Species Interaction (20 page)

A blink of an eye later, she lunged across the table, claws outstretched as they gleamed in the kitchen light. I jumped back in my seat as Ducian grabbed her, roughly shoving her back to a seated position next to him.

Ducian stared at her; a look of total shock covered his face. "How the hell?"

Misha began to squirm under his scrutiny, obviously not prepared for this confession. "I knew how to work the Talisman Stone. Had it figured out. Spoke the words to open its powers, then something went wrong. Badly wrong. I must have passed out and woke to this body." She frowned severely as if remembering the incident with soured expectations.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, low and gravelly.

"You wanted me. Me. In this ugly body." She scooted back enough to gesture at her padded curves. "I was afraid if you knew the truth…" Her voice broke on a quiet whisper.

"Then what?" Ducian demanded, throwing his napkin down on the table, his movements jerky and animated. His vocalization began to rise in sheer decibels. "You would fool the dumb vampire? Or maybe it was your sick joke to play a role. Forever, you looked down your nose at me, telling me I wasn't good enough for the likes of you. So now you get a stick up your ass, play this stupid game, just to get a hell of a pleasure in dropping me on my ass?"

He stood angrily, eyes flashing with fury before storming to the front door to the hotel suite. "I may not be the brightest on the block, but no fucking way I'll let you use me any longer. Not by a deceitful bitch like you."

The door shook forcefully as he slammed it in his wake.

Misha's head swung around, her eyes pinned me with pure malice. "You ever come near me again, and I will rip you to shreds. There won't be enough parts left for burying."

She stood, spine stiff, chin held high, rage apparent in her body language. More like furious enough to kill, if you asked me. A few stomps later, she left the room.

I folded my hands across my lap, not sure what to say after such heated allegations and revelations. Tension embraced the room, squeezing tighter and tighter, like an anaconda strangling his next meal.

Meat sat still and quiet, although I could feel the strain radiating from him. It was like standing on a volcano, waiting for the pressure to raise enough for the whole top to rocket hot liquid lava to the heavens.

After too long a silence, he finally spoke, soft and controlled, as if forcing himself to speak through a clenched jaw, "You eavesdropped on me?"

I risked a quick glance; saw the absolute fury written on his face. Unable to bear it, I quickly lowered my gaze. "Not intentionally," I answered with a quiet sincerity. "It was an accident."

He simply sat and waited. No moving. No prompting. Simply sat and waited for me to spill the beans.

A cold draft drifted by, causing me to rub my upper arms, seeking any warmth I could garner. "I was freezing and went for a blanket. While in the closet, I heard voices from the sauna room and thought it best to investigate."

"Yet you didn't walk away once you determined who was there?"

The flatness of the statement concerned me almost as much as the fiery spark of anger in his eyes. "No." I sighed, unsure how to explain myself. His anger bit at my conscience.

"We've been through this before. I warned you about spying on conversations. You harp on me about telling you about
Familia
business and details on my PI investigations." The low rumble erupted from his chest, taking on an aggressive undertone.

A gasp escaped. I didn't expect him to take this turn on the situation. Mentally, I scrambled to keep up with the direction change. "What? This isn't my fault. She's the one that lied to him. To all of us." I desperately tried to shift attention to the problem at hand and onto Misha's shoulders.

Meat shook his head. "Yes, and she was going to explain it to him privately. She certainly didn't need you blurting it out in public like you did."

"But… I…" My mouth opened and closed, unsure what to say next.

"But this isn't about her. It's about you." His voice hardened.

Emotions running hot, I attempted to counter, "A loving relationship is about sharing lives, not simply sharing a tiny segment and keeping the rest a big secret."

His brows lowered as those large, strong hands fisted. "This is the very reason I don't dare share things with you. You blab to anyone and everyone first chance you get."

His statement put me on the defensive. "I do not! Besides, I didn't know Charity was Misha until just now. Who knew that was some sort of national security secret?"

