Marc insisted on driving Sally and me to Mathilda’s house. It meant that he would be gone for hours, but Clarissa assured us that she’d cover for him if Joshua arrived while he was gone. The members of the task force were very much aware of the riff between Joshua and Marc. Although not everyone believed Joshua to be unstable, they all knew that he coveted the kingship and that was intolerable. Many grumbled over why Clarissa invited him in the first place to the point that Marc was forced to demand that they respect her. She was the king’s sister, after all; as Joshua was his brother. They weren’t told the entire story of my kidnapping, but they were told enough to understand that I was being removed from the premises to avoid conflict when Joshua arrived. Only Edward and Joseph were told where Marc was taking me.
I was correct with my assumption that Mathilda and Sally would have a lot in common. They instant
Sally’s suggestion that I look at the dark beasts more like evil humans in dog costumes than like dogs or wolves couldn’t have been more accurate. I’d been warned about their intelligence, what I wasn’t warned about was their ability to shape shift.The wild dog look, although their favorite, was only one of several identities that they took on while above ground. Had I not known better, I would have thought that I’d, somehow, traveled onto the movie set shooting an episode of “Planet of the Apes” when my bedroom door burst open and several large apes bounded in. One of them lifted me into its arms while the other rummaged the desk until it came across papers. Surprisingly, amidst all of that madness, I was able to wonder if those papers were what Joshua focused on the day that I’d seduced him.“Put her down, you, son-of-a-bitch,” Joshua roared as he rushed into the room with lightning
I feigned sleep while I listened to Marc and Dr. Murry converse.“She’s stable and the baby’s fine,” Dr. Murry assured Marc. “She’s more exhausted than anything. I can’t imagine how much energy she used fighting off those monsters while strapped down and at the same time telepathically communicating with you.”“Not just communicating,” Marc said with pride. “She manipulated my body.”“Amazing,” the doctor said with a slow whistle. “I’d heard about such things, but never met anyone who could do it.”“She’s Lyron,” Marc said in a hushed tone.“She’s one of the last,” he gasped. “It’s no wonder they want her.”“You must tell no one,” he ordered.“Of course not,” Dr. Murry said. “Does she know who she is?”&
Clarissa puttered around the bedroom, mindless of the fact that Marc and I lay naked while sleeping in each other’s arms. Clearly, she didn’t possess the modesty that her brother displayed.When I lifted my head to see who’d invaded our room, she smiled sweetly, pointed to a pile of fabric in the accent chair next to the chest dresser and announced that she’d gone shopping for some necessities and a few outfits for me. I watched with amusement as she rearranged a few of Marc’s dresser drawers to accommodate my things.Clarissa seemed not to notice when I threw the sheet over Marc’s private parts as he rolled over and groaned.“I hate to be the bearer of unwanted reminders,” she said as she came to the bed and tugged on Marc’s foot, “but you have a campground full of task force members chomping at the bit for their leader to appear and Luis is stomping around the kitchen trying to keep Miss G
We didn’t have the paternal test done on the child in my womb, but we did get an ultrasound and found out the sex of the baby. We were having a boy. With the birth so close, I felt the urgency of preparing for our son’s arrival and started making a list of what we’d need.One of the advantages of Marc’s wealth was the ability to hire a personal shopper because I didn’t feel up to going out. When I mentioned this little perk to Roger when he telephoned to check on me, he went into a fit of temper, insisting that he be allowed to act as personal shopper for the baby’s things. Marc overnighted a credit card to him and laughingly told him to have a good time. All he asked was that the clothing be blue and not pink. Roger delighted in the way Marc was coming around with his sense of humor and made certain that we knew it.When I saw the large cube van slowly making its way up the long drive to the lodge, I sm
“Have you ever opened your door to find a this absolutely gorgeous, hunky, specimen of a man standing on the other side? I’ve dreamt just that, repeatedly, to the point that I’m frustrated with myself for not having a depth of imagination to move beyond this dream guy -pun intended- and into something more substantial. I mean, all he does is stand there with a sexy smirk on his face. Night after night, I see myself in this cozy little log cabin. There’s an enormous fieldstone fireplace dominating the room. The warmth from its roaring fire permeates every crack and crevice of the small, but spacious room. Either there’s no electricity, or it’s gone out for some reason because I’m sitting curled up in an overstuffed, tweed covered club chair, reading a book by lantern light. I can’t see the title of the book, but, by the look of the cover, I’d guess it’s a romance novel.
The ringing of the telephone was magnified by the pounding headache that was all consuming. I stretched my body as best as I could on the sofa that I could only assume belonged to Chris and placed my hands over my forehead.“Answer the phone,” I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes and tried to bring the world into focus. “How much did I drink?” I asked no one in particular, while I fought down the vomit that was trying to force its way up my esophagus.“Clearly, more than you can handle,” said the oh so familiar voice of Dr. Mokena.“What are you doing here?” I groaned.“I live here,” she said in a flat tone.Perhaps I just heard it as flat because of my all-consuming headache. I tried to sit up, but the pain was so excruciating that I was sure I’d lose the battle with the vomit.“I’m sick,” I said matter-of-factly.“I’m not surp
I won’t say that I didn’t feel a sense of loss over Bert’s death. We were engaged once, after all. Even though it ended badly, I’d had feelings for him at one time. It’s just that the thought of sitting within the confines of the church amongst the ‘Gertie haters’ was more than either I or Chris wanted to endure. We decided to forgo the church and catch up with the funeral proceedings at the cemetery.I was surprised to see how intimate a crowd it was that gathered around the open grave. I stood close enough to hear the eulogy, but far enough away as not to intrude on what appeared to be a tight-knit gathering. My ever-supportive friend stayed glued to my side, gripping my elbow at times whenever someone from the group would look our way.I smiled to myself when I remembered the time that Bert accused me of being a lesbian. Chris’ intent on shielding me from the mourners could eas
True to his word, Marc picked us up at exactly twelve noon. He was parked outside and Chris and I were scrambling for the door when my mother asked us his identity. It was then that I realized that I had no clue what his full name was. I felt a little foolish telling her that it was Marc the lodge owner, but she knew right away who I was talking about. That was one of the advantages of living in a small town. Everyone knew about, if not actually knew, everyone.“I’ve never met the man, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about him,” my mother said as she smoothed my hair away from my face.“That’s good to hear,” I said.I considered taking the hint about introducing her to him, but the idea of my mother going out to the car to check out my date -even if he was taking both Chris and me to lunch, I knew that it was me who he’d really asked so, yes, I considered it a date- seemed a lit