Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (2 page)

“Nope,” she said.  “I promised
Tara
I wouldn’t say a word.  You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Is it something I’m going to like it?”

“If you don’t
,
the rest of us will.” Angela’s smile was so bright with enthusiasm it immediately made me suspicious.

“
Angela
hasn’t even told
me
what’s happening,” Allan said.  “And she usually tells me everything.”

Angela’s cheeks
took on a rosy hue
.  “I couldn’t possibly tell you,
Dad.  It would
just
be too embarrassing,
” she confessed.  “I’ll let Lilly explain it to you
later
when you come pick me up if you
still
want to know
.”

“
From what you’re saying, I’m sort of scared this might be something that scars me for life
,
” I
said in all seriousness.  W
hat
did
my best friend
have planned which would make
Angela’s cheeks flush
so
hotly
?

“
It won’t be that bad
,” Angela giggled.  “But just remember it
’s
all in good fun.”

It was then I knew I should have badgered
Tara
into divulging the details of her plans to me
.  The only reason I hadn’t was because I still felt guilt over her involvement in Robert’s deadly game. 
S
he
would forever
b
a
re
a nasty scar as an
eternal reminder of how close she came to dying because of me. 
For that reason alone
,
I knew she would have carte blanche to whatever she wanted from me for the rest of her life.

We phased Allan and Angela to the living room in Brand’s home.  Since angels c
an
only phase to places they had either been to before or had followed another angel’s phase trail
to
, Allan’s
personal
book of phas
ing
locations
was
extremely
limited.  Bringing him to Brand’s home in
Lakewood
was a monumental step forward
for
both
him
and Angela.  Now he would be able to phase Angela to Brand’s anytime she wished
to visit any of us.

Allan’s eyes studied his surroundings critical
ly
.  I knew his compulsive disorder made him acutely aware of the cleanliness of his environment which was one reason I had Brand hire a cleaning crew to scrub down every
nook and cranny
of his home the day before.   Allan’s attention was soon drawn to a
Brand’s
painting
of me
hanging in the dining area.

“You captured her completely,” Allan said
in awe
, staring at the painting of me in the dress I wore to the Black and White ball.

Brand hung it up the day before after the cleaning crew was done
.

“If I can’t have you in my arms tomorrow,” he
had
said
to me
.  “At least I can have your picture hanging up to
keep me company
.”

He was always doing that: saying thing
s
only a romance novel hero could get away with.  It was only the sincer
ity of
his declarations
which told me he truly meant them.

“Wow, that really is a good painting
of you, Lilly
,” Angela said going to stand closer to it.  “Did you do this Brand?”

“Yes
,
he did,” I answered for him, hugging his arm tight.
  To me
,
Brand’s p
ortraits
of me didn’t quite look like how I thought I looked.  The girl in his paintings held an ethereal beauty I just
couldn’t
see in
my own reflection
. 

“It looks just like you,” Angela said, seeming to have a hard time dragging her eyes away from the picture.

“Do you have one
of Lilly I could have?” Allan asked
.

“Why would you want one?” I questioned.  It seemed an odd request.

“Am I out of line for asking?” Allan stammered, making me immediately regret questioning his motives. 

“No, of course not,” Brand was quick to
reply
.  “I have plenty of
similar
painting
s
for you to
choose from
, old friend
.  Why don’t you come up to my
studio
and pick one for yourself?”

Allan visibly relaxed. 

Brand bent his head down to mine and kissed me lightly on the lips.

“Why don’t you girls go on ahead?  I’ll show Allan the rest of the house while you’re gone.”

“We’ll be back before sunset,” I promised.

I had to have Angela and Abby back before they were due to change into their werewolf counterparts.  That was the curse of the
Watcher
children.  They were able to live a normal life except for when the moon rose and forced them to transform into the nightmare beast o
f legend.

Not
completely
satisfied with such a simple peck on the
lips
I turned to our guest and said, “Would you please excuse us for just one moment?”

Without waiting for them to answer, I drug Brand out the French doors to the
porch on the
back
side
of the house.  Once the door was closed, I immediately wrapped my arms around Brand’s neck pulling his lips down to mine for a proper kiss.  The silky texture of his tongue against mine melted my will to leave
him for even a minute much less an entire day
.  As if feeling my
resolve
to leave him
completely dissolv
e
under his touch
, Brand pulled away
,
albeit reluctantly.

“If you don’t go now,” he said huskily, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to let you leave at all.  Then I would have the wrath of Tara
Jenkins
to deal with and that is not something I would willing inflict upon myself.”

