Painfully Ordinary Special Edition (17 page)

“How about
some juice?”
Gail asked brightly. She set about counting how many glasses she
would need.

I was grateful for her
change of subject and vastly relieved…that is, until Bub asked the next
question.

“Hey, where are Talon and
Jace?”

I popped most of a sausage
roll into my mouth to keep from having to answer. I wanted a moment to think
before I tackled any questions about them.

Leah, on the other hand,
had no such problem. “Who knows? They are probably lost in the woods somewhere,”
she said sarcastically.

I gently poked her in the
ribs. There was no need to air out our dirty laundry with everyone.

The men studied us with
narrowed eyes. “What happened here last night? Is there something we need to
know about?”

I shook my head
emphatically.
“Nope.
Just a small misunderstanding–no
big deal really.”

“They are just being
stupid men,” Leah piped up, grinning mischievously at them.

Bub winked at us. “Oh, is
that
all?”

Chapter 13

Duty

W
e
spent the rest of the
day out at the lake, fishing and just hanging out with all my uncles. This was
always one of my favorite things as a child. I was perfectly content to float
around the lake soaking up the sun, although there was not a lot of
conversation between us and Talon and Jace. In fact, things were very tense
throughout the day, despite Pops’ attempts to lighten things up. Ronnie finally
navigated the boat back to the dock. I knew Johr and Breeg would be here
shortly to pick us up, and it was definitely not something I was looking
forward
to
. I wasn’t ready for the potential
consequences that might come out of a conversation with Talon, but I didn’t
want to
be separated
from him yet either. I had been
in a daydream for most of the afternoon, lost in my own denial.

I took the hand that
was extended
to help me off the boat. Looking up to say
thank you, I found myself staring into Talon’s chocolate eyes.

“Um, thanks.” I couldn’t
avoid him any longer.

Talon put his hands on
either side of my waist, lifted me from the
boat
and set
me on the dock. I noticed Jace was doing the same for Leah.

“Can we talk?” Talon asked
in a husky voice.

“Yeah, I guess we probably
should.” I replied staring at my feet. This was the moment I had been dreading
all day, and I wasn’t
really sure
what I was going to
say to him.

We walked to a grassy knoll
that overlooked the water. The sun was beginning to set, transforming the lake into
liquid gold. It was beautiful. We sat on the grass, side by side. I was
thankful he hadn’t sat facing me. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get through
this if I had to sit there and stare into his eyes. We lingered for a while,
not saying anything, and I became more anxious by the second. I put my hands
under my legs in an effort to hide how badly they were shaking.

Talon took a deep breath
and we watched the gentle, rolling waves of the lake before speaking.

“Caitlin, I want to
apologize for the way I’ve been acting. I’ve been trying to do what I think is
right. I cannot help who or what I am. I wish I could change the way things
are, but I do not see how and I don’t want to hurt you.”

I pulled up blades of
grass one at a time.

He faced me. “Are you okay?
I honestly hope I’m not the sole cause of your current frame of mind. As I
said, all I want is for you to be happy. That desire is what has been keeping
me away from you all day. I can’t help but think you might be better off
without me.”

I exhaled slowly; it was a
lot to process.

“Talon,” I said softly.

His eyes gradually changed
color.

“I’m not sure what you
want me to say. I have been happier in the last couple of weeks than I’ve been
in the last several years. I deeply appreciate how considerate you’ve been. Today
you allowed me to do some serious soul searching. I was able to take some time
to think about what happened last night.”

He faced the lake. “I
understand. You don’t have to say anything else.”

I put my hand on his
colossal forearm. “Talon, wait. You didn’t let me finish.”

As soon as my hand made
contact, a shock ran through my body, down to my feet, creating a river of
warmth in its path. He shifted to face me with brilliant blue eyes and the heat
flowed freely to my cheeks.

Great.
I hadn’t blushed all day.
Why couldn’t I stay cool in situations like this?

