Brush of Shade (19 page)

With a shriek of
laughter, I started up the hill, forgetting for once in all the excitement to
be careful. Rolling heavy snowballs back and forth across the yard had
stretched tight muscles that were far from ready for a run up a slope through
snow that almost covered my boots. I hissed sharply as I felt my knee give.
Automatically, my hand clenched to grip my crutch. Only I wasn’t holding one.

“Are you hurt?”
he asked, easily scooping me up. “Where’s your crutch?” He spun about twice,
his eyes searching the yard.

“I left it
inside.”

“What? Did Dr.
Long give you permission to go without it?” All trace of playfulness had
vanished from his voice. “Where’s your common sense? You don’t want to undergo
more surgeries do you?”

His reprimand
stung. “I’m not a child. I was being careful.”

“Obviously not enough.
Maybe I should take you to the
clinic?”

“That won’t be
necessary. I’ve felt worse, a lot worse.”

A muscle in his
jaw throbbed. “This is my fault. I got carried away.”

I pushed against
his shoulder and snapped, “Leave it to you to ruin one of the few pure moments
of fun that I’ve had in months. I stepped wrong. It was an accident. You’re
absolved from blame.”

Icy droplets
glided down my chest and soaked into my bra. I tried to keep a straight face.

“What’s the
matter,” he demanded, his perceptive eyes narrowing.

My face
scrunched up. “Your blizzard is melting into uncomfortable areas. Don’t ask.”
Not that he needed to, since a telltale blush was enhancing my healthy red
glow.

A slow grin
broke out across his face. Not the reaction I expected. A wave of heat
triggered ice-cold trickles that ran from my jean waistband down to my very
low-rise panties. I squirmed and shrieked.

“I so won this
battle.” He chuckled.

Before I could
respond, air and flakes briefly chilled my hot face. Together, we huddled in
the mud room where my boots were whisked off, followed by my coat being
shrugged off my body. My aunt’s voice called out from the kitchen. We both
froze, but it faded as she returned to our guest in the living room.

“I could dry
your clothes,” Shade offered. He cocked his head towards the living room. “I’d
better be respectable and join the ladies while you get a hot shower. It’ll be
good for your leg.”

I took a
hobbling step towards the back stairs. A shower would be nice, but I was
certain his warm hands on my bare leg would sooth my muscles so much better.

I missed the
first step when he said as he stepped closer, “I thought you’d left your crutch
by the back door. I better carry you upstairs.”

Feather light
footsteps streaked up the stairs so stealthily that the warped step didn’t even
squeak. He set me onto my desk chair, squashing my racing imagination. I tried
to keep the disappointment off my face.

“I’ll be quick,
so you’re not stuck downstairs listening to valley gossip,” I said already
working out the knots in my thigh.

Shade brushed my
hand aside. “I could ease the tension?”

I nodded, not
trusting my voice. The experience would’ve been way better on bare skin. Just
my luck, he had scruples. Alright, so did I, but a girl could have her
fantasies.

Where his long
fingers massaged, heat pulsed deliciously along my muscles. I could swear my
eyes rolled back as my body went limp. Had it not been for my tight grip on the
sides of the chair, I would’ve slid to the floor. “Where have you been all
these months,” I murmured drowsily. “You could make a fortune as a masseuse.”

“I’m rather
picky about my clientele,” he said, his voice unusually thick. “You better
hurry and get your shower before your aunt comes up here.
Marshmallows?”

“Huh?” I said
sleepily, not quite keeping up. Last night was catching up to me.

“Hot chocolate with or without marshmallows?”

“Definitely with.
Spilling over the top.”

“I’m yours to
command. Do me a favor, make it a quick shower. Your guest cancelled her plans
as a huge favor to me.”

Chivalry is
alive and well in Spring Valley and it comes in quite the gorgeous package. I
sighed a few minutes later beneath my steaming shower. And he knows his way
around the kitchen. Not that it mattered, I thought, scrubbing my scalp too
hard. To him I was just a silly, high school girl that needed looking after.

I froze. Soap
dripped down the side of my nose. Those times in D.C., when I’d been positive
that someone was watching me, had Shade been following me around? But that would
mean he’d been there for weeks, maybe even earlier, when I’d first been
discharged from the hospital. Did that mean the skin-crawling, hair-raising
feeling that made my blood run cold even now under a steaming shower had been
my Pepperdine genetics kicking in, picking up on the nearby presence of a
Whisperer? It couldn’t be. The sensation was so un-Shade like.

Unless it wasn’t him.

Whisperers
had left me to die.

