Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (19 page)

Jax was quiet for a few moments when she finished. “It
sounds like he’s actually better qualified to be the one of the people behind
this than anyone else.”

“He didn’t—I know for
sure
he didn’t.”

“And how do you know that?”

She grimaced as she told him. “He was at my place all
night.”

“Lucky him.” Jax raised his eyebrows and moved on. “Bernard
is the only person I think we can truly trust. What do you think about him?”

That caught her off guard considering Jax didn’t even
really know Bernard. “Of course I trust him, but why do you?”

“Because he’s the only one Grandfather told me I could
always trust,” he said, “besides you.”

“Oh.”

 “I forgot about Tanner, I think he’s legit too.”

Addy thought about Tanner; her feelings about him had
really changed over the last couple of days. She felt as close to him as she
did the rest of her friends. It was actually unsettling how close she felt. “Tanner
is good in my book, but obviously I’m not the best judge.”

“It’s tough to be objective—they’re your friends.” Jax
got to his feet and paced around. “Things are heating up and I want you and
everyone else prepared. A lot of the new Akori around here are friends. They’ve
been training and preparing for when I came here to claim the stone. They’ll
fight with us if needed.”

Addy stared at him, still processing his words. “Is
that really
necessary?”

 “The rumors from our contacts say the Mesen are
trying to organize and forcibly take over Tremain before I can claim the stone—even
if it means killing you and me.”

Addy’s jaw dropped. “Do you
believe
that?”

He nodded his head.

‘’Killing
us
will give them the power the stone
holds?”

Jax turned his palms up. “I honestly don’t know, I
think they’re just trying anything at this point.”

“What happens next?” She walked over to the stone and
reached up, touching the back of her neck. “When do you plan on claiming it?”

He leaned up against the table next to her. “When
Jules gets back. I want to talk to her before I’m
unavailable
for a few
days.”

She’d forgotten. When Jax claimed the stone, he’d be
out of it for several days. “What should I do while you’re… busy?”

“Make sure none of your friends try to kill me, for
one.” He gave her a half-serious smile. “Grandfather said you had some combat
training. Work with Juliette, she’ll teach you to use weapons.”

She turned her head away from him and rolled her eyes.
“That’ll be great.”

Bernard tried teaching her to use a variety of weapons,
but she was the best with one she found on the bottom of a shelf in the weapons
vault. She showed it to Fate and he told her it was the Akorian Sickle Sword.

At about 22 inches long, the sword had a slight curve,
and wasn’t as large and clunky as the other swords and maces. Plus, it was extremely
light and thin. The blade and hilt were etched with symbols like the ones on
the Overseer’s Stone.

 “So what’s up with Juliette?” Addy asked Jax. “Are
you
together
?”

“We’ve been together my entire life—I grew up with her,”
Jax said, smiling at her. “But no, we’re not
together.
She’s a good friend
to have. One day you’ll be glad she’s around.”

Addy wasn’t so sure about that. Juliette didn’t come
across as her kind of friend. “She wasn’t hurt when they attacked her last
night?”

“Nope. She can hold her own in a fight.” He shifted to
look at her and nodded his head. “She’ll teach you a lot.”

Jax’s phone rang and he said he had to head out to
meet up with Juliette. He told Addy to be back at the library by 6pm.

Chapter 17

The estate was overrun with Akori that Addy didn’t
know. It was worse than when she tried to claim the Overseer’s Stone after Fate
died. They were everywhere, talking and laughing as if they’d always been
there. Her home had definitely changed. Through the window, she could see Matt,
Kim, Gage, and Renee sitting together on the terrace. Matt was waving his arms
around telling a story and the others were laughing. He playfully nudged Renee,
who pushed him back. Addy wondered if she and Jax would ever be able to have a normal
sibling relationship like them.

Grabbing a sandwich, she sat at a table eating,
occasionally looking out through the glass at her friends. Going outside to sit
with them had crossed her mind, but she decided she could use some time alone.

The sight of Gage made her feel like she was 12 years
old again. She remembered watching him work on his motorcycle in the driveway
through her bedroom window. She’d always thought he was so perfect, from his
hair to the way he threw a punch.

