AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wasn’t sure. What about them had changed? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was almost as if the air surrounding them had changed.
“What are we going to do?” Vivica asked, still clutching the door frame. I walked across the room and put my arms around her.
“We’re going to tell the guys everything when they get home. And we’re going to prepare for them just in case they try and show up again.”
“What do you mean prepare?” Why did I keep forgetting I was a witch?
“I’ll show you. I need your help. My magic isn’t very powerful, but I’ve got an idea.” Vivica nodded and took my hand. We spent the rest of the afternoon mixing potions, crushing herbs and stirring remedies. By the time the guys walked through the door, we were ready to lay out our plan.
-24-
“They made you what!” Gerard’s face was nearly purple with rage. He slammed his fist on the table so hard that the forgotten dirty dishes rattled.
“Kara and Arkan came here with a pregnancy test.” If I was going to get through this entire story, Gerard was going to need to control his temper. “They made it seem casual, but I could tell they were invested in the results.” I wasn’t comfortable pushing any further than I did.
“Did you take it?” His face paled.
“No. I ran some water on it and prayed they wouldn’t notice.”
He exhaled sharply. “We’re lucky you’re so fucking smart. Whatever they were interested in, it wasn’t straight up. I’m glad you trusted your gut.”
“Well, here’s the thing…” I was afraid of Gerard’s reaction, but I knew that it was important information. In order to be loyal to the tribe, I had to divulge Arkan’s mistake.
“You see…during tryouts…” I looked to Vivica for support.
“Arkan, Kara, Cat, and I all had a foursome during our tryouts.” Vivica blurted out. Rip off the Band-Aid my dear. Thanks a lot.
“Wait a second. What? You can’t be…I can’t.” Gerard looked in physical pain. He turned towards Adam.
“Warriors are the only shapeshifters that are supposed to even touch the breeders.”
My blood ran cold. “You mean that our tryouts were…abnormal.”
“Not only were they abnormal, they broke almost every law regarding the breeder and warrior dynamic. It’s extremely messy if breeders and shapeshifters just randomly boink. We need to know lineage in order to keep the tribe healthy and thriving. It’s just simple organization.”
Well I guess that made sense. So it isn’t really a jealousy thing. More of a…what? “So he broke the rules. Why?”
Ian interrupted. “Can you just take us through everything from start to finish again. We need to figure this out. Considering the level of law-breaking that Arkan and Kara have committed with your tryouts, I’d be willing to bet my ass that they were behind the kidnappings. We just need to figure out why.”
After recounting the tale of our tryouts from start to finish, I was emotionally spent. A dull ache began gnawing at my skull. I peeked at Adam’s notes. He’d transcribed nearly three pages worth of notes about our experience. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to go through it again.
“There’s something else. He told me that the disappearances were runaways. Why would he believe that? Hasn’t it been announced that the girls were recovered?”
Gerard clapped his hands together. “I apologize. I should have told you, but we were so focused on interviews this afternoon that I forgot. We kept the facts about the abductions and the recovery as a need-to-know basis. In fact, no one but us knows that you were actually in the room when Vivica was taken. We wanted to stay ahead of the kidnappers. If they felt safe, they wouldn’t start acting erratically.” That was smart.
“Except…aren’t Arkan and Kara acting erratically? I mean, what else would you call coming over here and making me take a pregnancy test?”
“Well. It really depends. It’s possible that an unexpected pregnancy is part of their plan. I have a sinking feeling that old Arkan thought he could get some money for a first-born shapeshifter witch. Unless, he just wanted to get his own name in the history books.”
Arkan’s bloodline. Didn’t his child die? I’d forgotten to ask if he had any surviving children. “Does Arkan have children?”
“All of his children passed before him. Time has not been kind to our tribe. His family in particular. And after he retired from the warriors, two more of his kids died in battle. He wanted to rejoin, but it was against our rules.”
My hand flew to my mouth. The poor guy. His whole family dies and then when he wants to make more, the rules are against him. If that wasn’t a motive, I didn’t know what was. Gerard saw my reaction and misjudged.
“Don’t you feel sorry for him, Cat. He’s known the rules a long time. We’ve all suffered from them. The difference is we all share the burden. We’re fair and just. That’s the thing you can count on in this tribe. The rules won’t work for or against any group in particular. They work for us all.”
I understood perfectly. “It’s not that. I just am relieved to know that I didn’t cause this. I know this sounds crazy, but for some reason I’ve been feeling guilty. Responsible even.”