I thrust my head
back under the hot water and scrubbed. The ugliness lingered refusing to be cleansed
away. My skin turned
pruny
. I didn’t care. I didn’t
want to go downstairs. An image of Shade with his eyes frothy with concern
materialized behind my scrunched eyelids. I’d never met anyone so perceptive
and devoted in a way that made me want to step into the world. With him at my
side, I amended. Jeez I was needy.

Devoted to
his inexperienced, young warden or to the valley or a faction?

Whisperers
had murdered my parents.

And what was up
with his sudden weirdness in the gazebo? He couldn’t seem to control his body.
Or his emotions.
Just thinking about it made my skin tingle.
I’d wanted him.
Badly.
The desire had been
reciprocated. I’d gotten that from his head. Or had I? How like him to spare my
feelings. Poor guy connecting with my scarred, emotionally wary mind was
messing him up. Obviously I had a long ways to go before I had the skills or
the sound mind necessary to connect on a deeper level with these unique people.
I was a disgrace to my line. Roland was probably rolling over in his grave. I turned
the knob then leaned my hands against the tile letting the cool water stream
down my shoulders and back.

A Whisperer’s
voice haunted my head.

Is that what had
spooked Shade last night? It required the presence of an esteemed member of the
Whisper community?

My heart skipped
several beats. I pressed my forehead against the tile, breathing through the
lightheadedness. Shade didn’t have to tell me he’d been in D.C. He’d wanted me
to know before I faced the revered lady in my living room.
A
show of support.
An expression of trust.
I
shook my head, completely at a loss. I had no idea what he saw in me to take
such a risk.

Shade met me at
the bottom of the stairs. My first thought was that he’d stationed himself
there in case I decided to make a run for it. When he held out his arm to
escort me the handful of feet into the living room, my eyes flicked to the
front door.

“You go, I go,”
he bent down and said in my ear.

Were we forming
a pact, the two of us against the community? Or was he warning me that he’d
have to stop me? I took his serious expression as an answer, but then he
winked.

“Sister Willow,
may I introduce, Warden’s Heir Olivia Pepperdine,” Shade said formally when we
stopped alongside the older lady’s chair.

If Shade’s obvious
deference wasn’t an indication of the elderly woman’s esteem in the community,
the use of the good china tea set that had been stored in the attic for years
reinforced the gravity of the situation. My quick, nervous scan of the room
latched onto Aunt Claire sitting in a chair at the opposite end of the coffee
table. I’d heard her argue—quite spectacularly—with specialists and seen her
deal with Mrs. Cassidy with cool politeness, so I was taken aback by her pale
face and the twittering of her hands in her lap.

Thankfully I’d
put on my nice jeans, the ones without the decorative rips, and my coral,
V-neck sweater with three-quarter sleeves. At least I looked mature and sane.
“It’s a pleasure to have you visit us, Sister Willow,” I said respectfully,
making a conscious effort not to bite the inside of my mouth.

Dressed simply
in
an off
-white, western-style shirt, faded jeans, and
calf-length, leather boots with her straight, gray hair hanging loose around
her shoulders, Sister Willow didn’t fit the mold of revered elder that I’d
envisioned. When she tucked her layered bangs behind her ears, I counted three
turquoise earrings in each ear.
Peridot
green eyes
with pale yellow rays in the irises met mine over the rim of her tea cup.
Briefly, white teeth peeked through a wry smile. “Pleasure isn’t the reaction
folks generally have when I unexpectedly drop by.” The old-fashioned, wooden
rocking chair rocked forward to a halt.
“Do stop hovering,
grandson.
I’m not about to indiscriminately pulse the bewildered girl.”

Arms crossed in
front of his chest, Shade stood straighter, his chin tipping up a notch. “I
stand at her side as is my obligation.”

A hint of a
frown tugged at the corners of Sister Willow’s thin mouth. “Explain why you’re
poised to intervene when you asked for my assistance?”

Had I seen
movement in her eyes? There it was again. “Shade, sit down,” I said, my eyes
motioning towards the sofa.

“Olivia,” he
growled, “you issued an order.”

“Yes, I know. It
was deliberate this time. Whatever obligation you feel towards me, I won’t have
it come at the expense of your relationship with your grandmother. Sit down.”
His brows furrowed deeply over eyes narrowed to icy slits. The muscle at his
jaw throbbed harder the longer he remained at my side, staring down my order,
challenging not just his grandmother, but me. I flipped my hair over my
shoulder. But ignoring him was like dismissing an avalanche. You knew standing
in its path courted disaster, but its raw power mesmerized.

Sister Willow
leaned forward. “She’s got some fire, Claire.
Far more than I
dared hope for, given the elders’ griping.
That she’s already gained
Shade’s loyalty will go far in alleviating the valley’s fears. Take heart, I
can see improvement since the wake, despite recent events.”

