Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (24 page)

“Alex can still speak to me, but other than
that, I have to refocus on them to hear them… I can still keep them
from hearing me, but it’s harder that way… I guess, the best way to
explain it would be like turning the radio down as background noise
while you’re talking to people. You hear the conversation you’re
having much more distinctly than the radio, but if you want to hear
the radio, you can, you just lose concentration on the person,” he
explained and I stared over at him in awe as he laughed nervously,
“Did I say something wrong?”

“No… that made total sense… but it’s pretty
much the most information I’ve ever gotten from anyone here…” I
admitted as his smile softened.

“You’ll get more soon,” he assured,
“Probably more than you want. If you were going to ask about
earlier today, I suggest….” He trailed off and motioned to one of
the bathroom doors as I nodded and followed him into it. The door
made that air-sucking sound as it closed before he spoke again.
“What did you want to ask?”

“Why did you pull me away from the clock?” I
whispered, minutely afraid of his answer, “How did you even know I
was there?”

His gaze shifted toward the closed door and
he bit on his lip when he looked back at me. “I can’t… When the
pack leader makes an order… there really isn’t a way around it… I
can’t answer your questions….” He glanced at the door again.
“They’re getting a little suspicious, especially Trina… was there
anything else?”

When I shook my head, he pulled the door
open and practically everyone was scattered around the room as
though they’d been there the whole time, except Trina waited with a
cue stick in her hand, leaning against the table, her back to the
door until it opened and she spun around. Whatever she had
expected, with that furrowed look on her face, she didn’t see and
she lit up into a bright smile, rushing over and dragging me back
to the table.

“Do you play?” she queried and I
shrugged.

“Kind of, but I’m not great at it,” I
admitted which seemed to dim a little of that happiness, “I’ve
never had a table readily available to practice on though.”

“Will you play with me?” she requested and I
nodded, grabbing a cue stick and chalking up the end of it.

She let me break, and laughingly agreed to
my favorite game of “craps” as I called it; I had no idea if there
was a real name for whoever gets the most balls in the holes
regardless of color but attempting to still sink the 8 ball
last.

I was acutely aware of the excessive
attention Farren was getting and was a little worried for him, but
the two times I tried to intervene I was stopped by first Trina,
then Farren himself.

The sun was just starting to set when Trina
stopped short of actually hitting the cue ball, her head tilted to
one side as her eyes darted first to the windows and then the door.
The smile that lit up her face as she finished her shot and sank
the last ball was almost scary, and immediately after, she dropped
the cue stick, grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the
room. Silence had fallen around the room and I felt them following
at a distance as she dragged me down the hallway.

Just as the stairs came into view, so did
the person walking up them and my heart thudded in my chest, my
feet stopping when eyes of a strange mix of very light green and
gray shifted up to me from under a draping of chest-length pale
blonde hair.

“Trina,” he gently scolded and there was
that thudding heart in my chest again, “Let her go, Trina.”

“I’m not sure she’ll stay upright if I’m not
supporting her,” Trina giggled as he made his way up to the second
floor and I had to look up to see his eyes again.

“She’ll be fine,” he stated with certainty
and Trina skipped off back to the others. I did reach out and grab
the banister, but I didn’t fall over as his eyes shifted across me
briefly. “In case you can’t tell from the way they’re all acting,
I’m Aeril,” he greeted with the softest smile that nearly made my
knees buckle, but I refused them that relief.

“I’m Anna,” I murmured, my face flushing red
because I knew he already knew who I was but his smile just spread
up to his eyes, “Welcome home, I guess?”

“Would you care to join me for a drive?” he
questioned and I noticed his left eyebrow quirked up just a little
and found myself trying not to laugh because it was just so
cute.

“Sure,” I agreed and he held his hand out to
me which I hesitantly took hold of as he led me back downstairs and
out to the garage.

After he got into the driver’s seat of the
black sports car and I was in the passenger seat, he sighed and
leaned his head against the steering wheel.

