See me, p.32
See Me, page 32
“I could do that sometimes, before I came here.” I hoped that by sharing some of my own story that he would continue.
“As I said, like knows like.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about us being alike. “May I ask, what happened to your mother?” Damn it, Onyx’s stupid family tree lessons would have come in handy now.
“She is long dead.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that, for you and your birth pack.” And me.
“It was a very long time ago,” he said simply.
From his tone, I guessed that she went insane, or maybe fell out of favor with the Leader.
“She was murdered.”
“No,” I cried as I reached out to pat his arm, but I stopped the movement. I didn’t know him well enough. “That’s horrible.”
“We were at war with another pack.”
That had to have been centuries ago. At one time, Lycan wars were much more common. Now, issues were worked out diplomatically through the Council.
“She was avenged.”
Something in his tone made me pay closer attention to him. Alarm bells rang inside me. My door was open, but did anyone know he was here with me? And where the fuck was my tutor? This would be the one day he was late. “By your father?”
“No. Eventually, his army made its way to the fortress, but everyone was dead.” He looked so relaxed as he recounted this story. It was chilling how calm he looked. “I kept the Leader, and of course the man who committed the actual murder alive. A quick death was too good for them.” He smiled conspiringly as if I’d understand.
I felt the goose bumps rise all over my body. “You, alone, killed an entire Pack?” I asked slowly as I tried to comprehend what that meant. Why was nobody stopping in? Any other day, ten wolves would have been by.
“I asked The Lady for assistance. She poisoned the dinner so that most were disabled. I took care of the rest,” he recounted serenely.
Now, I was officially freaked out. An entire Pack! I wanted to ask if Black knew. But, of course, he did. Hell, Lore had probably told him the story over a beer and a cigar. “I, ah, I thought it was against Lycan Law to hurt a Marked?”
“Seer, it will do you well to always remember…” He shifted closer to the edge of the chair and to me. “We are always surrounded by those who will turn on us.”
I felt the truth of his words through my gift. “Do you mean here, within Novus?” I asked carefully.
“Certainly,” he said, with a curt nod. “You were right to study my hand before taking it. You don’t know yet if I am friend or foe.”
I used my gift again, and nothing felt amiss. “I believe you are friend, but I’m not sure the word means the same thing to you as it does to me.”
“You are very bright.” He nodded approvingly.
I made a face. “I think my tutor would disagree.”
“Sir Onyx has overseen your training. Tell me, what have you studied?” He pointed at the pile of pads on my desk and the various books strewn around the room.
“We’ve focused on Pack histories, family trees, and their geographical holdings.”
“Ridiculous.” He frowned, and his golden eyes flashed in irritation.
Again, I noted how truly striking he was.
“He should be teaching you about your gift.”
“He’s disappointed. I don’t, um, do very much,” I admitted uncomfortably.
“Bullshit.” The word sounded so odd coming from Lore.
“I don’t understand.”
“Perhaps, I chose the incorrect word. I don’t always keep up with conversant words.”
I let out a laugh, and it sounded a little strangled. “No, I got the part where you don’t agree with Onyx. What I don’t understand is why you think I have more talent than I do.”
“I know, because I learned from Lady Octavia. My mother was the most powerful Seer of all time.” He nodded once as if he needed to press that point. “I feel…” he touched his hand to his gut, “the same about you.”
I was speechless.
“I’ll take over your training and evaluate your strength. I’ll design a plan for your studies.” He said it in the same tone the Laird decreed action to be taken. Of course, he was technically a prince. “Pack histories…” he waved a dismissive hand, “that’s only important so that you learn who wishes to do damage to you.”
“Almost everybody can,” I admitted.
“Seer, you watched the Laird spread a man’s cranium around a room with one shot for touching you. You are protected.”
“Yeah, but I don’t have a gun.” I couldn’t even pee in privacy, so I seriously doubted anyone was going to hand me a real weapon. “I must depend on others.”
He seemed surprised by my answer. “You don’t have a blade?”
I shook my head.
“Our lessons will begin there.” He stood and motioned for me to do the same. “We’ll start with blades. I always thought they were the perfect weapon for a female.” He took my hand.
I stopped. “I need to check in with the Laird. I’m not sure he’s going to approve of weapons and all.” What I really wanted to know was if he knew that Lore had basically taken over my studies.
The wolf laughed. “Again, you please me.”
I’m sure my baffled expression gave me away.
“You don’t follow me willingly. You’re right to ask the Laird. Very good, Seer.”
Jesus, he was a tricky wolf, but the weird thing was, I felt comfortable with him and I could learn from him.
* * *
I was a Goddamn idiot to go along with this. I was starting to think that Lore might very well be insane. After Basil waved me through into Black’s office, I asked formally whether Onyx had been replaced.
“Let’s not use that word. It’s more of a sabbatical,” the damn man told me.
“And Lore is taking over?”
“She’s very cautious. Someone was right to instill that into her.” The spy had slipped in without me even realizing the door had opened.
