Octavia's Time [The Klawinken] (Siren Publishing Allure) (5 page)

She saw his eyes widen in surprise and his body stiffen. He didn’t move. When she remained silent, he said, “Yes, maybe I should go for now.” He stood up, his handsome face looking down at her with sadness. “It’s my fault. I should have taken it slower with you, but when you came so willing into my arms, I couldn’t resist taking you and becoming one with you. I lost control. I couldn’t have waited one more second.”

Octavia stood up from the chair and went to her bureau where she pulled out a pair of panties and a bra. He watched while she slipped into her clothes and a white blouse that she tried to button with trembling fingers. Mathieu walked over to her and brushed away her fingers. He buttoned her blouse and then took a step back, his eyes full of sadness.

“Are you still interested in having your nipples pierced? Many Klawinken women enjoy the piercings.”

Was he serious?
“No. I think you’ve done enough for me today. Thank you.”

“I know you’re confused, and I should have done things differently, but how can you look at me with such coldness? You have to feel the intensity of the connection between us. It’s so much more than just physical attraction.”

She couldn’t bear that his voice shook with such uncertainty. She did have feelings for him. But the fear of losing who she was and her right to make her own decisions was strong and held her back from saying the words that would take away the unhappiness she saw in his eyes.

She needed time to come to terms with what had just happened between them. He might very well be her perfect mate, but she feared that if she embraced the Klawinken ways, the person she was would be lost forever. She wasn’t ready to lose her parents, either. When her sister had gone over to the other side, so to speak, there had been no coming back. She loved her parents. She wasn’t about to blindly follow in her sister’s footsteps.

“I need time, Mathieu. I need time to think. You owe me that.”

He simply nodded without saying anything. His face said it all. She watched him walk proud and naked from her room. He had little choice since their clothing was still on the floor in the sunroom. She heard him packing up his things. He did not return to her bedroom, where she waited until she heard the front door slam shut. Her emotions were teetering between running after him and never seeing him again. She let the tears of pain and confusion she had been holding back fall down her cheeks.

Mathieu sat with his head in his hands. How could he have been so stupid? He had allowed his need for her to cloud his judgment entirely. His intention had not been to mate with Octavia at their first meeting. But she had been so beautiful and so eager for his touch. Her dreams may have prepared her for him physically, but mentally she didn’t have a clue about who she was, or she would have never reacted to him with such animosity, regardless of the fact that he had taken her like an animal in heat. He reminded himself that she had admitted that she wanted him every bit as much as he had wanted her. He had made mistakes, but the one he regretted the most was throwing her sister in her face. She had hurt him, and he instinctively had wanted to hurt her back with the one weapon he knew would cause her the most pain.

According to Evenela, Octavia was the submissive sister. Maybe she didn’t know her sister as well as she had thought. It had been over six years since the two sisters had seen each other. He had met Evenela at a party in Boston not long after her arrival.

Her aunts had thrown a party for all the Klawinken in the area to meet one of their own who had been away from them, as the invitation stated, “for all too long.” Evenela, to her credit, didn’t shy away from her new family, but gravitated toward everything Klawinken and seemed to enjoy all the attention. Carl, her fiancé, remained by her side, beaming with pride. He was an architect who had lovingly designed and built a home for Evenela in the suburbs of north Boston. Anyone could see that he absolutely adored her, from the way his eyes clung to her every move, to how he positioned his body to always touch hers, no matter which way she moved. Mathieu watched them, envious of the relationship he could only dream about with Octavia.

The party had been thrown in one of the more exclusive hotels in the heart of Beacon Hill near Louisburg Square. The president’s ballroom had been reserved for the affair. Several bars had been set up throughout the large, elegantly decorated room that catered to drinks of any type and complexity. A live band played contemporary music in one corner where many of the guests were dancing. Mathieu had already made his way around the room, greeting friends and family, when he saw Evenela coming toward him with Carl.

“Carl, this must be Evenela.” He had smiled, shaking Carl’s hand and giving Evenela a polite hug that she returned.

“Yes, this is the love of my life.” Carl beamed. “Evenela,” he said, looking first at her and then at Mathieu, “this is Mathieu Lacroix, one of the very best contractors in the country. He’s been my friend since childhood.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Mathieu. Carl also tells me that you are my sister Octavia’s mate.”

Mathieu was taken aback by her directness, but welcomed a chance to speak with her about Octavia. “Yes, I have dreamed of her and look forward to making her my mate when she turns twenty-one.”

“I look forward to that day, too, very much. Hopefully by then she will have the strength to live the life she was meant to live and not stay cemented to the people who have done nothing but lie to her about who she really is.”

“I will help her to embrace her true family and the ways of our people. I know that her upbringing will present its own set of problems. However, I have no doubt that the Klawinken inside her will emerge without too much prompting.”

“I hope you’re right.” Evenela sighed. “It’s just that she’s extremely dutiful where her parents are concerned. She never rebelled, as I did, or questioned their authority. I miss my sister, and I worry about her, but for now, she’s their daughter. I will be waiting with open arms when you bring my sister back to me.”

“Rest assured, Evenela, that I will do exactly that.”

Carl motioned that they had other guests to greet. Evenela leaned into Mathieu and put her hand on his heart. “I pray that you do.”

Mathieu decided it was time for a drink. He walked over to one of the larger bars and sat down. The pretty bartender was being deliberately flirtatious when out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of some activity at the main entrance to the room. He swiveled around in his chair to get a better look and let out an audible sigh ending in “Shit.” The Morgan family had decided to grace the party with their presence.

