Tempered (A Daughters of the People Novel) (Daughters of the People Series) (19 page)

“My smell?”

“Pheromones. And
you kissed her at The Omega.”

Aaron thumped
his forehead against the seat.
That kiss
. “You heard about that?”

Colin gave a
grunting laugh. “Everybody heard about that. Levi was relieved as hell, let me
tell you. Thinks his nana might actually be mellowing, to let a man touch her
like that in public.”

Right. A man
touching Hawthorne in public. In the past, that had probably been sword worthy.

“Who was
kidnapped?”

“Bobby Upton.”

“What?” Of all
the people to be kidnapped, thuggish Bobby Upton would’ve been his last guess.
“How many people did he take out on the way down?”

“No idea. We
don’t know any details yet, only that he’s been taken.”

Shit. If someone
could get to a man like Upton…

“Relax. We’ll
take you to your mother’s house, lock you down there until we know more. We
already have a team there securing it, had one in place per Hawthorne’s orders
already, but now, we’ll double the guard.”

Well, that would
go over well with his mother.

Aaron tuned out
Colin’s rapid fire lecture on exactly what methods the security team would take
to protect him while he was in San Francisco. The details weren’t important as
long as Ma was safe. His mind kept looping back to Hawthorne’s plea.
Be safe
,
she’d said, after a week of not quite subtle attempts to persuade him to stay.

He slumped in
the seat and closed his eyes as Colin droned on and the road thundered away
beneath the wheels of the SUV.

It took hours to
calm Lali down, hours of Hawthorne promising that Aaron would come back, though
she was uncertain whether he would or not. Promises came easily to the mouths
of mortal men, that and notions of love.

She touched
trembling fingers to her chest where an awful ache throbbed.
Love
. The
word had slipped off her tongue through the barriers of her natural reserve.
How long had it been since the emotion had overwhelmed her good sense?

The long road of
her memory stretched before her, as clear and sharp as the days when each
segment had been created. Love for a man had never tempted her, not to the
point of unreason, as it did with Aaron. What was it about him that scattered
her reason to the four winds? The gentle touch of his clever hands? The way he
consumed her when they copulated, as if he would never have enough of her?

And still, his
disbelief continued, settling into an uneasy acceptance while he waited for her
to find the courage to confront him again.

One more
rejection of the truth on his part and she would have no choice. Aaron could
not be allowed to hold knowledge of the People, regardless of his belief or
lack thereof. Such a man was a liability. She would be forced to dispose of
him.

The trembling in
her hand spread to her knees and she sank weakly down onto the edge of his bed.
Only once had she failed in her duty to the People, by passing representation
of the line of Bagda on the Council of Seven to Isolde, a duty Una’s daughter
had fulfilled with the seriousness such a position demanded.

Unless she was a
member of the Eternal Order.

Even knowing the
possibility, Hawthorne could barely credit the notion. Isolde was many things.
Ruthless, blind to the changing world, arrogant to the point of cruelty, but
faithless? Never. Her loyalty to the People was an enduring strength. She
would, and had, done anything to forward their common goals, and tolerated the
political aspects of her seat on the Council far better than Hawthorne could
have. If Isolde was a member of the Eternal Order, she had a reason, one that
intertwined with her own notions of the People’s correct path toward the
future.

What ideal could
possibly align with the People’s ultimate goal of breaking the unjust curse
laid upon them and not clash with the Order’s touted purpose, to stop the
Prophecy of Light from being fulfilled?

A beep drew
Hawthorne’s attention to her cell phone. She flipped it open and read the text
message on the display, a blast alert from the IECS.

Bobby Upton
kidnapped. Eternal Order suspected. Guard your families
.

Hawthorne sagged
against the bed.
Aaron
. Sweet Goddess, her man was in San Francisco
protected only by two bodyguards, neither of whom had Hawthorne’s skill or
ruthless determination to protect him. Her heart boomed in her chest and her
fingers fumbled. The phone slipped from her grasp and dropped to the floor with
a quiet thud. She had to warn him.

No
. She had to
protect Lali first. Hawthorne scooped her phone up and dialed Ruby, left a
sternly worded message requesting the girl’s immediate assistance, then phoned
Yvette to begin planning. Hawthorne’s other family members would have received
the same message she had and would, even now, be working toward protecting their
families. They were not vulnerable the way Aaron and Lali were, her lover
through his disbelief and Lali through her youth.

