Becoming a Legend (27 page)

“
Mutant? Like me?” Arianna asked. She was getting more information out of him with just her touch than they had for the past hour of talking to him.

“
Yes… no… kind of.” He sighed. It was much more complicated than he was explaining, but right now, even talking was hard to do. Her touch was more amazing than looking at her was. She was pure energy.

“
Which is it?” Devin asked, now standing almost as close as Andrew. He wanted to pull Arianna’s hand off Michael, but the stories he now could tell exposed more detail than years of snooping around would. Devin gritted his teeth and buried his jealousy as best he could, hoping Andrew would do the same for the sake of getting information.

“
Yes, they are of mixed blood, but no, it’s not natural like Lady Arianna.” Michael opened his eyes a bit as he explained to Devin. It took a great effort to look at anyone beyond Arianna. “Everyone has been experimenting to try to make more night humans like Arianna—mixed blood. So far, two groups have found a way to combine the blood, but it never lasts. The one I was tracking had lasted the longest of any we’ve found, but as you can tell now, it wore off with the sunlight.”

“
How many groups is your father tracking?” Devin asked, reaching to also hold onto Arianna, ready to pull her away from Michael on a moment’s notice.

“
All of them,” Michael replied and closed his eyes again to enjoy the touch of Arianna.

‘
This is worse than we expected,’
Devin said silently to Turner.
‘We need to send word to your father now. They’ll attack him first when war comes.’

‘And there’s no way to avoid war?’
Turner asked in reply. Arianna heard their conversation, but again, it sounded like they were speaking in code. So many details were never shared with her.

‘The alternative isn’t an option. We must keep Arianna out of all of this. Her life is the most important detail,’
Devin answered.

“
Devin, can we heal him?” Arianna asked quietly as it seemed Michael was nodding off to sleep from her easing his pain. “Would my blood help?”

Turner flipped a vial out of his pocket and tossed it to Devin. Devin reached over Arianna and placed a drop on the wound. It immediately closed up.

“My blood?” Arianna asked. It had only been her blood that was that effective in the past. Other night human blood helped wounds heal, but her blood caused instant healing.

“
No, that’s the new drug we came up with from your blood. Turner is the only one that can handle it since he’s the only one with sensitive enough smelling to tell if it’s leaking. We don’t need our secrets getting out,” Devin explained, stepping back only a step from Arianna. He wanted to pull her with him, but needed to find out more.

Michael
’s eyes shot open. The sleepiness passed with the healing of the wound. “You healed me,” he whispered, now staring longingly at Arianna.

“
No
. Devin did that,” Arianna replied. She didn’t like the way he was worshipping her with his eyes, but hearing Michael tell his secrets was worth the discomfort of being that close to him.

“
No
. It’s you. I can feel it. It’s you. It’s that special something that’s just in your blood. That’s why everyone wants you. That’s why I want you. That’s why my father wants you. Everything about you is amazing. Marry me.” He stared up at her. Arianna stared back, trying to understand if she heard correctly. It wasn’t every day she got a marriage proposal.

Andrew finally moved between them and pulled Arianna away.
His arms looped protectively around her as he placed himself in front of her to stare down Michael. Anger coursed through Andrew. His baku form flickered and then stayed. He was gigantic, imposing, and threatening.

“
She belongs to me,” Andrew growled. “Only to me.” Arianna wanted to fight back at his caveman-like comment, but his touch told her she should not. He was angry, furious. It wouldn’t take much to set him off, and she might not be trained enough to stop him. She might be more powerful, but he had years of being a baku on her that she couldn’t match.

Still
tied to the bed, but now able to move, Michael jumped up and hissed at him. He pulled himself back onto the far corner of the bed. He was being threatened, and there was nothing he could do while he was tied down. Michael saw the anger behind the baku and didn’t care if he angered him more. This was a fight Michael couldn’t back down from. He needed Arianna.

“
She belongs to the dearg-dul. She doesn’t belong to you or your kind.” Michael pulled on the cords, but he was securely bound. “She needs to marry one of us to keep the bloodline clean.”

Arianna placed a hand on Andrew
’s chest as he began to build rage inside him. She needed to stop the situation from escalating, no matter the danger. He would tear Michael apart before anyone could stop him. Arianna kept one hand on his chest to keep track of him in case he bolted across the room and raised her second hand to his face. She deliberately pulled his face down to look into her eyes.

‘
No,’
she sent the message across to him. He continued to stare across the room, ready to spring on Michael and rip him to pieces.

“
No,” she said out loud. Andrew finally looked down at the sound of her voice. He felt the certainty behind it, and knew that she was commanding him. He would have to abide; she was his leader. She would stop him if he chose to disobey. Andrew released the tension that was building within him. The hands that were balled into fists at his sides relaxed and moved around her waist. His thumbs stroked the space from her rib cage to her hip, trying to ease the last of his built-up anger out of his system. Arianna placed her face on his bare chest and kissed him lightly. Andrew sighed and reigned in the last of his anger. Everyone around them had disappeared in his mind at the first sign of his boiling anger. Now they came back into focus as Turner spoke.

