Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (52 page)

“What about Dad?”

Emily sighed and looked
out the window, “I don’t think heku really care much about
birthdays.”

The rest of the flight was
quiet, and only Anna came up to greet them.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t more…
We didn’t know you were coming,” Anna said.

“We’re not staying. Where
is Allen?”

Anna shifted nervously, “I’m not sure,
Ma’am.”

“Fine, if you see him,
tell him to pack… I’m going to check on the horses, and then we’re
taking the truck.”

“Yes, Ma’am, shall I take Dain?”

“Yes, please. I’ll be
right back… Alex, don’t go far.”

Alexis nodded and sat down
in Chevalier’s room with a book. Emily went out to check on the two
horses left in the barn. There was an overseer hired from the town
that was watching over them, but she preferred to check up on them
anyway. She got out to the barn and opened the first stall, but
turned when she heard an odd noise from the loft.

Frowning, Emily climbed
the old rickety ladder up into the loft, a part of the barn she
avoided because of the potential for mice. What she saw made her
blush deeply, the gentle rise and fall of the blanket in the corner
where two heku were kissing softly.

Emily started back down
the ladder, leaving the two lovers alone, but when the girl caught
sight of her and gasped, Emily felt her temper rising.

“Allen!?” she yelled, and
jumped back into the loft.

“Mom!” he gasped, then
stood up quickly and began slipping his pants back on.

Miri wrapped herself in the blanket and
began to grab her clothes.

“Mom, listen to me. I love
her,” Allen said as he pulled his shirt on.

“Get in the truck,” Emily said through
gritted teeth.

“Mom, no.”

“Do it or the slut gets ashed.”

Miri gasped and walked behind a stack of hay
to get dressed.

“Listen to me. I’m not a
child!” Allen yelled.

“Allen, maybe you better do what she says,”
Miri said from behind the hay.

“Get in the truck,” she
said again, and pushed Allen toward the ladder.

“I’ll be back,” Allen said
to Miri, and went down the stairs.

Emily spun toward the
pretty blonde heku, “Stay the hell away from my son, or I’ll hide
your ashes where no one will ever find them.”

“Please, Lady Emily, we’re
engaged... I love Allen,” Miri said softly.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “You heard me, and
get off this island.”

“I’m a member of this coven now.”

“Chevalier knows?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Miri told
her, her voice calm and polite.

“We’ll see about that,”
Emily growled, and crawled down the ladder. She heard Miri jump
down behind her, but ignored her and got into the truck. She didn’t
say anything to Allen when she pulled up to the front of the castle
and got out to get Dain and Alexis.

“Shall I go with you?” the door guard
asked.

“No,” Emily said bluntly,
and buckled Dain in. Soon, they were on the ferry headed for the
mainland.

“Where are we going? I’m not allowed back in
Council City,” Allen said.

“We’re getting away from
the heku for a while and spending family time for Dain’s birthday,”
Emily said, still angry.

“Can we get out and walk around?” Alexis
asked.

Emily thought and then
nodded. There wasn’t anywhere for the kids to go, so it seemed
safe. She leaned back in the truck and thought about what to do
with Allen.

Two hours into the trip,
Emily grabbed her cell phone when it rang. She saw the caller ID
and answered, “Hello, Chev.”

“Em, where are you headed to?”

“Away”

Chevalier sighed, “I’ve been talking to
Allen.”

“Either he moves back into
the palace, or we stay in my house.”

“Which is where, exactly?”

“Far away from Council City.”

“He’s in love with her, Em.”

“He’s not old enough to be
in love… Right now, he’s thinking with his teenage
hormones.”

“No he’s not. You know as
well as I do that he’s advanced for his age. I’m guessing he’s
closer to 25.”

“So if you caught Alexis
fucking some heku at 15, you’d be ok with that?”

There was a soft growl,
“That’s different. She’s mortal.”

“No it’s not different.
I’m not going to let my 15-year-old sleep around.”

“He’s completely devoted
to her. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Emily hung up the phone
and ignored it when it rang again. When land was in sight, she
called the kids back into the truck.

“Give me your cell phone,”
Emily said, and held her hand out.

“No,” Allen told her. “I’m
not going to let you cut me off from Miri or Dad.”

“Give it to me or so help me you’ll never
see her again.”

Allen growled and slammed
the phone into her hand. She rolled down the window as she pulled
off of the ferry, and tossed it into the water.

“It’s a 24 hour trip, get
comfortable,” Emily told them, and headed south along
I-95.

“When do we get to know where we’re going?”
Alexis asked.

“When we get there. I’m
not going to have your brother telling his Dad, and find my new
house surrounded by guards.”

Allen crossed his arms and
glared at Emily. Night fell only a few hours into the trip, and
Emily stopped just long enough for fuel and strong
coffee.

“Mom, just let me drive
for a bit,” Allen said when Emily almost ran off the
road.

She pulled over and nodded, “Just keep going
south.”

Allen pulled out into
traffic while Emily kicked back to get some sleep. After 6 hours,
she started to drive again and felt relieved when they finally
passed into Georgia.

“When did you buy a house?” Allen asked.
He’d decided while driving to let his Mom cool off and do as she
asked until he could talk to Chevalier and get help with Miri.

“I didn’t. It was a gift,”
she said, and slipped on her sunglasses.

“From?”

Emily grinned, “Sotomar.”

Allen gasped, “Mom! This
could be a trap… We could be going into the hands of the
Valle.”

“We aren’t.”

“You have to stop trusting heku.”

“Apparently,” she said, in
a tone that let Allen know she meant him also.

“It’s not safe.”

