The Ballad of Aramei (4 page)

“So what are you saying?” I ask.

“Just that if the traitor is also a werewolf, it knocks out another tool I might’ve been able to use to find out who he or she is.”

“Leaving you no bread crumbs,” Isaac says.

Harry nods. “Exactly. Two of the ways in which I would’ve been able to pinpoint the traitor—feeding patterns and someone Adria could see that no one else could—are useless.”

“So then what’s left?” I say, feeling more and more defeated and exposed.

“Sheer luck if we want to smoke it out safely,” Harry answers with heavy abandon. “And we
have
to smoke it out safely.”

I sigh heavily and meet Isaac’s gaze. He looks as concerned as I know I do.

Chapter 3

BACK AT ISAAC’S HOUSE, the first thing I do is hit the shower. We had gotten all of the blood off my body in the creek, but by the amount of reddish-brown flowing into the shower drain, we only managed to wash away about five percent of the blood from my hair.

I think about my two transitions as I stand in the shower and let the hot water batter my skin. I remember the excruciating pain, the way my skull literally split in half. How my ribs each snapped one by one in fast succession and how I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. But I couldn’t. I remember trying, holding my breath for so long, hoping to cut off the flow of oxygen to my brain so that I could just collapse and not feel the pain anymore. But I know now that I’ll never be that lucky.

And I also know that I’ll do everything in my power to keep from shifting between moon cycles. I’ll be damned if I ever let anger or lust get the better of me, sending me right back into that violent and cruel and unforgiving transformation. I may not be able to control a full moon shift once a month, but I won’t let it happen when the rest of the month it’s all in my hands.

Of course, I say that now, but deep down I know it won’t be easy, to hold back the rage, to refrain from being seduced by lust. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. This makes me wonder just how much easier it will be for me to stay calm in angry situations. I know there’s more to it than just doing Yoga or converting to Buddhism.

This worries me a great deal.

I get dressed, thankful to toss that hideous granny gown in the garbage and head to Isaac’s room to find Daisy sitting with him. It’s obvious that I walked in on a conversation because their words cease in an instant and Daisy’s face lights up when she sees me.

I try to act nonchalant, but at the same time I’m way too curious to let it slide.

I hug Daisy back as she slips her arms around me and at the same time I say, “What were you two talking about?” I’m looking right at Isaac standing next to the bed.

Daisy pulls away and smiles at me, tilting her blond head gently to one side, which makes her look all the more innocent. “Oh, honey,” she says, letting her fingers fall away from my elbows, “it’s nothing really to worry about.”

I smile back at her, but I’m not giving up that easily and she knows it. “Well then there shouldn’t be any reason to keep it from me then.”

The two of them glance at each other as if to say quietly,
Guess she got us on this one.

Isaac moves over to me and he’s half grinning, half concerned and I don’t know whether to be worried, or not.

He nods toward the bedroom door and hooks his hand around my elbow. “Come on, we’ll show you.”

I look back at Daisy once, hoping her expression might reveal something more telling than Isaac’s, but she’s even better at hiding the severity of a situation than he is.

What is this all
about
? I really hate this….

I walk with them down the stairs and into the large den where Rachel and five of her minions meet us halfway having come from outside. Rachel sneers at me as I pass, but I ignore her as usual. She really isn’t worth my time and now that I have to discipline my anger more than ever, I probably should just stay away from her altogether. I’m not scared of her. I’m scared of the transformation.

Isaac takes me past the kitchen and into the back hallway where the door leading into the basement sits. I catch the scent of funky moisture and mildew and rotting wood before Isaac even opens the door. I hate it down there. It’s like being locked in an eighteenth century dungeon, complete with shackles and rats and thick rock walls dripping with filthy water and every creepy-crawly one can imagine.

The wooden stairs creak and moan underneath our steps as we descend into semi-darkness. The air is always cooler down here, but I would take the sticky heat of a Georgia summer over this dank, raunchy air any day. It’s not until we make it down the last step that I realize it’s not as dark as it should be. There’s an out of place swath of light coming from somewhere in the large basement far behind the staircase, bathing the partial stone and wooden floor in a dense, eerie gray glow.

