted again to clear his throat and adjust his robe.

"Look through the peephole first," my mother, Katrine told him.

Dad looked through the peephole. His body went rigid. He looked back over at my mother. "Go to bed, I'll handle this." She didn't move and neither did I from my hiding place behind the chair next to the kitchen door.

Dad didn't open the door very wide, and I couldn't see the person who stood on the other side of the door. "What are you doing here?" My father spat the question with such loathing. I hadn't ever heard his voice do that.

"The time has come and gone. A promise was made, and you must keep it. You tell her or we will." The answering voice was just as harsh sounding and very deep.

"Get off of my property. Don't ever come back." The door slammed shut before even I got a glimpse of who had come. I wanted to ask who it was. Technically, I was grounded and had been sent to bed without dinner, which was why I'd been in the kitchen at such a late hour to begin with.

I hoped they would go to their bedroom and give me a chance at sneaking back to my room, but my mom came down the stairs. Her delicate arms hugged her tiny waist, and her blond hair wrapped up in rollers bounced as she rushed down each step. When my mom's lips were that thin from being pressed together she was angry. She cleared the last step and the tiny line that was left of her lips all but disappeared.

Dad held his hand up at her, but she spoke anyway. "I told you this was going to come back to haunt us one day. I knew it. I knew it."

"So we'll tell her."

"Tell her? Tell her what? That you were off screwing around with some whore and knocked her up? Oh, I know, we'll tell Piper that we bought her from that nasty bimbo and paid her mother off to keep quiet. I'm sure she'll understand since it was all for the good of your glorious political career."

About this time I was trying to swallow the panic and bile that burned my insides because the things they were saying were about me. I am Piper LeVine. I was the baby bought and sold for the sake of silence.

"Tell her. Make sure she knows that if she breathes a word about this to anyone, I'm cutting her off. I didn't come this far to have my name ruined. I've given that child a respectable upbringing. She's gone to the best schools. Now that she's going to turn seventeen, and all the hard work is done, I'm supposed to sacrifice my dreams?"

"I'm not going to threaten her."

My dad got in the face of the woman I'd known as my mother. "It's not a threat. It's a fact. She squeals and there's no college, no car, no more Grandma Sidney."

"Don't be ridiculous! You can't stop her from seeing your mother."

"My donations keep that animal sanctuary running. She'll cut off Piper."

I wasn't shocked to hear how fiercely my dad would protect himself and his career. My little sister Trina and I had learned long ago that Dad was in love with himself. We were just the props for pictures.

Katrine went over to the window in the front room. "They're still here, Harold." There was fear in her voice, and I couldn't help but wonder who "they" were.

"We'll send her to Grandma Sidney's."

"She's going through a phase right now. At least, I hope it's a phase. Do you think she's turning out like her mother? Can that kind of thing be genetic?" She backed away from the window. "Do you think she'll keep quiet about this? She's seventeen. She'll tell that boyfriend of hers or that other girl."

Hearing my mom join in sent a twisting pain through my stomach. I'd never thought she would turn on me like that. The things she said about my birth mother began to sink in, and I stood up. Dad glared at me, and Mom gasped. I could see her mentally going over all the horrible things she'd just said.

I'd thought I was going to say something terrible to them, but when I saw the fear I was feeling reflected in their eyes I couldn't. Instead, I walked past them and stopped at the stairs. "I'll go pack."
Chapter One

It hurt to breathe around the huge aching lump in my throat. My bags were packed and had already been added to the car. My parents made me wait until dark before they'd let me leave.

My father met me at the waiting car. His black and speckled white hair was combed to perfection. The expression on his face was the same as always. He was not smiling, but still presented a pleasant yet businesslike demeanor.

He looked around again, checking our surroundings. I wasn't sure if he was looking for paparazzi or the mysterious 'they.' Both Dad and my mother said, it wasn't worth my worrying over.

"Your grandmother is expecting you." At last, his cool gaze met mine. "No need to include her in this." Again, I tried to swallow the lump. "I expect you to behave in such a way that you will not cause any embarrassment. There will be no talk of last night."

"Why didn't you-"

"None." He squeezed my shoulder painfully. "Do as I ask and nothing will change." His fingers were biting into my skin, but his sharp words hurt more. I pushed his hand away, got in the car and closed the door. The tinted glass divider rose up separating me from the driver.

Finally alone, hot, stinging tears coated my cheeks and I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face. Katrine had come to my room and tried to talk to me while I'd been packing and things only got worse.

We fought about my hair and my boyfriend and in the end, we hadn't left things on decent terms. I was never on good terms with Harold, but this time knowing what I knew it was painfully different this time.

I was different.

It was well into the blackness of the night when the driver told me that we would be reaching Grandma Sidney's house in a half hour. I grabbed my makeup bag and opened up the handheld mirror. The tears had taken away all of my eye makeup, and my green eyes were crimson and puffy. My fair skin blotchy and my golden blond hair, with its blatant and unwelcome scarlet stripe down the right side, was in tangles.

The stripe had shown up a few days ago and it had upset my mother immeasurably. I didn't understand the real reason why at the time. I'd only been upset that she hadn't believed me when I had explained that I hadn't dyed the red stripe in. It showed up out of nowhere. I had tried to bleach it to match the rest of my hair, but it didn't take.

Foundation helped, but there was no changing the swollen skin around my eyes. I shoved my arms through the sleeves of my black leather jacket and zipped it up. I wound my golden tangles into a bun and secured them with bobby pins. The red burgundy stripe was impossible to hide, but I did try. Pink lipstick covered up the purple shade of my lips.

When the car pulled onto the steep, winding street, I took a few deep breaths. I wanted back the ignorance I had yesterday. It would not be returning, and despite my father's promises I knew that nothing was ever going to be the same.

Humane Animal Shelter and rescue signs reflected in the glow of the headlights as the car rounded the last corner. Grandma Sidney ran the animal shelter, and was outside of the one-story entranceway waiting for me. Her shoulder-length hair was a deep black and was pulled back into a low ponytail.

I promised myself that I would not tell her what had happened. This was the only place I had felt completely safe, and I refused to let that change. I smiled as brightly as I could while explaining that I just missed her too much to stay away. I had never lied to her before, and I don't know how convincing I was. She didn't push me, though I thought she might the way she was studying me.

"Are you hungry?"

I shook my head. "No, just tired."

Johnny with his long brown ponytail came in first, carrying my luggage. Tony was right behind Johnny with the rest of my things. Tony's hair was almost as dark as Grandma Sidney's, though most of it was buzzed off. He reminded me of one of those tough faced older generals you see in war movies. Tony worked for my grandma for many years and was considered a family friend.

"I'll go unpack." I started to follow my luggage to my room, but I stopped walking when I heard Sidney sigh.

The new guy grandma had mentioned, whom I hadn't met yet, gave a nod when she dismissed him, but did not turn back towards the door. "Something else?" My grandma asked him, but he was looking past her and right at me. I didn't want to meet anyone at the moment, so I turned back down the hallway.

"That's my granddaughter Piper. She's much too young for you so don't get any ideas, Ivan." I stopped again when I heard the challenge in my grandma's voice and turned back to peek around the corner.

His tanned face flushed, and she stepped toe to toe with the young man. "No, none at all," Ivan answered.

"Good, because she's off limits. You understand that, don't you, Ivan?"

"Yes-"

"Because if you don't, you'll be a lot worse off than just out of a job."

Tony passed me in the hallway, smiling, but didn't rat me out for eavesdropping. "Trouble?"

She continued to look hard at Ivan. "I don't think so, just clearing things up." Grandma Sidney turned toward Tony. "Thank you for your help with the luggage. Would you please see to feeding the animals, and get that horse unloaded, bathed and fed."

"Of course." Tony opened the front door and stared Ivan down as he walked through it. Johnny was chuckling as he followed the other two out. When the door closed Sidney went straight to her room. Based on previous experience I knew she was going to call my father.

I picked up the corded land line that Sidney liked to keep and covered up the mouthpiece. She dialed, and my dad picked up on the second ring. "Good evening, Mom. How are you?"

"What is wrong with Piper? You said she was just missing me. What happened?"

"She and Katrine are bumping heads and she always does better with you."

I could hear my grandma stomping around in her room as she spoke. "Don't lie to me."

"I have no reason to lie to you."

"She's seventeen years old Harold. It's time she-"

My dad cut in, "Maybe she misses that boy she's seeing. He's probably the one who convinced her to put that stripe of red in her hair. She looks like a hoodlum."

"Rick is a very nice young man, and I told you Piper didn't dye that stripe into her hair. Her hair just stopped accepting the bleach in that spot."

There was a muffled voice in the background on his end. "I have a lot to do, Mom. If there's something I can do to help Piper let me know."

Sidney hissed out a frustrated breath into the mouthpiece. "It's too late for that, don't you think?"

"Goodbye." He hung up on both of us. The hurt sound Sidney made brought back the stinging tears to my eyes, and I blinked them away. I waited until she hung up before I did.

The last thing I wanted was to be left to my own thoughts, so I unpacked and was texting my best friend, Nina Goodwell, when the lights started flickering. I hadn't realized how late it was. Fatigue started catching up with me. There was thunder outside, and the rain was welcome as it soothed my nerves.

Grandma Sidney knocked only once before opening the door and seemed disappointed when she found me texting on my phone. "Talking to your boyfriend?"

"No, just texting Nina," I answered, sounding a little shaky, at least I didn't cry.

Grandma walked over to the bed where I was sitting and took the spot next to me. "What's wrong, Piper? I get the feeling this is over more than just some boy. You've only seen him a handful of times."

I decided to stick as close to the truth as I could. "I'm mad at my parents." I shrugged and set the phone down next to me. "I'm glad that you insisted on my growing up here while Dad was busy with his campaigning. This is home to me now. I don't want to go back." Technically, my home was with my parents by my heart was with Grandma Sidney. The times I got to stay with her I always treasured.

"That bad, huh?"

"I've only got one year left before I go off to college, and I'd really like to spend it with you, Grandma Sidney. I was here almost all of last year." Hiding from my parents might have been an immature reaction, but after hearing what I had and knowing what I did, I was sure they weren't going to want me to return anytime soon anyway.

"You know it's fine with me." Grandma Sidney hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek. "You'll have to continue to pitch in. You know how I feel about idle hands."

"I don't mind helping out." I made sure I was smiling, but she was looking at me as though I was a stranger.

Did she know?

She stood up and tussled my messier bun. "Goodnight, sweet angel."

"Goodnight." When she closed my door, I plugged in my cell phone and turned off my light. Then I buried my face in my pillow and sobbed until the numbness set in. It was better than the tears that kept coming. My mind was flooded with questions.

How did this all happen? How could they keep this from me all these years? Who am I? Do I look like her? Have I ever met her? Does she know me? How could she give me up? Who else knows? Who came to our door in the middle of the night, and why?

When I went to sleep, I was sure I would dream about the faceless, nameless woman who had hurt Katrine and hadn't cared if she'd ruined a marriage when she'd had an affair with Harold. Instead, I dreamt of black trees bursting up out of the ground and spooky, shadowy figures lurking in the darkness.
Chapter Two

The thunder was so loud it shook the house and woke me up. At that moment, lightning flashed outside and gave a perfect silhouette of a man standing outside my window. I sat up. The wood floor stung my barefeet with its coolness.

Was I dreaming? Had the people my parents were afraid of followed me here?

I marched across the floor and pulled aside the blinds. My heart stopped beating the moment I saw his eyes. A scream lodged in my throat, but did not come out. He was wearing a black hood that hid most of his features in shadow, but I could see in his eyes that he was smiling at me.

Scream Piper.

His pasty white hand reached toward the glass separating us, but froze midair. The ferocious feral sound was loud enough to be heard over the thunder, and we both looked in the direction of the noise. It came from a huge, black dog with long, white sharp teeth that was coming toward him. The shining wet black hair on its back stood on end as another ferocious sound shook the windowpane.

I grabbed my phone off the desk as the man took off running and dialed 911. When I looked out the window all I could see was the black dog, but it was no longer chasing the masked man. It had stopped and was looking right at me. That was no dog, it was a wolf.

The police searched the grounds for any signs, but with the rain there was nothing to find. A basic trespassing statement was given. I watched them talking to Grandma Sidney at their cars. I had already read the skepticism in the way they asked their questions. They probably thought I was just another rich girl looking for attention from the parents who ignored me.

Tony was standing with her and looking in through the front windows at me. I could not tell if he believed what had happened or not, but I was glad he was with Grandma Sidney. Johnny and the new guy were busy working with the animals, and I decided to get dressed. Last night was probably a fluke. Some random thief came walking onto the wrong property.

No way had the "they" my parents referred to followed me here. Obviously, they had known where I was all seventeen years of my life. If they wanted to come for me, they would have. Maybe my birth mother had just wanted me to know of her existence and now that I did she would leave me alone.

I dressed in a hurry and hoped that I would be able to bury my fears in my dirty laundry basket along with my discarded pajamas.

"Where are you going?" Sidney caught me by the shoulder when I rounded the corner from the hallway toward the front door.

"Don't want idle hands right now." It was true, but sounded lame.

I hugged Grandma Sidney and headed out the front door. The air smelled like rain, and the ground was still muddy. Tony put me to work right away feeding the dogs.

The sun was at its zenith, and sweat had long ago begun to pool at the small of my back. Tony dropped my straw cowgirl-style hat with its black velvet ribbon on my head. He kept it hanging in the first barn and always remembered to make me wear it.

I was listening to my iPod while I brushed down one of the horses when the guy my grandma warned the night before, stopped in front of me. He was smiling slightly and gave me a head nod once he spotted the earphones.

I gave the cord a tug, and they popped out. "Yeah?"

"I'm Ivan Crawford, you're Piper?" His hair touched the tops of his shoulders and fell into his face when he leaned forward as he was doing. He had a well-trimmed mustache and goatee that was the same dark brown as his hair and eyes. I kept brushing the horse. "Tony said I should help you with the horses." I had no desire to participate in a conversation with him, so I didn't answer. That didn't stop him.

"This is my first time working with animals. I bet you're a pro. Have any pointers for me?"

"Tony is the one with the pointers." I put the earphones back in my ears and gave Ivan my back. After Sidney's warning last night it was clear this fool was dense. The next song was a quiet starter, and I heard him talking under his breath and with my curiosity piqued I hit pause and kept brushing.

"-keep giving me your back all day. I'm lovin' the view, little sweet thang." My face was burning with embarrassment immediately, and I turned around to tell him where he could go when I caught a movement in the brush.

Dark black fur. It was the wolf. I dropped the brush and walked slowly towards the bushes and pines.

"Hey, where you going?" I stopped when I saw its eyes. They were brown and yellow and alive like a jungle. I had not been able to see their color in the dark last night, nor the unique focus they seemed to have. My heart pounded in my chest, and my breathing was coming faster. I pulled off my hat and knelt down.

"Come here, boy." A low growl vibrated, and my heartbeat doubled its pace. "I'm not afraid of you. Come here." I began to raise my hand palm down toward the brush.

It's just a dog.

"Babe, what are you doing?" I almost threw up because Rick scared me so bad. He grabbed my shoulders and set me on my feet. The wolf was gone when I looked back. "You're looking beautiful as always. Miss me?" I felt like hitting him, but stifled the urge.

"Yes, of course." He kissed me and brushed off my soiled knees. "What were you doing?"

"I thought I spotted a stray." I searched again for any sign of the black wolf with its hypnotic gaze.

"Oh. Want to go out tonight?" His dirty-blond hair was looking lighter, and his skin was much tanner than when I'd last seen him. "I've got enough to take you some place really nice." Ivan was watching us. Someone was always watching, and I was tired of the constant stressing over what they would say. He was watching to see if he could tell his buddies that the Senator's daughter was a tease.

I shifted my weight and then bent over to pick up my hat. I was grounded, but I was also mad at the people who grounded me, specifically from Rick. "Okay."

"How come I had to hear from Nina that my best girl is back in town? Why didn't you call me?"

A nervous smile curved my lips. "I got in late."

"You okay?" He grabbed my chin with his thumb and pointer finger. "You look like you're mad."

I laughed, "No, I'm not mad."

"Is that code for, yes, I'm mad you idiot who did something stupid?" He gave me a sheepish look, and his blue eyes sparkled at me.

"No," I laughed. Rick grabbed my waist and pulled me in for another kiss. His hands squeezed my bottom, and I broke the kiss. Ivan was smiling and shaking his head in an, _I knew it_ kind of way. "There are people all around, Rick."

"What? Good ole Harry wants you to break up with me? Should I call him up or go to his house?"

"We'll talk about this later." I nodded toward Ivan, who was openly watching and listening. "He's new." Rick was glaring in Ivan's direction. "Well, let's go. You don't have to work."

The last thing I wanted at the moment was to leave the sanctuary. My sanctuary. "But I want to." My voice came out harsher than I had intended.

"I'll pick you up at seven. Sorry to have interrupted." He raised his hands up and let them fall as he stomped away.

"Piper?" It was Sidney's voice. "Your mother's on the phone." I pretended not to hear and did not look back in the direction of the house. My lips pressed tightly together and without my bidding, my eyes filled with tears, again. I needed to get away, somewhere away from Ivan and his staring problems.

I grabbed the reins and lead the horse I'd been brushing toward the field used to run the horses. It was surrounded by trees, and it gave me the feeling of seclusion. A big breath of air I had been holding rushed out, and I continued walking in the huge oval shape of the field. Two laps around and I was already lost in my own internal interrogation of my feelings.

Then the horse jerked from my hold, and I turned and tried to calm the horse. "What's the matter?" The horse reared up and slammed its foot into my chest. Pain exploded inside of me, and I landed several feet away. The horse rose up again, and I rolled out of the way as a ferocious growl sounded near my left ear.

The black wolf was right next to me.

The horse turned and ran back toward the sanctuary. The wolf laid himself down in the grass next to me. I was watching him and not believing what I was seeing. This had to be a dog. There was no way a wolf would just come and lay down so close to a human. My curiosity was screaming at me. This might be my only chance to touch him. My hand shook as I raised it. I offered it to him, and he inhaled the scent of me. He licked my hand and rolled onto his back.

He was longer than me all laid out like he was. I stroked his stomach, but he quickly rolled back. He laid his head in my hand, and I lost the rest of my hesitation. He was a giant teddy bear. "You're so sweet." I started scratching behind his ear. "You saved me last night didn't you?"

"Piper, are you okay?" Tony came jogging up with Ivan in tow. "The horse came back without you." Tony slowed when he saw the black dog. "Hold onto him." Tony tossed me a leash, and it was not easy to get it on the dog. Tony laughed uncharacteristically at me the entire time.

Once I got it around his neck, his body went stiff. From his earlier reaction, I knew he liked it when I scratched behind his ears so I did, and he relaxed. The black fur was so silky, nothing like I would expect a strays' hair to feel. The texture was so different from any of the other dogs.

"Come on, Pipey." I stood up and led him back towards the sanctuary. He rubbed up against my leg, and I laughed and stopped to pet him again.

How could I ever have been afraid of you?

I did not want to cage him, and I knew that Grandma Sidney would not let me set him free. I would have to convince her to let me keep him. When I straightened to a standing position, I felt Ivan's breath on the back of my neck and quickly turned around. "So that was your boyfriend?"

"Obviously." I hated that my heart was racing again.

He smirked at me. "Kind of young isn't he?"

"He's older than I am."

"No way, the body I'm looking at is all woman." Bile stung the bottom of my throat.

My Giant started growling and showing his teeth. Ivan took a step back. "Good boy." I scratched behind his ear again.

"Looks like you've got a new friend," Johnny said, pushing Ivan another step back. "We'd better have a look at him." He gestured to My Giant. "He's a big boy. Don't know if we've got an empty run for him." The smile on his face made him seem closer to his twenties even though he was well into his thirties.

"That's okay, Johnny. I'm keeping this one."

Johnny looked to Ivan and then back at My Giant. "I don't think Sid is going to let you, hun. It's a rule that you can't adopt any of them isn't it?"

"I'm keeping this one."

He grinned instead of being offended by my tone. "Well, you go give it a try then."

I gave the leash a slight pull when we were nearing the front door, and he stopped. He quickly sat down when I looked at him, his tongue hanging out happily. I sighed, trying to think of what was going to work with Grandma Sidney. Nothing was coming to mind. "This isn't going to work." The dog whimpered, and I gave him a pat on the head. "I'm still going to try," I assured him and realized I was talking to a dog.

_Genius_.

Sidney was in the kitchen and stuck her head out of the doorway when she heard the front door. I gave her my brightest smile and jumped right in. "Grandma, I know there are rules against adopting strays but I need you to make an exception." My teeth bit into my lower lip when her eyes lowered slightly to take in My Giant. Her gray eyes were widening, and it was not in a good way. "Please?"

"But sweetheart," she said, looking at him like he was going to eat me alive. "You'll only be here a year and then you'll be gone to college."

"I know but Dad won't let me live on campus anyway." I wrapped my arms around his huge neck and smiled again.

This had to work.

"Having a pet is a big responsibility. That one there is like having three."

I gave his back-end a push to get him to sit, hoping he'd look a little smaller. "It's not like I won't have money to feed him."

"What about when you get married and have children? That thing will gobble up a baby." My Giant lay down and rolled onto its back with a whimper.

I don't know why I thought she would let me keep him.

I felt like if he was gone, I'd be afraid. My eyes filled with tears, so I looked at the front door instead of at my grandma. "Grandma, I can't explain it but I really need someone to belong to me right now. He's the one I need."

Grandma Sidney was trying to read into what I really meant and didn't respond for at least half a minute, which felt seriously long. "We'd better get a dog bed," she said finally. "I don't want it jumping up and shedding all over my furniture."

"Thank you, Grandma Sidney." I tried to discreetly wipe my eyes before smiling at her.

She went back into the kitchen. "You're welcome," she called. I led My Giant down the hallway so I could see her in the kitchen. "I wonder what Rick will think of your new dog." Sidney turned the knob on her gas top burner and set some ham in the frying pan. "Rick looked upset when he left," she added when I chose not respond to her first question.

"I've got a date with him later." The dog was drooling heavily all of a sudden, and I grimaced at the huge wet spot on the carpet beneath him.

"You'd better feed that dog."

"Oh, okay." I lead him back toward the front door.

Please don't let her change her mind.

"Hey," Sidney said, stopping me before I could clear the open doorway. "Is that the same dog you saw last night?" I looked down at the still salivating dog.

"Yes, he is." I closed the door so she would not have the chance to tell me she had changed her mind. It was surprising she had chosen Rick to discuss and not my mother. I've never been especially close to my parents. It's always been Grandma Sidney that I've relied on. My sister, Trina, was my parents' pride and joy. I'd never resented this fact because it made it easier for me to be with Grandma Sidney.

My throat was tightening up again. It was stupid to think of my parents, especially while I was constantly fighting with the tears that popped up at the least opportune moments. Right then there were eyes everywhere, and I had no explanations to offer for tears. I cleared my throat and called Nina on my cell as I led My Giant toward Johnny to be looked over.

I had promised not to tell, but it was going to be really difficult not to tell Nina. It was hard not being able to talk about it with Grandma Sidney. I'd seen how my parents had responded to whomever had come, and it was a mixture of fear and disgust. I didn't want Grandma Sidney to see me or treat me differently.

Had that pasty person with the strange eyes come for me?

My hand went down to My Giant's back, and I looked at him the same moment his eyes looked up at me. The flecks of yellow were more like gold sparkling up at me from the bottom of a chocolate riverbed. I could swear they were focused in on me like he was trying to understand me.

Wow, I'm really starting to lose it.
Chapter Three

"Are you sure that's a dog?" Nina asked. "He looks like the big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood." She tossed her long dark-brown curls over her shoulder and checked her nails.

"Of course he is. A wolf wouldn't be this tame," I said this to assure myself as much as Nina.

"I guess." We both watched him not eat the dog food. "What are you going to call him?"

He was so big. "I don't know. Super dog?"

"That's terrible." Nina wrinkled her slightly upturned nose. "He needs a name with bite."

She was right. "I'll have to think about it." She checked her phone and put it back in her pocket. "So, how are things with Daniel?" Nina jumped at the chance to gush about her current boyfriend who was too old for her and not the least bit concerned about Nina's reputation.

Nina got a call from said boyfriend, and I watched her prance happily away accepting her promise to call me later. I decided that My Giant and I needed a walk. We ended up on the mountainside. I had been so caught up in my own thoughts I had not been paying attention. The new dog had been leading the way, and it took a sharp tug on his leash to get him to slow.

"Great. I don't even know where I am." He was still pulling me forward. "Hey, stop." My heart was pounding, and I was covered in sweat.

_What is wrong with me?_ Some person had trespassed onto my property the night before, and I decide to go wandering off by myself?

The dog did not stop, and I got the distinct feeling he wouldn't until he wanted to. A huge part of me wanted to run away, to keep going until I was no longer Piper LeVine. There was no distance I could run to where that would magically happen.

I dug my heels into the dirt, and the dog stopped at last. I sat down to catch my breath, and the big black dog turned back toward me. His thick heavy fur was warm as I ran my hands over him.

I needed to talk to someone about what I'd heard. Although Nina was not the ideal person to turn to when problem solving, I realized she was my only option. I didn't want to talk about it with Rick, and I couldn't with Grandma Sidney. It was unlike me to break a promise, but this was too big for me to carry all by myself.

Knowing I would regret it, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Nina up anyway. She answered, and before she could tell me she was too busy making out with Daniel, I dove right in, "Nina, I have something I need to talk about and I need you to just listen, okay? Please swear to me that you won't tell anyone about it because it's seriously the deepest, darkest secret I will ever tell you, and I'll kill you if you blab it to anyone."

"Okay, I promise. Now spill, I'm all curious."

I took a deep breath and dove right in. It might not reflect very well on me that I didn't hold anything back. I didn't even pause long enough for her to agree or disagree. It all just came pouring out of me, and I didn't stop until it was all out, and I was crying.

Sitting there on that rock I cried, holding the phone to my ear with the dog's head on my knee. She was silent, not saying a word, and I'd assumed she hadn't known what to say until I looked at my phone and realized I'd lost the call.

My phone had no signal. I laughed through my tears at my ridiculous situation. The last time she'd spoken was to tell me to spill my secret. She most likely didn't hear a word.

The dog raised his head up when I was done wiping my tears and backed away from me. I thought I had scared him with my exhausted tearful laughter and was about to call him back, but then he started moving strangely. I stopped so I could try to understand what he was doing.

His body jerked and made a really loud popping noise, and another followed by lots of popping and then the fur shed off of his body. He arched onto his back feet and shook away the fur coat. Human skin was beneath it all, and his face was becoming human. The tail was gone. I was frozen just staring and not believing.

Those amazing eyes I'd been admiring in the wolf were blinking and watching me from the face of a young man, a very well built, muscular, serious looking, youthful man. I smiled and shook my head. "I must be dreaming," I said and pinched myself.

It hurt and I told myself when I looked up, I would see My Giant and realize that I was just stressed and seeing things. I looked up and there was still the young man standing there only he was starting to move toward me.

Panic slapped the wind right out of me, and I took off running down the mountain.

"Piper, stop."

Holy crap! It was talking?

He caught up with me. I screamed and tripped when he matched my pace. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Stay away from me." I tried to pick myself back up. He reached down and grabbed my wrists and pulled me to my feet. He was completely naked. I screamed again.

"I saved you last night, remember that?"

"You'll be hunted for this." He was still wearing the leash and collar I had put on him.

"You need my protection and as it turns out, I need a place to hide."

"Help, someone help me!"

I found a man dog that is going to kill me!

He grabbed my shoulder, and I freaked out. I punched, clawed and kicked until he let go, and I took off running again.

"Piper, you have to help me." He matched my pace again.

"Get away from me, you freak!"

"Piper, you are not Katrine's daughter." I skid in the dirt trying to stop, and he reached out and caught me before I fell. "You're the daughter of the woman your father had an affair with." I started struggling again, this time it was all out of anger.

"Prove it," I gritted out, and he released me.

"I don't have to. It only takes a rumor to humiliate a family or ruin a career." I don't know that I have ever really hated anyone, until that moment. "All I ask is that you allow me to stay with you as your, you know, dog."

Was he serious with this?

"Asking? Try blackmailing."

"I'll protect your property from trespassers, as you call them." He was so naked, and I had never seen a man completely naked. It was insane that I could be furious and so embarrassed at him and for him at once. I held up my hand to block my view of his lower half.

"Forget it." I started edging away and could see the way he was watching me that he knew I was going to try for another run.

He stayed with me. "I wonder if Sidney would-"

"Shut up." I whirled toward him.

How dare he threaten my grandma?

"I don't want to hurt you."

I prepared myself to run again. "Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a fact. I need sanctuary." I threw the hoodie I had tied around my waist at him. He tied it with the back of the jacket covering his front.

"Why tell me what you are at all?"

"This is my true form. I'm a human. I can't stay in my wolf form forever. After certain lengths of time I become human. I couldn't sneak away when you've got me tied to you. Well, I could but then you would be left vulnerable, wouldn't you?"

I raised my chin and met his gaze. "You are stupid if you think I'm incapable of protecting myself." He did not say anything so I turned in the direction I hoped was home. "Who are you hiding from anyway, mad scientists?" His smile at my insult only made my face burn hotter and my knuckles whiter.

"No one you need to know about."

"Yes, I do. I won't put my grandma at risk."

"You and she are both safer with me here. Have you completely blocked out the events of last night?" He looked directly into my eyes when he spoke. Which was unnerving since he was standing over six feet tall, and I'm on the shorter end of the stick for girls.

His hair was black like his fur. Even with the jacket he was still so completely naked. All six plus feet of him strolling along side me.

_How am I going to hide him when my entire life is overrun by people watching me?_ I thought, pretending I didn't notice he was solid muscle.

"What am I supposed to do with you?"

"I'm to be your pet, remember?"

_Fine._ _He'd get himself found out anyway. What kind of idiot would hide with me? I have no privacy whatsoever. Why did he come to my aid last night?_

"You could have eliminated the threat last night. Why didn't you?" I squinted at him. "Because you had to gather enough info to blackmail me?"

He only gave a slight shake of his head, and I had to look up to see him do it. Last night he had come to my rescue. He was there to play the sweet, loving teddy bear too. He had waited and played upon my weakness until he got what he needed. He used me, and I hated him for it.

He then changed into a wolf. I yanked his collar and the attached leash off. "The next time you feel like streaking, go by yourself." He followed me into the field where I had been kicked earlier today. I realized he was the reason the horse had been afraid in the first place. I stomped across the shorter grass and wished I had a silver bullet to kill the mutt with myself. He had totally set me up, and I was stuck.

"Hey, Blondie, you better scoot, Rick is waiting on you," Johnny announced when he saw us coming. "Got a name for that dog yet?" Johnny eyed him with a weary expression.

"His name is Deception." I pushed the front door open and stepped inside. "Sorry. Give me just a minute," I said and paused when I saw the serious expression on their faces. "Everything okay?"

"Just fine." Rick's easy smile replaced the serious line his lips had been. "I'll wait right here so you can get ready." Grandma Sidney gave me a reassuring nod.

"Don't dally, Piper."
Chapter Four

He knew everything that was eating me up inside, and he was using it against me. I dug through my closet hoping to find the perfect mix of conservative and appealing. I ended up with a bleached laced cami that was high enough to cover up my bruising from being kicked, and a just below the knee white and pink ruffled skirt.

I dressed in the bathroom and was quickly applying mascara when a knock sounded on the other side of the door.

I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror as I asked, "Uh... who is it?"

"Nicholas."

"The wolf?" A heavy sigh was his answer.

_His name is Nicholas?_ I much preferred the name I had given him. _Nicholas is the name of the lying, using, betrayer huh? What is the world coming to when you can't even trust a dog?_

The light pink gloss would have to do. I opened the door. "What is it, Deception?" I had to take a step back. His human form filled the doorway. His hair was sticking up here and there. If I didn't hate his guts, I'd have thought it was cute, but I did, so I didn't.

My hoodie still served as a loin cloth and once again, my cheeks burned thinking of him without it. His legs were thick corded muscle, and his stomach was hard and flat. The sixteen pack that was well defined in his abdomen was the first I had ever seen. He was tan everywhere.

Nicholas said, "I'll have to go with you." Interrupting my thoughts.

"No, you can't come." I opened the drawer on the right-hand side of the sink and picked out a perfume bottle.

"You smell divine. You don't need that."

_Did he just compliment me?_ A warm shiver danced down my spine. _What the heck was that about?_

"It is necessary that I come. You must be kept safe, and you are in danger without me at your side."

"If someone looked in the window right now they'd see your naked butt in my bedroom, and my reputation would be destroyed. I'll keep myself safe, thank you very much. Go on, you've got your sanctuary." I tried to close the door, but he blocked it.

"The deal we made included my keeping you safe." He kept his voice low. His brown and yellow eyes were on my shoulders, which had only spaghetti straps to cover them. My heart rate sped up a little, and I clenched my teeth. "You will be cold. Put on a coat."

"You can't tell me what to do. You can't come, and I'll wear what I please."

He stepped inside my bathroom, his eyes locking with mine. "I will go with you or you won't go at all."

"This is ridiculous." He seemed so much bigger with the walls of my home as his backdrop. Even so, there was no way I was going to let him bully me. "You try to stop me, see how long your sanctuary lasts."

"Why is it so important to be alone with your scamp?"

"Scamp? Are you talking about Rick? He's not a scamp." I ducked past him and headed toward my bed where I'd left my black purse. Nicholas was at least a year or two older than Rick. He looked it with all that solid muscle. I realized I didn't know anything about him. I couldn't just leave him with my grandma.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" He changed into his wolf form, and I did not miss the prance in his step when he came to stand at my side. "You are only being allowed to come because I'm afraid you'll have a psychotic episode and murder my grandma while I'm gone." He made a sound that I could not interpret, but the prancing was missing from his gait when he followed me out of my bedroom and into the hallway.

"You two be extra safe. After last night, you should really have a bodyguard with you." My grandma was wringing her hands.

"I'll bring Deception." I pointed to him and resisted the urge to shove him when he brushed up against my leg.

"Deception?"

"The dog." Tony pointed at Nicholas.

"You're bringing the dog?" Rick looked at the dog and shook his head. "We're going to a really nice place. I don't think-"

I turned toward him. "Please, Rick? He's new and Sidney is letting me keep him."

Rick's nose scrunched up. "He would have to stay in the truck. I know you wouldn't want him to be stuck waiting for us in the-"

"That'll be fine." I grabbed the doorknob and pulled. "Let's get going."

"Have a good time," Sidney said and closed the door behind us. Deception followed. I could still feel his eyes on my shoulders and back. He hopped into the bed of the truck without direction, and Rick laughed.

"He's a smart dog. You picked him from the sanctuary?"

I glared at Deception. "He picked me."

"Who can blame him?" Rick closed my door and then circled around the truck. The engine roared to life with the turn of the key, and Rick put his open hand out on the seat between us.

I squeezed his hand and sighed. He was not angered by my strange behavior, and I really appreciated his patience. I also wanted to show him what was in my purse to help him understand, but I was seeing all the effort he had gone to in order to make this date special. I decided to wait. He stroked my hand and began to maneuver down the mountain.

"What were you and my grandma talking about when I got home? You both looked stressed, as if it was a serious topic. Was it?"

"I was just telling her how crazy I am about you."

The laugh that came out of my mouth sounded crazy, but I was so relieved. I had been afraid Grandma Sidney had found out I was not Katrine's daughter. "Why were you telling her that?" I managed when I remembered he had been so sweet.

"You look really beautiful tonight. It's a special night."

I looked at him. "What are we celebrating?" He kissed the top of my hand. "Tell me."

"We're celebrating lots of things." He pulled the truck off of the private drive and onto the main road. "I'm waiting until we get to the restaurant so stop asking me." He laughed, and I relaxed against the seat at last.

Rick was by far the best boyfriend I had ever had, and I was going to miss him when he went away to college. Tonight I could enjoy being his girlfriend. It was going to take time to get over Rick Butler, or as Nina called him, Rhett Butler.

"Hey, what are you thinking about? You look sad."

"Oh, nothing." I smiled at him. "Which restaurant did you pick?" Rick moved into the right lane with his blinker on. There were only two restaurants to the right, one that was reasonably priced and one that was outrageous. Rick steered toward the expensive one. "No way."

"Surprised?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm surprised, but Rick I don't need to go here."

"Well, I do." He pulled the parking brake. He hopped out and when he did not come to open my door, I got out and found him trying to tie Deception to the bed of the truck. "He won't hold still."

"Deception, stay," I told him. "Or else you know what will happen." Nicholas sat down, and Rick looked between the two of us with a raised brow. He tied him with a thick yellow rope, and I did not mention that if Nicholas wanted to get out, he could. Rick made a makeshift bowl for him and poured a bottle of water into it.

"I think that should hold him for an hour." He looked in his truck and came back smiling. "Look what I found." His mom's poodle Betty must have been taken for a haircut because one of her pink dog treats was in Rick's hand. He put it next to the bowl and looked a little disappointed when Deception did not gobble up the tiny bone-shaped dog food.

"That was so sweet of you, Rick." I smirked at Deception and tucked my hand into the crook of Rick's elbow. "Let's go." Rick was wearing slacks and a blue button up that really showed off his tan.

We were seated immediately and there were three servers at our disposal. Rick encouraged me to order whatever I wanted. The menus were fancy and there were many exotic choices, but in the end, we both ordered a big thick steak. There was dancing, and I was being twirled around the dance floor when I spotted him. Nicholas was in the restaurant.

"What's wrong?" Rick followed my gaze.

"Nothing." He was wearing a server's uniform and was helping pass out plates of food to a large party that had come in before us. There was food on his face, and one of the other servers pointed this out to him, but he was busy looking at me with a smirk of his own. I hugged Rick closer and mouthed to Nicholas to go to the truck. He did not obey.

"You are so beautiful, Piper." His lips grazed my neck, and I quickly put space between us.

"Are you going to tell me what we're celebrating? I'm dying to know." My voice was high pitched, but Rick pretended not to notice.

"I got a full ride to Santa Barbara University."

My footing faltered. "Rick? You can't go to that school. You got a full ride to-"

"I can see you every day if that's what we want." I tried to take another step back. "It's a great school, Piper. I thought you wanted me to be closer." The other couples on the dance floor were close. His hand at my waist was growing tighter.

"That would be wonderful, but I don't want you to miss such a big chance because of me. You worked so hard, and it paid off. You will regret it if you pass up NYU."

His jaw tightened. "I'll regret losing _you_ , Piper." He pulled me close and found my lips with his. It was a frantic kiss, and he left no oxygen between our bodies. The flash of a camera was so bright I saw it even with my eyes closed. Rick let go of me to go after the photographer.

"Rick, wait." I started after him hearing my name being murmured all around me. The photographer took pictures of Rick swiping at him. When I was finally able to get my hand on Rick's arm, I pulled him back towards the tables. "Stop, you're just giving him more to write about."

He gaped at me. "I should just let him invade?"

"Look they are making him leave." I hoped he did not notice the pictures people were taking with their cell phones. "I had no idea you would want to continue to date me when you're going off to college." We'd been childhood friends, but we'd only been on a handful of dates. His face was still red, and his body was stiff.

"You were the one to say we weren't going to use the 'L' word because you thought I was leaving and going across the country. I'm not now." He looked around, and his face became a deeper shade of red. He discovered the amateur photographers. "Let's go to our table where we can talk."

"That's a good idea." This evening was not going the way he wanted and that was obvious. There was not much I could do about it and there was no way to assure him that this would not happen again. We sat down at the table both unhappy and quiet.

The half-eaten steak that was set down before me was delivered by Nicholas, who was smiling happily when I glared at him and his steak sauce mustache.

"What is that?" Rick pointed at my plate.

I sputtered out, "It's probably the female portion size." I looked back up to Nicholas. "You can go."

"This is crazy. I'm not paying for that. There's a bite mark right there." Rick stood up, and several waiters came over and looked to Nicholas with appalled expressions. He was fired on the spot and did not look the least bit upset about it. "Are you laughing?" Rick asked me, and I nodded, unable to stop.

"I'm ready to go. Are you?"

"Yes." He took my hand, and I was relieved to see him smiling again. "We won't be coming back here." We were still laughing when we got out of the restaurant.

"Look at this." Rick held up a pair of black pants and a light yellow vest he snatched up off the pavement. "That waiter is out here naked somewhere." His expression was incredulous, and I shrugged, not knowing what to say. Deception was sitting in the bed of the truck without the rope tied around his neck, and Rick noticed right away. "He didn't even run away." Rick's thumb pointed to Deception. "Good dog."

I waited until I was inside the truck to talk to Rick. "I'm sorry about that photographer."

"I don't know how you can stand them taking pictures of your private life like that."

A heavy sigh pushed through my closed lips. "I don't have a choice." I watched him start the car. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"I'll take us somewhere else." He reversed out of the parking spot and merged back into traffic. "It's a little out of the way place. No one will know you there."

I tried to smile but could not quite pull it off. "Sounds like my kind of place."

"We're still going to have a magical night." He reached out and began caressing the back of my neck. There was no way around it. I needed to show him what was in my purse. "We're almost there."

I began to unzip my purse as the truck slowed noisily to a stop. This was going to be hard to make him fully understand. I was not sure I completely understood it all myself. He hopped out and had my door open. He helped me and shut the door. "Let's go."

I smiled at him and let him take the lead. I heard Deception growling and stopped. The sign caught my eye, The Silver Night Sleeps Motel. Camera flashes were going off like crazy before I could even make a sound. I jumped back in the truck and buried my face in my hands. Rick's door slammed shut, and the truck roared with his foot on the gas pedal.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know they followed us."

"They were waiting for us," I snapped sitting up. "You stupid idiot. What made you think I'd sleep with you? I haven't even told you I love you and you thought I'd be with you like that in some sleazy motel?" I punched him in the shoulder and regretted it when the truck swerved.

"Piper, I'm going away to college. I thought you wanted me to know you'd wait for me. Be faithful to me and... prove it."

_Men are self-serving vile pigs_.

"Take me home." There was so much going on in my head and a lot of raw emotion clogging up my throat that I didn't say anything on the freeways. It wasn't until Rick started up the winding mountain that I found my voice again.

"Just stop." I'd had enough. I threw open the door and started walking. His door slammed behind me, but I kept walking. "Don't follow me, Rick. I mean it." The clouds decided to open up right then and rain came pelting down in ice cold drops.

Rick got in front of me and stopped so we were face to face. "You're overreacting." He grabbed my shoulders, and I flinched when he squeezed my already bruised flesh. "We belong together, Piper." I opened my purse.

"What are you doing?" The picture Katrine threw at me when I'd gotten grounded the other day was crumpled even though I had tried to smooth it out. I handed it to him. "The kiss on the discovery park bridge, so?"

"So it looks like your hands are all over me. Turn the picture over." His eyes squinted at the small writing.

"Ten thousand?"

"Dollars. That's how much my family had to come up with to keep that picture out of the press. My parents think I'm some kind of cheap hooker because of that picture. What do you think they'll think when they see me in front of that cut rate motel?" I was crying, and I hated myself for it.

Rick reached for me, but I shoved his hand away. "You don't think of anyone but yourself. You wanted proof? Well, I'm the one that got it. You just proved to me that you're a selfish pig." I snatched the picture away and shoved it back into my purse.

"So I make a mistake, and that's it?"

"I don't care where you go to college, or even if you do. Just stay away from me. Understand?" I moved around him and started up the hill again. The dirt road was quickly turning into mud and I almost fell, but Deception was there to steady me. I looked down at him in surprise.

Great, now you have even more to blackmail me with.

"You're a tease, Piper. And you're not worth the effort," Rick said before he got back into his truck and shifted into reverse. Hot tears mixed with the cold rain, and my body trembled with pain and rage. The road curved only once more, and I would be within sight of the house. Deception gave me a push with his head.

"Leave me alone." My voice cracked when I yelled. He darted into the forestry and underbrush so quickly it was as if he had disappeared. I took the last turn as slowly as possible not wanting to see the disappointment in Grandma Sidney's eyes. The mud suctioned off one of my heels and this was the closest I've been to throwing a tantrum since I was six. I pulled it off and slipped the other one off too.

My hair was plastered to my head like my clothes were to my body, and my legs were well coated with mud. After all that had happened, I couldn't think of anything worse.

"Hey, sweet thing. What are you doing out here in the rain?" I jumped at the sound of Ivan's voice. I did not see him standing there in the dark. "Are you going to go home in that see-through dress? Sidney will have a heart attack. You should come with me and dry off." He was looking at me like I was a piece of meat.

I folded my arms across my chest and continued toward the house, but he put himself in my path and I almost slipped trying to stop myself before running into him. "Move." My voice sounded scared. He took a step toward me with a leering smile on his face.

"Don't you want to know what it feels like to be with a real man?" My heart was going to explode inside my chest.

"Is that what you're supposed to be? Get away from me." He laughed and moved closer. I raised my chin and met his gaze. My stomach felt completely sick. "Back up or you'll be missing the main ingredient to your manliness. I guarantee it."

"Don't be like that." He was leaning toward me, and I got ready to knee him. A deep rumbling startled Ivan back a step and when he saw Deception he took several more steps back. "Nice dog, Piper."

Thank you, Nicholas.

I did not turn to see him. Instead, I headed for the front door and when I turned around to shut it, Ivan's eyes found mine. They were still hungry and dangerous too. Deception pushed the door shut.

"See there she is," I heard Tony say when the front door closed. "Everything will be just fine." They were in the living room. I took my one shot at getting to my room. I heard my grandma say, "Thank you, Tony," right before I got my bedroom door shut.

When she opened my door, I was in a white terrycloth robe, and my wet hair was pulled up into a bun. Sidney took another deep breath before she spoke. "You went to a motel this evening?"

"Only to the parking lot, I didn't know where we were until we were having our picture taken."

"Your father has called several times for you."

"Nothing happened." My vision blurred and I silently cursed Rick again. "We broke up." Sidney did not show any emotion besides frustration. I had no way of knowing whether she believed me or not. I wouldn't believe me if I were her.

"You haven't had an easy couple of days." She took me into her arms. "I was afraid for you. I'm glad you're home safe." I hugged her back fiercely. "Do I need to kill Rick?"

I laughed through my silent tears. "No, he's history."

"Well, good. That boy was in too much of a hurry." She leaned back to see my face. "Did he tell you he wanted to marry you? You're only seventeen."

He wanted to marry me?

"Why don't you go ahead and try to get some sleep. We'll have a lot to talk about tomorrow. For now, it's enough that you're home safe." Her gray eyes sank to my calves. "Why are you all muddy?"

"It's raining." She looked at me like she expected me to continue, but sighed instead. I hugged her again, so glad she still wanted to hug me after I'd embarrassed the family.

"I'm going to go wash this mud off."

"If you need me, just call." I nodded and went to my bathroom once she left.

I don't know how long I sat in shock on the floor, but when I became aware of my surroundings again Nicholas was holding me, and my breath was coming out in short gasps. "Are you going into hypothermia?" He yanked my robe off of one shoulder, and I pulled it back up as his eyes rounded. "What the hell? Did Rick do that?" His voice was scary as it had an underlying growl to it.

My chest looked terrible from being kicked by that horse. If he had seen that much I would have to scratch his eyes out. My teeth were chattering. He hugged me again. "Let go of me, you jerk." He was warm, and I hated that it was helping.

"Be quiet." He held me tighter. "For someone who needs all the help she can get, you're a mean little viper." He was solid muscle and I have never felt so secure, but I did not want to soften toward him. He was a liar and would drop me as soon as he was done using me.

"I don't need your help." I was finally returning to my normal state.

"We need to do something about those bruises."

My teeth finally stopped chattering. "I would think with your dog like hearing I would not have to repeat myself. I don't need your help."

"Wolf, not dog. I don't have the ability to be a dog." He removed his arms from around me, and the warmth was immediately gone. "Take a hot shower, it will help." My reflection looked nothing like me. I don't think many people actually ever look like they have just been run over by a truck, well I did. My complexion was ghostly and my eyes bloodshot. The bruises were terrible.

Had they been this noticeable before I'd left?

A hot shower was exactly what I needed, and I stayed under the steady stream until it began to turn cool. I dried off and wrapped a towel around myself before beginning to blow-dry my hair. It was still damp when Nicholas tapped on the door and proceeded to open it. He was wearing black slacks that were a touch too short. His chest looked as though it were stolen from a statue of Hercules.

"Where did you get those pants?"

"Borrowed them." He set a bowl on the sink. Its contents looked like yellow snot. "Rub that on your bruises, they will heal much faster." It smelled like the floor cleaner used at school.

"Uh, no." I went to turn the blow dryer back on, but he unplugged it. "Hey!"

He didn't appear apologetic. "You put it on or I'll happily remove your towel and do it myself." He looked too happy about the prospect for me to get mad. "Why didn't you tell Sidney about Ivan?"

"Because I just humiliated my family, she has enough to deal with." I picked up the bowl. "I'll tell her after the media thing blows over."

He dipped his finger into the junk in the bowl and began rubbing it into my exposed shoulders. It got very hot really quickly. He was working fast so he must have known it would be burning like fire. "You know what? Thank you for your burning snot but I think I'm finished." I went to put the bowl down, but he caught it and held it up to me again.

"You still need to put this where the horse kicked you."