“I’m sorry about all of this,” he chuckled
faintly, letting his head fall to the side as his light green-gray
eyes stared over at me and I searched them for the telltale
silver.

“I can’t tell if you’re tuning them out or
not… your eyes are so light…” I whispered and he smiled as they
suddenly became a darker green-gray and the silver was a stark
contrast.

“I tune them out almost all of the time,
it’s a rare occurrence that I’m not tuning them out,” he revealed
but I stared back at him in shock and he laughed, “You’re very
pretty, Arianna… I liked you before they started teasing me… or, I
should say, I liked what I’d seen of you… Now, Alex won’t let me
take you out for dinner tonight… but do you like the park?”

I barely nodded as he smiled and cranked the
car, backing out of the garage and heading away from the house.
“How did you do that… with your eyes?” I finally had to ask and he
laughed, making my heart skip.

“It’s just something I learned how to do.
Even human eyes change colors a bit, they could probably control
the change if they tried to as well,” he admitted, darting his eyes
briefly to me, “I’m going to tell you something I could get in a
lot of trouble for… but I think you have a right to know….” He
paused for a long moment and I worried he’d change his mind, “Every
werewolf has some sort of special magical ability… like
mind-reading, seeing the future, seeing the past, seeing effects of
choices, matchmaking, elemental ones with water, fire, air, earth…
and there are many, many others….”

“Oh,” I gasped, it explained a lot including
why Trina had told him to come home without my ever speaking,
“That’s really good to know… Is someone… going to follow us
tonight? I was told I’ve been being followed pretty much everywhere
since I got here….”

“It’s possible, but doubtful. Since I’m with
you, there’s no
good
reason for anyone to be following you,
but someone might come to spy. I’ll be able to let you know if they
do… if they do, we can hang out in the car,” he offered and I
laughed softly, watching him as he pulled off of the main highway
into a small parking lot which just led out onto an open field with
sparsely scattered trees and benches and picnic tables.

He rolled down the window for a long minute,
his eyes still filled with their silver before he sighed and rolled
the window back up.

“Someone followed…” I realized from the look
on his face, but his eyes darted to me in shock, “What?”

“Um… sorry… even my own pack mates have a
hard time reading my facial expressions… I
just
met you…” he
answered with a faint smile, “It’s a little weird… but yeah… Trina
followed… I could send her back, if you want me to… or we could
hang out in the car, which would probably spread rumors….”

“I say we hang out in the car then,” I
laughed and he chuckled as he turned it off and turned in his seat
to face me.

“You can ask… I’ll tell you,” he commented
and somehow I knew what he meant.

“What’s your magic…?” I whispered, watching
his lips quirk into a smile.

“Telepathy,” he stated, watching me closely,
“I
can
listen to the thoughts of others, as well as project
my thoughts into theirs. I won’t normally abuse it, but I had to
test it with you… You didn’t ask when I first mentioned it, but you
thought about how much sense things made now, Trina, was your
example; and when I said you could ask, I projected the question to
your mind.”

“Why are you willing to tell me things no
one else is?” I queried and he shrugged his shoulders, “I mean…
those magics you listed earlier… couldn’t someone find out what
you’ve done, and you get in trouble…?”

“Alex isn’t going to punish me until you’re
safely adjusted to life with us,” he told me with another shrug,
“He’s been informed if he does, it might scare you away completely,
or cause you to refuse anyone around you but Rayne.”

I laughed, deciding that Malcolm had
probably been the one to tell him that, since I’d been left to my
own devices since he’d arrived. Aeril watched me with amusement in
his eyes and I decided he was probably listening to my thoughts
again, so I thought them… Trina was probably the matchmaker…
Malcolm could see different effects of choices… Farren definitely
sees futures. Aeril chuckled and my eyes darted to him.

“Are you going to be listening to my
thoughts all of the time…?” I wondered and he quickly shook his
head.

“Just when it might be important… I like
you, Arianna… I like you a lot, actually…” he admitted with a soft
laugh, “I don’t want to do anything to scare you off, or upset
you….”