“Excuse me,” I
said, looking between them. “I don’t recall being introduced at the wake.”

“Sometimes
talking can get in the way.”

I gaped at her.
When her perplexed gaze returned to her grandson, I elbowed him in the side.
“You’re making me nervous. I’m sure I’ve nothing to fear from your grandmother.
Tea anyone?”
I asked, assuming the role I was
comfortable with, that of hostess.

 “Shade,”
Sister Willow said in a stern voice. “If you asked me out here to change my assessment,
then you’ve wasted everyone’s time. Rescind your oath. Allow another of the
clan to take your post amongst the protectors.”

“You’re a police
officer?” I asked Shade. “Why didn’t you tell me? So you work at Hattie’s for
the fun of it?” Darn the infuriating man, he refused to look at me.

“Young lady,
release my grandson from your service,” Sister Willow ordered.

“She cannot,”
Shade responded, breaking his silence with a booming voice that charged the
air.

The tingling
deep in my bones remained long after the hairs on my arms had laid flat. I
considered its meaning and Shade’s open defiance. His grandmother exchanged a
stunned look with my aunt before leveling a look that could blister paint upon
her grandson. Silently, I tried to signal Shade to settle down. Exacerbating
the situation would only lead to repercussions.

“What words did
you use, clansman? Tell me you didn’t go so far?” Sister Willow demanded,
coming halfway to her feet. A weathered hand clenched and unclenched the marble
knobbed top of her wooden cane carved with renderings similar to the relief
work in my basement.

 With his
thumbs hooked into his belt loops, he widened his stance. “I am bound.”

“No!” she
gasped, staggering as though struck before collapsing hard onto her chair. “How
dare you? It was the council’s right to choose the Warden’s Sworn Protector
from the pool of applicants.” Her cane thumped the carpet. “Grandson, I cannot
show favoritism. You’ll have to present yourself for disciplinary actions.”

 “It was
within my inherited and legal right to give.”

“You’re life—”

“I trust Olivia
not to go too far.”

 “You would
do better not to trust an emotional young woman’s judgment above yours. The
wrong word could bring lasting sorrow, injury, or even death.”

“I can control
my actions.” I defended myself.

“I’m in control
of the situation,” Shade retorted.

“When compelled by anger or another powerful emotion?
In
this matter, I speak not only of her emotional state but yours as well.”
Fingers stroked engravings worn almost smooth. In a softer though no less stern
voice she demanded, “What could’ve possessed you?”

“I answer to my
warden.”

“This situation
is to grave to hide behind that sentiment. You were meant for another path.”

He looked her
directly in the eye. “I chose my path.”

This time, she
got all the way to her feet. Both cane and hand began to shake while snow-white
starburst consumed pale yellow rays. Fury made her voice quiver when she
demanded, “Tell me or I will take the explanation.”

I was too busy
watching the elderly lady’s cane shake and wondering if she was about to fall,
to bother about the pulling and stretching sensation along the side of my left
arm. I got that Shade had overstepped, but his grandmother’s reaction seemed
overly harsh when all he’d done was join a police department. Hold on, she’d
said something about a sworn protector. So did that mean Shade was the valley’s
version of the Secret Service?

Both cane and
hand graduated from out of focus to a blur. On the end table next to Shade, a
coaster rattled and slid across the smooth surface, picking up speed until it
shot across the room and clanged into the base of the floor lamp. I swung my
head up, prepared to demand answers out of Shade. His lips were pulled back
into a grimace. White chunks flung off thinning, spiraling bands in his telling
eyes. Sister Willow whacked the leg of the coffee table with her cane, rattling
teacups and sloshing the honey colored liquid over the rims.

“St—“ I caught
myself in time. Face scrunching, I drew a deep breath. Only Shade would be
obligated to stop. Now I understood how a word spoken without careful
consideration could have serious consequences. I gritted my teeth. Darn them
for leaving me to blunder about in my ignorance. The cane vanished. I gulped in
a breath and tried again. “Sister Willow, please if it weren’t for Shade’s
patience and friendship, I would’ve left the valley. Perhaps if we all sit
down, we could discuss the ramifications of this oath.” Later, when we were
alone, I’d let Shade know just how far he’d overstepped in making decisions
involving both of us.

I headed for the
sofa, stepping between Shade and his grandmother, hoping they would follow suit
and take a seat. Spiky feeling air scratched across my left side. Startled, I
tripped and banged my left knee hard on the corner of the end table. “
Ow
!” I cried out when it made a loud pop and buckled. Quite
unexpectedly, springs squeaked and sofa cushions sagged beneath my weight.