"Fine." I dipped my hand into it turned around and wiped it on the towel. "Thanks, for your lava slime, now get out."

"I _will_ follow through with taking the towel from you."

"Or I could rub this hot crap all over you, how about that?" The look in his eyes had my heart pumping again, but this time it was in excitement and somehow that scared me more. I grabbed the bowl and turned around again and quickly smeared it over the black and blue skin on my chest.

His brown eyes with yellow flecks were still on me when I turned around, and they held the heat and desire I had seen before. "You're too beautiful for your own good." Nicholas backed up and closed the bathroom door between us.
Chapter Five

It was not until the burning stopped that it finally registered that the junk he'd put on me was in a bowl from the kitchen.

He had been walking around the house?

Those pants I had assumed he had taken from the work hands but maybe not. On top of that I forgot to bring clean, dry clothes with me into the bathroom.

I put the robe on and opened the door. It wasn't that I expected to find him waiting for me, but he was not anywhere in my room.

_Was he roaming around again?_ He could give my poor grandma a heart attack if he startled her. I grabbed a t-shirt off a hanger and shimmied into the first pair of sweats I got a hold of.

The house was dark when I opened the door, and I didn't want to turn the lights on and alert Grandma Sidney. I was tiptoeing down the hall when I heard the refrigerator door close. I hustled to the kitchen to see Nicholas holding a side of ham.

"What are you doing?"

He took a bite from the ham. "I love ham and I'm hungry." He took another big bite and caught the dripping juice with the plate he held beneath it. "Did you think that pink dog drop was going to fill my stomach?"

"Can't you go hunting?"

"Not with Ivan lusting after you. You should have told Sidney to fire him. He'll try to get you alone again." That sent a shiver through me. I would tell Sidney in the morning that he needed to go. "Come on." He flipped on the dining room light, and I about panicked.

My whisper was more of a hiss. "Are you insane? She'll come out here and see you."

"I'll change back into my small wolf." He sat down at the table and pushed the seat out next to him. I leaned against the wall, so I would not keep checking out his torso.

"So, you can change into a bigger wolf? How big?"

He grinned. "Can't tell you that, I'd have to show you, and if I did that you'd wake up Sid."

"Ch- I would not." He was three-quarters of the way through the ham. "How much do you eat?" He burped, and I wrinkled my nose. "Where do you come from? Did a wolf bite you?"

"Watch a lot of television, don't you?" The light in the hallway flipped on, and Nicholas changed instantly into his small wolf form. I rolled up his pants and stuffed them into my robe.

"Piper?" Grandma Sidney stepped into the dining room. "Well, honey." I followed her gaze to the last quarter remaining of the giant ham hanging off the bone. "You must be terribly upset."

"I was really hungry." I would have kicked Nicholas, but he was in the doorway, and his ears were perked up and his back stiff.

I hugged my robe tighter, hoping she wouldn't spot the bulge the pants made. "Well, I'm full now."

"Maybe we should talk tonight."

"But I'm exhausted." She looked me in the face, and I prayed she did not think I was on drugs on top of everything else. "Yeah, I'm about to fall asleep standing up. I'm so beat." Deception went down the hallway to my room and out of sight.

"I was going to check on you, but I didn't think I'd find you eating cold ham off the bone." If my grandma wasn't such a stickler about feeding animals people food, I would have told her it was Deception.

My grandma talked to me about depression, and then she moved onto a birds and the bee's refresher, thanks to Rick and that stupid motel scene. When she wrapped that up, she started in on my parents. I did not want to talk about them.

"Isn't what we've already talked about enough for one night?"

"No, we've already started we might as well finish. What is going on? Your father was saying that you were doing this to get back at him and he knew it. What is he talking about? Did he do something to you, sweetheart? You haven't been the same since you've been back."

Deception still had not come back, and I didn't know what he could be doing. "I know I haven't been myself. Dad has just decided that I want to embarrass the family. I don't, and had I known that Rick was driving me to a cheap motel I would not have gotten out of the truck."

"I'll just bet you were furious. You looked it to me in the photos." She rubbed my back in big circles. "Your grandpa would be calling that young man out on the carpet. I may just call his father tomorrow."

"If you really think you should call him, you can. We broke up, so I don't see the point. It won't happen again."

She sighed. "Did he break your heart, dear?"

"I don't break, Grandma. I'm a LeVine." I squeezed her shoulder as she laughed at me. "What's funny about that?"

"We just keep on living, even if we are broken and try to hide those parts of ourselves that no longer work." She sighed and held onto my hand. "Your dad wants you to come home."

There was no way I was leaving. "If he wants me home he'll have to come get me and we both know he's too busy to do that." I kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, Grandma." I was too afraid she might want me to go home to stay and see if my fears would come true. I jogged down the hallway to my room. Deception was not there.

He's the worst dog ever.

I wasn't sure what to do. Should I go look for him? Or should I wait until he came back on his own? Maybe he had to go relieve himself. I sat on my bed and leaned up against the headboard. _Did he go and meet others like himself? Are there more like him?_
Chapter Six

Sidney was knocking on my door when I woke up next. Freaking Deception still was not back. Maybe he had learned enough about me and was never returning. "Come in."

"It's just after 9:30 are you ready to get up?"

"Yes, I'll get up."

"Good, because your mother is on the phone." She closed my door quickly. I'm assuming because she did not want me to argue about having to talk to Katrine. I crawled down the length of my bed and snatched the phone off its cradle.

"Hello, Katrine."

"I cannot believe you. I have never treated you poorly because of your mother, and the other night was a weak moment. I've been your mom your entire life and that's what you'll call me." She breathed angrily into the phone. "I never planned on telling you, Piper. I was upset about the picture, and I didn't think they were just going to show up like that in the middle of the night."

"Are you finished?"

"No. Your grandmother says you refuse to come home."

My heart was hammering in my ears. I had never stood up to my mom this way, and I couldn't stop. "I am home."

"Ridiculous. I'm sending Trina to come and keep an eye on you."

I rolled my eyes though she couldn't see me. "My little sister?"

"That's right. She knows how to behave. There aren't pictures of her all over the media acting like-"

I gripped the desk. "Let me guess, my mother?"

"You are such an ungrateful little brat. I took you in and have cared for you the best I could. Now you're holding that against me? Your mother was going to use you to ruin your father. You were a tool to her. She didn't want you." I hung up the phone.

I dressed in jeans and a button up, short sleeved, blue and white plaid shirt. Everything felt like a dream. Every movement I made did not seem real, and it was bizarre. I laced up my sneakers and left my room. My grandma was standing in the doorway talking to Tony. I turned to use the back door, and I heard his voice.

Grandma Sidney opened the door wider and there stood Nicholas at Tony's side. My mouth was open when I stopped at my grandmother's side. "He says you told him there was an opening here?" Tony asked me, and I cleared my throat to try to buy a second.

"What I said was there might be a position, and if there was it was only a temporary one. That's what I said." The jeans he was wearing were skin tight, and the shirt was an old black Rolling Stones t-shirt. "I didn't guarantee him a job."

"But do you recommend him?" Grandma Sidney asked me, and Tony was looking at me just as hard as she was. Nicholas was smiling at me in an, _I dare you_ sort of way, and I heard myself say that I did.

"Then we'll put him to work," Tony said and clapped Nicholas on the back. "You've got to be willing to work, this isn't a sit-down job." I was watching them walk away when I realized Grandma Sidney was watching me. No, she was smiling at me.

She leaned on the doorframe to get a better look at my face. "Where did you meet him?"

I shrugged so she wouldn't get any ideas. "At the restaurant last night. He lost his job as a waiter."

"Really? He's quite handsome."

I tried to give her an easy smile. "I just felt bad for him. That's all." I followed her back toward the kitchen. "He may be terrible with the animals."

She handed me an English muffin with eggs and cheese filling it. "You get any thinner and I'll start force feeding you, understand?" I nodded and took a big bite. "Now I know you're upset about Rick. I also know your mom is telling you to stay away from boys, but she's wrong. The best way to get over a boy is to date another one." I nodded for her benefit. It felt terrible knowing Rick was no longer my boyfriend. It was for the best, but it didn't feel like it.

Tony had my straw hat ready for me when I came outside. "This new guy is only a couple of years older than you. He hasn't even hit twenty yet," Tony was smiling as he filled me in. "Could be just the boy to take you to your senior prom."

I could feel my shoulders rising up. "Probably not."

"That boy has already unloaded an entire truck of feed. He did it all by himself." I followed the direction he had gestured toward with my eyes. I saw solid rippling muscle and raw man. "That there young man is going to save my back." My eyes were still on Nicholas. He was lifting bags that took two men to carry. Of course, he turned just then and caught me watching him. I reminded myself he was no friend of mine. He was here to hide and use me to do it.

"Wee-hoo looks like we got a LeVine sanctuary romance afoot," Johnny hooted from behind me.

"Not unless you're interested in him," I said and started for the horses. I figured this was the safest place for me because Nicholas would make them nervous. Hopefully, he would be smart enough to stay away from them. My iPod only had music that reminded me of Rick, so I stopped listening to it and was considering new genres when Ivan started up the walkway.

He looked around before he joined me in cleaning out horse shoes. I wanted to leave, but I did not want him to know how badly he scared me. If he knew how deeply he terrified me it would be a victory for him and the stubborn streak in me could not let him have it.

Ivan cleared his throat. "About last night, that was a mistake. I was drunk. I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable." He looked around again. "You are a very beautiful woman, Piper."

"I know that. This is only one of many reasons I know I can do much better than you."

He came to stand close behind me. "We could be friends. I'm not asking for more than that."

"Hi there." Ivan took a step back and we both looked to see Nicholas. "She teachin' you how to clean out a horse's shoe?"

His voice came out friendly and irritated at once. "Yeah."

"We haven't met yet." Nicholas held his hand out. When Ivan took it, he instantly fell to his knees. "I'm Piper's insanely jealous boyfriend." Ivan was trying frantically to peel Nicholas' hand from his own. "She told me about last night."

"I'm sorry," Ivan screamed. "So sorry."

"You should quit, Ivan." I heard the distinct sound of a bone break, and my hand shot up over my open mouth.

"I'll quit."

"If you come back Piper will bring charges against you for propositioning a minor. Of course that'll be after I break this hand off." The last bit he said through clenched sharp teeth, and I heard another popping sound.

Sweat and tears poured down Ivan's face that was filled with pain and pleading. "I'm gone. I swear it." Nicholas released his hand, and Ivan clutched it with his other hand and got to his feet.

"Thanks for the clothes." Nicholas' smile was big. Ivan did not say another word, and blew right past Tony and Johnny.

"What's going on here?" Tony asked, using his boss voice.

Nicholas shrugged. "I guess Ivan quit."

Tony came over to me. "Are you alright?" I realized that I still had my hand over my mouth. "Did Ivan do something to you?"

"No, he would have tried if _he_ hadn't stepped in." I nodded toward Nicholas.

"My name is Nicholas, or Nick." He tapped his bare, rock hard chest scowling at me.

Tony's dark eyebrows met at the bridge of his nose. "What would he have tried?"

"I don't know. Like I said he was stopped, and now he's quit and he's not coming back." I patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, everything is fine. No need to bother Grandma with it." Tony met my gaze. "He's gone."

"No, I don't like hiding things." I followed after him and talked and talked to him until he finally agreed with me that Sidney's plate was currently overfull. I did, however, have to promise to mention to her what had happened when her load was lighter.

Heading back to work was not going to be an escape, but I had not yet put in enough to feel like I had truly helped so I couldn't leave. I decided to work with the dogs. It was necessary to handle them a lot to get them to trust people again. This way, they could be adoptable. Johnny was the best with the dogs, but I was second best.

Valentine was a mix of several different breeds, and if I had gone by looks alone, I never would have been brave enough to approach him. Johnny taught me a lot about body language, and that was how I figured out Valentine was not a dog to be feared. I got him on his back and was rubbing his stomach. He got up and licked my face happily for the affection I'd shown him and knocked my hat off my head. I was laughing when I found Nicholas watching me.

"Hey, Pipey?" Johnny approached. "I put in an order to the storehouse for some supplies, medicine and stuff. Think you can take the truck and get it for me?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Nicholas will come with you. That way he can load the truck for you."

I rolled my eyes, and his devilish grin appeared. "Johnny, I've done this for you before. They load the truck for me."

"Well, Nicholas needs to see where to go in case he needs to go next time."

"He won't be here that long."

His smile fell. "Why not? Says who?"

Everyone was in love with Nicholas.

"No one, I'm just saying."

Johnny was scowling at me. "Well, don't say that. You don't know how long he'll want to stay."

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry." I couldn't help laughing. He tossed me the keys and yelled to Nicholas to go with me. I hopped in the driver's seat and started the engine. He got in and was looking extra pleased with himself. "I'd like to remind you that you won't be staying. Do not make yourself comfortable."

"You're welcome."

"I did not ask for your help, but I do thank you." I turned around and looked behind the truck before reversing out.

"You want to thank me? Call me by my name."

I started the descent down the winding mountain. "Why is that so important to you?"

"Just don't like being referred to as the liar."

"Can I help it that you are a liar?" The title helped me to remember what he was, and that he wasn't to be trusted. It was a safety net for me.

He turned toward me, and I noticed his shoulders rise a bit. "I never lied."

"You pretended to be my pet dog." I was yelling at him, and he reached over and turned the steering wheel a bit to the right for me.

"You decided I was your pet." He sighed when I glared at him. "Have you called that little scamp?"

"I'm sorry, that is not a subject I'm discussing with you."

He shrugged and let go of the steering wheel. "I think you should have slapped him."

"Well, I'm not you, bone crusher."

He grinned huge. "Now that name I like." I tried to hold onto my angry face, but couldn't. I was smiling and so was he.

No, stop it Piper. No being friends with the enemy.

"We should go shopping while we're out. I hate these clothes. I can barely feel my feet."

The main street was busy, and I laughed while I waited for an opening. "They do look tight."

"Been looking, huh?" That killed my laughter and changed the color of my cheeks to bright red. I got to see this change in the visor mirror.

Awesome.

"Where were you last night?"

"I was guarding your property as I promised." He reached across me and buckled my seatbelt. "Miss me?"

"You really think you're pretty wonderful, don't you? No, I didn't miss you. In fact, I was afraid you might be snacking on Tony."

"Why do you keep insinuating that I'm some kind of serial killer? Or maneater?"

"Maybe the huge ham bone you left on the plate last night has been stuck in my head. I loved taking the rap for that, by the way. Thanks a lot."

Nicholas had the gall to keep smiling. "That reminds me. We should buy some steak and chicken." He stuck his head out the window and closed his eyes as the wind rushed around his head. Living in California means there is traffic, and that means it takes much longer to go short distances than if you live anywhere else. It took a half hour before we got to the storehouse.

Nicholas loaded the truck and snapped the lid of the truck on without any assistance. When he got back into the truck he was chuckling. "What's funny?"

"It's August."

"And that's funny?"

"You were singing Christmas songs." I glared at him. How had heard me? He'd been loading the truck when I'd started singing to myself. "I like your voice."

"Well, I guess you can thank my mom for the voice lessons. Where can we find clothes to fit you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. I pulled out, and it turned out he didn't know where to go anyway.

"Do you know what size you wear?" I drove us to a mall. We tried two stores with no luck. The clerk in the second store recommended a place, and I was waiting outside the fitting room trying not to laugh. He was oohing and ahhing over the fit of a pair of black jeans. I bought him a few pairs of pants, shirts and a pair of work boots.

"Thank you," he said when we got to the parking lot. "Clothes that fit are not a luxury I often have."

"Why not?" That explained why he was tan everywhere.

"They don't last when I change." I raised my eyebrows. "You've only seen my small wolf." He reminded me and gave me a look that told me I was supposed to be impressed.

"Are there others like you?"

"Yes." He lifted me into the seat, and I did my best not to show that the princess in me was celebrating.

"Where?"

"Nowhere you've been I'm sure." He closed the door and walked around to the passenger side.

"That's not an answer," I said when he got into the truck. "You know my deepest secret."

"That you were raised by a stepmother? Shocking. If that is your deepest secret-"

"That I'm the product of an affair. It's shameful no matter how you paint it." I started the engine and put on my seatbelt to avoid him doing it. "Last year I found out my father was having an affair." I gripped the steering wheel. "I called her every dirty name I could think of. Everyone knows my father is married. He's the Senator. This other woman had to know that she was risking breaking up a family." My throat ached, and my vision blurred. "I hated her."

He didn't say anything. Nicholas sat there listening without showing a trace of what he thought of what I was telling him. "My birth mother is just like her, and I'm her daughter. I can't escape that. Clearly, it's a secret worth keeping." I closed my mouth and exhaled through my nose. I was also my cheating father's daughter, but after years of training I could not bring myself to say anything negative about him out loud.

"Your mother must be a truly beautiful and incredible woman, because looking at her daughter I know she was made from the very best."

Of course, he would say something wonderful.

"If you keep crying I'm going to kiss you and make you forget your pain. I don't like seeing you in pain." He sighed in obvious frustration. I laughed to myself wondering how if that were true, he was still here. I'd done nothing but cry since we met.

"I think it's important that your family believes we're dating."

"What? No way." That was just asking for trouble.

"Ivan wasn't the guy whose scent I picked up from the other night. You need me close to keep you safe." I pulled out of the parking lot. No, no, no, this was not a good idea. "It is my part of the deal, and I'm keeping it." He blew out a breath of air. "I picked up his scent again last night. Your trespasser hasn't disappeared."
Chapter Seven

Grandma Sidney invited Tony, Johnny, and Nicholas to eat dinner with us. Of course, Nicholas asked Grandma Sidney for permission to date me, and she agreed heartily. I ate my dinner red-faced and silent.

"Where is your dog? Deception. Where is he?" She asked me as we began to clear the table together.

"He's... in my room."

"No, he isn't I was in there looking for you right before dinner. I didn't see him."

I glanced at Nicholas, who was grinning and no help. "He was in the bathroom."

"I haven't seen him all day. You should exercise him, Piper. That is no way to treat an animal. One his size, he'll need twice the exercise." She took the plates from me, and Tony took them away from her. "Go on. See to that dog." My face was burning again, but this time it was because she looked disappointed in me, and that was the last way I'd want her to feel about me.

Nicholas stepped forward at last. "Well, I'd better go. Thank you, Miss LeVine."

"You're welcome." My grandma chuckled and waved at me to get going. "Piper will be expecting you around six tomorrow evening."

"Then that's when I'll be here." He gave her a big heart melting smile and went out the front door. I let him in my window that was missing its screen. This was how he was getting in and out. I hit him with a pillow from my bed when he came in.

"Do not make my grandma like you."

"I can't force anyone to like me." He pulled the pillow out of my hands. "Excuse me." He hit me with it and went into the bathroom. When he came out he was Deception again. It was just in time because my grandma Sidney came in right then and she was looking for him.

"Walk that dog." Grandma pointed at me in her no-nonsense way. I put the collar on Deception and connected the leash.

Deception took the lead and I called Nina on my cell, so he would know I didn't want to talk to him. "Hey, Nina."

"Daniel called in sick and we're going biking." Nina's voice was ecstatic. "He got a new tattoo of my eye."

"Gross."

Where did Nina find guys like this?

I could hear a male voice that probably belonged to Daniel in the background. "He has two other eyes too."

"Yuck."

She laughed, "I know." I knew she knew about Rick, but she didn't ask and I was glad. "I'll call you when we get back."

I groaned into the mouthpiece. "Just be careful."

"No way, you're the careful one." She was laughing when she hung up. Nina was every parent's worst nightmare.

Deception stopped and dug up a pair of shorts. I let go of the leash, and he dashed off with the shorts in his mouth. When he came back, he was wearing them. They were red basketball shorts. "So... you buried clothes last night?"

"You get uncomfortable when I'm naked." It was strange to me that he cared how I felt when he was blackmailing me.

Duh, he didn't. If he's nice to me, his hiding place is safe.

"Are you going to go to hunt or something? I don't think there is any fresh meat in the fridge." My tone gave away my change in mood, but that was for the best. I would be a fool to make friends with a big bad wolf like Nicholas.

"I want to know why you're hiding. Who are you hiding from?" The yellow in his eyes was brighter. It made him seem wild. He was walking toward me, and his eyes were challenging me to back up or look away. I could not let myself.

"What if I made that up because the first time I saw you I forgot how to breathe. What if when I saw you, I knew I was looking at the most beautiful woman I would ever see, and I just could not bear to walk away? What then?" My insides were on fire, but I did my best not to let this show.

"Then I'd say you were a liar." I crossed my arms and stood my ground. "What if you save your flattery for someone else, and we stick to the truth?"

"I'm going to go hunt." His easy smile was gone. "You stay here." He jogged away, and I told myself I did not care if I had made him mad. I felt eyes on me, and did not want Nicholas to think I was sitting there thinking of him, so I started playing a game on my phone. It was a maze slash strategy kind of game, and I kept losing.

All I could think about was how I felt when Nicholas had played his 'what if' game and said I was beautiful. No, the _most_ beautiful. That sounded like bull, besides Rick had told me a dozen plus times that I was beautiful. Why was this any different?

The screen lit up catching my attention. I did not recognize the number, but I answered it anyway. After all, I was just sitting here waiting.

"Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry." It was Rick. "I had no idea things were going to get this blown out of proportion."

Something moved in the bushes, probably a rabbit. "Rick, don't call me. I've said all I have to say."

"I love you, Piper." My throat started hurting again. "I don't just want to say I've had you. I want you forever." I should have hung up as soon as I had realized it was him. A large animal was in those bushes. I climbed the base of the tree to stand up. "I won't disappear. I'm not just going away. You love me, Piper, and you know it." The familiar snapping sounds of Nicholas' transforming sounded, and I sighed. Why didn't he let me know it was him? He scared me.

The man who stood up from the bushes was not Nicholas. "Uh...." He looked a little older than Nicholas, and his gaze was much different.

"Just hearing your voice...." I had forgotten I was still holding the phone.

"Rick?" My voice was high-pitched and the stranger took my phone and closed it. "What do you want?"

"Where is Nicholas?"

"I don't know any Nicholas."

He sniffed the air. "I must speak with him now."

"There is no Nicholas around here." I repeated the obvious lie. I had just seen him change into a man from a wolf and hadn't run away screaming. "What do you want?" He was making a wide circle around the tree I was leaning against.

"You are as beautiful as your pictures." The large circle he had been making was getting smaller. For the life of me, I could not read the intent on his face. Random people recognized me every now and then, but a werewolf?

He stood next to me, smiling. I was not sure if I should cry or be flattered. When he looked up his smile melted into a more serious expression. "Here he comes." I didn't hear anything, but I prayed he was right.

"You couldn't find me?" Nicholas asked with a scowl on his face as he emerged from the woods. "Nudity makes her uncomfortable." A dirt covered pair of khakis hit his chest, and he quickly stepped into them. "What is so important, Duncan?"

"Seraph wants to know why she was with that boy at that motel. What of the Baobhan Sith?"

I stepped toward them. "Who is Seraph?"

"She doesn't...?" Duncan looked at me once again. "Obviously, we will need to meet again in private."

"Hey, I want to know what's going on."

Duncan smiled at me. "It was an honor to meet you, Piper." He changed into a wolf and dashed away. I turned toward Nicholas.

"Who is Seraph?"

"Why did you call that scamp? I heard you say you were done with him. Was that a lie?"

"Rick? What does he have to do with anything?" Nicholas took my hand and began to lead me down the mountain. "Why would this Seraph person care if I'm with Rick at a motel?"

He made a sound that I didn't understand. "Let's just say Seraph is someone I care a lot about, and she doesn't want our bait in so public a place."

I stopped walking. "Bait, did you say?"

"It wasn't a Sith. So you're not bait. It was a hunter. That makes you no longer bait."

"How is that? A hunter? I'm not an animal."

"No, but I am." He pulled me again.

"Then why was he at my window? Why did he run from you if he was hunting you?"

Nicholas started laughing and shaking his head as he continued to lead the way. "You've got a point, but you saw the scout. It is the hunter who now walks your mountain."

He seemed to have an answer for everything. I wanted to believe that this incredibly hot guy holding my hand was still hanging around because he was secretly in love with me. But no, there was more to this story. He could just move on if this hunter was after him, couldn't he?

"What's the matter? Run out of questions?"

"Nope. I've just reached my capacity for swallowing bull."

"I guess you'll want to plug your ears and close your mouth." He pointed toward the sanctuary, but I could only see figures of people and no detail. "Rick has come to tell you what a catch he is." Nicholas changed into Deception before I could argue with him. He buried the shorts and I bent to put on his leash and collar, but he avoided me and trotted back to the sanctuary.

When I caught up to him, he was sitting at Sidney's feet with his tongue hanging out as my grandma laid into Rick. "It's up to her if she wants to talk to you," she said as I approached.

"No, he messed up, he's out," Johnny said.

"It's up to her," my grandma repeated.

"What did I miss?" I asked, not really wanting to know. "What are you doing here?" Rick took a step toward me, and Johnny grabbed his shoulder.

"Hands to yourself."

Rick took a step back, and Johnny released him. "I was worried. You sounded like you were in trouble on the phone." He looked toward Sidney. "When we spoke earlier today."

"I'm fine." I folded my arms. "Thanks for stopping by."

"I wanted to apologize in person." He looked at Johnny and then back to my grandma and Tony, who was at her side. I felt bad for him, not sure why, but I did.

"I'd like a moment to say goodbye to Rick." Johnny looked at Deception. He was probably trying his best to telepathically tell him to stay. Good old Johnny, he was always looking out for me. Grandma had to give Tony a push to get him going. "Rick," I said as Johnny was leaving. "Saying that you're sorry again isn't going to change anything."

"Did your grandma tell you that I want you to be my wife?" He looked awful, terrible, really. It didn't make me feel good like I would have thought. His hair was a mess, and he looked pale. His eyes were bloodshot. "Doesn't that change what I've done?" Deception was baring his teeth, and I forgot about answering his question. I wished I had gotten that leash on him. "I'm crazy about you." A ferocious snarl ripped through the air.

"That's it, get out of here." I had to give Nicholas a shove before he acknowledged me. "I said go!" He stopped growling, but did not move. "Leave right now or the deal is off." Deception had white foam forming on the sides of his mouth, and his wild eyes were trained on Rick. "I mean it," I yelled at him, and he turned and shot back up towards the mountain.

"That is a really strange relationship you have with that dog." Rick scratched the back of his neck.

I readied myself, hating what I was about to say. "I would have said no if you had asked me to marry you." I couldn't believe how dry my mouth was all of a sudden. "I'm seventeen, way too young to be getting engaged. Even though I've known you since we were kids we've only been on a few dates."

"I know and that's why I didn't ask." He ran his hand down my arm, and I took a step backward. He followed me. "I will wait until you're ready. I told Sidney I'd wait and I will, but not without you, Piper." He hugged me, pinning my arms against my sides and kissed me. I wanted to hate it and knee him right in his junk, but I didn't. His mouth was urgent and eager it made my stomach swim with excitement and confusion. "See," he said, drawing back. "You love me too."

"No, not like that." He tried to kiss me again, but I bent my knees and wiggled from his grasp. "I'm not in love with you, Rick. I care about you. That's not enough. That's not a sufficient reason for you to put your life on hold waiting for me."

"Move on, Rick. I have." I turned and gave him my back, but he was following me.

"That's not true. You kissed me back."

Did I?

I swallowed. "It was a kiss goodbye."

"Not for me."

"I'm not worth the effort. Remember?" I jogged across the sanctuary and this time he did not follow. I was headed toward the mountain, and I realized the secret meeting was probably going on right then. Maybe I could find out about Seraph, or what in the heck a Baobhan Sith was. It didn't sound like something I wanted to meet.

I am good with animals. I've gone hiking and camping, but I would never claim to be a tracker or even good with direction. I still figured I could find the spot that Nicholas had led me to on two separate occasions. The next time I was there I would have to pay attention to the significant details of the area.

Finding it in the dark was not my plan, but the sun was gone, and I was about halfway to the area I needed to find. Every step I took seemed to be a loud crashing announcement to every living thing within miles that I was coming, but I could not seem to move quietly no matter how hard I tried. Stealth was not one of my skills apparently.

When I neared what I thought was the right area, I walked slower. I tried to breathe quieter, and I even made sure the wind was blowing against my face and not my back so that I would not be detected by my scent. They were there and there was more than just Duncan and Nicholas. There were six of them, and they were all looking in my direction.

I held my breath.

"She is not ready." Duncan looked to the others. "We must keep her safe." Nicholas sighed, and his shoulders relaxed. "Do not fear, Piper. You will have protection at all times."

It startled me that he had known I was there. It shouldn't have. "From what? This hunter person? Isn't it after you and your kind?"

"You should go," Nicholas said to the group of them. He looked back at me, his expression still dark. "The pack will find the hunter before he reaches his destination. If they fail, well, we'll have a different problem to address. We will keep them away from here. You will be protected."

Duncan smiled at me and so did the others. "It was my honor to see you again."

"Thank you." I didn't want him thinking I wanted him showing up with the pack again so that was all I said. The men all raced off into the forest around us. Only Duncan, Nicholas and I remained. Nicholas took my hand gently so I didn't pull away.

"Until we meet again." Duncan changed into a black wolf that looked much like Nicholas' wolf. I watched him, wondering where he and the others would go.
Chapter Eight

"Sidney's calling you," Nicholas told me, and I looked in the direction of the sanctuary. We were way up the mountain. Could he really hear her? "She's getting worried." He went in a circle around me, and when he crossed in front of me he was Deception again. He circled me another time, but this time he ducked beneath my legs. I would only have to bend my legs to be sitting on his back.

"You want me to ride you like a horse? No." I tried to back away, but he only moved with me. "Seriously?" I grabbed onto the fur behind his neck, and he bulleted down the mountain. We were moving faster than I had ever driven. Everything swept past us in a blur.

He slowed down when we were at the edge of the forest, and I fell off. I'd been holding on for dear life. I could hear Sidney and called out to her as I jogged into the sanctuary.

"You took him for another walk?"

I smiled and looked down at Deception. "Well, I felt guilty that I'd left him in my room for most of the day."

"Next time take Nicholas with you. You shouldn't be walking that mountain alone." She put an arm across my shoulders and led me toward the house. "Are you alright?"

I knew she was talking about Rick. "I hurt him. He hurt me, and it's over. I just want to try to forget him."

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry you got hurt." She rubbed my shoulder vigorously. "Do you want to watch an old movie? I made rice krispie treats." I could never say no to Grandma Sidney, and so we munched the treats she'd made and watched an old black and white movie that my grandma loved. It was the movie she'd gone to see when she'd met her husband, my grandpa, who died two years prior.

If times back then were anything like they were portrayed in the movies it was a simpler and happier time. Regardless, it helped me to forget my worries and enjoy time with Grandma Sidney. She always knew what I needed, and she was unfailingly there for me.

I kissed her goodnight after the movie. Nicholas was sitting on my bed wearing brown cargo pants when I made it to my room. "You should have told him goodbye without the kiss."

"I thought you went up the mountain? Nosy." I found a sleeping shirt and some pants and then went and changed in the bathroom. The bruises were almost completely gone. That goopy fire stuff really worked. Nicholas was still sitting on my bed when I came back out.

"Do you love him?"

"I love sleep. Please get off my bed." Nicholas stood so I hopped in and sank beneath the blankets. "Are you going to bury more clothes tonight?" I yawned and covered my mouth.

"I'm glad you told him you were finished with him." I turned on my side and closed my eyes. "I'd like your permission."

"For what?" I kept my eyes closed.

"For this." His hand cupped my face, turning it toward him. My eyes opened as his lips met mine. Electric heat burned through me melting my insides. My eyelids fell closed, and my hand slid up his arm onto his shoulder. His hand caressed my face and was beginning to trace a finger down my neck when I realized one of my hands was on the back of his neck.

When I let go, he ended the kiss and stood up, looking down at me. _My hand was on the back of his neck? I was as bad as my parents._

"Why did you do that?" I sat up the rest of the way and glared at him. He wasn't supposed to be the first one who made me feel so many things with a first kiss.

"I didn't want you falling asleep with Rick's kiss on your lips." He smiled at me, though I continued to glare at him. "I want to be who you see when you close your eyes." My cheeks burned, and I looked away.

"Good luck with that," I said. Where had he learned to talk like that? He had said it like he meant it. I could still feel the heat of his kiss on my lips and the steel like muscle in his arms and shoulders on my palms. I laid down facing the other way and forced my eyes closed.

Well, he didn't need luck after all. I could still see him standing bare chested beside my bed.

"Sleep well, Csardasfurstin." I didn't know what that meant. It was probably wolf for live bait. I pressed my lips together so that I wouldn't say something stupid and waited to hear him leave. Minutes passed like a snail across a highway, and I didn't hear anything. I rolled back toward where he had been standing and opened my eyes the tiniest crack.

He was looking through my bookcase. Could he read? Apparently, or he wouldn't be looking through my books. His back was as packed with as many muscles as his chest. Every move he made was controlled and completely silent. I could hear myself blinking louder than the movements he was making with shuffling my books around. I couldn't complain that he was keeping me awake when he was being so freaking silent.

Nicholas pulled out a photo album, and I sat up again. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking." He continued to turn the pages. "You had braces?" He chuckled, and I sighed loudly. "Aw, look you lost your first tooth."

"Will you please stop invading my privacy? Turn off the light too please." At least, I wouldn't be able to see him. He flipped the light switch, and I fell asleep trying to hear what he was doing. I'm pretty sure he continued to go through the album. I have no idea what he did after that.

"Wake up, Pipey." Trina, my little sister stood next to my bed. Her naturally blond hair was straightened, and her makeup conservative and fresh. "Pack up your junk and come home." She hit me with one of my pillows, and I groaned and rolled away from her.

"I have a life too, and I'm not putting it on hold to come to the hard labor farm and watch you."

"I never asked you too, did I?" I hit her with the same pillow she used on me, and she took it and plopped down on my bed.

She sighed. "Mom's really sorry for what she said." Trina hugged the pillow. "She was really upset. She loves you."

"You don't even know what was said."

"I know." Trina shrugged her slim shoulders. She was a year younger than I but already two inches taller than me. Mom put her through a lot more training than I, but I'd always assumed Katrine knew I wasn't interested in all those boring lady refining lessons. Her blue eyes rose to my green ones, a color I'm sure I got from my birthmother. "You're still my sister."

I stiffened up immediately. My mom told her about me? "I know," I said not wanting to expose my insecurities or start crying again. She'd never know how much what she'd just said meant to me.

Getting up out of bed, I noticed that my assumption that Nicholas would be gone was accurate. He was out working in the sanctuary as their new work hand. "How long are you staying, Trina?"

"This isn't my scene." I turned toward her. "I love grandma too, but this place is like a sweatshop. I can't stay, and I'm not supposed to go home without you."

I showered and got dressed. When I came out of the bathroom, I found Trina sprawled out on my bed talking on her phone. She was talking to some boy, and I wondered why I was the only one that seemed to get caught by the press. Surely, the way she was talking to that boy, she could be caught kissing.

"Hey," I waved at her to get her attention. "You know the rules. You're here, you work." She shook her head at me giggling at something her boyfriend said to her over the phone. I left her there knowing grandma would soon chase her out.

The sun was warm, and the air was sweet from recent rainfall. I started for the barn when a black wolf fell into step alongside me. It was slightly smaller and walked with a shorter gait. I could see Nicholas unloading a truck of supplies. "Duncan?" It slightly turned its head from side to side. "Well, you're not Deception so who are you?"

"Hey, slacker," Johnny shouted at me from the second barn. "Get to work. Those dogs need exercise." I waved at him, but I didn't head for the dogs. I jogged over to Nicholas.

"Mmm, you smell incredible." He came to me and smelled my hair and tested the texture of the red stripe I just couldn't hide. His face in the crook of my neck made my heart speed up, and a shiver ran through me. I stepped back quickly and looked down at the imposter at my side. "That's Adriel. He's filling in for me while I'm in my human form."

"He's obviously not you."

"He'll pass." Nicholas smiled at Adriel, and I wondered if Adriel was communicating with him.

"He's going to upset the dogs."

"No, he won't." Nicholas smirked raising an eyebrow at me. "Adriel is very good with animals." He looked past me, and I followed his gaze. Trina was marching toward me with a scowl on her face. Grandma had told her to get to work, and I was sure she had taken her phone too. "That's your sister?"

"Yes, and I don't want her involved in the mess you've pulled me into. Understand?"

"You're the only LeVine I'm interested in, Piper." His brown eyes were warm as they gazed into mine. I ignored the thrill his gaze sent down my spine.

"Don't waste your time. I am nothing like my birthmother." His eyebrows scrunched together and he bent towards me.

"Where I come from we don't talk about our parents that way. Have some respect."

"I-"

"Even if she is a terrible person, which, I doubt, she still gave you a chance at life. She could have aborted you." He gave me his back, and I stared at it dumbfounded. That came out of nowhere, hadn't it? My face was burning and I once again felt lost. Being corrected was something I have never tolerated or appreciated very well, especially when I needed it. He was right, but there was no way I'd let him know that.

Adriel stood stiff beside me, so I did not attempt to get him to follow me. I just turned and went to the kennels. He did follow along after all and Nicholas was right, the dogs liked him.

I took six of them into the fenced in acreage run. I threw balls and Frisbees and got them running. They were all beautiful and had a good chance at adoption.

Adriel was the alpha right away and had them all running and playing. I added another four to the group, and they joined right into the pack. Adriel was really good for them.

"So, who is the new guy?" Trina asked from the other side of the fence.

"He's trouble."

"He's really hot." Trina was watching Nicholas, and I asked myself again how I was the one who was always photographed. "Grandma says you two are going out tonight. I have to say I can totally see why you want to stay now."

I turned toward her. "Trina, he's not why I want to stay. I like being with Grandma Sidney."

"You'll have to face mom sometime."

Tony spotted Trina standing around and I didn't have to respond, which I was grateful for. Nicholas didn't come near me all morning. He was a work horse. Nothing made him tired. I watched him a lot and noticed that he was not trying to look for me.

I finished up exercising the last of the dogs and was ready for the horses. I wanted to ride. That was exactly what I needed. Wind to crash against me and hopefully blow away some of this ridiculous anxiety. Adriel followed me over to the horse barn, but once I saddled up Tonto I told him to stay and signaled Tonto into a trot.

My anticipation was building the closer I got to the field. When we took the last corner Tonto took off into a run. He must have felt my energy. The wind rushed through my hair and blew away the dirt from the dog run. It was cool, and I felt like I was flying. One more second and I'd have to slow Tonto down so he would be properly warmed up, and then we could run again. I opened my eyes and sighed as I started to pull on the reins. Movement in the woods beside me drew my attention.

A man was running in the woods. His eyes were black, and they were wide and staring at me from beneath a heavy hooded black cloak. He was as fast as Tonto. I pushed Tonto harder and steered away from that side of the woods, but we were surrounded by trees there in the field.

Was he a hunter? Was he one of the "they," that had scared my parents? It wasn't human running like that. Was it a Baobhan Sith?

I stopped Tonto in the center of the field and tried to think. He wasn't leaving the shadows of the trees. My heart was racing and all I could do was sit still on Tonto and stare at whatever was staring back at me. He started moving again in the circle of trees never taking his eyes from mine, and I realized my body was growing tired even though my mind was screaming.

Nicholas heard Sidney from the mountain. Why hadn't I thought to call him? I tried to open my mouth and realized my lips felt numb like they'd been injected at the dentist. He was smiling at me, and I knew he was the reason I felt this way. I bit my lower lip and hugged Tonto's neck. Not looking at him helped.

Good, I can do this.

He was still looking at me. I could feel it. Tonto started side stepping, and I knew he was nervous too. I ran my hand over him and prayed that thing stayed in the trees. Tonto started backing up and turned toward the sanctuary. He was scared.

"Nicholas!" Tonto heard the fear in my voice and was bolting back toward the trees that stood between us and the sanctuary. I didn't look, but I knew the man was in those trees. I clung to Tonto.

Trees crashed down ahead of us, and I heard a terrible scream of agony. I rose up and saw the black robe catch on fire and burn into nothing. Standing next to the robed man were two huge werewolves. They were taller than I was sitting on Tonto. I would have been afraid of them with their wolf and man body topped with an all wolf head, but they didn't give me a chance. As soon as the robe was in ashes they were in their small wolf form.

Tonto ran right past them, and I just made sure I held on. I was still holding on when Tonto brought us right back to his stall. "Good boy, Tonto." I couldn't convince myself to let go of his neck. I was shaking, and I couldn't stop.

Strong hands gripped my waist and lifted me from Tonto's back. "Are you okay?" Nicholas brushed my hair away from my neck and tilted my head up. "Piper?" He wrapped his arms around me. He was solid and warm. Slowly, I stopped shaking. "Don't tell Adriel to stay anymore. He will obey you, and you have to be guarded."

"What was that?" I leaned back so I could see his face. Would he still lie to me? Didn't he have to tell me everything?

"It was a black Sith."

"A black Sith? Not a Baobhan Sith?" He was holding both of my frozen hands, and they were warming up too. Adriel was sitting at my feet looking up at me with sad eyes.

"No, it was a black Sith. That's not good, sweetheart."

I looked back toward the clearing. "But he's dead."

"Yes, he is. However, others will come looking for him."

"You're saying more of those things are coming?" Adriel lay down on my feet.

Nicholas held onto my shoulders. "No, only one will come. It'll be looking for you." I could still picture the first one and felt like the earth was tilting beneath my feet. "You won't be here. You're going back to your parents' house."

I could hear myself breathing loudly, but I couldn't quiet the sound. "I won't leave my grandma to one of those things." He was rubbing my back. "Why me? You said they were after you." I tried to read his face, but I couldn't.

"It was focused on you when we killed it." I didn't know what that meant for certain, and at this point I didn't want to know. I couldn't ignore what he had already told me.

That thing came looking for him, and now my family is in danger.
Chapter Nine

"You want to go back home?" Grandma's eyes were full of concern, and I hated her feeling upset for even a moment.

"I have to go and work things out with my parents, so they'll let me go to school here." The worry faded. "I want you to come back with us." She opened her mouth to protest so I hurried on. "Tony can take care of things here with the other boys. Trina wants time with you without the work, and you haven't seen Dad since...?" I couldn't even remember when to tell her.

She sighed and looked down at her hands that she was wringing. "It's been three years. He's always too busy." Trina came into the living room just then with a sour expression.

"I don't care what you threaten. I'm not working with those filthy beasts again." Grandma laughed at her and Trina fought the smile that curved the corners of her mouth.

"Looks like you won't have to, dear." Grandma looked at me, and though she wasn't smiling her gray eyes were soft. "We're all headed to the city."

"We're going home?" Trina's voice was a shriek before she ran into her room to pack up.

"You're going to miss that boy Nicholas." She folded her arms.

"We'll be back." I gave her a hug. "We'll go back in the morning?" She nodded and then gave me a little push towards my room.

"Go get ready for your date."

Date?

"Nicholas will be here soon."

I went to my room and changed into a clean pair of jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. If Grandma thought I was into Nicholas, then she would be upset for me when he left. I didn't want that. I also didn't want to like him. Anyway, if I did put on a skirt, we'd probably run into another scary guy, and I'd have to book it in heels.

Despite everything we'd gone through, Nicholas did not forget about our date as I had. He wore black jeans and a gray polo. It was a very casual outfit, but on him it looked like he was going to a red carpet event. Grandma was not pleased with my choice of clothes and in fact, appeared embarrassed that I had selected such casual attire. I'm pretty sure she was about to make me go and change, but Nicholas took my hand. She forgot as she watched us that she hated my clothes.

"I'll have her back by ten?"

"Oh," Grandma Sidney flashed her beautiful smile, "make it eleven." I looked at her in surprise, but she just laughed.

"Behave," Trina warned. "I'm supposed to be at your side at all times." She was much more worried than Grandma. Tony and Johnny were there with Grandma to watch a Lord of the Rings marathon. I was glad that Adriel was there with her too, but it had taken Nicholas to kill the Black Sith.

"Adriel will watch out for them," Nicholas squeezed my hand once we were outside the house.

"Grandma agreed to come with us."

"I'll have it taken care of by the time you get back. This place will be safe again." I nodded and slipped my hand from his to shove it into my pocket. "I wish I could come with you."

"Why?" I bent to tie my right sneaker. "You don't want to meet my parents."

"No, but I'd like to do some snooping and see if I could find out more about your birthmother."

"Why do you care so much about her?"

He helped me stand up, even though I didn't need his assistance. Nicholas led me to Johnny's truck and opened the door. "I just think you should find out more about her before you condemn her. She might be amazing. Like you." I got into the truck. "I don't want you feeling bad about yourself, and this birthmother of yours seems to be the source of your anger."

"I'll figure it out myself, thanks." He closed the door, and I put my seatbelt on. "Do you know how to drive?" I asked him when he climbed into the drivers' seat.

"Yes, I do." He gave me a look that told me he believed me to be highly confused. "Do you think I'm uneducated too?"

"Sorry." I didn't mention that I was surprised he knew how to read. He sure was defensive. How was I supposed to know about the education of werewolves? Technically, he was raised by wolves wasn't he?

Nicholas drove skillfully down the mountain and took a right once we reached the bottom. He didn't say anything, so I assumed he must have a plan. I didn't want him to get all bent if I asked him if he knew what we were going to do on the date. Everything about him was a surprise. I concentrated on him and pushed aside my dread of having to see my mom again.

"You're not a natural blond, are you?"

My hand shot up to my hair where I had the red stripe, and I glared at him. "Yes, I am." He grinned and shook his head. I was checking my roots in the visor mirror when he stopped the truck. I pushed up the visor and considered pulling up my hood to the sweatshirt while he got out. Nicholas had parked in a mini mall "L" shaped strip.

"Let's go."

"Shopping?"

"Yes." He lifted me out of the car. He probably wanted more pants. Why was I disappointed? It wasn't like I had even dressed for the date. The man liked to shop more than Nina. I walked ahead of him and did my best to keep my annoyance out of my stride, though I've never been good at that.

I didn't get very far. Nicholas could easily match my pace. The shops were hole in the wall places, and I slowed trying to figure out which one he was aiming for. The one he picked said something about an incredible selection, but that didn't tell me anything. He was looking really excited though. I walked through the door he held open for me.

Wigs were all across the store in every color imaginable. Clothes with sequins were the majority, and I looked at Nicholas praying he wasn't going to ask me to buy anything in there for him. "Come on the nights already ticking away."

"Come on and what?"

"I already saw what a date with Piper LeVine, the Senator's daughter, is like. Now I'd like to see what a night on the town with Piper LeVine free to be herself is like." He picked up a wig that had long, curly red hair and put it on my head. "Know what I mean?" My body was literally vibrating with excited possibility.

"Katrine says disguises never work. If I were to be photographed this way it would be an embarrassment." He turned me toward a mirror on the wall, and I laughed. I didn't look like myself at all. The huge, deep red curls made my skin appear pale, and with my green eyes I looked like an Irish fairy from one of those paintings in children's stories. The hair didn't look fake on me. It was soft, and felt so real.

"Only one way to find out." Nicholas fingered the hair on a dark-brown wig. "What color would you like, my Csardasfurstin?" I tried on a few other colors but in the end, I stuck with the red wig. It changed me the most. I bought a jean skirt with the fading in it. I was never allowed to wear anything that didn't look brand new. I found black spiked heels and a strappy black top that was form-fitting and sexy.

There was costume makeup, and I put on really dark eye makeup that looked pretty cool actually. Nicholas added a fake nose ring to my costume, and I looked like a completely different person.

I don't know where he got the money, but Nicholas bought everything and put my old stuff in a bag. We walked together out of the store, and I could not stop smiling. Just wearing the heels made me want to dance around the parking lot. Nicholas was smiling too, and it made him even more gorgeous which I wouldn't have believed possible.

"What have you always wanted to do but never dared to do?" My heart was pumping like crazy. I was so excited I couldn't think. He was watching me. "Well?"

"Anything." I chewed my lower lip.

He took my hand and led me toward the street. He flagged down a taxi, and we hopped in. "We'd like to go to Tara Square." My eyes rounded. That was definitely a place I had been warned by my parents not to go. Grandma Sidney had said I could if I'd wanted to, but I had never dared.

It was an entire block of entertainment that every kid in my school had been to, at least during the day they had. This was early evening, and it was changing into a young adult scene. There were a couple of roller coasters at one end and a live band playing in the middle of the block. It was fast music, and I was already thrilled.

"Have you been here before?" I asked, wondering what we would do first.

"No. Johnny said it was a place you might want to go." He paid the driver, and we got out. The music was even louder. I could feel the beat of the drums vibrating beneath my feet through my shoes. I grabbed his hand and went to the music.

I had never seen a live band that wasn't an orchestra. Some people just watched, but a lot of them were dancing. I could see why my mom had forbidden Trina and me to dance to fast music. Some of the girls were right up on top of their male dancing partner. But no one cared, and that was the cool part. Still, if people were dancing like this, why was my dancing with Rick a story at all?

"Would you like to dance?"

"I don't know how to dance like that."

"Me either, let's make up our own dance." He did not look at all like he was kidding.

My face was already burning. "No way."

"Nobody knows us." He took my hands, and I found out quickly that he had lied to make me feel better. He was excellent, so good that he was making me look good. As long as I held onto him, I seemed to be dancing, and it was exhilarating.