Daisy comes around in front of us and smiles at me sort of…apologetically. But before I have the chance to make my impatience known any more than it already is, we step farther into the room and I see where the strange light is coming from.

“What the—?” I start to say, but I just cut myself off and stare out at the massive hole in the back of the basement, the massive hole in the
so-called
thick rock wall that I always thought of as the equivalent of reinforced steel. The hole is…well, probably about my size in werewolf form and leads right outside into the back area of the house. It’s the only spot in the basement wall not surrounded by earth.

I look at Isaac and Daisy back and forth, my mouth slightly hung open.

“I’m just going to assume I’m the one that did that?”

Isaac’s eyes crinkle around the edges and his mouth stretches marginally into a hard line. “Yeah, you sort of did that,” he says carefully.

I cringe. “
Sort of
did it?” I say. “There’s nothing sort of about that.” I point at the hole as if they don’t already know that it’s there. I let my hand drop to my side and walk over to the new basement exit, stepping around chunks of rock scattered all around the floor.

At least the view is nice. It’s a beautiful summer morning and the breeze is cool filtering through the trees that surround the house. The sun is shining and only a few white cumulus clouds hang in the sky.

After studying the jagged edges in the giant opening and letting the stun fade from my head I turn around to face Isaac and Daisy.

Isaac is grinning faintly again, enough that I can detect it, but it’s almost as if he’s trying to hide the fact that this somehow humors or delights him.

“And what’s so funny about this?” I say looking directly at Isaac.

Daisy is smiling too, but at least she’s trying to be understanding because clearly I’m not finding anything about what I did humorous or delightful.

“Well, it’s not exactly
funny
,” Isaac says, his lips lengthening into a smile even more evidently. “It’s just that…well, it’s hot.”

My head feels like there’s a spring in it as it jerks inward and my eyes crease under wrinkles of perplexity. “Hot?” I say. “Hot as in hot-hot or sexy-hot?”

Daisy is suppressing a giggle behind me, but I don’t take my eyes off Isaac who has some serious explaining to do. I put my hands on my hips and I’m sure I look like my mother did when I was little, but I don’t care.

“Sexy-hot,” Isaac says. He moves in close and places his hands on each of my shoulders, cocking his head to one side. Oh great; there’s that irresistible grin of his that causes me to fold every time. “Obviously, this is how you escaped last night. It’s hot because you’re stronger than any girl I’ve known who was Turned and not born a werewolf.”

He must be mistaken. That’s absurd.

I look back at the wall opening and say, “It was just a weak wall.” Then I turn to see Isaac again. “This is an old house.”

He kisses my cheek and says afterwards, “I told you about this, remember?”

“About what?” I say, and I really can’t recall just yet what he’s referring to, but somehow I know it’s about to be an
Oh, that!
moment.

“About females often turning out stronger than males,” Isaac answers.

“Oh, that…,” I say, stepping away from him.

I’m not as laid-back about this news as they clearly appear to be and Isaac detects it right away. I turn my back on him and walk back to the opening in the rock wall and step out into the partial sunlight.

I hear Daisy and Isaac whispering to each other, but I’m too involved in my own thoughts to wonder about what they’re saying. Besides, when Isaac joins me outside and I hear Daisy’s footsteps fading as she goes back up the basement steps it’s sort of obvious they were agreeing that Isaac should ‘take it from here’.

I turn to look at him immediately, letting my arms fall back at my sides. “Okay, so where am I supposed to go every month if there’s no basement to shackle me to?”

Isaac lets out a sigh and his shoulders relax. It’s as if he had been trying to figure out exactly what was bothering me and realized too late what should’ve been obvious in the beginning.

“We have a month to figure it out,” he says. “It’s really not an issue.”

“Isaac, I could’ve hurt…
killed
someone last night.”

He steps back up to me, raising my chin with his fingertip. “We’ll fix it,” he says. “And before you say it, I mean the situation, not the basement wall.” Another grin creeps up at the corner of his mouth and I can’t help but smile a little.