Black moved in close to me and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “He has first-hand knowledge, babe. I think he’ll be good for you.”
I was caught off guard by his easy touch and endearment in front of a Pack member. I glanced quickly at Lore, who was smiling at us. “He told me about Lady Octavia.”
“Then you agree he will be helpful?” he asked, his expression bland.
“Did you know he wants to teach me how to use a knife?” How dare he act like he had no clue why I was questioning all of this. They were his fucking rules…and my life!
“And a gun,” Lore added helpfully.
Black paused before answering. “After last night, I see the merit in his ideas.”
We were so going to revisit the entire pee in privacy thing tonight. “So, you’re okay with me having a gun?” I wanted him to be clear.
“As long as you don’t use it on me,” he said, his eyes sparkling.
“Don’t be so sure,” I muttered under my breath, but I knew he could hear me.
Black laughed loudly. He turned to my new teacher. “She must be at Solle’s medical office at one.”
I was almost out of Black’s office when he called my name. I turned around.
“Tell your guard to bring you to Packhouse tonight.”
“Okay, but I need to stop and get clothes for tomorrow.” My stomach flipped in anticipation of being alone with him.
“Pack much, Theo.”
I gave him a cheeky smile. “Yes, Laird.”
Half an hour later, I was trying to throw a knife at a newly erected target in the gym. Every single time somebody walked in, Lore would growl—an actual, bared-teeth growl. My grandma used to say, “Them’s fighting words.” Yet, nobody approached him.
“This time, I want you to use your gift to help you guide the blade.” My instructor adjusted my shoulder.
I felt like an idiot as I tried to clear my mind and concentrate on my lower stomach. That’s where I, too, felt like my gift resided. That was the place that stirred when I used it, though it was also the part of my body that always somersaulted when Black gave me a hungry look or dropped his voice, so it went two octaves deeper.
To the middle! I let go of the blade and, I shit you not, it went directly to the middle of the target. “Whoa.” I dumbly stared at the circles within circles.
Lore handed me another blade. “Again.”
I spent the next two hours throwing different kinds of knives and hitting the center more times than I didn’t. My shoulder was numb, and I’d managed to nick my fingers a few times.
“Tomorrow, we’ll work on incorporating your blade-throwing into situations,” he said as he put several of the knives into a case.
“Okay, first knives then guns. When do I get to work with explosives?” I teased.
“Would you like that?”
Holy moly, he thought I was serious. “No,” I corrected him before he went into his pocket and pulled out some C-4 and blew our asses up.
He continued wiping each blade and putting it into its compartment. “I think our time would be better spent on poisons.”
I shook my head. “You do realize I’m always with a Novus member. I mean, it’s either a guard or a high-ranking Pack member. I don’t feel like I’m in that much danger.” Learning that my gift could help me control a knife was cool, but I doubted I’d ever use it.
“The daughter of my mother’s most trusted friend gave her killer entrance to her private quarters,” Lore said solemnly.
“But with your heightened senses, couldn’t you tell if someone was plotting against you or me?”
“Like humans, we get lazy around the familiar. Odella had served my mother since she was a teen. Nobody ever suspected that she’d contemplate a traitorous act.”
“Why did she?”
“She was to be contracted to the Second of another pack. She didn’t want to leave our lands. She believed that in the chaos of the discovery of my mother’s body that she could escape.” He closed the case and stood.
“Did she make her escape?”
“For a time, but she died. The Lady is vengeful when her children are mistreated.”
I locked gazes with him. “I hope her death was slow and painful.”
He smiled as if I’d just given the correct answer on a quiz. “It was most unpleasant and lasted for years.” He motioned for me to follow him. “Now, you must be fed, and you are to travel to the healer’s office.”
“I work there two or three days a week.”
“You are trained in healing?’ He opened the gym door for me and nodded approvingly as I waited for him to check the hallway.
“No, I file records away and help out with the kids.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand. Surely, you don’t need the money.”
I hadn’t thought about money in weeks. “I don’t do it for money. In the beginning, it was a good way for me to meet the members of the Pack, and I like the kids. Sometimes, I can soothe the ones who are in pain or crying.”
“Again, you use your gift, and you don’t even realize it. The Lady has truly granted Novus a great honor.”
I smiled as we walked down the hallway. I hoped I could help the Pack.
Thirty-Six
Raider Black
It was the third night that Theodora had spent in my bed. I heard my cell vibrate with an incoming text. I let go of her waist and rolled over, reaching for the phone.
Control Room: Prisoner Awake
I glanced at the clock on my screen and responded, 1 hour. Contact Board
Control Room: 10-4
I put down the phone and sat on the side of the bed.
“What’s going on?” She sounded only half awake.
“The prisoner is conscious, so I need to go in.” I leaned back and onto my side to press a kiss to her shoulder.
She started to roll to the far side of the bed. “I’ll get dressed. There probably isn’t enough time to shower, is there?”
She turned on the light atop what I now thought of as her nightstand.