More people joined in, and no one noticed us. I tried out a salsa hip movement I saw another girl doing, not at all sure if I was pulling it off. "You're a little too good at that," Nicholas said and my stomach did a somersault. Our eyes met as the third song ended, and we applauded the band.

He was getting to me, and I couldn't afford that. "What's that place?" I pointed to the nearest building.

Paint-Tastic was on the sign. There was a line though it wasn't very long so we got in it not really knowing what we were in for. The trio of girls in front of us stopped talking when we got in line. They kept turning around to check out Nicholas.

I did my best to act as though I didn't notice. I'm not a very good actress, so I didn't look at Nicholas because I was sure he would read into my annoyance for things that just weren't there. Why should I care if women wanted to drool over Nicholas? We weren't together, but they didn't know that. They were freaking rude with their posing and eyelash batting.

"I really like this skirt." His fingers brushed up against my thigh as he fingered the hem.

The air coming in and out of my lungs was making this catching noise I always made when I was nervous. I swatted his hand away, and he chuckled. "So, where did you learn to dance like that?" I asked, glaring at the brunette in the center of the trio.

"My parents."

"Really?" I didn't know anyone my age that would admit that, even if it were the truth. More than that I was surprised he answered a personal question. We moved forward in line. "What does that word you keep saying mean? Sardusfirsen?" I asked, trying out the word.

"Csardasfurstin." He didn't look at anyone else, and his eyes were focused in on mine. Nicholas never looked away embarrassed, not even when he was naked. That thought had me blushing, and I averted my face, but he caught my chin, so that I couldn't look away from him, and he watched as I chewed my lower lip. "I called you my Csardasfurstin, which means my Princess."

He's playing you.

I smiled at him in a way that I hoped communicated that I realized he was just fluffing up my ego. I guided his hand off my chin. He held onto my hand before I could pull it away.

"I've got six brothers and four sisters. I prefer to be outdoors, and I think Rick is a loser."

"Six brothers?" I ignored the part about Rick. "Why are you suddenly so willing to share?" The line moved forward again.

"I just thought it was time." They let us into the building right then so I didn't get to follow up with more questions. They suited everybody up in these white jumpsuits with elastic hoods, and they gave us these plastic pump guns that looked like major water guns.

"Whoever comes out with the least paint wins," the guy with the headset mic told us and a pair of double doors swung open. Everyone rushed into this big room with sections of strobe lights and others with just black lights.

The brunette got me right away in the chest. I got her in the back when she turned to run. Nicholas got me while I was getting her. The guns didn't hold much and Nicholas and I saw the bucket at the same time. I dove for it but ended up landing right on top of him. He rolled us and was on top smiling down at me with the bucket in his hand.

"Don't you dare."

"Oh, I shouldn't dare?"

"Nicholas." The mischief cleared from his face. His eyes were instantly hot and knee melting had I been standing. They lowered to my mouth.

"You called me Nicholas."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did." His hand was framing my face. My lips were tingling just from him looking at them.

I tried to scoot out but didn't budge. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." My fear and hesitation was clear, and he was smiling again. He got me with the bucket, and it was green but tasted like syrup, thank goodness. Of course, I had to get him back.

I found another bucket, and this one had blue paint. People were running around like crazy, but Nicholas was tall, and so I didn't follow any decoys. The trio actually found him for me because they were camped out watching him.

As quickly as I could I rounded the corner with the bucket, but he was ready for me. He grabbed onto me using my own momentum to swing me around and back me up to the wall. He kissed me before I had a chance to get scared. My head was spinning and my body melting against his. His mouth was hungry, as though he needed my kiss more than he needed air.

I kissed him back loving the feeling of his arms around me, his mouth claiming mine. I loved the freedom and the feel of his muscular chest beneath my hands. When he kissed me, it was as if we were the only ones who existed, and with him I was safe.

I wanted the kiss to last forever and that was dangerous, so I ended the kiss and Nicholas looked so pleased with himself. So I dumped the bucket of blue paint over his head. And then I ran.

Scrambling, I was climbing a pyramid thing when the lights came on. A set of double doors opened up. We all exited into another room and shed the jumpsuits. Even though I got some paint in my wig, it was still so much fun.

He wasn't at all bitter about my getting him last. In fact, Nicholas couldn't seem to stop smiling. I wondered why using his name meant so much to him, but wasn't sure how to ask him that.

We walked to the west end of the block and went on The Super Dive roller coaster. I wouldn't have picked the front row, but he did. I couldn't wuss out so I followed. The dive was beyond steep, and I shut my eyes and squeezed his hand.

We were both laughing when we got off, and Nicholas helped me with the wig. I knew I looked crazy windblown, but I didn't feel that way when he looked at me. His fingers grazed my skin as he smoothed down the fake hair, and I ignored the little warning bells going off in my head and enjoyed his touch.

"You know what I need?" He said, smiling back at me with a mischievous look on his face.

"What?"

"Something sweet." Nicholas led me over to the cotton candy stand and got us a pink and green candy cloud to share. We walked over to the Ferris wheel and climbed aboard. I started missing my sweatshirt when we neared the top. We were stopped because they were still loading people onto the ride, and the view was inspiring. Beautiful blinking lights of every color on the buildings, it was like visual candy. The cool, crisp wind gave me the feeling of being free.

Nicholas re-situated himself in the seat and rocked our cart making my stomach flutter with that fun and scared mixture. "Are you cold?" He wrapped his arm around me, and it was a blanket of warmth. I threw caution to the wind and cuddled up close to him. That nagging voice in the back of my mind was trying to warn me, but I ignored it. For this one moment, I was going to enjoy myself and worry later.

"I'm glad we did this," I said honestly as the ride began again.

His lips were resting on the top of my head. "Me too," he said, rubbing a circle on my shoulder with his thumb. "You are a lot more fun when you're not being bombarded by paparazzi. I'm glad I got this time with you, away from everything."

"It's a lot more fun not having the paparazzi around," I said purposefully excluding the compliment he was due. He was showing me a marvelous time, better than I'd ever had. "This was a great idea."

The wind kicked up, and the cart rocked again as we made a second lap. I held on to him tighter not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. His arm tightened pulling me closer, and I wished that he would always hold me that way. I looked up at him, and he down at me. Time seemed to stand still.

There was so much there in his eyes. I wished I knew more about him, especially then as my heart skipped several beats. He was dangerous, there was wildness in his eyes, and at the same time he was safety wrapped around me. I'd never wanted someone so much and been so afraid of them all at once.

Just as he began to descend toward me the ride stopped. Nicholas helped me from the cart, and I followed him, lost in the dream of that almost kiss.

When I did pull myself back into reality, it was to fall all the way back down. He was leading us toward the street to catch a taxi back. Nicholas got one for us right away.

"You're a lot of fun as a redhead." Nicholas winked at me. "Looks like you got away with it." He held open the taxi door.

I sighed with a smile still on my face. "Looks like it." Once we were in the taxi, he helped me unpin the wig and used tissues to take off the dark eyeshadow. Nicholas had given me a night I would never forget. I did not want it to end. "Thank you for tonight. I really had fun."

"Good, I'm glad." We'd gone a couple of blocks, and he'd already shifted gears. "You'll have to be careful when you go home." I knew he was talking about my parent's house instead of my actual home.

"How will I know when it's safe to come back?" Nicholas glanced at the driver.

"I'll call you." I tried to think of what he could say that would make me feel safe again. There was nothing anyone could do or say to guarantee my safety.

The truck was just where we left it. I climbed in and so did Nicholas. We were going home, and I remembered the many questions I had. I remembered the deal that I made with Nicholas to keep my secrets safe. He was quiet and thoughtful too, so we drove home in silence.

Nicholas parked the truck in Johnny's spot and checked the clock. "You've got two minutes until your curfew." He opened his door, but I grabbed his arm.

"Why were you here when that scout or hunter or whatever you call him was at my window?" I don't know if it was the surroundings that had him all closed up again, but he didn't answer. His body was stiff and his shoulders tight. "You were the stray Tony had reported seeing. Why were you hanging around here?"

"I can't tell you that right now." I stuffed the wig back into the bag and wondered why I was such a freakin' idiot. This whole night was pretend.

Everything we had done had been to secure his hiding place. He was playing on my emotions, and I was falling for it like the airhead the press always claimed I was. I grabbed the door handle. "You need to change your clothes." His voice was gentle, and it infuriated me that I'd been falling for him all evening.

"With those creatures crawling around the sanctuary, I have no choice but to let you stay here. Your hiding place is secure so stop playing games with me." His mouth was a straight thin line when he slid out of the truck and slammed the door. I had to hunch down low to change my clothes back to the original frump outfit I'd picked.

I wanted to slam the door to the truck too, but did not want to let him know just how deeply he'd gotten to me. Nicholas met me on my side of the truck, and I walked around him toward the house. "They're watching," he said and I caught the blinds moving. He took my hand and walked me to the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I opened the door and went inside so that he wouldn't be able to kiss me. I closed it soundly and just as fast.

"Did you have fun? Didn't you like him? There was no goodnight kiss?" Trina reached for my bag, and I hugged it.

"She's a lady. She doesn't kiss on the first date. Good girl, Piper." Grandma Sidney's eyes sparkled at me. "He got you home on time. I like that."

"Did you kiss him at all?" Trina threw her hands up.

"We went to Tara square. It was fun. We danced and went to this paint fight room. It was really fun." I swung the bag behind my back while I had their attention on my date. "Then we went on the Ferris wheel and got a bite to eat."

"Well, isn't that a nice date?" Grandma beamed.

"I'm going to go get dressed for bed." I went to my room and stuffed the bag under my bed. Adriel had followed me, and so I had to go into the bathroom again to change into my matching pink tank and pajama shorts. I put on my robe too and when I came out it was Nicholas in my room sitting on my bed in a pair of camouflage cargo pants.

"I don't think you have to be in here." I tightened the belt on my robe. He stood up and came toward me. It occurred to me that he could literally do whatever he wanted. He had super-human strength, and I was in comparison, helpless. I raised my chin at him anyway.

"You want to know why I was here?" His eyes were intense, and he stood close.

"Yes, I do."

He laughed, and it was dark and foreboding. Maybe I didn't want to know. "You're not going to understand, and I won't be able to explain."

"Tell me anyway."

"I wanted to see you."

That could not have been the reason. I was gone for at least a week before Tony started seeing the stray. Nicholas was trying to play on my emotions again. He watched me waiting to see how his game was playing out. "You could not have known I was even here to be waiting to see me. You're full of it, Nicholas."

"Maybe the things that you are so sure of are false, and you should stop assuming you know everything when you are very much in the dark."
Chapter Ten

He didn't stay the night in my room, and I didn't sleep much.

Grandma Sidney knocked on my door at five in the morning, and I got up and hurriedly packed up my clothes and things. I got dressed, and half expected Nicholas to be on the bed when I came out of the bathroom, but he wasn't.

I didn't see him until he came to load up the luggage. Trina was in the limo before her bags, and Grandma Sidney was giving Tony instructions he already knew regarding the house and animals.

"Stay indoors as much as possible," Nicholas told me when he took my last bag from my hands. I followed him to the back of the limo. "You'll be fine," he added when I hesitated at his side.

"Will you?"

"Why? Are you worried about me?" Nicholas turned toward me. "Don't be," he said before I had the chance to respond. "I want you to look into finding out about your birth mom."

"You're really stuck on that aren't you?" I looked around to see if anyone had heard him, but everyone was busy doing their own thing. "I don't want to know."

"Yes, you do and you really shouldn't wait." He kissed me so fast I didn't have time to stop him. "Had to have one to hold me over." My grandma was snickering so I couldn't hit him like he deserved. "I'll be here," he said with a meaningful look, and I hated that it was working. He was playing me like a fiddle, and I was just letting him do it.

Grandma Sidney got in the car and Tony and Johnny were waving their goodbyes. Adriel was lying on the floor of the limo. I was in no way a seductress, but I wanted him to get some of his own treatment. I tried to toss my hair back like I'd seen women do in movies, and I almost fell over. "Be careful." He reached out and steadied me.

I should say something that will stick in his mind and torment him like he repeatedly does to me.

"Uhm...." I couldn't think of anything sexy to say. My heartbeat was speeding up, and I knew I was about to chicken out. "Nicholas...." His eyes warmed, and the yellow in them became a bronze. I put my hands on his chest, stepping as close as I dared.

"Yes?" His voice was deep, and his head was descending toward mine. That was an incredibly arousing gravely sound in his voice, and I could feel my attempt beginning to backfire. Our lips were only a breath apart. I kissed his cheek.

"Take care of Tony and Johnny." I pulled back quickly before I did something really stupid and got into the limo. I didn't dare look at him until I had the door closed between us. He seemed to be able to see through the tinted windows. He gave me a sharp nod with his head while his eyes stayed hot and challenging.

"Wow," Trina squealed when the limo pulled away. "I've never seen an almost kiss be so hot." She was fanning herself.

"Trina." I blushed and glanced at my grandma.

"Me either," she agreed and my face burned even hotter.

My baby sister could not possibly smile any bigger. "Does he have a brother?" Trina moved so she was seated across from me. "You should tell Mom everything is good and come right back."

Trina told me how hot Nicholas was the entire four hour ride to our parents' home. Adriel seemed to be suffering more than I. He rolled onto his back and made a moaning whimper several times, but Trina never noticed.

When the limo stopped in front of the mansion, Katrine came out of the giant double doors. Her warm blond hair was straight and parted to the left. Her makeup was applied to look as though she was not wearing much at all. She wore her pink suit jacket over a linen white dress with matching pink heels.

The staff quickly removed the luggage, and Grandma squeezed my hand. I could not hide from her how terrified I was.

"No matter what, sweetheart, she loves you." I forced a smile. Grandma Sidney got out after Trina, and I climbed out. Adriel was next, and that was where Katrine's blue eyes focused.

"What is that?"

"My dog."

"It is, is it?" She raised a brow at my grandma.

"He's good for protection." Grandma Sidney smiled, and they embraced. "Trina, will you show me where I'm going to be staying?" I watched the two of them go into the house and was glad that Adriel stayed with me.

"Let's have a talk." Katrine gestured for me to follow her. She led the way to the study, and I closed the door knowing the routine. This was the room in which the staff could not use intercoms to listen in. It was where we went when our parents were angry enough to yell.

Adriel sensed my apprehension, and I worried that I had not put a leash on him. I put him out of the study and closed the door again. "You hung up on me. You've never done that."

She wasn't yelling, but I could hear her displeasure in her tone. This was where I was supposed to apologize. I didn't.

"If your father is going to be re-elected for a second term we have to present a united front. We can't be united if you hang up on me, cutting off communication." She tapped the back of the chair facing the desk. I moved forward and stood next to the chair, but I didn't want to sit. "I've apologized, Piper for the things I said about that woman. What else do you want?"

"Does Grandma Sidney know about me?"

My mom sighed and sat in the chair behind the desk. "Yes, she knows. We were never going to tell you about it, especially when they left us alone for so long. I'd hoped the money had been enough." She shook her head. "You're my daughter. I've raised you since you were a baby. Your knowing about it shouldn't change anything."

"It wouldn't if you really felt that way."

She stood up. "I do."

"No." My eyes filled with tears. "If you did you wouldn't have compared me to her or said the things you did."

"I was-"

"Upset, I know." I held up my hand when the color rose in her face. "I don't doubt that you love me, Mom. However, I saw your hatred for the woman that bore me, and I can't change what she did." I swallowed and sat down. "I want you to tell me everything. Tell me what you know about her."

"No." She shook her head. "I've told you all that you need to know. She sold you to us, and she disappeared as she promised she would."

"What was her name?"

"Enough. I'm not telling you anything more. Forget her." She bent and hugged me so tightly it hurt. "I'm sorry you found out the way that you did." She was crying, and I had never seen my mom cry. Not ever. "I was mad and wrong. You're mine, and I won't lose you to that woman." Grandma Sidney was right. She did love me.

Relief poured through me, and I hugged her back. I couldn't be mad at her anymore. She had raised me like her own even though I wasn't. Not only was I not, but I was the other woman's baby. Katrine had done the best she could under the circumstances.

"Now, let's not talk about that anymore." She turned and smiled at me, and I knew that at least at this point she was not going to tell me anything about my birth mother. "Now go and unpack."

I left the study, and Adriel was waiting for me. "Sorry." I patted his head and wondered if that would bother him.

"Your father wants to see you when he gets in." Mom stood in the doorway of the study. "He's due anytime now." I nodded and wondered how much trouble I'd be in if I took my Civic and left for the rest of the day. Talks with good ol' dad were never the kind I'd categorize as precious memories.

Adriel whined at my feet, and I figured he must need to go outside. Did he need to become human as Nicholas did? There wasn't any forestry near the mansion. "Come on." I led him up to my room and opened the bathroom door for him. He went right in and even pushed the door shut. The toilet flushed when my father walked in without knocking.

"Typical." He marched across my room and yanked open the bathroom door. I prayed he wouldn't find a naked man in there.

"What's typical?" I ventured when he didn't make a sound. He turned back toward me, and Adriel in small wolf form grumbled as he left the bathroom. I sighed and sat on my bed. I knew exactly what he had thought he would find in the bathroom. He'd almost been right except he still would have been wrong.

"The stunt you pulled with that Rick boy is going to cost you." He was facing me, no expression on his face to give away his thoughts.

"Nothing happened and I broke up with him."

"You did it to get attention. If you're pregnant you'll be cut off, do you understand?" He closed my door with himself still inside, and I stood up. The black hair on Adriel's back stood up on end, and I ran my hand across his back to calm him. "You've been a liability your entire life." He massaged his temples.

"I guess you shouldn't have bought me then."

"She would have ruined my career if we hadn't. Other men in my situation have their mistresses killed when they try to pull stunts like this." He looked at the ceiling. "I didn't." Watching him I was sure he wished that he had. "And you're just like her aren't you? Filth."

I had to grip Adriel's fur to hold him still. "Maybe you should have kept your pants zipped up." Rage colored his face, and I was sure he was going to slap me. I couldn't believe I'd said what I'd said either, but I was not sorry.

"If you want to make a scene with this, go ahead. You'll be illegitimate and penniless. Try making something of yourself with that hovering over you."

"I don't want to make a scene." I saw the relief soften his features. "I just want to know about her."

"No." He turned to leave my room.

"What? I should get to know her name at least."

"No good can come from that. She'll use you to get more money out of us. We saved you from a life of debauchery. You are my daughter and if you have even the smallest ounce of loyalty or gratitude you'll drop this." He would never tell me anything about her.

I wondered if Katrine knew what kind of man he was when she married him. Then she was stuck with him.

Why had my mother been with him?

The little I did know about her hurt me, and I didn't know if I should learn anything more of her. She had sold me for money, and that was not painting a pretty picture. If I was going to find anything out about her, it would have to be right then. I never planned on returning to live under my dad's roof again.

"I'll put you through college. You'll continue to be provided for. Just keep your mouth shut and no more stunts."

I didn't want his money or anything else from him anymore. Grandpa had been a greater father figure for me than he ever had been. It hurt to realize this, but it was so clear that I couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Just let me go to school at Grandma's this year, and I won't say a word."

"It figures you'd have a price." He glared at me. "You can as long as you stay out of trouble." I watched him leave my room and then let go of Adriel. I felt a little weak and sore. Talking to my dad was physically taxing.

Normally, I'd go to Grandma Sidney's to talk after something like this, but I wasn't ready to talk to her yet. She had known about Katrine not being my birth mother, and she had not told me.

We were so close, and I trusted her more than anyone else in the world. She must have had reasons not to tell me, but I wasn't ready to hear them.
Chapter Eleven

I had been at the mansion almost a week, and this was the fourth party I had been required to attend. Mom introduced me to dozens of young men at each of them. All of which seemed like little boys when I compared them to Nicholas. Grandma Sidney only went to the first two. I wished I could have gotten out of them, too.

Soon I wouldn't be able to keep her here, and she would go back to the sanctuary. Grandma Sidney and my father were butting heads, and I still had not asked her about my birth mother.

Adriel didn't have any clothes, so he never let me see him when he was in his human form. I could tell he was ready to get back too.

Nina only called me once, while her parents called me daily. She was still out running the road with Daniel, and I couldn't help feeling bad for her parents.

"You are supposed to be mingling." Trina handed me a glass of water. "Dad is about ready to come talk to you."

"Oh for heaven's sake, the party just started."

"No, you're a half hour late." That was because I had been trying to get a hold of Nicholas, who had not called me the last two days to check in, but I couldn't tell her that. "Go mingle," she said through her plastic smile.

It was a routine. I should have just played along from the beginning, now my father was watching me. "Fine, here I go."

"You're singing tonight," she called after me.

I introduced myself to a couple of guests, and apparently I wasn't cutting it because here came my dad with a group of suits. I could hear Adriel's howling in my grandma's room and from the look of faces among the group approaching, so could they. "This is my daughter, Piper." He glanced at me, but his main focus was on the man standing closest to his right. "She'll be singing for us later."

Great, he was telling people. Now I really couldn't get out of it.

"My name is Morgan Castlerock." I offered the man my hand, and he grasped it with both of his. He was very tall, bigger than my father who stood at six feet four. I decided at once that I didn't like him. His gaze was aggressive and unflinching. He was looking at me like he had to memorize every detail for a test he would be taking later.

"Nice to meet you," I managed, and tried to spot my mom so I could have an excuse to slip away.

"You're lovely," he said and I tried to pull my hand away as I smiled politely. "I've been wanting to meet you."

"I'm flattered."

Let go of my hand, weirdo.

"Mr. Castlerock, we have to be leaving soon," one of the entourage said, but Morgan did not look at him. His eyes were very dark and continued studying me. Why didn't he just ask whatever it was he wanted to know?

"Perhaps you'll sing now?"

"Of course, she will." My father signaled Trina toward the grand piano. Whoever this guy was he must have been important because we were usually told to perform after dinner. My hand was released at last, and so I walked over and joined my sister at the piano. My father was announcing to the other guests about the performance, and they were gathering in the sitting area provided. Castlerock was still watching me.

"Ready?" Trina gave me an "A" and began to play the introduction to one of Irving Berlin's songs. I waited for my cue and made sure I was smiling. I came in on cue and let my gaze drift over the guests as I sang.

That was when I spotted Rick. He was wearing a suit and seated only a few seats away from my mother.

My voice started shaking, and I prayed it was mistaken for vibrato. Rick was smiling at me and the last song I wanted to be singing to him was the one I was singing. It was a love song and very romantic. Of course, my mom knew my voice very well and seemed to be the only one who noticed its nervous quality.

Trina played beautifully and steadily, refusing to speed up even the tiniest bit. It's a song that I normally love to sing, but this time it felt so slow and so very long. I did my best not to look at Rick because I was afraid my parents might see him and recognize him from the photos.

The song continued on, and I found myself wondering about Nicholas. He had not called. _What if he had gone away? What if he was dead?_

Everyone applauded as I finished, and I bowed my head saying, "Thank you," as I had been taught.

My dad came and put his arm across my shoulders. He announced that dinner was ready to be served, and they began to go to the dining room. "Make your dog be quiet, or I'll have it shot."

"Okay, I'm on it," I said with my fake smile still in place. Rick was lingering. I nodded toward the double doors that led to the gardens. Rick got the hint and went through them while my dad said goodbye to the guy with the staring problem.

Adriel was not happy when I leashed him, but I had no choice with so many people in the house. "I can take him out for you, dear." Grandma Sidney had dark circles around her eyes.

"No, I can do it. Why don't you get some rest?" She smiled instead of answering. Poor Grandma Sidney, she was miserable here and staying because of me. "I'll be right back."

Trying to walk like a lady with a big wolf on a leash is impossible.

Rick was sitting on a bench, and Adriel jerked away and disappeared into the night. Rick got up and started toward me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why didn't I know you could sing like that?" He grabbed my elbows. "You sing like an angel." Rick pulled me toward him, and I turned my face away to avoid his kiss. His mouth was on my neck. "That song, it was like you were saying all the things I am feeling too."

I pushed him away. "It's a song, and I wasn't singing it to you. Why are you here?"

"Because I know it's your parents who made us break up. I came to speak to your dad."

"No." This was so much harder than it had to be. "Rick, look at me." I was holding his face in my hands to be sure he was paying attention. "Go to college and date. Have fun, and forget about me. Okay?"

"That's not going to happen."

"It has to, Rick. We, you and I, we're over."

"I'm not giving up."

A guy dressed in nothing but slacks landed on the terrace. He had black hair and the same square jaw as Nicholas though his eyes were a much lighter brown, and he was at least two years younger. He was just as ripped as Nicholas too.

"You don't feel well, Piper, time to leave the party and go to bed." The entire time he spoke he was concentrating on Rick. "I will take care of this Marime."

"No, Adriel." He looked at me, and I was glad for the confirmation.

"Who is this?" Rick stepped back to get a better look at Adriel. "This is who you've moved on to, huh?" His face was tight when he looked at me. There was so much pain in his eyes.

"You should go." I folded my arms. It felt terrible to hurt him more than he already was. Rick was glaring at me with his bloodshot eyes. "I'm sorry."

"You're dating this guy who runs around without a shirt on? You wouldn't let me wear my button-up shirt open."

"I need you to leave, Rick. You're going to get me into a lot of trouble."

"That other guy doesn't intimidate me." He pointed to Adriel, who was still standing there. "I deserve another chance."

"No, he doesn't," Adriel said, looking down at Rick with his lips beginning to curl back. "Nicholas would not want you near her."

"Who is Nicholas?"

I could hear voices near the double doors. "Rick, you will always be my friend. But you have to leave."

"No, he is no friend of yours. It has been forbidden."

"Shut up, Adriel."

Rick maneuvered around me to face Adriel. "Forbidden?"

I had to push hard to get in front of him again. "Yes, by my parents. You have to leave now, Rick."

"No, if I talk to them and explain everything, then-"

"Then it won't make a difference." The handle on the door turned. "Leave now." Adriel retreated, and Rick ducked behind one of the bushes that had been trimmed into a perfect cube.

"There you are," my mom said, looking on the terrace behind me. "I was sure I heard a male voice." She looked to me. "Please tell me it wasn't that boy Ricardo?"

"His name is Rick."

"Whatever, who were you talking to?"

I whistled hoping Adriel would take the cue. "My dog."

"Your father really doesn't like that dog. You should send it home with your grandma." Obviously, my dad had not elected to tell her that I was returning with Grandma Sidney. "Come and join our guests."

"I have to find my dog."

"We'll send a maid to fetch him. You are being rude to our guests."

I whistled again as she clutched my arm.

Where did he go? Was he walking around the property half dressed?

If I resisted anymore she would find Rick, and that wouldn't be good. Reluctantly, I followed her into the house.

All through dinner I worried over Adriel and Rick. What did Adriel mean when he had said Rick was forbidden? And he had continued to point out that Nicholas wouldn't like Rick being around me, but what did that have to do with anything? What was a Marime? That was the word he had called Rick wasn't it?

I didn't get to ask our maid if she had found Adriel until after dinner and was relieved when she informed me that she had, although she did not appear pleased at having had to perform the task of retrieving him. I really wanted to talk to Adriel and ask him what he had been talking about before. The dog packs had an alpha, and I knew that wolf packs worked the same way.

Was Nicholas the Alpha?

My mom stayed with me through the remainder of the evening and was really sweet about covering up my absentmindedness. Dad had "business" to attend to after the party and only mom and I remained. I started up the stairs and then stopped. "Mom?"

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Why are you still married to Dad? He's not good to you."

"I know." She looked around, and I realized she was worried about the staff overhearing. They definitely had figured it out, but I didn't want to make her feel worse, so I didn't tell her that.

"We are politicians dear. We get to have a say and a hand in making our country and even the world a better place. It has a cost. This house, the clothes, the status, it all has a price, and I'll pay it to give you and your sister the very best." I went back down the stairs and hugged her.

"If you ever decide to leave him I don't care what it costs. You deserve better." She smiled and patted my shoulder like I was a small girl, who just couldn't understand. I probably didn't, but I did wish that she didn't have to put up with him. "Goodnight, Mom." I trotted up the stairs and went to my Grandma Sidney's room.

It was dark, and I could hear her snoring. Adriel was not in her room, and so I hoped that meant he was in my room. If he was running through the property naked, I would be blamed somehow.

My room was dark and empty. I flipped on the light and noticed right away that the pillow on my bed was upside down. That was a mistake that the staff would not have made.

When I lifted the pillow, I found a folder. It had a yellow sticky note on it that had very neat handwriting on it.

Nicholas wanted you to find out about your mom and I found this. I hope it helps. – Adriel
Chapter Twelve

I couldn't sleep when I knew that file was beneath my pillow.

My entire body ached the next morning like I had been in a fight the night before. I sat up feeling stiff and put the file in the pillowcase and took the thing into the bathroom and set it in the corner. I took a shower knowing it was there and started feeling angry with Nicholas for pushing this on me.

I only just found out about having a different mom. I'm not ready for this.

I dressed and was blow drying my hair when I heard the knock on the bathroom door. Grandma Sidney was on the other side. "Good morning, sweetheart." She was smiling, but it was impossible to miss that she had been crying. "It's time for me to go," she said when she saw me, noting the tears on her face.

"I'll come with you."

"No, you are working things out with your mom. That's important."

I shook my head. "We did last night. I'm prepared to go back." Hopefully, Nicholas was ready to have us back. "Just wait long enough for me to pack and tell my mom." She looked down at her own clutched hands and nodded. "Looks like Deception is enjoying the easy life." She turned, and I saw Adriel sprawled out on my bed. He was drooling on my comforter.

"Thanks, Grandma. I'll hurry, I promise." She nodded again and left. I wanted to punch my dad for making her feel bad. Grandma Sidney was nothing but supportive and didn't deserve to be treated poorly.

I finished drying my hair, added a few things to my bags, and asked the maid to take them to the car. Mom must have heard about it because she was at my door when I was picking up the pillow in my bathroom. "Why are you leaving?"

"I want to go to school at Grandmas. I love you, but I don't want to be around him anymore." She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I had hoped you had changed your mind." Apparently, Dad told her.

"I haven't." I hugged her, and she hugged me back. Trina gave me a quick hug when she heard I was leaving, and I was standing beside the car as my father approached. Grandma and Adriel were already in the car, and I felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

"We have a deal right?" He asked in a low enough voice that only I could hear him.

"I have another request."

"Just like your mother." He sneered at me, and I wished that I had the guts to slap him, but I didn't.

"Grandma needs to be treated better by you. She's your mother and if you make her cry one more time I'm going to tell the world about your many, many mistresses." He glanced at the tinted window and then back at me.

"If that old woman has a problem with me, she should stay on the sanctuary. I won't be told how to act by some bastard child."

"You're the only bastard here."

He reached for my shoulders again, but I raised my hands up to push his away, and he got a hold of my wrists. The pressure was intense, and I met his harsh gaze. "This should leave pretty bruises." He released me at once and gritted his teeth, seething at me.

"I accept your terms and will add one of my own."

"What?"

"Don't come back here unless you're invited by me. I don't want to look at your face."

"Agreed." If he thought he was punishing me the joke was on him. I had no wish to see his face either. He smiled and waved at my grandma and since I had just opened the door, I got to see the surprise on her face.

I closed the door and hugged the pillow I was still carrying around.

"What did you say to him?"

"Just goodbye." It was a forever goodbye as far as I was concerned, but I didn't want to upset Grandma Sidney, so I didn't tell her that. She smiled, and we both tried to get comfortable for the drive. That was impossible because I was so wound up about what we would find when we got there. Adriel was having a hard time holding still, and I'm pretty sure he was feeling the same way I was.

Adriel was pushing and moving my pillow around, and every time I reached for it he would growl at me. I didn't realize what he was doing until he was already changing into his human shape. He had the pillow situated purposefully to cover his nudity. "Are you crazy?" I hissed at him in a whisper.

"I needed to stretch out. She's asleep." He tapped the pillow making a thumping noise on the folder beneath the pillowcase. "You read this yet?"

"No, I haven't."

"Read it now."

"No." He was pulling out the folder. "What is the big deal?"

"I can't say, but there must be a reason this is being given to you. Yes?"

I ripped the file from him but didn't look at it. "What do you mean you can't say? You'd better say."

"Read it." His brow was drawing together and had his head tilted downward so he was looking up at me. "You need to read it, Piper."

"I don't want to know about her. Okay?" His face was starting to turn red. "I'm not going to be forced into this, Adriel." He snatched the file away from me.

I felt my mouth stretch open to yell at him when he opened the file and then I remembered my grandma asleep at my side. "Her English name is Jaqline Andrina Frasier-"I kicked him as hard as I could, and he didn't even move. "She was born and raised partly in Ardmore, Scotland. She came to America in-"

"Stop it." I grabbed the file, and we started fighting over it.

"Just read it." He let go so that I wouldn't rip it. I hit him with the folder, and he looked at me as though I had slapped him. You would think the kicking would have upset him more than a tap with a folder. "I went to a lot of trouble to get that information for you."

"No, you got it for Nicholas. Is he your alpha? Do you do whatever he says?"

"He is the alpha of our pack. He is risking his life for you and all he asked of you was that you learn of your birth mother." He was talking really loud, and I kicked him to shut him up. He was in wolf form by the time my foot connected with him.

"Piper Claire LeVine, what are you doing?" I froze, but it was too late. My grandma already saw me kick Adriel but to her I had just kicked a helpless dog. "How could you do that? Haven't you seen what violence against animals has done? You've seen the dogs that come in half starved. I just can't believe my eyes."

I wanted to absorb into the seat I was sitting on and disappear. There was nothing I could say to her besides the truth that would make her accept what I had just done. I guess I should be grateful she didn't wake up when I had been trying to shut him up earlier. I kicked him much harder.

"If I ever see you do something like that again you will lose your dog. He deserves better than that." She turned away from me and began to comfort Adriel.

"Sorry." She didn't respond. I shoved the stupid folder back into the pillow case and glared at Adriel. He poked the pillow with his nose, and I shook my head at him. Nicholas was asking more from me than just finding out about Jaqline.

Great, now I had a name for my abandoner. He was also getting shelter in the sanctuary. He was risking his life for me?

We sat in silence for most of the ride and I couldn't take it anymore. She was still mad at me for kicking Adriel, but I realized that she was the only one that I would be able to accept the truth from about my birth mother. She wouldn't lie to me so anything that she said I would take in and know that it was the truth.

"Grandma Sidney?"

"I'm not quite ready to talk to you." She glared at me. "I never thought I'd see your father's mean streak in you."

"Speaking of parents...." The scowl on her face faltered. "Can you tell me about Jaqline?"

"What do you know about Jaqline?"

The breath I was holding came out in a big rush. "Why didn't you tell me that Katrine wasn't my mother?" Her eyes rounded.

"Did you hear your father and me arguing? It is that how you found out?"

"No, I heard my parents talking right before I came back." The understanding of all my tears was visible on her face, which relaxed. "You've known for all this time? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't." A long pause spaced between us before she said, "I have wanted to tell you about her, dear. I will tell you all about her when we get home." Adriel's tail was wagging, and I smiled weakly at him. It was hard to wait since I had finally gotten the nerve up to ask about my birth mom, but we were almost home.

I popped my knuckles and chewed my bottom lip. I re-situated in the seat. I retied my shoes and checked my lipstick, and we still weren't home.

"Okay," she said, sensing that I couldn't wait. "Your father told me about the affair and that this woman Jaqline was pregnant with my grandchild." She was smiling, and it made me smile too. "I was so excited for you to come and Katrine had taken him back, and at first I was worried that Jaqline wasn't going to let me see you."

"Why?"

She took my hand with both of hers and held it firmly. "Well, I didn't get to see her at all when she was pregnant and Harold said that she was refusing to see him again to discuss terms. Finally, you were born and well..." she sighed. "I don't know how honest my son is, but he said she agreed to sell you to him and keep the story quiet."

I cleared my throat and told myself to stop being a pansy. "For how much?"

"Piper." She frowned at me.

"Well?" She knew what I was asking.

How much was enough for my birth mother to hand me over?

Knowing my father like I did, I couldn't come up with a number that was realistic and enough at the same time.

"He never told me an exact amount, and that isn't the important part anyway."

I got control of my tears and didn't let any fall. "It's not?" There was no hiding the bitterness in my voice.

"No, it's not. The important part was that she hated Harold so much that she didn't want to see him again. Jaqline would only meet Katrine to hand you over."

I swallowed and tried to keep my face void of emotion. My birth mother was going to make Katrine have to see her? The woman he betrayed her with? That was malicious and cruel.

"Well, Katrine and I drove over to the park where we were to meet. When we got there Katrine couldn't get out of the car." She nodded at me when my eyes widened. "I pleaded with her to go and get you, but she just couldn't bring herself to see Jaqline. I was terrified. I just couldn't go through the rest of my life and not see my grandbaby." She was looking right past me, and I knew she was seeing the events of that day.

"This was my only chance, so I got out of the car myself and headed to the meeting place. I see the gazebo and it's crowded with people, and I'm thinking I'm too late. I had to make sure. The closer I got the more I realized all of those people weren't doing anything, just standing around waiting. The men were big and aggressive acting, but I wasn't turning back.

"When I climbed the stairs, I found her standing in the center of the gazebo. She was holding you." Grandma sighed with a smile, and her shoulders relaxed a bit. "I told her that I had come for you, and she became angry that Katrine had not come. I made many promises to Jaqline that day. I would have promised her anything to get you." Her features softened, and she smoothed my hair back again.

"I promised her I wouldn't tell you about her until you were sixteen."

"But I'm seventeen."

Her nose scrunched up at the bridge. "Your father begged me to wait, and I didn't want you to run away looking for her. I should have told you."

"Do you, I mean, did you like her?"

Grandma chuckled with tears in her eyes and squeezed both my hands. "Like her? I love her. She gave us you." That did not answer my question, but I was too afraid to push it.

I swallowed the lump beginning to swell in my throat. "What else did you promise her?"

"To keep you safe and to care for you. She wanted me to tell you that she loved you very much, but she had no other choice." I pulled my hands back and noticed that the car had stopped. I opened the door and got out.

No Nicholas in sight. The house was still standing, and I spotted both Johnny and Tony working.

Where is he?

Adriel got out and seemed to be thinking the same thing I was.

I took my own luggage into the house and changed into my work jeans and a light pink graphic tee. Adriel was with me. I had planned on joining the guys to work off the feeling I got when Grandma Sidney told me that Jaqline loved me. It made me want to run as hard and as fast as I could. As soon as I was outside, I headed for the mountain.

I had to find Nicholas.
Chapter Thirteen

There was a strange feeling in the air in the forest on the mountain. Maybe I was just imagining it because of that thing I'd seen.

Great. Why did I think about that?

Adriel was digging quickly at my side. I saw a flash of camouflage pulled up from the dirt before he raced a few yards away. When he came back, he was in pants and looked as nervous as I was. "Be silent," he whispered.

He moved in front of me, and I followed close behind. I had a million questions. This was a terrible time to have to be silent. I kept my mouth closed, but everywhere I stepped made a noise. Adriel looked over his shoulder at me with a drawn back lip and a furrowed brow. He held up his hand, and I stopped.

Adriel mouthed at me to stay and then dashed away in a blur before I had a chance to argue with him. I stood there listening to silence that hurt my ears. There wasn't even wind to rustle the leaves on the trees.

A cool breath shot across the back of my neck and I didn't think. I just started running. I didn't know where I was going anymore, but I had to run. It had circled around me, and I was trying to stop myself from running into him. His skin was pale like dirty chalk and though his hair was blond his eyes were just as black as the other one I had seen.

Ice cold fingers gripped my chin, and he brought my face up to his. My body fell limp, and my mouth was numb like before. He was looking into my eyes, studying them as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His mouth grew into a smile and every one of his teeth were as sharp as daggers reminding me of a shark. "So pretty." His voice sounded like echoing harsh whispers.

The sound scared me, and I forced my limbs to move and struggle in his grip. I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull my face free. He was opening his mouth when I saw a giant werewolf reaching for him. The black Sith let me go and turned to fight. A second werewolf was behind me and joined the other one in the battle.

They killed the black Sith quickly, but I could still feel the cold fingers on my face. Nicholas was himself first, and he grabbed me and hugged me tightly against him. "Why did you come back? It's not time yet." I heard him, but I didn't answer I was shaking and just glad that he was alive and holding me up. Nicholas began rubbing my arms, and Adriel changed into his human shape.

"You let her come on the mountain?" He didn't yell, and that would have been better than the sound of anger in his voice.

"Sorry." Adriel bowed his head low. "We wanted to make sure you were alright."

Nicholas tilted my face upward and I could see the concern in his eyes. His thumb ran over my bottom lip. "You didn't answer my calls." I was shivering, and it was not cold. I hated the lack of control and tried to ignore it.

I will never sleep again.

"I was hunting." He put my head in the crook of his neck. "There is something I have to tell you." I pushed away from him. His body had gone all tense, and I knew it was bad news.

"What?"

"I have to take you home with me." I frowned at him and shook my head. "I am a gypsy, Piper. My people are the only ones who can help you now."

My breathing was fast, and it looked like there were little sparks around the edge of my vision.

There are more black Siths.

"Help me what?"

"You'll get all the answers you've wanted." I sat down and tried to blink away the dizziness. "You'll get answers you don't want, too." I glared at him. Why couldn't he ever have good news? He knelt down next to me. "It's the only way you can be safe, and it will make the black Siths stay away from your grandma's land."

"I'm not running away." My grandma would be in a panic. I couldn't do that to her.

"We'll be gone for only a few hours." He pulled me to a standing position. "We'll tell Sidney we're going on another date. Are you ready?" He wasn't looking at me. He was looking around us, and it made my stomach tie into knots. "We need to go." I crashed forward a few steps, and he picked me up. I put my arms around his neck and held on, though my grip was still weak.

"It's the effect of the black Sith."

"I figured." He was moving fast, but it wasn't the pace I had expected. "We're not in a hurry?"

"If there are any more on the mountain, Adriel and I will kill them before we leave." A freezing cold chill ran through me, so I closed my eyes and buried my face in his neck. I didn't want to see another black Sith as long as I lived. "I think that was the last one."

"What do you mean you're a gypsy? You never settle down, and you move from place to place? Is your grandma going to give me a potion?"

I thought of all the black and white movies I saw with these really old hag women gypsies who sold potions and charms. He didn't answer so I looked at him finding his nose and lips scrunched up like he'd just swallowed a mouth full of vinegar. "I think you should tell me _something_ to prepare me."

He held me a little tighter, so I didn't say anything else because I was afraid there was another black Sith. That and his warmth and strength melted away the cold feeling the black Sith had left me with.

Eventually, I relaxed and didn't even notice that we were off the mountain until Nicholas cleared his throat and stopped walking. When I looked up at his face, he had his jaw clenched and his eyebrows drawn together. "What?"

"Adriel told me about Rick."

I tried to look around for Adriel but Nicholas was holding me pretty tight. "When?"

"When you were asleep just now."

I was asleep?

"It's just a leftover effect of the black Sith. You let him kiss you?"

I glared at him and wished I'd kicked Adriel harder in the car. "Put me down." I released his neck and realized he had not needed my help at all.

"What did you mean he will always be your friend?"

I glared at Adriel, who I'd finally spotted hanging back a few yards. "You're just all kinds of help aren't you?" He was unapologetic with his big smile. I looked at Nicholas and noticed that his face was leaner than before. The look in his eyes was not anger, but I couldn't distinguish exactly what it was. It sure was not happy. "Rick has nothing to do with you. He is none of your business."

"He is if he's in your life."

"What?" Adriel was shaking his head at Nicholas with a 'you're saying too much' expression on his face.

"Piper, I don't like it when you converse, look at, or come into contact with Rick."

"Oh please." I marched away from him, but he caught up with me.

"What about that night of freedom?" He was walking backwards so he could look at me, and I'm sure he did not miss the smile that came out at the memory. "You were worried about me too." He put his hands on my waist bringing me to a stop.

Nicholas looked into my eyes. His were dark, which only increased the intensity of them. Everywhere they traveled, they left a path of warmth. I wanted him to kiss me, and it scared me to my core.

He was openly the most dishonest person I'd ever come into contact with, and he was the one I wanted? I brushed his hands off my waist and took a step back.

"Well, I'm sure anyone would have been in my position." I glanced at Adriel and Nicholas told him to go check the perimeter. "I can't afford to care about you, Nicholas." His body went tight, and I could see his muscles flexing.

"You don't tell me the complete truth about anything, you are bossy, and you endangered my grandma. That pretty much writes you off."

"If you're going to blow me off, Piper, you'll have to say it all."

"What are you talking about?"

He drew even closer to me bursting any illusion of personal space. "My being a werewolf and a gypsy is too low for you to stoop, right? I'm not good enough for the daughter of a Senator?"

"You've said it all for me." As soon as I said it, I felt my heart flutter with panic.

What if he ditches me? What if he hates me?

"Go tell your grandma we're going on a date. See if she'll let you stay out later than midnight." His voice had such an edge to it. I was a little afraid his temper might win out, and he'd tear my head off.

He didn't come with me. Later, I found out that he had asked Johnny to borrow his truck again. Grandma Sidney was happy I wasn't dwelling on my birth mother. I told her I was going out on a date with Nicholas and I asked her if I could come home after midnight. She said I had to be home by one thirty, which was the latest curfew I'd ever been given.

I didn't change out of my work jeans or graphic tee, but I did grab my jean jacket. Adriel didn't come with us. He stayed behind to watch over the sanctuary. It was only six when we pulled out. Nicholas did not appear angry anymore. I knew he still was.

I was mad at me too.

He turned on the radio and tried several times to make polite conversation with me, but I was in no mood to pretend. On top of everything that was going on between the two of us, I had not forgotten what he had said. I was going to learn things that I did not want to learn.

I'm not stupid. I couldn't ignore that he and Adriel, had pounded my birth mother issues into me every chance they had got. There was no way I could foresee how she would play into all of this. I had a feeling in the part of my stomach that wanted to empty itself that she would.
Chapter Fourteen

"We'll be there in about ten minutes," Nicholas spoke softly. I was staring out the window telling myself I was too old to cry from fear. I couldn't remember why I had agreed to put myself through this.

Why was I doing this?

"Pull over." I undid my seatbelt, but he did not pull over. I looked at him. He was looking at the road and checking the rearview and side mirrors. "I'm going to throw up."

He glanced at me, and I noticed that he was looking pretty pale himself. "We're almost there, Piper. We have to go through with this."

"Why?" I could hear the panic in my voice and somehow that increased my levels of adrenaline.

"Remember the Siths?"

"I'll stay off the mountain."

He shook his head. The truck was slowing down. He pulled the parking brake in front of a huge white pillared building. I reached for the door handle, but Nicholas grabbed my other hand. "I'm just as afraid as you are."

"What?" That was ridiculous. "Let go."

"I won't let anything happen to you. I'll be right with you." I ripped my hand from his and jumped out of the truck. I heard his door slam as my feet hit the concrete. It was pointless to run from him. I fully expected him to grab me and drag me inside. He hugged me, and I clung to him like a lifeline. "Everything will be okay."

"Then why are you scared?"

"Because, I don't want you to hate me."

"Wait," I said when he took me a step toward the huge building. "My birthmother is in there isn't she?" My body was shaking and that at least gave me some anger to hold onto. That would keep me from crying so I was grateful.

"She is."

"I can't do this."

Nicholas smiled at me. "You can do anything, Piper." He caressed my cheek. Nicholas took my hand. "Ready?"

I wasn't getting out of this, and I didn't know if my birthmother was watching already. She had sold me for money, and she was with gypsies.

Gypsies are con artists aren't they?

I did not want her to think she could prey on me. I straightened my back and pushed down my fear. "Yes." I wished I could stop the shaking. Or pretend that my back was not completely rigid with every muscle of my entire body flexing to the straining point. We walked side by side to the doors, and he opened them and led me through.

People were everywhere, and they were all smiling at me. Some were crying, and I hated every second of their attention. Where was the person who was going to help me get rid of the Siths? I gripped Nicholas' hand tighter when we began passing them. A couple of the gypsies reached out, and I batted their hands away.

"Stop that." Nicholas's eyes were wide, and he was squeezing the hand he had a hold of. "They just love you," he whispered close to my ear and kept us moving.

I glanced back and saw two of the women who had tried to touch me were crying. Was one of them my birth mother? "I don't know these people," I said when I caught his furrow browed expression.

"This is the clan of your mother. They look at you like family, and you're hitting them?"

"My birthmother's clan. Not mine." He was walking faster, and his jaw was clenched.

I'm not getting out of here alive.

"Where are we going?" This place was even bigger than it looked on the outside.

"You are to be formally introduced."

"To who?" I stopped walking, and Nicholas had to catch me when he kept moving, and I fell forward.

"The clan."

I took a deep breath. "Just point at my birth mother so I can stay away from her."

"It is up to your birth mother to reveal herself."

We entered a huge ballroom with stained glass domed ceilings. "You were right to think I'd hate you after this visit." I glared at Nicholas when he looked back at me. He couldn't just nod toward her or something? This was ridiculous. I was going to die from a heart attack at the age of seventeen. I glanced back and as I had suspected everyone was following us.

"I am going to introduce you to the Bandolier. He is a very important person in the clan. He helps to lead us and bring about the Queen's laws and directions." He stopped and was holding onto my shoulders. "Do not hit him."

