Unnaturals (17 page)

Memories of her girlfriends being intrigued with Mason flashed through Ruth's mind. Some wanted him, but he'd never explored those offers. Just her. Always just her. She had never questioned him about it. He was her Mason only. Until now, she realised. Renee wanted more than just sex. Her eyes screamed it at Ruth.

`You said he was the first to kiss you and not suffer for it? Why?'

`No idea. All I know is that the first man I kissed died.' She trembled and Ruth felt her pain seep out. `They all died. Every man I kissed in my first year suffered from the instant they touched my lips.'

Wilson stirred under her hand but Ruth wanted to know more. `How long have you been like this? Do you know why it happened?'

`No one knows. Nobody has ever seen anything like it before.' Renee sighed and shook her sister gently. `For many it proved I am truly a freak.'

`Don't say such a thing.' Ruth frowned, remembering how her family had reacted to her own sexuality. `Just because you're different it doesn't make you a freak.'

`Mum?' Wilson mumbled.

`I'm here,' she whispered, watching as Nikki sat up too, and hugged her sister. Ruth squeezed Wilson's hand as Renee held Nikki, Gaia's words about the sisters being her kin becoming clear to her. It wasn't Mason's resistance to her relationship with Nikki, that was the hurdle.

The problem was her, accepting Renee.

 

Mason followed Eleanor into the house. Marble flooring greeted his bare feet and coloured light filtered through stained-glass windows as the sun set behind the house.

`Did you build the house?' He looked up at the domed ceiling which swirled with images. He'd never seen anything like it.

`Yes,' Eleanor said, opening a huge timber door. `Literally. Nikki and I started it while Renee was a child. We laid every sandstone block and seated every timber beam.'

Mason pursed his lips in admiration. `Strange as this might sound, I find building things with my own hands immensely satisfying.' Red leather lounges scattered around the huge room made it feel warm.

`This is a den?' He ran a finger over the solid timber bar. The walls were timbered too, and sweet scents of whisky and cigars flooded memories of his grandfather through him. Memories of back before the world had changed.

Tashia brushed past him and opened a drinks cabinet.

`Are you all right?' Eleanor moved back into his line of vision and he became aware of her hand still on his arm. Her scent mixed the aromas of the room. `You're not about to explode again?'

`What?' Mason blinked and the flicker of memories faded. `No, just—'

`Drink.' Tashia pushed a glass into his hand and stood waiting.

`I don't normally drink.' Mason eyed the dark liquid in his glass, its scent strong. Desirable.

`Try it.' Tashia sipped her drink with a raised eyebrow.

Mason sniffed the drink. `It's different.'

`Hmm. Yes, we make it ourselves.'

Mason sipped the liquid. Smooth, delicate flavours infused his senses. `Very good.' He looked at Eleanor, her hand still warm on his arm.

`Not the sort thing you were expecting, was it?' Eleanor smiled and let him go, moving towards a large leather lounge. He caught himself staring at her hips as she walked. His ears burned.

`Are you sure you're okay?' Tashia moved closer, eyeing him. `He's flushed.'

`Damn it, I'm fine.' Mason stepped away, unsure why he was so affected by Eleanor. He sipped the liquid again as he sat down, starting at the sound his scales made on the leather lounge.

`Darla's gift is a strange one.'

Tashia sank down into a chair and the faint silver lines on her skin drew his eyes to her.

Hell, what was wrong with him?

`You're seeing us as women for the first time, Mason,' Eleanor said sitting back in her lounge, crossing her legs. `That would be Gaia's influence. The scales are Darla's work.'

Mason ran a hand down his chest, feeling the oddness of the scales. Uncertainty flickered in him. `Is this permanent? Will I always look like this? Why did she do this to me?'

`Always with the questions.' Tashia smiled and waved her glass at him. `Always asking before thinking.'

`Tashia,' Eleanor frowned at her.

Mason shut his mouth with Tashia's gaze on him. Her smile did not falter.

`You said it was Darla's gift,' he said, sitting back and processing what he understood. `From what I have seen, gifts can be controlled, so I should be able to conceal this gift?'

`Yes.' Eleanor nodded and sipped her drink. `Mason, most of the answers you seek you already know.'

`Hmm, careful, he's not used to compliments from our kind.'

