Obsession (25 page)

Red hair, same as her own. Her brother at last!

“Jules!” She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. For years she’d dreamed of this moment, finding someone just like her, who shared blood and parentage and history. Someone who would accept her as family.

But the male she hugged felt cold and stiff as ice. He offered no welcoming hug back. Jessica stepped back, suddenly chilled and disappointed.

“Jessica. Little sister.”

The disappointment turned to hope. “You’re here. You’re really here. I’ve dreamed about this moment for so long.”

“Do you have the belt?”

Unbuckling it and sliding it out of her belt loops, she handed it to him. The crystals suddenly dulled, and went black.

No warm greeting. No explanation of why he’d remained hidden all these years, even from her. Maybe he feared being found because of the person who’d murdered their family. But still…

Bitter disappointment pushed aside the elation and hope. She watched him stroke the purple suede as if stroking a woman’s body.

“Where did you find the belt?” she asked.

“In a river, while I was fishing.”

But he failed to meet her gaze. Jules stroked the crystals, his expression greedy. “Mine,” he whispered. “All mine.”

Unreal. She’d spent her whole life dreaming of this moment, and all her hopes had been crushed within a minute. Jessica cleared her throat, fighting the disappointment.

Jules glanced up, seeming to remember she was there.

“I never believed I’d actually find you. Jessica. My only sister.” He smiled, but then looked grim again. “Tristan, damn him, put a warding spell on you when you were five years old. It weakened your Lupine powers, made you difficult to track. Your scent always changed. Made you more human than wolf, so you’d blend easier.”

Everything made sense now. Why she’d always felt different and weaker than other Lupines. Why she struggled to shift, and why her ability to heal was so weak.

“Little Jessica, who smelled more human, looked more human. Even that hair…it was like trying to find a single blade of grass in a meadow. It wasn’t until I saw that internet article you wrote about online security that I found you.” Jules stared into the distance. “Odd. I was searching for articles on hacking into computers and I saw your face staring back at me next to your byline. You have our mother’s eyes. After that, it was easy enough to find you.”

She touched her hair. “You couldn’t narrow it down? Seriously? With this hair and a wolf’s sense of smell?”

His mouth thinned. “Once, I could. Seven years ago, I lost my powers. I couldn’t even shift into wolf.” Jules stepped forward, his gray eyes shadowed, swirls of dark color flickering there. “The belt has a fail-safe, it seems, dear sister. Once used by a male, it doesn’t work. It drains your powers. But you’re a powerful female. You’re of my blood. We share DNA. You can use it and together, we will be invincible.”

Jessica’s lower lip wobbled. The belt. A dreadful suspicion seized her. “You didn’t want to find me because I’m your sister. You wanted to find me because of the belt. Power. Magick.”

He shrugged and gave her a wary look. “You do have power. You don’t know how to harness it. I can teach you.”

Snarling, she shifted into wolf and stalked toward him. Jules backed away, clutching the belt.

“Don’t hurt me, little sister. I can’t shift,” he whispered. “I lost all my magick. All of it.”

Jessica shifted back and clothed herself. Her heart ached at the forlorn expression on Jules’ face. He handed her the belt.

“This is yours now. You have the right to use it.”

Tremendous pressure filled her chest. She stared at the belt, its stones glowing dark purple. Jules smiled. “It wants you, Jessica. It recognizes its true owner.” He took a step closer. “You have the power, little sister. I will teach you how to use it.”

His voice dropped a notch. “Imagine. All your wildest dreams coming true. Whatever your heart desires, it will be yours. Together, we can conquer whatever we wish.”

Temptation filled her. All her dreams and hopes within reach. Respect. No more changing diapers or being ignored or excluded.

Belong
, the stones on the belt seemed to whisper.
You can finally belong to someone.

But deep inside, too many questions remained. “If you knew where I was, why didn’t you simply knock on the door?”

