Bizarre Life of Sydney Sedrick Page 8

  “Blake, you should take me home now.” He let me pull my hand away from him then, disappointment written all over his face.

  “Fine. I’ll get the car.” He stalked out of the dining hall, leaving me to my thoughts.

  The car ride home was quiet. Blake was like a tensed coil ready to spring. The silence became too much to bear any longer. “Blake, did you know my grandmother?”

  Without looking at me, he replied, “Yes. It was because of her and how my father dealt with her that he is trying to change his ways with you. That’s why he brought you to the house for dinner. Relations with your grandmother were strained at best. There were pack members during the early years of Morris’ leadership that encouraged him to use a strong hand with the Selected, so that’s what he did. He no longer goes with the advice of those advisors. He chooses his own path now. We met only a few times, but they were not under the best of circumstances, and it was a long time ago. Politics of the pack were generally kept from me at the time. But there are stories. Sydney, your grandmother was a good woman, but we as wolves feel she chose the wrong side in the war. She never did anything overtly against us, she just wasn’t with us.”

  “So what happens if the Selected doesn’t choose either side?”

  “Sydney, you have to choose. It is the way of the Selected. And that choice tips the advantage one way or the other, whose numbers go up, and whose go down. It’s obvious you would rather have nothing to do with any of us, but you don’t have a choice. You can’t run from your place in life anymore than we can ours.”

  “Is there a next meeting, between Morris, the wolves, and me?”

  “He hasn’t said yet. There’s a pack meeting coming up. He hasn’t mentioned having you attend or not.”

  “What’s the significance of the pack meeting? What do they talk about?”

  “The meetings are to go over the stability of the pack. Wolves make requests to enter our pack or to leave it. It’s mostly politics that get discussed, decisions get made. I’m not really into that part of pack life. The wolves have complete faith that my father will take care of things. If he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be the pack master.”

  “So why would the Selected attend?”

  “Sydney, to attend a pack meeting is an honor. Not everyone from the pack is privileged enough to attend, only the higher ups, and if he does request your presence, you shouldn’t blow it off, for anything. My father would take that as a direct snub from you. If you have any questions, all you have to do is ask me. I’m here for you, whether you like it or not.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I paused. “Blake, it must be hard for you and your family to open up to me. I appreciate the effort and show of faith by showing me where your den is. The vampires won’t get any information from me about where the pack is located, or where any of you are. Betrayal has never been my thing. But avoiding them isn’t an option for me, either. You have to understand that.”

  “I do understand, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be having my encouragement about it, though,” he said with a sad smile. Finally, some of the tension in his body had lessened during the drive, his knuckles no longer white on the steering wheel. He pulled his car into Aunt Judith’s driveway and parked next to mine.

  I reached for the door handle, but he shot out of the car so fast and opened my door for me from the outside instead. He offered his hand to help me from the car. The last time he had my hand, he didn’t give it right back, and the more he insisted on us being close, the harder it became not to lean into him, knowing that he would probably welcome it. I found it more and more difficult to resist his animal magnetism.

  Like before, he didn’t let my hand go. Blake closed the car door and walked me up the steps to the front door and turned me to face him, my hand still in his.

  “Sydney, why won’t you go out with me tomorrow night after you close your store?”

  “Blake, that’s not a good idea.”

  “Why, because you think the vampires have something better to offer you? Are you afraid to be seen out in the world with a werewolf? That a vampire might see you and get ticked off?”

  “No! That has nothing to do with it, and you know it. It seems we’re both pawns in this war, and it’s not a good idea that we go on a date, that’s all.” It figured, the only guy that could turn me on with a glance and who seemed to genuinely care about me was the only guy I couldn’t have.

  Tension and frustration returned to his body, and the muscles in his jaw and neck began to twitch. “Are you telling me you feel nothing when our bodies touch? That the attraction between us is just something I’m feeling?”