"You learned of it through eavesdropping. What in the hell else did you think it was? Gossip hour?"

Biting my lip, I sucked in air. "Well, no."

He stood and glared down at me. Never had I seen that look directed at me and, in all honesty, hoped to never again. I got the definite impression that he strained to control a physical demonstration of his anger.

I tried to appeal to him, folding into myself in an unconscious sign of submission. "Relationships are about trust and sharing. If you would involve me in some of the rest of your life…"

"And have you tell the whole damn world?" He bit off each word through clenched teeth. "Did you conveniently forget the
Familia
has enemies? Those out to kill us just for being different?" He stood, gripping the back of the chair with enough force to make the old wood squeak in protest.

"No!" I looked up into his face, pleading with him to understand. "I wouldn't do anything to endanger any of you." My eyes began to tear up. I sniffed and forced them and the accompanying lump in my throat away.

He stood mute, silently fuming. I leaned forward, reaching for his hand. He jerked it out of my reach, followed by a low warning growl.

"Please. I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen."

"Bottom line"—he snarled down at me—"I can't trust you to keep your mouth shut. And I'm not willing to stake one of my pride member's lives to give you that chance."

Those fists clenched again, eyes sparked with sheer fury for a long moment. I sat silent, clueless as to what to say or do in order to make him understand. No sooner had my mouth opened, than he spun around and stormed from the room.

I sat in stunned silence before everything began to sink in. Wrapping my arms around my belly, I curled up, letting the threatening tears finally break free.

An hour later, I gathered up my packed suitcase, and slid into a taxi. As we pulled out, I refused to look back at the hotel.

For a weekend full of promise and joy had crashed down to earth in a fiery blaze. Just like my relationship with Meat. Maybe a phoenix could rise above the destructive flames and soar once more.

Too bad phoenixes were only a myth.

Chapter 21

What in the world was I going to do? I still loved the temperamental liger, but things looked relatively bleak right now. If he didn't come around soon, could I move on in search of another Prince Charming with all the unfinished business between Meat and I? Would there even be another man for me?

Questions fired through my mind, but no answers followed.

"You can't sit around here moping all the time." Jessica walked over and plopped down on the front step next to me. The boys ran around the large yard in a game of chase. The early spring day, though nippy, shone bright with sunlight and a promise of beautiful days to come.

"I'm not. There's work and my online class." I deliberately shunted the conversation along a different path.

"Shy. You know that's not what I meant." She shook her head.

Jessica had been my best friend, my mentor, since I accepted the position at PPD. She showed me the ropes and supported through the worst days of my life when my husband went MIA, presumed dead, and left me with twin newborn babies. She moved in, stood in the trenches beside me, and helped keep my sanity through those difficult months.

The petite redhead carried cheer in her heart, a warm smile, and followed her dream by owning a sex shop. Surprised the heck out of me when she announced she was transferring to consultant status at PPD and opening a store dedicated to sex and all the kinkiness that went along with such activities. Why she still remained single, I didn't have a clue. Maybe men were put off by a woman who knew all about whips, chains, and leather restraints.

"Have you called him today?"

"No. I… he was too upset yesterday. I doubt he's ready to talk to me today." I intertwined my fingers and rested them on my lap, watching Sasha dash behind a tree. "I screwed up, Jessica. Big time."

She patted my shoulder. "We're human. It happens now and again. You haven't been in the dating pool for over four years. It stands to reason you'd have a couple of pitfalls along the way."

"I don't think he'll forgive me this time. Like he said, if he can't trust me, how can we have a relationship? It's more than just us that he's considering. His whole pride depends upon it."

"So you show him that you can be trusted. Prove you're up to the task."

I met her emerald gaze. "How?"

"That's something you need to figure out."

I sighed heavily. "What if it's really over?"

Sympathy crossed her face. "Then you move on. Find the right man for you and those precious boys of yours."

"It's not that simple."

"Oh, believe me, I know."

"I wish I could go back and have that day over."