"Tell him not to touch me." He murmured something about Marime as he led me to the far side of the room. Everyone was exquisitely dressed. My old jeans and t-shirt felt like a garbage bag at the moment. The man he stopped in front of smiled at me with love in his eyes, and so I averted my gaze.

Nicholas leaned in toward my ear again to tell me his name was Madric, and that he was very important. Everyone was already quiet when he held up his hands to silence everyone. I noticed that behind him, there was a woman seated on what looked like a throne. On each side of her I recognized two of the men who had come to the mountain and were werewolves.

"She has returned to us," Madric the Bandolier said and everyone cheered. "Kellan Breanne Frasier is home."

Nicholas was still with me, so I yelled in his ear to be heard over the cheering, "Is he talking about me? That isn't my name." He said this was my home. They knew I was leaving didn't they? I was not coming back either.

"It's the name your mother gave you. Your gypsy name."

The woman on the throne stood and whispered something into Madric's ear. He smiled and said something that was either another language or completely unintelligible. The crowds started leaving though so it must have meant something to them. I stood with Nicholas watching the majority of the people leave. Only a small group remained when the doors were closed. The werewolves were among them, and a group of about seven or so women.

I was trying to find a resemblance or feel recognition in one of them when Nicholas whispered to me, "It is time for you to meet Seraph, our Queen." _This woman was important to Nicholas_ I told myself and turned to face the woman who had been on the throne.

"Kellan Breanna Frasier, do you have any wish to meet your mother?" She asked me in perfect English. I glanced at the group of women. They were all holding their breath. This was not what I was here for.

"No." The entire group of women began crying and the queen signaled them away. "I did not come here for that. I have black Sith's hunting your werewolves all over my property." Her green eyes traveled from me to Nicholas, and the dark-brown eyebrows above them rose at him.

"We do not lie."

He lied to me? Why am I surprised?

I glared at him and heard him swallow. I hoped it was bitter guilt.

"I did so because she was unprepared for the truth." He looked at me, and I folded my arms. The only ally I had in this place, and he was a compulsive liar. "How may I make amends?"

"She must hear the truth."

Nicholas' face was tight as he turned his head slightly side to side in disagreement. I heard people gasp and looked around in time to see the alarm on the faces of the gypsies who were still present. Seraph held up her hand to silence them. "Forgive me, Seraph. I still see she is unprepared."

"Your fear is making you weak, Nicholas." Seraph turned her face toward me once again. "Do you find yourself unprepared?"

"How can I know that when I don't know what the truth is?"

"Fear runs deep within you as well. I see." She sighed meeting Madric's gaze. "You have raised your hand against this clan."

"What?"

"You struck members of this clan on your way inside."

I looked around in disbelief before answering, "I didn't strike them. I pushed their hands away. I don't like people I don't know touching me."

She had a look of distaste on her lips. "You don't want anything to do with your clan, but you want our help?"

"That's right." I heard Nicholas suck in his breath and hold it beside me.

Seraph's face was unreadable as she looked me over. "We refuse this opportunity to assist you, child. You may leave." She turned to look at Nicholas. "You will vacate her property permanently as of this moment. Inform Tony and Johnny that they are to vacate immediately." I fisted my hands.

Tony and Johnny? No way are they gypsies, they have been working for my grandparents forever. She's bluffing. She's just trying to make me do things her way. Well forget her.

I turned toward Nicholas and lifted my hand palm up. "Please give me the keys to the truck so that I can go home. I'll give the keys to Johnny, and I'm sure he'll scurry back to this con artist palace."

"She doesn't understand," he said to Seraph. "I will tell her the truth?"

"If this is to be your amends you will not lie to her again."

"I will not lie to her again."

"Under penalty of Marime." Nicholas looked at Seraph, as though she had just told him he was dying. "Agreed?"

"I will not lie to her." He turned toward me. "Your mother was married to a gypsy man who became ill. He did not wish to die so he broke a very sacred rule of ours, which is to have no dealings with the Baobhan Siths. He bargained with them to preserve his life.

"But to remain on earth he had to die. He became the walking dead himself, a Baobhan Sith." He paused glancing over at Madric. "The Baobhan Siths are very powerful and evil. They do not help someone for a small price. Therefore, he had to promise them something big."

"Money?" I asked, figuring that to be the price my birth mother traded me for.

"His wife's unborn child." I felt myself sinking to the marbled floor. "Your mom tricked Harold LeVine into believing it was his baby she carried." I was shaking my head. "She had to ask for the money or Harold would not have taken you or her false threat to ruin his career seriously. She had to hide you in plain sight."

I couldn't breathe. I wanted to run but where could I go? Sidney wasn't my grandma. Harold wasn't my father, and Trina wasn't my sister. At this moment, I had no identity. I had no one and was no one.

"Tony and Johnny have both been on the sanctuary to keep an eye on you. The Baobhan Siths want you and it looks as though they may have found you," Seraph said. Nicholas knelt down beside me rubbing my back.

"Take a deep breath." I could barely hear him. "Piper, look at me." He tilted my face up to look at his. "I'm here."

"You've told her the truth. Let's give her time to accept it, embrace it." Seraph stood up and walked away. I could hear her heels on the floor as she left.

Nicholas didn't leave until I was breathing normally again. He said he would be right outside the door. I didn't realize how comforting his presence was until it was gone.
Chapter Fifteen

Finding out that my reality was an illusion was scary but during all my alone time I came to a few conclusions. One, related or not I loved Sidney, _my_ Grandma Sidney, and she loved me too. Second, there was nothing she wouldn't do for me. The most important of what I had come up with so far, I had endangered her by attracting the Siths to her home.

Seraph, Nicholas, and Madric returned only a few moments after I had pulled myself together. Once I realized what was actually happening I knew I was going to have to apologize in a major way. I stood up and bowed my head like I'd seen Nicholas do. "I'm very sorry for batting at the hands of your clan." She did not appear any more pleased. "I also apologize for calling your home a con artist palace."

"I see you've come to realize you need our help?"

"Please."

"Have you accepted your place in this clan?"

I looked at Nicholas hoping he would give me a clue as to what to say. He didn't. "I don't know anything about this clan. I don't know much of anything at all right now. I just know that my Grandma Sidney doesn't deserve the danger she's in. I'll do whatever I have to do to help her." Seraph's smile surprised me.

"I appreciate honesty." She nodded toward Madric and turned her attention back on me. "I'm going to tell you some more truth." My stomach clenched, but I didn't stop her. There was not a whole lot she could say that would be more life altering than what I'd already learned.

"It is part of our history, but you'll need to hear it to understand. One of our earliest clans migrated to Scotland. Once they were there they came across a Baobhan Sith. Nicholas told you they were the walking dead, but he failed to mention they feed upon the living. The gaje call them vampires, but they are much more.

"Because of our gypsy blood and knowledge we learned some of the Sith weaknesses. We began to hunt them, and they began to hunt us. Our secrets cannot be shared with the gaje, and therefore, we are all that stands against them." She looked me in the face. "If you want help with the Siths you must go through the ceremony to awaken your gypsy blood and become a permanent member of this clan."

"What does that entail exactly? And what is all this talk of Marime, what does it mean?"

Would I have to live here? Would I be forced to abandon my old reality completely?

"You will have to learn our ways. You will have to become one of us."

"Will I ever see Sidney again?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "This is not a prison." Seraph's dark olive green eyes darted over to Madric and then to me before she told me, "Marime is a gypsy curse. Mostly, it is for gypsies as it wipes out their gypsy blood, its purity and the abilities therein. To the non gypsies or gaje it poisons the blood. We consider it one of the worst of our curses."

Curses?

"I'll do it," I agreed before I could chicken out.

Seraph's posture and tone was so regal. I'd never met someone so confident. "First, you'll have to find a sponsor." My eyebrows shot up. "It is an honor to become a full-blood gypsy." I sighed noisily, and Seraph's lips made a straight line.

"I figured that since both my parents are gypsies the blood I have is already gypsy."

She shook her head, and dark black hair peeked out at me from beneath the crown and lavish headdress she wore. "You have not gone through the ceremony. It sleeps within you." She reached out and touched the red strand in my hair. "It looks as though it longs to wake." Seraph withdrew her hand.

"Becoming a gypsy is not something one does just for the moment. It is a lifetime commitment. The Gaje way of instant satisfaction does not work here as it does in the Senator's mansion."

I forcibly swallowed my anger and asked, "How do I get a sponsor?"

"One of the clan will have to vouch for you." She shook her head when I started turning toward Nicholas. "The werewolves cannot sponsor a new member." The doors opened up, and people started pouring in. "We planned a celebration and just because you don't deserve it does not mean we don't." She stood up, and music began to play.

"You want me to ask my birth mother to sponsor me, don't you? Fine." I threw up my hands and stomped my foot instead of swearing at her. "Where is she?"

"You had your chance to ask to meet her, and you refused. Now you will meet her if she decides to make herself known to you."

"Ch-yeah, that's a shocker." Seraph obviously didn't like me. Well, the feeling was mutual. I watched her walk away and join in their celebration. Nicholas was stiff at my side. "So how do I get a sponsor?" I asked turning toward him.

"Convince one of these people that you deserve to be here." When he looked at me at the end his eyes were cold and dark. "Just stay away from her." He pointed to a woman who was vaguely familiar to me.

"Who is she?"

"The woman you batted away earlier, my mother."

Well, crap. No wonder he's so mad.

"I'd better apologize." He grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Stay away from her." He spoke slowly, each word enunciated and laced with fury. I had smacked her hand. Now that I knew it was his mother, I could not believe I had done that.

I wiped my sweating palms on my pants. "I'm really sorry, okay?"

His bottom lip pushed forward, and he shook his head with an expression that said he did not care what I did. "You haven't made a good impression. This won't be easy for you." Especially since he didn't seem to be rooting for me. "Our culture is much different than yours. My family is sacred. Your disrespect for both is not something I will soon forget or forgive."

"Your honesty is so refreshing." I put my hands on my hips. "You didn't prepare me for this in any way. I was terrified. You led me into a huge building full of people reaching out to touch me. I'd like to see anyone else do better."

"She's got a point." I turned to see a woman with green eyes and long dark blond hair. Her face was the same shape as mine. I looked away from her and down at my hands.

"This is Brea. Brea this is Piper."

_I needed a sponsor_.

I made myself look at her, but I couldn't make myself smile. "Hi."

"I'm Seraph's sister." _Oh good, then she was sure to be a fan of mine_. "She's being too hard on you. You were raised by the gaje after all." She shrugged and patted Nicholas on the back. His shoulders were nearing the bottom of his ears. I apparently really ticked him off. "Why don't you go and get our guest something to drink?"

"May I get you something, Brea?"

"Thank you." She smiled, and I saw much of myself in her face. Nicholas walked away, and I tried to tell myself that this woman with a name very similar to my middle gypsy name was not my mother. "You've grown up to be so very pretty, Piper." She touched my hair, and I leaned away from her hand.

At least, I didn't bat it away.

"Oh, Pipey you've got to relax." She laughed and put her arm around me. "I'm not going to be scared away by your rude gaje ways, little girl. I love you too much."

I shrugged out from under her arm. She was probably my best chance for a sponsor in this place, but I had to get away from her. I rushed into the crowd and did not look back. There were people dancing with twirling objects that were on fire, and I watched them, amazed at their skill. The fire appeared to be beneath their hands but there was no pain on their faces or lack of control.

I started for a group of girls, but Nicholas arrived with a cup of what looked like fruit punch. "Don't try that group."

"Why not?"

"They hate you." I looked at the group and sure enough I found half of them glaring at me. I could not have popped all of their mothers' hands.

Why do they hate me?

He waved at them, and their glares changed into big smiles.

Bingo.

"Seraph's sister is probably your best bet."

"Well, I want to find someone else." The group of girls were still glaring at me. "Go away. You're making those girls hate me."

"I told you they already do." This honesty thing was not as fun to hear as I would have hoped. I started looking around for a friendly face. "I'll be right back." Nicholas went over to the girls, and they immediately surrounded him.

This really shouldn't bother me.

Nicholas and I were entirely incompatible. Our lives were from two different worlds, and I had every intention of trying to go back to mine, if at all possible.

A young man with dark blond hair was looking at me with a friendly expression, so I approached him and did my best not to check on Nicholas. "Hello."

"Hello, Kellan." He kissed the top of my hand. He had that scruffy look that Nicholas had, and I figured it must be a gypsy thing.

"Piper, please." I folded my hands together. "What's your name?" Now that I was closer I could see a deep cleft in his chin and a ring of green around the brown in his eyes.

"I'm Toryn, and I wish you well in your task."

Did everyone know?

"I cannot sponsor you. I'm a werewolf." He was seriously tall and really buff. I guess I should have guessed as much.

"Oh." I didn't recognize him from the group I'd seen on the mountain. "Do you have any hints as to who could?" He was looking me over, and I was wondering if everyone was going to be like this.

"If you want a gypsy to back you, you have to participate in the festivities." He held his hand out to me. "Perhaps if we dance?" I had serious doubts that dancing with Toryn was going to help me find a sponsor. I saw Nicholas and the jealousy written all over his face.

"Okay, but only for a moment." I took his hand, and he began to spin me around the ballroom.

"Nicholas is lucky to have obtained a beautiful jewel such as you."

I raised a brow at him. "Obtained?" His smile grew.

"He has not tried to have you for his own?"

Wow, really? You just asked me that?

"If 'have me' means the same thing in gypsy as it does in the gaje, then no, he hasn't tried to have me." That was a really personal question wasn't it? Was I so uptight that I didn't know how people spoke anymore? I couldn't get insulted either because it would probably offend Seraph. Regardless, he was very happy with the answer I gave him.

"Uh oh." I followed his gaze to the group of girls Nicholas had disappeared into. He was entirely visible to everyone.

A very beautiful young woman was beating on his chest with a closed fist, and though I could not hear her, she appeared to be yelling at him. "Brynn isn't letting him off the hook." Toryn chuckled and dipped me. That was when my eyes drifted to Nicholas' face. He was looking at me and Toryn, and his face was close to purple.

"I'll bet my mom would sponsor you, Piper."

"Really?" He twirled me and brought me in close. His chest was vibrating and his shoulders shaking. "What's funny?"

"Nicholas is not happy that we're dancing."

I tried to look, but he was holding me close. "Are you and Nicholas friends?"

His eyes seemed to look right through me and the walls all around us. His smile strained but held as he answered, "Not anymore. My mom is over this way." He turned and led me. A firm hand encircled my free wrist.

"What are you doing?" I turned to find it was Nicholas. "Where are you going?"

"Toryn's mom might sponsor me."

"No." Nicholas was smoldering with his eyes locked on Toryn. "Your family is suffering a suspension from privileges because of your actions, Toryn," Nicholas said. "Seraph wouldn't want you tainting a new would-be member."

Toryn's smile stayed securely in place. "She invited us. She wants me here. Think about that." Nicholas' mouth slid into a sneer.

"Find someone else," he told me. Nicholas led me back onto the dance floor. Toryn let go and winked at me.

"So does his mother not qualify or do you just not like her?" This was no time to be picky. His face was still very red. "You're almost as popular as I am tonight, Nicholas." He just wasn't answering me anymore apparently. "At least Toryn was trying to help me. You're just being mad, and that is the complete opposite of helping. Look, I can do this myself. Why don't you go back and fight with your girlfriend, Brynn, some more?" His tight features stretched into a smile that was nothing close to friendly.

"Leave her out of this."

"Sorry." I tried to pull away from him, but he didn't let me.

There was no teasing or question in his eyes when he stated, "Do not associate with Toryn."

I noticed Seraph was watching us, so I smiled sweetly at him, and his expression grew darker. "Why not?"

"Because it makes me want to hurt him."

Well, I had wanted the truth hadn't I? The song ended, and a huge circle opened up in the middle of the ballroom. "What's going on now?"

"Entertainment."

I found out as I watched that Nicholas' one word answer was adequate enough. The clan was taking turns in the center performing for each other. People ate fire and juggled daggers. It was incredible to watch.

Brynn entered and began to dance. She was wearing a filmy half shirt and a long skirt with high slits up the sides. Brynn was moving her hips in such a fluid motion I felt embarrassed that Nicholas had ever seen me dance.

He was watching her, and I could feel my face heating up. I wanted to stomp on his foot but knew I'd have to apologize to Seraph again if I did. She hadn't exactly accepted my first apology.

I walked away instead, looking for someone who wasn't caught up in watching Brynn. Surprisingly, Toryn wasn't but he couldn't sponsor me. "Careful," Brea said, smiling when I looked at her in surprise. "You'll upset Nicholas if he sees you with Toryn again."

"So what? I doubt he'd notice anyway."

She shrugged. "Find a sponsor, that's what you're here for."

"I'm trying."

"Participate in the entertainment. Then anyone will sponsor you." I looked over in the center and found that it had shifted, and Brynn was dancing a sensual dance around Nicholas. "I've heard you have a beautiful singing voice."

I shook my head and swiped at the loose strands of hair that tickled my neck. "I'm not in the mood to sing."

"Didn't you tell Nicholas that he was beneath you?" Again, she surprised me. How did she know about that? Had he just spilled everything while I'd been left alone in the ballroom?

"He said it. Not I."

"He's considered a sort of prince or king here."

"Yeah? Then why is he taking orders from Seraph?"

My tone did not waiver her easy smile. "He rules over the werewolves, not the gypsies." I refused to look in his direction again.

"She's almost finished. Are you going to sing?" I did not want to sing, but she said anyone would sponsor me if I sang. What was I supposed to sing? Love potion number nine?

"Sing what?"

"Something beautiful. I wouldn't let Brynn outdo me if I were you. You're ten times the woman she is." When she said things like that I couldn't help liking her. "Go on, she's done."

I turned and walked to the center of the circle thinking that I would come up with a song before I got there. My mind was a blank when I reached the center. Everyone was quiet, all their eyes on me, waiting.

I could hear my own heartbeat the room was so silent. Toryn was moving. I watched him reach the instrumentalists, and he said something to them. Music filled the silence. They were playing a song that Trina played on her stereo all the time, a pop song about a gypsy.

As soon as I started singing the clan began smiling and even erupted with applause when I sang the part about being a gypsy. Singing had relaxed me, and I had actually enjoyed it. The music ran through my veins, and I could not stop smiling. I tried to dance like I'd seen a pretty dancer do at Tara Square and earned more applause.

Brea was grinning from ear to ear and started dancing too. I mirrored what she was doing and everyone cheered. As long as I came in on the part that was about gypsies, they didn't care that I messed up some of the other parts.

Nicholas was at the edge of the circle, and his smile was so bright I almost forgot that I was mad at him. The circle closed in on us when the song ended. Everyone was hugging me and patting me on the back. I felt amazing and was hugging back these complete strangers.

"I want to sponsor Piper," Brea said and everyone started pushing me toward Seraph. I couldn't fight it, and she had helped me.

" _You_ sponsor Kellan?" Seraph asked Brea. Her expression was one of stone. "Are you certain she will be a loyal and participating member of this clan?" Brea smiled at me and put her arm across my shoulders. She nodded enthusiastically to Seraph. "So soon you are sure of this?"

"Absolutely."
Chapter Sixteen

I had promised to be loyal to the gypsy queen and clan. Brea provided me with a towel and told me to come out of the changing room wearing nothing else.

Blessedly there weren't as many people still at the huge house. But I'd never been seen by so many in a towel alone. If I dropped it I would be seen by whichever woman still present was my birth mother, the entire wolf pack, the gypsy queen and bandolier. I gripped the towel hard.

Nicholas brought me a glass of water. "You can do this." I wanted to ask him what exactly, but if I knew I'd probably back out of it. I sipped the water. "Drink it all." I finished the glass and handed it back. I was remembering how comfortable Nicholas had been naked and was starting to think someone was going to take my towel.

"You are going to sweat out much of the impurities."

A sauna? I can do that.

"It's going to be hot. Don't wimp out," Brea said and opened up the closest door in the long hallway of doors. "Try to relax if you can." I went inside, and the door closed and locked. I was not crazy about it being locked but took Brea's advice and tried to relax.

Maybe five minutes later I was wondering if they were trying to boil my blood. I was completely soaked in sweat and trying to convince myself that the volcanic steam had oxygen in it.

Ten minutes later the towel was on the floor lying next to me as I kept repeating the words of my junior high science teacher, "Heat rises, heat rises, heat rises." I was in an oven and absolutely sure that the gypsies were cannibals, and I was going to be the main course.

Brea came in and covered me with the towel. "You did it, Kellan. Now you'll have to get up." She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. My skin was red and tender to the touch. I don't know why I thought that was it, because it wasn't. I was given a bikini that must have belonged to one of the children no longer present. I'm not one for showing a lot of skin so I wrapped the towel around myself in the tiny suit and left the sauna.

Next I was led to a pool of water that I was instructed under no circumstances to drink. My mouth was still in an ash dry state of being, and I was denied water to drink.

Stupid gypsies.

The "special" water that at first was a relief from the heat became a drain on my body and soul. I began to worry that I was bleeding because the water drained me so much. I wasn't allowed to just float because my body had to be under the water as much as possible.

I had to be fished out when I had no energy to swim anymore. The water had turned a dark murky grey, and Seraph said it was the gaje impurities that dirtied the water. I was thinking it was probably my current feelings toward the gypsies that turned the water dark because there was no way I was that dirty.

My skin was still very tender. I was pretty sure that soon I would have to be covered in that fire snot Nicholas had forced on me for my bruises. Torture seemed to be the theme.

"You're doing just fine," Nicholas said as Brea offered me her hand to help me stand up. I didn't want to stand up. I was pure enough, there was nothing left inside my body except the things needed in order to live. "Think of Sidney." I took Brea's hand and pushed up to a standing position. "One more." He slipped a red silk robe over my bikini and fastened it at the neck, waist and thigh.

"What is it?" I asked no one in particular.

"This one is a test of loyalty, obedience and strength." Brea and Nicholas were the closest to me, but I could feel everyone in the group was on edge more so than before. Toryn was following along too, and gave me a nod when I looked at him that I think was supposed to make me believe that I could do whatever was next. I didn't think I could though.

I'm not loyal to Seraph. I don't even like her.

I was led back into the ballroom where Seraph was awaiting me on her throne. A stone slab was placed on the floor in front of her chair. "I don't like the looks of this." I gave Brea a hard stare, and she smiled apologetically at me.

"It is necessary. Prove those who say you don't belong here wrong, Kellan." I know she was trying to motivate me, and it was sweet of her but I was not about to argue with those who didn't think I belonged there. I agreed with them. "You will kneel down on the stone before the queen and swear your loyalty."

"I've already told her I'll be loyal."

"Yes, but right now you are a gaje, and a gaje's word is no good. You must show her you will endure the final test."

"Okay, but I'm Christian. I won't worship her."

"You are telling her you will follow her leadership as the gaje do the laws of the government." She and Nicholas were practically carrying me at this point.

I knelt down on the stone and repeated the words of loyalty the bandolier gave me to repeat. I was instructed to hold a silver platter in each hand like a waiter does with their circular trays. They were heavy, and I wanted to give up but the look in Seraph's eyes kept me from giving up.

Everyone was watching me.

My muscles were past burning when additional platters were added on top of the ones I was already holding up. "These are the burdens of the clan you are showing you will carry with us." I almost told Madric to let them carry their own, but I was too tired to try to argue. Another set of heavy silver platters were added to the top. "These are the dangers you will protect your new family from, even at the cost of your own life."

They all watched me as sweat I was surprised to still have dripped down my face, neck, and back. The palms of my hands were slippery, and my arms were beginning to shake. Tears stung my eyes, and I had my teeth clenched together. I wouldn't last much longer. I closed my eyes and saw Sidney's trusting face and knew I couldn't fail her.

"You will be loyal to me?" Seraph asked me directly.

"Yes."

"You will obey my commands as they are for your own good?"

"Yes," I screamed knowing any second I would falter.

"Then stand up."

What?

I closed my eyes knowing the stacks were going to fall all over the place. "I said stand." The snap in her tone got my eyes open again. I held onto the anger and locked eyes with her.

"You can do this, Piper," I heard Toryn yell. The crowd erupted in cheering, but I concentrated on Seraph. The platters leaned when I pulled one foot out and planted it in front of me. She nodded, and her encouragement surprised me. My hands were so wet I could no longer grip the bottom rim of the platter. I stood up, and Nicholas and Brea took the platters from my hands.

Seraph took my face in her hands when I would have collapsed onto the ground. "You did it." She took a highly polished, golden goblet, encrusted with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires and put it to my lips. "Drink this, Kellan." I took a huge swallow before my knees gave out from under me.

I felt Nicholas catch me, but I didn't see him. The last thing I saw was Seraph smiling at me. Darkness around the edge of my vision closed me completely into unconsciousness.
Chapter Seventeen

The sounds I heard at first started off low and were garbled, but they were steadily growing louder. When my eyes did open, it was to see giant werewolves in the throes of a battle. Brea was holding my head in her lap, but her attention was on the fight.

I wanted to ask what was going on, but I was barely strong enough to keep my eyes open. Seraph emerged from somewhere behind me, and I watched her march out into the battle. The werewolves towered above her and they did not see her as she maneuvered between them toward the center.

She's going to be torn apart. What is she doing?

Brea's arms around me squeezed tight and she was speaking furiously in the language I had heard Madric use. My eyes were beyond heavy, and I struggled to keep them open. There was blood on the floor. Who did it belong to?

The earth shook beneath me. The werewolves fell to the floor, shrinking into their human forms. Seraph stood in the center of them, and her hands were raised in fists. Her eyes were like fire and the expression on her face no less intense. My eyelids closed like curtains.

When I woke up next, I was wearing the clothes I had arrived in and was in a gigantic bed. It was as if I were sleeping on a cloud or giant marshmallows.

I had not forgotten what I had seen the last time I was awake, a battle.

Sun was filtering in through the gauzy curtains, and my heart sped up further. Quickly rolling off the bed, I pulled the door open. Duncan was leaning against the wall across from my door and stood up when he saw me. "Good morning."

"I was supposed to be home by one thirty. What time is it?"

"The exact time is." He checked his cell phone. "Five forty-three."

I covered my mouth with my hand. "I'm four hours late! Where is Nicholas? I have to go home now."

"Your grandmother has been informed by Tony that you are with us."

"What?"

How could they do that? How would I ever go back to my old life if they were outing me?

I still must have been drained from the night before because I didn't have the tears that I expected to fill the rims of my eyes. "Where is Nicholas?"

"He is in solitary." He looked up and down the hall. "If you wish to go back to the sanctuary to speak with your grandmother and gather some of your belongings you are permitted to do so."

"Give me the keys. I'll drive myself home." He handed them over, and I dashed down the hallway. I didn't know if I was going the right way but Duncan didn't stop me, so I hoped that meant I was headed the right way.

Why is Nicholas in solitary?

I found a staircase and went down it taking two stairs at a time.

The house was ginormous, and everything looked the same to me. Everyone who lived in this place must have been in bed because there was no one around. Duncan hadn't followed me, so I couldn't ask him how to get out. I was considering climbing out a window when a woman entered the long hallway I was standing in. "Excuse me."

She looked directly at me, and it freaked me out how much she looked like me. But her hair was an Auburn hue and much longer than mine.

It was the shape of her face, and she had the exact same nose as mine. We didn't have equivalent ideas about modesty. She was wearing a bib that looked as though it were made from gold coins and a low rise black transparent skirt that had matching gold coins at the belt line. As she came closer I could see my same green eyes in this woman's face.

_I look like everyone here_.

"Lost?" She asked.

"Where is the front door?"

"I'll walk you." She started walking, and I followed until she paused by a mirror. "Your hair is just like mine at your age." I glanced in the mirror and gasped. That deep red stripe that had shown up overnight now covered my head. I was a redhead. "Are you upset?"

Upset?

I wanted to throw up and scream. If this was anything like the stripe, then it couldn't be altered. I wouldn't be able to bleach it anymore or dye it any other color. Grandma Sidney was going to think I was a completely different person than I was when I left.

"The gypsy ceremony cleansed away the gaje impurities." I looked at her and caught her studying my expression. "You will find many things are different now that you are full gypsy." I realized that I didn't recognize her from the celebration last night.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Zorrin." That name didn't mean anything to me and didn't resemble any of the names I had, including my gypsy names. I shrugged figuring it was pointless trying to figure out which one of these women was the one that sold me.

"So, it's this way to the front door?" I pointed down the corridor we had stopped at. She nodded and began leading me again.

"Will you be coming back?"

"Yes, I still don't know how to get rid of the Siths." I folded my arms and continued to follow her.

"You should know there are a large number of gypsies who do not believe you belong. It is important that you be cautious if you do elect to return."

"Will do." I rolled my eyes wondering what wasn't dangerous. There were Siths all over the sanctuary. If I was trying to stay in a safe place I'd be better off with the gypsies. When we took the next turn, I spotted the front door. "I've got it from here. Thank you." I jogged over to it, pulled it open and went through it.

It didn't occur to me that I had not paid attention last night to where we were until I started Johnny's truck. I pulled out anyway and just as I was turning onto the street the back windshield shattered. The truck swerved when I screamed, and I floored the pedal not knowing if I was being shot at or what.

The truck roared, and I drove over a few bushes before I got control of the truck again. I got my breathing steady several blocks away, and I was surrounded by regular people in their cars on their way to work.

I looked out the back window to see if I could see anything or anyone following me. Then I saw the rock on the floor behind the passenger seat. Someone wrote; _don't come back,_ in black marker.

Seriously?

I found Interstate Five and quickly maneuvered onto it heading north. At least, I would be able to find my way home. Traffic was solid, and I was at a standstill trying to remember what Duncan had said exactly.

What was it they told Sidney?

Tony should have known better. In fact, I knew he did. No doubt he had been following orders from Seraph.

When the passenger door opened I screamed and pulled the keys from the ignition to gouge the intruder, but it was Toryn. "Are you insane?"

"Thought you could use some company since Nicholas is detained." He winked at me when my mouth gaped open at him. "You look hot as a redhead." He didn't say it like some random guy hitting on me. He said it like he was seriously in awe of me.

I stuck the key back in the ignition and turned it. I pulled forward the two feet the line had moved. "Experiencing some road rage?" He was looking at the glass on the floor and the hole in the back window.

"More like gypsy rage," I said. He picked up the rock.

"A little gift from Brynn." Toryn put it in his pants pocket. "Johnny is going to be really furious." At the moment, I didn't care if Johnny was going to be mad. He was a freaking liar just like the rest of them. At last traffic started moving, and I merged into the fast moving lanes.

"Duncan said you were worried about your grandma?"

"Well, no one asked me if I wanted her knowing I was a gypsy. I didn't." He nodded and was not offended like I expected him to be. "She's always been good to me. I don't want to lose her."

"You shouldn't have to."

He was sweet, but he had no idea what he was talking about. I changed the subject. "Last night I woke up, and I saw werewolves fighting."

He grinned almost with pride. "Yes, you did. Just a little disagreement is all."

"A disagreement that landed Nicholas in solitary?"

"It sure did." Toryn's smile grew even bigger. "Seraph was very angry." He shook his head looking out the front window.

I sighed remembering how angry Nicholas had been that I had danced with Toryn. He was going to love that I took him back to the sanctuary with me. From Toryn's happy mood, it was clear he was an enemy of Nicholas, and I had him riding with me. "So what's the deal with you and Nicholas, anyway?"

"I don't hate him." His smile faded away into a serious expression. "He's my best friend."

"Well, you're the worst best friend ever if you are happy he's in trouble." He laughed but didn't offer an explanation.

When I turned onto the road that would take us up the mountain to Grandma Sidney's house, he reminded me that I was only back to pick up the things I needed. I didn't answer him because as far as I was concerned I wasn't leaving unless Sidney told me that I had to.

I parked Johnny's truck and dropped onto the dusty earth. Tony and Johnny were outside and approached me right away. I waited for them because I wanted to yell at them away from the house so that Grandma Sidney would not be disturbed or involved any further. Tony got to me first, and he had the nerve to smile.

"You are a loathsome piece of crap, Tony. You've been fooling my grandma all this time?" I looked at Johnny when he joined us. "You too, you jerk. How could you do this to her?" I pointed off toward the house.

"Do what? Work for her? Protect her?"

"Lie."

Johnny said, "We never said we weren't gypsies."

I glared at Johnny and turned my gaze to Tony. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that you went to meet your birth mother and that she is a gypsy. I told her that you decided to learn a little about her lifestyle by staying with her for the remainder of the summer and would return before school." He sighed heavily. "She understands."

"What about the Siths?"

"There was no reason to frighten her."

I remembered him telling me that he didn't like to lie to Sidney when I had said I wanted to wait to tell her about that freak Ivan. He was so full of it. They didn't say anything to Toryn but I didn't miss the way both looked at him like he was rotten fruit.

Johnny cleared his throat loudly, and I looked up and saw Grandma Sidney marching toward us. She pushed right past Tony and Johnny and came to stand in front of me. Her mouth was a straight line, and I could see the strain on her face. "You missed your curfew."

"I'm sorry." Tears were running down my face. She wiped them away and then embraced me. I hugged her back wanting so much to tell her everything that had happened the night before, but I couldn't. If I did she would have to know that I wasn't really her granddaughter.

"Get out of here," she said to Tony and Johnny, and they went to the first barn. Toryn did not follow them but took one of Grandma Sidney's hands.

"Thank you so much for raising her. You've done a wonderful job." He was smiling so bright that Grandma Sidney couldn't quite keep the scowl on her face. Toryn followed after the other two, but I didn't watch him go any further than past the outer gate.

"Every time I turn around you've got a new boy. That's good. He's a gypsy?"

"Yes, but he just came along for the ride."

"Nicholas is too?" Sidney put a hand on the back of her neck. "You met your birth mother?" I could feel her apprehension more than I ever had before.

"I'm not sure, but I did become a gypsy." I grabbed her hand. "I can't explain it all. Are you angry?" Sidney shook her head. "I'm supposed to go learn the gypsy way of life. I won't if you don't want me too. You are my family."

She massaged her temples. "I think you should go."

"You do?" She nodded and kissed my cheek. "Grandma Sidney? Will you come with me?" She rubbed my back, and I knew she was going to say no for sure.

"I can't do that."

"It's not safe here."

"Yeah, Tony mentioned I couldn't be walking around by myself anymore." Her eyebrows drew together. "Wish he would have mentioned he was spying for your mom a lot sooner." I knew Grandma Sidney had been battling a crush on Tony.

"Sorry, Grandma."

"No, don't be. Who could blame her? I want an address to this place before you go."

I glanced back toward the barn. "Tony has it, I'm sure."

"Are these gypsies good to you?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that one. "Good enough. Their culture is very different."

"They made you dye your hair to match your roots?" I wrinkled my nose and tucked my hair behind my ear. "You go get your things."

I don't know if Toryn had been listening the whole time or not, but he came out of the barn just then, heading toward my house. He fell into step with me. Toryn came with me all the way into my bedroom.

"Nicholas has been in here?" His voice was louder than usual.

"Yes."

"Are you in love with him?"

Everyone asked me questions like this, and I always avoided answering. "Why does that matter to you? You don't know me."

"It matters more than anything."

_Well crap._ I didn't expect him to get so serious.

"I like him," I answered, and he sighed noisily. "I don't even know you. Why are you taking this so hard? You don't know me either."

"I have been forbidden to tell you the details. I encourage you to ask Nicholas about my role in your life. Only he can enlighten you." He shrugged. "Well, anyone but me can tell you, but it's Nicholas' right."

I rolled my eyes. "How can you remember what is forbidden and what isn't? It seems like everything is forbidden. I thought gypsies were all about having a good time and getting money."

"I knew this would all be strange to you. The clan has been awaiting your return since you were given away, but you never knew we existed." He was flipping through the same photo album Nicholas had been so interested in. The way he drank in each picture stopped me from protesting. I had not unpacked from being at my parent's house yet so I added a few things to the bag and took my pillowcase too. "How will my Grandma Sidney be kept safe?"

"Your mother surrounded the inner sanctuary with iron. Siths cannot pass across iron. Johnny and Tony want to stay and protect her anyway."

I turned toward him with my luggage and pillow in hand. "Are they werewolves too?" He shook his head. "We'll be taking shifts." There was nothing more I could do to protect Sidney at this point. If I played along then we got protection, if I didn't we'd lose it.
Chapter Eighteen

Grandma Sidney didn't say anything about me leaving Deception behind, which was actually Adriel. I had promised to call her every day, and we said goodbye. I took Toryn up on his offer to drive, and I started looking through the file for a picture of my birth mother so that I might recognize her this time.

"Have you ever done anything you truly regretted doing?"

"Everyone has," I answered Toryn absently.

He paused, and I don't know what he was doing because I was still looking for a picture, and then he continued. "I mean really deeply regretted. Something that eats you up inside and you almost can't bare it. Have you ever done something like that?"

I looked up from the text pages and closed the file. "Well for heaven's sake, Toryn, what'd you do?" He started laughing, and it was completely contagious. Toryn didn't tell me what it was that he did, but I figured it was probably whatever he got put on probation with the clan for.

"Thanks for helping me out last night. I couldn't think of a song to save my life."

"I'm just glad you knew that one enough to pull it off." He grinned at me and then at the road in front of us. "Feel any different since last night?"

I touched my hair wrinkling my nose. "I look different."

Do I feel different?

I thought about that for a bit until Toryn started talking again. "Nicholas is going to hate it anytime you talk to me, but I think you should do it anyway."

"We'll see."

"If you ever need anything at all just let me know. Okay? Even if it's ten years from now and you need help dumping a very heavy no questions asked black body bag into the ocean." I laughed and told him he would be the first person I'd call if ever that need arose. I was still laughing when we pulled up to the huge white pillared house.

The door on my side pulled open and Nicholas plucked me from the seat and set me on the concrete. "Stay away from her, Toryn." I still had a hold of the pillow I'd redeposited the folder into and was hugging it when Nicholas turned toward me. "Are you okay?" His tone of voice had completely changed.

"Yeah." Nicholas grabbed my suitcase from out of the bed of the truck. Toryn gave me a kind of sad smile as I followed Nicholas. "So, what's your beef with Toryn anyway?"

"That's a long story." He opened the front door. "Most of the clan lives in the other homes on this property or very nearby. You'll be in the same room you woke up in."

It wasn't until he opened the bedroom that was to be mine while I stayed, that I finally got up the courage to ask, "Why were you in solitary?" Nicholas set my bag down and took the pillow from my hands and set it on the bed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. I wanted to be." He took my hands in his. "I attacked Toryn for trying to take something that was mine."

"He was stealing from you?"

Nicholas sighed and looked down at our connected hands. "Not exactly, it was more like he was asking permission to steal."

This gypsy culture is just straight up bizarre. Who asks to steal?

"Unpack your things. I will go and get something for you to eat." He turned back when he reached the door. "You look good as a gypsy, Piper." I touched my hair again and shrugged. It wasn't like I could say thank you when only recently I had agreed that gypsies were beneath me. "I am the only male allowed in your room so there is no need to lock your door."

"Okay." I was totally locking my door. If Brynn could chuck a rock at me, she could sneak into my room. Nicholas closed the door, and I wondered as I began to unpack how I was going to deal with Brynn. If I was being honest with myself, I knew she could tear me up in a fight.

My bedroom door opened and a young woman about my age stepped inside and quietly closed the door. She had chocolate brown hair that was braided back. Her eyes were the same color, set in a heart-shaped face. They grew huge when she saw me and I wished I had locked the door.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know you were back yet. I'll leave in just a sec okay?" She lay down on the floor and looked beneath the door. I continued to unfold the same white blouse I'd picked up when Nicholas had first left. When she stood up she came over and sat on my bed. "I'm Isabeau. Do you want to go by Pipey or Kellan?"

"It's Piper."

"Right." She was looking inside my suitcase. "I couldn't believe you said no last night to finding out who your mom is." She blushed when I looked at her. "You've got all the girls talking about the thing between Nicholas and Toryn too."

"I'm sorry. Why are you in here?"

She looked at my closed door and then back at me. "Duncan is trying to catch me for a harmless practical joke."

It occurred to me that Isabeau might be the friend I needed in this place. "What thing between Nicholas and Toryn?"

Her eyes lit up and she leaned toward me. "Well, for the longest time all the girls have been crazy about Toryn because he was prearranged and you know how women are with forbidden stuff. He lost his arrangement and-"

"Isabeau, I can hear you in there. Come out." Duncan sounded furious. "Right now."

Isabeau looked at my door. Her long chocolate brown braid fell over her shoulder as she grinned at the door. "You can't come in here," she said pointing at the closed door. "Piper and I are bonding so get lost."

"Stop telling her all that junk. Nicholas will tell her."

"She asked me."

I could see the shadow of his feet on the other side of the door. "Stop telling her."

"She's my cousin. I'll tell her whatever I want to tell her."

She's my cousin? How many relatives do I have here?

Isabeau looked at me with her teeth chewing her lower lip. She probably realized too late what she had spilled.

"You are overwhelming her. Come out."

"He just wants to get me back," she told me. "I'm not coming out." Isabeau stretched out on my bed. "I could be in here for a while."

"So, Toryn lost his arrangement? As in arranged marriage?"

What a truly archaic idea.

I thought I was misunderstanding until she nodded. "How did he lose it?"

"Well... I really shouldn't say." She glanced toward the door. "Nicholas is now going to be the groom of Toryn's would have been bride." I froze staring at her. Pieces of the puzzle I didn't know I had were falling into place.

Toryn saying he had regrets. Nicholas was the only male allowed in my room. Toryn's instant affection upon our meeting, and Nicholas' simultaneous anger and jealousy. "Me?"

"See?" She called toward the closed door. "She can handle it."

I have an arranged marriage? Me?

I wanted to run screaming from the house but instead I locked my bedroom door and put a chair under the door handle.

"Uh oh," Isabeau sat up on the bed. "Are you going to freak out?"

"Yes." I knew yelling wasn't going to help but I was doing it anyway. "My hair is the wrong color, I am not this person. I am not a girl with a Sith as a father. I am not someone in a prearranged marriage." I sat down on the floor.

Isabeau scooted off the bed and sat across from me. "You are in a tough spot. Do you love someone else?"

"No, but I might one day."

"Nicholas is a major catch, Piper. He's alpha." She grew up in this culture. Isabeau couldn't possibly understand but I was grateful she was trying to be understanding.

How could Nicholas have left this out?

"Piper?" Nicholas' strong voice was only slightly muffled through the door. "I've brought you something to eat." I got up and dislodged the chair and unlocked the door.

"Come on in, bread winner." I glared at him.

His dark eyes went to Isabeau. "What have you done?"

"Bond?"

"Why didn't you tell me we are supposed to be in an arranged marriage together?"

Nicholas set the tray of food down and then turned back toward me. "We are arranged. I didn't tell you because you said I'm not good enough for you."

"So what were you going to do? Tell me on our prearranged wedding day?"

"No. I was going to prove you wrong and then ask you to marry me."

"That is _so_ romantic," Isabeau said grinning and hugging her knees.

I pushed Nicholas so he would look at me. "I was supposed to be marrying Toryn?"

Nicholas' head turned toward Isabeau and his dark hair fell forward as he looked down at her. "What else did you tell her?" His voice boomed and Isabeau hopped up onto her feet.

"See you later, Pipey." Duncan intercepted her in the hallway and was lecturing her.

"I'll decide who I will marry. Not my birth mother or anybody else. You got it?"

His face was stern but his body remained relaxed telling me that this was not getting through to him. "No one will make you do anything you don't want to do." He closed the door. "Are you upset that Toryn isn't the one you're arranged with?"

For a guy his size he sure was ready to be rejected. "To look at you I'd never guess you'd be the jealous type."

"If you prefer Toryn, I'd rather you tell me than go behind my back."

I felt like I did when my mom was calling my birth mother all those names. I just wasn't going to escape that stigmatism. I squared my shoulders and forced my breathing to slow down. My coolest expression I set in place. "I couldn't say since I don't know him. Though he didn't have his eyes glued to Brynn last night like you did."

"I don't want Brynn." I rolled my eyes at him. "I think now is a good time to remind you that I cannot lie to you." I had seen the way he had concentrated on Brynn. Perhaps he didn't realize he wanted her.

"Why would you want to marry me? You don't even know me."

"I didn't know if I would want to marry you when I took alpha. I went to your grandma's house and a scout for the Siths followed me. He was the man at your window. I chased him away and then I saw you." My stomach clenched. I had never been so excited and terrified in the same moment. "I knew then."

"I know who I want, Piper. It's you and that's too bad if it scares you." Nicholas led me over to a small table and set of chairs situated by the huge loveseat window. "Eat something. You still need to recover from last night." He set the tray of food down, looking at me like there was more he had to say but he left instead.

I fell into the chair smiling.

Nicholas wanted me.

Those words meant so much more to me than any others ever could. The man brought me what must have been his personal favorites, beef steak and ham. I was hungry so I started eating the steak.

"Welcome back," Zorrin, the woman who looked just like me and had led me out of the house this morning, stood in my doorway.

"Thank you," I said around a mouthful of meat.

"May I come in?"

When someone asks something like that it's almost impossible to say no, especially when they smile so politely. "Please." She took the seat across from me. Her company was far from comforting. With my luck this would be my birth mother.

"You seem quite happy with your intended." The bib shirt jingled like change in a pocket when she moved. "I was confident like you. I always have been." Zorrin had a way of sitting that made me feel as though she were posing for pictures I was supposed to be taking. "Brynn is newly hurt about losing him to you. They were engaged to be married only last month, the poor dear."

"Last month?" I put the fork down.

"Yes, you are promised to the alpha, dear. Nicholas took that position from Toryn after he had his moment of indiscretion." She sighed making a show of looking disappointed. "Toryn kissed Brynn and Nicholas just lost it. He could have killed Toryn for his going after his beloved if the fight had not been stopped."

Another long sigh blew from her red painted lips. "We didn't think he would ever heal from such heartbreak as his first true love." She smiled at me. "I guess only you could make him forget how crazy he is over Brynn. Or maybe it's just the chance at revenge that has him smiling at you."

I felt like vomiting. This woman was revolting and basking in my misery. "Are you the wicked witch of gypsy land or what?" Her smile grew dark and evil. I stood up.

_Please don't let this nasty woman be the one who birthed me_. I prayed in my mind.

"You are vile, get out of my room." She laughed at me rising up from the seat.

"Exactly like me." She tilted her head to the side looking at me. "Except you're helpless." I watched her slither toward my door. "And I'd never settle for Brynn's leftovers," she added as she entered the hallway.

My face burned.

Zorrin despised me and I felt the same way about her, especially since I knew her story about Nicholas and Toryn was true.
Chapter Nineteen

I dressed in tan slacks and a white button up cap sleeved blouse, because anything more interesting that I had clashed with my dark red hair. I repacked my things because I intended on learning about their culture or whatever, in record time.

I found Isabeau scrubbing the ballroom floor with a toothbrush. "You look like Cinderella."

She laughed, "I feel like Cinderella." She continued scrubbing. "You add a little laxative to a drink and douse a toilet seat in super glue and this is what happens."

"You did that to Duncan?" I covered my smiling mouth. "Why?"

"I dunno." She giggled, "It's how Isabeau spells love. We're arranged and I figured since he is so uptight I should loosen him up before we're married." She scooted a couple feet, bringing the big bowl of soapy water with her.

I tried to sound happy. "When's the big day?"

"Not until I'm eighteen, unless I postpone it to twenty. Twenty is the cutoff for arranged marriages. I'm sixteen now." She groaned and lay on her stomach and continued to scrub. "If you meant what you said about helping to bare the burdens of the clan, I'd love some help."

I knelt down. "Okay. Do you have another toothbrush?" She pulled one out of the bowl.

"I tried to get Duncan to help me but he said his butt hurt too much." I started scrubbing and wondered which would be the best way to ask her about that witch, Zorrin. The woman might be her mother or something. "I haven't met too many members of the clan."

"I could introduce you if you'd like." Duncan brought another bucket of soapy water but Isabeau ignored him. "Who have you met so far?"

"I met Zorrin."

Isabeau stopped scrubbing. "And?"

"And... she... looks a lot like me." I hoped she'd comment one way or another about how she felt about Zorrin.

"She does look a lot like you." She looked at me as if surprised. "But you have fuller lips. Do you get injections?" I touched my lips and then spit when I remembered I'd been touching the floor. "How come you lived with that Sidney woman instead of the parents your mom picked?"

"I'm closer to my Grandma Sidney. Are you close to Zorrin?" I leaned forward further.

"Why?"

"Just answer the question."

Isabeau sucked in her breath with a loud gasp. "You hate her don't you?"

I considered lying but Zorrin had been clear about disliking me, so I went with the truth. "I don't like her." She splashed me with some soapy water from the bowl. "What?"

"You are so full of it! You hate her. I could see that the first time you uttered her name."

I splashed her back. "Then why did you ask?" This started a splashing bowl dumping fight that ended with us both soaking wet and laughing deliriously on our backs on the ballroom floor.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked, toting another bucket of soapy water. He shielded his eyes when he looked at me, and I remembered I was in a white shirt. Isabeau dumped the bucket of water on him, and he chased her down and was tickling her when someone put a blanket around me. It was Toryn.

"Thanks."