Precious Lali,
who had always despised Isolde, had loved Aaron from the moment of their first
meeting.
I love you bigger than my whole heart
, she had said, showing
more courage and wisdom than most Daughters could summon after centuries of
living upon being confronted by their heart’s vulnerability.

As Aaron had
forced Hawthorne to confront hers. A Daughter who could love so unreservedly
was wise indeed, a lesson she vowed to learn from her tiny granddaughter.

She slipped
quietly down the hall and peeked in on Lali, tucked the sleeping child under a
layer of covers to ward off the late autumn chill, and made a thorough tour of
the house, checking locks and bolts, resetting the security system. When at
last she had finished, Hawthorne climbed the steps back to the second story on
quiet feet and settled herself on the floor in front of the portrait of
herself, her mother, and her sister, where she had a good view of the front
door and Lali’s room.

Her fingers were
steadier, her heartbeat contained. She inhaled slowly, exhaled through her
nose, then dialed Aaron’s cell phone, counting the rings as they sounded
through the line.

He picked up on
the third. “Hawthorne?”

“Aaron.” She
clutched the phone to her ear. “You are safe?”

“As safe as I
can be in an SUV in the middle of rush hour traffic. Are you ok? How’s Lali?”

“We are well and
safe, love. You must not worry.”

“Can’t help that.”
Static filled the line for long moments before his voice came softly through.
“I miss you.”

Hawthorne closed
her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. “I wish you to return home as
soon as it can be arranged.”

“I can’t.”

A scuffle
sounded in the background, then Aaron’s muffled voice said, “Dammit, Colin, cut
that out.”

Hawthorne’s
heart dropped into her stomach. “Aaron?”

“Yeah, sorry.
That gorilla you hired keeps shoving me into the seat.”

“It is for your
own protection,” she said, and heard an echo of her words as Colin’s voice
drifted into her ear. “Listen to Colin. He and Brigid will keep you from harm.”

“That’s what
they keep saying. Look, they’re taking me to Ma’s house until we know what’s
going on. Have you…” He cleared his throat, a muted sound that barely filtered
through his phone. “Have you heard anything about Upton yet?”

“Colin and
Brigid would know before I could.”

“Right. Because
they work for him. Sorry. Everything’s a little crazy here.”

“Come home to
me, Aaron.
Please
.”

He groaned and
sighed. “Hawthorne.
God
. Don’t beg. I can’t stand it. It’s worse than
when you cry. Cuts me right in half.”

In the
background, Colin said, “Hawthorne
cries
? What the hell, man.”

“Look, as soon
as I’ve had a good visit with Ma and can pick up some more supplies from my
flat, I’ll come back. I swear it, sweetheart.”

“I shall expect
you, then.” Hawthorne thumped her head against the wall. “Do not tarry long,
Aaron. Lali needs you.”

His voice went
soft and warm. “And what about you, Hawthorne? Do you need me?”

“A woman who
does not need her lover...”

“Hawthorne.”

The quiet warning
in his voice prodded her into stark honesty. “Yes, Aaron. I need you. Do not
prolong my need.”

“I… Dammit,
Colin. Just give me a minute.”

“Aaron?”

“Yeah, sorry.
Again. Colin’s trying to take the phone away. Something about talking too long
and security. I don’t understand half of what he says.”

“He is trying to
explain what I have told you for days now. You are a high priority target and
at great risk. Visit your mother, Aaron, and be prepared for my close attention
when you return.”

“That sounds very
promising. Take care of yourself, Hawthorne. Give Lali my love and tell her
I’ll be home soon.”

“I shall. Be
safe, love.”

“Hawthorne?”

“Yes?”

“We’re gonna
talk about the love thing when I get back.”

A delicious
warmth filled the emptiness left in Aaron’s absence. “So you have said.”

“I mean it, too.
When I get back, we’re gonna talk about a lot of things, and I swear, this time
I’ll listen.”

“I shall hold
you to that.”

“Do. You can
even bring out that stick of yours, if you need to.”

“It is a
hanbō. Will you never learn its name?”

“Then I wouldn’t
need you to remind me.” His voice lowered again, taking on the intimacy she
craved. “I don’t want the first time I tell you how I feel to be over the
phone.”

“You do not need
to say it, Aaron.”

