Beckoned (The Brazil Werewolf Series) (3 page)

Then, he leaned back, standing as he did and walked out of the door, slamming it behind him. I stared after him frowning and very near tears. What had I done to deserve his hate? My eyes burned and I buried my face in my hands. Suddenly, I wished we had never come to Timbly Mountain.

Chapter Two

Secrets

It had taken a long while before I rose from my seat. When I finally did, I felt unsteady and confused. Tears burned my eyes threatening to spill over and down my cheeks before I managed to fight them back.

I clutched my stomach as I trembled, hating I wasn’t able to ignore what Andre had done. Worse, I knew that most of my reaction was due to the fact I had never been good with confrontations. I always cried…even if I was angry and that made me feel weak. As I stood there I felt weaker than ever. I felt ready to break down.

I swallowed hard as I stood beside my seat, feeling ashamed. I was eighteen years old but like a child, I still wanted my mother. Sadly, I could not shake the need and I quickly decided to go in search of her.

I walked slowly toward the door with shaky legs, only stopping when I heard my mother’s voice. I frowned. She sounded worried and angry. I had rarely heard those emotions drip from her voice. It caused my stomach to flip in nervousness. I reached forward but my hand hovered over the doorknob. Even though I had wanted my mother only a few seconds before, I couldn’t make myself turn the knob. I couldn’t go to her. Sadly, I knew the reason.

If I did, I would not know why my mother seemed so upset. It had to be more than the man from the night before. It had to be. Still, I knew that she would never tell me. She wouldn’t want me to worry. The problem was that I felt a gnawing in the pit of my stomach telling me that her worries had something to do with me. I needed to know if that was true. So, even though I knew it was wrong, I leaned against the door, listening for secrets my mother would never reveal any other way.

“I don’t know what to do about any of this, Sophia,” her voice broke through the door. I could tell that she had been crying again and my heart lurched. Even through the tears, her anger burst from her, “He won’t give up. He’ll just keep coming for her.”

I frowned. Was she talking about the man…Emilian? Was she saying that he would keep coming for me? I frowned as I looked at the door. That didn’t make any sense…unless…I shook my head of the thought. I did not want to believe that my mother had lied to me. Instead, I leaned closer to the door and listened more intently.

A rich and sultry voice twisted through the air next, caressing my ears. It was seductive and calming in a way I could not explain. I assumed it belonged to the woman who my mother had spoken of…Sophia…Andre’s mother.

“I just can not believe that you haven’t told her, Fiona,” Sophia said with disapproval clearly in her voice, “Why would you spring something like this on the girl?”

Spring what on what girl? Was it me?
I strained to hear more but it was silent for a few moments. The silence stretched so long I feared they had moved away from the motor home. Thankfully my mother‘s sigh floated softly through the door. I pressed my ear closer, straining to hear.

“We weren’t due back until December,” she said, defensively. I heard my mother sigh again, “I thought that I’d have a few months.”

Sophia’s scoff reached my ears a moment later, “That’s still a bit close, don’t you think? You should have given her time to adjust. She should have been warned about
everything
.”

“It’s hard to tell her. She‘ll hate me,” My mother said with tears in her voice. My heart clenched as she sobbed. I didn’t know what the big secret was and I didn’t care as long as my mother would stop crying…stop being angry and most of all stop being afraid.

I reached for the handle just as Sophia spoke again, “You have to tell her,” she said, gently as I turned the knob, “You have to tell Aurora.”

I gripped the handle as I took everything in. So, the secrets did have something to do with me. Eventually, I would have to know what they were. My mother would have to tell me.

I let the door swing open. My mother looked up and the woman she had been speaking to turned. I looked into eyes the same color as Andre’s. Shock radiated through me when I seen them attached to a young woman who looked only a little older than my mother. I frowned wondering if I had been mistaken. How could this be Sophia when her son was at least twenty years old?

