Chapter 37
“Will this rain ever end?” Anne complained as we sat across from each other in the living room. We were both reading but Anne, who was curled up on the couch in white pajamas, pulled back the curtain to peer outside. From where I sat I could see the billowing gray clouds rolling across the sky. The street was covered in a fast flowing torrent and periodic booms of ominous thunder broke the silence.
I was reading my father’s journal, savoring the words he left behind and knowing that through him he was bringing my mother and their love back to life.
Pandora roused me from my brief escape into the past by rising and heading towards the back door. I carefully placed the journal on the stand next to me and followed her. Seeing that the rain was not letting up, I slipped on a pair of flip flops and opened the door to let her out.
I followed her into the rain and lifted my face to the dreary sky above and let the cold rain envelop me. I walked into the yard and lifted my hands to watch the rain run off my fingernails. I took pleasure from the liberty I felt in being so unrestrained. I blinked to see Pandora watching me curiously. I laughed out loud and began to chase her. Unsure at first, she lit up and began to dance around the yard playfully.
When thunder sounded I motioned for Pandora to follow me but a movement in a tree behind me caused me to halt. I looked over my shoulder and wiped the rain from my lashes when I saw a form jump down from the tree. He shook his blonde hair and called to me. “Ah, restless wanderer, I enjoyed your dance. It feels natural doesn’t it, being out here?”
Irritated, I swept my heavy wet hair behind my back and folded my arms.
“What did you call me?” I demanded hotly.
“Don’t you know?” he grinned. “That’s what your surname means. Quite fitting, don’t you think?”
“What’s not fitting is you’re being here. Go away.”
Tristan’s eyes twinkled and he shook his hair out again. He rested his arms on the fence and looked at me innocently. “I told you…don’t be a stranger.”
“Strangers stalk; friends don’t,” I countered.
“Our kind stalks,” he grinned. “Everyone stalks; in one way or another.”
“I’m not the enemy,” he went on to explain defensively.
“Then what are you?” I asked, barely aware that I had moved towards him until I saw his blue eyes as clearly as I had that day in the field. He was so youthful looking and innocent in his attractiveness, but his message was always one of peril.
“Intrigued,” he replied. It was then that I heard his thoughts like I had before. He was locked in my mind and I was locked in his, like a magnet.
I marked you so you would never be alone, not when you’re in need. A chill wind blows. Something is coming…The night, as you are well aware, isn’t our exclusive domain.
Still locked together, he pulled from me all the things I wouldn’t say out loud: my fears and my memories. I betrayed Reece with my silent declaration of love for him, and I gave away the knowledge that the head of Haven’s pack had very recently passed. I tried to restrain the thoughts that were flowing so liberally. Tristan must have known because he began showing me his own thoughts.
He had left, just as he said he would, and he came back. He wanted me to know what he knew. His father, Vadim, had earned the right to be Alpha after my grandfather, Sergei. When Sergei had died the clan had become disoriented and undisciplined. Vadim, although the strongest, didn’t have the confidence of my mother, Tanith, and Vadim was seen as weak because he lost her to a human. Vadim took his bitterness out on his mate, who became Tristan’s mother. Tristan’s mother, Danielle, resented mine and she also resented Vadim, whom she was not loyal to. I also saw Levi and Haven. Both of them were seduced by Danielle. I also saw Lacey. She was Tristan’s half-sister and was sent away with Levi, just as I had been told. Danielle felt a burning hatred and envy of my mother and sent Haven on a mission to kill her.
My knees started to buckle as the information flowed from Tristan to me. It was too much!
Haven found my mother, but something happened. He did not complete his mission and he did not return to his clan. Danielle sent three others and they succeeded. They were the same ones who tried to hurt me after the bonfire. I started to heave and suddenly I was conscious of the rain again.
“Why? Why are you here?! How could she?!” I shouted out loud.
“I don’t deny she’s done bad things,” he called out dangerously. “I’m here because I want the truth!”
“Who are you loyal to?” I shouted back. “That will go a long way in revealing what your motives are.”
“I’m loyal to no one,” he announced. “I’m loyal to my beliefs. You should know them. They were your grandfather’s.”
“Why did you really come?” I asked.
“Many reasons.”
“What about your mother?” I spat. “Is she going to get away with what she’s done?”
“You can love someone but disapprove of them,” he retorted defensively. “I’m loyal to the code and to what’s right. It’s not that I’m being disloyal to my family; it’s that they were disloyal to doing what’s right. I may have to do something about that, even if it means challenging my father.”
His eyes were no longer on me for he was looking towards the back of the house. I heard Anne call to me, “Willow, what on earth are you doing out here? Come in, now.”
I turned away from Tristan but heard him say, “I’ll see you soon.”
I looked back, ready to ask when, but he was already gone.
“Who were you talking to?” Anne inquired as she ushered me inside.
“Someone I’ve talked to in passing,” I answered as she handed me a soft, white towel.
“Jericho has asked me over but we’ve been together so much lately I’m afraid you and I haven’t had much time together. If you would like, I can cancel and we can do something fun, perhaps take in a movie or just stay inside and cook.”
Knowing that Anne meant well I didn’t want her to feel obligated to keep me company, even though I knew she enjoyed spending time with me. I looked at her searching brown eyes, so round and sweet, and so much like my father’s…
I smiled and shook my head.
“No, go with Jericho. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Anne pressed.
“I think I will enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich, some tomato soup and a movie,” I insisted. “Besides, sometimes I like having time to myself.”
This seemed to register with Anne and she reached for her shoes. “The weather is really bad so Jericho insists on picking me up. I won’t be gone all night.”
I nodded and moved into the laundry room where I peeled off my wet clothes and dropped them in the washer. Wrapping the towel around me, I called out to Anne.
“I’m going to take a shower. Go ahead and have fun with Jericho.”