His gaze flicked away. “I couldn’t risk it. You live with a powerful pack and I’m a Lupine without powers. I needed you to find me. My enemies are constantly searching for me.”

“What enemies?”

Pain haunted his gaze. “The same ones who want to destroy you for being a descendent of Andromeda. That’s why you were adopted by the Tyrells. You had protection. I had none. Not even the ability to shift into wolf.”

Doubts nagged at her. “If you had no power, then how did you send the belt through magick delivery?”

Jules gave a slow smile. He lifted his hair, exposing his right ear. Or rather, where his ear had been.

Revulsion snaked through her. Jessica staggered backward.

“A small price to pay to deliver the belt to my dear sister. The witch who required payment has power. Much power, and needed a body part for a new spell.” He let his hair fall back, covering the opening. “I heard she died soon after. Perhaps my ear was not to her taste.”

Uncertainty filled her, Jessica had to know. “What happened to our family?”

For the first time, the jaunty confidence fled his expression. Jules’ face tightened. He jammed his hands into his pockets. “Our father went a little berserk. There’s a madness that comes from being a descendent of Andromeda. He killed our brothers and then he tried to kill you. Mom died protecting you. She flung herself on top of you, and took the blow Dad intended for her.”

Her mother had died, saving her. Jessica felt tears rise in her throat.

“She loved you,” he said simply. “Her only daughter.”

A truck pulled into the parking lot. She looked up as Raphael climbed out, and approached them. “I was searching for Daniel. He’s missing and Alexa is worried,” he told her, his gaze narrowing as he studied Jules. “I went to find you to ask you to help me search and then I got word from a security guard of a stranger in the arena. A stranger with bright red hair. Jessica, get back.” Raphael stepped in front of her, as if to shield her with his big body. “He’ll hurt you.”

“Raphael, oh how the mighty have fallen!” Jules laughed. “I had hoped to meet you again, and finish what I started. Hurt my only sister? I’d never do that.”

“He’s my only brother. He wouldn’t hurt me. You’re wrong,” she cried out.

Raphael’s mouth thinned and his body trembled. “You fucking bastard. I should kill you slowly for what you did.”

“Me?” Jules spread out his arms. “I did nothing. The Changeling Gnomes murdered your pack. Your girlfriend. I am innocent. I have no powers.”

“Raphael, he’s right. He can’t even shift!” Jessica clutched the belt, her heart pounding with fear as she watched the two males face each other.

“I don’t care.” Raphael’s eyes glowed amber, signaling the rise of his wolf. “He tortured me. He killed Britney. Graham. My people.”

“I didn’t do it!” Jules bared his teeth. “They did!”

“Seven years is too long to look for you.” Raphael growled low. “I give you seven minutes with me.”

He raced forward and socked Jules in the jaw. Her brother staggered back, blood gushing from his lip. Raphael punched him again.

“Like another? Just like you said to me in that fucking cage, you fucking bastard.” Raphael punched him again, this time smashing Jules’ nose.

Dropping the belt, Jessica screamed. “Raphael, please, don’t do this!”

But he seemed to be in a blind rage. Raphael hit him again as Jules tried to block his hand. A scream tore from her brother’s throat as Raphael slammed him against the bleachers.

“Please, stop!” she screamed again.

And then Raphael looked up. Panting, bracing his hands on his knees, he stared at her.

Slowly he straightened.

“He’s my brother. Please, stop,” she begged him.

The anger slowly faded from his face. Raphael went to her and touched her cheek, thumbing away a stray tear. “I love you, Jess.” He gave Jules a disgusted look. “More than I hate him.”

She took his bruised knuckles and kissed them. Then Jules staggered to his feet and wiped his bloody nose.

Her brother turned to Jessica with a pleading expression. “I love you, too, Jessica. I saved you from our father’s wrath, from him killing you. It’s you and me. Brother and sister. Together we can rule, we have the power, and the means. Use the belt and we can have it all. Your dreams will come true.”