"Looks like they'd probably like some alone time." He nodded toward Isabeau, and I looked to find them kissing. Toryn took my hand and led me out onto a very large terrace. He was looking at my mouth when he closed the glass door.

"So I think I heard about that regret of yours." This brought his eyes up to meet mine. "You kissed your best friends fiancée?"

"I did. It cost me everything." The look on his face was one I thought only someone on death row could carry. "I've been prepared since I was six years old to be your husband, and I knew I was lucky. I knew it and couldn't wait to meet you." He closed his eyes, sighing, a very frustrated sound. "That was supposed to be over a year ago."

He started walking so I walked with him. "I was to only love you, and I've held true to that vow." Toryn looked into my eyes, and I blushed not knowing how to respond. "Brynn has offered herself to me continuously and I never wanted her. It was just that...." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "I heard you were dating and I was scared that I wouldn't kiss you the right way."

I stopped walking. "What?"

The color in his tan face changed to red. "I'd never kissed a girl before. I didn't want to disappoint you." I wasn't sure what to think of that.

"Why did you decide to kiss Brynn?"

"I don't know." He gripped his head with both of his hands. "She kept asking and I was stupid." He growled low in his chest. "Do you hate me?"

"Me?" I almost dropped the blanket. "No, I didn't even know you existed but I can see why Nicholas hates you." I felt like the rope in a game of tug of war between two angry boys. "Did you tell Nicholas that Brynn was after you?"

"No, I didn't want to hurt him and figured she'd get over her infatuation."

I nodded. "Who told him about the kiss?"

"I did."

My eyes opened big. "You did?"

That was honorable wasn't it?

"I lost alpha." He rocked in his shoes. "I want it back. I want you back."

I shrugged and felt my wet hair with my right hand. "I don't intend to honor a prearranged marriage, Toryn."

He smiled down at me. "We'll see about that in time." Toryn hugged me and released me leaving one arm still around me. "You don't know how much I've wanted to just hold you."

"Uh, Toryn-"

"Don't worry, that's all I was going to say." He still had his arm around me. "Did Isabeau tell you about the kiss?"

"No, it was Zorrin."

"Zorrin?" He hugged me closer. "Stay away from her, Piper." He looked around and then back at me. "She's no friend of yours. Trust me."

"Yeah, I figured that out." I scratched my chin. "Is she my mother?" I was already cringing inside.

He shook his head at me. "I can't tell you that." But his headshake was really exaggerated, and I smiled up at him. "You should tell Seraph that Zorrin came to see you. Zorrin is suspended from the gypsy way of life and from the clan."

"Why is she here?"

"Her daughter is to have the gypsy culture in her upbringing. So Seraph allows her to remain."

"Enjoying your walk?" Brea asked from beside one of the glass doors. "Toryn, you are not to be alone with Kellan. Alpha's orders." Toryn glared at Brea. "Piper, Seraph wants to see you."

My shirt was still wet. "I'll go change and then-"

"When your queen calls, you answer."

"Sweetheart, your body is beautiful. You shouldn't be too afraid to show it off."

"Pervert." I held tight to the blanket through his tugging on it. Brea gave me a no nonsense look I would not have guessed she was capable of.

"Scoot," she said and Toryn kissed my cheek surprising me and Brea from the look on her face. She grabbed my hand and led me back into the ballroom where Isabeau was back to scrubbing.

"What are you doing alone with Toryn?"

"Walking and talking." I stopped walking. "Are you my mother? Because if you aren't this is none of your business."

She yanked me along after her. "I'm your sponsor, which makes this my business regardless." Brea was strong and fast too. She ripped off the blanket and shoved me through a pair of double doors before I could protest. "Don't disappoint me. Any failure of yours will be counted against me as well."

Brea dropped the blanket in the hallway and we approached Seraph together. I inclined my head as Brea did. The quick peek I got at my shirt was enough to know it was close to dry, thank goodness.

"I am happy you've returned so quickly," Seraph said. "You have a lot to learn."

"About the Siths?"

"About many things." Her eyes sparkled at me, and it was impossible not to catch onto the excitement in the air. "To begin your gypsy life you will be studying with Benzea. He is the most skilled to teach you the ways of the earth."

The ways of the earth? How was this going to help me protect myself and my family from my father? He probably is even scarier looking than the black Siths I've seen.

"Your free time should be spent with your intended." Her tone was somewhat scolding and I wondered how she knew I'd been talking with Toryn.

Gypsy magic?

"In a few days' time you might be allowed to change your apprenticeship to another teacher if Benzea says you're ready." She was looking at my hair, and I had to hold onto the legs of my pants to keep from touching it.

"It is very possible that your father has found you. If he has he will be waiting for you to leave our protection. Therefore, you may not leave until you can protect yourself from him."

My mouth was completely dry. "How long will that take, exactly?"

"That all depends on you, Kellan." She looked past me and Brea and I both turned to see Brynn and two other young women entering. My body tensed immediately. "Good luck to you, Kellan."

"Thank you." I wanted to tell her about Zorrin, but I couldn't with Brynn in the room. Brea tugged on my elbow, so I followed her lead. Brynn was shooting daggers at me with her cruel eyes.

She leaned toward me as we began to pass her. "When he's kissing you he's picturing me," she whispered. My blood was instantly boiling. I prayed I managed to keep all this from showing on my face.

I forced myself to shrug. "But he's kissing me." Brynn's face glowed red and Brea pulled me along. When we were back in the hallway Nicholas was standing there, which meant he had just been standing there with Brynn. Zorrin's jab about Brynn's seconds surfaced in my mind and I glared at him.

One month ago he was engaged to Brynn. He had been angry enough about losing her to attack his best friend. Brynn was probably right. He probably was still thinking of her. I was merely a means for his revenge.

I looked to Brea. "How do I find this earth teacher?"

She nodded toward Nicholas. "You won't have much free time, Piper. I think you should have your intended show you to Benzea." I scowled at her and then raised my eyebrows at Nicholas.

"Let's go." His expression was not any lighter than mine. He grasped my hand and began to lead me through the long hallways. The pace he was using had me jogging behind. Nicholas took me out a back door that was like a jaw bridge. "You are trying my patience, Piper."

I met his gaze, and my lips puckered as I raised one shoulder and both eyebrows. "Was I not supposed to mention to Brynn that you've kissed me?"

"You smell like Toryn." He was facing me looking down at me. "You just ran off to be with him the second I left your room?"

"I'm not Brynn." His eyes grew darker. "I know it must be really hard to remember that since you've only just broken off your engagement with her." I went around him marching toward the houses I had not been able to see from the front of the house. There was an entire community back there. Where was I supposed to be going?

"If I was engaged to her today, I would have challenged Toryn for you."

"That's convenient."

"Yes, it is because now I don't have to. You are already promised to me."

I faced him to ask, "Then why are you still so angry with Toryn?"

A really round man on tiny legs with a bald head came out of his house that we were arguing in front of. "Shut up, you dumb kids." He shook his huge fist at us. His eyes were so tiny I couldn't tell if he was glaring at us or trying to focus on seeing us.

"Our apologies, Benzea."

"This is Benzea?" Nicholas nodded.

"I'll be back to pick you up. Try not to jump to any conclusions about Brynn and me. Just know that everything that I've said to you has been the truth." His shoulders fell when my expression didn't change. I felt disgusted and furious and from the looks of Benzea, so did he.
Chapter Twenty

I was in mud up to my elbows, literally, with this short large man angry at me for not knowing anything about gypsy earth luring. "You are not trying." His face was only a few inches from mine, and it was so red I was worried about him having a heart attack. "Close your eyes and tell it to grow."

My eyes closed, and I tried to ignore the smell of tuna fish on his breath.

How could anyone learn from this yelling grape? Grow you stupid seed.

"Feel the earth around your hands. What is it doing? How about the seed? Does it hear you?" I'm sure my skepticism was written all over my face. "Stop fighting it and forget what you think you know and listen to what you feel." He kept saying that to me repeatedly as if he thought I was suddenly going to have this epiphany and hear the earth talking to me.

"Just pull your hands out." He was glaring at me. His bottom lip had completely swallowed his top one. "Go and scrub my kitchen floor."

"What?"

"Scrub my kitchen floor."

"Why? I tried to hear the mud talk to me." His little feet tapped on the floor when he hurried toward me, and I flinched as he came to a stop just before bowling me over.

"This is not a question and answer period. Scrub my floor or get out." I turned toward the front door. "Course, I'll have to tell Seraph you don't really have it in you to be a gypsy."

"If I scrub your floor will you pass me?"

"It is against gypsy law to lie to another gypsy member. I can't do that. You'll have to talk to the earth before you can have me in your corner."

I put my hand on my hip. "So this floor scrubbing is just a perk?"

"Naw, you're lazy. It's to build up your resolve." He put his hand in front of my face as I opened my mouth. "Enough talk. Scrub my floor and clean my kitchen."

It was filthy. There was mud everywhere. Dried dirt clods were stacked on the countertop and red clay smeared across every surface. Each dirt clod weighed at least twenty pounds so I could only take a couple outside at a time. I must have been the first student of Benzea's to have to do this because a lot of the gypsies passing by stopped to watch me.

Embarrassment didn't stay with me. I was working on my fifteenth trip to dumping the dirt clods when Benzea told me I couldn't just put them on his dirt. I had to put them in the forestry several yards further on his property.

"How's it going?" Toryn asked as I lifted the first of the pile I'd made.

"Apparently you can't put dirt on dirt." He tried to take it from me but I didn't let him. "You'd better keep moving, Toryn. Every time I talk to you I get lectured by everybody."

He walked with me to the trees where I dumped the dirt clods. "Do you want to talk to me? I want to talk to you."

"I want to learn this culture thing and get back to my real life. I don't fit here. This isn't me."

"Of course it is. You just have to adjust." He was giving me a smile that warmed my insides in a comfortable familiar sort of way. "I will bring someone with me next time I seek you out. I'm allowed to talk to you if it's not alone."

I stomped back toward the dirt pile. "Why can't you put dirt on dirt? This is ridiculous." I stacked two into my right arm and turned back toward the trees. "What can you tell me about my mother?" He was the only one who had given me any clue at all with his head shake about Zorrin. "Have I met her yet?"

"Don't ask me questions, Piper. You smile when you get what you want and I love to see that smile. It's unfair."

I dropped the load and looked at him. "I have, haven't I?" I made sure to smile really big.

"Yes, you have. Now don't ask me anything else."

"Well, that means it's either Brea or Seraph right?"

"You've probably met other women in the clan here." I laughed at him when he looked a bit pale. "You really don't know which one it is with only two options?"

The back door cracked open and Benzea came stomping out. "Get off my land, Toryn. You can't be talking to her alone, or when she's supposed to be learning."

"She's still learning," he said to Benzea but got a fist shake in response. "Okay, I'm sorry." He winked at me and left. Benzea stayed outside and watched me haul the rest of the load to the trees. I went after the red clay when I got back in the kitchen and broke four nails trying to pry it from the surface of the refrigerator.

Hot water was the only way to budge the clay but even then it was clay again and very difficult to remove completely. The mud in his sink resembled black tar in almost every way. It probably was tar, and it could stay there for all I cared. I had cleaned his blasted floor and all of the countertops.

"I'm finished," I told him when I found him dumping potting soil into a clay pot. "You said the floor and it's clean."

"We'll see." He bent his finger at me and I came toward him. "Put your hands in." He gestured to the pot.

No, not this again.

I would not hear anything from dirt. I stuck my hands in thinking of the dark black dirt that had just sunk beneath my nail beds. "Listen," he yelled at me. I jumped and he glared at me repacking the dirt above my hands. "If you can't do it then your hands don't come out."

I tried. I really, really tried to tell the seed to grow, but if it was I couldn't see it. Benzea brought me a stool after a long period of time, and I sat there with my hands still in the pot waiting. Would I have to wait a week or something crazy like that?

How long did it take for seeds to sprout?

My hands were falling asleep but this was not a good enough reason to remove my hands from the dirt according to Benzea. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"How am I stubborn? I'm doing everything you ask me to do."

"You do nothing you are asked to do. You don't listen and you do not command." I could smell food cooking from the nearby houses. It was past lunchtime they were probably eating dinner. My stomach growled. "Oh, you are hungry?" I just glared at him. "You've got a lovely strawberry plant right in front of you. Grow it and eat up." He slammed his fist down on the surface.

"Hey, good idea. You've been yelling at me all day and it hasn't worked yet, but if you start breaking stuff well that will really get me in a plant growing groove."

"Marime."

"Yep, that's me." I still wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I was called it often enough that it must fit. "You have the manners of a pig and you decorate like one too."

He pulled the pot away from me. "You call me pig?" His voice was louder than before and that was a feat in and of itself.

"Yes, I call you pig." I tried to yell just as loud.

"Get out of my house."

"Well, here." I wiped my dirty hands on the back of one of his chairs. "I don't want to be accused of leaving with some of your best décor."

"Get out." I had to cover my ears to keep them from being damaged as I ran out his front door. Everyone outside was looking at me because Benzea was so loud they could all hear him. If he was their best, I knew I didn't want to meet the runner-up.

As it happens I'm used to people watching me so I didn't pay any of them any attention and was on my way back to the big white house. Benzea started shouting at me to come back. I stopped walking and turned back to look at him. He probably just wanted to yell at me some more. I'd be stupid to sign up for more punishment from him.

It surprised me when he started walking to me and I almost felt like I should run but I didn't. "I'm sorry."

"You are?"

"I didn't want you to learn, but then you wiped dirt all over my chair and I couldn't deny that I like you any longer." I took a step back. "Brynn's my niece."

"I see."

His head bowed like he was ashamed but he was smiling. "I will teach you now."

"You wasted my time? I carried _dirt_ for you." I pointed at him and he did not attempt to hide the joy my labors gave him.

"Come on." He led me back to his house and to the stinking pot I'd been stuck to for hours. "You don't need much teaching. You have a gift." I looked at the dirt and figured he was just trying to make up for yelling at me all day.

"Clear your mind. Go someplace that makes you feel safe and relaxed. Do you know a place like this?" I nodded picturing the sanctuary. "Now with confidence encourage the plant to grow."

"Uh? Please grow." The soil shifted under my hands, and I screamed jerking my hand away.

"It's growing." Benzea slapped his leg and his big stomach bounced with each booming laugh that came out of him.

"Grow." Green sprouts surfaced, growing as if put on fast forward. Every inch they grew somehow soothed my soul as if massaging away my stress. "Come on, keep growing." The big ripe red strawberries were the best I ever tasted.

"Well done, Kellan." He patted me on the top of my head. "I again apologize for trying to make you quit." He looked out his window. "I do so hate to see her cry."

Benzea went over to a bookcase and pulled out a giant book. "Read this and learn it. You must devote yourself to learning the techniques and different plants in the book. You never know what you might need to grow one day."

I accepted the book. He told me that I was done for the day and promised to give a good report to the queen. Knowing Benzea had been trying to make me quit was enough to keep me angry, but after the therapy of growing the strawberries I just couldn't be. I thanked him. Nicholas was outside waiting for me when I left Benzea's house.

"Interesting day you've had."

"You should grow something, it'll lighten you up." Nicholas took the big book for me and a big smile spread across his face.

"What did you grow?"

"A strawberry bush."

"Did you get any strawberries?" I nodded, and his smile grew even bigger. "That is amazing, Piper. On your first day?" My knees just about melted out from under me when he smiled at me like that. "I was worried Benzea was being too hard on you. I heard him yelling a lot." This would have been the perfect time to agree with him and complain against Benzea, but I didn't. I was already labeled by everyone in the clan as some kind of super spoiled Marime.

Walking with him I started thinking about Nicholas and Rick. Nicholas had not had any patience for Rick. Nicholas had protested, if not threatened with growling at him, whenever I had spoken to him and right and left I was finding Nicholas with Brynn.

"You look like you're getting mad again. What are you thinking about?"

"Rick."

"Why?" He blocked my path.

I wasn't hurting but I did still care about him, just as Nicholas still cared for Brynn. I had only been dating Rick and Nicholas had been engaged. I sighed. Brynn was nasty but there was no way he was over her. "I'd like some time to myself."

"Every time I leave you alone you meet up with Toryn."

"And you meet up with Brynn." We stared at each other, both of us angry.

"I do not seek out Brynn."

That was such a lame excuse.

I started walking away from him and the big house where no doubt Zorrin was lurking. Nicholas was talking in his gypsy language in an angry tone as he stomped along behind me. "I have already told you I don't want Brynn. What else can I do or say? How can I make you understand that _you_ are who I want?"

He spun me around and dropped the big book. "Look at me." His dark eyes were lighter with honey brown flecks in them. The hard expression he'd had on his face was gone. "It seems like we fight a lot more than we really need to."

"That's your fault."

He laughed. "You're so stubborn." Nicholas reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear and then left his hand there on my cheek and traced my cheekbone with his fingers. "You're headstrong and you think you're always right." I glared up at him, proving his point and putting my hands on my hips.

He didn't act at all intimidated or put off by my attitude and descended toward my mouth as he finished, "You jump to conclusions and you make me crazy." He kissed me, and I forgot what I was going to say. One arm encircled my waist, and the fingers on his other hand sank into my hair.

I swear I forgot my name and everything else. His heartbeat was beneath my hand resting on his chest, and it was beating at the same pace as my own. It seemed in that moment that I was right where I was supposed to be.

The kiss changed from a soft sensual heat to a branding fire. Nicholas fisted his hand in my hair and tilted my head back to meet the hunger he unleashed. He claimed my mouth completely. His tongue swept with mine, awaking my body to his as he pulled me even closer to him. I held onto him wanting so much to trust him and at the same time terrified that he could have such an effect on me.

My hands pushed against his chest, and I broke the kiss. Nicholas' face was a little red, but he was smiling. "You can't deny what you just felt, Piper." His arms were still securely around me.

"Let me go."

"Admit that you are just as crazy about me as I am for you."

No way am I doing that. What and join Brynn in pining after him?

"Need more convincing?"

His mouth was coming toward mine, and I panicked. "Okay, I'm crazy about you." Nicholas sighed and released me.

"That didn't count." I was just glad he realized that what I had said had been under duress. I am losing my mind here. Marrying Nicholas is not in my plans.

"You're showing that stubborn streak again." The evening light was diminishing and it made his five o'clock shadow look darker.

He was an amazing kisser. I had to admit that, at least to myself. And when he smiled at me after that kiss I felt my heart sing. When he looked at me like that I lost all doubt and felt like I could do anything. With his smile came mine. He reached for my hand I didn't hesitate to take his.

Looking at his mouth made me want to taste him again, to feel my body vibrate with anticipation and need.

" _Now_ you want to give me that look." Nicholas snatched the book out of the dirt and was hauling me toward the big white house. I was running but it must not have been fast enough because he picked me up and zoomed to the huge back door.

"Stay inside this house and don't come out tonight." He dropped the book on the floor just inside the door.

"Why not?"

"It'll be too dangerous. Trust me." He backed out the doorway and then was gone in the time it took me to blink.

"Close the door, Marime." Brynn closed the door pushing it from my fingers. "Looks like it's just you and me." She was looking at me like she was about to murder me. I picked up the book and hugged it to my chest. "I'm sick of playing these games with Nicholas. How about you?"

"Games?"

She rolled her eyes at me and then grimaced looking at my clothes. "Does your Marime mother dress you or did you pick out that boarding school outfit?" I took a few steps away from her. "He told me to meet him tonight at the gazebo."

"What?" I gripped the book tighter.

"He wants us to be together one last time."

She's lying!

"That's what he said the last time too. Nicholas is so competitive with Toryn he just can't let him have either of us."

"I'm supposed to believe you're with Toryn now?"

"It's like a fiancée swap kind of deal. Toryn and I are now arranged." She looked up and down the hallway. "I want Nicholas and he wants me too, he's just still angry with me."

I turned away from her and started for the stairs. Brynn was trying to trick me, that's what it was.

Well, I'm not falling for it.

"Do you know how desperate and pathetic you sound?" I asked giving her the look I gave to people who disgusted me.

"Hey, I just thought you might want to confront him with me and get it all out in the open. I guess I thought you had some kind of bravery sewn into your wannabe gypsy makeup. I'm meeting him in an hour, if you want to try and act like a woman instead of a little girl." I had reached the top of the stairs. I continued walking hoping I would be able to find my room.

My suitcase was empty. I found my clothes put away in the drawers and walk-in closet. Brea was probably the one who had done this. Everyone else wanted me to leave besides Isabeau, and I knew she hadn't done it because she was probably still scrubbing the ballroom floor.

The clock on my wall said it was six o'clock. Their supposed meeting was probably around seven, not that I believed her. It didn't occur to me that all I'd had for dinner was strawberries until I had the big book open on my bed and my stomach grumbled.

Someone knocked on my door. If it was Brynn I promised myself I would slam the door in her face.

Isabeau held a silver platter with a delicious smelling chicken breast, a green leafy salad and a dozen or so beautiful red strawberries. Isabeau's brown eyes were dim and her usual smile missing. I took the platter and set it on the table next to my door. "What's wrong?"

"I'm exhausted." She leaned against the door frame. "I scrubbed the entire floor and then polished it. My whole body hurts." Her eyelids were drooping as she spoke. "Brea and Seraph said congrats about the strawberries and missed you at dinner." She pointed toward the right. "I'm two doors down if you need anything."

"Thanks for bringing me dinner." I watched her stagger to her room. I bet she'd never pull that trick again. I shut the door and locked it before eating most of my dinner. I looked at the clock and was annoyed to find that it was only six thirty-three.

I lay back down on the bed on my stomach and started reading the giant book.

Flowers are the easiest to grow and once this art is mastered no seeds are necessary for growing most things. Bushes and ferns come next in basic earth luring.

I'll just read this and pass earth luring and keep pushing through until I'm free to go home. Then I'll forget all about Nicholas and stupid Brynn.

Trees are the most difficult and can only be lured by the most talented and skilled lurers of all, while herbs and smaller plants should be moderate in difficulty to many earth lurers. Earth manipulation has only been accomplished by two recorded thus far in gypsy history.

_What does it matter if they were hooking up right now? I don't care. I'm leaving._ The clock read 6:50 _. Nicholas probably isn't meeting her anyway._

It was 6:59. I got up and put on a pink sweatshirt. It was 7:02 when I left my bedroom. I knocked on Isabeau's door and didn't get an answer. I opened the door and was surprised when I found her sprawled across her bed still wearing the same clothes she'd been cleaning in all day. "Isabeau?" She was drooling heavily. I reached out and shook her shoulder. Her eyes opened lazily. "Sorry to wake you-"

"Kellan?"

"I need your help."

She grinned at me. "You got it." Her eyes started drifting closed.

"I need your help now." I pulled her into a sitting position. "Is it okay to go outside tonight?" She was squinting at me and I repeated the same question twice before she said, "Okay."

"Are you sure? It's not dangerous outside?"

"Yes let's go already." I helped her stand up. "Why are we going outside again?" I retied her shoelaces and she still looked groggy though she was on her feet.

I opened the door, and we walked out into the hallway. "Brynn said she had a secret meeting with Nicholas at the gazebo."

"No way." Her eyes opened wide.

"She did and she also insinuated that this was the second time they were having a 'one last time' meeting. I want to see if it's true."

"Me too." She chewed her lower lip. "Follow me." Isabeau didn't take me any special way. We went out the back door. "That must be why she left dinner early, she's definitely got it in her to go after Nicholas." I didn't see anybody walking about.

_Maybe Isabeau and I shouldn't have come out_.

"You know Nicholas better than I do. Would he be meeting Brynn?"

"Honestly? I think he might. He and Brynn weren't prearranged. They chose each other, so at some point he must have loved her. Maybe he wants answers?" I didn't know where the gazebo was, but we were leaving the village and walking into a forest.

I tried to prepare myself for what we would find. If it was Nicholas and Brynn locked in a passionate embrace, so be it. At least I would know, though I might try fighting them both even if my odds of injuring either were rock bottom.

We hadn't even made it to the gazebo and I already felt like I'd lost Nicholas. I had assumed they had been arranged and that had been hard enough to swallow.

He chose her?

"So, you think Nicholas still loves her?"

"I don't know about that but why else would he not be spending the evening with you? Didn't he tell you where he was going?"

I could see the gazebo up ahead and there was movement inside. "No. He told me to stay inside the house because it's dangerous out here." Isabeau stopped walking and looked up at the night sky.

"Nicholas told you to stay in the house?"

"Yes." I was pretty sure I could make out Brynn in the gazebo.

"Have you seriously led me out here when there's a full moon?" She was squeezing all the blood from my fingers. "Oh Pipey, we are going to die." I looked up but couldn't see the moon through the tree tops.

"What happens when it's a full moon?" Isabeau started backing up. "Wait, look there is something in the gazebo. Maybe it's Nicholas and Brynn."

"The hell it is. Brynn isn't out here. She loves herself too much to be suicidal." Her voice quivered. "The werewolves come out with the full moon."

"They come out when it's not a full moon too I've seen Nicholas do it."

"When it's a full moon they have no control of their werewolf. They're all wild and unaware of what they're doing." We turned back toward the village. "Why didn't you tell me he said it was dangerous?"

"Well, I asked you if it was dangerous." I tried to speed up our pace but Isabeau made us walk slowly.

Her footsteps were silent. "You are the worst cousin ever. You've led me to my death." The wind kicked up just then, but that wasn't what we heard. The werewolves were howling. It was a sound that was completely wild, and it wasn't far away.
Chapter Twenty-One

"Every full moon they go insane and you keep them with you?" I asked and Isabeau glared at me.

"They were locked up on full moons. Well, they were until you were born."

"What?"

"Your father was a gypsy and when he lost his gypsy blood he forgot many things, but not that we are vulnerable on nights with a full moon. We're forced to allow two to three werewolves to remain free to guard our land from the Baobhans. They won't leave our land because they won't leave their pack."

I glared back at her. "Yes, clearly my being born made all this happen."

"I didn't mean that," Isabeau said but I didn't pay any attention to her because I heard a familiar whooshing sound that made my fingers grow cold.

"Which one is she?" Came that horrible echoing voice.

Isabeau and I both turned around still holding onto one another and faced toward the gazebo. Two men were coming toward us. They looked like regular men in this light, except for their black eyes. If it weren't for that echoing voice I might not have known they were black Siths. There was blood on their faces, around their mouths.

Did they kill Brynn?

"Come on." I hadn't realized that Isabeau was pulling me. Two more came out of the gazebo, and I could see a bloodied heap of fur inside and on the floorboards of the gazebo. "Duncan?" Isabeau stopped pulling me when she saw it too.

Was it Nicholas? Was it Toryn?

"See her eyes?" One of the black Siths pointed at me. They were all around us. "Just like her father's eyes." Isabeau cut herself and then hugged me. The black Siths started hissing, their teeth grew long and they stopped looking at me.

"The werewolves will come when they smell spilled gypsy blood," Isabeau said into my ear. The blood from the deep scratch was soaking into the stomach of my sweatshirt.

"Won't the werewolves kill us all?"

She was shaking as much as I was. "They'll pick their natural enemy first, the Siths."

"The Siths want your blood, Isabeau."

"They're not sure which of us is Seraph's daughter."

I looked at her as her words filtered in past my fear. "Seraph's daughter?"

The giant werewolves came out of nowhere and were drawing the black Siths attention away from us. The black Siths piled onto a huge black werewolf I was sure was Nicholas. The other werewolf was brown like Toryn's sandy colored hair and it was covered in black Siths too. Isabeau was pulling me away toward the houses again. The brown werewolf fell, and I screamed out.

"We have to get you to safety."

"Where are the other werewolves?" She stopped pulling me. "This way." We raced through the dark. I stayed with Isabeau though she was faster than me by a long shot. I saw her hop but I didn't see the six inch tall metal rim sticking up out of the ground and tripped onto Isabeau, making us both fall onto the metal cage trap door in the earth.

The werewolves were going insane down there. They rammed the door and tried to get at us through the small openings of the cage door. We got up quickly. We could still hear the battle between the Siths and the two werewolves. "They'll probably kill us when we open it," Isabeau said. One of the werewolves in battle moaned a sound of terrible pain.

"Let's do it." I slid the bars out of the slots, as did Isabeau. When we freed the last one the door flew open and Isabeau was pinned beneath it. I held my breath lying on my back where I had landed several feet away. Werewolves shot past me. I didn't move until I was sure they were all gone. The cage door was still on top of Isabeau.

I scrambled to my feet and grabbed the door. It wasn't budging. Isabeau wasn't moving beneath the weight of the door. I couldn't tell if she could breathe. Her eyes were closed.

"What do I do?" I lay down and tried to push it up with the strength of my legs. It didn't work. I got onto my hands and knees. "Isabeau, wake up. Help me. You've got to move," I pleaded, tapping the knee that was sticking out. I thought I heard her make a noise. "Come on help me get you out." The earth seemed to be opening up beneath her. She was sinking.

I grabbed her leg thinking she was going to be swallowed up but suddenly she was sucking in air and coughing. "Help me push," I told her when she looked at me. The sounds of battle behind me were gone. "Hurry." She strained against the gate. I stood up and lifted with my legs. The gate was rising.

As soon as Isabeau started to shimmy out she stopped helping me support the weight. I cut into my lower lip with my teeth trying to keep it from crashing down on her. "Help me." She pushed it as she climbed out, and I heard growling behind us as I dropped the door. Isabeau was out and clutching her side.

They towered above us. Isabeau wouldn't look at them, and I wasn't sure if that was because she was afraid or because they wouldn't like it. We could not out run them. None of them were coming at us yet.

Would they let us go?

"They're waiting for the alpha to come. Then they are going to kill us for trespassing." The werewolves all were parting, and I knew the alpha was coming forward and I looked around praying for a way out.

"When I count to three we are going to grab the trap door and drop down into that underground cage."

Isabeau stepped back slowly. "We'll never make it."

"One, two-" They were crouching.

"Piper!"

"Three!" We grabbed the heavy gate and pulled it with everything we had. I was still hanging from it when it banged shut. I reached through and slid one of the bar locks in place but was not fast enough to pull it back unscathed. One of the werewolves had been trying to dig through the door and my right hand was bloodied and felt as though someone had shoveled out a piece of it.

I ripped my sweatshirt's right sleeve off and then tied my bleeding hand. Isabeau watched me. She wasn't talking or reacting to the frenzy above ground still going on. They were digging trying to find a way in to get us. I felt like I was trapped inside a terrible nightmare. Any second they would break in and we'd be ripped to shreds.

"I'm sorry I drug you out here, Isabeau." She didn't respond, and I didn't know for sure if she could hear me over the sounds the werewolves were making. Looking around the huge cage room, I found that that was all it was. There was no sink or bathroom.

We waited, and no one came.

Once I finally stopped bleeding most of the werewolves lost interest in trying to kill us but did not leave the perimeter. No one came looking for us. They probably thought we were asleep in our rooms. The night was not quick in its passing. Isabeau eventually broke her silence to sob uncontrollably. I did my best to comfort her but nothing I said helped her or got through to her.

I knew why she was crying, it was the heap of fur in the gazebo. It wasn't Nicholas or Toryn. I had spotted them trying to come into our cage to kill us. I had not forgotten how I felt when I had believed it might have been Nicholas or Toryn. I didn't know Duncan very well but when I had seen him he had been so polite and sweet. I had seen Isabeau with him and seen how much they loved each other.

The sorrow was so strong in Isabeau that I couldn't help but cry with her. We cried ourselves to exhaustion. I was still supporting Isabeau's weight when I heard the bar lock slide out. The trap door opened with a metal yawn. By the time I got to my feet. Nicholas dropped in and the early morning sunlight with him.

He had dried blood caked on the left side of his torso. His eyes traveled up and down my body before he reached for me. I didn't mean to flinch, but I did. Nicholas didn't miss it, but he grabbed me anyway and pulled me into his embrace.

He kissed me with desperation and force. I could feel the fear he had radiating from him.

Toryn dropped in next and didn't look any better off than Nicholas. He watched as Nicholas picked me up and carried me in his arms. "Get Isabeau," Nicholas commanded and Toryn obeyed. Nicholas jumped out of the deep cage and landed on the surface. The pack stood with their faces averted and there was no more hoping to be had. I knew then that Duncan was dead.

Nicholas and Toryn moved across the land as though it were catapulting them toward the big house. There were many members of the clan waiting, standing outside of the house. Most of them were crying. Brea grabbed Isabeau from Toryn and squeezed her to her breast crying. She prayed aloud, thanking God for preserving her baby.

They were ushered away immediately upon Isabeau's non-responsiveness. Nicholas set me down in front of Seraph. Her face was wet and her eyes were red. "Why did you venture out of the house last night?" I stared at her thinking, _this woman is my mother_.

The queen of the gypsies had sold me away when she had a compound of safety around herself. Those creatures that had killed Duncan last night had been free to find me for years.

"Answer me." More tears spilled from her angry eyes. "You left the safety of this house when you were told not to do so. Why didn't you listen to Nicholas?"

I looked at Nicholas and inadvertently at Toryn as well. Most of the clan was still present and they were all waiting to hear what I would say. I straightened my back and faced Seraph. "Brynn told me that she was meeting Nicholas at the gazebo. I wanted to see if it was true for myself."

"Brynn?" Seraph's gaze found her instantly in the crowd as Brynn came to stand beside me in between Nicholas and myself. "Is what Kellan said true?"

"I said we secretly met at the gazebo. I did not tell her I was meeting him last night." She turned toward me. "I am truly sorry you misunderstood me." She looked at Nicholas. "I'm sorry I broke my promise in keeping our secret."

Nicholas didn't argue or protest so I jumped in. "I did not misunderstand you Brynn, and you know it. You said that we could go and confront him together but I didn't trust you enough to go with you so I asked Isabeau to go with me." I looked at Seraph. "Isabeau didn't realize there was a full moon until it was too late. I didn't mean to endanger her."

"Did anyone else hear her say this to you?"

"No."

Seraph turned her angry piercing gaze on Nicholas. "You have been meeting Brynn in secret?"

"I have not met with her once since Piper has arrived. It was only one-"

"And this one meeting consisted of what?"

"Brynn wanted me to forgive her for betraying me."

Seraph looked from Brynn and back to him. "Then why was it secret?"

Nicholas stiffened and lowered his gaze. "I find it shameful that I wanted to speak with her after her betrayal. It is shameful that I cared at all why she did what she did."

"Brynn?" I looked at her too when Seraph called on her. "Is this the truth? Was there more to your secret meeting than revealed here?" She glared at me and I back at her. I wanted to rip her apart.

"I dare not speak against what the alpha has said. I choose punishment in lieu of speaking against the alpha." She looked at Nicholas. "My love."

My insides were drenched in jealousy. Looking around I grabbed the first thing I saw, a broken discarded plastic kids sand bucket and hit her in the face with it. Gasps and low volume laughter traveled through the clan.

I stood there with the bucket smiling at her insulted expression and didn't care what the consequences would be.
Chapter Twenty-Two

Duncan's funeral began. Isabeau sat with his parents and they mourned undisturbed by the rest of the clan. The wolf pack honored him and the beautiful things that were said about him made us all cry. Candles were lit and placed all around him from each member of the clan. Seraph said it was to help light his way to the gates of heaven.

I had not spoken a word to anybody since I knocked Brynn on her back and was not allowed to as was a part of my punishment for raising my hand against a member of the clan. Brynn and Nicholas were awaiting punishment because I was to have a say in what should be done as I was the party wronged, but I wasn't allowed to talk.

The three of us were not allowed around one another until I was excused from my punishment of silence. I couldn't get close enough to thump Brynn's bruised nose or kick Nicholas in his goods for caring about the she-devil who had tried to have me killed.

Isabeau had locked herself up in her room and had only come out to attend Duncan's funeral. I felt so guilty about her having to see what she did and having been hurt as she was. The gate that had pinned her to the ground had broken two of her ribs.

Brea never left her side. She stayed with Isabeau and was shedding two tears for every one that fell from Isabeau's eyes. Seraph watched me throughout the funeral, and I wondered what she was thinking. Did she wish that I had never returned? Did she hate me for not wanting to know who she was?

I followed Brea and Toryn when they took Isabeau to her room, and I stood outside my bedroom door waiting for Toryn to leave her chamber. As soon as he saw me he grabbed me and hugged me. "Are you alright?" He asked. I nodded. "Can I get you anything?" I shook my head. "I've been so worried about you. I'm so sorry Brynn tricked you. _I_ should have made sure you knew about the full moon."

Not being able to speak I just shrugged and shook my head. I pointed to Isabeau's door. "She is heartbroken but that isn't your fault. The black Siths were the ones that killed Duncan. They would have killed Nicholas and I too if you hadn't freed the rest of the pack." He smiled at me. "You saved my life, Piper." He was descending toward me. His eyes were on my lips. Toryn stopped right before he reached them and drew back wearing a tight smile.

"Sorry." He shook his head as if clearing it. "Isabeau will pull through this. She's always been strong. Give her time and you'll see." He looked toward her door and then back at me. "I'd better go. I don't want to get you in anymore trouble." He wrinkled his nose at me. "You still haven't answered for disobeying the alpha and endangering a gypsy princess."

I wanted to ask him if my aunt Brea was upset with me, but I couldn't. I watched him walk away, and I retreated into my room. Nicholas grabbed me the second I was inside.

He shut my door by pushing me up against it as he kissed me.

I wanted to hate him, but after seeing Isabeau cry for Duncan all I could think about when he was kissing me was how scared I had been that the dead werewolf had been him.

I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I thought you'd been killed. Don't ever do that again," he said before kissing me senseless again. He broke the kiss to say, "The one meeting was before I met you. I have no desire to be anywhere alone with her now. I hope you realize this."

I crossed my arms. "It would have been better to hear that when Brynn was announcing it to everyone."

"You aren't supposed to be talking." I raised my eyebrows at him. "She embarrassed her family with her actions, and when I speak against Brynn it affects her family as well."

" _You're_ breaking rules Mr. Alpha. You aren't supposed to be anywhere near me."

He smiled through tired eyes. "I couldn't stay away."

I went and sat on my bed crossing my ankles. "I didn't know that when you were engaged to Brynn that you had chosen her. You must have really loved her." I fingered the crease on the skirt of my dress waiting to hear his response.

"I loved who she pretended to be." He immediately started shaking his head. "That was when I thought I knew what love was. I didn't."

I licked my lips and touched my heated face with my fingertips. "I don't think it's a good idea to start throwing the love word around. Didn't you learn anything from your relationship with Brynn?"

"You know in gypsy culture inviting your intended into your room and sitting on the bed is a very clear invitation." Actually, that was probably a very clear invitation in every culture, but I didn't tell him that.

I tilted my head to the side. "But I didn't invite you in here."

"And I just thought you should know that I can wait until you do."

"What makes you so sure I will?" A sturdy knock sounded on my door and Nicholas and I both jumped.

"Kellan? It's Seraph. I know you can't answer me."

"Get under my bed." I pointed to the floor.

"I'm coming in okay?" Nicholas rolled under my bed just as she opened my door. I was standing on my knees in the center of the bed. "Did I surprise you?"

I shrugged and lowered myself back to my original sitting position. "I wanted you to know that I can't punish Brynn for tricking you into leaving the house." I folded my arms. "There is no proof and I can't show favoritism even if I do believe you." Her green eyes were searching mine. "I do believe you, Kellan." She moved closer to the bed. "May I?" She gestured at a spot on the bed. I nodded.

"She will be punished for refusing to answer my questions." I smiled and saw her fight to keep her face straight. "I suppose by now you know that you were once prearranged to Toryn?" I nodded. "It was decided that due to Toryn's betrayal you should be given a faithful partner." She smoothed her dress over her knees. "Nicholas was believed to have this quality of faithfulness and loyalty. Do you believe this to be true?"

I nodded and saw her long, dark lashes flutter downward towards the floor. "Nicholas? Do you uphold these qualities?" I pressed my lips together and felt my eyes grow wide. "I asked you a question."

"Yes, my queen." He crawled out and hung his head, not looking at either of us.

"I believe you were told to stay away from Kellan for now."

His face was red. "Yes, my queen."

"Leave us." He obeyed, and I readied myself for her reproach. "I am very pleased with you, Kellan. You have saved the pack from destruction by coming to the aid of Nicholas the alpha. Your courage will be celebrated." She was smiling so brightly at me and I could feel my soul delight in her attention and show of love.

"Isabeau helped too."

"Yes, I know." She raised her pointer finger to her mouth. "You too have disobeyed your queen. You've been speaking with Nicholas." I didn't say anything, I just looked at her not sure if the truth would be the best in this moment. She didn't ask me though so I just stayed still waiting. "Silence is a gift you should give yourself. I will speak to you tomorrow eve and we will discuss the punishment of Brynn and Nicholas." She stood and started toward my bedroom door. I tried to groan and no sound came out. Seraph turned back toward me her eyes were wet. "I could not be more grateful that you live still, Kellan."

Instead of considering what I felt after Seraph, my mother, had expressed her concern for me I texted Sidney since I couldn't call her.

Miss u n luv u Grandma. How r u? How is Deception? R u safe?

A reply message came about fifteen minutes later, and I wondered if she was disappointed that I had not troubled myself to call her.

I miss you more. We are both good and safe. Love you always. Be good. Your Grandma Sidney.

Grandma Sidney was always so formal in her texts. I smiled to myself missing her even more. Love me always she had.

I put the cell phone on the nightstand next to my bed and froze when I heard footsteps outside my bedroom door. I hurried over and pulled it open and found Brea standing there with red swollen eyes and a tight expression on her face. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was and ask her if I could go and see Isabeau, but I couldn't speak.

Tears ran down my face as we stared at each other. She wiped a tear from my face and then continued down the hallway. I watched her until she took a turn toward the stairs and out of my sight.

I closed my door still standing in the hallway and listened. I could hear nothing so I went into the vacant room between Isabeau's room and mine. I could hear her crying.

It was getting louder and then there was crashing, and I went into the hallway and tried her door handle. It was locked. I knocked, but she didn't open the door. She was yelling and more things were crashing. I heard glass shatter and hated how useless I felt.

Going back into the vacant room and opened up the window. There was a small ledge there, much too small to stand on and the balcony in Isabeau's room was too far to jump to.

"Take me too. I want to die." I heard her scream and more glass shattered. I went back out into the hallway and pounded on the door. The room fell silent, and I panicked.

What if she did something stupid?

I pounded on the door again but there was no response. It was too quiet.

There was no one in the hallway and no one in sight or within hearing distance. I couldn't just stand here and wait and see. I ran back through the vacant room and climbed out on the tiny ledge.

_This is insane_.

I would never make the jump. My heart pounded, and my hands were instantly soaking as I looked down from the three story ledge. I don't know if I could actually hear her whispering on the wind or if I was so terrified that I imagined her voice whispering, "I'm coming Duncan, wait for me."

_Please make it_.

I jumped, launching myself from a surface that in that moment felt much bigger. I didn't land on her balcony, and my silent scream tore at my throat as I caught myself with my left hand on a bar of the balustrade. I was dangling and slipping.

My right hand found a grip and I tried again to scream for help but the blessing of silence was still upon me. I didn't have the strength to lift myself up onto the balcony with my arms. I tried to swing my foot up so I could use my legs, but I couldn't get a foot hold.

Help me!

I almost let go when I heard my own voice on the wind.

I'm going to fall!

"Piper!" Nicholas was sticking his head out of my bedroom window. He dropped out and my palms slipped away from the bar. My fingertips were all that was holding me and when the glass doors to the balcony opened my fingertips slipped, and I was falling.

Isabeau was screaming.

Strong arms encircled me. Catching me and propelling me back up toward Isabeau and onto her balcony. I was alive and so was Isabeau.

She hugged me, and we both cried while Nicholas demanded to know why I had tried to kill myself. I couldn't answer him, and even if I could I didn't want to out Isabeau, who had whispered to me twice that she was so sorry.

When Seraph and Brea were let into Isabeau's room, I was taken to my room. Seraph was furious wanting to know how I could have been so stupid. She cried the entire time she yelled at me, and I just listened. Not that I could talk if I wanted to. Isabeau would have to out herself.

Anytime now, Isabeau.

Brea and Nicholas came in a few minutes later and Brea hugged me crying while Nicholas whispered to Seraph. I hugged Brea back knowing that although I already loved Isabeau like a sister, Brea loved her as a real mother should. She thanked me and was crying so hard it took both Seraph and Nicholas to help her from my room.

Isabeau was sitting at her dresser looking into a shattered mirror when I entered her room. "Duncan is probably never going to forgive me for almost doing something so stupid." She looked at me and stood up. "I can't believe you tried to jump onto my balcony." Her brown eyes filled with tears again. "I can't believe I was being such a selfish idiot."

I hugged her wishing that Grandma Sidney was there with the perfect thing to say. We sat together for a while, and Isabeau told me funny stories about Duncan. She said she was glad we had been there to save the others, and I was so grateful for the relief of guilt Isabeau granted me.
Chapter Twenty-Three

Ecstatic is the closest word I could think of to describe the sheer joy in Benzea that I was unable to say a word as punishment. Nicholas was really enjoying it too having kissed me almost every step of the way to Benzea's house that morning. Apparently, he was allowed in my presence. I couldn't ask him to find out. I was remembering his addictive lip locks when Benzea turned a bright pink.

"Young _lady_." His eyes were wide in surprise. "Such thoughts to be whispered on the wind. I would not have thought you would-" He cut himself off as his tiny eyes grew to their maximum. "You are a _wind whisperer_." He clapped his hands on my cheeks.

"Do you know what this means?" I couldn't shake my head because he was still holding my face. "I'll tell Seraph." He ran into his kitchen, and I sat at the work table waiting for him to come back.

Benzea's face was damp from the scrubbing he had just given it. "Go outside and try to grow something to amaze me." He chuckled to himself while he pushed me out his front door. "I am hard to amaze. Prove to me you've been studying my most valued book." His tiny legs moved quickly as he went toward the big white house.

I sat down in his backyard.

Isabeau was a wind whisperer too, I had heard her yesterday. I wondered how far wind whispering traveled. Did everyone know that I loved the way that Nicholas kissed me?

I put my hands on the earth. I couldn't think of anything impressive, and Benzea had been determined not to be impressed anyway. I grew a blackberry bush and was eating berries impressed with myself. I sang Christmas songs in my head while I popped several more berries into my mouth.

I heard Brynn's annoying voice coming from the street in front of Benzea's house and grimaced. She was talking to Toryn. "I hope you _do_ get stuck with her. She's a freak. She'll kill herself right after the wedding _if_ you're lucky."

"You should seek the company of someone who wants it."

"If you continue to speak so rudely to me, I will be forced to let Seraph know that you are shaming my family's gift of me to you." Toryn lost the mean grin he'd been wearing and looked in my direction. "I am to teach the art of alluring. I'm asking you to with walk me." I watched him grind his teeth and furiously walk with her as she continued to chatter on.

How could have Nicholas ever wanted her?

I couldn't help but feel bad for Toryn. The kiss he had given her was going to cost him his happiness for the rest of his life. That was much too harsh. I backed up right into a giant cactus and yipped, albeit silently.

What the devil did Benzea have such a mean looking cactus for?

I sat next to the blackberry bush and cursed Benzea's name. What was taking him so long? I was roasting alive under the hot sun.

"What are you doing?" Toryn asked. I tried to get the bush to grow an overhang. I fanned myself, and he grinned. "I know just how to fix that." He led me to this waterfall that emptied into a deep swimming hole. "Well?"

At last I wasn't wearing white. I jumped into the water and when I came up I saw Toryn smiling down at me wearing just shorts, the rest of his clothes having been removed and tossed to the side. I had been so hot I hadn't even considered taking off my shoes.

Toryn dove in and came up right in front of me. "Want to see something cool?" I just smiled, not sure if I should. "Ready?" He spread his hands out and the water began to swirl around us. It sucked me into the circular rotation and right into Toryn. "Amazing huh?"

I nodded and tried to swim backwards to put some space between us but he just came with me. "I hope you didn't hear Brynn earlier. I saw you standing on the side of Benzea's house." I nodded and he looked up at the sky in an, oh crap, sort of way and then back at me. He smiled really big when he was embarrassed.

"We are very family oriented in the gypsy culture. Being very protective is just the way we are so when we act in a way that offends a clan member, especially one who has been gifted to you, it is a show of great disrespect." He backed up. "I uh... was standing near Benzea's house earlier today and heard something myself."

I looked around at the surroundings trying to will away the heat that shot to my face.

He heard my voice on the wind? Heard me thinking about Nicholas' kisses?

"I think that before you can deem him the best kiss you've ever had, I should get a shot at it." I heard growling and couldn't tell where it was coming from until Toryn looked to the left of me towards land. "Isn't that right, Nick?"

"I can't help but notice you've just got to have a kiss from every woman I am promised to." Toryn left the water and went face to face with Nicholas. Both hunched their shoulders, and their expressions were dark. I climbed out of the water and gained the attention of them both as my shoes spewed water with a slurping sound at my every step.

The best thing I thought to do would to be to ignore them. I walked right past them both and headed back toward Benzea's house. I created mud in the dirt every time my shoes gushed. I was starting to feel like a clown with big mud shoes. I didn't look back behind me, and I didn't hear fighting anymore so I hoped this meant ignoring their spectacle had ended it.

Seraph and four other adult gypsies including Benzea were waiting for me in the backyard.

Is it just me or am I constantly getting wet whenever it is the most inopportune time?