“Why…” I hesitated, thinking through my
words, “Why are you so certain Alex won’t punish you…? Why does he
think you’re so important…?”

“Because everyone that can… and has looked…
has seen me with you in your future,” he revealed with a sigh, his
other hand taking hold of my other wrist, “Right now, Alex is so
concerned with trying to get you accepted into the pack… and get
you to accept the life that is ahead of you… that he would do
almost anything to keep you calm… and since everyone’s seen me in
your future… he doesn’t want to interfere with anything involving
you and me.”

“Hmm…” I mumbled, wondering if he was still
listening to my thoughts, wondering if I pictured something if he
could see it and the oversized grandfather clock popped into my
head.

“That’s a door, to the basement,” he stated
simply, “But it’s dangerous and you shouldn’t be near it… and I’m
glad Farren stopped you from touching it.” I realized when my face
flushed red that I’d thought through Farren pulling me away from
the grandfather clock.

“Why is it dangerous?” I questioned, but
Aeril’s green-gray eyes were watching me intently.

Aeril suddenly sighed, deeply, spinning
around and laying his hand on the horn as I jumped in my seat. He
sighed again before facing me and laughing to himself, “I’m sorry…
that wasn’t meant to startle you… it was meant to startle Trina…
She was irritating me… It’s apparently time to get you back to the
house for dinner, so she just kept saying my name over and over
again to get my attention.”

“Oh…” I mumbled, remembering Farren’s
comparison of tuning out the pack to the radio which made Aeril
chuckle. “Why do you tune your pack out almost completely?”

“Well, I get the pack connection, on top of
my telepathy… and it’s really irritating… I couldn’t even really
live my life because I was so involved in theirs… so it was easier
to learn how to tune them out, than to shut off my telepathy
completely… I can’t shut it off completely… I have to focus not to
listen to someone….”

“Is that why you’re still listening to
mine?”

“I was trying to figure you out…” he
admitted, darting angry eyes out the windshield before he cranked
the car again and backed out of the parking spot.

I lifted Aeril’s hand in mine as I inspected
his long, slender, pale fingers; fingers which laced between mine
and curled around my hand. “I don’t want to like you… because they
thought I would…” but as I spoke, my fingers curled over his
knuckles and pressed to the smooth back of his hand, “But I
do….”

I felt him exhale with a strangled laugh and
realized exactly what I had said and how it must have sounded.
“They’ll know… they knew already… but I’m glad…” he chuckled to
himself, his fingers tightening on my hand, “I’m really glad…
You’re hard to read, Arianna.”

“Oh.” I was getting a very strong, very
unrelated feeling right then, though, and Aeril looked at me in
confusion.

“This is what your feelings are like…?” he
queried and I shrugged, “Tell me what I need to do.”

“Get back to Alex’s… Jason’s there…” I
revealed almost silently and he barely nodded his head before
getting back on the road towards the mansion.

“Your little brother…?” he whispered and I
nodded, “Your little brother… that you want to keep away from
us…?”

I laughed faintly and nodded again as we
sped into the mansion’s driveway to find Jack and Caiden outside
with Jason.

“Where is my sister!?” Jason blurted,
seeming to be repeating it as I jumped out of the car and his head
spun to face me. I saw the flash of relief in his eyes before he
seemed to catch how angry I was.

“Jason,” I muttered, walking slowly towards
him as he dragged his feet to meet me halfway but not without
darting his eyes to Aeril climbing slowly out of the car. When he
was close enough, I grabbed his arms and stared hard into his eyes,
“I told you not to come here. I told you not to get involved, and
yet here you are… why?”

“You’re my sister,” he started beneath his
breath, “You’re my sister, whether by blood or not, and I know you…
you’ve been acting weird for days! Coming here, staying with them,
after you seemed scared of Alex, is weird. It isn’t like you at
all!”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner, Jason?” the
voice that asked that question made my heart thump loudly against
my ribcage and I froze for a fraction of a second before I realized
it was getting dark, fast, and darted my eyes towards the front
door.