Mason's ears burned, but she was right. `This is not easy. A lot has happened since yesterday. We went to the island—'

His words were hijacked. Ruth stood in the doorway, her face white and eyes wide. Cold fingers moved in his gut as she stepped back. Ruth was afraid of him.

`It's okay.' Renee slipped past Ruth. `He's still Mason.'

He bit his lip as Renee ran a hand down his chest, her eyes not leaving his.

`I want you,'
Renee whispered into his mind as her scent sharpened.

`Is it permanent?' Ruth entered the room as Mason tried to ignore the sensation of Renee's hand on him. He pushed her away but she slipped around to stand behind him, hands on his shoulders.

`Hmm. He will need training to control the scales. They can be hidden from sight.' Tashia's smile changed as she looked at him over her glass.

`They keep changing colour,' Wilson said, as he stepped past Ruth.

Mason managed a weak smile. `Yeah, not sure what it means yet.' He bit down as Renee pressed herself against his back.
`Stop it.'

`
Why? You want me. Why hide it? You can feel and see me.
'

Mason struggled to remain calm as images of Renee naked, nipples hard, bloomed in his mind's eye.

`What do they feel like?' Ruth's expression had changed to a caution as she moved closer, watching Renee.

`Delicious.' Renee ran her nails across his shoulder, sending ripples of pleasure through him. `Soft and warm but hard when required. An adaptable armour.'

`Uh-huh,' Ruth muttered as she stood in front of him.

Renee was irritating his wife, that much he knew. `Here, touch me,' Mason said, taking Ruth's hand, as Wilson also reached over and felt his arm. `See, they look hard but feel soft and warm.'

`Yes.' Ruth ran her hand up his arm, watching his scales react to her touch. Mason let himself smile as she fiddled with his hand. He wanted to hold her.

`I have to leave for a while.' Eleanor nodded as she stood. `The others of my kind seek counsel on what has passed.'

`Hmm, she means there's a shit fight brewing,' Tashia said, finishing her drink.

`The lake house is prepared for guests.' Eleanor glared at Tashia. `I doubt we shall see each other until tomorrow. Tashia will be here for you if you need anything.'

Mason's words of thanks died as Eleanor vanished from the room. Ruth leant against him and he held her.

`Okay, this is too weird.' Wilson rubbed at his face. `I need some time out, something to eat and a phone so I can call Sally because she'll be freaking out by now.'

`Good idea, Wil,' Mason said, absorbing Ruth's scent.

Tashia stood and crossed her arms, looking at the door. Rose and Lilly stood there. `Well, what do you two want?'

`We'd like to help if we can.' Lilly glanced at Wilson while Rose stared at her feet.

`Hmm. Very well. Take Master Wilson to the kitchen. There is a phone he will want to use. See that he has food and peace.' Tashia tilted her head to Wilson. `If that suits you?'

Wilson shrugged. `Yeah, sure, thanks. I'm starving and there's no way I'm going to spend the night in the same house as you anyway.'

`There are rooms upstairs,' Tashia said, towering over the Flowers girls and looking meaningfully at them while she spoke to Wilson. `A room you will have to yourself here in the main house.'

`Great,' Wilson said rubbing his hands together. `I'm really hungry.' His stomach growled in agreement.

`You sure you will be all right?' Ruth said. `We can all stay together if you like?'

`No.' Wilson patted his mother's hand.

Mason smiled to himself. The boy was no fool.

`I accept that nothing will ever be normal around us and, well, you and dad have some stuff to work out.'

`This way to the kitchen,' Lilly said. `We'll make sure he is taken care of, Mrs Douglas.'

`I'll be fine, Mum.' Wilson pried her hand off his arm and kissed her on the forehead. `Just promise you and Dad will try and stay out of any more trouble, please? I don't think I can handle any more surprises.'

`We will do our best,' Mason said, trying not to smile at Wilson's expression.

`Yeah, figured that.' Wilson followed Lilly out while Rose sauntered behind them. His voice floated back through the open door. `What's with her? And what happened to her hair?'

Mason winced as Rose responded with a snort.

`Hmm. Interesting.' Tashia stood beside him. `Wilson seems to have a calming effect on them both.'

`That's all it had better be.' Ruth crossed her arms. `I hope they behave themselves.'

`Hah,' Tashia snorted with a grin. `Master Wilson has his heart with the girl Sally. The Flowers girls will soon discover that. Besides his main interest here now is food.'

