Have No Mercy (19 page)

My eyes peeled open to the sight
of three handsome guys peering down at me. I lay on my stomach, and I shifted
to raise myself up by my arms.

“Relax Mercy, don’t move. Rowen
is here to help.”

That was when I felt the cool air
on my exposed back.

I looked down to see I was
shirtless and quickly lay flat as I felt embarrassment and anger that these
three guys and found it necessary to undress me.

“Down killer,” Flynn said, always
able to read my thoughts. “Molly here undressed you and didn’t let us in the
room until you were ‘proper’ as she put it.”

He tried to make a joke, but I
could hear the worry hidden there. I turned my head to see Molly’s sullen face
on the other side of the bed. She gave me a tight smile. I could feel the
covers on my hips, so that was good. Too many things hurt so I couldn’t tell if
I was clothed lower. I did know I wasn’t in my jeans, and I didn’t have shoes
or slippers on.

I gave Molly the best half smile
I could muster. I was grateful for her and all her help. I turned back to
Flynn. So you believe me. I was set up.

“Shh,” he said, kneeling by the
bed. Let Rowen heal you.

Flynn got to his feet, and
Rowen’s handsome face replaced it. Tristrom stood standing in the background as
if he wanted to disappear. I could help him disappear if he let me. I didn’t
understand his reasons for staying. But I’d talk to him once I was better.

I was brought out of my thoughts
when Rowen placed his palm on my cheek. His eyes closed in concentration and
mine followed on the heels of pain. It was as if I received a thousand bee
stings, and all my nerve endings had lit on fire.

“Hold her,” Rowen commanded. I
hadn’t realized I was moving until hands stopped me.

I gritted my teeth not wanting to
cry out in pain. I had no idea where Larrison was or what he would tell
Madeline. I needed to get out of there, but I couldn’t in the state I was in.

I felt things push out of my skin
and then the itching of my skin healing at an accelerated rate. I sighed when
it all calmed down and drifted into darkness.

I woke sometime later feeling
better. I glanced around finding myself alone. Had Morgana saved me from her
mother’s wrath again or had Larriosn not told her about me?

I didn’t have time to wait. I had
two, no three tasks to complete and get myself out of Fairy before Larrison or
Madeline came after me for what I’d done. I got up and realized I was once
again dressed in a gown fit for a Queen or maybe a princess. I glanced down at
the criss-cross laces that held the scarlet dress together. I wondered why red.
I’d never seen anyone in any color outside the jousting tournament. Other than
that, the white, ivory, gold, blue and silver were the extent of the colors
Fey, and myself had worn.

The door opened soundlessly, and
I waited while a couple of Fey passed before I snuck out of my room and headed
to my destination. It was another testament that Larrison had kept his mouth
shut because I wasn’t under guard. Or maybe Madeline assumed I couldn’t open
the outer doors anyway. What little did they know that I didn’t need to go outside
to leave the castle?

I easily made it to my
destination. I entered and swiftly closed the door behind me. I was taking a
risk, but I had to do it. It was selfish, but what would come next would be to
the benefit of everyone else. I deserved this. I needed to say goodbye because
I couldn’t be sure with all the time that had passed, if I could get Luke back.

That time I didn’t long for
school. I just pictured Luke. When I opened my eyes, his blue eyes were on
mine. We were lying face to face, and we didn’t bother with words. He leaned in
and kissed me in the sweetest way.

“Morning,” he said with a wide
grin as his hand slipped under the cover to slip under my sleep shirt to grip
my bare hip.

“Morning,” I said as he pulled me
close. “What do you think you’re up to cowboy?”

His pistol had its own ideas.
“Trying to get some alone time with my wife.”

Alone time? Wife? Did he mean
wife in legal in the state of Maryland? I started to lift up my hand, so I
could see my finger. It might give me a clue. But he cupped my face and kissed
me deep until the door of our room burst open.

All of a sudden, I knew as if it
had always been my reality.

"Finn,” I yelled at the top
of my lungs, before I changed tactics. I breathed out and used a calm but stern
voice. “Finnegan Lucas."

My two-year-old son gave me his
best chagrin because he knew he was in trouble. The evidence was in the blue
streaks that cover his blonde hair.

"But mommy, I luk like Uncle
Fynn." He demonstrated with blue fingers pushing up the sides of his hair
so that the curls bunched at the top in Mohawk fashion.