The Morgans were Klawinken that walked down a different path than the rest of their kind. They supposedly were bred from the oldest of the Klawinken brothers of legend, Orwan. Although most Klawinken didn’t live their lives completely in the shadows of society, the Morgans threw themselves into high-profile situations that were usually reported on the nightly news, as well as entertainment gossip shows. They were rock stars, movie stars, and public figures who had also taken their talents into an arena of sensual decadence that went against everything the Klawinken stood for. They were known for their devil-may-care attitude along with their unorthodox views that had the general populace of their human brothers and sisters paying homage to them with their bodies and minds. And yet, to Mathieu’s dismay, they had not been made social outcasts, and tonight would be no exception.

Mathieu watched heads turn as all eyes were drawn to Tobias Morgan. He strolled into the party with his mother, Magda, the Morgan matriarch, on one arm and her daughter, Elwina, Tobias’s half-sister, on the other. The women were dressed to perfection in evening gowns that highlighted their attributes with material that clung and dipped in all the right places. Both mother and daughter were stunning to look upon, with their dark, exotic good looks and voluptuous figures. Elwina, although he was loath to admit it, had turned his own head on more than one occasion. Towering over her petite frame was Tobias, who was the epitome of what women seemed to like—tall, dark, and handsome with more money than he knew what to do with. He stood with perfect posture, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail, while his dark eyes surveyed the room. The man’s arrogance was astounding. Everyone else had dressed formal for the occasion, but not Tobias. His muscled thighs strained against his expensive but worn jeans, while his white tailored shirt fit tightly enough to show off his muscular torso. His entire persona screamed of his own self-importance bred from lack of discipline and never being denied his simplest request. The Morgan brothers, along with other family members, walked in behind him as the crowd parted on cue. It seemed even the Klawinken could be a bit starstruck when it came to the Morgans.

Elwina and her mother were both well-known actresses. Tobias was a musician and singer, and if Mathieu were to be truthful, a very good one. His gift of melody had not only allowed him to sing exceptionally well but to write music that was making him a legend in his own time. The Morgans had a number of unique gifts that most Klawinken did not possess, and Tobias, it seemed, possessed almost all of them. And yet, Mathieu had to acknowledge, for all his gifts, he was probably the one Morgan that most people knew the least about when it came to his personal life. There were plenty of rumors of wild sex parties and drugs, but not once had he seen Tobias’s name in the news unless they were talking about awards or record sales. What bothered Mathieu about Tobias was that he had never taken a mate, and he knew for a fact that Tobias, on more than one occasion, had voiced that he did not believe in being with one mate for life. That in itself, in Mathieu’s mind, was enough to take Tobias before Counsel for going against the premise of their very existence. He didn’t understand how Tobias could still consider himself Klawinken.

Normally, he would have avoided any event that included the Morgans, but tonight, they were showing a sign of unity, coming together as one to welcome Evenela back into the fold. He had never understood why the aunts had allowed a non-Klawinken, even though the woman had been their sister’s best friend, to raise their nieces. Regardless of their reason, it appeared from all accounts that they were thrilled to have Evenela back with her own kind.

He was about to turn his attention back to the pretty bartender and forget about the Morgans when he caught Tobias staring at him. He had never made a public announcement about his feelings concerning the Morgans, but he had also never hidden the fact the he was not one of their fans. Once, when he was in his early teens, his family had spent a weekend at a lake house with a number of their Klawinken friends and respective families, of which Tobias’s family was one. They were distant cousins many times removed, and yet, as with the Klawinken, they remained close and connected.

Tobias and Elwina had been fun companions, along with his other cousins. Elwina had been quite taken with him and had followed him around like a little puppy. She had been a pretty little thing even then. But something had happened between the families that prevented them socializing like that again. In fact, his mother had become extremely critical of the Morgans in general, but more so whenever Magda’s name was mentioned, especially in reference to being linked with married or younger men. The scandals usually passed quickly. However, his mother was hell-bent on wiping the floor with the woman long after everyone else had moved on to other topics of gossip.

On the rare occasion that he and Tobias bumped into each other, they acknowledged the other with a simple “hello,” but that had been the extent of their conversations. He had caught Elwina’s eye a few times over the years and had thought about approaching her, just to acknowledge her presence and to let her know that he was sorry about any rude comments his mother had made about her mother that she may have been privy to. Regardless of whether they were true or not, no child enjoyed knowing their parent’s reputation was being attacked, especially by one of their own. He knew it shouldn’t matter to him, but he regretted he hadn’t found the opportunity to speak with her.

Mathieu felt a sliver of apprehension as he watched Tobias make his way through the crowd to where he was sitting.

“Hello, Mathieu. It’s been a long time since our paths crossed.”

“Tobias, it has been longer than a long time. I can’t remember the last time we said more than one or two words in passing.”

“I think it was at some family function when we both still thought we were like everyone else.”

“Right…”

“So, let’s catch up a little, shall we? Need a refill?” Tobias motioned toward his drink.

Mathieu felt uneasy. The Morgans were far too calculating and self-serving for his taste. He was quite sure that Tobias seeking him out had nothing to do with wanting to catch up.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Tobias smiled and ordered himself a drink. The young, giggly, blonde-haired bartender gave Tobias a big smile as she pushed her large breasts outward to strain against the material of her uniform. Her eyes never left Tobias’s when she handed him his drink, deliberately letting her fingers linger on his. He smiled politely, took the drink, said “thank you,” and then abruptly turned his attention back to Mathieu. “I understand you wish to mate our new foundling’s sister. What’s her name?” He paused. “Octavia, right?”

Mathieu stiffened. “I didn’t realize you were keeping up with the mating cycle since you don’t mate but have sex at will with little thought to the order of our dreams.”