Lure of Forever (21 page)

"It's Jerry."

"Jerry? She's come here?
Really?
But that's wonderful. I knew she'd come around, once
she'd recovered enough."
Coralie
would have
dashed off but something in
Marnie's
expression
stopped
Coralie
cold.

"What is it? What are you not
telling me?"

"She's not the Jerry you
remember, Coral. She recovered almost the minute you killed
Jacomo
."
Marnie
dropped her gaze and
Coralie
suddenly felt cold.

"But, then…I don't understand.
Why has she not been around to see me?"

"I think you need to hear that
from her. She's leaving. Jenkins tried to convince her to stay, but she didn't
take very well to his, well us, the whole supernatural thing."

"I see."
Coralie
saw only too well, but until she'd heard it from
Jerry her stubborn heart would never believe it. At least that explained why
Jenkins had avoided her and looked as though he'd had his heart torn out.
Coralie
knew what that felt like.
Marnie
gave her a hug.

"She's in the dining room,
Coral."

****

Coralie's
words of welcome died on her tongue when she saw her old friend. Jerry seemed a
shadow of her exuberant self. She'd lost weight and there were dark circles
under her eyes, their once-brilliant green dimmed to a dull grey. She swung
around when she heard
Coralie
approach and took
several steps back when
Coralie
would have embraced
her.

"Don't touch me!"

Coralie's
heart squeezed painfully, hearing the venom behind those words. She put her
hands up in a gesture of surrender and took several steps back––anything to
erase that look of sheer terror out of Jerry's eyes. Her friend wrung her hands
nervously, her eyes darting around the room, as though she expected hell’s
demons to descend upon her. When she finally made eye contact,
Coralie
saw the sheen of unshed tears in Jerry's eyes.
Every line of her body screamed of her desperation and
Coralie
ached to take that look away from her. Maybe, if she got close enough she could
make her forget? Like she'd seen Lucas
do
?

But, even as she thought it, she
instantly dismissed the idea. She could never do that to her friend, or anyone
else for that matter. Instead she pitched her voice very low and spoke
carefully, so as not to spook Jerry further.

"I was worried about you,
Jerry. How have you been?"

"How do you think I've been? I
was almost killed by my daughter's father, who turns out to be a demon, my
boyfriend turns into a wolf and my best friend is a vampire. I feel top of the
fucking world, in fact."
 
Jerry
stuffed her fist in her mouth, cutting off a hysterical bubble of laughter. "I
want nothing to do with any of this shit. I'm taking
Suz
away from all you monsters. How could you, Coral? How could you let him
anywhere near you, once you found out? For fuck’s sake, you brought him to my
house. And you knew
,
all that time you knew that
Jenkins was a goddamn werewolf. "

"Shifter
actually, Jerry.
He's—"

"Spare me. Whatever these
things call themselves, they're still not human. And neither are you. You're
all bloody freaks and now they're starting on
Suz
.
Well, they'll have to go through me first. You can tell your witch friends to fuck
off and leave my little girl alone."

"What witch friends? You're not
making any sense, Jerry. And not to put too fine a point on it, you were the
one who brought this on by attending those gatherings. You were the one who got
herself impregnated by a fucking demon, necessitating us
freaks
to get
involved to protect you."

Coralie's
voice rose in her anger and power surged through her. Her fingertips tingled
and damn it if she couldn't see sparks shooting from the tips of her fingers.

Lucas's presence flooded her mind,
willing her to calm down and her body responded instantly. She tried to shake
off Ion's hand on her shoulder, but he had her in an iron grip, all his
attention focused on her.
 
More of her
anger dissolved and she slowly became aware that the room had filled with
people. Jenkins stood between
Coralie
and a
trembling, wide-eyed Jerry.
Marnie
was behind Ion,
held back by several wolves.

Jesus, what am I doing?

She hugged her arms around herself.

"You okay now?" Ion's
bruising grip lessened at her nod.

"I guess I shouldn't get
angry."
Coralie
tried to smile and failed
miserably.
God,
what sort of weird mutation was she? Ion regarded her
steadily and after a long searching look at her face, he released her.
"Jenkins, I think you should escort our visitor off pack land."

"Boss, she didn't mean
to—"

"Now,
Jenkins."
Ion's voice brooked no argument.
"
Coralie
is a member of this pack. I will not
have her, or any of us for that matter, insulted by a human. Regardless of the
circumstances or how much that human may mean to you."

Jerry's eyes widened at that quietly
delivered statement and Jenkins’s grim nod. He turned and grasped Jerry's arm.
Jerry winced and tried to pull away, but Jenkins stood firm, even when Jerry
screeched.

"You can't do this. She needs
to call them off. Coral, please, she's all I have. You've got to, for
Suz
."

Coralie
was in front of Jenkins in the blink of an eye and his wolf growled in
surprise. Jerry just turned paler at that demonstration of vampire speed and
Ion smiled grimly.

"What exactly do you expect me
to do, Jerry?"
Coralie
searched her friend’s
face for an answer.

"Whatever
you witches do.
How the fuck should I know? But
there is no bloody way you're turning Suzanne into one of you freaks."

"Jerry, I have no idea what
you're talking about. I'm not a witch."

"Pull the other one, Coral, and
stop being delusional. You come from a long line of witches. Trust me, I would
rather I didn't know.
Suz
has been talking to someone
called
Melisande
and your bloody mother appeared in
my bedroom last night. Some crap about
Suz
being
destined for great things."

"Mummy did what?"
 