For several
delicious minutes pulses of heat melted the tight knots in my left thigh. I
couldn’t help it; I sighed heavily. If this kept up much longer, I’d be the
definition of a limp noodle. Someone coughed. Reality once again began sucking
away my energy. Tiredly I blinked anxious faces into focus.

Immediately,
Shade started. “Is your head an empty wasteland? Maybe you’re into pain and
attention. Is that it? Do you want to have more surgeries?”

Aunt Claire
elbowed him aside. “That’s enough.”

“Satisfied?”
Shade shouted, rounding on his grandmother whose clear, bright eyes shrewdly
observed the interplay.

“You’d raise
your voice to me? I couldn’t have foreseen the girl’s foolishness.”

“Calm down, both of you.
Olivia doesn’t understand,” Aunt
Claire ordered, using my father’s no-nonsense, you’ve-crossed-the-line tone.

The muscle in
Shade’s jaw pulsed once more before he got control of his temper. The moment he
realized what he had accused me of, his head whipped towards the sofa, eying my
reaction.

Sister Willow
shook her cane at Shade, but took care to speak calmly when Aunt Claire held
out a warning hand. “Clearly Olivia is too impulsive. She deliberately stepped
in the way.”

“In the way of what?”
I said before my aunt could reply.
Once again I was muddling through a book that was missing its first few
chapters. Fist clenched, I huffed a loud breath into the silence. “There wasn’t
anything there. Besides, you were being unnecessarily hard on Shade. I’d prefer
to discuss that.”

 “Olivia,
stay out of this.” The rustling of paper muffled Shade’s voice as he reached behind
the magazine rack to dig out the coaster. “You get no say in the matter.”

“Since I seem to
be in the middle of this dispute, I disagree. My dad taught me to stand up for
my friends and for what I believe in. Other key life’s lessons he failed to
address. We’ll get back to those.” I shot my aunt a meaningful look. Not that
it would change anything.

I shifted my
weight, trying to get comfortable and moaned. I could’ve sworn Shade’s eyes
whitened when they locked onto mine. It took me a moment to remember what I’d
planned to say and another breath to make sure I had enough air in my lungs to
give my voice strength. “I meant what I said. I’d be a basket case if it wasn’t
for you, Shade. I won’t repay your friendship by coming between you and your
grandmother or your clan for that matter. Give me some credit. I can muddle
through. Please, rescind your oath,” I asked, taking care not to issue an
order.

 “He can’t.
Isn’t that correct, Shade?” A ghostly outline of Sister Willow’s cane spun
between blurred fingers, whirring and whining to an uncomfortable pitch that
made everyone grimace.

Abruptly, the
cane stopped. A hand materialized with fingers curled around the marble knob.
“Elder, the safety of our valley and our warden motivates my every action,”
Shade said in a solemn tone before releasing the cane and stepping back.

“The oath hasn’t
been issued in generations, for sound reasons that you chose to ignore. As your
mentor, I must accept a measure of the blame. I’m guilty of fostering the
notion that guidelines and rules are subjective for those of us with talent in
the upper ranges. I see I failed to stress the folly of dismissing the prudent
use of caution and restraint. Where I saw too easily rebellion in your twin, I
mistook your disdain over limits and rulings as frustrated need to excel for
the betterment of the valley. I made too many allowances for your drive. Now a
young lady must pay the price for our egos.”

“It’s not like
that,” Shade argued.

 She raised
a hand to silence him. “Let us speak the truth of your ill-conceived deeds, for
this was no mere promise of friendship or loyalty. For starters, you arrogantly
dismissed as insufficient the basic oath of service of a protector attached to
the Protection Bureau. By embracing in all its capacity the Oath of the
Warden’s Sworn Protector, you’ve ignored bureau procedures and the dictates of
the council. Had you only stopped there, your excellent service would in time
expunge this blemish to your status.” Her gaze briefly held my aunt’s before
snapping back to him. “Once again, your ego ran unchecked. I find myself in the
unenviable position of informing the warden and her heir that a clansman, my
own grandson, has bestowed upon Olivia the Soul Oath, our most binding of
oaths. Over time, its intertwining nature will enhance your perceptions and
awareness of your charge, transforming you in ways I cannot imagine. Such
arrogance may very well have ruined both of your lives. Should that happen, I
shudder to imagine the consequences to our people.”

Spongy cushions
and poking springs conspired to hinder my attempt to sit. I punched a cushion.
Hot hands gripped my arms and helped me up. I shirked off Shade’s assistance,
not wanting what he offered. “What about your life?
Your
dreams?
Take it back. I won’t be responsible for this sacrifice.”

A mask of
resolve settled over his face. “This sacrifice, as you call my life choice, is
a noble endeavor dating back to a time when the soul of an individual was
weighed and valued.”