They were all looking at me in either disgust, surprise or a mixture therein. Seraph came toward me, and I tried to squeeze some water from my shirt.

"Your silence need not continue," she said.

"Thank you," I said more because I wanted to see if I had my voice returned to me and then I was laughing because I was really happy to have it back.

"You grew this?" Benzea pointed to the cactus. "It's magnificent."

Seraph took off her cloak and draped it around me. It was a soft velvety texture. "Why a cactus?" When she looked into my eyes like she was doing right then I was filled with the urge to run. It was bizarre to think about. Harold had physically hurt me, and he had it in him to do much worse and I never ran from him.

Seraph averted her gaze suddenly, and I thought I saw moisture filling her eyes before she turned away.

"Kellan." One of the men stepped forward. He had a long bushy beard that was black and a big, round nose that was almost cartoonish. "That wind whispering talent of yours needs to be practiced right quickly. You'll learn to control it." I looked at Seraph realizing what he meant.

She had heard my comparing her to Harold? Wow, I hated this talent gift crap. Was it something I could refuse?

"I will teach you to wind whisper," Blackbeard told me. "You may call me Barthow." I shook his hand and tried to keep my mind clear. He pointed to the young woman next to Benzea. "She will teach you to tame the fire." She inclined her head slightly, a pleasant smile on her face. Her hair was red like mine.

"There are many things for you to learn," Madric said, stepping toward me into the place Barthow had just left. "If you are ambitious enough I can begin to teach you alluring and water wielding. I can teach you after you've learned from Benzea, Barthow and Minerva."

"I don't think the art of alluring will be necessary for Kellan, Madric." This meant one less thing on my to-do list, but I wanted to learn alluring. The stone like expression on Seraph's face kept me from asking her why she had said it wasn't necessary for me.

"Very well," Madric answered her. "You will split your time evenly among us." He squeezed my shoulder in an affectionate way. "The gypsy way of life is embracing you. We hope you will embrace it and your clan in turn." I smiled not quite sure what I was supposed to say at that point.

Everyone left including Benzea, who told me I had indeed amazed him. Only Seraph and I remained in Benzea's backyard.

"You never did tell me why you chose a cactus."

"I didn't. It just grew."

"Ah." She nodded with a smile on her lips. "You were jealous." I was shaking my head, but she ignored my denial. "Of who I wonder?"

_If I was jealous then that meant I was jealous of Brynn? Yuck, that was knowledge I could have lived without_.

"We need to pick a suitable punishment for Brynn and Nicholas." My head was full of punishments for Brynn all in an instant. "They will suffer the same punishment, so make sure it is fitting."

That information took a lot of the fun out of it. "How long do I have to think of something?"

"Not long. You were supposed to have been considering this matter. I'll give you until we reach our home." We started walking toward the big house. Everyone was smiling at us. They looked at Seraph with so much love. It was the kind of love that was earned, not expected.

"So have you decided? They should both be waiting inside to receive their punishments." We were already back at the house. How could I have completely spaced on what I was supposed to have been thinking about? "I have confidence that you will act with justice and a forgiving heart."
Chapter Twenty-Four

Seraph never mentioned to me that the entire family of Brynn's and of Nicholas would also be present to hear the penalty they would be receiving. Brea was there with her arm around Isabeau who, although not back to herself, was much better than when I'd visited with her last night. Toryn was standing near Isabeau and looking incredibly pleased.

"Nicholas." Seraph nodded at him. "Brynn." She looked out at their families and then at me. I swear I could feel her nervousness, and it was contagious. "Because it was an offense against Kellan, I have allowed her to select the repercussion of your actions." She looked at me and so did everyone else.

I still hadn't come up with a punishment and everyone was waiting. "Okay, so for your act of secrecy you...." I glanced around and prayed for inspiration. I leaned to one side and more water gushed out of my shoe. Looking at Nicholas, I couldn't think of what he was even being punished for. He had done nothing. Brynn was a she-devil and deserved to be hit with another bucket at the very least.

Someone cleared their throat and I looked around again. I met Toryn's gaze and remembered what his punishment was for kissing Brynn and I got an idea. "Your consequence for being secretive is that the promised partners you are to marry may opt out at any time before marriage without offense being given to your families."

Toryn and I were the only two smiling in the room. Everyone broke out into angry sounding gypsy gibberish. Brea and Isabeau looked around with worry, while Seraph's face turned red. Nicholas was soothing his mother while his father glared at me. It sucked that no matter how hard I willed Nicholas to look at me he wouldn't.

Was it so terrible to save Toryn from a lifetime of misery?

The arguing and fighting went on for a few more long minutes before Seraph asked everyone to be silent.

"The punishment has been given and cannot be undone." Seraph turned toward me. "You disobeyed the alpha, your promised one, and must answer for this." Her eyes were cold like stone. "You also raised your hand against a clan member after promising me you wouldn't."

Her right hand raised up pointing towards Nicholas and Brynn. "Your manner of dealing with them was harsh, heartless and so you can be dealt with no more mercy than you have shown them."

No mercy? Heartless? She was talking about me?

"Giving their promised ones a choice is heartless? How is it so heartless? The only reason her family is all angry with me is because they know no one is ever going to want that snake for a wife. And the only reason they're mad," I stated as I pointed at Nicholas' family, "is because I've taken back the promise my birthmother had no right to give away. If I marry Nicholas it will be because I gave him _my_ promise."

Seraph's eyes were no longer unreadable. They were filled with anger that boiled into rage. "No matter what you want to believe it will never change the fact that I am your mother. You are my daughter and I have every right to protect you in every aspect of your life.

"For disobeying the alpha you will be his family's servant and obey their every command until they release you. For raising your hand against a member of this clan for the second time you will put your apprenticeship on hold for three days and spend your free time serving and bonding with Brynn."

This was such bull crap. She was punishing me for standing up for myself.

My hands were fisted and shaking at my sides. "If making me your clan's gypsy slave is your way of teaching me anything, I should take this moment to thank you for selling me to that man beast, Harold. He was obviously better qualified."

"Get out of my sight."

I didn't have to look around to know everyone there hated me, including Seraph. I didn't wait to be told twice. From years of training and conditioning I straightened my back, cleared my face and put my fake non-feeling smile in place. "My pleasure." My shoes squished with each step I took out of the ballroom.

Zorrin was outside the door and I almost bumped into her when I passed through it. "Wow, well done."

I kept walking and ignored my stinging eyes and aching throat. She had called me heartless and so, maybe she was right. When I got to my room, I closed the door. I was pacing.

There was so much freaked out energy just racing through me. There was no way I could be still. I walked my room hundreds of times before I ended up sitting on the bed, waiting.

Isabeau came and didn't knock, she just came right in. "What were you thinking?" The door slammed shut behind her. "You've just insulted the entire clan. You've spit on our traditions and way of life. You compared our queen to a man beast and came out saying a man beast was better than her."

"I did not insult _every_ member of the clan. I just gave the decision back to whom it should belong-"

She threw her hands up over her head. "That is not our tradition. It is not our way of life."

"You see it that way because you loved Duncan. Do you think Toryn deserves Brynn?"

"Maybe he does. What do you know about it? You've been here what, a few days? Messing with other people's lives because you think _you_ know better? Honestly, I don't know if Nicholas will still want to marry you." I got up off my bed and was glaring at her. "How many times are you going to tell him he's not good enough for you?"

" _He_ is the only one that has said that."

Isabeau opened my bedroom door. "You've just said that he isn't good enough by giving yourself a way out." She looked up and down the hallway. "I've seen Seraph suffer all these years without you and she doesn't deserve the disrespect you're showing her." She closed my door before I could respond.

I wanted to see Grandma Sidney, and I wanted someone to be on my side. After Isabeau chewed me out I wasn't entirely sure I'd done the right thing.

Nina answered by the second ring and was grounded. Even so, she was on her way to pick me up. I needed to get away and just get my head on straight. The clear lines of black and white in my judgment had acquired a gray since I'd moved into the gypsy community, and I didn't like it.

There was no guard at my door or anyone telling me not to leave the house even though I did pass members of the clan and pack. Most of them were looking at me like they wanted me to leave. Toryn was waiting outside the front door.

"So, I'm pretty psyched you gave me a way out."

"At least _someone_ is happy about it."

"Yeah, a lot aren't." He eyed my purse. "Where are you going? You're not supposed to leave the property."

I spotted Nina's hummer pulling into the driveway. "I won't be long. Don't squeal on me, Toryn." Nina opened the passenger door from the inside.

"Hop in."

"Wait." Toryn took off a leather strap from around his neck that had a dark black metal symbol on it. "It'll keep black Siths away but not the Baobhans." He glanced in at Nina. "If they know it's you it won't hold off the black ones either. I should really be coming with you."

"No. I don't want to hurt Nicholas. Every time we go anywhere together it upsets him."

"He would be more upset if he knew I let you leave without werewolf protection." I looked back at the house wondering if at this moment that were true. Nicholas and his entire family hated me and probably hoped I would opt out.

"Fine, get in." Toryn picked me up and put me in the middle and climbed in after me.

Nina pulled away from the house and back out onto the main road. "Where are we going?" She asked me. True disappointment that Toryn wasn't in the middle was obvious in her body language.

"Can you take me to the sanctuary?"

Nina drove like a crazy person. I asked her to slow down and she glared at me. "Being grounded has really made you grumpy, Nina." She slowed down and started laughing. I didn't realize she was crying until Toryn nudged me. She parked in a red zone on the main road. I had to scoot Nina, who was bawling uncontrollably, to the middle so that Toryn could park in a legal parking spot.

"Daniel dumped me. He said I wasn't anything special." Toryn just tried to look anywhere but at us. "He only likes me for my status. He just wanted to meet people that I know and when I cut him off he dropped me."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But this is the eye tattoo guy you're crying over?" I was patting her back when I saw _him_ walking with his arm around the waist of a gorgeous brunette. They stopped walking and Rick tickled her and then kissed her. I'm not sure why I felt so stunned. I had told him to move on.

"Are you okay?" I looked at Toryn and was grateful he was looking at me and not at Rick.

"Of course." I didn't feel fine though. "Please take us to my grandma's." He was like a little boy locked in a toy store.

"This truck is so cool. We should make Nina Didikai so I can drive this again."

"Didikai?"

"Friend of gypsies."

Nina didn't pay any attention to his gibberish word. Instead, she wiped at her eyes and looked at me. "Who is Nicholas, your boyfriend?" Toryn looked at me and I shrugged in answer to Nina's question. "If he's not your boyfriend why are you worried about upsetting him?"

"Because, I care about him," I answered Nina.

Of course, Toryn was quick to jump in with, "But now you can get out of marrying him. You wouldn't have given yourself that escape hatch if you weren't going to use it. I'm happy to wait until you do."

I hissed out a breath. "I only did it so you wouldn't be stuck with Brynn."

"Yeah, and free for us to get together." Nina was grinning watching and listening to our discussion. She had been trying to get me to break rules our entire friendship. "You wanted to kiss me when I asked you back at the waterfall."

My face was heating up and I tried not to react to Nina's eyes growing wider. "I really like Nicholas, and I was just trying to help you. That's it, so drop it." He was driving up the on ramp and the playfulness in him was at a low. "Isabeau thinks I insulted the entire clan by doing what I did."

"Well, yeah." He stopped smiling when he saw my face. "Nicholas was really ticked. He even removed the rule that I'm not allowed to be alone with you."

" _He did_?"

"No. But you were hoping he did," Toryn said.

Nina stuck her head in my view. "Are you dating brothers?" I shook my head and her mischievous grin slanted to the left. "Best friends then. That is ballsy, Piper."

"I'm not dating Toryn." I folded my arms. By the time we were climbing the mountain to the sanctuary I had come to the conclusion that men could never love anyone more than they love themselves.

As soon as the hummer stopped I hopped out and ran to the house. I found Grandma Sidney serving Nicholas hot chocolate in the dining room. He didn't seem very happy to see me. "Well, I'll be. Nicholas told me he was sure you'd be dropping by."

Grandma Sidney set the tray down and I hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you did." Nina and Toryn joined us and Grandma Sidney picked up her tray again. "Well, I guess we'll need more hot chocolate." She tipped her head toward Nina. "Your mom has phoned me twice."

I met his heated gaze. "How did you know I was going to end up here?" He stood up from the chair he was sitting in and Nina started drooling looking at him.

"I knew you were upset and when you weren't in your room, I thought you would come here." His eyes crossed to Toryn's. "And here you are."

"She didn't want me to come, but I told her you would prefer I be with her than to be unprotected."

Nicholas did not respond to him, instead he looked at me. "I am always free to bring you to see Sidney."

"Well, that's good to know," Sidney said, reentering with three steaming mugs on the tray. "Deception sure has grown on me while you've been gone." Adriel padded alongside her. "But I can tell he's missed you as I have."

There was a brisk knock at the door and we all looked at Grandma Sidney, who bristled before our eyes. "Nina, you need to call your mom and let her know you're here. Nicholas, take your friend outside and tell Tony he had better steer clear of me for a good bit yet."

"We'll do that." Nicholas stepped around me taking care not to touch me. I heard Toryn call him an idiot as they walked down the hallway to the front entrance. Sidney pointed to the phone eyeing Nina who obeyed at last.

I followed my grandma into her room and she closed the door. "You look quite shook up. What happened?"

"I may have done something terrible."

She raised a brow. "May have? No. Either you did or you didn't." This was exactly where I learned that everything was either black or white with no in between shades of gray.

"I did something half terrible. But even the good part of what I've done has upset everyone."

Grandma Sidney put her arm around me and looked at Grandpa's picture. "You are leaving out a lot of detail but it seems to me you know what you've done that is wrong. Just go and make amends."

"But how can I truly be sorry when I don't disagree with my own standards in this case?"

"You can be sorry to have offended."

What she'd said hadn't been profound or rocket science but a simple truth. "Thank you, Grandma." I hugged her tightly again.

"You're welcome." She opened up the door, but I caught her wrist gently.

"What's all this about Tony?"

"Oh." She waved her hand at me and her face got all red. "He's a silly man with silly ideas." She pulled the door open and shoved me out. "Did you see my roses?"

We passed Nina, who was sitting on the floor apologizing into the mouthpiece of the phone. Outside Tony, Nicholas and Toryn looked our way as we came out of the house. "See?" There was only one yellow rose blooming, and it already looked half dead. "I've never been able to get it to bloom. Not ever."

"It's beautiful."

She blushed and shook her head. "No, it's not the garden I dream of but I've never been able to get anything to grow. Wouldn't it be glorious to have a dozen all blooming at once?" She laughed. "I'm going to go get myself a mug of that cocoa," Grandma Sidney said after looking over her shoulder. I noticed that Tony was coming our way before she left.

"I'll be right in." I took the chance I had while waiting for Tony to reach inside myself and the earth and bring Sidney's garden to life. I grew several more rose bushes, big full ones as big as my face, blooming yellow, white and pink in blossoms.

"That's quite a talent you've got there," Tony said sounding strangely proud. "You'd better not let Sidney see you doing that." Because I was still mad at him for upsetting my grandma, I grew a fern next to the white rosebush.

"Why doesn't Sidney want to see you, Tony? What did you do?"

He looked toward the house. "Just found ourselves in an awkward position is all." He threw his thumb over his shoulder, "Looks as though you're in one too."

"I am in complete control of the position I'm in now. Everyone can get mad at me about it too but I will not be pushed into a life I don't want."

The features on his hard and weathered face softened as he looked down at me. "Sometimes in order to have a life you take what you can get, little princess."
Chapter Twenty-Five

Nicholas came to me where I was standing by the new rosebushes. The expression on his face was a blanket of emptiness. I could not tell what he was thinking or what he might do next. Tony was waving Toryn to go toward the barns instead of the house and me. I told myself that I had nothing to fear in meeting Nicholas' gaze. He wasn't looking at me but at my neck. I raised my hand up and felt the leather strap and symbol Toryn had put on me.

Perfect.

"The longer you stay here the more you put Sidney at risk." I sighed and let go of the symbol, letting my hands drop down to my sides. In that instant Nicholas broke the leather strap and then crushed the symbol into dust before stomping what was left of it into the ground.

"I'm sorry about-" He walked away from me and back towards the barns. Toryn didn't try to come toward me and so I guessed that he had seen his symbol bite the dust. Nina came out of the house and was smiling at her cell phone as she punched the buttons.

"He's back," She pointed at her phone. "I'm going to go meet him. Can you get a ride back?"

"Nina, I don't want to ride with-" She dashed to her big hummer and was peeling out. Sidney came out of the house to fuss but forgot when she saw the flowers. She was smiling and laughing and so happy that she forgot to be angry with Tony, who took the opportunity to stand by her.

"Look at them," she hugged him and the look on his face told me everything I needed to know. He embraced her and had eyes only for her as she celebrated the flowers. "I should go get my camera." When Sidney came back out to take pictures she kept giving Tony warnings with her eyes to stay away every chance she got. Adriel and Toryn left to make rounds on the property and I started helping her take pictures to kill time until they would get back.

"You've got an angry beau on your hands. That Nicholas is not happy."

"No, he's not happy," I agreed.

She took a picture. "Is anyone protecting your virtue at that gypsy house?"

I immediately felt the blood scald my face. I knew all three werewolves could hear our conversation. "I'm protecting it." I gave her a slight shake of the head when she looked at me.

"Well, Piper. We've had the birds and the bees talk. Why are you suddenly so shy? Does this mean you've-?"

"No. I haven't and you'd know the guy very well before I'd take a step like that." She nodded with satisfaction at me and put the camera in her pocket. "I bet if you just walked up to him and kissed him he'd forget to be mad."

"Okay, thanks. That's good."

She was grinning as she said, "What? I'm not allowed to give advice?"

"He has excellent hearing."

She turned and looked out at the barns where he was unloading the feed from the trucks again. "He can't hear me from all the way over there." Grandma Sidney laughed at me. "You have it bad for this one."

"Tony has it bad for you." That won me an ornery expression and my way out of the ribbing she had just been revving up to give me.

I told her that I met my birthmother and though she had a pleasant expression on her face I could feel underlying tension. She wanted to know what my room looked like and encouraged me to buy new clothes if the ones I had made me stick out.

Sidney and I both knew that our visit had come to an end when both Nicholas and Toryn approached us. "I promise that I'll visit again as soon as I can."

"You'd better." She gave me a quick hug and waved goodbye as she slipped back into the house. It was no surprise to discover Tony had come to tell me goodbye as well. I didn't see Johnny but figured he must still be angry, or newly angry if he'd been filled in on my latest brilliant scene.

"I'll see you back at the house," Toryn told me.

"You're not riding with us?"

"I'll find my own way back." He jogged out toward the mountain. Nicholas had walked over to a big black truck while I'd watched Toryn run off and I had to jog to catch up. He opened my door for me, and I climbed inside. When he got in on his side, he turned on the radio and adjusted the volume loud enough that I would have to raise my voice to be heard above it.

We were almost back to the big gypsy mansion when he turned it down, and I tensed up. "You'll want to change your clothes."

"I know you're angry with me and it would really help if you would just yell at me and get it over with."

"Maybe it would." I gripped the armrest and wondered if he would turn into a werewolf when he got really angry. He pulled into a parking spot and turned off the truck. "I'm not sure what I should be the most angry about. Should I start with the fact that every time I leave you alone you somehow end up with Toryn? Or maybe I should just focus on your display of public rejection? I never knew it was possible to love someone so much, and at the same time-" he cut himself off with a sigh.

"That explosive temper of yours will not be used on my mother. Try to remember as you are serving my family that I love them, _if_ that matters to you." He got out of the truck and went into the big house.

Brea came out of the house as I was climbing out of the truck. She grabbed my right bicep and led me back into the house. I was in trouble.

I didn't see Nicholas when she led me through the main entrance or the hallway. "I cannot believe on top of everything you've done, you broke another rule. You knew you weren't supposed to leave the house."

We reached the hallway where my room was located. "You need to pack up a few things. You'll have to stay on at Nicholas' house in case you are needed to serve them during the night." She threw open my door and released me to start going through the drawers. "Everything in here is khaki." She pulled out a red button up short sleeved blouse and a pair of khaki pants and threw them at me. "Put those on. Now, when you are serving them lose your attitude. It is an honor to get to serve the family. Understand?"

"It's not going to work."

She shoved a handful of clothes into a bag and pushed it into my hands. "Try." I went into the bathroom and changed into the outfit she'd picked out and when I came back out Isabeau had joined Brea and they were both waiting for me.

"Nicholas has four sisters and s-, I mean, five brothers." She hurried on. "His grandparents live with them too and they are very old school when it comes to manners and respect. His father is very strict as well."

_I would be serving fourteen people?_ _Well, at least I'd have no free time to spend with Brynn_.

"Pay attention, Piper. You cannot be released from their service until every member of the family gives you their pardon." Brea buttoned my top button. "Put your hair up and take off any makeup you have on." Isabeau didn't give me the chance to obey. She started doing my hair while Brea went and got a hot towel out of the bathroom and wiped off every speck of makeup I had on my face.

Once they were both done, they stood back and looked me over. "Okay, you'll do. Let's go, you're hours late." Brea held her hand up to Isabeau. "I'll take her."

"Good luck," Isabeau said and I was relieved that she could still have a kind thought for me. Brea didn't slow down the pace as we went through the house, but I didn't miss the scene of Minerva on her knees crying in front of Seraph who was helping her up onto her feet near the ballroom. Brea pushed me out the exit.

We took a right off the main road. Nicholas was waiting outside for us and when we reached him Brea gave me a scolding look and left. The father who had been glaring at me when I'd given out my punishment opened the front door. "Oh good, the Marime that is too good for my son has arrived."

"Don't call her that." I had only arrived and already I had caused a stare off that just watching made me have to go to the bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-Six

"What is the princess capable of helping with?" Nicholas' father asked him once we were in the house.

"I work with animals on the sanctuary," I said, but he didn't look at me.

He stopped walking. "The pack is waiting for you, Nicholas. Go and see to your duties. This one doesn't need you to babysit her." I wasn't so sure about that.

"Treat her kindly, Father." I watched Nicholas leave and fought the urge to leave with him. His father was watching me, so I met his gaze and hoped that the intimidation he struck in me was not evident. "Don't speak unless you're spoken to." His voice was like thunder, and I flinched. "Go put your bag in the first room on the left. Then come back here and we'll begin." I did as he instructed and my job as a maid began officially.

My first assignment was to clean out the stalls for the horses and believe it or not I was glad. It was something I knew how to do and so I went to it. The first three stalls were clean and I was working on the second to last when Nicholas' father came in to look them over. "Kellan." He barked my name and again, I flinched.

"What is it?"

He thrust his hand toward the first stall. "Is this what you Gaje consider clean?"

I said, "It _is_ clean."

"Not to gypsy standards. Clean it again." He turned to leave.

"You'll have to tell me which part of the stall is unacceptable if you want it fixed."

The expression that filled his face was full of challenge and reminded me of Nicholas. "You like to choose for yourself. You choose what's wrong with it."

So, it's like that, is it?

He was actually smiling as he walked out of the barn, no doubt thinking he had really shown me.

Forget him.

I would clean the stalls until they were clean enough to eat off the floors. I shoveled out all the hay, scrubbed the floors and walls with hot water and vinegar, dried everything and then replaced the hay in each stall. My blouse was sticking to me, and my back and arms were killing me, but there was no way he could find a flaw in the stalls. The sun was setting when I came out of the barn.

Adriel was bringing in one of the horses from the field. "Hi, Adriel."

"Hello." He looked around, probably embarrassed at having to talk to me at all. I wasn't surprised that he was one of Nicholas' brothers. They looked a lot alike.

"Who is with my grandma Sidney?"

"Boldo, he'll keep her safe." Adriel continued walking past me, and I tried not to let it show that I was really wishing he would befriend me. I went into the house and found all four of his sisters standing in a huddle. They were all yelling, and the woman in the middle of them I recognized as Nicholas' mother.

One of them yelled louder than the rest so I heard perfectly, "We don't want her here."

I went to the room that I had been told was mine and closed the door. I was looking forward to getting out of my sweaty clothes and had just sat down to take off my shoes when someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

"What are you doing in here? Your work is not finished."

I stood up. "Those stalls are as clean as possible. There is no way-"

"Did you think that your duty here was only to clean stalls? Your work is far from over. Follow me." He led me down the hallway to a room full of books that literally were the four walls of the room. From the floor to the ceiling there was nothing but books. "Dust each book." He handed me a dusting towel.

I took the first book off the bottom shelf and started wiping it down. The slave driver stood watching me for a moment and so I looked up at him to see if there was something else he wanted. "You would be lucky to have my son as your own. He is more than you deserve."

"I agree." Even though by agreeing with him I had just complimented his son, he still appeared furious.

I couldn't help but dislike the slave driver even if he was Nicholas' father. He was always angry and mean. Was this only with me, or was he like that always? I was going to get out of there as soon as I could. Somehow I was continuously dumb enough to make my situation the worst it could be.

I was in the S's when I found a black book that looked like the oldest one in their library. It was thick and heavy when I took it from the shelf. The title was not in English. I opened it anyway and the sketch on the first page startled me into dropping it. I quickly picked it up and turned the page to get away from the perfect likeness of a black Sith. I couldn't read anything because it was all in what I was guessing to be Gaelic.

Outside the library door, I could hear the slave driver and Nicholas' mother arguing and the doorknob began to turn. I closed the book and was replacing it when the door opened. "Hello, Kellan. We have dinner ready and we'd love for you to join us."

"She can finish after she's had something to eat." He gave a jerky nod and she signaled for me to follow her. "If you'd like to wash up first I can show you to the bathroom."

"Thank you." The slave driver didn't come with us and Nicholas' mother stood in the doorway while I washed my hands. "Will Nicholas be eating with us?" I asked never wanting to see someone so much in my whole life.

"No, he is still training the pack to be ready for the next full moon." I nodded wishing I was not going to have to sit at a table full of people that hated me. "Brynn has asked to join us."

Perfect.

"Isabeau was invited by Nicholas. I'm sure it was for your comfort that he did so."

_Thank you, Nicholas_.

Isabeau, along with everyone else, waited for us at the huge dinner table. It was dark wood and highly polished. The dishes were the nicest of any china I've ever seen and the glasses were crystal. I wanted to sit by Isabeau, but the seats by her were taken and so I took the seat next to the eldest sister.

A prayer was said over the food and once I began to eat, I discovered I was ravenous and completely forgot that I was hated. I ate a steak, two big baked potatoes and I was on my third helping of salad before I once again paid attention to what was going on at the table.

"I think she should be released. Nicholas doesn't need to come back and have to see her. She's really hurt him and it's only hurting him more that she's here." The sister whom I was seated next to was saying, and I swallowed my mouth full of food.

"The way that she carries on with Toryn is disgraceful, I don't see why you couldn't interfere on Nicholas' behalf," Brynn piped in.

"You are the last one at this table to cast a stone at Kellan," Isabeau snapped before I could say the exact same thing. "If you're going to eat dinner with this piece of trash and be all forgiving to her, why not forgive my cousin?" Isabeau challenged Nicholas' parents.

"Because she does not seek forgiveness," the slave driver said, looking right at me. Then everyone else did too.

"You're right. I'm not sorry for giving myself a choice." I had to stand up and yell to get them to listen to the rest of what I had to say. "I am sorry for any pain I caused any of you in the process, and of course I would never intentionally hurt Nicholas." I met Isabeau's eyes and the encouragement in them made me feel stronger. "I am honored to serve you if that means you will allow me to earn your forgiveness. If that's not possible you might as well send me back to Seraph's house."

The slave driver, whose name I had yet to learn stood too, and glowered at me from the head of the table. "You've eaten, it is time you finish your duties." I could feel all of their eyes on me and I felt it when the heat stung my face from my own embarrassment. Since I was already standing I moved around my chair and scooted it back in.

"Thank you for dinner," I said to Nicholas' mother alone and went back to the library. The very first thing that I noticed was that the big black book was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Seven

I had just finished dusting the books when Brynn came into the library. "It turns out that you're finished for the night which means for the next ten hours, you belong to me." She was grinning so big she reminded me of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. "Well? Come on." She turned and left the library.

If this experience was meant to humble me it wasn't working. I had already been "serving" Brynn for an hour and it was only making me angry. So far my tasks had included giving her a pedicure and doing her laundry. During that time she pointed out every single gift that Nicholas had ever given her.

Everyone I noticed was dressing up. Brynn had me doing her hair to match a picture she'd cut out from a Gaje magazine. I was informed that there was a celebration tonight in my honor. Brynn informed me that while she was going to allow me to attend I would not be allowed to participate.

At this point, that was fine with me. I began to plot on how I was going to get that black book that I just knew the slave driver had hidden from me. I was sure that it held the secrets I needed. During the celebration, Nicholas' house would be empty and that would be the perfect time for me to search for the book.

"Hello?"

I looked startled at Brynn. "What?"

"I said I want you to put this on. It's something of mine and I think it will help us bond." She literally threw the outfit at me from where she stood at her closet. "Ta-ta-ta- _today_." Brynn rolled her eyes and then left her room.

The outfit she had chosen confused me completely. It was one of those bib halter tops and this one was a half bib. It was barely long enough to cover my chest and that was only if I tied it at the very longest I could manage. The second tie was almost invisible. Maybe it was just a loose thread on both sides but I used it. It would be the only chance I had of the bib not moving and showing all my goods.

The long skirt was the same color as flesh, with diamond sparkles and slits up the sides that reached the waistband. I wasn't about to go without underwear so I had to wear the skirt low enough that the waistband covered the sides of them. In the mirror, I found a seductress looking back at me and a shiver of disgust ran through me. When she came back in she was wearing a violet version of the same outfit I had on.

We were late. Seraph was already talking about Isabeau and I and our act of heroism. "You're supposed to go up there and stand by Isabeau," Brynn told me. I pretended not to hear her and we both knew it. I could not, however ignore Seraph when she instructed me from the front to join her there. Everyone was looking at me, so I couldn't cry like I wanted to. I joined her at the front and tried to pretend that I was perfectly comfortable.

Seraph did not look pleased with my outfit and somehow that made it easier to be in it. She was the one to make me serve Brynn. If she didn't like the outfit at least she was punished too, even if it was a tiny smidge of punishment.

Why should I be the only one to suffer?

If Nicholas was disgusted I would most definitely cry. The fact that I could feel his gaze everywhere as it traveled over me was most definitely having an effect on my body temperature. It was a heated caress that somehow made me deaf to what Seraph or anyone else was saying. This had to be a skill of the gypsies, probably part of the alluring class I was forbidden to take.

I found his gaze with the intent to confront him and make him know that I knew what he was doing was intentional. He stole my breath away with the look in his eyes. The passion mixed with lust and most present in his gaze, fury, was earth shaking. My body filled with the heat of his stare, and the temperature was increasing in my core.

"Thank you, Kellan." I heard Seraph say and I tore my gaze away from his and looked at Seraph. She had since moved onto Isabeau and everyone was clapping. We were dismissed and the celebration began.

Brynn was waiting for me.

"I'd like to remind you that you are not allowed to participate. Your job is to stand on that wall and watch me. I think it will help us get to know each other if you see how much Toryn and Nicholas want me." The laugh I gave as an answer made her nostrils flare, and I grinned. "Go stand over there against that wall." She pointed to the wall.

As soon as I separated from Brynn, I found myself surrounded by young men who I had yet to meet. Some I recognized. Brynn's brothers were among them and some I'd seen in the village. "Excuse me." I had to make my own path because no one cared to move out of my way.

I made it to the wall and only then did I notice that Toryn and Nicholas did not follow as the others did. Nicholas was dancing with another girl and Toryn was talking to Brynn. Where everyone else couldn't stop looking at me, they were acting as if I repelled them. Anger rose up in me and extinguished any embarrassment I'd allowed before.

"May I have the pleasure of a dance, Kellan?" I recognized the young man from the wolf pack and he like Toryn and Nicholas was very muscular and handsome.

I smiled politely. "I would but I am serving Brynn and she has forbidden me to participate." More young men joined our group and the first guy let them know I couldn't participate in the party. Somehow this news did not send them on their way. They showered me with compliments ranging from my looks to the sound of my voice. How was I supposed to sneak out of here with all this attention?

Nicholas was dancing with the same girl when I chanced finding him after several songs had been played. He was giving her a lot of attention, and I wished the girl would slap him for me. I caught Toryn looking at me and where Nicholas had been angry Toryn looked upset. Brynn wasn't looking at me, but was watching Nicholas and was obviously pleased.

I realized at last the reason she had dressed me that way. She wanted Nicholas to continue to look at me as though I wanted Toryn, or the attention of the men around me. Brynn wanted me to be on her level in his eyes. It occurred to me that I could push through this crowd and go to Nicholas and explain that I had not selected this outfit on my own, but I didn't.

He had chosen to try to make me jealous by dancing with this other young woman and dang him it was working. Well, two could play at that game. Would I accomplish Brynn's plan by playing this game? Probably. That didn't stop me.

The first guy was still talking to me though I hadn't been listening. I smiled at him and he lit up with happiness. This was probably not a good idea. He kept talking and once I started paying attention he was explaining to me that I was not in fact promised to Nicholas in particular, but rather to the person who occupied the alpha status of the wolf pack. He was offering to challenge Nicholas.

"No, that's not necessary," I said, but he didn't seem to hear me. "Listen, I am interested in learning the secrets of defending against the Siths. I am not interested in finding a husband or potential one for that matter."

They all started talking in gypsy again and I caught Nicholas staring angrily in my direction from the center of the dance floor where he stood motionless. Why had I not realized he could hear me? I gave my attention back to first guy again. "So even though I think you are really, really, really hot, I just can't lead you on."

"You think I'm hot?"

I was still grinning. "Oh yes."

"But you want Nicholas?" I glanced at Nicholas when first guy asked me this question and found that he had been shoving his way toward us and was still coming though he slowed and concentrated on my face, waiting for my answer.

"That is something that I will only answer for Nicholas."

"If your goal is to make him jealous any one of us here would gladly oblige you." I laughed, surprised, and shook my head. Nicholas' anger was gone from his face. The group scattered away from me once Nicholas reached me.

He didn't say anything. His eyes were full of the same fire inspiring heat. Nicholas made no secret of his thoughts as that same heat ran across my skin. He began to unbutton the shirt he wore. My heart sped up in alarm not knowing what his intent was going to be. I could not look away either. His shirt was coming off and my breathing felt short despite my efforts to keep a grip on my response to him.

"I don't think Brynn fully understood what she was doing when she gave you this outfit to wear." He swooped me off the wall and into his arms. "You make me want to make you mine now and not wait for your invitation to do so." His hot breath was on my neck. "No one would stop me from doing so. I know you wouldn't want me to stop."

I couldn't think. Everything was heat and lust and strong desire. I heard myself say, "Please," and I'm not sure if it was a please yes or a please no. I felt the strain in him as he held himself back, and I was beginning to think he was going to lose the battle with himself.

"Do you know why I don't?" His mouth found my neck and I clamped my mouth shut too afraid of what sound or plea would escape. "Because in this clan if you give yourself to your promised mate, you are as good as married." He pulled back and guided my arms through the sleeves of the white shirt he'd shed. My heart was pounding and if I opened my mouth at this moment I would tell him I didn't want him to stop. "I promised you when you got here the choice would be yours. Didn't I?"

There was no way I was opening my mouth. My desire for him had escalated to need so I nodded instead. "If you take my shirt off, I will be removing the one beneath it." He took my hand and Brynn chose that moment to pop up.

"She can't leave. She's serving me."

"That's only in her free time. She's not free." He led me through the crowd and I waved smiling at Brynn, who watched us leave with a face as red as a correcting pencil. Isabeau waved at me too with a smile as big as mine. We were walking out in the cold night air for a few minutes before I could begin to see past the desire that burned for Nicholas. He, however required a swim in the freezing cold water of the waterfall swimming hole.

I sat on the shore as he dove into the black water and disappeared completely beneath its surface. The desire was clearing. I understood what he had been trying to tell me. He had already promised me that I would have my choice and so there was no need for me to choose the punishment I chose.

No wonder he thought I did it to be with Toryn.

I knew he had promised me. Why hadn't I thought his word was enough?

I don't know who I thought it would be when I heard someone coming, but the last person I expected to see was Seraph. "Hello, Kellan."

I felt like I'd been caught doing something wrong. No doubt she had seen what had happened back there. "Hello."

She looked toward the water where Nicholas was. "I just wanted to make sure that you understand that if you make love with Nicholas you will be married to him."

"Okay."

"There is no divorce in this clan." That was a bigger dose of reality and it cured me of my temporary desire. "Nicholas, I trust you to uphold her honor." He was coming out of the water and he nodded.

"Kellan?" I looked back at Seraph. "Your suspension from being allowed to learn our culture is lifted in the area of wind whispering alone."

"Thank you."

Why wind whispering?

She turned back to answer, "Because, I believe you deserve the privacy of your thoughts and desires." She was glaring at Nicholas when she said this. I wanted to jump into the water and drown myself. The entire clan had heard my desires for Nicholas? Nicholas heard them? I climbed up onto my feet and Nicholas caught my arm.

"Don't be mad."

"Don't _be mad_? You tricked me into telling everyone including you that I want you? That I...." I swallowed thinking how I had wanted him to follow through with taking me right there. "You made me a show for everyone."

"No, I didn't." I tried to jerk my arm away but he didn't release me. "I wanted to know that you wanted me and not Toryn. I deserved to know after what you did, making yourself and Toryn free to choose. I wanted to know for me." I tried to pull free. "If you'll stop thinking of yourself and remember back you'll know that all I was thinking about in those moments was you, and how much I wanted you. I stopped because I love you. If I didn't I would make you mine without your permission. I'd have you, wouldn't I?"

"You humiliated me."

"It is not humiliation to want the man you are promised to. At least it shouldn't be." He released me and I turned to get away from him. "Where are you going?" I kept walking. "If you are leaving my service you must return to Brynn." I stopped then and walked back over to him. "Knowing you want me back only makes me want you more."

"Good for you." I tried to remember which one of those people was supposed to help me with the wind whispering curse.

"So, let me think... how are you going to serve me?"

I said, "Keep digging your own grave, Nicholas." I folded my arms.

"Do you want me to go and tell everyone how much I want you?"

"No, I think our parents have probably heard enough, thanks."
Chapter Twenty-Eight

All the lights in the house were off and it had been hours since everyone returned from the celebration so it was likely they were all asleep. I had stayed in my room when Nicholas' family had returned and no one came to my room. I wasn't sure how I was going to face anyone in the clan ever again.

There were no noises in the house, at least none that I could hear. My door, thankfully was silent when I carefully pulled it inward. The hallway was empty. I pulled my door almost shut so that I could make a quick return and then tried to walk down the hallway without making a noise.

The black book wasn't going to be there, but I had found a book on wind whispering too and I fully intended to begin learning to control it right away. I wasn't as lucky with the library door. It squeaked like a bicycle horn and so I left it open and went inside. The book was exactly where I remembered it being so I pulled it off the shelf and opened it up.

"Still can't stop thinking about me, huh?" Nicholas stood in the doorway.

I put my finger against my lips. "You're going to wake up your family."

"I think they probably heard you stomping down the hallway." He came into the library and turned the book in my hand to look at the title. "This really has you upset, doesn't it?"

I pointed at him. "I'm still mad at you for taking advantage of my curse. I'm going to master it so you can't ever use it against me again and I can have the privacy of my own thoughts." I'm not sure he heard a word I said even with his super hearing. Nicholas was looking at my mouth and the same heat I was instantly able to recognize was beginning to fill his eyes.

"We should go visit Grandma Sidney tomorrow."

"I have studying to do." I moved around him and I saw his eldest sister in the doorway.

"Nicholas, leave her alone." Her fair skin had a big red blotch on the right side of her face, the side she had been sleeping on. "Some of us want to sleep. We don't want to have to listen to..." She looked at me and then rubbed her eyes. "Just leave her alone, you pervert."

"Go back to bed, Kizzy," Nicholas said and Kizzy sighed and turned and left the library. "Do you want help with the book? I'll give you a private tutoring session in your room."

"Nothing will be private until I learn this." I left the library quickly. I went into my room and closed the door. The lamp next to my bed gave out just enough light to read and so I got started.

Kizzy came into my room when I was only three pages into the book. "Hi." She closed the door behind herself.

If she came to tell me to be quiet with my thoughts I'll blow up at her.

"I can't say that I wanted to hear your thoughts at the celebration."

"I didn't have any way to control-"

Kizzy held her hand up at me. "I know. I just wanted to tell you that even though I had no wish to hear your thoughts about my brother and what you'd like to do with him" _I was seriously going to vomit_ "it made it clear to me that you truly did not want to hurt him or insult us. So as for me and my sister Delia you are released from your service."

"Thanks, so now I only have twelve to go?"

Kizzy nodded.

"I hate this stupid wind blabbering. It's terrible."

"You'll love it once you can control it. I just wanted you to know that you don't have to worry about Nicholas. I've never seen him so wrapped around a girl's finger. He'll make you a good husband." She turned and left my room. I knew Nicholas had heard her telling me about his feelings. I hoped he was embarrassed even if it was just the tiniest bit, but I doubted it.

I read the book the rest of the night and by morning I was so tired I didn't care what anyone heard. Everyone at the breakfast table had bloodshot eyes and messed up hair. Nicholas was the only one that had a smile accompanying the exhaustion. All of the sisters gave me their pardon, and I'm not sure they really forgave me or just wanted me out of their house so they could get some sleep.

Nicholas' brothers gave me their pardon too once their grandfather left to go and look after his wife. I just had to get his grandparent's pardon and his parent's pardon and his pardon, of course. Though didn't the scene from the night before practically spell out that I'd been pardoned by him?

"I have to go and work with the pack. Will you be okay?" Nicholas asked me.

"I'll be fine." I watched Nicholas leave and didn't notice that his mother left the table too, leaving just the slave driver and myself.

The slave driver proceeds to say to me, "There is no doubt you want my son." He looked a little smug, but he still had anger in his eyes too. "So you're too afraid to have what you want."

"Are you studying to be a shrink?" I stood up and started clearing the table. "You should study harder, you're not very good."

He laughed, adding his plate to the stack in my hands. "Your reaction tells me that I am an expert. I will not give you my pardon, Kellan. Not until you are my daughter." My stomach twisted in fear, but I kept it from my face. "I release you for two hours to study with Barthow." I had not remembered his given name, only the one I'd given him, which was Blackbeard and was grateful to have been provided with it.

I took the dishes into the kitchen and Nicholas' mother took them from me. "You run along to see Barthow, now." I couldn't leave just then though. I had to run back into my room and get dressed.

The snickering that came from the people I passed kept me from asking for directions to Barthow Blackbeard's house. When I saw the gazebo I couldn't help but remember the black Siths that had come out of it with Duncan's blood on their faces and teeth. The fear that iced through me then returned and I stood staring at the white structure.

No one was laughing anymore when I finally pulled myself back together and headed toward Seraph's house. Isabeau would tell me where to find Barthow. Once I was inside Seraph's house I ran into Minerva. The first thing that came to my mind was her crying and pleading with Seraph.

"Hello, Kellan." Her voice was sweeter than I remembered it being. There was no trace of tears on her face, nor sadness. I was still curious but did not dare ask her.

"Hello. Can you tell me where to find Barthow?"

"He is waiting for you in the ballroom, I believe."

I nodded. "Thank you." She watched me as I walked away and I wondered what she was curious about.

Barthow looked at me when I came in and without moving his mouth I heard him say, "Please come in and shut the door." I did as he directed me to do and then started toward him, but he told me to stay where I was. "We will talk on the air and you will practice using your skill."

I thought, _okay,_ but I don't think he heard me.

"We will have to trust each other. At this stage your every thought could be on the wind for me to hear. I will not divulge to anyone your thoughts. I have only heard you on the wind when you've been very moved by something or feel very strongly. So I will have to provoke you to teach you."

Great.

"Are you ready?"

I nodded knowing as I did that it mattered very little if I trusted him or not because if I refused his help the world would continue to hear my personal thoughts.

"How do you feel about Seraph?"

" _I don't want to answer that question."_ I thought this, but then followed it up with my feelings about her good and bad, as though I had no control what would pop into my brain.

"This time put the feelings you don't want to share in a safe place in your brain, in your soul." He waited a moment and then asked me what I was most afraid of. Again, I failed to keep the Siths killing my grandma Sidney from riding on the wind. By the time the two hours were up I was emotionally exhausted. "You're getting better," Barthow told me at the end.

"Thank you."

"Just between you and me, I wouldn't go after the black book until you have complete control of your wind whispering."

I sighed, wondering what else I had unintentionally spilled. "Also, though I know it is not my place, I will tell you why Seraph doesn't want you to take alluring." I leaned toward him then. "You are already naturally emanating the allure. It is a gift that runs in your family and has caused much pain and heartache therein."

"Did Seraph use it on Harold?"

"Perhaps. Zorrin used it on your father." He waited, but I must have at last been able to keep something to myself. "Seraph was very hurt at her sister's betrayal. I think with all the young men already fighting over you, Seraph is wise to keep you from alluring."

"If Zorrin hurt her so bad, why is she still here?"

"That is something you would have to ask Seraph." He grinned and his black mustache rose up. "See you tomorrow."
Chapter Twenty-Nine

When I returned to Nicholas' house there was no one home. Well, that's what I thought until I heard someone crying. I followed the sound to one of the bedrooms and despite my better judgment, I peeked inside.

This was the room that the grandparents shared. It was the grandma that was crying, though the grandpa looked as though he was in just as much pain. I listened to him telling her to hold on and asking her not to leave him. My eyes stung from the tears. Then she asked him to give her peace and let her go. He got up and opened the door completely then. I expected him to yell at me, to reprimand me for my nosiness, for my intrusion.

"Please, tell her what I cannot. Give Heathera her peace." He pulled me into the room and then flattened himself against the door. He was crying though no sound escaped him. His eyes locked with Heathera's.

In her eyes, I found her exhaustion, her pain. I took her hand in both of mine and blocked her view of her husband. "It's okay now, Heathera. He knows you have to go."

"He will be alone," she told me and more tears poured from my eyes.

"He is letting you go, Heathera. Take your peace and know he will be looked after."

Her eyes were so imploring, her hand so frail in mine. "You will look after him?"

I said, "I will." She nodded and then searched the ceiling for the peace she wanted. I don't know why I started to sing, but as soon as I did the pain cleared from her face. It was a Christian song that I loved and found soothing. Nicholas' grandma died while I was singing to her and his grandpa who had come to stand beside me collapsed crying.

The slave driver came in then and told me to leave. He helped his father onto his feet by pulling him out of my arms and again told me to leave. "I promised Heathera I would look after him."

"Get her out of here," he said to someone behind me, but the grandpa raised his hand up and left the slave driver to embrace me.

"Thank you for giving her peace." When he released me, I could only give him a nod. I had no words to give him to bring his wife back. He went to Nicholas' dad and I went into the hallway, doing my best to get out of their house and let them grieve. Nicholas was in the hallway. His brown eyes were turning an amber color and were shiny with moisture.

"I'm so sorry, Nicholas." He grabbed me and hugged me tight. He kissed my forehead.

When his mother arrived, I decided it was time to give them their privacy. The door to Nicholas' mom and dad's room stood open and I saw the black book.

I thought about how much I loved Nicholas all the way to my room at Seraph's house, so that no one would overhear what an opportunist I turned out to be. Even as I hid the book in my luggage I felt disgusted with myself. I had taken a book that Nicholas' parents didn't want me to have while they were grieving Heathera.

When someone pounded on my door I was sure I was busted, and yes, I tried to pretend not to be there but whoever knocked was persistent. Whoever turned out to be Brea. "Did Nicholas tell you to come here?"

"No."

Her hands went to her hips. "Then I assume this is free time?"

I sighed as loudly as possible. "Yes."

"I'm responsible for you and you're acting very guilty. What did you do?"

"Nothing. Honestly, Brea." I tilted my head at her with my best, what's wrong with your look. "Okay, well, I've got to go and find Brynn." I didn't go to Brynn like I was supposed to. I went looking for Barthow.

I never did figure out where he lived, but he came to me, for once my wind whispering came in handy. "Come with me." He led me back to the ballroom. "Couldn't wait, could you?"

"I've, I mean we've got to practice some more. I don't want Nicholas to find out about this."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Then you should have waited."

"I didn't know if I'd get another chance." He tugged on his beard and I saw his indecision." You said I could trust you. So, help me Barthow."

"You might as well call me Blackbeard, that's your name for me on the wind." We practiced the entire day. It started off being incredibly strenuous but by the time Nicholas showed up, I was confident that my thoughts were safe at last.

"It's almost five," Nicholas said. "I thought you might be hungry."

"Well, I am." Blackbeard stood up. "Starving." He patted my head and then paused next to Nicholas. "So sorry Heathera passed."

Nicholas inclined his head. "Thank you." Once Blackbeard left, he looked at me and I stood up feeling ten times guiltier seeing his eyes bloodshot.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." He took my hand and kissed my palm. "May I take you out to eat?"

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yea, I'm sure." We left in this big black truck, the same one that he took to Grandma Sidney's to find me.

_It must belong to him,_ I realized.

He never let go of my hand even while he was driving, which I know should have scared me, but didn't. Nicholas' hand in mine made me consider this whole other life, a life I never would have glanced at.

