A Secret Fate (7 page)

Aiden looked puzzled at her exclamation. “What do you mean, ‘what?’”

“I mean, how? Who told you about that? How do you know about Breena and what she can do?”

“I was there, remember? Well, not exactly at that moment, but Gerry told me what happened. She saved his life. He was extremely grateful.”

“Gerry told you,” she repeated. The nonchalant way he said that took her by surprise. Why would Gerry reveal their secret to Aiden? Unless Aiden had abilities.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shock you. I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?” She played the ignorance card, needing him to reveal his knowledge before she said anything.

“Well, we, you and I, have a similar ability. I thought Gerry would have mentioned it. He told me about yours, so I just assumed …”

“He didn’t,”’ she interrupted him, staring at Aiden, unable to make any other words form on her lips, not sure why she was so shocked. But, jeez, Gerry could have said something. Shoving back from the table, she stood, reached into the cupboard, and grabbed a wine glass as the sudden urge to have a drink consumed her.

“I’m sorry. I guess he would have eventually if you weren’t hiding out here all the time.”

Pouring herself some wine and then sipping it, she watched as he reached behind and grabbed the candle from the shelf, placing it on the table. She observed, staying silent until the wick slowly grew bright with flame.

“Nice. Is that the best you can do?” she said unable to contain the contempt dripping from her voice.

He laughed. “You’re a tough audience.”

“Well, I do have some experience.”

“Playing with fire is never something to take lightly, no matter how well you can manipulate it. There’s always a danger of letting it get out of control. I like to keep it within a certain boundary.”

“I see,” she said, relaxing a bit as the wine settled in, smoothing out the rough edges of her unease. She wanted to disagree with him, considering her own abilities, but decided to keep quiet. Now she needed to know everything there was about Aiden and what his abilities were. “What exactly can you do with it?”

“Not as much as I hear you can. I can light candles, like this.” He picked up the small candle from the middle of the table and snuffed out the flame between his finger and thumb, then placed the unlit candle back on the table. A few seconds later, the flame ignited again. “And start small fires. I suppose I could set a person on fire; however, I’ve never had cause to want to find out. I can’t project flames through the air like you; it’s more of a mind thing with me and I sure as hell can’t control it once it starts.”

“I can,” she murmured more to herself than to him, but knew he’d heard her.

“You can what?”

“Control it.”

“How?” His face lit up with a mixture of intrigue and admiration.

Addie pushed herself up, held out her hand, and a ball of flame formed in her palm.

“Jesus,” Aiden said, jumping to his feet and taking a step back. He stared at her incredulously. She stopped with that, letting the flames dance in her palm, still too unsure of him to show him what she’d just recently discovered she could do.

“Jesus,” Aiden repeated. “Can you feel it?”

“No.” There was no pain. No burning sensation. Not anymore. “When I first acquired the ability, I’d get annoying, shocking prickles in my fingers, but I’m used to it now and those prickly stings are only mild tingles now.” She closed her hand over the flame and it disappeared with not so much as a single scorch mark or other trace.

“Holy hell, girl. You’re a human torch.”

She lowered her hand and sank back down in the chair while grief pummeled her heart as she remembered what it was like the first time she’d ever made a fireball with Cael. He’d been so patient with her, yet so determined. She wished he could see her now. The traveling flames were new, something she’d only done once before while fretting about his disappearance.

Needing to think about something else she asked, “What else can you do?” She was curious now. It didn’t hurt to talk to the guy. She was always interested in learning more about people like herself. Besides, knowing what types of powers a person possessed helped her know exactly what she was up against, in case a situation ever arose where she’d need to defend herself. Aiden
seemed
like a nice guy, and although Gerry’d known him practically his entire life, as far as she was concerned the jury was still out. Nice guy or not, she could tell when someone was putting the moves on her and Aiden was most definitely showing his charming side. In fact, she felt a little guilty sitting here having dinner with him. What if Cael came back right now and found Aiden in their kitchen, eating steak and sharing a glass of wine—by candlelight?