  “Blake.” How to proceed? “Yes, I’m attracted to you to the point when you’re in the room it’s hard for me to breathe. There, does that make you happy? But this won’t work with you and me. We have to keep a professional distance. You and your family are great, but now is not the time to go jumping into anything, okay?”

  Exasperated, Blake put his hands at his sides and said, “Whatever, Sydney. There will come a time when you realize you’re just being stubborn, and you don’t have anything to worry about. Goodnight.”

  Chapter 8

  At Morning Sun, the answering machine light blinked red, telling me there were messages. An unfamiliar male voice was on the recording. He said he was a vampire who worked for Kieran, and that Kieran would send a representative to collect me soon. What did soon mean, exactly? Did anyone realize that people weren’t to be at the vampires’ and werewolves’ beck and call? There were my obligations to the store. Didn’t anyone realize that? The message instantly soured my mood. If Morris and Kieran expected me to come running at the slightest crook of their fingers, well, they had another thing coming.

  Then the thought smacked me right in the forehead. Is that why Blake was insisting that we date, to get me emotionally attached and loyal to him and his pack? Was Blake pouring on his animalistic sensuality to make me attracted to him on purpose? There was no way to be sure. Both Morris and Blake said that Michael’s feelings for Brianna were genuine. But it was hard to trust the werewolves after what they’ve done in the past. Only time would tell.

  Dating Blake and putting myself in that position wouldn’t make for a stellar first move as the Selected. Giving Blake the opportunity to break my heart while I was well aware of his loyalties and pack obligations would be plain stupid on my part. But then again, self-preservation practices weren’t my specialty.

  The only thing to do was sit and wait for Kieran’s employee to make his appearance. Blake had told me some things about the vampires. The vampire covens ran themselves more like a business than a family. Kieran was the equivalent of a big business’s CEO, to the extreme. Vampires didn’t get written up for bad behavior or suspended without pay. Vampires were exterminated, and Kieran was the one to deal out the orders. For lesser infractions, the vampires were starved of blood for a period of time, or they endured tortuous injuries from which they would eventually heal.

  Blake had said he also heard Kieran was known for using the vampire’s human family members, or their descendants, against his employees to keep them in line. That would be a strong enough motivation not to tick off the head guy.

  It was Friday, so the day’s chores included cataloguing the reference books about ancient Celtic lore, besides the normal everyday dusting. It was time to move the store into the modern age and begin making a computerized record of all the stock we had, what was coming in on order, and what items were being sold quickly. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of the random customer, cataloguing, and organizing the shelves.

  Shortly after the sun went down, the door chimes sounded. The temperature in the store suddenly dropped a few degrees, and goose bumps ran up my arms. The man at the door was dressed in a well-tailored suit with a white dress shirt. Even though the sun had set, he wore dark sunglasses.

  The second he walked into the store, it was clear he was a vampire from the temperature change. That and the unple
asant tingly sensations making the hair on my neck stand on end.

  “Good evening, miss.” The man continued into the store and stopped a few feet from me. “My name is Aaron, the delegate sent by Kieran to collect you.” His arrogant stance said that he clearly expected me to drop everything and go with him that very moment.

  “Uh, yeah, about the ’collecting’ me thing. There won’t be any collecting, as you say. You see, there’s a store here to run, and it can’t just be closed up because I’ve been summoned by your boss, so that’s not going to work.”

  The vampire spoke in a very monotone voice. “I was given the understanding that you would be ready upon my arrival. Please excuse the oversight.” Aaron took off his sunglasses and stared at me with his deep red eyes. I felt a pushing-pulling pain on my brain. That’s when he tried to dominate my mind, and that’s what made me red hot and mad.

  First, Blake tried to tell me what jewelry to wear and who to date. Now this vampire was in my store trying to control my mind! Didn’t he know anything? That was the only benefit I’d seen so far with being the Selected—vampires couldn’t control my mind. It was hard to believe some felt it was okay to control someone. Well it wasn’t okay, and his trying to do that made me think Blake might be right. Vampires shouldn’t go around making people do whatever they wanted. That was plain unethical.