"If wishes were horses…"

"We'd need a bigger yard and a shovel?"

She grinned at my attempt at humor. "Just remember nothing worth having is easy."

I watched the boys sprint here and there, laughing as they tagged one another, then spun around and ran. Oh, to be a kid again. To have few worries and know play will occupy a large portion of each and every day.

My cell phone rang, the ring tone alerting me to the caller. I barely refrained from groaning before answering. "Hello, Cannibal."

"I need you to come over here now." His low voice carried more than a trace of frustration and irritation, perhaps even some downright anger.

"It's my day off. I thought PPD assigned someone else to gopher you through tomorrow?"

"That idiot? Ten minutes of her dimwitted stumbling and I sent her packing."

Nice to know I was irreplaceable. Job security for me. Yay! "Cannibal…"

"Now. This fucking computer won't do anything I want it to do. All it does is gives me error shit and beep constantly."

Jessica's brow furrowed with concern. I rolled my eyes and mouthed 'Cannibal's having a breakdown.'

"Did you call PPD's IT department?"

"Now, why in the hell would I do that? I have you. So get your butt over here now." He clicked off.

I sighed heavily. Cranky groundhog had returned. A nice ending to what was supposed to be a relaxing and exciting weekend.

"I'll watch the boys if you need to go." Sympathy covered her face.

"Thanks. As much as I would like to tell him where to shove it, I still need a job. And my head attached to my shoulders."

She grinned. "There is that."

I went in the house and gathered up my purse. After catching up with the boys and explaining I would be gone for a short time, I asked them to be good for Jessica, and hopped in the car to go rescue one pissed off Enforcer.

Sure enough, by the time I arrived at his house, his body language matched his surly tone on the phone earlier. I could've sworn steam escaped from his ears. At least he left his sword behind, thus eliminating the potential to kill the computer or the helper if things moved from bad to worse.

Without preamble, I marched through his house, not stopping until I plopped down at the computer desk and stared at his locked screen. Clicking here and there, I tried to backtrack to find his problem.

"What? No hello? Nice to see you? How can I help you?" He stood at my side.

I glanced up then returned to my work.

"Let me guess. Your weekend didn't go as planned."

His words stabbed an already open wound in my chest. I sucked in a breath and focused on swallowing the sudden lump in my throat.

"So?"

Figuring he would continue to pester me until I answered, I stared at the screen and tried to find a way through the confusing maze he created and confessed what happened. "The weekend was great until yesterday when I stuck my foot in my mouth."

"What did you do?" Cannibal's face softened, his dark gaze watched me intently.

"I overheard something and ended up blabbing it at the table. Now, a vampire wants to eat me, a shifter wants to kill me, and Meat walked out after pretty much breaking off our relationship."

For a long moment, the only sounds in the room were my fingers on the keyboard as I coaxed the stubborn machine to cooperate once again.

"Fur is overrated."

"Yeah, well, I happened to really like that particular piece of fur. Now, I'll probably end up a crazy cat lady for the rest of my life."

"You?" He snorted. "A hot mama like you will have every Tom, Dick, and Dirty Harry right on your heels."

"What hallucinogen have you partaken of today?"

He grumbled, grabbed my chair, and spun me around to face him. "Listen and listen good. Cats are difficult creatures at best not to mention they hack up furballs on the couch. Then you have to clean up undigested food mixed with balls of fur and gastric juice. Your pretty white couch now has a green-brown-yellow stain that won't come out and in another week, you have a matching stain on the carpet, the other pieces of furniture and even your bed. Not to mention those litter boxes. And the tomcats spraying urine all over the place to mark their territory. Nasty."

I smiled weakly at the image he drew. The dramatic absurdity in his words clued me in he threw barely veiled insults at the shifter variety of kitties rather than the cute domestic pets.

"Seems to me, it would be easier to let the cat live outside, coming and going as he pleases while you find someone else to keep you warm at night."

"Is that right?"

"Definitely." He glanced over his shoulder. "You know how to cook, right?"