The laugh escaped me before I
could stop it. I glanced at Luke whose grin was just as wide. It was hard to be
sad when my son was so adorably cute.

"Go wash your hands," I
said trying to regain some composure. I pointed towards the hall and Finn's
smiles dipped, and he looked genuinely repentant. He left the room and helped
us out by closing the door with blue hands before I could stop him.

I laughed again, because he kept
me on my toes. I was forever cleaning messes around the house. “I can’t believe
he can say uncle but he can’t say Flynn yet.”

Luke laughed again; then it
morphed into something else. When his heated gaze landed on me, he asked,
"How long do you think we have before he returns?"

I shrugged before he got out of
bed and headed to the door. I closed my eyes because I knew the routine. He
would check to make sure Finn was okay before he came back and locked us in
before Finn would undoubtedly bang on it wanting in at some point soon.

The door closed, and I sighed.
“You took too long,” I teased because it had been less than a minute or two. “I
need you right now.”

I sat up and lifted my nightgown
over my shoulder before I tossed it to the side. I hoped that was enough of an
invitation. But I lay back anyway. I heard his clothes hit the carpet before
his warm body rolled heavy on me.

He kissed me first, but my eager
hands let him know what I wanted. And it was natural for him to join me as we
became one set of tangled limbs with no beginning and no end. Although our pace
was frantic with time looming over us, he was also very gentle with me like the
first time in every way. I sighed into his deepened kiss, enjoying the
closeness we shared. It felt so much like coming home.

When we were breathless, and he
grinned in victory, I smiled. He cupped my cheeks and pressed a light kiss to
my lips. "I feel like I waited my whole life for this. I love you Mercy
with all of me."

Even though it was a strange
thing for him to say because he’d told me he loved me many times before, tears
of joy threatened to release as my heart swelled to the size of Texas. "I
love you too Luke."

 He stiffened, and all the light
dimmed from his blue eye. Confusion clouded me. I didn't understand his change
of demeanor.  He rose off me and when he did a horror movie moment happened.
His head shook, and his face changed from that of Luke into...

I gasped. When he stared down at
me, it wasn't Luke I saw. It was Flynn. The room also morphed back into the
bedroom with me in the bed.

He got up and sat at the edge of
the bed with his legs off the side. He gave me his back. "I should have
known," he muttered more to himself. "It's always him." He
paused and I was at a loss for words unable to move not sure what just
happened. "But you called me. I heard you say my name with such agony I
couldn't ignore it."

Had I called to him? I called out
Finnegan's name several times. Did he mistake that for Flynn? And what did that
matter now.

"I'm-"

He cut me off. "Don't."
His breath huffed. "I don't want or need your sorry. It's all my fault. I
keep allowing this to happen, even when I've always known it was him you wanted
and not me."

I wanted to agree, but denial
claws at my throat. Luke wasn't all I wanted. It was wrong on so many levels,
but I loved Flynn just as much. It was easy to deny with Luke alive and well.
But there alone with no one but Flynn, I couldn't summon the lie from my
throat.

"It sucks now because I've
stolen your innocence, something that never belonged to me. You'll just have to
explain to him that you thought I was him."

I did the fish mouth thing,
opening and closing my mouth without words. I breathed trying to come up with
the right thing to say. I couldn't seem to tell him the truth that my innocence
was lost before today in one and only act of love before Luke was stolen from
me. "We're mated?"

It was a dumb thing that came out
of my mouth. Flynn was visibly shaken again as a shutter runs down his spine.

"We don't know that. You
said we were human here."

It sounded like an accusation.
And I didn't the time to tell him what happen between me and Larrison before he
speaks again.

"Last thing I need or want
is to be tied for the rest of my life to a girl who doesn't even want me."

He wasn't talking to me, but I
heard it nonetheless.

Weakly, I held back tears of
sadness. And I hated myself for it. I'd cried or nearly cried more times since
Luke's... than I had my whole life. "Maybe we didn't do anything. You have
to know this room... it's magic like dreams come true."

He snorted. "But you and I
are both..." He stares down at himself then at me. I follow his eyes and
notice for the first time since waking to reality that I'm not wearing
anything."

I rolled in an effort to find the
spilled comforter that hung off the other side of the bed. He was tangled in
the sheet, and I reached for the downy soft fabric to cocoon myself in it.

