Chapter 11 Jason
Jason
Okay. So maybe I could kind of get why the shifter pack lived here. At first light, this area of the bayou was beautiful. And my entire being hummed in anticipation of seeing Ciara and her beauty.
She’d sounded hesitant when I called last night, almost like she might have changed her mind about taking a drive with me, but I couldn’t exactly let that happen. I needed to show her, and I needed to be with her like I used to need air to breathe.
The trees in the distance were like black skeletal remains against the backdrop of a golden sky, slowly turning pale blue from the horizon, and I tried to focus on the view rather than my watch or the porch of Ciara’s home.
I was early, anyway. Nic would have laughed if he could have seen me. I wasn’t sure I had ever been early for anything on purpose in my life. Not since we were on more or less equal standing as vampires, anyway.
And now here I was. Early. For a woman.
Not just any woman, though.
My mate.
Nic would understand that. After everything he’d been through and arranged for Leia, he’d surely understand parking outside someone’s house before I was supposed to be there.
And the shifters at the gate had just waved me through. There was no Peter to give me the evil eye this morning, so that was a good thing.
I drummed my fingertips against my steering wheel, my impatience leaking out.
When I finally slowed myself to glance over at the porch, Ciara was standing on the decking at the top of the steps, a backpack over her shoulders, her tumble of hair crazy as usual, and her bottom lip twisted uncertainly between her teeth.
My chest inflated with a mixture of affection and pride. She behaved as if she had no idea how beautiful she was, but she was stunning. And she was mine.
She started down the steps and I hurried to get out, my vampire speed allowing me to hold the passenger door open for her before she even reached the car.
As she walked toward me, there was a strange gleam in her eyes, an element of hesitance or reticence, and I hadn’t detected anything like it there before.
“Are you okay?” Concern for her lit a fire inside me, and I wanted to grab her and run her away from whatever was making her anxious.
“Fine.” But her smile was tight as she slipped into the car seat. “Thank you.” She looked just past me as she spoke, and I closed the door gently.
I got in the car beside her. “You okay?” I pressed.
This time, she didn’t look at me at all, just stared out of the windshield. “Let’s get this over with.” But her cheeks pinked, and her chest rose with only the shallowest of breaths, like she was trying to control her air intake.
Maybe she wasn’t as immune to me as I’d thought. That idea pleased me, and I put the car into drive with renewed enthusiasm before pulling away and heading for the way out of pack lands before she could change her mind.
No matter the reason for her hesitation, she was here with me now, and I intended to make the most of our time together.
“So, is this worth it?” she asked.
She still didn’t look at me, and a smile twitched at my lips.
So worth it. But I didn’t say that. “I hope you’ll think so.” I kept my voice light as I drove on autopilot, my awareness of Ciara kicking my senses into overdrive. Her scent teased at me, and every small sound she made was deafening. I wanted to touch her, to pull over and look at her as we spoke.
But I needed to go slow.
“The drive is about an hour outside town,” I said. “We’ll need to hike the rest of the way once we park.”
“Okay.” She shrugged as if the idea of a hike was no big deal.
“Do you like the outdoors?” I mean, she was part wolf, right, so presumably she loved it.
She shrugged again. “We have an uneasy relationship, I guess. It has a call I can’t answer.” She pressed her lips together like she’d said too much.
“Did you already eat?” I changed the subject to avoid making her uneasy—and humans needed to eat, even if I didn’t.
She nodded. “Yeah.” Then she slid me a sly glance. “I hope you did, too.”
I laughed, the amusement unexpected, as I pondered the best way to answer her question. “You don’t have to worry,” I said when I couldn’t figure out whether an affirmative or negative answer was worse.
“I’m not worried. You’ve met my brother, right?”
I chuckled. “Yep. He’s quite the guy.” And I had no doubt Conri was Ciara’s fiercest protector.
The fact she was still in the wolf pack at all, despite being unable to shift, was testament to the control he wielded over his people.
I wasn’t sure any other packs would have accepted a non-shifting member among them.
We lapsed into silence, and after nearly an hour, I pulled into what functioned as a small parking lot for anyone who was going hiking.
It was scrappy waste ground, and deserted, the vegetation here pressed down by years of tires tracking over it.
It was as close to anything swampier that I dared take my car, though.
