Ravens (25 page)

She nodded her response.

“Let me hear you say it, darling.”

“I missed you.” She replied obediently.

“Do you want me back?”

His hands moved up her sides beneath her
shirt. It was too much to handle. The tingling energy went straight to her
brain. Reality or not, this was one heck of an illusion. He was good, probably
too good.

Kendra couldn’t respond. She felt light
headed, and her knees went wobbly. Thankfully, he held her up with his body
because not only did she melt into a gooey mass of flesh, but she sagged her
way toward the floor.

“Maybe I could help make up your mind.”

Liam leaned down and grabbed her by the
hips, placing her on the counter. She returned his kisses. He sucked in a
breath.

Liam held Kendra in place with his
massive arms. All this skin-to-skin contact made her crazy as his energy surged
into her. 

He danced around her thoughts, herding
her toward the brink of madness. Kendra tried to fight with what little power
she possessed when his body pushed her further beyond her control and his voice
beckoned. This was her dilemma: retain what minute amount of restraint she held
and forever tiptoe around this mental cliff that haunted her, or take the
plunge and be consumed by every wild passion that Liam had to offer.

Why was he so tempting? She reciprocated
his heated feelings and she pushed back with her own, not knowing that she
probably drove him just as crazy as he drove her.

Kendra gave in to him, gasping for
breath as he pressed his fingers to her skin. She tugged on his shirt as he bit
her neck. She managed to get his shirt off in the frenzy, his breath heavy on
her skin. He glanced at her through low lids. She licked the sweat beads off
his throat. He sucked in his breath and clenched his teeth.

A low rumble beckoned in his throat. He
clasped her hands behind her back, and pushed her against the wall on the
narrow counter, her body at an angle and her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Say it,” he growled.

Kendra obliged. “I want you back.”

“Do you forgive me, darling?” He swept
his fingers through her hair and paused, grabbing her locks and pushing against
her skull.

“How could I stay mad at you?” She
couldn’t deny the truth any longer. She needed him, and she would go crazy
without him.

“Will you come back?” Desperation
wallowed on his face, shadowed only by the power of Raven features.

Kendra needed him in ways that surpassed
physical intimacy. She knew why Liam didn’t tell her the truth before she
passed through the portal. She would have never believed him and would never
make such a sacrifice. Knowing the truth and welcoming her feelings for Liam,
she still could not make the sacrifice. How could she? He asked her to rip her
parents apart. How could she live with that? How could
he
live with
that?

Kendra exhaled.

Liam released her. Kendra remained
against the wall. His hands rested by her sides. He still tilted toward her.
The desperation in his face grew into urgency. He clenched his jaw. She took
too long to answer.

“You want to stay for your family who
thinks you’ve lost it?” he asked impatiently.

“I can’t leave them.” She shook her
head, begging him with her expression not to make her choose. She couldn’t deny
him, but she couldn’t abandon her parents.

“They’ve turned their backs on you. You
shouldn’t have told them the truth, Kendra. Humans don’t understand us, and
unless they can pass through the portal, they don’t believe us. If you stay,
you’ll regret it. They’ve already done the deed.”

“What?” she asked, “What are you talking
about?”

“They’re gonna hand you over to the
other world hunters. You can’t stay there in the other world; you’re not safe.
Don’t you know that, darling?”

She pushed him away and jumped from the
counter, stepping back.

“They’re my parents. They deserve the
truth about what happened to Julie. They’re my family. They might think that
I’ve lost it, but they wouldn’t give me to the hunters. What are you even
saying? There are no hunters here. No one knows about the other dimension.
Remember, most of them don’t come back?”

“You said that you forgave me and that
you want me, but you don’t trust me?” he snapped.

“How could you try to turn me against my
own parents? Why would you want me to put them through more?” she asked.

“Yet you told Randal first. Don’t you
think he knows about your parents and their hunter friends?”

He narrowed his eyes and flared his
nostrils.

Kendra didn’t know how to respond. He
caught her.

He scoffed, “Go then, Kendra. Go back to
your boyfriend who doesn’t have the guts to tell you the truth and your parents
who’ve already made the call to the hunters. Think that Randal can, or would,
protect you like I can? He’s not willing to die for you or kill for you, but
that’s what you want, isn’t it? You want a pathetic, weak, human guy.”

“You’re crazy, but what can I expect?”

“Well, I
am
the bad guy,” he
retorted. “We’ve made that abundantly clear.”

He came here to warn her, not to argue
with her.

Kendra crossed her arms and barked, “I
can’t trust you because you think of no one but yourself. Why do you want me to
go back? So you can fulfill these illicit fantasies in person and toss me out
when you’re done conquering me? I’m not stupid.”

“You
are
stupid,” he snarled,
“and infuriating, and when you get locked up for experiments, maybe I’ll still
come and bail you out. Once a Raven, always a Raven, and you
are
a
Raven, Kendra. The universe didn’t make a mistake. Maybe I should quit when you
don’t want my saving and let you learn your lesson.”

“Just leave!”

He trembled with rage but his voice
remained leveled. “I could just as easily trap you in an illusion until the
portal opens up, tie you up, and take you back.”

“Like you did before? You think that by
taking me by force I’ll end up wanting you?”

“I want you to come back of your own
free will. I want you to come back because I love you.”

The confession floored her, but she
refused to show it. She didn’t let her mouth drop at the revelation. Instead,
she grunted.