“It is too… You aren’t
allowed in the palace, and I don’t want to stay on the island. This
was the only choice I had for us to be together for a
while.”

“Together, except Dad,”
Alexis reminded her.

“That was his choice.”

Emily stopped just outside of Savannah and
pulled out the manila envelope with the deed and directions. She
found the correct route and stopped at a grocery store before
taking the small road out to the plantation known as
Four-Winds.

“Wow,” Alexis gasped when
the large white plantation came into view. It was lined with tall
white pillars and huge bay windows. The driveway looped in front of
it and off to the side was a large garage.

Emily stopped by the front doors and turned
off the truck.

“Let me go in first. One
sign of heku and we need to leave,” Allen said, and stepped
out.

Emily got Dain out of his
seat and started around the house. The side opposite the garage was
full of peach trees inside of a fence and the back yard was massive
with a white gazebo containing hammocks and tables. There was a
flower garden lining a small white fence on what Emily thought must
be the property line, and a wishing well was situated off to the
side of the gazebo.

She smiled and went over
to check out the garage while Allen went inside to look for
intruders. She opened the side door to the garage and flipped on
the lights. She was surprised to see a new silver Dodge Durango
parked with a big red ribbon on it. She looked inside and saw the
keys in the ignition.

“The house is clear. I’m
not seeing any signs of a heku,” Allen said, walking into the
garage.

“Get the groceries in.
I’ll be in in a second,” she said, and looked through some of the
drawers in the garage. They were full of miscellaneous tools, most
of which she wasn’t sure what were for.

After looking around the
property again, Emily headed inside. The plantation was a good
sized house, not overly ostentatious like Chevalier’s mansion. It
was homey, warm, and inviting. The dual staircases leading up to
the second floor were in the main foyer and doors off to the side
went into sitting rooms and a large dining room.

Alex came running down the stairs, “Can I
have the room in purple?”

Emily smiled, “I’ll go
look.”

They both headed up the
stairs and Emily immediately found the master suite with its own
fireplace and master bathroom complete with a jetted tub built into
the floor. She went to where Alexis was yelling for her, and saw a
large bedroom decorated in various shades of purple.

“Yes, you can have this room.”

“Sweet!” Alexis yelled,
and jumped onto the bed. The bookshelves in her room were lined
with both educational and casual reading books, perfect for the
10-year-old.

Emily walked back out into the hallway and
saw Allen in a doorway, “I’ll stay in here.”

She nodded, “I’m going to
take a nap. You all are ok?”

“Sure,” he said, and
looked around. “We’ll just explore, see if there’s a game room or
anything.”

Alexis took Dain and Emily fell fast
asleep.

“Mom, someone’s at the
door,” Allen told her. Emily put down her book and got out of the
overstuffed chair. She opened the door to two gentlemen. One was an
older man with short silver hair and thick rimmed glasses. The
other was younger with a handsome face and messy brown
hair.

“We’re sorry to interrupt.
We heard someone was here,” the younger man said.

“No problem. What can I do
for you?” she asked.

“I’m Aiden and this is
Courtney,” he said, and motioned toward the older man.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Emily.”

The man tilted his cowboy hat and
smiled.

“Well we just talked to your husband a bit,”
the older man said. “He thought we’d need to run an invitation by
you.”

Emily frowned, “You talked to my
husband?”

“Yes, the man who answered the door.”

“That’s not my husband,” she said,
irritated.

“Oh, I apologize. Anyway,
we’re here on behalf of the town council. There’s a barn raising
tonight, and we’d like to invite you.”

Emily smiled, “Really?”

“Yes, everyone in town’d
like to meet you. We knew Four-Winds sold a few years ago, but
haven’t seen anyone in it.”

“Sure, where is it?”

The older man handed her a paper with
directions, “We look forward to ya’ll being there.”

Emily nodded, “Ok, we’ll
see you there.”

She shut the door and put the paper on a
table in the hallway.

“How are you going to
explain me?” Allen asked. “I look older than you do.”

Emily frowned, “I hadn’t thought about
that…”

“I mean… feel free to tell
people I’m your son, but your driver’s license says you’re
19.”

“Damn”

“Brother then?”

She sighed, “That seems wrong.”

“You’re too young to even be Alexis’
mom.”

“Then you be her brother,
and I’ll be her sister. She can still have Dain,” Alexis suggested.
“It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, fun,” Emily said,
and headed into the kitchen to make lunch.

“How long are we staying?” Allen asked,
following her in.

“I don’t know. I kind of
like it here.”

“It’s been a week. We
still need to talk about Miri.”

Emily looked over at him,
“Let’s go tonight and have fun at the party. You and I will talk
tomorrow, I promise.”

Allen shrugged, “Sure.”

“Go get dressed, and tell
Alex to get ready. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”

Allen nodded and left to get dressed. Emily
ate quickly and took Dain from Alexis. They all met out in the
garage and Allen tore of the big ribbon before they crawled into
the new Durango and set off.

***

“Mom, you promised,” Allen
said as he walked into the kitchen.

Emily dried her hands off on a towel and sat
down, “Fine, let’s talk about Miri.”

“I want Dad in on this too.”

Emily grabbed her cell phone and dialed
Chevalier, then put it on speaker and set it in the middle of the
table.

“Good morning,” Chevalier said.

“’
Mornin Chev… Allen’s
here and he wants to talk about his little girlfriend.”

“Mom…”

“Sorry, Miri.”

“Ok,” Chevalier sighed.
“This’d be easier in person. Why don’t you let me come
over?”

“I don’t want to wait that
long. I want to go back to the island,” Allen told him.

“That far away is it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Enough… I don’t like it,
he’s 15,” Emily started.