"Too late for that."
But then his eyes land on the empty spot I vacated in the middle of the bed.
His palm lands in the spot and swipes over it. His brows furrow. "Maybe
you're right." His voice was hesitant as if he wasn't sure what he's
seeing. "There's no blood or other things. Maybe we didn't do anything.
There would be blood."

"You're gross," I said
in defense. There wouldn't be any blood, but I didn't think this was the right
moment to explain that.

He stood freeing his legs from
the sheet. I averted my eyes from the moon his backside offered me. I could
feel the flush spreading down my cheek to my neck. When I heard the rustle of
clothing, I opened one eye and move the comforter enough from my face to peek
out. 

In those weird pants, he turns to
face me. Seeing me mostly hidden under the covers, he shook his head.
"Don't worry, your virtue is safe from me."

He bent and snagged a shirt from
the floor. I found myself enthralled by the lines and plains of his stomach and
ab muscles. I swallowed. Flynn was a specimen for which all males should aspire
to. He was ridiculously hot in every way.

When I could pry my eyes back to
his face, his signature smirk was there. "If I didn't know any better, I'd
think you want me princess. But I do know better."

"Flynn," I said needing
to be honest with him for once.

"You don't have to worry
about me sweetheart." The endearment was spoken like a curse. And he’d
used two on me so far. "I’m not changing my mind. I’m staying here."

"But," I gasped. I sat
up and faced him. It wasn't until I felt the chill of the room did I snatch up
the cover to my neck to hide the exposed skin.

He snorted again. "Like I've
told you before, I've seen it all before. You have nothing special that all the
other girls don't have."

It felt like a slap. I jerked
back in response wounded by his words. He was so callous in his tone, I
believed him in every way. Boy what a mistake it would have been if we had done
something. "It didn't mean anything to you."

"You mean what didn't
happen." His knee was the first body part to dip the bed before his hands
followed as he crawled over to me, getting in my face. His breath fanned across
my cheek as I felt the rage burn inside him as if it were my own. "If it
had happened, it would have been just another conquest."

I don't believe him or rather I
don't want to believe him. It still stung. And I did the only thing you do to
the ones you love. "I know. That's why I know better than to be with a guy
like you." It was anger that fueled my words, needing to hurt him as much
as he hurt me.

"Like I said, you don't have
to worry about me anymore. Morgana is more than enough for my need."

"I hope she gives you real
blue balls," I blurt, feeling the intensity of our lips so close.

“You’ve already given me enough
times to last a lifetime.”

I gaped again. “Flynn,” and my
words are soft again. I don’t want to fight with him. I don’t want to leave him
here.

He saw the change in my
expression, or he read my mind like he always does. "What do you want from
me?" His eyes dared me to tell the truth.

"I..I"

"You want me to watch you
reunite with Luke and slowly die because I can't feed off anyone but you,"
he spat. "Even if I hadn't come here, I wasn't staying. I told you I
wouldn’t die in front of you. Dad found a half demon school in Canada for me to
go. Maybe it would have been far enough away for me to survive and find peace
without you. So thank God or Hell that nothing happened between us and I'm not
bound to you forever."

He scrambled back so quickly off
the bed I near bounce as the mattress rights its self from the loss of his
weight.

"In fact, we don't have to
see each other for the rest of the time you're here. Do what you came to do and
leave Mercy. Please."

“I chose you, Flynn. There are a
billion reasons why I should let you go. But I can’t. I love you.”

Only he didn’t hear because he
was gone. I rolled off the bed and fell ungracefully onto the floor. I stand
and scramble to the door not caring about my lack of clothes. Flynn looked dead
serious, and I couldn't bare the need in his eyes for me to leave him be. It
hurt like I'd been stabbed. I opened the door hiding the rest of myself behind
the wall. I poked my head out searching for any sight of him. But he was gone.

I closed the door struck bare
that had nothing to do with clothes. I had nothing, no one and it was all my
fault. In the back of my mind, I’d assumed that Flynn would change his mind.
Then I messed up again and lost the two guys I love in a matter of days or
however long I'd been in that godforsaken realm. What was I doing and why was
my life so out of control?

I slumped to the floor just as
the room began to dissolve again, and I cursed before I accepted the comforts
the room had to offer in the form of fantasies that would never come true.