Before the last couple of weeks, Addy hadn’t given
being with Gage so much as a second thought. The fact she woke up earlier in
her room next to him was beyond belief.

All of her memories up until a few years ago included
him. Every birthday party, every time she was sick, even when she learned to
ride a bike, Gage was there. He was even the one who taught her how to tie her shoelaces.

Addy remembered running up the sidewalk in the garden
when she was four.  Her shoes were untied. She stumbled a few times and finally
tripped, falling down and skinning up her hands. Gage must have been around nine
then. He picked her up, telling her to tie her laces tighter. When he figured
out she didn’t know how, he sat down and taught her.

The sound of a plate clanging on the counter startled
her back to attention.

Glancing out the window at her friends, she decided
she really should go see them. She cleared her table and headed for the door.

“Wait up, girlie,” Tanner said, catching up to her.

Addy turned and smiled at him. “You know there’s still
time to become a roadie and get the heck out of here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He tipped his head and looked
at her closely. “You seem like you’re feeling a lot better today.” He looked
toward the window. “Gage doesn’t look like he’s
brooding
anymore.”

She smiled and shook her head at him. “He wasn’t
brooding
.”

A big grin spread across his face. “Let’s get you a
dictionary later so you can check out Gage’s picture right next to the word
brooding
,
ok?”

Addy couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re terrible!”

“You like it,” Tanner said, smiling. “By the way, Jax
came to my show last night. He’s actually a really cool guy to party with.”

She rolled her eyes. “It's good to know the Overseer
knows how to party.”

“He wants me to start working with Bernard on hand to
hand combat.” Tanner told her he was excellent with a bow, and was captain of
his archery team in school. “I can hit a target without even looking at it if I
focus hard enough in my mind. Jax says it’s because of the Akori Shepherd memory
thing.”

“Jax would know. He wants his friend Juliette to train
me to use weapons.”

“Wow, don’t sound so pumped about it.”

“Between us,” Addy leaned close to Tanner and
whispered, “I don’t even know most of the Akori here—they’re all people Jax
brought in.”

Tanner glanced around at the room full of Akori, and
then settled his eyes on Addy. “Brought in for
what?”

“Protection from the Mesen that tried to attack his
house—the ones he wants us to keep quiet about.” Addy crossed her arms and
looked around. “He thinks the Mesen would kill me and him to stop him from
claiming the Overseer’s Stone.”

“Jax is just being overdramatic, girlie.” He tossed
his arm around her shoulders. “There’s probably nothing to be worried about.”

“They attacked Juliette last night after someone from
here
told them she was heading back to his house,” Addy said, shifting her eyes to
the floor. “Mesen killed my parents, not humans. I don’t think he’s
exaggerating about them.”

“Girlie.” Tanner tipped his head near hers and whispered.
“Look at me.”

She took a deep breath and turned her eyes toward him.

“I may have been wrong,” he said, tightening his arm
around her. “There probably is something to be worried about.”

“You’re not exactly
helping
to ease my anxiety,”
Addy said, poking him in the ribs. “I thought you were going for the reassuring,
everything’s gonna be alright,
kind of talk.”

“I thought you’d appreciate my honesty.” Tanner
dropped his arm from her shoulders and smiled at her. “We’ll train and watch
our backs—that’s all we can do.”

Addy walked with him out to the terrace where her
friends were sitting.

“Hey,” Gage said, smiling while he pulled up a chair
for her next to him.

She sat down, waving to the others.

Gage casually reached over and took her hand, catching
her completely by surprise. She felt her face get hot.

“Decided to get out of your own way?” Kim asked Addy,
raising her eyebrows.

Addy ignored her and focused on Renee who was looking
at her expectantly.

“Well? Any updates from your brother?” Renee asked.

 Scooting over, Addy motioned for Tanner to share half
the chair with her. Even though her friends didn’t really know him yet, she
felt close to him and wanted them to accept him as part of their group.

