Rose Petal Graves (The Lost Clan #1) (9 page)

“The sheriff gave them back to me.”

I was so embarrassed that my eyes fogged up. It was silly, and the tears were surely brought on by my exhaustion, but it didn’t change the fact that I felt like a massive fool.

“Oh, Catori, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Cruz said.

He stepped toward me but I held my palm out. I kept my eyes on the shimmery gray pavement, too mortified to look at him. “Just get me home.”

“Catori…”

“Please,” I said. I walked to his car, listening to the quiet echo of my boot heels. I opened the door and dropped inside, pulling the seat belt across my chest. Cruz swung his door open and got in. I kept my face turned away from him. He didn’t start the car. I tapped my foot. He reached out and turned my face toward him. The heat from his skin shocked my cold skin…shocked me.

“Don’t cry,” he said gently.

“I’m not,” I said, sniffling.

His thumb whisked a tear off my cheek. And then he tugged my face closer until I could feel his hot breath on my nose. “In time, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it.”

I hooked my fingers around his hand and hauled it off my cheek. “If doing it means becoming someone like Gwenelda, then I don’t want to.” I exhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t want any of this. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“You could never be like Gwenelda.”

“How can you know that, Cruz?” I asked, scanning his eyes. He was so close that I could see all the different shades of green thrum around his black pupil.

“Because your heart doesn’t beat with hate. Your life doesn’t revolve around destroying us. And”—he pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear—“I would never let you.”

“Never letting me would mean sticking around,” I told him. “Once you get Gwenelda, you’ll go home.”

“It depends,” he said, hand settling on the nape of my neck. He drew me closer.

“We had a deal. No staying,” I said, pulse quickening.

“I don’t like that deal,” he murmured, right before pressing his lips against mine.

Although I should have pushed him away, I couldn’t. The sparks that had erupted over my skin the first night he touched me exploded inside my body. I trembled. His hands brushed against my arms. Through my jacket sleeves, I felt the heat, but I still trembled because the tremors had nothing to do with my internal temperature. His hands rose back to my neck, then glided down the curve of my shoulders again. His tongue explored my mouth while his hands caressed my spine.

I pulled away, breathless. “What are we doing?”

“Faeries call it kissing.”

I smiled, and then I didn’t. “That’s not what I meant, Cruz.”

“I don’t know what we’re doing,” he said, his voice now grave. “I don’t know.” He looked at the brick wall in front of us, and stayed silent for so long that it exacerbated my anxiety. Without glancing my way, he started the car. “And we should probably not do it again,” he said as he pulled out of his parking space. Halfway home, he added, “Don’t tell Ace.”

As if I would blab about kissing a guy to a perfect stranger. I didn’t even kiss and tell my friends. Perhaps I was overreacting, but it pissed me off. I stuck my elbow on the armrest and stared out the window at the nearly full moon.

CHAPTER 11 – THE OFFER

The frostiness that had settled over Cruz and me in the car pursued us into the house. Dad and Ace were sitting on the couch talking. When we walked in, both looked up. Ace cocked an eyebrow, while my father shot up and wrapped his arms around me.

“What a day,” he whispered into my hair. “What a day…” He smelled like stale beer.

“Is everyone gone?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Even Aylen?”

He nodded.

“For good?”

“No, just for the night. She’ll be back tomorrow. She offered to bring breakfast. Not that we need any more food,” he said gesturing to the coffee table that was laden with bowls of chips, nuts, raw veggies, and candy. “I was thinking of driving some of this food over to the local shelter. They need it more than we do. Remember all those food drives we organized at your school?”

Ace cleared his throat. “Mr. Price, will you accept our offer?”

“What offer?” I asked, flinging my attention to Ace.

“This nice young man offered to buy our property—”

“It’s not on the market,” I said, glaring at Ace.

Dad frowned. “I thought this would make you ecstatic.”

“Mom is buried here. We’re not leaving her.”

“I’ll let you talk this over,” Ace said, standing up. “We’ll be back in the morning. You can give us your final answer then.”

“This
is
our final answer,” I said.

“Then I guess we have no more business here.” He walked over to the front door and pulled it open. “Let’s go home, brother.”

Brother?

