Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (208 page)

“
Aiden will take care of
you.” He presented such confidence I would’ve believed him, had I
not already met the guy. “If you need anything, I don’t care what
time it is, you call.”

His words brought me a grain of
comfort, even though I’d never take him up on his offer. I forced a
nod, trying to make my voice light. “I will.”

He gave my shoulder a sympathetic
squeeze. “Where’s Aiden?”

I motioned toward the willow tree Mr.
Antisocial stood against. He glanced up and met my gaze, his face
and posture stiff. Although I’d never admit it to him, his hearing
impressed me. Like Joshua, and the rest of the Kembers here, he
wore his black button-up shirt and suit pants: a sign of
respect.

Joshua motioned over to him. “I’m
going to go say hello. Save us a seat under the tent.”

Skyler
grabbed my hand and led me toward the crowd.
Kill me now
. The last thing I wanted
was to be where people could judge and criticize the relationship
I’d had with Delmari. If they were smart, they’d know today wasn’t
the day to cross me.

We reached the tent, where everyone
had begun to be seated, and sat in the back row. I sunk down in the
chair, focusing on nothing but the fact that we had a quick escape
route once it ended.

Minutes
later, Aiden sat on the other side of me. His damp hair hung in his
eyes and water dripped off the wavy strands around his ears. He
never once looked at me or even acknowledged my existence.
Déjà vu.
I think we’d
only exchanged ten words in the last two days. Maybe because I
never left my room, but I doubted it.

The preacher, with deepset eyes and a
sharp nose, ironically looked like a vulture. He stood to talk and,
as horrible as it might sound, I zoned out. I didn’t want to hear
it—any of it. Lost and confused, I twisted the stem of the rose
Skyler had jacked from Delmari’s casket. Part of me still couldn’t
believe this all happened. This had to be someone else’s funeral. I
let myself believe that. Someday I’d have to face the facts, but
that was the good thing about someday—it wasn’t today. I pushed it
away and put my thoughts elsewhere.

When the service was over, Skyler
threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to a start. “Taylee,
Taylee, Taylee. I’ve missed you like crazy.”

I laughed under my breath, hoping he
didn’t notice how off it sounded, and gave him silent props for the
subject change. “So you have to sing a song about it? Please don’t
tell me you’ve turned into one of those stupid musicals on me—you
know I hate those.”

He tilted his head to the grey sky.
“Still a pain in the ass, aren’t you?”

“
Yeah, but you like my
ass.”

“
Everyone does.” He bumped
me with his hip. “So Aiden’s pretty cool, huh?”

Speaking of ass. “Yeah, if you like
having a parole officer twenty-four seven.”

“
It
can’t be that bad. I mean, I know he’s pretty serious and likes to
keep to himself, but he’s got a reputation most Kembers would die
for. He’s already killed tons of Rygons. Joshua said if anyone else
had been assigned to you, he’d be worried. That says a lot about
the guy, you know
.
”

I stared, puzzled. How did he know all
this crap about Aiden?

“
He was Joshua’s apprentice
the last two months of his training.” The question must have been
written on my face. “Aiden gave him a run for his money, and you
know how awesome Joshua is.” He shook his head. “That was like six
years ago. Wait until you see him fight. He’s freakin’
amazing.”

I huffed. This wasn’t the time to
reevaluate my perception of Aiden—I didn’t want to. We walked in
silence for a moment longer, and I finally couldn’t handle it
anymore. “Do you sense anyone who could’ve done this?”

He
didn’t answer right away. A line formed on his forehead as he
concentrated. Skyler’s psychometry ability allowed him to
l
ook into someone’s mind and read their
intent. His gift
didn’t come with
restrictions or rules like mine had. “No…it’s a lot of minds to
sift through, but I don’t feel anyone with bad motives toward
Delmari,” he whispered.

My eyes widened in disbelief. “No
one?”

His hand rubbed up and down my arm.
“It’s okay, Tay. They’ll catch him. It’ll just take more than two
days.”