  I was about to tell him where he should shove his mind control act when the door chimes jangled, and Blake walked in. When he saw who was standing in front of me, with his obviously vampire eyes, the temperature in the room rose. Come to think of it, the temperature outside the werewolf den seemed a little warmer than in the city. That thought hadn’t registered before now.

  Despite my resolve, I gave Blake a ‘you couldn’t have come at a better time than right now’ smile. He didn’t return the expression. In fact, he barely acknowledged me. Blake and Aaron circled each other in the center of the store. A deep inhuman growl began to rumble from Blake’s throat, and his eyes changed from dark brown to that gold-bronzed color when he was feeling a strong emotion. Apparently, Blake didn’t like the vampire too much, either. Aaron opened his mouth, and long pointy fangs sprang from the top row of his teeth.

  “Okay boys, enough posturing,” I said, my voice shaky. “The testosterone in this room can be cut with a knife.” Even humor wasn’t going to be enough to make the situation go any better.

  “Ms. Sedrick, it will be my pleasure to inform Kieran you are not available to accept his invitation for tonight’s events. I’m sure he will be in touch.” Aaron bowed his head slightly in my direction, glared at Blake, then hissed at him like a cat before leaving through the front door, letting the door bang against the frame as it slammed shut.

  Blake took an aggressive step to follow Aaron, and my instincts made me put my arm around Blake’s waist and squeeze tight. The instant our bodies touched, his heat both surprised and comforted me.

  “So, Blake, what brings you by?” This time he didn’t try to stop me from ending our physical connection when I slowly unwrapped my arms from around his narrow waist. His heat seared me, and the chiseled abdominal muscles didn’t go without notice either.

  “I came by to see if you had changed your mind about our date tonight.” He shrugged. “But if you’ve made other plans, you know, getting to know the other side of the fence, then I, the understanding wolf, would not want to get in the way of that.” Again, he smiled that mischievous smile that cracked my icy disposition. He was making it more and more difficult to keep a cool distance from him.

  “No plans were made to meet with the other side, as you put it. For your information, Aaron’s the first vampire I’ve ever met. Did you know the temperature in the room drops when a vampire walks into a room?”

  “Is that some kind of a joke?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No. When Aaron walked into the room, the temperature in the store dropped at least five degrees, maybe even more. But what’s interesting is that when you walked in, the temperature jumped a good fifteen degrees. Why do you suppose that is?”

  Blake went and sat on the sofa by the fire and patted the seat next to him. Conceding, only because it had already been a long day, I went over to the couch, but chose the seat as close to the other side of the sofa as possible. It was my way of letting him know that it wasn’t a breakthrough on his quest to have us date.

  “Sydney, that’s your ability to locate the wolves and vampires. Your extrasensory ability is kicking in, alerting you to our presence. I’ve never heard of anyone able to differentiate between us using temperature difference. You’re the first that I’m aware of.”

  A customer, one who didn’t change the atmosphere in any way, walked into the store, even though it was almost closing time. Any business was good business. The young woman wanted to concoct a love spell, something to get the man of her desires to notice her. We kept the special recipe cards close to the front door, and she followed me over to the stand originally made to display postcards instead of spell recipe cards. But it worked well and kept them organized.

  When she was checked out and gone, the silence made me uncomfortable. I faced Blake. “Well, it was nice of you to stop by, but I’d better get busy closing. There’s a lot to do.”

  Blake didn’t budge an inch. He again patted the seat next to him on the sofa. I slumped back on the couch with a groan of acceptance. There wasn’t anything I was going to do to make him leave quietly, short of being rude, and he didn’t deserve that, yet.

  “Your sister was at the den today with Michael. It sounds like they’ll be going back to Chicago after the full moon.”