I go to kiss him until the sound of rocks and earth grinding under several sets of tires funnels around to us from the end of the driveway at the main road. Isaac’s gaze is solely fixed on the back of the house as if he’s staring right through it to see who’s pulling into the drive. That intense look etched in his expression instantly has me on edge.

I feel his fingers slip through mine and then his grip tightens around my hand. Before I even think to ask what’s going on, we’re walking around the side of the house and into the front yard where three 4-wheel drive SUV’s and one massive black Escalade are pulling up to the front of the house. My heart is hammering inside my chest and I don’t even know who’s inside the vehicles yet. I have this feeling in my gut, twisting my insides into knots and it’s telling me that I probably don’t want to know.

Standing just at the edge of the front of the house, Isaac reaches out his hand and carefully pushes me to stand behind him instead of at his side. I don’t argue.

“Who’s that?” I whisper harshly.

“It’s my father,” he says quietly, never taking his eyes off the vehicles.

Figures pile out of the SUV’s; tall, brute men that I know aren’t really human. I count twelve of them who each take up a position in the yard and around the house. One in particular walks right past Isaac and me to stand watch at the back of the house. My eyes lock on him as he walks by and for a moment I can’t look at anything else, my mind is lost in theories of what this could be about. Trajan doesn’t come here often and I can count the times I’ve seen him at this house on one hand, but never has he come here with an entourage. And I’m a little discouraged that Raul, the ancient werewolf soldier whom Isaac is good friends with, isn’t among them. Seeing him might have made me feel better about this. Maybe. Okay, probably not.

The driver’s door opens on the Escalade and another guard steps out wearing average clothes like the rest of the guards: dark jeans, tight-fitting t-shirt and black biker boots. He moves to the back door and opens it and Trajan steps out. He is always more handsome and intimidating and frightening than anyone in his company. I can never understand how someone can seethe so much power, how he can put fear in the hearts of men simply with the turning of his gaze or the solemnity of his expression.

I said before that I don’t fear anything, but that was a lie. Trajan Mayfair, or rather Lord General Vukašin Prvovencani, is the one I fear.

But why is he here?

I step up closer behind Isaac, watching the scene from the view around his shoulder.

Isaac bows his head as Trajan locks eyes with him, but Isaac doesn’t take his hand from behind his back which holds onto my arm protectively. Trajan stops only a few feet from the Escalade and folds his hands behind him on his backside. And suddenly I feel his gaze on me. I don’t just see it I
feel
it, like he’s under the surface of my skin, raging like a fever. I swallow hard but the knot in my throat just won’t go down.

“Father.” Isaac says in greeting.

I hear the front door of the house open and several people from inside come out onto the porch, but I find myself focusing on something…some
one
else. I hear a delicate, steady heart beating, the rise and fall of soft breaths. I can smell the sweetness of musk oils and vanilla and lavender heavily on the air. My heart falls when I realize that Aramei is somewhere inside that Escalade. It’s like I can feel her inside of me, I can taste her on my lips and hear her heartbeat underneath the sound of my own. My throat begins to close up with tears, but I’m stronger now and I force them back into the deepest part of my chest.

Then I hear a voice in my head:

“We need to talk,”
Trajan says to me and apparently to Isaac at the same time.
“Isaac, you will go inside and instruct your pack to
remain
inside. All of them. Adria will join me in the vehicle.”

Isaac’s hand tightens around my arm and his body stiffens. The link stuns me at first; I shouldn’t be able to hear anyone’s thoughts or telepathic communication other than Isaac and Harry’s.

Isaac must’ve opened his link with his father to me.

“But father,”
he says telepathically and I can hear the unease in his words,
“I mean no disrespect, but I cannot leave her. Not alone with you.”

My eyes feel bigger all of a sudden and I turn my head robotically to look up at him, stepping around his side just a few inches so that he can see the worried look on my face. The thought of sitting alone anywhere with Trajan is alarming, but I think Isaac refusing to do what his father commanded is more-so.