"Sounds like you've got a handle on your wind-whispering. I have no idea what you're thinking about, it's killing me."

"I'm wondering if today is really the best day to go out. You've had a loss in your family."

His jaw flexed and his eyes glassed over with moisture again but he said, "It's the perfect time." Then he looked at me with a bittersweet smile. "You practiced all day. It was that important to you?" I nodded and though he didn't look at me he knew my answer was yes.

"My mom is so grateful for the way you helped Heathera and my grandfather, Donnell, she's going to give you her pardon."

"Good."

"I thought you'd be happier." Nicholas glanced my way before changing lanes. "Now you've just got my father and I to-"

"Are you saying I don't have your pardon? After you made me announce to the entire clan that I wanted you, that isn't enough?"

He nodded. "You never asked for it. If you are going to give a true apology there will be no qualifiers in it. That's what makes it sincere."

I cleared my throat and then pulled my hand out of his so that I could fold my arms. "You know, where I come from, you let people apologize the best they can without telling them how you'd like to hear it or what you think they should say."

"That's because the Gaje accept excuses as apologies. We do not." Nicholas tensed up and I knew he was ready for me to argue with him, which I probably should have, but I was too happy to be out and about. I'd tell him later what I thought of his generalizations.

"When I was growing up all Toryn ever talked about was how he was going to grow up and marry you. He'd go on and on about it and don't get mad but I remember feeling sorry for him."

"Why?"

He laughed and gave me a nervous smile. "Because he was going to be marrying a Gaje." I slapped his shoulder with my hand in mock anger. "I had to go and see you for myself when I took over alpha and you proved me wrong then and ever since. I'm sorry."

"Well, I should hope so."

"Have you seen Toryn since last night?"

I sighed thinking this was an insecurity thing. "No, I haven't."

"He left the community after we left the celebration. The pack has told me he was really upset." Nicholas made no secret of watching my response to this news.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just want to get what I came for and then leave you all free to live your own lives."

Nicholas had driven us to the beach and he parked in a huge parking lot at the white sands edge. "You haven't changed your mind at all about that?"

"You've made me want to consider it, Nicholas. But I can't. I'm not the gypsy princess you or Seraph wants me to be."

"I don't want you to change who you are, Piper. I want you to accept who you are in both worlds. You _can_ be both." I unbuckled my seatbelt. "You can be both a daughter and a sister. You are a granddaughter and a student in high school. You are the Senator's daughter and a gypsy princess."

I laughed. "You make it sound easy, it isn't."

"You've been doing it this long."

Nicholas sure was trying to have all the answers. I tilted my head to the right. "I may not be an experienced or well learned gypsy, but I do think Seraph will have a problem with a gypsy princess living on the outside."

He shrugged. "You've been outside the community for seventeen years." I could feel his warm hands through my clothes at my hips when Nicholas assisted me out of the vehicle.

Gazing down at me with an openness he'd never shown me, he kissed me. His lips caressed mine, deep and slow. He tasted like the salt from the tears I'd not seen him shed. Nicholas cradled my face in his hands. His kiss lingering on my lips as he looked into my eyes there was so much in them that I recognized. Feelings that have yet to be named, but I felt them too.

Nicholas took my hand, stepping back and recovering that sad and sweet smile. "Let's go get something to eat." We got an outside table so we could enjoy the ocean breeze. I ordered shrimp scampi and Nicholas got the king crab.

Everything was delicious and Nicholas was either much better at wooing me than before or I'd gone and fallen for him. After we'd finished our food he took my hand lovingly in his, dropped a couple hundred's on the table and led me toward the beach.

"My grandpa, Donnell, was really sad about losing Heathera," Nicholas told me as we walked along the water's edge. "There wasn't much any of us could do for him." I sat with him and he told me all about how he'd grown to love and count on even the smallest details about her.

"They were married for fifty-eight years and my grandpa, the last thing he said before he fell asleep was that it wasn't nearly long enough." We stopped walking and turned toward one another. "I don't want another moment to pass without having told you I love you, Piper."

There was no longer any room for doubt. My heart burned inside of me answering his fully in accord.

I love him.

It was undeniable. He wasn't waiting for me to say that I loved him too. He was smiling and running his fingers through my hair. I didn't realize I was smiling back at him until he ran his thumb over my smiling mouth.

"This is good." He brought my hand up to his lips. "You're not running away."

I laced my fingers together behind his neck, looked up into his eyes and told him, "I don't want to run away from you anymore."

Nicholas seized my lips. His arms were around me and his hands in my hair as he claimed my mouth as his own. Heat spiraled through me and mixed with the desire I already had for him. The passion in his kiss had my head spinning and I had no doubt that married or not I already belonged to him, and he belonged to me.

His body was so hard against mine, there was so much solid muscle yet he did not crush me with his incredible strength. It occurred to me that he was being very careful even though he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. My hand found the bottom hem of his shirt and slid beneath it, the skin on his stomach was hot and tight beneath my touch.

Nicholas made a tortured sound, and his hands slid down my back and cupped my behind as he picked me up off the sand and held me on his hips. I wrapped my legs around his waist, but suddenly he ripped his mouth from mine and his arms and hands bit into my skin as the pressure instantly increased. He said something in Gaelic using the same tone my father does when he's yelling explicative's in road rage.

I held tightly to him too afraid to look around and see what he was seeing. "What?" He set me onto the sand.

"Get in the truck and drive as fast as you can back to the community." He unpeeled my fisted hand and put the keys inside my curled fingers.

My heart was pounding. "Why? No, I won't leave you here."

Nicholas grabbed my face and made me look into his eyes. "I said go, now." He tossed me up onto the pier, which was really high up. I landed on my stomach, knocked the oxygen right out of me, and I banged my chin. I climbed up the side railing onto my feet.

Two figures walked toward Nicholas. They weren't in cloaks like I knew black Siths had to wear in the sunlight and though the sun was setting it was not yet gone. They were men but they moved across the sand without sinking into it and they were moving fast, although their body language made it appear a leisurely motion.

I leaned over the railing trying to make myself breathe. I wanted to scream at Nicholas, to make him get away. If I was right then these men were worse than black Siths. The only thing I knew of that was worse than a Black Sith was a Baobhan Sith. Blood poured from my chin and I wiped it with my arm. The two figures leapt at Nicholas and he changed into a huge werewolf.

People were screaming all around me. The three of them were so fast it was hard to see exactly what was happening, we could hear it though. Nicholas roared out a sound of terrible pain before he shrank back to his human form, and I screamed but not with my voice.

The figures stopped tearing at Nicholas' unmoving body. They straightened and began to turn toward me. Blood dripped from my chin again and it fell to the white sand below.

The two figures blurred in my vision and were gone from Nicholas, who still wasn't moving. I looked out and around the beach, but I couldn't find where they'd gone. The woman next to me was screaming louder, and I felt like I was in slow motion as I followed her gaze to directly below us in the exact spot my blood had dripped onto the sand. A young man with dark hair stood looking up at me with a smile on his blood stained mouth.

He was far below me, but I could see his pupils growing and shrinking matching the pace of my heartbeat. My body shook beyond my control. I felt the second one's presence at my side before I saw him. This one had brown hair and up close it shocked me that he appeared so normal.

"We won't hurt you, Kellan. But it would be wise to come without a fight so you do not injure yourself." His voice was melodic. The pier shook and when I looked back down to the sand I saw Nicholas bite straight through the other Baobhans center splitting him in half and tossing both pieces aside. He climbed up onto the pier in only two movements.

The Baobhan's eyes turned completely white as he grew larger. The Baobhan flew past me and I finally did as Nicholas asked me. I ran down the pier toward the parking lot, hating myself for being so helpless with every step I took.

I hadn't missed the blood that had been all over the pier where Nicholas had been standing. I prayed it belonged to the other Baobhan but couldn't forget that they had left him unmoving on the beach only moments before.

I got in the truck and started the engine as my driver side door handle was tested from the outside. The Baobhan Nicholas had ripped in half stood outside my door.

A blur of brown fur whisked him away, and I recognized Toryn when he looked back at me and I reversed out of the parking spot. I couldn't see through my tears as I peeled out into traffic, I was driving like a lunatic and telling myself that Nicholas and Toryn would escape the Baobhans once I was far enough away from them.

If anything happens to Nicholas....

No, don't go there. Just get back. They'll be there waiting for me. They'll be there.
Chapter Thirty

They weren't there when I got back.

I ran into the big house and found Seraph in the huge room Brea had taken me to when I'd spoken with Seraph that first time. She ran toward me when she saw my face meeting me halfway across the room. "We were attacked by Baobhan Siths. Nicholas is hurt. Toryn is there at the beach." She closed her eyes and when she opened them the double doors opened and Brea came through them.

"They're almost back, get Madric," Seraph told Brea. She kissed my forehead and said, "You did the right thing. You were supposed to leave. Nicholas and Toryn are back."

"Where are they?" Seraph held onto my hand.

"Nicholas is very badly wounded, Kellan. You must let the healer work with him." More tears poured from my eyes as Seraph continued, "Go to your room. The house is being guarded by the pack. You must not leave the house."

"I need to be with Nicholas."

"You will do as you are told." She nodded and only then did I realize we weren't alone. Two men came forward from the corners of the room and escorted me back to my room. I stared blindly into the space, still standing next to the door when they closed and locked it.

I prayed for Nicholas and I tried to send him my love on the wind. I also sent threats that I would kill him if he died. Yes, I realize the stupidity of the message. Hours passed and I only noticed the book on my bed because I sat on it. It was a Gaelic dictionary. I knew Barthow had been the one to put it there.

When Nicholas had been attacked there had been nothing I could do to help him. This driving self-loathing, and the feeling of helplessness, was all I could concentrate on to keep me from considering what might have become of Nicholas after this long and having no word.

I got the black book out of my luggage and opened it up. It was slow going looking up almost every word, but I'd gotten quite far by the time my door was unlocked and Seraph, Brea and Isabeau came through it. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating while I waited for one of them to tell me.

"He's alive," Seraph said as Isabeau closed the door.

"I want to see him." I jumped off my bed, and Brea came forward and caught me before I neared the door.

"Nicholas was very badly wounded, Piper. He lost a lot of blood."

I asked, "But he'll be okay?" Seraph looked away and Isabeau covered her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. "He'll be okay won't he?"

"I'm sure he'll pull through but right now he's not awake. There is a poison in the bite of a Baobhan that is still in him." Brea glanced back at Seraph before continuing. "When he wakes up he may not be the same. Nicholas was scarred, and while he's still unconscious more damage is taking place. He may not heal fully."

Nicholas was lying in a bed dying because he had fought for me. I didn't care about scars. "I want to see him _now_."

"Toryn is the alpha while Nicholas is unable to serve as alpha." I stared at Brea wondering why that mattered.

Seraph came forward and took my hands in hers. "The Baobhans know who you are and they want you. You must have an alpha to protect you, angel." I pulled my hands from hers. "Toryn is your intended now. He is whole and strong enough to keep you from harm."

"You can call him whatever you want but Nicholas is the man I love. I will not marry Toryn."

"Give her time," Brea told Seraph.

"I don't need time." I went around them to Isabeau. "Take me to Nicholas." Bless Isabeau, she didn't even hesitate but led me from the room, and the two men who had locked me in followed us as Isabeau led me to another wing of the big house. Toryn was in the hallway leaning against the wall where Isabeau slowed. "He's in there." I looked Toryn over for injuries. He seemed to be in one piece. At least he wasn't in the same boat as Nicholas. I went into the room.

Nicholas' face held three long, red, angry slashes starting under his right eye and ending at his collarbone. Stitches crisscrossed through the cuts all the way down. There were bite marks on his shoulders, too many for me to count through my tear-blurred vision. I sat in the chair next to his bed and held his hand. It was limp and cold in mine.

I didn't want him to know that I was crying, or that I was terrified. I wanted to be strength for him, to help him fight and come back to me. It took me a little bit before I dared talk out loud. "I was in my room earlier and I realized the other night when you said you wanted to go and visit Sidney what you were really saying was that you wanted her to know you better. You were listening to me when I told her I wouldn't sleep with a guy she didn't know really well."

The lump in my throat was so big I could barely breathe around it. The red cuts all over his skin and face made him almost unrecognizable, and the contrast of the red against the deathly pale skin made me start shaking again. "I need you, Nicholas." I climbed onto the bed next to him and laid my head on his chest and begged him not to leave me.

Donnell was the one who lifted me from Nicholas and carried me from the room. Isabeau and Toryn were yelling at each other when we came out into the hallway and Donnell set me down. "Take her back to her room," Donnell said to Isabeau. "You stay away from my grandson's wife." He pointed at Toryn.

"I am alpha," I heard Toryn say and Isabeau was pulling hard to keep me walking. I looked back at Toryn, and he was watching me. His eyes were red and the skin around them swollen but there was intensity in them.

"Come on, Piper. I'll bring you back to see Nicholas in a little while." I didn't see Donnell anymore and wished he had come with us. "You should lock your door, Piper. Toryn is... being really stupid right now and..." She looked back. "I would lock my door if I were you."

I didn't care about whatever Toryn's problem was. I just wanted Nicholas to wake up. I had read in the black book that the Baobhans had fangs like snakes. They injected their poison into their victims with each bite. They were strong too, far beyond that of regular human beings. They had claws too and they could grow in size. I'd seen that myself.

They had hypnotic voices and eyes they used to lead their victims to their deaths. I suspected they were probably where the legends of vampires had been created as they too drank and survived from the blood of their victims, but they had no problem being out in daylight. I had yet to discover a weakness of the Baobhans in the book.

Seraph was still in my room when we got back and Isabeau left me with her. I went to the desk and sat down on the stool. "I am surprised that Conrad allowed you to borrow this book." She tapped the hard cover of the black book. I turned toward the mirror and looked at her in its reflection. "I know you are hurting, Piper." She came to stand behind me.

Her hands raised and then set on my shoulders. "I'm not very good at comforting. But I want you to know that I love you and should you need me, just let me know." I nodded. She withdrew her hands from my shoulders. "I will be going to see Nicholas' family. I expect you will be fully released from their service."

"Nicholas never released me. I have already told you that I am choosing who I marry and it won't be Toryn." She didn't say anything. I watched her leave my room and tried to understand how she had become as cold as she was.

Does she really think I can just forget that I'm in love with Nicholas?

I took the black book and dictionary and went back to Nicholas' room by myself. I spent the night in his room, though I couldn't lie next to him because Madric had to keep coming in to change bandages and use his concoctions on Nicholas. He let me help dress the wounds that were above the waistline and didn't kick me out of the room as I was afraid he was going to do.

When morning came and Nicholas still had not woken up Madric said that he was going to move Nicholas closer to his own house. He lived outside of Seraph's house and I knew I would not be allowed to go and see him without escorts and Seraph's permission. I tried to talk Madric into letting him remain in the big house, but he insisted. Nicholas needed his help more than my presence.

Toryn was in my room when I returned. He was sitting at the table near the window. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"I can see that. I'm glad you're not hurt, Toryn." I re-opened my door. "Get the hell out of my room."

"How can you be mad at me for this? I came and saved both of your lives. Is it my fault that he's not strong enough to be alpha anymore? I'm not the Sith that almost killed him, Piper." He came toward me. "Nicholas did his duty as the alpha. Now I am the alpha and I will do my duty. You are mine to have and protect as is my right as alpha."

"I have retained the right to choose and you are not who I will choose."

"You'll choose Nicholas? All you know is Nicholas. All he's shown you is lust. Let me love you, Piper. Let me make you the woman you were meant to be."

I glared at him. "I am who I am meant to be."

He closed his eyes and wiped his hands harshly down his face. "That's not what I meant." Toryn stood facing me with not much space between us. I didn't want to back down from him so I kept my feet planted. "You were meant to be with me, Piper. I want you to come to see this so I forbid you to see Nicholas."

"Then you'd better let Seraph know that I will be breaking the rules of the alpha."

Toryn shook his head. "He is outside of the house of your protection and only the pack can escort you from the house. _My_ pack." He reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. "If you will give me a chance to win you then I will let you see him."

"You just blew the only chance you ever would have had. I have no respect for a man that has to force me to do anything or who thinks he has the power to forbid me from anything."

"I hope you'll change your mind." He left my room, and I slammed my door behind him. Again, I was helpless and I didn't like it. So, I went back to translating the book. If I could learn enough to protect myself, I could go to Nicholas without an escort at all.

My brain was throbbing and I had to stop because after studying for the last four hours some of the information was not sticking. I had to take a break.

The Baobhan Sith that stood next to me on the pier was hundreds of years old. He was called Cayden, which was a Gaelic name that meant spirit of battle. There weren't many pictures of the Baobhans in the book, but Cayden was sketched in by a very skilled artist.

Toryn brought me lunch and I glared at him as he set the tray down at the table and seated himself in the seat across from the tray. "Can't you see this from my point of view at all? I have been waiting for you my entire life and right before you finally get here I don't get to have you. I've had to watch as Nicholas has put his hands all over you.

"I've stood aside while he kissed you _when you were supposed to be mine._ " He fisted his hands and said almost inaudibly, "I had to hear you wanting him."

My face burned red and I stood up. "Then why do you want me? You heard how I feel about Nicholas. You know that I want him. Why would you want someone who doesn't want you?"

Toryn came over to me and I tried to guess what he was going to do next. "I know you want me too, Piper. If you didn't you would not have set me free from Brynn, and you would not have been jealous of her when she was with me." I swallowed and moved to take a step back but he grabbed my arms right above my elbows. "Fate has set everything back where it was always supposed to be."

"I don't want you." I pushed against his chest. "You've hurt Nicholas by kissing his intended before. Don't do it to him again."

"Nicholas has yet to awaken. Many of our healers do not believe he will." I struggled in his arms, and he hugged me against his chest. "I'm sorry but you have to start to see the reality of all this." He pinned me to him with one arm and stroked my hair with his free hand. "I'm sorry, don't cry." He kissed my forehead and then my cheek. I felt his breath on my mouth.

I pictured him as Nicholas and opened up my mind so that he could hear my thoughts. He released me like I'd burned him. "I want to see him, Toryn."

"Don't _ever_ do that again."

"Please let me see him."

"Fine." He threw up his hands and then went and opened the door for me. He must have seen the surprise on my face because he said, "I'm not a monster, Piper. I'm just trying to help you. I will take you to see for yourself." He made me wait until three more of the pack came to the house to escort me to Nicholas.

Donnell was there and if it were actually possible for him to shoot daggers from his eyes, Toryn would have been dead. Nicholas looked just as bad as the last time I'd seen him. His lips were turning bluish. I sat next to him and held his hand in mine again. I could feel his pulse, and it was weak.

"Nicholas, I need you to wake up," I whispered to him. "I need you." Toryn left the room and Donnell followed after him. I got in bed with him again and put his arm around me. I sang to him, and I told him how much I loved him. I was mad at myself for waiting until he wasn't conscious to say those three words to him.

Continuing to talk and sing to him, I told myself that maybe he was lost and I was leading him back with my voice. I traced the scars and bites with my fingers and cried because I knew they were there because of me.

Toryn came back in first then Donnell and Conrad Nicholas' father came in after him. "I'm glad you're here." He said but I didn't look at him. I knew they were going to make me leave. Even so, it was strange to hear Conrad say something nice to me at all. "I have not released you yet, but I will should you ask me."

"Please don't." I looked at him. "You aren't going to start being nice to me now, are you? I want to continue to serve Nicholas and his family."

"That is not what Seraph meant by giving you this act of service," Toryn said and offered me his hand. "Nicholas may need peace to heal. It's time to return you to the house."

"She can stay as long as she wants," Donnell yelled startling us all. "You're a greedy little fool and you don't deserve her." He jabbed his finger in Toryn's direction.

"I know you've had a difficult few days, Donnell. So I'll forgive your insults to the alpha." Toryn lifted me from the bed and then set me down next to him. "I loved her first, have you forgotten that?"

They continued to argue, and I took the opportunity to kiss Nicholas goodbye. It wasn't a goodbye forever kiss just a goodbye for now. "Come back to me, Nicholas." I smoothed back his black hair and thought he might have better color. Everyone stopped arguing. They all watched me, but I didn't care. Nicholas was so far away from me with all these stupid safety rules I was bound by. Toryn, I was sure would follow through in making me earn my next visit.

"It's time to go, Piper."

"Will you make sure I'm informed if he wakes before I return?" I glanced over at Toryn and wasn't surprised to find his face completely red. "I'd like to stay with him." I told him despite his obvious anger. I wanted to throw a fit and refuse to go, but what if all the yelling and anger chased Nicholas deeper into that black abyss?

"No." He sighed looking down at Nicholas. "The pack has to protect the clan. I can't keep them just standing around." Toryn placed my hand gently at the inside of his elbow and led me from the room and into one where Madric was mixing something in a bowl.

Toryn took me back to my room. "Goodnight, Kellan. Tomorrow you'll find many things will be different." His smile promised me his estimation was accurate. "You are mine to have and protect, Kellan." His easy going demeanor was absent from his face. "I mean to do both."
Chapter Thirty-One

I closed the black book. I had finished it and felt numb. I re-read several times the two pages there were on defending against a Baobhan and I wished that I had not counted on this book having all the answers. I smelled terrible I was sure and so I took a quick shower.

Toryn was in my room when I came out wrapped in a burgundy towel. "Get out of my room, Toryn." He stood up from his favorite seat at the table and came toward me.

"It is my right to be here, Kellan. I am your intended." He wasn't looking at my face but at my towel. I remembered Nicholas telling me that he could take me as his wife and the community would not dispute it. The look on Toryn's face told me he knew this same detail to be true. "Don't back away from me." His nostrils were flaring and so were his eyes. "I am not going to make you."

"Then get out."

"I came to tell you that Seraph wants to see us both at once." He closed the distance between us before I realized he was even moving. He kissed me hard, and I turned my face away from him only to have his mouth at my neck. I kneed him and then tried to shove him away from me.

"Get off me now, Toryn." He was no longer kissing me, but his arms were tightly around me and I could not move away from him.

"Stop fighting me, Kellan. I love you." His hand fisted in the towel.

"My name is Piper. I am not the lovesick girl you wanted me to be when I got here, Toryn."

He jerked the towel off of me. "You will give me as much as you have given Nicholas. You are mine now."

"No, you are trying to take what I have given no one." I was too afraid to move. "You will be a monster if you do this, Toryn." He met my gaze and took a step back from me. I hurriedly re-wrapped myself in the towel.

"I'm sorry," he said breathlessly. He backed himself to the door and then went out into the hallway.

My hands were still shaking when I opened up my drawers and grabbed the first pair of underwear, bra, shirt and pants I got a hold of. I changed in the bathroom and then washed my face and hands.

Get a grip, Piper.

I put my palms down on the cool countertop and let out my breath slowly. Everything would be okay. When I looked at myself in the mirror anger replaced my shock. There was already a huge section of purple and black bruising on my neck.

He gave me a hickey?

The faintest bit of purple was beginning to show on my chin too. I put a lot of makeup on both and wore my hair down brushing it out with angry strokes.

Toryn wasn't in the hallway. I found him standing before Seraph.

"Piper, I'm glad you were feeling well enough to join us." Toryn turned quite pale as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

"Toryn said that I can spend all the time I'd like with Nicholas. Isn't that right, Toryn?"

He looked at me fully and then back at Seraph wide eyed. "I..." He glared at me. "Might have said that."

"Piper, he is very injured. It is doubtful he will wake at all." She began to study Toryn. "You failed to mention this promise you've given her just now."

"I hoped that Kellan would come to realize he will not be waking up."

"I will permit you to stay with him as long as Toryn allows it, but I can't see that this is good for you, Piper. Are you sure it is best for you to see him die?"

I straightened and met her gaze. "I am quite certain he will not die." Seraph looked on me with pity and nodded.

"Please understand that with the threats against you, Piper, we cannot risk you going unprotected. I know you are still very young but I encourage you to take the alpha as your husband soon. It gives you extra protection you cannot yet understand."

Toryn was looking at me still, and his face had not brightened any. "I will _never_ marry Toryn."

"He was there to save you from a Sith, Piper. I owe him a great debt for saving my child." Her eyes glassed over with tears, and I wondered what she would think of this hero if I showed her the marks from his onslaught. This culture was different though, she would probably consider it his right. "Please give him a chance." I didn't look at her until she added, "If Nicholas does wake up it will have been Toryn who saved his life."

The double doors at the entrance opened and Isabeau raced down the carpet with her eyes on me and so I turned and ran toward her. "Is he awake?"

"He's asking for you." She was smiling as she looked past me, "You too, Toryn." I didn't wait to see what they would do. I raced from the room and down the hallway. Toryn caught up to me when I was halfway down the stairs.

"I told you I was sorry and Seraph's right. I saved both of your lives."

"Toryn, I couldn't care less about your fears. I want to go and see Nicholas."

There was panic in his voice. "It was a mistake and I didn't keep going. I stopped. Your allure and my jealousy and... I just lost control. I'll never try to convince you that way again."

I hissed out my breath and turned toward him. "If you ever touch me again I won't keep any secret for you."

"Thank you-"

"Shut up, the only reason I'm not telling Nicholas what a pig you are is because you saved his life." I continued down the stairs. Adriel and Nicholas' other brothers waited just outside to escort me to Nicholas. Madric was grinning when I came through the front door and he gestured toward the back room.

I opened the door and found Nicholas on the other side reaching for the door handle. He was still pale. His arms felt strong as they embraced me, and I started crying. "Are you okay?" I heard him ask me and laughter replaced my tears. He tilted my face upward towards his. "I could almost beat your butt for not leaving when I told you to leave. I thought they were going to get you." He kissed me. His lips were much firmer than before, and his skin was damp and cold. Nicholas held me tightly enveloped in his arms again.

"You are healing fast now that you are awake, Nicholas. But you still need to give yourself time," Madric said.

"Toryn," I heard Nicholas say. I didn't turn to see him because I was afraid my emotions would break through the fragile barrier that held what happened, a secret. "You saved my life and the life of Piper. I can never repay you for this."

I said, "Come on, Nicholas, you heard what Madric said. You've got to sit down."

"Let's give them some time together," Donnell said closing the bedroom door with only Nicholas and myself inside.

"Are you okay?" Nicholas was studying my expression and smiled.

"I'm amazing. You're awake, you're alive." More tears poured from my eyes and he wiped them away.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I could hear you when you'd come. Where were you?" He sat down with me on his lap in the chair next to the bed smiling at me. His shoulders were still bare and the bite marks still there. The slashes under his eye were much better but still present and likely to scar.

I heard him swallow and found him watching me looking at his wounds. "They are pretty repulsive." I kissed the cuts just under his eye.

"They are the price you paid to protect me." I gently touched his left shoulder. "Do they still hurt?"

"I've dreamt and thought of nothing but you, Piper. Where were you?"

I glanced toward the door. "Has anyone told you anything since you've woken up?" He shook his head, his expression still soft and loving. "Toryn took over as Alpha while you were asleep. They said I had to stay at Seraph's house to be kept safe once you were moved here."

"Oh." He looked only a little disappointed. "They were right. You have to be kept safe." He tucked my hair behind my ear and my heart started pumping harder. "Toryn brought you to me just now?"

"Well, yes... him and your brothers. Nicholas, I've been beside myself worrying about you. I love you. I wanted to be here with you." He kissed me still holding me and pushed my hair away from my neck. My heart rate doubled.

He broke the kiss and his expression was dark. "What is going on, Piper?" I pulled my hair back over my neck afraid that the makeup wouldn't be enough. "You smell like Toryn."

_Crap_.

"He's been with me since you've been out."

Nicholas' hand touched my collarbone and then trailed down to the space between my breasts. "He's been with you here?" It was the exact spot where Toryn gripped the towel before he'd taken it from me.

"No." Not in the way he was thinking.

His eyes focused in on my chin, and I lost complete control. My hands were shaking, and I knew he could hear bits and pieces of what had happened on the wind as his shoulders rose and his eyes focused. He wiped the makeup away and then pushed back my hair and removed the makeup there. Nicholas set me gently on the bed and stood up, his form growing.

"He saved your life, Nicholas."

He shot from the room in a blur. I stood up and ran after him. Everyone was right outside the small house and Nicholas had already found Toryn. They were fighting and despite Nicholas' injuries he was really tearing up Toryn, but each blow that Toryn delivered was damaging to Nicholas. I screamed at them to stop. They didn't listen.

I grabbed Adriel, who was watching from the sideline. "Stop them. Toryn will hurt Nicholas. He's already hurt, you have to stop them."

"I can't do that."

"Toryn saved your brother's life. You and I both know Nicholas won't forgive himself if he hurts him or kills him. Stop the fight." Adriel looked to his other brothers and they rushed into the fight.

Everyone was holding back Nicholas while Toryn sat up in his human form in the dirt. Blood poured from every surface of his face. "You should have heard the way she begged me to touch her."

Nicholas broke free from the group and Toryn intercepted him back in his werewolf form. They were tearing each other apart and I couldn't just stand there. I ran toward them ignoring everyone who yelled at me to stop. The pack got them apart again by the time I reached them.

"He saved her too, Nicholas." I heard Adriel yelling over the roaring growl that was coming from Nicholas and vibrating in the ground and air. Toryn was heading back toward Seraph's house, and Nicholas watched him go with blood lust still in his eyes.

Madric looked Nicholas over and ordered him back to bed. I followed as they helped Nicholas back into the small house. Nicholas told them all to leave him once he was back in bed, and I went into the room despite the warning looks I got.

"Why didn't you tell me? Did you want him too?" He shot up out of the bed. "You couldn't leave him to come to me?" His voice shook the walls.

"I love you, Nicholas."

"Are you telling me you never wanted him?" He was close enough that I could feel his breath on my face, but his eyes were on my neck. "I heard your heartbeat triple on the wind when Toryn undressed you."

I was choking on pain and tears poured from my eyes even as I glared up at Nicholas. "You mean when he ripped my towel away from me?"

"I've seen what I look like. I disgust you and you took the first chance at a whole man that you got."

" _Goodbye_ , Nicholas." I reached for the doorknob, but his hand slammed on the door above my head holding it closed.

"I loved you, Piper."

My body surged with pain like he'd just stabbed me in the back with a knife. But it was a knife made of words and it would've hurt much less had it been an actual knife.

"You heard what you wanted to hear on the wind, Nicholas. Let me go." His hand didn't move from the door. "You promised me once that you would let me make my own choices. I choose to go."

"To _him_?" I reached up and pushed his hand away, which I was very aware I should not have been able to do should he have really wanted me to stay. Everyone in Nicholas' family was in the front room and I couldn't look at any of them.

All of the brothers left with me. I didn't realize Conrad was with us until he grabbed my hand. "He is blinded by his jealousy, Piper. Please forgive him." I tried to pull my hand away. "He just needs time to realize what he's saying."

"He knows what he's accused me of, Conrad." I made myself look at him and pretended that I didn't notice that tears were continuously flowing from my eyes. "I'm asking you to pardon me."

His jaw set and his eyes met mine. I was surprised to find the fear and pain that were within them. "You have it and that of my son Nicholas." He released my hand. "Now let me go tell him what a fool he's being. Don't give up on him." Conrad left then, and it was good that he did because I had no intention of giving him that promise.

Seraph was waiting for me in my room when I arrived, and I was surprised to see that she was packing my things. "He has awoken?"

"Yes."

"Thank goodness." She continued to put my things in my luggage, and I was glad that she hadn't looked at me because I still had not stopped crying. I wiped at my eyes and hoped they would stop pouring. "It's time to get you to a safer place, Piper. The Baobhans know of this community and you are not safe here.

"Barthow will go with you and several of the pack too. Nicholas is still healing and not a sufficient protector for you right now. You will have to choose four others from the pack." I could see the muscles flexing in her back. She expected me to argue with her.

"I understand."

"You've read about some tricks in the black book to repel the Baobhans but nothing that can defeat them. I am glad you took the initiative to learn what you have about them, even if you did steal the book."

Her posture sharpened and I could see her masking her emotions, something she clearly learned being the Gypsy Queen. "Your father, Morgan Castlerock is his name. He is a Baobhan Sith and he is angry that you have been kept from him. He has suffered all these years for not paying up on his promise. He will stop at nothing to turn you over."

She had to tell me now.

"And how can I stop him, Seraph? How does one kill a Baobhan Sith?"

"You've studied hard with Barthow? You can control what I'm about to tell you? You can swear to me that you will keep what I'm about to tell you to yourself?"

"I swear."

"If anything was to happen to me you are to be the next Gypsy Queen." I didn't even try to hide the horror that declaration filled me with and she nodded as if expecting my reaction. "I'll do my best to stay alive. If anything were to happen to you then Isabeau is next in line. You should know that I've reinstated Zorrin. She is my sister and I have forgiven her to spare her daughter, Minerva, the shame she's carried almost her entire life."

"Minerva is Zorrin's daughter?" The teacher who would teach me to tame fire? The same woman who I saw crying at Seraph's feet?

"You must know this if you should become queen. Many believe Minerva has the right but it is not hers, it is yours. You must take it and lead these people as your own. Here." She gave me a long silver jeweled key. "You'll need that too."

I tried to give it back to her. "You're not gone, Seraph. Keep this."

"I no longer need it. It opens knowledge that I already know by heart. Are you prepared to hear this secret?" I nodded and immediately started concentrating so that I wouldn't fail her or myself. "The only Baobhan Sith ever to have been killed in all of history was killed by my great grandfather, your great, great grandfather. The gypsies knowing this secret is the only reason the Baobhans do not come and hunt and kill every gypsy there is left. It is the only reason our clan can rest easy, knowing we have this secret."

"I understand," I said when she paused. I could see her pulse in the vein on her forehead.

"This is going to shock you and I need you to be strong enough to hold onto your concentration and keep this secret."

Seraph came forward and tucked some of my hair behind my ear. There were tears in her eyes. I was sure she was going to tell me that I was going to die doing this so I just did my best to concentrate. "We don't know how to kill the Baobhans."

What?

"It was by accident that your great, great grandfather killed one and he died shortly thereafter. He spoke to his wife before he died and she told the clan that she knew the secret. She announced it in the towns and the Baobhans have left us alone."

"Until your husband promised them me?"

"Yes." She squeezed my shoulders. "Don't worry, I won't let them have you. Keep it secret, Piper, or they will all panic. They will all be lambs for the slaughter."
Chapter Thirty-Two

Everyone and everything inside the big house was in chaos. Seraph was flanked by four of the pack, including Toryn. As soon as he saw me he broke away from his position and rushed over to me.

"I'm so sorry about what I said to Nicholas."

"You should be, Toryn. You think only of yourself and you've hurt me twice today. I don't have room in my life for a jerk like you." He flinched but didn't move away from me.

"I can't blame you for feeling that way." He glanced back at Seraph. "I told her what I did and I will make it up to you. I promise." Once he'd said what he had to say he fell back in his position. I returned my attention to Seraph.

She was dressed in clothing common to the Gaje, her hair in a simple ponytail. I knew that she was doing her best to blend. Seraph spoke to the clan members that were there and even the tone of her voice inspired bravery and loyalty. Before she left, she looked my way and our eyes connected. It was surprisingly hard to watch her leave through the front door.

I barely knew her at all but somehow I still loved her.

As I stood there looking at the closed door, I realized I wasn't the only one watching it. Madric stood several feet to my right doing just as I was. He was in charge, but it wasn't anxiety over his responsibility that creased his handsome face. No. That was love I saw in his eyes too.

Isabeau came and stood next to me. She was wearing Gaje clothes as well. "Did Seraph give you the key?"

"Yes, she did," I answered, taking my musings with me as I turned to her. Isabeau was red in the face and her lips pressed so tightly together they were white. "What's wrong?"

"She's picked you to succeed her? _You_?"

"Uh... she said I was next in line." Up until this point I'd never seen Isabeau look at anyone like she hated them.

"Ridiculous. You don't even honor gypsy tradition. You don't know _anything_ about us. How could you possibly lead us?"

"I won't be. Seraph will come back and I will return the key. Don't get all snappy with me, Isabeau."

"You don't even know that the key can't be returned."

"Enough," Brea said sharply and I jumped not knowing when she had arrived. "Go up to Seraph's chamber, Piper. The pack will come and you must select your protectors." Isabeau didn't spare me a second glance so I went back up to the second floor. I didn't know where her chamber was. I was lost in every single aspect of my life.

The room with the long walkway and throne had doors behind the throne. They were locked, but the key that had Isabeau hating me opened them. I turned on the light and went inside. I let the door close behind me.

Pictures lined the upper walls and one wall held a long scroll that was open and a family tree was written on it. When I took a closer look I saw Seraph's name. A line connected her name to that of Morgan Castlerock and two lines sprung out from their names. One was mine and one was scribbled out. I tried to read through the scribble but couldn't.

My great, great grandfather, the one who I believed to be the one who accidentally killed the Baobhan because of the bold print of his name was Angus Gael. What had he done so long ago? How could he have not told his wife how or what he'd done?

_He must have told her_.

There were bookshelves on both sides of the giant scroll with names on each book binding in elaborate text. They had actual names and as I looked at them, I realized they were the names of the people on the scroll. The first one I pulled from the shelf was the journal of a woman named Helena. I replaced the book and then looked for the one that belonged to Angus' wife, Sareae Gael. The binding was almost illegible it was so worn. Seraph hadn't found answers in her journal, and I wasn't going to presume I was smarter than Seraph.

Instead, I took Angus' journal and dropped it into my purse. There were boxes and big jewel encrusted chests that required the key to open them. I knew the pack was already awaiting me.

Will Nicholas be among them? I doubt it.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Kellan?" I didn't recognize the voice but assumed it was one of the pack.

"Just a moment, please?" I didn't find the narrow hallway until I'd been looking for a mirror to clean up. It took me to a room that had a skylight that lit up the circular room. The walls were filled with pictures of me from when I was a baby up to the present. In many I recognized Tony and Johnny as being the photographers.

My throat ached and my eyes spilled over with tears. No matter the reason for her giving me away she loved me. I couldn't doubt that. I found a washroom and cleaned up. Looking at myself in the mirror, I wished I'd said more to Seraph.

I hid the key in my bra and then as I walked back toward the throne room I sighed, knowing I was leaving valuable information behind. There wasn't time to dig through it all. I entered the throne room. Nicholas wasn't among them. Did he know Seraph had forbidden me from selecting him? Was he terribly wounded from the fight with Toryn? "Where is Nicholas?"

No one spoke up. They all just looked uncomfortably from one to the other. Nicholas had probably told them not to tell me. They had to obey their alpha, and I wasn't going to convince any of them to do otherwise.

"Which of you want to take me into hiding?" They all took a step forward and I got choked up seeing so many willing to fight for me. How was I supposed to choose? Whomever I picked would most likely be killed by the Baobhans when they came for me. I didn't want to choose.

"Nicholas pre-selected who would guard you," Adriel said and my eyes immediately filled with tears.

"He chose the best of you?" I noticed that his brothers were standing closer to the front. Nicholas had selected his brothers to protect me? "He presumes too much." I pointed randomly to one that I didn't know. "You and the three to your right will come with me."

"But, Piper, it is unwise to go against the alpha's wishes. Nicholas wants you protected."

"I don't care what he wants."

"I will not disobey my alpha's orders," Adriel told me. "I will go with you."

The double doors blew open and Barthow came stomping in. "Damn right Adriel's coming with us," Barthow barked out. He was red faced looking furious. "We have no time for further arguments. Let's go." Five werewolves followed us from the throne room. I was surrounded by my protectors, but I could have sworn I saw Donnell being restrained from coming toward me. I was herded right out a side door before I could do anything to respond to Donnell.

Dozens of big cars like the one they'd loaded me into left at the same time ours did, and I had no doubt it was meant to help conceal which getaway car I was in. Barthow was holding my hand and I knew I'd let my guard down too much when he suddenly started hyperventilating.

"Don't panic." I slapped his back like he was choking. "Let's keep this between us, Barthow, okay?" Everyone with us tensed up hearing me say that. I didn't know the werewolf that was driving us, but he was fearless. I was the only one at the moment recognizing the breakneck speed we were going.

Barthow was staring dejectedly up at the ceiling of the car. His entire body had grown limp and each breath he took came out in a sigh. Seraph was right to keep the secret of not knowing how to kill the Baobhans. If this was how Blackbeard was taking it, there was no telling what the other members of the clan might do.

I pulled the journal of my great, great grandfather from my purse and opened it up.

"What are you doing with that?"

I looked pointedly at him finding a grumpy expression on his face. "I've decided not to give up. If you feel differently about it you should let us drop you back at the community." I turned back to the journal and felt him getting all puffed up at my side.

"You've no idea what you're dealing with. You think you can smile at them and bat those lashes at them and they'll roll over for you?"

"Of course not, you old fool. Besides, I know what Seraph told me and what I've researched on my own." I elbowed him hard hoping he wouldn't slip up again in hinting that I didn't have a clue as to how to fight the Baobhans. "And it appears I've got the backbone you clearly lack," I added. His eyes widened in his still pale face.

"I've plenty of backbone," he said loud, but but to me he added, "and I don't fancy letting the Baobhans chew on it."

I had to concentrate to keep my thoughts angled just at him in this small space with werewolf ears all around us. "I know you're scared, but I need your help. Will you help me or not?" I prayed he wouldn't desert me.

I knew that he was very knowledgeable. I didn't get a choice in facing the Baobhans. They were coming for me. I had to face them and despite the strong front I was trying to give everyone I was terrified. Even with them all around me, I felt alone without Nicholas.

How can he abandon me when I need him the most?
Chapter Thirty-Three

Apparently the best place for me to hide was in a barn full of barn animals. That's where we stopped and Barthow was grossing me out. He was milking a pig and the pig along with all of its piglets did not like it.

"You are doing okay?" Adriel asked. The pack had spread out throughout the barn and some were even outside keeping watch. "You're all shaky and it's making us nervous." He cleared his throat. "You're scared?" I opened up Angus' journal instead of answering. "You're still mad at Nicholas too aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

"Yeah, I figured." His shoulders slumped and he kicked at the dirt and hay mixture covering the ground. "He made a mistake but he really loves you. I've never seen him care more for anyone as he does for you."

"That's nice of you to say, Adriel but we both know that's not true. If he cared at all about me he would have shown up in the throne room." I closed the book and hugged it against my chest. "He could have at least come to say goodbye. He's another Rick all over again. I'm not what he wanted me to be so he's just moved right onto the next best."

"Rick?" Adriel looked at me astounded. "He's nothing like that pea brain." He turned toward me looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "It only took one drop of Two Lips Abyss to make him forget you. One drop." He held up one finger.

"What?"

"He was distracting you from Nicholas. So I gave him a drop of Two Lips Abyss that night on the terrace. I even had to tell him how to get home."

"That's terrible." I shoved him a step back. "What if you damaged his brain or something?"

Adriel rolled his eyes at me. "He's forgotten you. You didn't want him anyway. It was the most pain free way to free him of your allure." I sighed hoping it had not harmed Rick and feeling a little better about his forgetting me. "Nicholas would have done much worse if he'd been the one to find Rick there."

"There is nothing romantic about jealousy, Adriel. It only means that he loves himself most."

"You don't know much about werewolves, Piper. We're territorial by nature and we are the most ferocious over what we treasure most." I opened my mouth to argue with him, but he kept talking. "You can't understand or even guess what is going on with Nicholas right now, and I only wish I could tell you."

Barthow stood up shaking his head. He offered me the bucket of pig milk and I dry heaved when the warm fluid splashed a few drops onto my arm.

"Yuck, drink it yourself." I backed up as he followed me with the bucket.

"You read it in the black book didn't you? The pig's milk will keep the Baobhans at a distance. We need all the help we can get. Drink it." I had read that but I'd thought it was a farce. "Drink it." He put the bucket in my hands, and I almost threw up into the bucket.

"I can't."

"Then how do you expect to survive this? I doubt the actual killing of the Baobhans is going to be less difficult than this."

I closed my eyes and took a swallow. It didn't taste bad necessarily, but it was warm and it came out of a pig. The fluid stayed in my throat. My stomach refused to give the pig milk entrance. Barthow slapped my back and it finally went down. They passed the bucket around until it was empty.

My mind was on Nicholas again when they loaded us all back into the car. Adriel gave me something he said would settle my stomach, but when my eyes grew heavy I knew he'd put me to sleep. I felt a blanket being tucked in around me.

Then I wasn't in the car anymore. I was standing outside of Madric's house. Maybe I was there to confront Nicholas.

What had Adriel meant I didn't know what was going on?

I opened the door and found the front room empty. The table where Madric had mixed his healing creams was bare. Continuing further in I opened the door to the bedroom and found the bed too was empty.

Suddenly, there was a man I didn't know with black, long hair that was striped with aged white. His face was pale and his familiar eyes bulging at me. I fell backwards out of the bedroom and then quickly rolled over and got back up.

"Sibh thainig le maraigh iad. Nil lig iad scrios ar treibh," he yelled frantically following me as I left Madric's house. He circled around me and kept saying whatever he was saying with so much urgency.

"I don't know what you're saying," I yelled back hoping he'd stop.

"Sibh thainig le maraigh iad!"

He didn't act like he was going to hurt me so I kept moving. I ran toward Nicholas' family home. The man came with me still insisting on yelling at me in Gaelic. We had almost reached the house when I heard a low growl.

I turned around and I found Nicholas in werewolf form. He towered over me, his body thick with black fur and his eyes were mostly black. His lips were curled back, and his long white teeth dripped with saliva as the growl got bigger and the earth trembled.

"Nicholas. It's me, Piper."

His jaws snapped at me, the hair on his back standing up.

"Nicholas?"

The houses suddenly went up in flames all around me, and I could hear people screaming. I was crying and the black haired man pointed past me. The Baobhans were coming. I could feel the heat on my face from the fire.

I sat up and looked around the room, disoriented and confused. I was on the floor in a sleeping bag in front of a fire. It was the only light in the room, but it did manage to illuminate Blackbeard's tired face. He was reading the journal and only he and I were in the room.

"Bad dream?"

"Yeah." My breathing was still coming fast and I was doing my best to get control of it. "Learn anything?"

"He was a wind-whisperer and earth lurer same as you." Barthow rubbed his eyes.

I asked, "Where is everyone?"

"We've got ourselves a full moon." I looked out the only window and the moon was in the upper right corner. It was a huge shimmering silver round moon. "I let myself be ruled by my fear. Forgive me?"

"Yes, of course I forgive you. Anything else in that journal?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, so far he just goes on about what he can grow and how he's developed his wind-whispering to mind manipulation. I'm glad to say he at this point has chosen not to practice it."

"Well, what was he growing?"

"Bushes and healing herbs thus far. Why? Do you think he grew something to kill the Sith with?"

"Anything is possible." I watched him read and prayed he would suddenly light up with an answer. We could hear the werewolves outside, they were howling. Whenever they drew near the tiny house we could hear the low growls and sometimes ferocious snarling.

"Oh, ho, ho." Barthow sat up taller in the only chair in the room. "Now this is something."

"What is it?" I got up and stood next to him. The writing was still all in Gaelic but from my studying the black book I was able to recognize a few of the words.

"Angus ventured out one night and he was sure he saw a group of Baobhans. A group, he says there were more than five. All of our records only tell us of four." He was right, there were only four mentioned in the black book. "Of course Angus is but fifteen here. He might have been mistaken."

"What else does he say about them?"

"Well, here, I'll read the entry to you."

"This last night I ventured out after the setting of the sun despite the warnings of the clan. Rumors have been going round about the Baobhans. I did not believe this rumor. I should have. I was not more than a kilometer or so out when I saw them. More than five but I cannot say for certain their exact number as the night was dark. They moved like normal men, but I knew them for what they were, for I saw them creating a slave, a black Sith and its eyes shown like an animal's eyes at night.

"He was fifteen when he wrote that? He sounds so mature."

"He's daft, going out after the Baobhans."

"Well, clearly he learned how to kill them from observing them. What does the next entry say?" Barthow turned the page and started reading. "What does it say?"

"We've moved twice and I am beginning to think that I may be the cause of their following us. Perhaps they are angered that I observed them. I have not spoken of this to the clan for if I am the cause they may wish to turn me over to the Baobhans to spare themselves. If we should have a need to move again I will have to tell them."

He looked down at the page and then turned the page back and forth. "This next entry is three years later. He is eighteen at this point." My shoulders slumped as I waited. Three years? Why had he stopped writing? What had happened with the Baobhans when he was fifteen?

"This day I will celebrate as the one of most meaning and purpose for all the days of my life. I have wed Sarae and am going to strive to be the husband she deserves. Her beauty is unparalleled and her voice is like summer warmth. She will be the best queen for our people."

Barthow handed me the book. "He stops writing in Gaelic. This is old English. I suspect you can decipher it while I rest?"

"Yes, I'm sure I can." I took the book and was relieved to see words that I could understand. "If he knew all this time how to write and speak in English, why did he write in Gaelic?"

"Gaelic was his people's historic language. Perhaps he was not ready to let it die out. We still make certain our young know the language. It preserves many things that would otherwise be lost."

"Like the black book?"

"To name one thing." Barthow stood up from the chair. "Trade me places, would you?" I got up and left the sleeping bag for him.

I read about many decisions that Angus made as the king of the gypsies. He also talked a lot about the traditions of the gypsies and though I didn't always understand what the big deal was I did come to respect that there was a reason for all the rules and order in the gypsy way of life. It wasn't for another two years and two children birthed by Sarae that the Baobhans came up again in his writings.