The woman’s eyes widened so wide her long, curving lashes nearly met her perfectly arched brows. Her hair glistened in the sun as black as mine and blew back from her wrinkle free face in wild, wavy tendrils. Her very full lips opened in an o of surprise. She reached up one olive toned hand to cover those lips. My eyes scanned over her…studying this woman in hopes of gaining an idea of who she was. I seen that she wore a white blouse that hugged her curves and small waist and a skirt of many colors blended together that reached nearly to her ankles. Black thong sandals clung to her perfectly pedicured feet.

My eyes met hers again, raising my eyebrows in question, “What does my mother need to tell me?” I asked, blinking rapidly as I looked from her to my mother and back again.

The woman lowered her hand as she studied me. A slow but gentle smile stretched across her face, “I’m so sorry for gawking,” She said, stepping forward studying me in a way that made me shift uncomfortably from foot to foot, “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen you. You were a baby.”

I frowned as I looked at her still confused, “You were around me as a baby?” I asked still unsure this woman was Sophia though there was no one else around.

She turned wide eyes back to my mother, “Fiona Anderson, you haven’t told her anything, have you?” She asked, shaking her head as she turned back to me with an exasperated sigh, “I helped your mother as her midwife while she was pregnant and when she gave birth. I was the first to hold you after your birth. I cared for you and it broke my heart when you left. I missed you as much as if you were my own child. The last time I seen you, you were a little over a year old. Now you are a beautiful young woman.”

I frowned. I had assumed we had left Sophia and her family shortly after my birth but I had been with them for a full year. This woman had bonded with me. As ridiculous as it was, part of me felt ashamed that I could not remember her, “I’m sorry,” she said with the smile still planted on her lips. I was sure that she seen how uncomfortable I was and was trying to relieve me from feeling that way, “I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Sophia Brazil. I‘m your godmother and I also own this motor home park.”

I looked around, seeing my surroundings for the first time. I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed before but I had been so deep in the conversation with Sophia that I had not looked beyond her and my mother.

I looked around noticing that I stood in a large motor home park which seemed more like a small community than a temporary home. We were parked next to a field that was shaped like a large circle . A large pile of wood which would soon become a bonfire stood in the center. Children played within the field and laughter and music floated through the air. Picnic tables sat around the bonfire area. Many held people talking and eating. I looked beyond the field and saw that a vast forest surrounded it, traveling upward toward an unseen mountain top. There was something quaint about this place…something calming. I smiled as I turned back to Sophia, feeling very at ease.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, wincing and waited for her response. All of the relaxation from a moment before faded as I hoped that her answer would not be the same one that I had gotten from her son. She frowned and then as if she understood what had happened, looked toward another motor home with narrowed eyes. Andre leaned against it watching his mother with fury reddening his face. My eyes widened as I turned back to Sophia wondering why he hated me so much.

“Andre was rude to you, wasn’t he?” She asked and I blanched in response, looking down.

“No,” I lied but when I looked back up at her, she was shaking her head.

“You must excuse my son,” Sophia said, looking at me apologetically, “Sometimes, he is rude though he hasn’t been raised that way.”

“It’s okay, Sophia,” I said, glancing back at Andre before looking back into her eyes. She smiled and patted my shoulder.

“No, it’s not,” she said and then, shrugged, “But it will be.”

Sophia turned to my mother and smiled, “I’m glad to have you both back but you should speak to your daughter
alone
,” she said with a pointed look and then, looked toward Andre, “And I will speak to my son.”

My mother nodded as she shifted nervously, “I will, Sophia.”

Sophia patted my mother’s cheek gently and then, walked toward Andre with a determination that made me jealous. How could she face her son’s steely gaze without cowering down?

“Aurora,” My mother said, causing me to turn to look at her. The look on her face was tortured, “We need to talk.”

Suddenly, my fear of Andre didn‘t seem so bad. The secrets trapped within my mother’s mind terrified me more.

