Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series) (7 page)

The next morning Lexia sat on the bed in the spare room whilst Alice tried to fit all the clothes she bought into her suitcase.

“California, ay? Are you excited?” Lexia asked.

“Yes! I wish you were coming with me, though,” Alice sighed. “We were supposed to leave Deadwood together, go to college together.”

Lexia fought back the tears that were burning at her eyes. “I know, babe. Believe me, I wish I was coming with you.”

“Why can’t you? Why can’t you get a new identity and start again?”

“Because I can’t hide who I am and I have a feeling my mother will never stop looking for me, I’d only put you in danger.”

For a while the girls were quiet; Lexia kept glancing at the clock seeing the time she had left with her best friend slipping away.

Once Alice had managed to zip up her case she flopped onto the bed and looked at Lexia. “I’m never going to see you again, am I?” she whispered.

A tear slipped down Lexia’s cheek. “Probably not.”

Alice sat up and grabbed Lexia’s hand, tears falling down her face. “How am I supposed to go to California and pretend everything is alright? You’re my best friend, Lex.”

Lexia looked at Alice - Alice who very rarely got emotional, who always had fire in her eyes and was always ready to huff and order people about. She saw a frightened girl whose heart was breaking and she hated herself for being the one to make her that way.

“I’m sorry, Alice,” she whispered, her own tears falling. “If there was any way I could change this I would but all I can do is send you away and pray you’ll be safe.”

“I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Sure you can, Alice; you’ve never let anything keep you down.”

“Not this time, I can’t just pretend you never existed.”

Lexia swallowed the lump in her throat and swiped her tears away. “Alice you’re going to go to California and be happy. I need you to go live the life we always planned and you don’t have to pretend I never existed but the girl you knew is dead. Mourn her Alice, mourn the girl I used to be, mourn the life we were supposed to have together and then move on. Forget me, forget Hunters and shifters, just forget it all and be happy.”

“How can you say that!? My best friend is right here in front of me!”

“No, I’m not her anymore,” Lexia sobbed, losing control of her emotions.

“Lexia listen to me! My best friend is smart and funny, she’s beautiful and strong and she can put a fully grown man on his ass like he weighs nothing. My best friend dived in front of a bullet for me, she went against her own mother to keep me safe; she’s not dead and I can never pretend that she is.”

Lexia didn’t know what to say so she just dragged Alice into her arms and clung onto her friend whilst they cried.

“I’m sorry girls, but Alice needs to leave,” Caden called up the stairs.

Lexia pulled back. “Time to go start your new life,” she whispered.

“I’ll go as long as you promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“Don’t ever let her win, Lex. No matter the sacrifice, don’t give up who you are.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t see yourself as good anymore; don’t give up because you think you’re not worth fighting for.”

She couldn’t answer but nodded once.

Alice climbed off the bed and wiped her face then dragged her suitcases onto the landing and called Lincoln to come get them. She turned one last time and smiled at her best friend whose face held so much sadness she wondered how she still stood.

“I love you, babe,” Alice said, hugging her.

“I love you, too. Be happy, please just be happy.”

Alice didn’t answer because she wasn’t sure if she could be happy without her best friend. She walked through the door and started down the stairs; she paused one last time and looked at Lexia standing rigid in the bedroom. She committed her friend’s beautiful face to memory and wondered if she’d ever see her again.

Downstairs Caden and Lincoln were waiting at the door. Alice walked down the stairs crying; she paused at the door. “I’ll be there in a minute, Caden.”

Once Caden was gone she turned and looked at the man Lexia loved more than anything in her life. “She will do anything to keep you safe, Lincoln. She’d sacrifice everything, even her soul, just to make sure you live. I’m expecting you to save her; bring my best friend back to me Linc. Kill every last one of those fuckers, even her mother, and bring her back to me.” Her voice cracked on the last words.

“I will, Alice, or I’ll die trying.”

Alice nodded at him and left. Once she was safely in the car, Caden driving her away, she let out a strangled cry and sobbed.

Lexia stood at the window watching the car drive away. As she saw Alice collapse forward, her back shuddering from crying, she dropped to her knees and screamed. Lincoln was there seconds later holding her as she cried and yelled at the universe for destroying her life and the lives of the people she loved.

Lexia didn’t do anything after Alice left other than mope in bed. Lincoln hovered around her, desperate to make her happy again but she didn’t want to be happy. So many horrible things had happened and she was fed up of putting on a brave face. She knew she didn’t have the time to dwell, to be depressed, but she was taking this day. Tomorrow, she told herself, she’d put all the sad thoughts she had in the imaginary box in the back of her mind but right now she planned on being sad. She planned to not leave her bed, she planned on crying and not talking.

Caden returned after dark. He walked into the room and sat on her bed but didn’t say a word to her. She held his hand and squeezed it tight. “Is she okay?” she whispered, her voice gravelly from crying.

“She will be; Alice seems like the type of person to bounce back. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, just give me today; tomorrow I’ll put on my game face.”

Caden chuckled softly. “You don’t have to put on a face for us, Lex, but don’t hide away with your sadness.”

“Just give me today.”

Caden left; she saw him pause in the doorway and say something to Lincoln. She smiled briefly thinking how Lincoln always thought maybe Caden could get through to her, maybe he just had no idea what to do. Lincoln slipped quietly into bed a little while later. She rolled over and snuggled into him and felt the tension go from his muscles. “I’ll be okay, Linc, don’t worry.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to her hair and they fell to sleep, Lexia safe in his arms.