`Tashia is right.' Nikki stepped into the room. Her sheer top only accentuated the darkness of her nipples and Mason heard Ruth's heartbeat increase. `Wilson will be safe here in the house.'

`Magi.' Tashia nodded to her. `Now you are here I must go as well. Eleanor will need my support.' She flashed a smile at Mason. `Try not to break too much, will you?'

`What's that supposed to mean?' Mason asked the air where Tashia had stood. `And what's with the vanishing act?'

`She and Mother like to show off when they can,' Nikki said, eyeing her sister. `It's not often they have guests.'

`
I want you in me.
'

Mason caught Nikki's reaction. She stared at Renee as if she'd heard her sister's word.

`Are you 'pathing?' Nikki asked.

`'Pathing?' Ruth turned, looking at Renee.

`It's a connection between minds, like telepathy but only between those who are bonded.' Nikki crossed her arms and waited.

Renee's fingers dug into his shoulders but she did not speak. She nudged him.

`Ah, okay it's odd,' Mason shrugged at Ruth, `but Renee and I can hear each other without talking. Can you hear it as well, Nikki?'

Nikki went to Ruth and took her hand

`Only murmurs. Legend says that it is the strongest between those who Hunt.'

`You've been talking to each other like that?' Conflicting emotions chased across Ruth's face.

`Yes.' He did not move, watching Ruth try to understand the one thing she could not share with him.

`Why can't I hear you?' Ruth asked Nikki. `We're bonded.'

`Not all can do it straightaway, even in a bonded relationship,' Nikki said, putting her arm around Ruth. `Renee and Mason are similar in ways that we're not. I can help you learn to do it in time, Ruth. There's a lot we all have to learn about what has happened to us and training will be required to harness these new gifts.'

Renee stepped in front of Mason. `Enough talk.' A sound, no human or Bloodells he had ever heard make, escaped in a soft low growl from her. Her hair moved, interweaving into a thick red ponytail that twitched in front of him.

Blood surged to his groin as she faced him. `
See me.
' She grabbed his hand. `
Feel me.
' She pressed his hand against the heat of her sex burning through her shorts. His fingers pressed up, seeking to feel the softness there as her scent filled his mind.

`Renee.' Nikki moved in the corner of his vision. `Stop it!'

`Why?' She ground Mason's hand against her sex and he did not resist. He wanted her so much he began to ache. `You got to fuck her already. He is mine.'

`Control it.' Nikki reached for her.

`It's okay,' Ruth caught Nikki's hand.

Mason forced himself to look away from Renee to watch what was happening. Ruth's face held no fear or anger. She wasn't threatened. What did she see?

`This is the part of you I could never reach. The dark side you kept locked away so it wouldn't hurt me.' Ruth reached out and touched his face. `You're still my Mason but…'

She looked at Renee standing tense with her eyes burning, nails darkening into claws. `Like me, you have a desire for something that is hard to accept. But you accepted my difference, for me.'

His heart skipped a beat as a soft smile touched her face. `It's my turn to deal with having the other woman in our bed.'

`Thank you,' Renee whispered to Ruth. `I could not wait any longer.'

`I…' He struggled to speak. His body ached all over and he wanted to kiss them both.

`Go,' Ruth said, pulling Nikki to her. `We will talk later, about everything.'

`Outside.' Renee ripped off her T-shirt and threw it at him.

Mason caught it, taking in her full breasts with their delicate pink areola and hard nipples. Fine freckles flowed downwards, leading like an arrow across her creamy skin to below the waistband of her shorts.

`Gotta catch me.' She smiled with razor-sharp teeth. All he saw was a flash of red as she disappeared out through a doorway. Her scent lingered as the night's cool air filtered in around him. He rolled the fabric of her T-shirt in his hand, releasing more of her pheromones.

`Stay on the estate,' Nikki said, wide-eyed, as she held Ruth in her arms.

He looked up from Renee's T-shirt, his eyes going to Ruth. She nodded back, her face creased in a half-smile.

Her simple action unlocked his restraint. Stars, and Renee's scent, tantalised him as he burst out into the night.

Renee's shorts and panties had been slung in the tree closest to the house. Soft turf greeted his feet as he leapt from the stone patio. Colours filled his vision, details of the estate clear to him even in the darkness. A faint trace of pheromones illuminated Renee's trail towards a body of water.