*********

Tears had already begun to brim in my mother’s eyes before she had even sat down. A lump formed in my throat as I watched her, warily. I had never seen my mother cry as much as she had in the last couple of days and those tears only frightened me worse about the secrets that she was keeping.

She looked at me tortured as she finally sat across from me at the little table in the dining area of our home. She took a deep breath, clasping her hands in front of her on the table top as she did and looked into my eyes.

“Do you believe I love you?” She asked almost desperately.

I smiled at such a ridiculous question, “Of course, Momma,” I said, reaching forward and taking her hand. I hoped the action would comfort her but in that moment, I realized nothing would. She was too tense…too frightened and anything that I did would go unnoticed. I kept my smile in place as I continued, “Nothing you tell me will convince me you don’t.”

She looked at me doubtful and shook her head. The tears that she had held back fell down her pale cheeks, “You shouldn’t promise anything yet.”

I rolled my eyes and then, met her gaze,“Momma, what is this about?” I asked, realizing why she was so afraid. I narrowed my eyes as I studied her, “Is it about the man who tried to attack us last night.”

My mother nodded her head in one jerky motion and then, closed her eyes before looking at me pained, “He wasn’t trying to attack us, Aurora,” she said, as a tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. She removed her hand from mine to wipe it away as she whispered, “He was trying to take you from me.”

I blinked surprised. My heart beat wildly as I realized that the girl that Sophia and my mother had been talking about was definitely me. Still, nothing she had said explained why he wanted to take me from her. I frowned as my previous suspicion rose in my mind. It seemed to be the only explanation that made sense. My heart dropped but I still had to know if it was true, “But…why would he want me?”

My mother closed her eyes again releasing two more tears to roll down her cheeks and then, took a couple of deep breaths before opening them and looking at me with heartbreak clearly written in her eyes. She swallowed hard before she spoke in a quivering voice.

“Because he’s your father,” she said, trembling. Something like anger entered her voice as she looked into my eyes, “Because he wants you to be part of his family and not mine.”

I had suspected the man may be my father but hearing it still caused me to suck in my breath. She had lied to me. She had told me that he had died. I bit my lip, knowing there had been a reason…a very bad reason to have kept him from me. Still, I felt shame race through me because I wanted to know about him and for some reason, it felt like a betrayal to my mother. Still, I had to ask, “Who is he?”

She stared at me for a moment while tears fell down her cheeks. Hurt crossed her face and I was not sure whether it stemmed from me or my father. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them and looking at me warily.

“His name is Emilian Grey,” she said, flinching as she said his name. Her voice had become dull and lifeless, “His family is like this one…but different.”

“Momma, what are you talking about?” I asked frowning. I stared at her hard, hoping to make sense of what she was saying but there were too many questions to be answered before any of it made sense.

“You‘ve heard of Gypsies?” My mother asked still sniffling.

I nodded, “Of course, Momma,” I said, softly, “Who hasn’t?”

“Then, you understand we live very much like them?” She asked, looking down at her hands clasped together on the table.

“Yes,” I said, confused, “Are you trying to tell me that we are Gypsies?”

She shrugged her shoulders before looking up at me and then, sighed as if confused herself, “Well, we aren‘t the well known version,” She said, biting her lip for a moment before looking at me, “The truth is I don‘t know where this family comes from. I only know we are not Romany or Irish travellers and Sophia doesn’t deny it when she’s called a Gypsy so I suppose we are some type of Gypsies.”

I looked at her with raised eyebrows, “We are?”

“Well, you certainly are,” she said, frowning, “I have been…adopted by them.”

“So, Sophia and her family are probably gypsies?” I asked still confused, “But you aren’t sure?”

She nodded her head, “So is Emilian,” she said, looking into my eyes, “However, he is from a different family though I do believe they are the same type.”

I leaned forward even more confused about where I came from, “Momma, why haven’t you told me about him before?”