Shifter Magick (15 page)

Her heart shuttered at his words. “I would never betray you or your family.”

Maddox shook his head, his lips pursed in a thin line.

“Tell me.” Kera sat up on her arm to look into his eyes.

They were dark blue again.

Kera reached out and caressed his jaw. He leaned into her touch and she cupped his cheek and savored the steady pulse of supernatural heat that fed into her skin.
Leaning in, Kera brushed her lips against his. They were warm and soft. The heat flowed like a spark across her face and spread down her throat to spear her heart. She gasped and Maddox caught the sound with his mouth.

With gentle strength, he arranged her beneath him. He gripped her hip and brought a knee between her legs. The
cushions
dipped under his weight and his leg pressed against the apex of her thighs.

Kera groaned. Maddox took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into her mouth. She caught it and sucked. The guttural sound that vibrated in his chest was more animal than man and Kera shivered.

Maddox broke away, breathing as heavy as her, and propped himself on his elbows on either side of her
shoulders. “You’re driving me crazy.” He whispered. “I’m afraid if I tell you everything you will push me away.”

Kera placed her hands against his chest. “How about I push you away if you don’
t?
”

He frowned, “Fair enough.” The trepidation in his eyes made her want to take it back. “Laura Larson, your mother, hurt my dad before she left. We thought it was a spell to make it look like a wolf attacked him but when I saw what you could do I realized that the spell wasn’t supposed to make it look like anything. It was an animal attack. You
r
mother almost killed my father.”
 

“Breathe.” Maddox whispered.

Ke
ra blinked and t
hen
took a breath
.
Her hands shook against his chest. “He said she was a friend.”

Maddox frowned. “I know. She was.”

Shaking her head, Kera felt pain radiating around in her chest.
Her hands still rested against his chest as he hovered over her. In his eyes, she could see the worry for what she would do next.
She could only wonder when his father had a chance to tell him all of this.
“This all happened years before we were born right? Is she like the ghost story you grew up to?”

His lips pressed in a thin line.

“It was.” Kera pushed against his chest but Maddox didn’t move.

“What are we going to do about it now?” He laid on her and brushed his nose against her cheek to her ear. “I already reacted badly but we both know now that what happened is in the past.”

Kera closed her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his back and locked her fingers together and held onto him. Her chest shook as she cried into the crease of his neck.

Maddox
rolled to his side and took her with him. He draped her over his chest and
cocooned her in warmth and comfort.
“Rest Kera. We can talk more of this in the morning.”

Thunder rolled and the bottom fell out of the sky. The rain beat against the roof heavily, drowning out the sounds of her tears. She sniffled one last time and stuffed the rest of her sorrow back
inside herself where it belonged. “My dad must have known she was from the area.” She murmured against his chest, a yawn gave her a pause before she could continue. “I should call him.”

“Tomorrow.” Maddox kissed the top of her head. “Go to sleep
for now
.”

Kera closed her eyes and let the weight of the day carry her under. Maddox was warm and it was comfortable to sleep in his arms, but somewhere deep down she couldn’t help but wonder if she could overcome her mother’s legacy. Lightning lit the room and thunder boomed immediately after.
She hovered between sleep and wakefulness for a long while before the sound of the rain stopped. The lack of sound made room for more thoughts. Restlessness overtook her and Kera opened her eyes.

The darkness in the room covered her like a blanket. She listened Maddox’s deep breathing beside her and felt the weight of his arm covering her hip.
She was torn between leaving it there and snuggling closer to him and
sneaking
away slowly so he wouldn’t wake up. The latter won.

Kera saw his phone sitting on top of a red tool box and she went for it. The clock showed it was just after one in the morning. She dialed and listened to the ringing. She held her breath and felt her skin flush a dark red.

The voice on the other end was gruff with sleep. “This is Sam.”

“Daddy?”

“Kera?” There was a rustling on the other end of the phone she could only assume was her dad getting out of bed. “What is it? Is everything
okay
?”

“Yeah, no… I don’t know dad.” A lump formed in the middle of her throat as she spoke softly, trying not to wake Maddox.

“
What is it?” Her dad asked her again, worry embedded in his voice.

Kera sighed. “One of the professors at the collage knows mom. He said that he is her brother. Do you know about this? His name is Luke Larson.” She began to pace the room, her eyes darting over to Maddox every few steps to make sure she wasn’t disturbing him.

The silence on the other end of the phone stretched out and the lump in her throat grew at every passing moment.

“Dad?” she pleaded.

“I have no idea Kera.” He said. “I never dug into your mothers past. From what I knew she had a very hard child hood, in and out of foster homes. I met her in Florida when I was on spring break my junior year of college. She never said anything about having a brother Kera. How did this man know who you were?”

Kera gulped and her eyes watered. “Maddox knew him.”

Her father snorted. “This is the boy you are hanging out with?”

“Why did you pick this school then? It would make since if mom had something to do with it but now I’m just even more frustrated. I need to know.”

“Me?” his voice was low, fear an undercurrent of the word.

Chills crawled up her arms and around her neck. “I was just fine with my online classes.” She whispered. “
I only registered after my application had been submitted.”

