The Rift (18 page)

To my amazement Patsy actually ducked his
head and whined softly in the back of his throat. “I’m sorry, I
thought Wraith…”

“Apology accepted,” Tessa said.

“What’s going on out here?” Wraith asked, as
he stepped out of the barn leading a white horse with brown
splotches. “Patsy, you bothering my friends?”

Patsy moved away from Tessa and lifted his
head to glare at Wraith. “I was just leaving,
Boss
.” He
disappeared back into the barn.

Once he was out of sight, Tessa looked at
Wraith, her eyebrows raised. “Doesn’t look like Patsy is respecting
your authority.”

“It’s under control,” Wraith said, meeting
her gaze unflinchingly. “Now let’s ride.”

I ended up on a grey horse, Salamander, with
little white spots on his rear and, according to Wraith, a lazy
disposition. Wraith helped me onto Salamander’s back, told me to
sit up straight, keep my heels down, and pull back hard on the
reins if I needed to stop. That was all the instruction he gave me
before mounting his own horse and leading us across the field and
into the woods. I was the only novice. Thad had grown up around
horses, and Tessa had lessons before she was turned at the age of
sixteen, but whatever nervousness I felt vanished quickly. There
was a rounded post that stuck up at the front of the saddle and
gave me something to hold onto. Wraith called it a saddle horn, but
it didn’t look anything like a horn to me. Salamander followed
Wraith’s horse at a leisurely pace, and I found I could relax and
take in the lush green fields and wildflowers around us.

In the woods, a cacophony of tweeting birds
greeted us and the air got a bit chillier. “Lean forward in your
seat when we go uphill,” Wraith said over his shoulder. His horse
picked up its pace as it started up a steep incline, and Salamander
followed suit. I leaned forward and held on for dear life as I
bounced on her back. I heard Thad chuckling behind me, but I
couldn’t let go of the reins or the saddle horn to give him the
finger.

We were soon on level ground again, but not
for long. I had to lean back in the saddle when we went downhill,
moments later, and then I found myself leaning forward as we moved
back uphill. By the time we exited the woods and started back
across the field toward the stables, I felt like a pro. Wraith
slowed his horse a bit, until I was riding next to him. “How’d you
like that?”

“It was fun. Thank you for taking us
out.”

“I was happy to do it and you’re welcome here
any time. If you’d like, you can ride around the ring when we get
back, maybe try trotting or even cantering?”

“I think the trail ride was enough for
today,” I said. “But maybe I could come back for lessons another
day.” I really meant it. I wanted to learn to ride a horse. To do
something that didn’t involve reapers, except Wraith, or training
to fight reapers.

Wraith nodded. “I’m not sure when we’ll have
more time alone, and you haven’t asked your question yet
today.”

“That’s easy,” I said. “What do you really
want from me?”

He frowned. “I already told you. I want
peace. I want a normal life. I want you to help me achieve
that.”

“What you told me doesn’t make sense. I’m
sure you could surround yourself with powerful wolves and witches
and mediums and live in a reaper-free territory. So why do you need
me
to have a normal life?”

He nodded, but he looked unhappy. “I’d really
prefer to answer this question when you’ve gotten to know me
better. I promised never to lie to you, but I can’t promise to
answer every question you ask the moment you ask it. I will say
that I have lived longer than I should and there is little that
excites me or surprises me, anymore. You do both.”

I didn’t like his answer, and I was sure he
was up to something I would like even less. “Look, Wraith, I was
jerked around by Caleb, and I hated him for it. Making me like you
before I find out you’re a crazy serial killing werewolf will only
make me hate you more.” I couldn’t deny that I was starting to like
Wraith, that I’d felt interest and attraction, along with fear,
when I’d seen Houston in his natural form, but that didn’t mean he
was a good or trustworthy guy.

“Have you read my file?”

I nodded.

“I know what Varius has on me. I’ve seen the
file. I gave them forty years, Kelsey. I did everything they asked,
even when I felt it was wrong. They gave me very little in return
and, when I called them out on it, they labeled me public enemy
number one. If there’s anything I regret, it’s that I worked for
Varius, and that I did the things they asked me to do.” He sighed.
“If you want to know who the bad guy is in this scenario, you
should read
their
file.”