“You make me feel like a
precious possession that should be treasured. I hope you understand what a feat
that is. I’ve always seen
myself as painfully ordinary and an
easy target
for people like Ryan. I am so much more when I’m with you. Please
don’t think I don’t care about you. I’m extremely careful about whom I allow to
get close to me—with you, it was effortless. However, if I’m completely honest
with you, and myself, I have to admit there are things about our current situation
that I’m having a great deal of trouble accepting.” I waved my hand in Leah’s
direction. “Leah thinks it has everything to do with jealousy, and she may be
right. I don’t really have any experience with it firsthand, other than what I
have seen from Ryan.”

“You were jealous?” he
asked incredulously, while absentmindedly running his hand through his hair.

Geez, was he really going
to make me say it? I blushed to my roots. “I guess I was.”

Talon’s eyes were
practically pulsating by this time. “Jealousy, I can understand. When you described
the feeding process from your viewpoint, I found myself wanting to tear apart a
donor who didn’t even exist.” He admitted.

“Really?”
I asked, studying him
through lowered lashes.

“Yes, really.” he said. “Jace
was giving me a hard time about it too. He was really beginning to get on my
nerves.”

“I had no idea. You know, Leah
had a
really interesting
theory. She thinks our
Feydall
blood could shield us from the
conversion. My mom had the same idea. She said she wasn’t sure the rules even
pertain to us.
There has to be a way to test her theory
without actually putting anyone in serious danger, right?
There’s nothing
which would make me happier than being able to provide you with what you need.”

“Are you serious?” He
cried out, horrified. “You would ask me to use you as a
donor
? Do you completely lack a sense of self-preservation? I can
never allow that to happen.”

I looked away and pulled
up grass again. “I hate the idea of you having that sort of relationship with
anyone else. It just makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it.”

Talon hung his head low
and sighed.

I bit my bottom lip. This
really wasn’t going very well and we were wasting precious time. I had no way
of knowing what to expect when Johr arrived. I strongly suspected he was going
to make things much more difficult. I touched the back of his hand. When he glanced
up, I gave him a sly smile.

“Isn’t Jace considered an
Ethereal
?” I asked innocently.

Talon appeared aghast, and
laughed so hard he was soon wiping the tears from his eyes. “You…want…me…to…feed…on…Jace?”

I nodded.
“Why not?”

Talon shook his head in
disbelief. “Remember, they need to be willing. I can assure you Jace will never
be willing unless it was that or my death. Even then, I wouldn’t ask it of
him.”

I tilted my head to the
side. “Okay, I see. You won’t allow the people who care about you to help take
care of you. You would prefer to have the proverbial one-night-
stand?
Talon, you aren’t making any sense.”

He picked up my hand and rubbed
my knuckles with this thumb.

It was so difficult to
concentrate when he did that. When did I become such a flake?

“
Ves’tacha
, you are missing a critical point here. I look at these
donors as an anonymous source of food. Like a food bank. I don’t know them and
thus I’m not constantly worried about them facing the transformation. It may
sound cold to your ears, but if they unexpectedly begin the transformation and
it goes badly…it is unfortunate…but my world isn’t destroyed.” His eyes were
flashing again. “If something were to happen because of a feeding to someone I
cared deeply about–it would devastate me.”

I stared at him in awe. “You
really do care for me, don’t you? It’s not about duty, is it? You
actually
care for me.”

“Duty may have brought me
to you, but it is certainly not what makes me stay.”

It was all I could’ve
hoped to hear and so much more. In one quick move, I threw my arms around his
neck and we rolled through the grass. I rained kisses all over his face. His
eyes were pulsating with light. He shifted so I was lying under him and took my
face in his hands.

“It’s you, and no other,”
he breathed against my lips.

I held tight to him, kissing
him passionately in the warm glow of the setting sun, which was now level with
the lake. A soft breeze blew across the water and tousled his hair. I ran my
hand through his unruly locks as he nibbled on my jawline and down my neck. I
nipped the skin beneath his ear and then bit down piercing the skin. Talon
roared.