  I straightened. “The full moon. When is that?” I tried to sound casual, but didn’t succeed. The end of my question rose on a squeak.

  “The moon will be full tomorrow night, so Michael will be busy with the pack. Then on Sunday, they plan on returning to their homes down in Chicago.”

  “Oh, so you’ll both be busy?”

  “Yes, there won’t be an opportunity for me to come and visit you tomorrow night, which is disappointing, considering these visits we have are very refreshing.”

  “Refreshing, yeah, I’m sure that’s what you really think of having to come here and play the nice, suave gentleman with me.”

  Both his brows rose in surprise, then he said, “So, that’s it. There had to be another reason that you won’t go out with me other than it’s not good for business. You’re afraid that my attraction to you isn’t genuine, that I’m being told to come and see you for the betterment of the pack. That’s it, isn’t it?” The more he spoke, the louder and angrier he sounded.

  “No, that’s not it at all.” The skin on my face flushed with the lie. Lying was never my strong suit.

  “I can’t believe it wasn’t obvious to me sooner. Sydney, it’s hard to ignore your sexual attraction to me. The smell of it clouds my ability to think straight, and you give off just as strong a scent when you are afraid or when you’re angry. I’m aware of every emotion you experience as they occur. That includes lying.”

  “Blake, you’re not making any sense.” I scooted closer to the edge of the sofa, intending to stand and put some distance between us. Blake pulled me back onto the sofa and forced my back against the armrest. Leaving me no time to argue, the length of his body covered mine. His weight pushed my body down into the cushions, making it impossible to move.

  Blake’s breath was hot and spicy against my mouth. His eyes were back to a golden bronze, telling me he was feeling a strong emotion. But which one?

  Blake gripped my chin with one hand and the area along my ear with the other. He pressed his lips against mine and forced my mouth open, tightening his grip on my chin. He deepened the kiss, and against all my control, my body melted into his embrace. The attraction between us was too strong to resist. Sometime during our passionate kiss, he took his hand from my chin and put it along my body, caressing the side of my breast. A trail of heat followed his touch along my skin. I couldn’t help groaning
into his kiss, urging him on. His growing desire rose along the inner side of my thigh.

  Pulling away, he sat back on his side of the sofa and put his right ankle over his left knee.

  “Can you seriously still doubt if my attraction to you is real? That there is anything else besides the raw wanting of you than what any other man wants from a woman he finds exceptionally hot and fun to be around?”

  I had to take a minute to regain my composure. Blake shook me to the core of my being. I reluctantly sat up.

  “Well, yes. Maybe you’re very good at convincing me to feel that everything is genuine, but my job is to protect myself. I’m the only one that’s truly trustworthy right now.” I lifted my chin. “You wouldn’t do anything different if you were in my position yourself.”

  “If you want to continue to lie to yourself, I’ll keep on trying to convince you otherwise. Just so you know, my father doesn’t dictate what happens in my personal life. Another thing, Michael wasn’t sent down to Chicago to start a relationship with your sister. That just happened. Yes, it was my job to meet you and to invite you to dinner at my father’s house, but that’s all. I’ve also been assigned to look after you because of your lack of experience with vampires. In time, you will realize I have no ulterior motives other than to get to know you better and make sure you’re safe.” He stood and pulled me from my seat by my hand. Heat burned through his palm into mine. My body’s reaction to his kiss had far from dimmed.

  I licked my swollen lips. “Blake, it would be best that you leave. My head is spinning out of control with everything that’s going on, and some time alone would be good for me to figure all this out.”

  “All right, I’ll give you time, but don’t take too long. I’m a very impatient man.” He smiled that charming smile and kissed my cheek. The heat of his lips left a seal of warmth on my face that traveled all the way down to the center of my body. Never before had a man’s touch made me react like that. Besides everything else, that was just another piece of the ever-enlarging puzzle of my life.