“
I’ve gotta find him,” I
whispered fiercely. “He’s gotta be here.” I jerked my head in all
directions.

Skyler’s hand, hanging around my
shoulders, seized my jaw and held my head in place. “You don’t need
to worry about this right now—or ever. Ian won’t rest until they
get him. Plus, Aiden and Joshua are keeping an eye out. You take
this time to grieve.”

I scowled at him. I should’ve known
he’d say something dumb like that. “It must be nice to know if you
don’t get a basketball scholarship, you’ll have a promising future
as a shrink. That way you could deliver all your bad talks to
people who need them.”

“
Ha- ha. Very funny.” He
released my head and kicked a pinecone as we walked.

“
Sorry, Doctor.”

He hesitated. His gaze drifted across
the cemetery. “While we’re on the subject of my ‘bad’
talks…”

“
I knew it! I
knew—”

“
I may
as well get this out. Don’t go all
Taylee
on me; promise you’ll deal
with this the
right
way.”

I
stopped walking and jerked from under his arm. “All
Taylee
on you? What does
that mean?”

Skyler put his hands up in surrender.
“I know how you are, and you’re gonna try to pretend like it didn’t
happen and bottle yourself up in misery. I don’t want you to do
that. I want you to talk to me.”

“
I don’t deal with things
the way you do.”

He
laughed lightly, probably his feeble attempt to keep the tension
away. “Yeah ’cause you don’t
deal
with them at all.”

I pointed an accusing finger at him.
“Don’t do this right now.”

He glanced at the wet blades of grass.
When his eyes met mine, concern lightened them. “You’re right. I’m
sorry. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

Skyler didn’t need to worry about me.
Couldn’t he see that? I could take care of myself. “Help me and
I’ll forgive you.”

He sighed and wiped the rain off his
face. “Why do I always fall for these conditions?”

“
Because I’m your best
friend and you love me.”

“
Maybe it’s a bad thing,
you know that?”

I elbowed him.

He grunted. “We’re going to get into
trouble aren’t we?”

I grabbed his hand and pulled him
forward. “Don’t be lame. I just want you to help me find him. Take
me to every Kember who has a hidden motive.”

Skyler exhaled and spun me around so
fast I nearly fell. “What’re you gonna do when you find him? Punch
him?” He pointed to my feet. “Throw one of your shoes at him? He
killed Delmari. He’s lethal. I-I can’t even begin to understand how
much you’re hurting, but you’ve gotta let the Authority handle it.
Promise me.”

Why did I even expect him to
understand? I almost shoved him away, but before I did, my gaze
shifted past his shoulder. I did a double take and my breath
caught. Through a break in the crowd, fifty yards away, a man
stood, watching. His black cloak ruffled lightly in the wind and
his ocher eyes pierced mine. It was him. The Kember was here. I
froze, staring.

Then it all hit.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I
shouldered Skyler and sprinted toward the man. He’d taken Delmari
from me. Ruined my life. Sparks of rage ignited into a full-fledged
flame. Shoving through the sea of black, I knocked people out of
the way as I weaved through. Angry comments didn’t affect my pace.
Now he’d pay for what he did.

I burst through the crowd to where he
stood. The man’s lips twitched into a smirk and his eyebrow
rose.

I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t slow. I
lunged.

My body rammed into his, and I knocked
him off his feet, slamming him onto the ground. Hot tears welled in
my eyes, blurring my vision. A scream erupted from my throat. My
fists connected with his face, blow after blow. The man struggled
beneath me, screaming something I couldn’t understand. Yells from
the surrounding crowd demanded I stop. I couldn’t. He had to pay.
Blinded by fury and hatred, I swung my fists harder than I ever
had.

A set of hands ripped me away. By
their strength, I knew they belonged to a Kember. I thrashed
against them, screaming, “He killed Delmari! Let me go!”

He did, but only after someone else
seized me.

“
Taylee! Calm down.” Aiden
gripped my forearms and spun me around to face him. After a moment,
the angry tears impairing my vision slowly rolled down my
cheeks.