I started to tell her she didn’t need to go, but I stopped myself. “Is your gift telling you to come with me?”
She was bent over the bag she’d packed with her clothes. “Good question.” She straightened and pulled on a pair of black panties. “Lore says it’s all about asking the right question.” She pulled on a pair of jeans.
I needed to get dressed, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from her. “Then answer me, Theodora.”
She paused while pulling a black lace bra up her arms. “I don’t know. I’d call it more of a feeling.”
In the very short time that she had worked with Lore, I’d seen a major change in her. She spoke more about her intuition and how she was trying to identify the different indicators. It seemed that my spy reassured and praised her work, where Onyx had only demanded and was disappointed. Yesterday, I saw Lore laugh for the first time in my life. As I’d predicted, she had him wrapped around her finger, and she didn’t even know it.
She passed me on her way to the bathroom. “If your Board didn’t know we were sleeping together, they will now. Your scent is all over me.”
Like I had a problem with that. “They all know but are being polite by not mentioning it.”
“Except for Conal, I imagine.” She stuck her head out of the bathroom. “He probably gives you shit constantly.”
I opened my drawer and pulled out a red shirt. “Sometimes, he throws in a little advice.”
“Solle mentioned dinner tomorrow, or I guess it’s technically tonight, but I didn’t accept. I wanted to talk to you first.” She bent over the sink and splashed warm water on her face.
“We can do that if you’d like.” I started to brush my hair.
She finished, turned off the water, and reached for the towel on the counter. “I don’t want her to ask a million questions.” She patted her face with the towel. “Does that make me a bad friend?”
I put down my brush down and kissed her cheek. “You’re being protective.”
“Of you.” She put toothpaste on her brush.
I waited until she was ready to spit out the toothpaste before asking, “You think she’ll rattle me?”
She wiped her mouth with the towel. “No, but I think she’ll ask us questions we might not have answers for, or that we haven’t considered, and it could get…uncomfortable.”
I pulled her into my arms. “This is new, and we are new to each other. Of course, there are things we don’t know.”
“I’m being selfish. I like this time all to ourselves.” She dropped her gaze.
“Theo, it’s not a bad thing that you like being with me.”
“Soon, everybody will know and they’ll want to see us out together. To watch how we interact.”
“As long as you do as I tell you, all will be fine.” I kissed the side of her mouth.
She pushed me away. “So, I’m to kneel beside you with my hands clasped behind my back?”
Why would she assume I’d ever want that—other than we when we were alone and playing? Something in her tone didn’t sound right. I turned to her. “Hey…” I pulled her back into my arms. “Does that shit make you unhappy?” She’d never shown me a sign that she was uncomfortable with my being dominant in the bedroom.
“This isn’t the time to go into this, Black.”
She was trying to avoid my question. “Theo, I need you to be honest with me. You spoke up about the ass play, but if I’m doing something you don’t like, I’d like to know.” I was getting irritated.
She frowned and looked down at my chest. “I like what we do.”
“But,” I prompted her.
“We’re doing stuff I’ve never done before.” She ran her hand over my heart. “I’ve read some books with Dominance and submission in them, but I don’t know how realistic they are.”
“I think you’re getting too hung up on this.”
“I’ve never thought of myself as submissive. I mean, I’m quiet at times…”
I raised one eyebrow, she was usually in the center of every group.
“At first,” she stressed the words. “With you, sex is different… I’m different.”
“I’m Lycan.” Of course, it was different.
“You’re a fucking alpha, Laird. I don’t know how much of me giving you everything is because you demand it, or if it’s because the Laird demands it—or because I want to give it.”
“Theo…” I brushed a kiss against her temple. “You are thinking too much.”
She rested her cheek against my chest. “I’ll figure this out.”
“We’ll figure this out,” I promised her.
* * *
She followed me as I headed to the lower floor of the Novus building where the prisoner had been transported.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I think I do.” She was rubbing her belly.
“Same rules as before.”
“Yes, Laird.” She stayed close as I keyed in my code and entered the interrogation room. She took her place against the wall near the door.
Lore and Tex were standing over the prisoner.
The male looked directly at Theodora. “Hello, Pretty,” he growled. “Why don’t you come closer?”
“Eyes on me,” I ordered.
“I like her.” He ran his tongue over his lips suggestively.
Lore punched him in the mouth. “Enough.”
Tex grumbled, “This one is quite the comedian.”
I smiled evilly. “We’ll see.”
The male could take a lot of pain. At almost two hours in, he still hadn’t cracked.
“My turn,” Theodora’s voice cut through the violence.
I looked over my shoulder at her.
“With your permission, Laird?” She hadn’t moved from her place.
“All right, Seer.” I held out my hand to her. It was covered in blood, but she took it anyway, without pause.
She stood directly in front of the man. As soon as she closed her eyes, I felt the buzzing against my skin increase. She put her hand on the man’s chest. “Wolf, I am Theodora, marked by The Lady, Seer to the Novus Pack. You will speak when our Leader commands.”