Cruz glanced at me, rubbed the back of his neck, then glanced at Ace. “I’m exhausted, Ace. I’d like to stay overnight in Rowan”—he looked at Dad—“not in your house, of course, Mr. Price. We’ll get a room at Bee’s.”

“She doesn’t have any available rooms,” I said.

“You can stay in the guest room,” Dad offered.

“No. They can’t,” I said. “I don’t want anyone in the house. Can you respect that, Dad?”

A frown gusted over Ace’s face. “Clearly, we’ve overstayed our welcome, Cruz.”

“What if Gwenelda comes back?” Cruz said, staring at me intensely.

My eyes widened.

“I have a shotgun,” Dad said.

I swung my face from the two faeries to my father. “They told you about Gwenelda?”

“She was at the wake, honey,” Dad said. “And apparently she talked with you.”

My jaw dropped a little. How much had they told him?

“Mr. Mason mentioned marital problems when he asked Cruz to replace him.”

“You don’t say,” I muttered. My sarcasm was lost on Dad who’d apparently had no trouble swallowing Ace’s lies.

“You hear about husbands abusing wives all the time, but wives abusing husbands…that’s rare.” Dad shook his head. “Poor man. Poor, poor man.”

I flinched. “Huh?”

“Gwenelda was Mr. Mason’s wife. She killed him,” Dad said, very matter-of-factly.

“What a story,” I said, glowering at Cruz.

“To think she came all the way here to find out if he’d confessed the abuse to Cruz.” Dad shook his head. “Perhaps you
should
get out of here, Cruz. Just in case she isn’t apprehended tonight. I would hate for anything bad to happen to you.”

“Thank you for your consideration toward my future brother-in-law, Mr. Price,” Ace said.

“Brother-in-law?” I said.

“He’s engaged to my sister.” He slugged Cruz’s shoulder. “Wedding’s this summer. Anyway, we should go. I’ll wait for you in the car.” He strolled over to our front door and swung it open. As it closed behind him, cool air blasted through the warm living room, but it wasn’t cool enough to make the blush recede from my cheeks.

Engaged!
I released my lip as I looked at Cruz and he looked at me. With Dad there, I couldn’t call him all the choice words that popped into my mind, so I spun around and tore up the stairs to my bedroom. When the front door banged shut a moment later, I walked up to my window and peered down. Cruz treaded across the snow toward his car. Right before getting in, he glanced up and held my gaze. Perhaps I should have turned away, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.

He broke our eye contact, his gaze sweeping the perimeter. I scanned the dark graveyard for Gwenelda. Had she returned? Had Jimmy found her?
God, Jimmy
. She could kill him in a second. Apprehending my ancestor was a suicide mission.

As the car glided off the property, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Cass. She didn’t answer. Blake would have Jimmy’s number, but Blake would want to know why I wanted Jimmy’s number. I logged on to my Facebook account and combed through my friend list until I came upon Jimmy’s name. “Call me,” I typed. “It’s urgent.”

I paced my bedroom floor waiting for my phone to ping with an answer, but no ping came. Sighing, I phoned Aylen next. I wanted to tell her to get out of town. She too didn’t answer.
Agh
! I was about to call Bee’s Place and have them transfer me to Aylen’s room, when there was a knock on my door.

Dad poked his head in. “Can I come in, sweetie?”

I nodded.

“I’m worried about you.”

“About me? Why?”

“You’ve been acting strange. I know it was easier for you to speak to your mother, but now that she’s—” He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and shifted in his boots. “Now that she’s not here, well, you can talk to me,” he said choppily.

“I never talked to Mom about private stuff. At least not willingly,” I added with a smile.

“She could worm anything out of anyone,” Dad said, returning my grin.

“That she could.”

He shifted again. “By the way, I’m glad you didn’t want to sell this place. I know it’s odd living over a cemetery, but—”

“How much did he offer?”

Dad blanched.

“I don’t want to sell it, Dad, I just want to know what this place is worth to him.”

“Seven million dollars.”

“Seven million?”

“We might never get an offer like that again,” he said.

“This place, Dad, is priceless.” To me and to my father, but also to every faerie out there.