Heart still hammering, I jerked away
to get a good look at the man. Red hair, bloody face, blue eyes. A
nauseous feeling crept through my stomach. It wasn’t him. I
blinked, sure there was some mistake. I tackled the Kember—took him
to the ground. He couldn’t have escaped. I looked at Skyler for
help, like he could explain what happened. He and Joshua, along
with a hundred other bystanders, stared wide-eyed and
appalled.

Son of a bitch.

They dragged me away after that, but I
didn’t care. I hadn’t wanted to be there in the first place. Plus,
I attracted a lot more attention to myself than I’d
wanted.

Aiden and I followed Ian through the
Authority building and back to his sprawling office. Ian told me to
sit, so I did and prepared myself for the ultimate bitch session.
After enduring the lecture of the century, I tried to explain what
happened. No one believed me. Go figure.

“
Taylee…” Ian peered out
the window. “I think you need to see a psychiatrist. You have a lot
of built-up anger. Obviously. You can’t take it out on some random
Drea.”

“
I’m not going crazy. The
man who killed Delmari was here.” I pointed toward the window.
“He—he smiled at me right before I tackled him.”

“
We’ve established he
wasn’t here. No one else saw him.”

“
I doubt anyone else was
even looking for him. I wouldn’t attack some random Drea for the
fun of it.” I shook my head rapidly. “I won’t talk to a counselor.
I don’t need help—I know what I saw.”

Ian closed his eyes and rubbed his
temples. “You’re seeing things and acting irrationally—”

I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t see
anything that wasn’t there.”

Ian walked over, planted his palms on
his desk and leaned forward. “This isn’t the first time you’ve done
something like this. Excuses or not, you have the tendency to be
violent and…” he paused, letting out a slow breath, “I’ve been
lenient, but you can’t hit people when they make you angry.
It’s…it’s savage.”

“
If you’re referring to
what I did to Joel Anderson, Delmari said—”

“
Delmari is dead!” He
slammed his fist on the wood, all signs of his stoicism
disappeared. “No one else has the strength and patience he
possessed to clean up your messes. It’s time you grow up and start
acting responsibly. You’ll see a psychiatrist and I don’t want
another word about it.”

My chest throbbed. Tears stung my
eyes. “But—”

“
I mean it.”

“
Give her a few weeks.”
Aiden’s low voice sounded from the back of the room. In three long
strides he stood by my chair. His calm tone depleted most of the
tension. “You’re dealing with a seventeen-year-old girl who hasn’t
slept or eaten in two days and is trying to cope with death. Give
her some time.”

Ian eyed him warily. “She could hurt
someone—or herself.”

Aiden stood a little straighter. “No
one will get hurt. If I don’t see an improvement, she’ll see a
counselor.”

I scoffed. “No, I won’t.”

He studied me evenly. “Yes, you will,
because you don’t want any more complications in your
life.”

I glared but didn’t dare argue. He was
getting me out of spilling my guts to some random doc. A part of me
should’ve been grateful and would’ve been, had he actually believed
me. I knew what I saw, and I wouldn’t rest until I brought Delmari
justice.

Chapter 6

I hadn’t launched myself at anyone, so
Aiden must’ve taken that as an improvement. He never brought up the
shrink nonsense after we left Ian’s office, but he watched me
closely. I forced down food and managed about two hours of sleep a
night—while I tossed and turned the other six. I couldn’t explain
what happened at the funeral, not even to myself. The Kember was
there. He stood right in front of me when I jumped at
him.

Back in
the office, Ian told me if you want something badly enough,
sometimes you make yourself see it. I laughed and told him
he
was crazy. But now,
after three weeks of mulling the incident over in my mind, he
didn’t seem so crazy. Maybe the Kember wasn’t there. Like Ian said,
no one else saw him. All they saw was the poor man I nearly
rendered unconscious. Now, thanks to me, another Drea possibly
locked himself in his house determined to never leave
again.