“Stay in your little world. Maybe after
Randal helps to hand you over, he’ll help you back out. I think you need to
stay in an insane asylum to get your head out of your—”

“Get out!” she interrupted him.

“You tell me to leave now, I might never
come back.” He called her bluff.

Kendra froze. She shook in anger, and
her eyes welled with hot tears. She didn’t want him to leave, but he asked for
far too much.

“I’m not stopping you. Here—” She leaned
down, grabbed his shirt, and threw it in his direction. When she straightened
up, both Liam and his shirt were gone.

She felt a twinge in her heart but she
pushed the feeling aside. How could any man ask her to be with him, claim that
he loved her, and insinuate such horrible things about her parents at the same
time?

Kendra decided to call Randal as she
stomped back to her bedroom loft. She flopped onto the bed, snapped open her
cell phone and moved down the list of contacts until she saw Randal’s name. She
pushed the “Send” button. Randal always made time for her, even at an unruly
hour.

He would rush over if she needed him, no
questions asked.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The constant ringing awakened Randal
from sleep. He shifted in bed with a sleepy groan and picked up his cell phone.
The number and name on the glowing green screen immediately woke him up.

Sitting up and holding the phone in his
palm, he wondered why she called. He knew, didn’t he? He couldn’t keep this
from her any longer. Why else would she call in the middle of the night? He
knew that she couldn’t be in trouble because the psychiatrists watched her. She
probably figured it out and thought she could trust him, knowing that her
parents called them in.

After Kendra ate dinner with her parents
that night, they called the psychiatrists who claimed to be in the city on
other business. They arrived shortly after, and her parents called Randal over
to take Kendra out for a few hours so the men could survey the barn and set up
their equipment.

Randal doubted his assistance in this
absurd plan. He debated answering the phone. He sighed when the ringing
stopped, placed the phone on his bedside table, and lay down. He stared at the
ceiling. This benefitted Kendra, and tomorrow was the beginning of the end for
not only her, but their relationship.

****

Kendra stared at her phone in disbelief.
Why didn’t Randal answer? Where could he be? Unless he shacked up with some
girl, he should be home and in bed. He would never intentionally avoid
answering the phone. What if he
were
with another girl? Could she blame
him? He was an attractive guy, and she didn’t think so much of herself to
believe that he wasn’t barking up someone else’s tree.

His demeanor had changed since she told
him the truth two months ago, and even more so lately. Randal canceled several
personal training sessions with her and stopped taking Kendra to dinner. He
often avoided her at the dojo and instantly became awkward when she entered the
room. For the past two days, she noticed that he went to her parents’ house
without bothering to meet her. He stopped returning her messages, emails, and
texts. He became a stranger.

Out of nowhere, he wanted to take her to
a movie last night but took her straight home afterward. Randal didn’t say
much. He didn’t even seem interested in being with her. Kendra sighed and asked
for honesty. They were friends first, so it should be all right if he expressed
a lack of interest in her. She was mentally unbalanced. She wouldn’t blame him,
but he didn’t say anything in that regard. In fact, he didn’t say much at all.

Kendra groaned and tossed the phone
aside. What did she care? Her entire world was messed up. What was one more
monkey wrench?

She tried to get some sleep, but she
went to bed so angry that she trembled. It didn’t take long before her
adrenaline wore off, and she slept hard. Liam didn’t come back.

****

Kendra didn’t know about the men who
watched her. Her parents had given them access to the barn when she left. The
men, her parents, and Randal caught her conversation. They listened and watched
through equipment in a van parked down the road. Kendra had a one-sided
conversation that changed into a one-sided argument.  

Seeing this did not help her case.
Randal knew her tales teetered on the side of insanity, but seeing how Kendra
behaved in private floored him. No doubt, that sending her away was for the
best. She needed help, but if he knew her at all, then he knew she would not
easily go.

Kendra’s parents spoke with Randal on
the phone earlier. Her parents prepared to send their daughter kicking and
screaming to an asylum after Kendra told them her story. The psychiatrists told
them that if this ever happened, which they seemed confident it would, they had
to detach themselves from her. The men told them that once Kendra ‘traveled’ to
the other world, she would never believe that she was crazy. She would hold on
to her story, even if it meant pushing her family and friends away.

Her parents had to remove themselves
emotionally if they planned to send her away. Everything that those men warned
them about came true. The psychiatrists claimed to have seen it happen before.
Now her parents had all the proof they needed. No manipulation, no imagined
fears, no encouragement, only the blatant truth coming from Kendra’s own lips
without coercion. Now Randal had to remove himself emotionally as well.

Kendra tried calling Randal the
following afternoon, but he didn’t answer. He wanted to talk with her, to
confide in her, to execute his original intention of telling her the truth
about her parents and the psychiatrists, but it was too late now. They arrived,
and he found himself standing on their side.

Kendra’s father, the two men from the
asylum, and Randal waited in the house all day, but Kendra never came to the
house for a meal. They kept a vigilant watch on her in case she left, but she
didn’t. The surveillance equipment remained in place, and the men continued to
observe her.

“What do you think?” Mr. Pierce asked
the men.

“It’s too soon to tell.” The strangers
appeared stern, professional, and abrupt.

“How long will we do this?”

The men glanced at one another before
responding. “I say it’s time that we go in. I think that we have all that we
need for now. We should take her in.”

Mr. Pierce sighed and asked Randal, “Do
you mind getting her mother?”

“Sure,” he replied glumly.

Mrs. Pierce sat alone in the study and
stared out through the partially opened curtain and at the barn in the near
distance.