“The stone is back,” Addy said, looking for any
peculiar reactions from her friends. She wanted to choke Jax for making her
feel suspicious of everyone. “Jax said whoever took it freaked out when they
thought he’d be able to track it down and returned it.”

“I don’t even get why someone took it in the first
place,” Gage said.

Tanner shrugged and leaned forward to look at Gage.
“Maybe it was to stop Jax from claiming it.”

“They didn’t stop him for long if that was the plan,” Addy
said. “Jax is gonna claim the Overseer’s Stone tonight.”

“Who are all these new people?” Renee asked, looking
around them. “Almost every room in the house is full.”

“I couldn’t tell you.” Addy glanced at Tanner out of the
corner of her eye. She was pretty sure Jax didn’t want her repeating what he
told her about the new Akori being his friends.

“They could just be here because they’re curious about
Addy’s brother,” Tanner said.

“You okay, man?” Gage asked Matt, who looked like he
was zoning out.

Matt perked up and shook off whatever he was
daydreaming about.

“Yeah, I’m cool,” he said tossing his arm around Kim’s
shoulders. “Up late, that’s all.”

Renee looked around and began to whisper. Her
gossiping was one reason she and Addy never hit it off.

“I heard Addy’s brother is extremely well connected. Everyone
thought he was part of the West family, which is like the Akori equivalent of
the Kennedy family.”

 “I’m sure a lot of rumors are going around about him,”
Addy said. “Unfortunately, most are probably true.”

 “Well, he’s pretty good looking.” Renee raised her
eyebrows and smiled. “He’s popular with the Akori girls.”

“I bet he is. He’s not exactly
shy
. He answered
the door at his house looking like he fell off the cover of a trashy romance
novel—bare chest and all.” Addy told them, still feeling gross about checking
him out.

“Think you could get him to do it again?” Kim asked,
smiling at Renee. “It’d be so much easier to understand how you guys felt meeting
him for the first time if we could see it for ourselves.”

 “That could be hazardous,” Tanner said, motioning to
Addy. “I almost slipped and fell in the puddle of
drool
she left on his
porch.”

Addy tried not to laugh and bumped her shoulder into
Tanner, almost knocking him off the chair they were sharing. “That’s only funny
in a world where he’s not my
brother
.”

Tanner’s phone rang and he frowned as he checked to
see who it was. “I gotta take this, I’ll find you later,” he said to Addy and walked
inside quickly.

Gage squeezed her hand before he let go and stood up.
“I gotta roll too guys, I’m supposed hit the weights in the ballroom with
Malcolm.”

“Hold on, I have practice in a few.” Addy got to her
feet. “I’ll walk out with you.”

They started down the stairs that went to the garden. Once
they were alone, he put his arms around her shoulders and walked behind her.

“You owe me a night out,” he said.

She leaned over to look at him. “How do you figure?”

“Remember? You blew me off a couple of nights ago.”

She smiled. “Oh.”

The path split, one way went to the villas, and the
other went to the main level entrance to the ballroom where Gage was going.

“I don’t have my bag,” she said. “I’ve gotta go to my
place to change.”

He steered them down the path to the villas. “Malcolm
can wait.”

Back at her villa, Addy changed into the new black and
gray Lycra pants and top she bought at the mall with Kim. She pushed a headband
on and gathered the length of her hair into a messy ponytail. Grabbing her
shoes and socks, she headed to the living room.

Addy leaned against the frame of her bedroom door
watching Gage play with Moose on the floor. Between the handholding in front of
their friends and waking up next to him, things were getting complicated fast.

“Uh oh,” he said, smiling up at her. “What is it?”

She shrugged. “I’m confused, I guess.”

He tipped his head. “About?”

She turned her palms up. “Everything.”

“Narrow it down.”

“You and me,” she said, biting her lip.

“Me and you?”

She nodded.

“I’m not being obvious enough for you?”

She smiled innocently. “Guess not.”

Gage stood up, taking her shoes from her and tossing
them on the sofa. He grabbed both of her hands and pressed her between him and
the wall, lowering his head near her shoulder. His breathing tickled her neck,
making her squirm around.