“I should get some sleep,” I told my father, who seemed relieved I was dismissing him. His face smoothed out and he quit shifting. “Goodnight, Dad.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart. Sleep tight.”

I nodded. Although I was tired, I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I’d heard back from Jimmy. Just as Dad shut my door, my phone pinged. I swiped my finger over the screen and read the message. The phone slipped from my fingers and bounced on the hardwood floor.

I will let him go once you come here, Catori. Meet me at the old cabin. Apparently you will know which one I mean.

Gwenelda had Jimmy.

And she was holding him in the middle of the woods. 

CHAPTER 12 – THE HUNTERS

I stood in front of the abandoned ranger’s cabin, arms wrapped tightly around my chest. There was no light inside and no movement. I strained to hear voices, but the only sounds came from the dark forest. I approached slowly, heart thumping inside my ribcage. I raised my fist to knock, but the door swept open before my knuckles met the worm-eaten wood.

“You came,” Gwenelda said. There was a hint of surprise in her voice.

“Where’s Jimmy?”

A grunt emanated from one of the dusky corners. Jimmy was curled onto himself with his knees rammed into his chest.

“What did you do to him?”

“Nothing.”

Jimmy looked up, his large forehead as pale as a corpse.

“That doesn’t look like nothing,” I said, pointing to the ropes tied around his wrists and ankles. I was about to go free him, when I realized that turning my back on Gwenelda would be unwise. “Release him right now.”

Gwenelda nodded. She didn’t move, though.

“I said now.”

“He is already unbound.”

Sure enough, Jimmy scrambled to his feet.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

She touched her palm to her forehead.

As the young cop raced toward the door, Gwenelda locked her fingers around his arm, her eyes glowing like prism reflectors. “You will forget about tonight. You will forget about me.”

Jimmy didn’t blink. Not once. He stared at Gwenelda, and then trance-like, he slid past me and hopped into the cruiser that was parked next to the cabin. “Is he okay to drive?” Perhaps it was a silly concern, but I couldn’t help it.

“I am hoping,” Gwenelda said.

“You’re hoping?” I exclaimed.

I ran after the car, waving my hands over my head to stop him, but the taillights grew fainter and then vanished. “If anything happens to him, I’ll—”

“You will kill me? I would like that, but it is impossible.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come inside and I will tell you, child.”

“Child?”

“You are two hundred years younger than I. That makes you a child.” When I still didn’t budge, she said, “It is not in my interest to kill you, Catori.” She fixed me with her dark eyes. “Your name is not Gottwa. Do you know?”

“Dad chose it. He liked the sound of it and he liked its meaning. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him.”

Gwenelda smiled. “You are a lively one.”

“Mom used to say that, but you wouldn’t know. You killed her.”

The rustling of pine needles became deafening as Gwenelda stared at me. “You do not know what you are talking about, little girl.”

“Then tell me.”

“Not out here.” She glanced into the night. “It is not safe in these woods. I placed a spell on the cabin. No faerie can penetrate it. Please, enter inside.”

“I’m not scared of faeries.”

“That is because you do not know what they are capable of.”

“I’m sure they’re not perfect, but
they
didn’t kill my mother.” My voice seemed to resonate against the bark of the pines, or perhaps it was my thrumming pulse that made it sound louder.

“Just because your heart beats for one does not mean their species is good.”

“My heart beats for no one,” I said.

She smirked. “You struck me as an intelligent girl the first time we met, but perhaps I was wrong.”

I glowered at her. “If I come inside, you’ll tell me everything?”

She nodded. “Everything.”

Bracing myself, I went in, and she shut the door. There was no furniture inside, so I stood in the middle of the room with my arms crossed tightly in front of my chest. “Talk.”

“Would you like to sit?”

“Where?”

“On the floor.”

“Not really. It’s dirty.”

“Dirt won’t kill you,” she said.

“Apparently,” I said sarcastically. From the way she furrowed her square forehead, I doubted she got my insinuation. 

“Two hundred years ago, Catori, our tribe was decimated by the fae. They wanted to eradicate us because we represented a threat to them. We were the only ones with the power to kill them.”

Although I knew all of this already, I didn’t want to interrupt. A cloud passed over the moon, which was the only source of light inside the cabin. Darkness slid over Gwen’s face, and then glided off.