5 March 1888

The Baobhans have come back into our Scotland and they are killing without cause. They are unstoppable. They are full of power and think nothing of butchering innocents. The murders have been accredited to a mad killer that is combing the countryside for victims. I refuse to stand aside as they poison our home soil with their black Siths. They are the walking dead and I make it my mission to find a way to bury them for good.

I turned the page feeling my heart pumping.

Come on Angus. Find something amazing. Tell me what I can do.

12 March 1888

Sarae is furious. Last night I set a trap hoping to catch a Baobhan and failed in that my bait, a lowly drunken Gaje, was taken by the Baobhan and my trap shredded into wood chips. Clearly a wooden cage is nothing to the strength of a Baobhan.

21 March 1888

The trap worked this time and I used much stronger materials but I failed to lure in a Baobhan. A black Sith is all that I caught and come morning it was dead from the exposure to the sunlight. Unfortunately, the sun did not rise in time to spare my bait, another drunken Gaje, and now I will have to find another. Sarae is refusing to speak to me.

Thunder blasted out almost on top of us and I dropped the journal. "Stupid thunder." I picked up the journal and saw a shadow of a man cross the floor when lightning lit up the night. I looked up at the window ready to scream but there was no one there.

The hard knock at the door scared me so badly I screamed and threw the book at it.

Barthow didn't stir at all. I shook his leg, but he still didn't wake. A second knock sounded and I tapped Barthow's cheek, but he didn't stop his snoring. I heard a click and looked back to the door in time to see the door opening, and I grabbed a poker from the fireplace and the book from the floor.

"It's okay." The young man said as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Stay back." I pointed the poker at him wondering if he was trying not to laugh at me. He had to be someone of significance if he could reach the house past all the werewolves. "Barthow, wake up." I kicked him in the leg and he slumped to the right still snoring.

"He's under a sleeping spell, Kellan. He won't wake until the morning."

I concentrated on him and told him to get out, on the wind hoping it would scare him but he just smiled at me with perfect white teeth. His skin was tan and his hair was sandy blond and long enough to hang over his ears.

"I'm going to take off this shirt, it's wet." He pulled off his black sweatshirt and I just watched knowing there wasn't a whole lot I could do.

"If I scream the werewolves will come."

"Yes they will. They'll kill us all if you do." He turned and hung the sweatshirt next to the fire and that was when I saw the tattoos. There were three eyes on his arm they all blinked in turn and I griped the poker tighter.

"You're Daniel?"

Nina's boyfriend was here?

"That's right. Seraph told you about me?" He was smiling brightly at me until I shook my head. "No, of course not." His muscles flexed and I took a step back. "So who did tell you about me?"

"Nina." I forced my shoulders to go lower though my muscles did not relax in the least. "What do you want? You're dating my best friend and treating her badly, for what?"

"I have not treated her badly." I just continued to look at him so he continued. "I'm your brother."

_He was the name crossed off_.

"I've been cursed with Marime and I'm not allowed to see anyone of the clan. I wanted to see you. You're my sister, so I started dating Nina. She was supposed to introduce me to you two weeks ago but she refused. She thinks I like you. I couldn't tell her that you're my sister." He was staring at my hand and his eyes widened. "That's Angus' journal?"

"One more step and I scream." I raised the poker level with his neck. "Why were you cursed with Marime? Doesn't that mean your gypsy blood was changed into that of a Gaje?"

"You must have had the reception of a queen when you went back to the community." His eyes didn't leave the book. "Seraph must have been ecstatic to have you home. She's been waiting and watching for..." He made an exasperated sound. "My whole life." He finally brought his eyes back up to meet mine. "You've got the key. She's got her successor. _Congratulations_."

"Why was your name crossed off of the family tree? Morgan Castlerock still has his name there but you were crossed off."

"Well, that was because our father left before his blood could be changed. I wasn't so lucky." He glanced over at Barthow. "Half of what you've come to know are lies. I wouldn't let them get away with that and that's why I ended up on the outs."

I shook my head. "I don't believe you. You need to leave."

"Hey, why should you? I'm just your brother." His nostrils flared. "Everything is secrets and they use them to control you. Tony and Johnny had no problem lying to you your whole life, doesn't that tell you anything?" He watched me, but I did not let myself react. "Did they tell you that Nicholas is at this very moment chained to the ground?

"He's consumed with jealousy. Nicholas is like a wolf under a full moon twenty four seven until he can get control of himself, if he can." He grabbed his sweatshirt, squeezed it with his huge hands and water poured out of every fiber. "One, maybe two more nights that way and he'll be like that forever." He pulled the sweatshirt back on over his head. "Nicholas is very vulnerable to being killed by the Baobhans all staked out like he is."

"They wouldn't do that to him." My hand was shaking with the poker and he could see it.

He shrugged, letting out a long breath. "I bet once he was wounded Seraph didn't want you to marry him anymore. She would want a strong protector for her successor." I didn't say anything but my face must have because his expression was triumphant. "If he's killed by a Baobhan it will be considered an honorable death."

He was making me so confused. "Daniel, why are you here?"

"I just don't want you to go through what I did. You deserve to hear some truth. Why don't you ask Barthow or Adriel about it? While you're at it consider this, the Baobhans are powerful enough to kill millions in a day but they don't. They are immortal and I'm willing to bet that they didn't hurt you when they were fighting with Nicholas. They want to give you your own piece of eternity. Do you think they couldn't just pick someone else if they didn't actually care about you?"

Obviously my Baobhan loving brother had crossed over a line that I had no intention of crossing. "They're responsible for Duncan's death and they almost killed Nicholas."

Daniel laughed. "Wow, they've blinded you quicker than I thought possible. Let me just ask you one last thing. What if you found a lost member of your family, let's say, Sidney and she was being kept from you by werewolves. If you had it in your power to fight for her, would you?" He opened the door and then nodded toward Barthow. "Ask him. You'll see."
Chapter Thirty-Four

I watched Barthow sleep for the next hour or so until sunrise and the entire time I thought of how enraged and jealous Nicholas had been when I'd seen him last. What if Daniel hadn't lied? What if Nicholas was in danger?

Donnell.

He had been trying to come and tell me something important and he'd been restrained. Seraph had ordered me to go into hiding, and she had forbidden me from choosing Nicholas.

Why was I being kept in the dark? What did Donnell want me to know?

When the first ray of light touched Barthow's face I shook him and he opened his eyes wide and jumped up onto his feet. "What is it? What happened?"

"Where is Nicholas?"

"He's back at the community. Why? What's wrong?" He was looking me in the eye and for some reason I decided not to tell him about Daniel's visit. "I had a dream about him. He was wild and he didn't know me."

"What else?"

"What do you mean what else? Nicholas didn't know me. Is he chained to the ground and as out of it as the full moon makes him?"

"You saw all that in your dream?" I didn't answer I just stared at his mouth and willed him to tell me it was all just a terrible dream. I begged him silently to tell me that it wasn't true but when I met his eyes I knew he would be telling me no such thing. "You have a gift, Piper. You have _the sight_."

"How could the clan do that to him? Chain him to the earth? The Baobhans will murder him. Don't you care what happens to him?" Tears poured down my face and he stood up and reached for me.

"Piper, please understand. He's not himself. He would kill the people in the clan, the children, and his own family if he was turned free. Nicholas would not want to hurt anyone. We couldn't let him hurt the clan. Think about it. That night you were out you saw the werewolves. He's that way but worse."

I pulled away. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We had to get you to safety. Nicholas ordered your safety before he was completely consumed. He wanted you gone." Barthow sighed fisting his left hand in his dark hair. "He'll come out of it in time and then you can be assured that he will come to find you."

"And if he doesn't?"

Barthow looked out the window. "It's very early, Piper. Why don't we try to get another hour of sleep before we move again?"

"What about Daniel?"

He met my gaze and I could feel him trying to hear my thoughts. "Daniel, who?"

"My brother Daniel. What happened to him?"

Barthow sat back down on the sleeping bag. "Maybe you shouldn't sleep anymore. Why don't you study that journal?"

I raised my voice. "Barthow, tell me why he was Marimed."

"I don't know. Seraph ordered it and she is the queen and it was honored as her wish." He read my confusion and followed that up with, "It must have been a very just reason. Seraph would not have asked for it otherwise."

Is Barthow advising me because of the blind trust that Seraph had earned or was he just another manipulated puppet performing to the will of what Seraph believed was best?

He fell back asleep, and I tucked the journal into my purse and found my coat hanging next to the door. I carefully stepped out into the cold morning air.

"What are you doing?" One of the pack I didn't know asked me in a stern tone of voice.

I hugged my purse to my chest. "I'm looking for Adriel. I want to ask him something." I watched him run toward the east. He was barebacked and the tightness in his face gave me the impression that the night before must have been very difficult.

Adriel came back and he was quick, thank goodness. "What is it, Piper?"

"Can you tell me what Donnell was trying to tell me?"

"No one could tell you that except Donnell himself." I pressed my lips together and told myself to be patient. The gypsies were by culture not supposed to lie, but it was ever so clear they knew how to avoid a question.

"If you were going to just give a gist of his general intention, what would that be?"

"He wanted you to come and see Nicholas. He thinks that maybe you can bring him out of his jealousy."

I sucked in my breath.

"He's wrong of course. Nicholas won't know who you are so you won't be able to change his feelings."

"Adriel?" I put my hands on the tops of his shoulders even though he was taller than me. "Do you think Nicholas will be able to pull out of this by himself?" Adriel looked away from me and I watched his jaw clench.

"It's not worth the risk."

I let go of his shoulders. "I know you don't really believe that."

"Go back inside. I can't let you keep going down this road."

"He's your brother." Adriel was walking away from me. "Do you always do everything you're told, Adriel?" He didn't pause or look back. He kept going.

Seraph's influence appeared to be unquestionable. It was really hard to disregard the things Daniel had said when everyone was playing the parts Daniel had described. My newfound brother obviously wasn't getting along with the gypsies, so of course he would be negative. Still, everything that I had asked about that he had said was true.

I couldn't forget the way that Baobhan had looked at me when I'd been bleeding on the pier. His pupils had been pulsing with my heartbeat. I had seen no love in his eyes. No rescuing crusader comes to free me. But he had said that they weren't going to hurt me.

Why bother to assure me?

There was no clear direction for me to take. I didn't trust the Baobhans. I didn't trust the gypsies and I didn't trust Daniel. The only person I could trust was Nicholas, who was too busy being out of his mind, and my grandma Sidney. She seemed worlds away now. I went back into the small cabin and pulled out the journal. At least Angus couldn't lie to me.

2 June 1888

I recognized one in the marketplace. A woman was cut and had I not looked at the young man, I never would have noticed the strange rhythm the blacks of his eyes danced to. It was the woman's heartbeat, I'm sure of it. There is no other outward detectable difference in him.

The young man trying to sell pig's milk was avoided by the Baobhan at almost any cost. The Baobhan watched the women as though they were royalty. They looked upon the men like troublesome livestock. I stayed clear of his path and followed him from a distance until he left the village toward the east.

I turned the page.

4 June 1888

Jubilation! I have recognized three others as they came with the first to the village. My Sarae is no longer allowed to go to the village. She is as unhappy about the new rule I have enforced on the females of our clan. I've seen the way the Baobhans look upon the female living. They want them. What I can't understand is why they don't just reach out and take them. There is not a living creature I've yet to discover that could stop them.

5 June 1888

Wolves have begun to hunt closer to the villages and it is a peculiar behavior they have never exhibited before. They are troublesome. Especially with the Baobhan problem we have yet to solve.

9 June 1888

I waited at the east edge of the village and when I saw the Baobhans coming I began to walk, hoping to discover where they went when they left the village. Instead, I was set upon by three oversized wolves and was bit several times. I fought against them but after they'd each bitten me they left and I discovered that the Baobhans were not far behind. I had no choice but to flee. If they caught me bleeding they would surely have finished me off.

12 June 1888

I am ill and haven't left our community for two days. I've heard three more men have been reported missing.

14 June 1888

I awoke this morning in a field far from our community without clothes or memory of how I had arrived there. My body was stiff and had I not been putting off movement to avoid the aches and pains, I would have received the attention of the Baobhans that were moving through the field.

Their focus was on the common Yew trees. They avoided touching them. The leaves of the common Yew tree are highly poisonous. Though I wanted to believe the Yew trees would kill them I watched as one of the Baobhans touched the leaves and though a sizzling sound crackled in the air like frying bacon the Baobhan suffered no more than a slight irritation.

Their home is inside the eastern mountain and the Yew trees are springing up all around it. The stinging nettle bush is highly troublesome if touched, but nature always provides the cure, growing right next to the nettle, the fern. Could the Yew be the cure?

I thought, _what the heck did a common Yew look like?_

I turned the page and was not surprised when I read that my great, great grandfather discovered that the bites from the wolves infected him with what their medicine woman was calling werewolfism. The three missing men from the village surfaced suffering the same affliction and they were adopted into the gypsy clan. Angus wrote that the Baobhans avoided werewolves too.

22 June 1888

I filled baskets with the leaves of the Yew. With the help of the other werewolves I dumped them upon one of the Baobhans. My hope was that the concentration of leaves would burn up the Baobhan but we were unsuccessful. The Baobhan was bleeding from every surface that the leaves touched, but it was not enouth to kill it. The Baobhan was still powerful enough. He killed two of us. Now there is only myself and Logan left to protect the clan from the Baobhans.

We have decided to infect several others to build ourselves a pack and further secure our people's survival as the Baobhans are likely to retaliate. I am confident we are on the cusp of discovering the weapon to defeat the Baobhans. I know I have the keys, I just don't know how to use them.

The rest of the page was blank and as I feared so was the remainder of the journal. That was the very last entry that Angus had written. Angus had said that he had the keys. I just hoped that he had written them all down. He wrote of the Yew tree, the pig's milk and the werewolves. Well, Angus had the good fortune to be a werewolf and what if that was necessary?

Will I have to become a werewolf?

I was surprised when the door opened and Adriel's angry face squeezed through the opening. He stuck his arm in and signaled at me to come to him. I stood up and grabbed my purse and put the journal inside it. The door was soundless when he closed it behind me.

"Do you command me to take you back to the gypsy community?"

I shouldered my purse. "No, I don't-"

"I said, do you command me to take you back to the gypsy community?"

"Oh." He was glaring at me and appeared quite pale. "I command you to take me back to the gypsy community." Adriel grabbed my hand and shot to the parked car so fast I looked like a rag doll hung outside a freight train window, at least that's what I felt like.

The small one room cabin shrank in the side mirror, and I felt Adriel glance in my direction twice before he finally spoke. "You _better_ shake him out of it, Piper."
Chapter Thirty-Five

We decided that since time was of the essence we'd drive straight through the day and into the night to get back to the community. I don't know what it was that changed Adriel's mind, all I know is that I was so grateful it changed. He didn't talk much as we drove and I didn't either. I was pretty sure he'd never broken the rules before and was dealing with that end of the stick while I was trying to solve the Baobhan mystery.

Yew tree, pig's milk, and werewolf make what? These are pieces to three different puzzles!

Adriel said we still had a good six hours ahead of us before we'd reach the community when he stopped at a gas station out in the middle of nowhere.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, eyeing the tiny store. "I could get you a Twinkie or something."

"I don't want any Gaje poison. Just see if they have any fresh fruit." I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the car. The door made a little chime sound when I opened it, and the clerk glanced up at me and then did a double take. I ignored his attention and continued into the store.

The restroom was tiny but at least there was one. I was looking at the "poisonous" Gaje food when a peculiar feeling that I was being watched tickled down my back. I glanced over at the clerk, he was still watching me. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the chips. It was then that I noticed there was a young man starting down the aisle toward me.

He was looking at me, but he halted in his approach a good distance from me, so I decided to ignore both he and the clerk and finish up what I was doing. I picked some orange puffs and I jumped a couple feet when I heard the same guy on the aisle dry heave. It was a painful and an upsetting sound to say the least.

When I looked at him I decided he was around my age. His dark brown eyes were pouring tears and he was covering his mouth and nose with his right hand. "Are you okay?" He just kept staring at me. I figured he was embarrassed, so I headed over toward the clerk. "Do you have any fresh fruit?" The clerk was watching behind me, probably dreading what he was going to have to clean up when that guy did finally throw up. "Fruit? Any fruit?"

He still didn't answer so I set my stuff and two water bottles on the counter. I glanced back to find that same young guy had moved out of the aisle toward the clerk too, but he was greenish looking and I was glad he was a good four feet from me. The clerk rang me up and I gave him my card.

The nauseous guy looked so bad I felt like I was about to throw up just looking at him making that disgusted face. I grabbed my bag and started for the door when I heard the young guy give a chuckle before he said almost inaudibly, "Pig's milk." I stopped walking and looked over my shoulder at him. "It's starting to wear off though."

"So I'll drink more." My voice shook, and I gripped the handle on the door. He was solid muscle. He had this raw power that just seemed to pour off of him. I don't know how I missed that when I'd seen him at first.

"Please don't. We're not going to hurt you, Piper. You are one of us. You just don't know it yet." He took another step toward me. "If you'd just come with me there would be no need to involve the gypsies." I looked through the window on the door. Adriel was putting away the gas pump. "We can't leave you with those monsters, Piper. You're going back to see your pet, Nicholas? He is nothing compared to what we can offer you."

I pushed the door open.

"We'll come get you. Don't be afraid." I let the door shut behind me and I ran to the car.

"Why are you running? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. We're in a hurry aren't we?" I slammed his door shut for him and jumped in the backseat. "I command you to drive right now." Adriel swore and floored the gas pedal. I turned around in my seat and saw the young looking Baobhan already standing in the street watching us go. He blurred in my vision and he was gone.

Don't be afraid? I'm terrified.

"There's no backing out of it now, just drive, Adriel." I wished I had drunk more of that pig's milk because there wasn't time to get any. What if the Baobhans got there first? What if they captured Nicholas or worse, killed him. "You can't drive faster? We need to call and warn the community. They all need to be evacuated. The Baobhans are coming."

We only stopped once to make the call to warn them. Adriel was the one who made the call. I waited in the car trying to come up with a plan. So far all I could think of was to shake Nicholas out of his jealousy and then make a run for it. It was a crappy plan, but I didn't know what else I could do.

I didn't know what a Yew tree looked like, I had already read that it was impossible to grow trees and I wasn't a werewolf. The way I saw it, Angus had all the keys and he died using them. I didn't have all the keys, but it looked like I was going to die as well.

"No one's told me about any plans for Sidney," I said when Adriel started driving us again. "She's being protected, right?"

"Yeah, she is. Tony is in love with her, he isn't going to let anything happen to her."

"Good."

"You want to know about Seraph too don't you?"

I had moved up to the passenger seat. "I saw her leave with protectors."

"She's going to go and try to negotiate with the Baobhans." He looked at me and nodded. "If we have them popping up in the gas stations then I'd say negotiations aren't going very well." He wiped his forehead. "And here I am driving our queen right into the mouth of danger. Nicholas will kill me even if you do shake him out of his trance. Seraph is going to have me Marimed." He laughed a little. "I feel like I'm going crazy. You do know how to kill them right?"

"I guess we'll find that out together won't we?" He glared at me, and I shrugged. "Just tell me if you see a Yew tree alright?"

"I don't know what a Yew tree looks like."

"Well, that makes two of us."
Chapter Thirty-Six

It was four in the morning when we pulled into the parking area in front of the big house. I got out of the car. Adriel grabbed my elbow before I could take a step.

"I'll take you to him." We'd run about halfway through the deserted village when Adriel released my elbow. "They're here." He changed into his werewolf and I continued toward their family home. I heard Adriel howl and slipped when his howl was answered by many others. The village was not completely deserted after all. I picked myself up quickly and ran.

I reached their house. I was met by Donnell, who came bursting out the front door. "I knew you'd come back."

"Where is he, Donnell?"

"His brothers are guarding him out back."

"Why are you still here? Adriel called you didn't he? You and all of the others were supposed to evacuate. You aren't supposed to be here."

Donnell shook his head at me. "I would not leave Nicholas. None of us will." I started jogging around the side of the house and Donnell kept up with me. "Don't be afraid of him. Seraph rules them because she has conquered her fear of them. You can do this, Piper. I know you can."

"Donnell, the Baobhans are here. You need to leave. Tell your family to run."

"We won't leave him or you." I couldn't stand there and fight with him. The brothers of Nicholas came forward in their werewolf forms, and I weaved through them until I found Nicholas. He was three times as large as the others, and I have never seen anything need as many chains as they had attached to him.

"Go and help Adriel," I said to the brothers. "The Baobhans are here." They left without hesitation, and I met the unseeing eyes of Nicholas' werewolf. Donnell ran off toward the house, and I was left alone with Nicholas.

He was straining against the chains. His werewolf wanted me dead. A chain link snapped and the chain flew up, putting a hole in the side of the barn. The other chains were actually moaning from the strain he was putting on them.

"Nicholas, before you accused me of being with Toryn I had been coming to tell you something." A huge part of me wanted to yell at him for his accusation and for his not being there when I'd had to leave. "I should have told you at the beach that I love you." Nicholas jerked two whole feet toward me, roaring and snapping his huge jaws together a mere breath away from my face. "Stop it," I screamed at him.

He can't understand me.

"I do love you, you jerk." I was breathing hard. I could hear the sounds of battle behind me. "I wanted to tell you that I understood what you were trying to tell me on the beach about Donnell and Heathera." Fire exploded from Nicholas' house and I could see one of the Baobhans coming toward me from the street. "Nicholas, you need to let this go. I didn't sleep with Toryn. I told him that I chose you."

"Piper, it's time to come with us." It wasn't the one from the gas station but the one from the beach. The same one who had reacted to my blood and whose picture I'd found sketched in the black book. Cayden. "If you come willingly then we won't have to make Seraph command you to come with us." I pulled the key out of my bra and moved toward Nicholas.

Cayden moved fast like the wolves and was in front of me smiling. "Turn back, Piper." I wanted to yell at him to get away from me, but I couldn't get over the fresh blood that stained his teeth and mouth. I shook my head unnecessarily since my whole body was already shaking.

His long fingers reached out and took the key easily from my grasp even though I'd held on with all my might. "Let me help you make the right choice. Come with me." He tossed the key and I watched it land in a pile of loose hay. Again, his long fingers came at me but this time he took firm hold of my chin. "Look at me. You want to come with us."

I remembered the strange affect the black Sith had on me back on my grandmother's sanctuary and I quickly closed my eyes. It didn't stop him from draining me of my energy to resist.

My nails bit into his wrist but he didn't release my chin. I twisted sliding partly from his hands, but he still had me. "I refuse. Let me go," I said sounding like I'd spoken to him while asleep. My lips were heavy and numb, but he released me.

I opened my eyes and found him anticipating the attack of the werewolves that were headed our way. He didn't look afraid and that scared me because there were three coming at him. They landed on him each sinking in teeth and tearing away limbs that broke away like wet papier-mâché.

Quickly, I jumped into the hay and just as fast the spiky straw was all over me. It had gotten in my mouth as I labored to breathe. I panicked as my body began freezing up on me, with the hay scratching at every exposed inch of my flesh. The key was small and I was too afraid to throw any of the hay around so I parted it and pressed at it trying to feel for the key I wasn't seeing.

There was screaming and crying, and though I didn't know who it came from I was crying with them.

The three on one were grunting and struggling with each other. It was disturbing to see the Baobhan regenerate and bite into the wolves. One of the three was down and not getting back up. His fur was falling away and being swept up into gusts of wind. His eyes were open, and his body twitched as it once again became human at the Baobhans feet. I could see in his blue eyes the very moment when his spirit left his body.

I tried to keep moving, to keep searching. My hands obeyed me first, moving again in the dry straw, but my eyes were still on the dead young man. Another bone crushing sound cracked at me like a whip licking the panic inside me. A second black furred wolf skidded to the ground.

Was it Adriel or one of Nicholas' other brothers?

The werewolf got up and staggered, snarling as he was crushed into the ground.

Please Piper, just find it!

I stretched my fingers wide and ran them along the floor beneath the stack of hay and felt something cold slide next to my left pinky finger. Hope squeezed my heart as I held my breath and brushed the hay out of my way. I'd found it. I grabbed it and turned back toward Nicholas.

He was still so gone. The Baobhans would kill him, and I just couldn't leave him defenseless.

I concentrated on Nicholas and used the wind to whisper to him, "I choose you." He was still straining against the chains. When I looked back at the Baobhan, his pupils were pulsinheartbeat, butrtbeat but his eyes were fixed on Nicholas and the third werewolf was twitching on the ground behind him.

_Don't be scared,_ I told myself.

I turned the key in the lock and all the chains rolled away from his body. I don't know if the Baobhan was trying to save me or if Nicholas was because they crashed audibly into battle the second Nicholas was free.

Spiked up fur, claws, fangs, blood and the cracking and ripping of bones and flesh filled my senses and I stumbled backward. I'd seen this fight back at the beach and I knew who was going to win. I had to do something.

Nicholas' house was burning when I ran into it and I felt that as stupid as the decision was to run into a burning building I couldn't stop myself. "Donell?" No one answered. Chairs were turned over at the dining room table. One was on its stomach up against the wall. "Is anyone in here?" I looked in the kitchen before I started down the hall.

There was so much noise all around me, crackling from the fire, yelling and crashing. It was hard to tell where the noises were coming from. I opened the first door in the hallway. It was one of the girls' rooms. The pink comforter on the single bed had a huge bump in the center. I ripped back the blanket fully expecting to find one of the girls, but it was just pillows.

I turned and went back out into the hallway. The smoke had thickened and I had to bend over to see. Breathing was quickly becoming painful as well. I pushed open the next door and smoke rushed at the oxygen quickly filling the room as I searched it. I was sure I heard someone yelling on the other side of the wall.

Was it Donnell?

Rushing from the room I forgot to duck down and the black smoke scorched my eyes and nose. The next room was Donnell's room. I was sure I'd heard yelling but there didn't seem to be anyone in his room. I was afraid he might have passed out from the smoke, so I searched the floor all around the bed and found no one.

More yelling sounded and I could tell this time it was coming from outside. I got real low to the ground before I went back out into the hallway. The ceiling at the front of the house and beginning of the hallway looked like it was boiling fire at its surface. It wasn't going to hold much longer.

The rooms were empty. This meant Nicholas' family that had stayed behind was outside in the battle that the gypsies were clearly losing.

I crawled on my hands and knees across the bits of burning debris and into the library. It took me a second to clear my thoughts enough to remember where I'd seen the books on plants and trees. Unfortunately, it was on the top shelf, and I had to stand up and climb up the shelf into the choking and burning smoke.

Stupidly, I tried to look for the book, but I couldn't see, breathe or think. I knocked all the books off the top shelf onto the floor and then dropped down with them. My eyes poured tears from the smoke, and I was breathing hard, trying to get some oxygen from air that held very little.

I reached out and brought all the books toward me. There was one with a tree on the front and I opened it, tearing the cover as I tried to find the table of contents. I found trees and was scanning the subcategories for the one I was looking for in particular. Behind me at the front of the house it sounded like a wall had fallen or been demolished in the fight. My head felt so heavy. I turned back to the book doing my best to ignore the sounds around me.

Sweat was pouring from me as I lay there in the air choked oven. It ran down my face and into my already burning eyes. The smoke was as hot as the fire and scalded my throat raw, but I continued sucking in the incinerating black billows. I kept coughing and that really didn't help.

_Find it!_ I commanded myself turning the pages again. I found the name of the tree and the page number was right there next to it. I blinked hard trying to see the small numbers in the lower corners as I shoved handfuls of pages aside.

Page 1,943. How could there possibly be so much on trees?

I found the right page and tried to drink in every detail of the tree with what was left of my eyesight. Its light brown bark looked smooth. Yet the overall texture of the tree was like thousands of wooden vines twisted together at the base and then sticking straight out horizontal and skyward with its branches. The green leaves were small and looked like sharp green feathers. Red berries with holes in them like black olives dotted the green fingers of the branch.

My face rested on the book, it was too heavy to hold up. My chest was tight and I coughed harder trying to open my eyes I knew I needed to get up and take the book with me. My body was so heavy I couldn't pick myself up. I was so tired. I clawed at the ground and drug myself a foot towards the library door before I fell into another coughing fit.

The book was under my stomach on the floor. I looked down to see it and realized the room was completely filled with smoke, from the roof to the floor. I rolled to my side and grabbed the book.

Which way is the door, now?

Strong hands lifted me from the ground. I found the picture and dropped the book as I was raised up into the thick sea of smoke. I pulled up my shirt collar over my mouth and nose, but I was still coughing and my lungs and throat were ragged.

We were out of the house and I found myself being carried in the arms of the Baobhan from the beach, the same one who had been fighting with Nicholas. "You're safe now." His eyes were on my neck where I knew he could see my vein pulsing. He started walking and I saw a line of Baobhans waiting expectantly.

Seraph was bound and forced to her knees.

One of the Baobhans held her there with a hand on her slender shoulder. Her chin was raised, but I could see fear in her eyes when they met mine. I looked at the face of the man holding her and in the same instant realized I'd met him before.

He was the man at my father's house party. He had wanted me to sing. He was Morgan Castlerock, my father.

"Put her down, Cayden. We want her to come with us willingly." One of the Baobhans said and he set me down but remained so close I could hear his breath and smell it too.

Where is Nicholas? Did Cayden kill him for good this time?

The werewolves were bleeding and watching their queen on her knees in horror. "Will you come with us, Kellan?" One of the Baobhans asked me. I didn't see which one because I had been looking for Nicholas.

All of the fighting had stopped for this moment. Everyone watched and I looked around sweepingly trying to find Donnell or any member of Nicholas' family. There were many bodies on the ground. Some were still moving and making sounds of pain and others were deathly still.

I didn't recognize Donnell in the crowd of faces that were stained with blood and the trauma of battle. My eyes still burned from the searing smoke and blurred so much of what I tried to see. But I did see Seraph and she was not letting them break her.

Cayden stood behind me touching my hair and I remembered how Angus had said they looked at women. I noticed there were no Baobhan women, at least none present. "To what end?" I asked surprising myself with a steady voice.

"To no end, daughter," Morgan said. "You will have everlasting life. You will not die but will live as a queen for all time."

Murmurs of prayer glided past me in a rush of whisper on the wind. Pleas of mercy and justice for the blood lost found my ears. My family's clan had suffered enough.

"Can't you just let these people go? Give me time and I will decide then what I want."

"Come with us and we will still allow you to decide. You cannot decide here surrounded by our enemies." Morgan looked down at Seraph. "Command her to come with us. You are her queen. She will obey."

Seraph didn't look up at him, her eyes stayed with me. "Never," she said. She held her chin higher and her dark eyes were like steel.

"Daniel has already told us he would die to have his sister freed from your reign. Shall we kill him to get your command?"

Panic struck through me at his words and I blurted out, "I won't do something I don't want to do for anyone." They were looking at each other. Daniel was there and he was glaring at Seraph, he stood with the Baobhans. I felt sick at the pleasure I could see on his face from watching his mother forced onto her knees and at the same time I was so afraid for him.

Cayden's hands slid down my arms and I took a step away from him. A blur of fur and huge teeth whipped past me crashing into Cayden. It was Nicholas and he was tearing Cayden to pieces. But Cayden kept regenerating and putting himself back together. I didn't want Nicholas to be killed.

His poisonous fangs sank into Nicholas' back and then his side. Nicholas broke off Cayden's head only to have it evaporate and regenerate back onto his neck. Two Baobhans broke away from the line, their fangs extending, and I found myself moving toward them as if I could stop them.

"No," Cayden yelled at them as half of his face regenerated. "This one's mine." He flew at Nicholas, who intercepted him readily reducing Cayden into a pile of broken pieces. Cayden regenerated and bit into Nicholas's throat where he was ripped away along with some of Nicholas' flesh as Nicholas shredded Cayden's back all the way to the bone.

Nicholas was himself again and I was so relieved it hurt. There was clarity in his eyes and recognition. There was also fury and a thirst for revenge. He wasn't going to back down from this fight. If Cayden hadn't been able to regenerate Nicholas would have already won ten times over. If's weren't going to save Nicholas though.

Cayden grunted with the impact of Nicholas' bite breaking off most of his right shoulder and then he wrapped his other arm around to grab Nicholas and sank his teeth into his collarbone. Nicholas tore him off and took another chunk of flesh and fur with him. "Piece by piece," he laughed.

They continued fighting, and I did notice Cayden was getting slower but so was Nicholas. Though they were both bleeding, neither showed any indication of backing down. Nicholas had already lasted longer than the three werewolves who'd been killed by Cayden but there was no way he could win.

"Stop him and I'll come with you," I said to the Baobhans.

"He has the right to defend himself," Morgan answered and I stared at him in disbelief. "You will come with us, Kellan." He looked over at the battle happening between the two and then back at me. "This wolf is holding you to these people."

"Then _I'll_ just have to kill him," I said and Morgan and the others laughed. I saw the challenge in Morgan's eyes.

"We've already learned these people don't know how to kill us. The secrets of that died with Angus."

I turned toward Cayden and Nicholas. "Maybe they did and maybe they didn't." Everyone who had been standing by to see what would happen came to life. The werewolves were fighting with the Baobhans again and Seraph was free from their hold. I knelt down on the ground and set my palms on the earth. Closing my eyes I pictured the Yew tree.

"Grow. Please grow." I closed my eyes tighter pushing at the ground. "Grow." A tree next to me burst into flames. It almost fell on top of me, but I kept going.

There was a living energy in the ground that I could feel and it was gathering for me at my urging. It was a communication with the living earth that was overwhelming. I could feel something was happening below the surface I had no guarantee what would break through ground, if anything.

When the first twig sprung up from the ground I almost lost my concentration.

It's working.

"Grow." It was above the surface, and it was growing fast. The vines I'd seen in the frozen picture were whipping and winding together building the trunk of the tree. I concentrated on Nicholas. _"Fight with Cayden near this tree,"_ I told him on the wind.

I didn't know if he could or would register what I'd requested. I couldn't stop and look around to check. The energy from below had died down and the tree and I were on our own to continue its rapid growth. The base was thick and the vines of wood began jetting upward toward the sky. Was it too soon? The tree wasn't very tall yet.

Nicholas roared, and it shook the earth beneath me. They were close. He understood me. I could hear the Baobhans murmuring in hushed hurried words as the tree continued to grow. I was doing something right.

Was it the sharp leaves? What was I supposed to do next?

Nicholas tore away one of Cayden's limbs and when it landed next to the tree, a wooden vine snaked out and snatched the limb and wound it up swallowing it into the stomach of the base. I continued to grow the tree and as Nicholas shredded the Baobhan piece by piece it was consumed by the tree. The sound coming from Cayden was a deafening screech that was crippling and stunning everyone.

I was ready and even waiting to be torn apart by the Baobhans but they didn't stop me or Nicholas.

Why aren't they stopping me?

People fell to the ground covering their ears. The sound was so loud and piercing. The tree burst into flame when the last of Cayden was added. It became black and the resin from within oozed red. The pieces of Cayden were frozen within the tree.

I couldn't move. I didn't have the strength to sit up let alone stand. The Baobhans were coming toward me, and I couldn't do anything. I called Nicholas. He raised me up onto my feet, and I told him on the wind not to let go.

"You will leave now and let me make my own decision or you will all die." I was completely bluffing. There was no way I could grow another tree. If the Baobhans decided to kill us all then we'd all be dead.

"You killed one of ours."

I met the Baobhan's angry gaze. He was just another Baobhan to me, but that said he had presence and fierceness in his mud green eyes that reminded me of a crocodile. "You said that he had the right to defend himself. I have the same right." I waited for the Baobhans to leap on me and inject me with their venomous vampire teeth. No way were they going to let me live after what I'd done.

"We will not leave you with the enemy to decide," Morgan said.

"I'm not staying here. Seraph knows this." I concentrated on keeping my face void of the exhaustion that was slowly overpowering me. "I still have to finish school. I won't be making any decision before I graduate." The Baobhans were all measuring me, I could feel them. Was it the fear of the tree I'd grown that kept them at bay? "There will be a truce between the gypsies and the Baobhans as there was before I came back here. I will make my own choice on what I'll do with the rest of my life."

"We will grant you time. But we will not disappear from your life now that you know of us."

My vision was beginning to blur and I could barely make out their muffled voices over the ringing in my ears. "Is there a truce or not?"

Crocodile eyes searched out and met my gaze. "If you leave the community we will honor the truce. We must have the opportunity to show you our way of life."

"Fine." I would literally be eating dirt if Nicholas let go of me. "As long as there is no harm toward the gypsies I will agree to those terms."

"We will not honor the truce if the gypsies offer harm to us."

_Please make them leave._ I prayed silently.

If I passed out they would know I couldn't grow another Yew and they'd kill everyone.

"Agreed," Seraph said. She must have been able to read the warning signs. "Now leave our grounds and we will help Piper to a mutually unbiased location." They did not leave quickly. They hesitated as they had come intending to take me.

When they left Nicholas swept me up in his arms, and I felt the wind on my face as I lost consciousness.
Chapter Thirty-Seven

"No, I won't join your nonsense gypsy cult. Look what it's done to my granddaughter." I heard Grandma Sidney yelling before I could open my eyes. "She's half dead from growing some _tree_? Get out of my house, Tony."

"It's not a cult, Sidney."

Nicholas was kneeling next to me when I opened my eyes. He had dried blood on his face and looked as exhausted as I had felt before I'd passed out. "You shouldn't have come back to the community. They might have taken you."

"You shouldn't have let yourself get so jealous you became a freak werewolf." I wanted to glare at him but I was too relieved that he wasn't out of control anymore.

"I'm sorry I thought you'd slept with Toryn." He helped me sit up. "You are one crazy gypsy, Piper." He half smiled. "I never would have considered bargaining with Baobhans." He shook his head. "They won't uphold the bargain, though. We need to get you into hiding again."

"No." I pushed his arm away. "They found me last time and they'd find me again." Grandma Sidney pushed the door open.

"Piper, you're awake." She rushed into the room and hugged me tight. "You can't go back there. I just can't condone that. Look at the condition you came back in and look at him." She pointed at Nicholas in his shredded rags and blood soaked body.

"Don't worry, Grandma Sidney. I'm not going back there. I live here." I hugged her again and cried as she rocked me in her arms. There were so many moments when I'd thought I'd never see her again. I cried out of joy, relief and sorrow too. Sorrow for the families who wouldn't be able to hold their loved ones close as I did.

Tony had provided a toned down version of what had happened and bless Grandma Sidney she tried to believe me when I agreed with him.

"We'll talk about this after you've had some rest," she said tears glistening in her eyes. "I love you, sweet girl." Grandma Sidney kissed my forehead. "I'm going to go call my doctor friend and have him take another look at you now that you're awake."

"I'm fine, Grandma Sidney. I promise."

"Be right back." She left to go make her call. I turned to Nicholas to ask questions I couldn't ask with my grandma there.

"Is Donnell okay?"

Nicholas smiled and nodded, but I didn't miss the tremor in his chin before his jaw tightened. "We lost eleven of the pack."

I sat up and hugged him. "I'm sorry. Were any of them your brothers?"

"Not in blood but," he squeezed me as his voice broke, "they were all my brothers." I cried then too, and he kissed me and wiped away my tears with his thumbs. "It would have been all of us if it hadn't been for you."
Chapter Thirty-Eight

Nicholas became Deception in order to stay. I pretended to sleep thinking of everything that had happened. The Baobhans still wanted me even after I had helped to kill one of theirs. What did that mean? They could have taken me against my will but they didn't. There was so much I still didn't understand about them.

Grandma Sidney had spoken to my parents and said that I'd been in a fight. How right she was. Talking to my mom on the phone and then Trina reminded me how much I loved them. I knew that I didn't want to give up that part of my family either. Somehow I would have to tell them, all of them, the truth.

"I can tell you're awake." I opened my eyes. Nicholas freshly showered jumped onto the bed next to me wearing my blue terry cloth robe. "Dreaming of your future husband?" He was smiling from ear to ear.

"You heard me?"

"Yes, I heard you." He kissed me reminding me just how crazy he could make me. "Shall we make it official?"

"If we do I don't think the Baobhans will honor the truce. For now I'm going to have to play along with their game."

He sighed. "That is a very responsible point you make." He kissed me again and pulled my body against his. "I have no problem with them knowing you aren't going to choose them. We'll hunt them down one by one and we'll be free of them."

"What if there's more than one? I couldn't grow another Yew. You saw how weak I was."

Nicholas gently slipped the loose hair around my face behind my ears. "Piper, I will go along with this until we can discover a way to free you of them. I will not give you up. The Baobhans can never have you."

I touched his face. "Don't worry, Nicholas."

My bedroom door flung open and Sidney stood there with her hands on her hips. "Do I have to put bars on your windows now?"

"He just had to use the shower."

Her expression didn't change. "Yeah, that looks like what's going on."

"It's okay, Ms. LeVine. I intend to marry her."

"Oh good, another one of those." She threw her thumb over her shoulder toward the hallway. Nicholas hung his head.

"See you later, Piper. I love you."

"Good gracious." Grandma Sidney gave him a push down the hall, and I laughed. He'd be there tomorrow and every day after and I knew nothing would make me happier. Going to high school after everything that had happened seemed ridiculous and yet I wasn't afraid.

Maybe it was because I was numb. Maybe it was because I was still too exhausted to consider all of the 'what ifs' awaiting me.

What I did know was that I'd never expected to find my prince. Not only had I found him but I'd found me too. My journey was far from over but at least I knew I'd be traveling my road with Nicholas.

"Goodnight, Nicholas," I told him on the wind. "I love you too."

The End

(Read on for an excerpt of Piper LeVine, the Path of Betrayal)
Excerpt from Piper LeVine and the Path of Betrayal

Chapter One

"So," Katrine forced a smile as she readjusted her skirt and herself on the couch for the hundredth time. "You say you grew up just in the next town?" I watched as my mother's eyes went back to his shoes.

"Yes, Ma'am," Nicholas answered with an unwavering smile and those dark chocolate eyes that overflowed with self-assurance and a dash of arrogance. "I've been asking to meet you but Piper wanted to wait." He took my hand in his which was warm and strong while mine was cold and clammy.

I could see in her eyes, filled with alarm at Nicholas' holding my hand, she did not see in the least what I saw in him. It was too bad I couldn't tell Mom that he was like royalty to the gypsies, though that probably wouldn't impress her.

I couldn't tell her that he was a werewolf either or that I knew he loved me enough to die for me, he almost had. Mom would freak out if she knew I'd spent this last summer getting to know my birthmother. She would go into cardiac arrest if she knew that I'd come from gypsy royalty and was the rope in a tug of war between my birthparents, one a gypsy queen and the other a Scottish Vampire or as we gypsies call them, a Baobhan Sith.

"You work as a ranch hand at the sanctuary. That can't leave you with much spending money." She tapped her red lips with her fingertips. "I can't pretend to see what the two of you have in common."

" _Mom._ "

"I think it's cruel to lead someone on, Piper." She leaned forward. "It's one thing to have a summer romance but the summer is coming to an end."

"Money is not a problem for me, Mrs. LeVine." Nicholas leaned forward with the same smile still on his face. "When I marry your daughter it will never be a problem for her either." The blood drained from Katrine's face and she looked at me wide eyed. "I can promise you that I will treat your daughter better than any other man ever could."

"Cool it, Nicholas." For heaven's sake he was only supposed to meet my parents and make a good impression.

Nicholas ignored my directions and continued as Katrine's mouth continued to drop further open in horror. "I'm sure we'll give you lots of beautiful grandchildren as soon as Piper and I make it official."

Well after that I'd had to make Nicholas let himself be thrown out and then I'd been given an earful from mom and then from Harold, my dad who'd missed the introduction but still felt he had the right to tell me how wrong Nicholas was for me.

A week passed leaving only one week until my senior year began. I found myself being led around the dance floor by a young man named Edmund who was supposed to be one of the social elite. It was another party for my father, the Senator, but mom was taking every opportunity she could to try and replace Nicholas.

"I've already dated most of the girls in our circle." He was leering down at me and I wondered how Katrine could think this guy was even comparable to Nicholas. "I've been waiting to get a shot at you but you spend so much time at that zoo."

"It's an animal sanctuary."

"Right." He had this glazed look in his eyes that guys get when they think they've got chemistry with you but in actuality it's all in their head. "Let's go out onto the terrace." I laughed knowing that was the last place we could possibly go as I was sure Nicholas was out there watching and ready to tear Edmund to shreds.

He was always watching because he was as afraid as I was that the Baobhan's weren't going to keep their distance for long. When the truce had been made between the Gypsies and Baobhan's I had promised to consider being turned into a Baobhan and so it was only a matter of time before they would come around.

"May I cut in?"

"Senator, LeVine. Of course." Edmund released me and my father Harold stepped into his place and continued to lead me around the ballroom. Other girls might have been excited or at least happy to dance with their father as it was supposed to be a sweet bonding experience. The only reason my father would want to dance with me would be because he needed to tell me how I was somehow failing him.

I was well trained to keep a pleasant look on my face as I waited for the negative words that were sure to come out of his mouth. "You look very beautiful tonight, Piper."

"Thank you," I said figuring the other dancers were too close for him to yet begin to verbally tear me down.

"I've been so lucky to have you in my life. We have accomplished so much when we've worked in concert. You are strong and I take great pride in that trait, as your father."

I looked into his eyes and saw a warmth there I'd never seen. _Who was this man? This wasn't my father_. I'd thought.

"You make me so proud."

"Are you being sarcastic?" I asked trying to decipher what was going on.

"You have an amazing voice and so much charm. I've borrowed your talents in all my campaigning and I've never once thanked you." My younger sister, Trina, was dancing near us and she tripped when she heard our father complimenting me. It just wasn't him.

His eyes didn't look dilated and his speech wasn't slurred or too fast. He was actually being nice to me. That could only mean one thing. "What do you want?"

"It's your senior year. Next year you'll be out and on your own. You owe it to your mother to spend your last year in school at home."

"You said I could stay with Grandma Sidney."

"I'm not saying you can't." He looked around with a smile on his face. "I'm just saying that you should consider a few things. Like Trina for example, she'll be grown up and gone soon too and you'll have missed this time with her."

I glanced over toward the terrace and I didn't see Nicholas through any of the windows. Where was he? My temples throbbed with the headache Edmund had given me and I shook my head. "Mom knows I want to spend my senior year at Grandma's and Trina could care less where I am. She's usually staying the night at a friend's house anyway."

"Okay fine, I need you to stay here this year."

_Finally the truth_.

"Why? What could my presence here do for you?" I tried to let go of his hand but he held mine firmly in his grip. "What makes you think I'd want to do any favors for you?"

"There is a very wealthy contributor who has assured me that he will contribute to my platform very generously if he can be allowed to come here and listen to you sing." He looked over his shoulder toward the large fireplace. "He was captivated by your voice at one of the parties this past summer."

"Some old man wants to spend time with your seventeen year old daughter and you're okay with that?"

"Piper. It's not like that, and keep your voice down."

"May I cut in?" The melodic vibration in the voice just behind me was one that I recognized. Once heard a person could never forget. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up as a painful jolt of fear punched into my stomach.

The Baobhans are here.

About the Author

Eris Kelli grew up in the Pacific Northwest as the youngest of eight children. Her writing is fueled by her love of adventure, learning and her drive to explore an idea. She now resides in Midwest America, with her husband, two beautiful children, and two growing puppies. Currently she is fast at work on the fourth book in the Piper LeVine Series, Piper LeVine, They Call me Assassin and the first book in her new series Witch Hunter!

Contact Eris on Facebook, or her website at http://eriskelliauthor.com

Check in with Eris for upcoming projects!

**Website:** http://www.eriskelliauthor.com

**Email:** authoreriskelli@gmail.com

**Facebook:** <http://www.facebook.com/eris.kelli>

# Acknowledgements:

Thank you, Heavenly Father for your Son and for the many blessings you have given me. I am nothing without you.

Thanks also to, my handsome husband. Also known as my champion, your strength and work ethic inspire me daily. Thank you for never doubting me. I am crazy in love with you!

Wendy, thank you so much for helping me in so many stages of this book. I hope you know you inspired me throughout, and I'm so grateful for your hard work and persistence! Your belief in me helped me to believe in myself.

Ashleigh, without your support I would not have been able to finish this book. You are a superstar when it comes to honesty and strength and as I did when I was younger I still look up to you and now to Jay too!

Sam, I have to thank you for your encouragement and interest in my endeavors no matter where they lay. You are such a go-getter and I will always admire your passion, talent and artistry. You are a master.

Jason, we started writing a long time ago and you told me to keep going. You're always ready to spread the word for me and boost me into motion. Thank you for being there.

My support system has grown so much with my awesome street team, The Eris Kelli Road Warriors! I love each and every one of you so much. You amaze me with your support. I love that I've gotten to know all of you so well. With you behind me and your personal stories in my heart I want you to know I'm rooting for you too! Thank for everything my Warriors!!!

Family and friends, thanks for putting up with me and sticking with me through the thick and thin. Each of you matter to me and make me stronger, thank you!

Credits:

My Beta Reading team you know who you are! Thank you for helping me to go the extra mile!! You don't know how much I appreciate you for your hard work, diligence and honesty. Thank you so very much for all that you do.

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