Chapter 14
Aiden didn’t know what to say. He could hear his father’s voice, reprimanding him when Aiden didn’t shift upon hitting puberty.
“You’re nothing but a disappointment. I never should have married your mother. I should have known her genes were defective. Gifted with the genes of a phoenix but unable to shift. You’re useless!”
Aiden wondered if that monster had been right.
“Psshht. We’re nothing of the sort. You’re closer than ever to shifting. Can’t you feel it?” Aiden’s phoenix said within his mind. “We’ll be even more powerful than him. You’ll see.”
“Whoa, your eyes just did that thing again,” May said. “Just for a second.”
“What thing?” Jamie said. He turned to Aiden and grabbed his face with both hands. “You look OK to me. Are you OK?” Jamie babbled. “May, what’re you talking about?”
Aiden barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “I’m fine.” He didn’t pull away from the fussing Jamie because he liked having his hands on him.
“Let’s get out of here,” his phoenix purred. “Let’s go home with mate.”
“Not now,” Aiden silently scolded the beast.
“His eyes went bright orange. It’s like his phoenix is giving us flashes of himself. Showing us he’s in there,” May said. She drew a circle in the air at Aiden. “You know, inside him. I bet he’s tired of being locked in there with the grumpy Gus.”
“Oh.” Jamie sighed and released Aiden. “That’s been happening more often. I was worried it was something else.” He glared at May. “ And he’s not a grumpy Gus.”
Aiden shook his head in amusement when May grinned back at Jamie. May Jensen was a one-hundred percent wise ass, but she was right. He had been grumpy.
“Well, he’s not grumpy all of the time,” an exasperated Jamie added.
Aiden coughed. “Well, thank you May for those complimentary thoughts and all. I’ll work on not being as grumpy as your brother, OK?”
May smirked at him. “Oh, don’t you worry. You’re nowhere near the grouch he is.”
“Hey!” Heath said.
Aiden addressed Ted. “Anyhow, I can’t shift just yet, but I feel my other half is much closer than ever. We can communicate easier now,” Aiden said. “It’s like his voice has gotten louder in my head.”
Jamie nodded. “It’ll be soon. I know it.”
Aiden winced at the slightly downcast faces in the room. “I’m sorry that I can’t protect the town yet.” His father was such a bastard. If it wasn’t for him, all of these people could live in peace.
“It’s not your fault,” Jamie said, bumping his shoulder into Aiden’s. “You’re doing the best you can. Everyone here is.”
“Yeah,” Iris agreed. “We know it’s not easy. You just need to remember that you’re not like him.”
Aiden hoped he wasn’t like his father. He was glad Jamie and Iris had faith in him at least.
“We know it must be hard. None of us know that much about phoenix shifters. We were just hoping,” Mac said quietly.
“We’ll just keep training,” May said. “I wish we knew what Williamson was planning. I feel like something big’s about to happen, but I can’t seem to get an image of it.” May’s special ability enabled her to go into magical trances where she was able to paint or draw images from her visions.
“If we only had more inside information,” May said.
“What about Leah’s brother?” Aiden asked. “Did she tell you all about how her brother freed Jamie from wherever the hell he was being held?”
“Yeah, she did,” Heath said while the others nodded.
“She’s still trying to track him with Piper’s assistance. She found a spell for tracking people—both humans and shifters. She’s having trouble, though, since his teleporting is interfering with her getting a lock on where he is,” Mac said.
Just thinking about what happened to Jamie on his own father’s orders made Aiden furious. “Even if my father wasn’t hellbent on destroying this town, he still needs to be stopped from experimenting on people. Who knows how many people he still has locked up?”
“Terris still can’t remember where I was kept?” Jamie asked. Leo Terris was a genetics professor at the university in town. He also happened to be a wolverine shifter that had been unable to shift his entire life. Years ago, he and his best friend Miles Brackett—a tiger shifter unable to shift— had been lured with the promise of a cure to work for Alden Williamson. A short while ago, biologist Miles had been torn to shred by Williamson’s goons after working with the Guardians. Terris was now in SCB protective custody working against Williamson. Terris wanted revenge at any cost.
Heath shook his head. “His memory is still messed up. Probably some phoenix voodoo stuff from your father.” He nodded at Aiden. “Maybe someday you’ll be able to do stuff like that, too.”
“Can’t wait,” Aiden mumbled.
“Terris did agree to work with me. My healing powers might be able to recover his memories,” Mac said. “I was actually going to start working with him yesterday, but we got a little sidetracked with the baby.”
Aiden nodded. “If there’s nothing else you need from us, I’d like to go speak with Piper,” he said.
“She really will be over here soon,” Mac said. “We weren’t saying that just to get you to come over.” She snuck a glance at the clock hanging on the wall of the kitchen above the window. “Probably on her way over now even. Why don’t you wait here for her?”
“Yeah, sit down and have a drink,” Heath said. “Some of the pack members are coming over later tonight after dinner, but we are just hanging out here ’til then.”
Aiden looked at Jamie.
Jamie nodded.
“OK, thanks. We’ll stay,” Aiden said.