“I can see into the future a little as well as the past.”

His words startled her and catching herself before she spit wine all over the table, she covered her mouth with her hand. “Wait. How far into the future?”

“It varies. I’ve never put an exact length of time on it. Anywhere from five or ten minutes, give or take a few.”

“What? You’re kidding. Why didn’t you say something?”

“About what?”

“Why didn't you see it coming? Or did you deliberately not say anything?”

“I’m sorry, darlin’, I’m not following you. What exactly are you asking?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know perfectly well what I’m talking about.”

“Well, considering this is very upsetting to you, I can only assume you’re referring to the situation at the wedding.”

“Yeah, damn it!” She was on her feet now, prompting Aiden to stand. “The ‘situation’ as you call it, where Gerry was shot and my fiancé disappeared. Why the hell didn’t you warn us?”

“Well, I didn't get out there in time. As best man I felt it was my responsibility to keep the guests inside and away from all that was happening. It was bad enough that they had to witness Finn making a bloody fool of himself and confessing to killing Careen after that woman’s accusations. I’m sorry, I can’t see the future unless it involves me or I’m witnessing something and paying attention. And if you are going to ask why I didn’t stop the fiasco with Finn confessing, save your breath. I hadn’t been paying attention to him either as I’d been concentrating on the pretty female standing in front of me right now who’s hell bent on reading me the riot act for not seeing into someone’s future. I think you are acting a bit irrational. Are you listening to yourself, darlin’?”

Addie hung her head in her hands. Yes, she heard herself, heard Aiden too. She had no right to blame him for anything. He’d been doing what he should have been doing, except for the concentrating on her part. “I’m sorry. It’s all so difficult.”

“I know, love.” He tilted her chin up with his finger so she had to look at him. “I know it’s easier to blame someone else. Helps take some of the burden away. You can blame me all you want if it makes you feel better. I want to be here for you. I
am
here for you.”

Addie forced a smile. “Thanks, but …”

“No buts. I’m not so bad once you get to know me. You might start to like me, even, and if …” he cleared his throat, “if your boyfriend doesn’t come back, I want you to know how deeply sorry I would be for you, but also maybe a wee bit glad. Not wishing anything bad to your beau, of course, but happy that I might have a chance with you then.”

She stared at him, noticing again eyes of the deepest blue she’d ever seen, the pupils completely disappearing as the blue took over. Every line, every muscle in his face showed her how sincere he was and at first, she was surprised. How stupid she’d been not to have recognized his affection before, or noticed how strong it seemed to be.

“I’ll hold you while you cry. Hell, I’ll even hold you when you laugh.”

She gave him half a smile. He seemed genuine enough. Cael had to come back, but in the meantime, would it hurt to let Aiden keep her company once in a while?

“So how about it?”

“How about what?”

“I’ll go with you to the girl’s party. Maybe we can get each other drunk or something. I’ll even let you take advantage of me.” He winked.

She couldn’t help laughing now. “It’s a kid’s party.”

“Ah. Right. Well, we’ll bring our own bottle then.”

Chapter 6

Discovering five years had passed without any memory of them had been an awful blow to Cael’s state of mind and he decided a rigorous swim in the ocean might help improve his disposition. He swam out past the waves, anger swelling his head. What the hell had happened? What could have caused it? Or who? He didn’t think he knew anyone with the ability to remove memories, but considering the empty time span, anything was possible. After several laps out and back through the waves, his waterlogged body laden with exhaustion and the fury inside his veins had disintegrated to a dull annoyance. Strolling slowly away from the soft, foamy surf, water beaded on Cael’s chest and he shook the sea from his hair. Snatching up the towel he’d left in the sand, he began drying off when he noticed a couple of women eyeing him—with admiration, if their smiles were any indication. They seemed young, definitely underage and he prided himself with the knowledge that he’d taken good care of himself over the past five years. The six-pack and firm pecs were a testament to the fact he hadn’t let up at the gym. His arms needed a little more work though, he decided. As he towel-dried his hair, he considered his face. When he’d looked in the mirror earlier that morning, he’d noticed a laugh line at the side of his mouth that he couldn’t remember being there before. He supposed he did look a little older. A little older was an understatement. He was five fucking years older. He headed inside the bungalow and straight to the mirror in the bathroom to check out that line one more time. A soft glow from the overhead light illuminated the tiny space, giving him a shadowed appearance that did make him look a bit older, if he was any judge. He flipped the other switch on, brightening the room, and studied his hands that he now realized were thirty years old instead of twenty-five and that pissed him off. How the hell had it happened?