“Yes, I do. I
think you need to hear it, too.”

Yes, she did.
She needed to hear it from his own mouth, but not until he was in front of her,
where she could see it in his face, feel it in the gentle strokes of his
fingers on her skin. “Colin is growing impatient. We shall talk again prior to
your leave taking.”

“Yes, we will.
Don’t think I can go a whole day without hearing your voice.”

Nor could she go
long without him by her side. The desperate need he aroused in her would not be
tucked quietly into its corner, there only when it was convenient. It raged and
stormed and demanded, as she had always believed love should do.

After Aaron hung
up, Hawthorne sat in the alcove, replaying the sound of his voice in her head
while she waited for Ruby’s arrival.

* * *

Word came in two
days later, early in the afternoon. Bobby Upton had been recovered, bruised and
beaten, but otherwise fine. When Aaron heard the news, relief flooded through
him. He was no fan of Upton, still hadn’t forgiven or forgotten that kiss, but
he wouldn’t wish a kidnapping on anybody.

As soon as Colin
and Brigid could get Aaron from the airport to his ma’s house, they locked him
down and commandeered a small army of men and women in black suits and ear buds
to stand watch. He and his mother existed in an uneasy peace under the watchful
gaze of so many stoic eyes. She fretted and fussed and wailed the whole time,
pacing through the house with not a strand of her graying hair out of place.
Aaron buried himself in work and tolerated it. A man respected his mother, even
when she went a little crazy.

It was a feeling
he understood well. His babysitters wouldn’t let him touch a toe outside the
front door, not for a long run to get away from his ma’s grumping, not for
groceries or a lunch with friends, not even to do yard work. The curtains
stayed drawn, Colin or Brigid monitored all phone calls, and they turned every
visitor away who wasn’t on a pre-approved list.

Approval through
Hawthorne, of course. Aaron had no say in it, though it tickled him no end when
Colin slammed the door on Jeanne’s screeching maw.

Ma twisted her
hands together around an embroidered handkerchief. “That’s no way to treat your
wife, Aaron.”

“She’s not my
wife, Ma,” Aaron said mildly, his focus on the panel he was sketching. “Hasn’t
been for a long time.”

“Marriage is a
sacred…”

“Don’t.” Aaron
dropped his stylus and speared her with a hard stare. “Jeanne chose to leave. It
wasn’t up to me. Besides, I’m involved with someone else now. You should be
happy for me.”

Ma perched delicately
on the edge of Pop’s recliner. A decade that chair had been sitting there,
empty and untouched, waiting for Ma to move on or Pop’s resurrection.

“Is she Jewish?”

Aaron saved his
work and set his tablet aside. “Pretty sure not.”

“Christian?”

“Don’t think
so.” He leaned forward and grasped her hand in his, careful not to squeeze her
slightly arthritic fingers too hard. “Does it matter, as long as she loves me?”

Ma touched the
handkerchief to her lips, a not quite disapproving gesture that hid the slight
wrinkles around her mouth. “What about this Lali girl?”

“She’s adorable.
Precocious, sweet. You’ll love her.” Her bright laughter sounded in his mind
and the crack in his heart widened. God, he missed her, as much as he missed
Hawthorne. “Why don’t you come out to Tellowee with me, stay a while and get to
know her? Don’t say you don’t have time.”

“Well, I don’t.
Your sister’s coming in soon with the babies.”

“So you can come
after that.” He patted her chilled hand gently, warming it between his own. When
had his mother become so frail? “I’ll probably be moving out there soon to be
with Hawthorne. Her home is beautiful, the people kind. Say you’ll visit so I
won’t have to worry about you.”

She turned her
hand into his and squeezed his fingers. “A mother’s job is to worry, Aaron. A
son’s job is to live.”

He  pressed a
kiss to her powdered forehead. “I think it should go the other way, too, Ma.”

“Always with the
smart remarks, just like your father.” She patted his cheek none too gently and
rose from Pop’s recliner. “I hear the big one coming. What’s his name? Colin,
yes. Tromping down the hallway. How one man can make so much noise, I don’t
know…”

Her voice
trailed off as she left the room, twisting her handkerchief in her fingers.

Colin came in a
moment later, his feet silent against the carpet, his expression thunderous.
“Your mother just told me to quiet down. I don’t know how anybody can be
quieter.”