I didn’t doubt for a moment that he was
right. I’d seen the way Yvonne would take advantage of someone’s
desperation and I had no reason to believe she or anyone else at
Varius acted in a consistently moral manner. Not everyone there was
bad, and Henry felt he’d done a lot of good, but I could see Varius
fobbing their dirty jobs off on a desperate reaper. “That isn’t
what I asked, Wraith. Tell me why you need
me
.”

He stared straight ahead, suddenly still. “I
made a deal with Yvonne, she’ll leave me alone if I pay taxes to
Varius after I’ve built the pack and if I take you off their hands
for a while.”

My heart thudded in my chest and my vision
clouded. I took a deep breath to calm myself. “Why would they agree
to that?”

He swallowed audibly. “I’ve been working for
Yvonne, secretly, for over a decade. I’ve been spying on other
reapers for her and doing whatever she asked, and in return she was
supposed to let me reap anyone I wanted. I didn’t trust her, so I
reaped Wraith before my service to her was quite up. I made sure,
before I left, that I had enough dirt on Varius to ensure she’d
leave me alone. Me paying taxes is a concession I’m willing to make
so that no one questions why Yvonne isn’t coming after me.”

I nodded. None of what he’d told me sounded
false and it made sense. Yvonne would want someone on the inside.
“So when you drained my power? Did she ask you to do that?”

Wraith nodded, and my stomach twisted with
disgust, and fear, and rage. The rage increased until it nearly
overwhelmed me and I wished I could go to Varius myself and do
something final about Yvonne. “And why would Varius want me off
their hands?”

“I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d say
they’ve already gotten what they need from you and you’re more
trouble than you’re worth. They also probably figure that living
with me for a couple of years will send you back to them begging
them to let you work there.”

His words echoed what Jed had said, and I
hated to think of what they might do with the DNA they’d gotten
from me or why they needed it. I hoped they just wanted to figure
out what made me tick. “Again, you’re making working for you sound
like so much fun.”

“It won’t be fun, Kelsey, but neither is
working for Varius. I can promise you I’ll never lie to you, and
I’ll always play fair.”

He actually made a pretty good point there.
“Okay, so that explains why they want to get rid of me, but you
seem to think I can do something for you. You want me to protect
you, right? Is that all there is to it?”

“Taking you and paying the taxes gets Varius
off my back and Harvest One won’t bother me if Varius tells them to
back off, but they aren’t the only ones who might cause me
trouble.”

There were no other corporations, there was
only…“Len.”

Wraith nodded. “He’s less willing than anyone
else to negotiate, but when he sees you’re with me and living the
life you always wanted, he’ll back down. He’ll accept the status
quo.”

My mind whirred. How had I not seen that
coming? How had I been so stupid? I was a pawn. I’d always been a
pawn. Realizing that, made me see how much I’d liked believing
Wraith’s lies about a connection between us, about me being
special. I was still the simpering idiot who’d fallen for Caleb’s
flattery six months ago. “I’m not sure you’re right,” I said. “You
should consider the possibility that my father will call me
collateral damage and go after you anyway.”

Wraith pulled his horse to a stop and mine
stopped with him, the traitorous beast. He reached over and touched
my face so gently that I couldn’t resist looking at him. His
expression was worried. “I didn’t go to all of this trouble to get
you, to allow you to be collateral damage.”

“Pretty words,” I said, but the sarcasm I’d
hoped to convey wasn’t there. “Why should I believe any of your
promises?”

He smiled and shrugged. His smile was like
the sun coming out from behind the storm clouds, and I hated him
for being so attractive. “You don’t have to believe me, Kelsey.
You’re strong. Possibly stronger than me, and you don’t need me.
What I’m offering you is your freedom. Join me and you’ll be free
of your contract with Varius. If I ever give you any reason to
doubt me or to hate me, you can walk away. I swear that to you on
my life.”

