Loving Lucius (Werescape) (24 page)

She went silent, her gaze wandering around the room in retrospect.

Thoughtfully. I'd leave her to her memories. Wait for her to respond. Or she'd never heal.

"I remember noting how strong you were. How commanding you were with the others." Her pale gaze anchored on mine. "And how handsome you are."

Mine
! Wolf clawed at my ribs.

No playing until we work through her issues, Wolf
.

Wolf actually whined.

Dogs and their basic needs. I shot her one of those grins that made her heart swoop to Wolf's ears but didn't allow him to listen. "Wolf likes that." I winked.

She suddenly brightened, grinning in the most radiant manner. "So do I."

I couldn't help but chuckle and squeeze her hand. "Well, when you start to doubt what we share, remember the things we've said today. They are like seeds. Don't toss them to the wind. Plant them here. What's shared between us will grow even stronger."

Her face pinched with thought. "That's amazing, Lucius. So profound." Her eyes widened. "Are all Shifters as philosophical?"

Why does she look like she's panicking? I'd use Wolf's senses to listen to her heart and pulse. But I don't want to seem superior at the moment. "Why are you upset?"

She bolted from the bed toward the door. "Dear. God. Violet will ask the first Shifter who talks like that to bite her."

My mate needed to calm down. I leapt at her and snatched those slim curves around to face me. Her wild-eyed expression peered up where I held her stiff form against my chest. "It's alright, Elise. First of all, the bite doesn't mark until a male reaches puberty. Add to that, all Shifters are trained early to abstain from biting any female. Each knows to do so results in a lifelong responsibility. We do not mark just anyone. And, to mark irresponsibly means a Shifter might end up with the wrong kind of mate."

My eye twitched to wink.

But I wasn't about to distract her thought process with a wink's movement.

She blinked her fright away. "But can we check on her a few times? Just to ease my mind."

****

I stood peering through the door's cool glass at the teenagers sitting along the far wall by a chalkboard covered in Hieroglyphics. With my sister's unnatural knack for deciphering languages, the game with the Ancient Egyptian writing was certainly going to cause us problems. Primarily for me.

"Why are you gnawing on a fingernail?" Lucius asked, stepping behind me to follow my gaze. "They're just engrossed in Mystery Hour."

Excuse me? "Mystery Hour?"

"It's a reflection of what we both know. Violet's IQ is exceptionally high." He placed a palm on my shoulder and smiled at me. "She's too advanced for her age group. So, she is allowed to participate in Mystery Hour. This feeds her quest for knowledge through a little harmless competition."

Harmless? More like deadly. He had no idea.

Violet rose from the sitting ring of teens and approached the chalkboard.

Who in the world wrote the line upon line of symbols?

Violet lifted an eraser and began wiping the board clean.

Thank goodness.

Lucius squeezed my shoulder. "There. It looks like they've finished. You worried for nothing."

Right. Until she swapped the eraser for chalk, stood on a chair, and began writing her secret language on the board.

My skin crawled with fear.

This is it. We'd be excommunicated from the outpost. Wait. Maybe worse. We will be suspected of infiltrating this clan. Maybe my mate will kill me. Save face.

Lucius brushed past me to block my view, leaning into the glass. "What is she doing?"

The only thing to do would be to try to explain. "It's a game she plays. She started early, apparently wanting to be around me during my studies. My tutor was into languages. Rather, I learned Langston had a preference for them. He chose my tutors accordingly. And it's true what they say about young minds being sponges. She learned in six years what it took me twelve to accomplish." Why did I sound like I spoke too fast? "And I often wondered if Langston had an ulterior motive. You know he could have." Why isn't Lucius listening to me?

"That's amazing." He turned to eyeball me with intrigue. "What language is it?"

He didn't seem to have heard a thing I said. "Hers. A secret language resulting from code games."

He blinked, his gaze distant even though it bore a hole through my eyes.

Everything sank in for him. He'd realized the mistake he'd made even though he was wrong.

Suddenly, Lucius was looking at me again. "Violet's the solution to our problem." He glanced her direction again then back at me. "You wait here. Augustus needs to see this."

What just happened? What solution? And what would Augustus
want
to know?

Chapter Ten

Augustus slid his gaze from my little sister's direction, where she scrawled her code upon the chalkboard through the glass, back to mine. I could have choked on the lung lodged in my throat except something about this fucked-up world thought it funny to allow my little hybrid body to continue breathing.

"She learned languages from a Freemason?" the clan leader asked with a bit of disbelief in his voice.

Why is it so difficult to believe? Normals aren't stupid. They would have never made it to the moon before the aliens arrived if they were. "Yes. McNeill spent most of his life following in his father's footsteps. As Lucius said you followed in your sire's."

