Malevolence - Legacy Series Book Two (The Legacy Series) (23 page)

           
I put my hand on my stomach and bent over slightly.
 
“Tummy problems, sorry.
 
All this French food is killing me.
 
Okay,
gotta
go.
 
Have a nice day.”
 
I headed for the door.

           
“I know what you
doin
’, you don
unnerstand
the trouble you will find if you pursue de blood devils.
 
You’re in danger and you should leave Paris now.
 
I foresee your friend; he will die at the hand of one of
dem
.
 
Your
mudder
da
werewolf in my lobby is
lookin
’ for
ya
.
 
Git
! Mark
me
words, leave now and you might be able to save him.
 
I see all.”
 
She threw her head back and laughed like a woman on the edge of sanity.

           
“Thanks, I’ll remember that.
 
Bye!”
 
I said quickly and flew out of the door. Was there anything normal about my life?
 
Nope, not at all.

           
Gus grabbed my arm, spinning me around to face him.
 
“You’re shaking, what happened?”

           
“Oh, nothing.
 
Well, it might be nothing, but that woman just said that one of my friends will die because of a blood devil.”

           
“Blood devil?
 
I think I’ll use that.
 
Did she say which friend?” he said as he looked around the room.
 
We should go; I can’t reach anyone with pack talk.
 
Have you tried?”
 
Gus said as he held my arm while we walked

           
The relief on Oakley’s face as we walked outside was obvious.
 
It only took a breath before I was wrapping my arms around him.
 
His lips were cold and I could taste his Bert’s Bees. I could feel the tension leave his body.
 
My heart was heavy with the new prediction of one of my friends dying.
 
I made a mental promise not to let Oakley out of my sight again on this trip.

 
Chapter 25. Parker

“
The dog replied, I am hungry, and have nothing to eat.” The Dog and the Sparrow ~ Grimm’s Household Tales

ABEL

           
Moments were ticking into minutes that melted into hours.
 
My dad called right before they took off from New York.
 
The plane should’ve landed an hour ago but the drizzling rain was freezing when it hit the runway.
 
The airport was mostly vacant except for those that were determined to catch the next flight out.
 
There is nothing worse than flying standby.
 

           
All of us at the condo came to the airport together.
 
In light of Pru’s experiences in the museum we thought it was in our best interest to stay together.
 
We paid off the drivers to leave the keys with us.
 
You can never be too safe when it came to strangers and vampire stomping grounds.
 
Pru told us about the faerie queen in the museum, but we didn’t let Kenneth in on it.
 
I had no idea what bad things this new character would do to Pru, but I wasn’t in the mood to find out.

           
Oakley and Pru where thick as thieves, plotting some sort of attack.
 
I couldn’t get the antidote out of my head.
 
Gus told me stories about the werewolf Olympics.
 
As crazy as they sounded, I was looking forward to them.
 
I had not been to Ireland yet and I thought it would be a great chance to meet all the alphas.
 
I would be eighteen by then and as I agreed, I would take over as alpha for the Phelan pack.
 
Gus thought it would be cool if I entered the games.
 

           
“You know I was kicked off my t-ball team for striking out, right?
 
I refuse to embarrass myself in front of the entire wolf world.”
 
I shook my head back and forth with the memory of Shawn teasing me for years about our t-ball team.
 
Not exactly my idea of a good first impression.

           
An overhead announcement in French boomed through the quiet airport.
 
Dolly said they were announcing a private jet was about to land at the west wing.
 
We were at the east wing.
 
We all did our power walk across the airport in time to see my parents walking past security.
 
I broke away from the group and ran over to hug my mom.
 
“Oh Abel, I’m so glad you’re okay.
 
I’ve never been so scared before” she said as she choked back tears.

           
“Mom, don’t worry, we’ll figure this out” I whispered in her ear.
 
Standing patiently behind her was Chrissy, her eyes glassy from lack of sleep but beautiful nonetheless.
 
“
You okay?”
 
I thought to her.
 
She shook her head yes and I let go of my mom to pull her in for a hug.
 
“You’re a sight for sore eyes.
 
I didn’t realize how much I missed you, until this very moment.”

           
“I missed you too
wolfy
.”
 
Chrissy thought back and squeezed me tighter to her.
 
I put my hands on her waist and slid my cold hand under her shirt; I wanted to feel her soft skin under my fingers.
 

           
“Eh, hem…earth to son, your dad is right here and I’m still the mom.”
 

           
I let go of Chrissy to appease the parents.
 
Not a problem, I would have alone time with Chrissy soon enough.
 