When Lexia walked into the kitchen the next morning, Lincoln and Caden had been arguing in hushed whispers; the moment the door started to open they shut up. Pouring a coffee, Lexia sat across from them. She said nothing, just eyed them both curiously whilst sipping her coffee.

Lincoln sat across from her, Caden by his side; his eyes were completely panther and  had a deadly edge to them, like at any moment the cat would burst from his skin. Caden’s eyes kept glancing at him; he was on edge, too, as if waiting for the moment Lincoln would strike.

“What’s going on
?” she asked, sipping more coffee, her eyes looking from one man to the next.

No one answered. “I know something is going on! I heard you arguing, you’re not the only ones in the house with good hearing... So are you going to tell me or do I have to beat it out of you?”

Lincoln looked up at her, a guarded look in his eyes. “Nothing, Lex, everything is fine.”

“Don’t l
ie to me,” Lexia snapped, which made Lincoln’s panther eyes flash deadlier.

“Lincoln doesn’t do
well confined,” said Caden, glancing again at Lincoln.

“Why do you always speak in riddles? Just give me it straight!
”

“Look
, it’s nothing, Lexia, don’t worry,” Lincoln interrupted.

“Dam
n it, Linc, do you think I can’t see the panther in your eyes, do you really think I can’t feel the danger coming off you? That I can’t feel you inside me like a wild force ready to blow!”

The moment Lexia said ‘feel you inside me’ Lincoln’s eyes lit up. “What do you mean, ‘feel me inside you?’”

Lexia frowned at his question; she’d not really put much thought into what she meant by that. Her hand rubbed absently over the center of her chest. “Stop changing subjects! What does Caden mean by you don’t do well confined?” she glared at Lincoln and then Caden.

Lincoln sighed, “I’ve never been able to live in cities long, keep from shifting long.”

“But I don’t understand, Caden lives here and he’s a cat, too.”

“Some shifters are closer to the nature of their beasts,
Lincoln is one of them,” Caden answered.

“What will happen if we stay here?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” said Lincoln. Lexia glared at him and looked at Caden.

“He’ll lose control, it’s why he’s always lived in the forests and travelled. He’s just not made for the city
.”

“Then we’ll leave
; Lincoln you can’t sit here going mad until we decide our next move and we need to go anyway, I’m not hiding at Caden’s forever!”

“No
, Lexia, it’s too dangerous. We can’t just go running off without thinking things through, I can control it.”

“
Can you? Seems to me it’s just as dangerous as sitting around here waiting for you to go panther and tear us to shreds,” Lexia said through clenched teeth.

“I’d never-“
Caden cut him off. “You could just go away for a few days, I’ll keep her safe.”

Lincoln growled, the sound reverberating off the walls. “Fine!” he said, folding his arms. “Now back to you feeling me inside of you!” Deadly panther eyes held Lexia’s and she gulped, trapped in a predator’s snare.

“I didn’t mean anything by it... Just that I can feel you, so wound up and on edge,” she mumbled.

“But you said you could feel me inside of you!”

“What are you getting at? I love you, of course you’re a part of me.”Lexia felt confused, as if Lincoln was trying to ask her something but not being direct.

“Can I just cut in?” Caden asked. When he only received silent glares, he continued, “I think what Linc is trying to ask you, Lex, is can you feel the mating bond?”

“What do you mean ‘bond?’” Lexia mumbled.

“You’re my mate,” Lincoln said, like that explained everything.

Caden huffed, “Really, Lincoln, you should explain shifter ways more to Lexia instead of leaving her in the dark because you’re afraid of how she will react.”

Lincoln snarled at his friend, pushed his chair away from the table and then started to pace.

“Okay, now I’m completely lost. When he says I’m his mate, it’s more than just a shifter word for girlfriend?”

Caden laughed, “It means far more than that, Lex. When a shifter mates, they mate for life. A bond is formed between the two and if either of them dies... Well, normally the mate left behind dies shortly after.”

“Okay...” Lexia’s heart had started to pick up speed.

“I think Linc always assumed that you couldn’t feel the bond because... Well, you’re not a shifter, you’re a Hunter and your DNA is something
altogether new.”

Lexia looked at Linc and thought about how to explain what she felt to him; yes she’d felt a bond between them from the first moment she’d laid eyes on the panther there had just been something that always stopped her from wanting to hurt him. Was that the bond? Was the way she always knew how he was feeling the bond? She’d just thought that they loved each other, that they were connected but not in a physical way.

“I can always feel you, Linc. Inside of me, in my heart, this light, this love so strong it always brings me back from the dark, I know when you’re sad or worried, I just never thought more about it...”

Lincoln stopped his pacing and turned, the wild edge of him soothed for a minute as he walked towards her and claimed a fierce kiss. “Mine,” he whispered, “you are mine.”

But they couldn’t ignore the fact that his beast was getting too strong and so close to the surface. He was becoming a danger to those he loved so that night Lexia found herself standing in the doorway saying goodbye. When she’d told him to go she’d not anticipated how hard it would be letting him leave. He kissed her fiercely making her want to lock him in the bedroom. “Bye,” she said.