His voice dropped to a seductive whisper. “Imagine, no one ever again ignoring you, making you feel inferior.”

“You’re not inferior, Jess.” Raphael shook his head. “Everything was done to protect you. Dennis, your alpha, forbade you to mingle with other packs to protect you. I called him and he told me he knew what you were all along. He consulted with Tristan the night you were brought to his pack, and together they devised a solution to keep you hidden. He didn’t want you mating with another Lupine because if you made love with another pureblood, your natural powers would resurge, just as they did when we made love. And you’d become like a beacon in the night, easy for this bastard to find you, and use you when you became of age.”

All this time, Dennis had protected her, not ostracized her because she was adopted. Jessica felt a surge of emotion for her alpha.

But who could she believe? Her brother or Raphael? The belt must have answers. She picked it up and stared at the glowing stones, feeling a rush of energy.

Raphael stared at her brother. “Tell her the truth, Jules. Why you really want your sister. Why you sent her the belt.”

Jules smile spoke of writhing snakes, worms and dark things that crawled in the night. “Because my father denied my birthright. I was firstborn and I should have been appointed my father’s heir! But no, he and my bitch mother had to keep spawning until they had a daughter.”

Jules had not cared about her, or meeting her. “You wanted me to use the belt.”

Panic congealed in her stomach. Oh gods, what had she done? Forfeited everything, and for this? For a man who didn’t care about her? In his eyes, she saw herself and everything she’d become—self-centered, absorbed and hateful.

Raphael, damn him, had been right. Blood was not stronger than pack.

Or mates.

And in her foolish pride, she’d refused to believe him, and turned her back on him. Believing more in familial ties than the power of someone who was not of her blood.

“You were a screaming little thing. Scared.” Jules’ mouth flattened. “I left you alive. I couldn’t take you with me.” He pointed a finger at Raphael. “He’s your real enemy, Jessica. He doesn’t care about you. He only wants to destroy me, your only flesh and blood.”

No. No. Raphael wasn’t the enemy. He was her lover, her life, the Lupine who had shown her tenderness and passion. Believed in her. He didn’t care about power, or money.

He loves you.

Utterly confused, she remained motionless, wishing for clarity. Jessica didn’t know who to believe.

“Use the belt,” Jules whispered, as if he’d read her mind. “Use it to find answers. Together, we can rule and gain amazing power. Invincible. The only Lupines whose veins carry the goddess’s blood lines.”

Raphael looked at her and spread out his hands. “Search deep in your heart, Jess. I love you, and I would never hurt you. And is power what you truly desire?”

Kill
, the stones in the belt whispered.

No!

Jules was family. Blood. He was living proof of her ancestry, and carried a lifetime of memories in him. With Jules she’d never feel outcast again. She’d been accepted.

Jules was her brother.

Raphael was her life.

Raphael, selfless, willing to put his life into her hands.

Then Jules spoke softly. “Use the belt, sister. Use it. It provides clarity and enables you to see our shared past.”

Doubtful, she stared at him. “Our past? Our family?”

“Visions of the mother you don’t remember. She loved you so much. Put on the belt and you’ll see her, as she once was.” Jules’ voice deepened. “Put it on. Just try it. And let the power flow through you. Don’t block it. Just open yourself to its powers and the past.”

As if in trance, she buckled on the belt. And felt the surge of tremendous magick, as if someone had pumped her full of energy. Jessica laughed and twirled. She could run for miles and never tire.

Laughing with her, Jules sat on the bleachers. “Use it Jessica. Feel the power. Test it out.”

Blanking her mind, she let the power fill her. A woman, hair as red as fire, laughing as she bounced a baby on her lap. Jessica reached out touch the vision. “Mama,” she whispered.

So pretty. Her mother loved her. The vision wavered in the air, delicate as a dream. Her mother, teaching Jessica how to walk. Applauding as Jessica twirled and danced.