"But I can't decipher a ten-year old's code! And I know languages as well, Elise. That's how the teachers here know languages. I taught many of them enough to keep the youths busy. Their alien DNA heightened their intelligence and keeps us on our toes. The main point is we've been searching for an indecipherable code the aliens can't crack. For some reason, the extra alien DNA we Shifters have helps us think a little beyond the average Normal. But this," he waved a big tan hand at Violet, "is no average Normal thought process."

And now the clan leader will either go on to analyze my blood to learn I harbor more alien DNA than Shifters, his son will disclose that lovely detail, or I can just confess. Save my ass. Here. Now. In the privacy of this little end of the empty corridor with a glass partition sheltering our discussion from all those nosy ears and us.

Augustus reached for the door.

Maybe I'd look less the threat if I just admitted the truth.

He pulled the door open.

A fatal crack. The teens and their Wolf hearing could catch anything I say now. Too late to save my neck.

"Augustus," Lucius called.

The clan leader turned to my mate.

"Wait. Close the door," Lucius said.

Augustus did, turning, his gaze locked onto his son.

Lucius slid a serious gaze my direction.

Would it matter if Augustus found out now or later?

"Elise?" Lucius whispered.

Augustus' stare snapped to mine. "Is there something I should be aware of?"

My heart sank.

But the sensation didn't matter. Lucius had done everything in his power to remain quiet. Now, I had no choice but to admit my ancestry. And Lucius was anything but upset. I had to just trust him. Like he said. And trust Augustus. Like sire like son. "My sisters and I aren't the warlord's children."

His graying brown eyebrows arched.

My cheeks warmed.

Not enough to knock me flat like a high fever. But this is unavoidable. I couldn't look at Augustus. I stared at Lucius instead. "Our father was an alien."

Dreaded silence replied.

"That explains a lot," Augustus announced. "But I'll have to thank Lucius' Wolf for bringing this little genius to our community."

What?

Lucius winked and smiled smugly at his sire.

Augustus didn't miss the opportunity to wink at me also. "Wolves are, after all, the alien aspect of the Shifter genome. The aliens did themselves in this time." The huge man practically giggled with excitement. "Now, let's whisk that child to my lab and set her up with a computer." He grew serious. "She knows how to use a computer, I'd hazard to guess?"

Anyone reared by a wealthy person did. I nodded. "But you don't understand. It's Violet's secret language. She doesn't share it with anyone."

"She just shared it with everyone in the classroom. And you said you read it," Lucius noted.

Conveniently. "Until she started using it like an algebraic matrix."

"What?" Augustus stepped closer as if he hadn't heard me correctly.

"The Freemason knew of ways to embed messages within messages. Apparently, it's something from ancient texts. He used Violet to spot the patterns and messages."

Augustus almost leapt with excitement. His eyes sparkled in the bright overhead lighting. "This is it, Lucius. We just might beat the clock yet. And it's so true that everything changes in a heartbeat AEI."

They have some kind of Shifter deadline? "I don't understand."

Lucius snaked his arms across his chest. "The government stocked this facility with enough materials to keep it running for a century. We've used half those supplies. We've been worried that we'd never be able to communicate with human communities on other continents in enough time to unite what's left of humanity."

"But now there's a chance," Augustus blurted.

****

Lucius stood three steps away at the foot of our bed, dressing while I sat on the cotton comforter. Waiting. So now I'm supposed to sit back and let the Shifters use my genius baby sister to unite earthlings all over the planet? Don't they realize she's still a child? "Violet adores being the center of Augustus's attention, but she misses socializing with other children," I explained.

He tucked his muscled arms into a brown T-shirt until the sleeves stretched to accommodate his bulging biceps, yanked the cloth over his head, and the hem past his washboard abs. "Just give Augustus a little more time to analyze her code." He reached for a combat boot, bending his knees, planting his butt on the bed.

Is he going to leave me here to worry about Violet and Augustus all day? What if Augustus realized something significant about Violet's genius that pegged us as the enemy? "Why do you have to go hunting?"

"To do my share." He kicked a foot into his boot. "I need to help a little."

Help? A dangerous word. To mention what he threw in my face constantly meant I'd be undressed in a heartbeat. Not such a bad thought. Really. Even though I'd never get to leave this suite today. Still, he deserved to have the point tossed back his direction. "But you are helping with the Mating Frenzy."

Slowly, he turned a grin my direction. His eyes glowed yellow. "Mating Fever. And you have a point there." He yanked off his other boot. The shoe thumped like a dead weight as he rose and headed my way like a predator hunting its prey.

Stalking me.

My heart kicked into action.

"That's the sound I want to hear," he snarled.

Well, if this is my part of the bigger plan to defeat the aliens, I can't complain. Who wouldn't want him circling with all of that touchable skin? And the amazing way he made me feel when he sprouted all over with those coarse Wolfen hairs…

The world shifted unnaturally fast.

He had me on my back on the bed before I could blink, pulling off my pants and shirt, struggling with his own using one hand while his other palm roamed over my curves.

Touching me. The evil man. He should be out hunting. Contributing to the community for my sake and his. And Violet's!