My mind swirled and my heart raced with the
idea of being free from Varius and the possibility that I was
strong enough to survive that freedom. He was offering me the
chance to get the corporations off my back and protection from any
reapers who might come after me. “Why should I believe a promise
from you?”

Wraith kicked his horse up to a faster walk.
“Get to know me.” He threw a wicked glance back over his shoulder.
“You won’t be disappointed.”

My horse fell into step behind his without
any effort from me.

“Wanna have a rematch?” Tessa asked that
afternoon. I was on the front porch enjoying the cool breeze and
the shade and trying to move as little as possible, since my legs
and bottom were sore from our ride and I anticipated being even
sorer the next day. Thad rocked next to me in companionable
silence. Angelica was still out with Jeremiah, and Jed was with
them. Henry was in the house having a session with Doctor Veronica.
To my surprise, Henry believed therapy a necessary part of a
healthy life.

“I’m actually really comfortable right now,”
I said.

Thad leapt to his feet before the words had
left my mouth. “I’ll spar with you.”

“Only if she’ll agree to fight the winner,”
Tessa said.

Thad faced me, clasped his hands in front of
his chest and made a pouty face. “I’m so bored.”

“Fine, but I’m not leaving this rocking chair
until I have to.” I tilted my head back and closed my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep, because it seemed
like only seconds had gone by before Thad shook me awake. “You’re
up,” he said.

I blinked at him. He was sweating and covered
in dirt, but his eyes were lit and his smile threatened to split
his face. “You lost?”

He shrugged. “I let her win.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s a wolf, Kelsey. How am I supposed to
compete with that?”

I stood, my legs creaking and aching in
protest. I thought I’d been working every muscle in my body, but
apparently I’d missed ten or twelve of the important horse-riding
muscles.

I walked to the steps, and Thad went inside.
“Hey, wait. Where are you going?”

“She wants to fight you alone,” he said.
“Don’t worry, she promised to go easy on you.”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll just go fight a
werewolf in the woods with no witnesses. Tell my mother I love
her.” Thad smirked and disappeared inside. I hobbled down the
stairs and into the woods. The guys had cleared out a dirt area for
sparring, since we didn’t have any weights or equipment at the
house and no one wanted to lose their edge.

Tessa smiled when I stepped into the circle.
She was as dirty as Thad, but not as sweaty. She didn’t even give
me a chance to warm up before she was on me. She moved like a blur,
and I took a hard punch to the jaw that made me feel like my head
might explode. I dodged her next punch and drew on the life force
I’d been storing. I knew I had to be careful about revealing my
ability to use life force to fight, but I’d checked and seen no
reapers near the ring. There was little chance I’d beat Tessa
without it, and she already knew what I could do. I threw the extra
life force into an uppercut aimed at her chin, but she dodged and I
stumbled, not used to her speed.

She took advantage of my lapse and moved in,
locking her arms around my neck in a choke hold. “Give,” she
said.

I managed to get an arm up before her grip
tightened, and I broke her hold and elbowed her hard in the chest.
She fell back and I spun, sweeping her feet out from under her with
a low kick that made my sore foot ring with pain. She hit the
ground, but rolled before I could pin her.

She leapt to her feet, smiling. “It’s too
bad, I hate you,” she said. “Otherwise, we might actually be
friends.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I know you ruined Jed’s life and that’s
enough.”

Her words knocked me back harder than any
punch. “What?”

But she was done talking. She charged me and
knocked me to the ground, changing our sparring session to a
wrestling match, which gave my foot a much-needed break.

She won the first round. I won the second,
and we both lost count after that. We fought until we were sweaty,
filthy, and panting and the sun was starting to disappear behind
the mountains. It felt good to fight, to think only about where her
next hit was going to land and how I could beat her. I had no idea
why she kept fighting, but she went at it with a determination and
a hollow look in her eyes that I suspected mirrored my own. I’m not
sure when it happened, but at some point, I started to like her. If
Jed had to be with someone other than me, I was glad it was
her.

“We should probably head back before the
others start to worry,” she said, when she helped me to my feet for
the last time.