He studied me as a
predator assesses his prey. He moved his body over mine in a seductive manner. My
breathing sped up to match his until I was almost panting. I had never
experienced anything like it and had no idea what to expect. His eyes had
glazed over and he nudged the edge of my tank down, piercing the skin just
above the top of my bra line under my collarbone. I reared up into his mouth. The
pleasure was blinding and I whimpered his name.

“Talon.”

***

“What in the HELL is going on here?” howled Johr.

He started running toward
us, but Breeg snapped out a hand and caught him by the back of the shirt.

Breeg hissed. “Are ye a
complete fool? Ye could kill her if ye try to separate them now. Ye must wait
until the feeding is complete. Ye ken?”

Jace’s head snapped up and
he jumped to his feet and began running with Leah close behind. He gasped when
he saw what was going on.

“Oh my
GOD.
What
have they done? Johr will have our heads for this!”

Leah looked at him puzzled.
“What do you mean ‘our heads’? You did nothing. I have a strong suspicion
Caitlin pushed him to do this. She can be extremely determined when she wants
something.”

Jace put his face in his
hands. “It will not matter how it came about. It might not have even been a
huge incident if anyone else had found them like this. You might not know, but Johr
is completely dedicated to protecting our laws and following them to the letter.
I will be guilty for not being here to watch over them when I was well aware
this was a possibility.”

“Slow down for a second. What
exactly does the law say? From what you told me last night, it is perfectly
acceptable for a
Varyo
to feed from
both Human and
Ethereal.
We are both.”
Leah turned her palms face up and shrugged her shoulders.
“ What
is the problem?”

Jace caressed her hair. “Your
innocence is one of the things I like best about you. I wish it were only that
simple. Unfortunately, Caitlin has been named
a
Lumina
. No one is allowed to feed
from a
Lumina,
except their chosen mate. Hell, no one is even allowed to have any sort of
romantic relationship with
them
either, unless it has
been approved by the Council.

Leah formed an O with her
lips and looked around worriedly.

***

My breathing returned to
normal and I fought to clear my vision so I could see his reaction. I was
completely sated. I had never experienced anything like it in my entire life. Talon’s
eyes cleared, too, and refocused. He looked down at me with bright red tears
running down his face.

“Caitlin, what have we
done?” he asked in horror.

I gazed at him with soft
eyes and wiped away the tears. “I love you. Everything will be okay.”

I glanced around and
suddenly realized people surrounded us.

“What in the HELL is going
on here?” howled Johr. “Get up now.” He said through gritted teeth.

Talon immediately jumped
to his feet. He held his hand out to help me up, but Johr knocked it away.

“Don’t touch her. I think you
have done enough already,” Johr snarled. He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me
to my feet. I cried out as he wrenched my arm. Talon growled and stepped
forward. Jace jumped between the two, his face a naked cry for help.

Breeg stepped forward. “
Johr,
let the gel go.” He patted my shoulder kindly. “Go on
wi’ ye, Little Fire. Go wi’ Leah and get ready ta go home.” He put his arms
around our waists and propelled us toward the house.

Leah put her arm around my
shoulder, and I reluctantly let her lead me away from the lake. I could feel
them all watching us walk away. I took one last look over my shoulder at Talon
with tears in my eyes. He gave me a sad smile and touched his fingers to his
lips. I knew this wasn’t going to end well for us.
Not at
all.

Fortunately, I didn’t have
to wait long to find out. Johr had a
really big
mouth
and we could hear his voice ringing, but couldn’t make out every word. Leah
wore her anxiety all over her face as we attempted to listen from just inside
the house.

***

“Do you want to tell me what in the HELL you thought you
were doing?” Johr bellowed. “You were ordered to protect her, not put her in
further danger. Do you realize what could have happened? What STILL might
happen? I can no longer feel confident in your ability to stay neutral and
protect her effectively. You’ve gotten too close to her. You KNOW the law—you
know a relationship with her can never be. It is forbidden!”