“I had nothing to do with your application Kera. What are you saying, that you had nothing to do with enrolling in college this year?”

Kera’s heart thumped wildly. “Yes.” She whispered. “I thought you did.”

“I want you to call the admissions office tomorrow morning and sort this out. Don’t go anywhere near the man claiming to be your mom’s brother and stay away from Maddox. If he told this guy about you we could have problems. I found some things in your mom’s stuff that I didn’t understand. I will try and find a flight out there this weekend.”

“That’s not necessary.” Kera interrupted. “You stay there and find out what you can and I’ll look into things here. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re injured and the only person you said was helping you is a boy who is involved with someone claiming to be your mother’s brother. Your mother was a wonderful woman and I loved and trusted her completely so if she kept part of her past a secret then it had to be for a good reason Kera. She loved you and would do anything to protect you. It’s my job now and I will be dammed if I stay here while you could be in danger.”

Her heart swelled. “I love you daddy.” She choked back a sob. “I’ll talk to the admissions office tomorrow and I don’t want you making any plans to come up here until I know what they have to say. This could be all a misunderstanding.”

“Honey, you need to be stress free. You
shouldn’t have to deal with this when you’re just getting your life back. I want you to think about coming home. We can transfer you to another school.”

She wiped her eyes and shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. “I don’t want to run from this. It’s strange and confusing but its part of my past. If something is going on I want to know what it is. I need to do this. This is getting my life back, not running from the hard things like I did when mom died.” She broke down and sobbed silently, unable to form words. She sat on the cold concrete on the other side of Maddox’s car and leaned her back against the cold metal. Her father stayed with her, ear to the phone, waiting for her to continue. “What if she did horrible things?”

“No.” her father denied immediately. “You can’t think like that. She was a wonderful woman. We were young when we met. Laura was eighteen and I was twenty one. She had pain in her past just like you do Kera but just like you, the pain doesn’t make you a bad person. Whatever your mother didn’t tell us doesn’t matter. We know who she was. She was a wife and a mother who loved us to the end. Nothing else.”

“
Okay
dad.” Her voice was raw fro
m holding back the sound of her crying from her father. “I have class in the morning.”

“Goodnight Kera.”

“Night.”

She hung her head in her lap.
The tears continued.
She was too exhausted to sleep and her mind was too strained to process what all the information of today. The tears felt good. She hadn’t cried like this… in a really long time.

The phone rang and her heart shuttered in surprise.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught Maddox’s large form round the car. He knelt in front of her and took the phone from her.

“May I talk to him?” he asked.

Kera nodded
and handed him the phone
.

Maddox’s eyes bore into her. He answered the phone and held it to his ear. “Hello.”

“Let me speak to Kera.” Her father’s voice came through the phone. Kera winced at the harshness in her father’s voice.

“Mr. Conway, my name is Maddox Howell and if you don’t mind sir, I would like to speak with you first.”

In the silence that stretched on the other end, Maddox ran his hand through his hair and sat beside Kera, leaning his back on the hard metal of the driver’s side door.

When her father spoke, it was clear and cold. “Say what you feel needs said.”

“Your daughter is upset and confused.” He
began
,
and then
peeked at Kera out of the corner of his eyes. He offered her an encouraging smile before he continued. “I am too. I heard a small part of your conversation a moment ago and I get the impression that you are worried for her. I can’
t blame you.
I am not sure what is going on. I intend to keep her safe Mr. Conway. I will do everything in my power to help.”

“
I’m sure you will.” Sam grumbled
.

“I care for her sir.”

Sam sig
hed
hea
vily at the same time Kera gasped
. “You might think you know what it means to protect and care for someone.” Sam tells Maddox. “
You two just met each other. She’s been through a lot.”

Maddox ran his free hand through his hair again
. “I understand. She’s told me some.”

“Look Maddox. Kera said you were the one that brought her and her friend to the hospital. I want to thank you for that.” He sighed again, “I need you to give her some space. I think it might be best for her to come home.”

“No.” Kera interrupted, “Maddox, tell him you think that’s a bad idea.”

Maddox looked down at her, his eyes clearly dark with worry. “That’s between you and her sir. I do want you to know that she’s safe with me.”

“Alone with you in the middle of the night.” Her father grumbled sarcastically. “She could use more space to find a friend from her dorms to help her around campus. A girl. I can guess she left her phone in her room than means she is in your room. I don’t like it and I think you know why.”

“I understand sir.”

“I hope you do.” Her father spoke darkly. “
Has she told you when her roommate is returning?”

Maddox shook his head, shoulders slumped forward. “She has gone on sick leave for two weeks.”

“And are you making sure she stays off her leg?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” Her dad said. “She has class tomorrow. Let her get some sleep.”

Kera groaned at her father’s words. She felt her face flush.

Maddox looked at the phone and they both saw that her dad had hung up.
“I think you should tell him.”

“What?”

Maddox looked down at her, his hair fell forward to cover his forehead and frame his eyes. “He’s smart Kera. Strong.”

“He grew up with an army family.” Kera explained softly.

“Tell him.” Maddox urged. “You need him.”

Kera leaned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. “If you
are
with me, I’ll consider it.”