I groaned in frustration.  “I know.  I don’t know why I agreed to do this.  I’m not really a party person.”

“You agreed because she wanted to do it for you.”

Brand put his hands on my shoulders and promptly turned me back around to indicate I needed to go back into the house and leave before his
own will
to let me go crumbled
along side mine
.

Angela informed me I was to phase
us
to
Tara
’s house first.

After the events on Halloween, we talked
Tara
into taking up residence in what was once Abby’s house on Brand’s property.  At first she refused because she said she would feel like a kept woman since Brand refused to let her pay rent or any of the utility bills.

“You’re part of my family now,” he told her.  “And I take care of my family.”

It wasn’t like Brand couldn’t afford to.  I didn’t ask him to fully disclose just how rich he was
,
but I knew he had more than he could possibly spend in a hundred lifetimes.

I phased Angela and I to
Tara
’s front door. 
Tara
hated for people to phase in on top of her, mostly because it scared her to death.  I couldn’t blame her.  I could still remember how scared I was when I first saw Malcolm
phase
the night he and I
first
met.  Though, to be fair, he had been sent to kill me
that night
.  It was only the special qualities of my blood which stopped him. 
Now,
I couldn’t imagine not having Malcolm in my life
.  He had quickly become one of my closest friends.  Even though I knew he thought he was in love with me, I couldn’t stop myself caring for him deeply. 

The house
Tara
now stayed in had at one time been a barn on the property until Brand had it completely remodeled for Abby.  Abby had no use for the house anymore.  She and Malcolm’s son had fallen in love and spent their
days and
nights together at Malcolm’s house.  At first Brand and Malcolm were resistant to the idea of their children pledging themselves to one another.  They were very much like real wolves in the sense that once they chose a mate it was for life.  The mere concept of them having to be in each other’s lives for such a long time had disconcerted both Brand and Malcolm.  I knew they only suffered through
having to be around each other
for my sake but now they would be forever bound to one another through their children.

“Come on in!”
Tara
called after my knock.

When we entered,
Tara
came down the steps from the upper level where the bedroom was
.  She wore
a
short
blood red strapless
dress
carrying a pair of black high heels in
one hand
.  The only thing marring her ensemble was the large white bandage she had to wear against
the wound on
he
r
neck.

“I feel sorely underdressed,” I said, looking down at my jeans and plain white blouse.

“
Don’t worry, g
irl, Abby’s got your dress
.
”
Tara
lean
ed
against the rail of the stairs to
slip
her shoes on.  “I told you I would have everything handled for today.  And that includes your outfit.”

Tara
walked to the couch in the living room and picked up a black sheer scarf which she wrapped once around her neck to hide the bandage.

Next, we phased to Malcolm’s house.  Malcolm promptly directed us to Abby and Sebastian’s suite of rooms.

“They’re so in love it makes me a bit nauseous at time,” Malcolm
confesse
d as we walked to the West wing of his house.  “I thought it best if they had a private spot to paw
at
one another.”

“Did you really just say
paw
?” I asked him
, amused he would
use
werewolf
humor
.

“Well
,
if you had to watch them all the time you wouldn’t fault me for my observation, dearest.”

Abby
was
waiting for us in her bedroom. 
I was surprised to see
she wasn’t wearing
a wig.  S
he wore her natural white hair down allowing her glittering man
e
a chance to shine.

“No wig today?” I asked her.

“Nope, don’t need it where we’re going.  I should fit right in.  At most
,
people wi
l
l think I’m an entertainer of some sort.”

“Ok,
so
is anyone going to tell me where we’re going?
”
  If it was a place where Abby’s natural hair color wasn’t conspicuous, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go.

“No,” the three of them said in unison.

“Girl, just chill your heels and let us pamper you,”
Tara
said, directing me to sit down
in the chair in front of
Abby’s vanity.

For the next hour, the girls curled my hair, gave me a manicure and pedicure and applied my makeup.  Once perfectly coifed, they
showed me what I would be wearing.

“You’re kidding right?” I said, looking at the
hot pink
dress.  “Where’s the rest of it?”

“
T
his is the last time you’ll be free to flirt with any guy you want
,”
Tara
told me
.  “
Do you really think we would put you into something normal?  Now just go put it on.”

“But…” I began to protest.

“No buts!”
Tara
said turning me in the direction of Abby’s bathroom
and pushing me forward
.  “Just go in there and put it on
, Lilly Rayne Nightengale
.”