I was pretty sure Sebastian wouldn’t uphold a request for a new car because I’d taken it for an unscheduled swim in a Louisiana swamp. He wouldn’t see that as a legitimate business expense.
I shut the engine off. “Hike from here?” Again, I asked her a dumb question. She’d already agreed to a hike, and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do if she refused now.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she opened the car door and stepped out, taking a deep breath as she did so.
“I love being outside.” She flung her arms wide and spun a slow circle, giving me chance to admire her.
She still bore the grace of a shifter. “I mean…” She stopped and looked thoughtful.
“I love the feel of the sun on my skin and the smell of the new growth. Even the aroma of decay. But it also… There’s something…
I only wish—” She broke off and bit her lip like she’d said too much again.
“You wish what?” It was probably a risky move to prod her because this was obviously a sensitive subject for her, but I wanted to know all of her thoughts and fix anything that was wrong. It seemed to be part of protecting her. Like I could stop anything—even a thought—from hurting her ever again.
She glanced at me. “Nothing really.”
“It’s just the two of us out here.” I left my implied offer hanging.
She sighed. “I don’t usually tell many people my story.”
I just nodded. If she told me her story, then surely that meant something? But I didn’t dare speak in case hearing my voice put her off saying anything further.
“You know I’m half human, right?”
I nodded slowly. Honesty was probably the best policy here. “I’ve heard a couple of things from being around the pack.”
She laughed, the sound uncharacteristically bitter. “I bet. Well, then you know I don’t shift. My human side is dominant. Conri’s not my full brother. Only half. Not that he ever makes me feel that way,” she rushed on. “He’s the best brother anyone could ask for.”
I nodded again, happy to simply listen to her speak.
“But not being able to shift is…hard,” she finished after a moment.
“I can imagine,” I said.
She laughed again. “How can you?”
I shrugged. “I’ve lived out of place. Back before Nic turned me.”
“The king?” She sounded curious. “I didn’t realize he was your sire.”
I nodded as I patted the trunk of a tree we were passing. “Yeah, but before that, I was bought and paid for as Nic’s companion. I didn’t know—my family didn’t know—that I was going to be the only human in a nest of vampires.”
She glanced at me, one eyebrow raised.
“So I’ve almost been where you are.”
“But not anymore.”
I sighed as I climbed over a network of roots and automatically offered her my hand to help her through the same. “No, not anymore. Is there anything you could do? A witch? A spell?”
She grimaced. “I’ve thought about it, but that’s probably dark magic.” She shivered. “I don’t need a stain on my soul.” But there was a longing in her voice that she couldn’t hide.
“I’d take the hit for you.” I sounded way too earnest. When she glanced at me again, I shrugged, trying to make my declaration casual. “I mean, I don’t have a soul to stain.”
“Allegedly.” She swayed against me, nudging me with her shoulder.
“Allegedly,” I agreed, wishing for more contact from her. That brief nudge hadn’t been nearly enough. I stopped, gently grasping her forearm for Ciara to do the same. “This looks like the right place,” I murmured.
“What?” She looked around like she was trying to see what I was talking about. “What do you mean?”
She was right. This area of the bayou didn’t look any different than any other area. Swamp gave way to some firmer, drier land, but that rolled away again to where spindly trees signaled more water.
“Wait. I’ll show you.” I pulled a small pouch from my pocket and used my fingertips to take hold of some of the herbs inside it.
I sprinkled the herbs on the ground at our feet and held up my hand before Ciara took another chance to speak.
“I need to remember this part,” I said. But I didn’t look at her.
I couldn’t. If I focused too much attention on Cara, I’d lose my train of thought entirely, and this would end up a wasted trip.
What were the words Kayla had made me repeat? I thought for a moment before I recited them, my voice stilted and monotone. It wasn’t pretty, but hopefully it would work.
“What are you doing?” Ciara murmured her words, and for that I was grateful.
I needed to be sure I’d worked the spell correctly before I could relax.
Then I saw one. “Look.” I pointed to the red wolf trotting mere feet from us.
Ciara covered her mouth as if she was stifling a gasp. “Why is it so close?” she whispered. Then she shielded her eyes and looked around the rest of the area, “There are so many of them.” She hunkered down and tugged at me. “Stay out of sight.”