He decided there wasn’t anything he could do about his age now, it wasn’t possible to go back in time. Grateful he’d kept up with his workouts, diet, on the other hand, he could only guess about, knowing what he normally liked to eat and it wasn’t always healthy. Ahhh, he supposed it wasn’t too bad, though he did have a sweet tooth for pie. Thinking of good cooking, he realized that although he didn’t want the razzing from her about losing his memory, he needed to contact his mom. Maybe she would be understanding and not scoff at him the way she often did when he did something foolish. Siana Sheridan, always the proper, perfect lady. When was the last time he’d seen his mother? Surely, it hadn’t been that long since he’d spoken to her or seen her.

Five years were missing from his life, five entire years gone in the blink of an eye. He thought of Stefan and Claire’s young daughter, Breena.
God, she must be what, ten years old now?

Cael thought he would go crazy listening to Finn brag all morning and afternoon about the woman he’d taken to bed last night. He finally got the guy to shut up when he told him what year it was. Finn had a hard time believing him, but when Cael showed him the daily newspaper he’d grabbed on the way to the room last night, Finn simply sank down on the sofa and rubbed his head. There had to be a damn good reason they’d been wrapped in each other’s arms when they materialized on the beach and he didn’t think they’d been dancing. But neither one of them could remember.

Tahiti was several hours behind the mid-west where the Sectory was located. Cael glanced at his watch, noting it would be around noon back home. He looked at Finn sprawled out on the small sofa, snoring, his feet dangling over the edge. The guy was dead to the world. Finn’s all-night romp in the hay and loud sexual antics were working in Cael’s favor. He might just be able to disappear for an hour without the guy even realizing he was gone. That would be plenty of time to visit good old mom and see if she knew anything. Chances were, she wouldn’t know what happened to his memory, but she might be able to fill him in on some things anyway, bring him up to date. Christ, he really dreaded this.

He began to dematerialize when he realized what he was wearing. Shorts and no shirt would never work. It was the dead of winter and the temperature in the mid western United States was most likely somewhere around ten degrees with snow on the ground, not to mention the frigid wind chill factor. He jumped into the shower and quickly washed off the day’s fun-in-the-sun before pulling on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt. It was short-sleeved and sort of had a tropical flair to it, but he wasn’t planning on going outside after he got there. Besides, once inside the mansion, he could always snatch a sweater or a coat from the hall closet in the foyer where Ben always had several hanging.

As he materialized in the entryway of the large home, he heard voices coming from the grand parlor. What was going on? They never used that room unless there was some great event. He was always careful to check the area before appearing, even here where abilities were second nature to everyone who lived there. He walked in the direction of the voices, stopping when he saw the room full of strangers and a few familiar faces, his mother’s and Uncle Bart’s among them. A young girl stood from her place amidst wrapping paper strewn about on the floor in the middle of the room. Considering the five-year time lapse, he instantly deduced that it was Breena. She gasped and ran to him.

“Cael!” she shouted. “I knew you’d come home. I knew you’d come to my party.”

***

As though a thousand-pound weight had been lifted from her heart, Addie stood and took a step forward, wanting desperately to wrap her arms around Cael and smother him with kisses. The firm grasp of Maia’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Wait,” Maia whispered.

Addie began to tug her arm away, not understanding. “Give it a minute, Addie. You don’t know if he’ll recognize you.”