Coralie
swayed
slightly at that announcement. Her mother could appear to people? Why the hell
had Mummy not appeared to her? And what did that make her mother? The kind and
wise lady she remembered didn't chant and cast spells. Never, ever, had she
given her the slightest indication she was a witch.

Jerry ignored her question and
Lucas's hold on
Coralie's
mind increased. She
welcomed his presence after all this time, needing the reassurance from the man
she loved, his silent awe at Jerry's revelations a soothing balm in the face of
her friend's sneering tones.

"So you undo it.
Suz
is not getting involved in any of this. If your mother
renounced this thing, then you can take this off my daughter. She is going to
be normal, not a goddamn freak."

Chapter
Twenty-One

"So, it's true then. She can
walk in the sun?" Lucas tore his eyes away from the sight of
Coralie
playing with the wolf cubs, his heart constricting
at the waves of sadness he sensed from her. Even with his own shields firmly in
place, so she wouldn't know he was here, her grief tore at his soul. It took
every ounce of his self-control to not call her to him. Though, now knowing her
heritage, he doubted he had that control over her anyway. He smiled grimly. He
should have stayed. He'd let her down again, when she needed him most. Fury
boiled in his gut at the way her so-called friend had reacted. He’d woken up in
a sweat,
Coralie's
hurt and confusion swamping him,
as though he were in the room with her. The way humans reacted to the
supernatural community was a hard lesson to learn. He should have been there to
make it easier for her.

"Yes, it seems she can. We
found out by accident.
Lando
pulled the curtains on
her. I tell you Lucas, my heart damn well nearly stopped when she screamed.
Though that's all she did, thankfully. Then, the shit really hit the fan.
Carmen is foaming at the mouth. It's about time you showed up. I worked hard to
keep the peace, but I'm not prepared to risk the pack in a war with you goddamn
bloodsuckers."

Ion's voice held an edge of steel
and Lucas nodded at his friend.

"I wouldn't expect that of you
and it won't come to that. I'm here to take
Coralie
away. And I want her as far away from Carmen as possible. No fucking way is she
going to get her claws into
Coralie
. She has a
decision to make, and
Coralie
can't do that
here.
 
It would be too dangerous for all
concerned."

"Dangerous
as she might hurt someone by accident? ‘Cause
I have to tell
you, she makes me nervous. I wouldn't piss her off if I was you, Lucas. Ever
since that incident with Jerry, she keeps a tight leash on her emotions, but
when she doesn't, she kind of glows. We've learnt to scarper when she does
that. Louisa has had her hands full repairing the damage to the foliage as it
is. Coral has burnt a few bushes recently. Better than people, I grant
you—"

"She would never hurt anyone,
not even by accident. It's not in her nature." Lucas's furious denial made
Ion step back a few paces. The smile on the shifter's face had Lucas grinding
his teeth.

"Take it easy. I know she
wouldn't, but you know how fond Louisa is of our gardens. She blew up at
Coralie
only yesterday. Unfortunately,
Coralie
didn't take it well.
Marnie
had a devil of a job
coaxing her out of her room and she's been refusing any blood at all.
 
If she carries on like that, she'll get ill.
So, like I said, I'm glad you're here at last.
Marnie
has been worrying herself silly over the both of you."

Fear for
Coralie's
safety sent a cold chill up Lucas’s spine and he turned back to the window,
careful to stay in the shadows. Both men lapsed into silence, observing
Coralie's
interaction with
Lando
.
Ion's son was chatting away and
Coralie
listened
intently, a small smile on her face. Again her inherent sadness tore at Lucas's
heart. There were shadows under her eyes and every line of her body spoke of
bone-weary tiredness. She moved with deliberate slowness, her body
instinctively conserving energy. She needed rest and a good dose of blood, too.
Why the fuck was she refusing it?

Time to end
this.
Lucas opened his mind and waited.

He knew the minute she sensed him.
Her whole body tensed and her head swung around, her furious gaze connecting
with his.
Lando
scrambled off her lap, as
Coralie's
skin started to glow and waves of shimmering heat
pulsated to her fingertips. She balled her hands into fists and took several
deep breaths. The shimmering stopped and she smiled at
Lando
and started to walk towards the house.

"Holy fuck, I'm out of here.
Hope you've got your fire-proof suit with you. Looks like roasted Lucas will be
on the menu tonight." Ion chuckled and punched Lucas in the shoulder.
"Gives a whole new meaning to breathing fire, does your
Coralie
.
Oh, and I'll charge the damages to you,
mate."

Lucas nodded his assent, not once
taking his eyes of the woman approaching him.

****

Coralie's
skin was too tight, her whole body consumed by internal fire. Her fingers
burned and she itched to release the sparks shimmering on her fingertips. How
dare he sneak up on her like this? And how dare he look so goddamn sexy and
good enough to eat? All this time and he chose to make an appearance now?

She was barely aware of a chuckling
Ion shutting the dining room doors behind him, so focused was she on the
vampire standing in the shadows. Lucas held himself perfectly still, making no
move to stop her, even as she unleashed the power surging through her and
burned the chair next to his legs. Sparks rained on his trouser legs, burning
holes in the fabric, the smell of singed fabric filling the room. Another burst
of stars from
Coralie's
fingers singed the ends of
his hair, as she aimed a blast over his shoulder and one of the paintings on
the wall dissolved into ash.

It was only when she aimed for his
chest that Lucas finally reacted.
 
He was
on top of her in the blink of an eye. His hands grabbed hers, interlinking
their fingers and
Coralie
watched in stunned
fascination when his hands glowed and the warmth spread up his arms, where it
slowly faded.