“
Don’t you see it?” Turner asked Michael from across the room. When Andrew was starting to lose it, Turner knew enough to get away from him. If Arianna didn’t stop him, it would have been an easy massacre of anyone standing between the raging baku and his tied-down prey.

Michael gasped.
“That can’t be. She’s meant to find a dearg-dul, not a baku. Arianna is our blue-eyed legend. She belongs to us.” Michael whimpered his last reply. He’d been so sure before that he could win her over. Now, it would be impossible.

Andrew
’s arms wrapped tighter around Arianna protectively. “She’s mine and will always be mine. Do you get that now? Do you need any more proof?” Andrew needed to make a point to keep the lesser man away from Arianna.

“
Your father doesn’t realize we have the same goal. We also wanted to keep the clans away from her, but for this reason. Her baku found its partner,” Devin explained from next to Turner. Devastation ran through Michael, as he realized the truth Devin spoke.

Arianna
’s head snapped up from Andrew’s chest as she turned to Devin. He didn’t look her direction but kept his attention on Michael on the floor. Michael stared up at her in awe, as if he were truly seeing her standing there for the first time. Arianna looked around the room. Everything looked the same to her. Why would Devin make such a statement? It was true that she loved Andrew, but she was uncertain how Devin already knew that.

“
Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on now?” Arianna asked and looked from man to man around the room. Not a single person spoke. Arianna pushed herself off of Andrew’s chest. “Are you going to tell me?” Andrew didn’t reply, so Arianna started to walk out of the room, her anger building. Her world had been filled with new knowledge since the day she entered it a year ago, but it was also filled with secrets. Arianna knew that for as much as Devin told her, he held back just as much.

“
I think maybe our other guest might be more willing to share with me what you all see but I don’t,” Arianna threatened. Andrew hurried behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He was simultaneously trying to stop her and calm her resentment. Arianna threw his arms off in anger.

‘
I’ll tell you anything you want to know as long as you go to our room,’
he said silently. Arianna nodded and huffed off to her room.

‘
You better or all my promises to Gabriel will be shot,’
Arianna replied.

“
Feed her before we talk to the other one,” Devin commented to Andrew before he left the room with Turner right behind him. Michael stared at Arianna as she disappeared. She’d already been claimed, and by a baku, at that. His father was not going to like that news.

TWENTY-THREE

Arianna opened
the door to her room and pointed for Andrew to enter first. Andrew complied so that he wouldn’t anger her further. He didn’t need his baku senses to see the anger pouring off her. Arianna stomped into the room behind him and slammed the door shut. She leaned back and slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor. Her energy was still not at a normal level, but she was able to hold her anger long enough to get this alone time with Andrew. And, if needed, Arianna would find the energy to run away from everyone.

“I’m
so sick of all the lying. Are you on their side now and will only selectively tell me details?” she accused him. Arianna wanted to be standing and poking his chest, but she settled for glaring at him from the floor.

“
Never. I’m only on one person’s side, and that’s yours.” Andrew slowly approached her, hands in the air in surrender.

“
And I’m supposed to just trust you on that? I’m sure Devin would have you lying to me. They’re all good at that. And you know what stinks the most about it? I can’t even catch them lying because it really isn’t lying. They just like to hold out specific details, and I’m too uneducated here to know the difference. Ugh. I hate this.” Arianna pounded her fist on the floor. She was too weak to confront anyone head on at the moment, and too uneducated to argue anyway. “Why did I have to grow up hidden from all of this? A lot of good that did me. Now I’m the head of two families, and I don’t even know the basics.”

“I’ll
tell you anything you want to know, and teach you everything else as it comes up,” Andrew finally reached her. His arms were outstretched for her. “Just feed first. Please. You can’t even stand.”

Arianna pushed his extended hands away.
“No. How do I know that once I feed you’re not going to just lull me to sleep?” It was a good possibility, now that she was sick. Before, feeding would make her tired, but she could always keep her senses and not go to sleep if she tried. The last few months, it wasn’t really a choice whether she slept or not, or even how long she slept.

“
Ari, I promise to tell you anything you want to know.” Andrew backed up a few steps and tried to plead his case with his eyes.

“
I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be left in the dark. If there’s something I should know, then everyone can’t just keep hiding it to protect me. I need to know what’s going on.” Andrew nodded his agreement as she talked, easing her anger down a notch. “If everyone wants to keep secrets from me, then I should have never been born in the first place. Everyone would be so much better off without me.” Arianna was beginning her own pity party. She looked up at the perfect baku form in front of her. He was scarred across his back, but his front was as carved as the statues she saw during her last class trip to the art museum. He grew up in the odd night world and had the scars to prove it. She didn’t, and it showed in her actions every single day. Andrew had the knowledge to rule a clan. Arianna didn’t. He stood and waited for her to calm down. He didn’t run away or fear her strength, or her anger. He didn’t lie to her.

“What can I do to make you understand?” Andrew asked. He was desperate to be close to her. Even Arianna felt the pull.

“You promise on your life you won’t ever lie to me and leave out details,” Arianna replied, waiting for him to object.

“
Never,” he answered solemnly, his hand on his heart. “I haven’t lied to you yet. I don’t even think I could. You’re more important to me than my own life.” Arianna was convinced he spoke the truth.