I took her hand and grabbed her carry on.
 
Oakley took my mom’s bag and Gus took my dad’s…after a test of the wills.

           
“It looks like we have everyone, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” I said.

           
Chrissy stopped and turned to face me.
 
“Yeah, about that.
 
Well, there was a little problem, and well you see, we have one more person with us.”
 
She crinkled her nose and continued.
 
“Don’t be mad, but Parker came with us.”
 
She took a step back to see my expression.

           
Pru came to a halt, turned around to look at Bryon and Shaynie.
 
“Did I hear that right?
 
Parker is with you?”
 
Pru said haughtily.

           
“As a matter of fact, yes, you heard her right Pru,” Parker said as he caught up to us.
 
“Hey guys, this isn’t the time to air our dirty laundry.
 
We had a couple of kinks in the New York airport.
 
I’ll tell you about it in the car, someone is outside watching the cars right?”
 
He made eye contact with me and thought,
“it isn’t a big deal, but we have company.
 
The Jackson pack from Maine is on a plane to Paris too.
 
Word is out about a hit on Dolly, they are coming to protect her.”
 
He shook his head back and forth, unable to hide the stress he was feeling.
 
“This is big Abe.
 
I think it’s time to call in the O’Connell’s.
 
We’re on foreign land and half our pack is in Oklahoma.
 
I’m not going to lie; the Jackson’s are assholes, straight up.”

           
“That’s what I’ve heard.
 
They’re your birth family though, so maybe they will be okay to deal with.”
 
I looked around the room, knowing that even though I was not the true alpha yet, essentially I really was.
 
Dolly and I shared a look and I knew she was stepping down.
 
Damn, damn, damn.
 
I took in a deep breath, my final breath as a free independent.
 
“Okay everyone, let’s grab the luggage and get somewhere less open.”
 
I felt a hand on my shoulder; instinctively I knew it was my dad offering up his encouragement.

 
Chapter 26. Parents

“And thus, after all, the bright sun did bring it to light.” The Bright Sun Brings it to Light ~ Grimm’s Household Tales

           
The cute little French house was quickly becoming very crowded.
 
Dolly offered her room to my parents since it was the only room with a king sized bed.
  
After a short dispute and logical argument it was decided that Shaynie, Pru, and Chrissy would move in the room with Dolly.
 
My parents moved all of their stuff to the room next to the girls.
 
I kicked Oakley out of my room, telling him to bunk with Bryon and Chad.
 
Gus and Parker moved their stuff into my room; one would be parked outside of my door while I slept and one in the room.
 
Everyone else would sleep in shifts.
 
I had realized a year ago that I would never experience the whole bachelor living alone thing.
 
I would be perpetually young and live in a dog fraternity forever.
 
I laughed to myself, thinking about watching us all grow old.
 

           
I went to the only room without a guard so I could think about what I should do next. I didn’t know about other houses in Paris, but this one had bathrooms with a lot of open space.
 
The room was a perfect square; a short wall hid the toilet and odd shaped urinal.
 
The tub was large and had jets all around it, I wondered what it was like.
 
My very favorite thing of all was, hands down, the car wash shower.
 
There were sprayers everywhere; one day I was going to have that kind of shower for sure.
  

Directly in front of the toilet was a large white dresser with a built in bench.
 
Sitting on the bench I couldn’t help but wonder about the position of it.
 
I didn’t know if maybe the people that owned the house invited people in the room to talk to them while they were on the pot.
 
Finding that particularly funny, I started laughing out loud.
 
Some werewolf on the other side of my hiding place hollered out to find out if I was okay.
 
No, I was not okay.
 
I was stuck in a house with the most important people in my life, some that were human, some were werewolves and one was a healer that owned my heart.
 
How in the hell was I supposed to protect them?
 
Did they expect that my special jumping powers were going to make everyone feel protected when I
lept
on a vampires back and hovered over them gracefully?

           
I ran my fingers through my hair trying to find the alpha in me.
 
I was not such a Great Wolf after all. Not only did I have to fake it for everyone under this roof, but within the next twelve hours I would be surrounded by two packs that had alphas that were feared and
then
respected.
 
I was sure all the weres that had to pay the special ‘werewolf tax’ for me, were wanting a rebate about now.
 
Come on Abel, THINK.
 
My cell phone started vibrating right then.
 
I put the phone to my ear, and before I could say anything I heard,

 
“What the hell are you THINKING bringing them HERE?
 
Are you out of your mind?
 
They will die, DUMB ASS!”
 
Allie’s voice hissed.