The Ballad of Aramei

  I remember how jealous Hannah was when we were in Portland last month. So coy and quiet and meat-deprived, but at the end of the day I knew she was as dangerous as we come, especially when it came to Nathan.

  “Yeah, well since she dumped me I’ll have to settle with my brother.” He pats the back of Isaac’s seat, grinning hugely and trying to brighten the mood even if only for himself. Nathan never was one to show much anger or be open about any of his emotions except the playful, positive ones. I don’t expect him to start now.

  “And I will, bro,” Isaac says, glancing up in the rearview mirror at him, “as soon as we deal with this, I’m on it.”

  ~~~

  It’s dark when we make it back to Hallowell and the drive home was filled mostly with conversation about how we were going to go about trapping the Praverian. Each of us had our own ideas, but not one of us could agree that any of them were likely to work. And Nathan wasn’t himself really, as to be expected, so his ideas weren’t as thought through as they could’ve been. His mind drifted more than he could contribute to the discussion. Isaac and I tried hard to distract him with jokes and banter, but usually to no avail.

  But Nathan is good at keeping a smile on his face, never letting the true depth of his pain dictate his natural personality which makes Nathan, Nathan. Of course, I know that sexy bad boy smile of his that never fails to melt any woman he crosses paths with is just a mask.

  I just wonder how long he’ll be able to wear it.

  We pull into the drive at the Mayfair house and all is quiet. Only a couple of cars are parked out front and a few lights burn in the windows of the upstairs floor.

  Since I became a werewolf and Isaac officially became Alpha, life around here has been calming down now that order has been established. Isaac, despite still being the same guy I fell in love with, has certainly taken on his role as Alpha when it comes to just about everybody else. It amazes me how he became the one dominant force among all of them without having to do anything except wear the title. He never had to prove himself to anyone or put anyone in their place. All he has to do is give an order and without question or argument (except from Nathan, but that’s different) that order is fulfilled.

  Even Rachel, who will always hate me and would rather see me strung up and quartered than see me with Isaac, treats me with as much respect as she’s capable of giving. And as always, Isaac allows her a little more slack than he would someone else, given she came from a rogue bloodline and can’t help it that she’s an inherent bitch.

  “I’m going to shower in scalding hot water for about an hour and then I’m going to bed,” Nathan says after he closes the door on the Jeep.

  Isaac walks over and embraces his brother firmly. They pat each other on the back hard and then pull away. I hide the fact that seeing them like that, so close and protective of one another, chokes me up. I think of my sister, Alex, but force her face out of my mind before it affects me too much.

  “Thank you,” Isaac says to Nathan, “for what you did.”

  “Oh shut up, man,” Nathan jokes, though his smile is warm with appreciation.

  “I’m serious, Nate,” Isaac looks at him intently. “I can never repay you for that sacrifice.”

  “Dude, you don’t have to,” Nathan says, patting Isaac against his upper arm. “You’re my little brother—over me at a leadership standpoint at the moment, but that’ll change—,” He grins wickedly, “but it’s my job to protect you and your bullheaded girlfriend.” He grins over at me and I playfully rumple my nose at him.

  Always the charmer. Always the first one to step up. And never one to complain about it. Those are the types you feel the worst for when something unfortunate befalls them.

  Nathan says goodnight and jogs up the porch, letting the front door shut softly behind him.

  “This sucks,” I say, crossing my arms loosely. “Are you really going to deal with it when this is over?” I don’t doubt Isaac’s promise one bit, but this is my way of showing him I need to talk about it.

  Isaac nods still gazing toward the porch where Nathan last stood and looking lost in thought. Finally he turns back to me and smiles weakly, pulling me toward him with my elbows cupped in his hands. “Want to go swimming?”

  “Right now?”

  “Well yeah,” he says, letting his smile brighten. “It’s late and no one’s around. I haven’t been able to get you by yourself in a while, it seems.”

  My indecisive expression becomes more accepting as I smile back up at him. He’s right about us not having time alone lately with the whole Aramei thing going on and now this situation with Minna and the traitor.

  “Let’s go,” I say, taking him by the hand and leading him toward the porch.

  “The pond’s that way,” he says, stopping me.

  “But I need a bathing suit.”

  “No you don’t,” he says, trying not to grin too hugely. “Really, I’m not trying to get your clothes off, babe, it’s just that it’ll only be the two of us and you can swim in your panties.”

  Most of what he said is genuine; he really is just trying to be efficient, but this is Isaac and I don’t believe for a second that he has no desire to get my clothes off. I tilt my head to one side and smirk at him. “So you don’t want to just get me naked then?” I pretend to be offended and turn away with my arms still crossed.

  “Nah, I’m good,” he says, turning my game around on me.

  My head jerks around and my mouth falls open with a spat of air. Isaac’s impish grin widens and he takes off running towards the woods leading to the pond behind the house.

  I scream out after him and then take off running, too, thankful that the path through the woods is wide and clear so I’m not having to weave my way through tree limbs and around fall-breaking rocks. And in under a minute, I make it to the bank of the pond where Isaac is waiting for me, standing on the end of an old, weathered wooden dock looking out over the dark water. I walk calmly up behind him and he turns at the waist to see me.

  “It’s warm enough,” he says now bending over and brushing his hand through the water. He leans back up and takes off his boots, kicking them gently aside on the dock.

  I come up closer and run my hands up his back and over his shoulders until he turns around to face me fully. I press my body into his, letting my fingertips dance on the sides of his neck as I take him into a ravenous kiss. He kisses me back with the same passion and then pulls away, looking down into my eyes.

  I grin deviously and shove him off the dock and into the water.

  When he hits the water a gush sprays on me soaking my jeans. I laugh hysterically, feeling my chest shrink as though terrified he’s going to leap right out and catch me.

  “If you weren’t so beautiful,” Isaac says as he bobs in the water, “it would be over for you, babe.”

  I kick off my shoes and peel off my wet jeans, setting them in a sloppy pile next to his boots and then sit down on the edge of the dock. I dip my toes in cautiously at first and then when I feel it really is warm enough, my legs slip into the water up to just below my knees. Isaac swims the few feet over to me and moves in-between my legs, resting his arms on my thighs. He leans his head over an inch and I feel his lips gently brush the skin just above my knee and tiny tremors burn inside my stomach.

  His hands move up my thighs and rest on my hips. And then he just looks up at me thoughtfully.

  “I know the best way to do this,” he says and I’m not sure what he’s talking about at first, so I just let him talk. “There’s only one place outside I know of that everyone inside that house walks.”

  I nod slowly, understanding, and trying to think about what that one place could be before he tells me, while at the same time combing his wet hair away from his face with my fingers.

  “The driveway,” he says.

  Chewing on my bottom lip in thought, I look up and across the water at the pitch dark woods that surrounds us.

  “Yeah,” I say, “we can set the trap in
the driveway and just tell Harry where it’s at so he doesn’t stumble into it.” I look back down into Isaac’s eyes. “But what about the cars? Minna said there can be no manmade objects in the trap.”

  Isaac contemplates it for a moment and then says, “Maybe it’s time for a new driveway.”

  “What?”

  He nods to himself as if still coming up with all of the details as we speak. “Yeah, I can say that in addition to repairing the basement wall that we’re having pavement laid in the driveway, too.”

  “That could work,” I say, though I’m really not sure how well.

  “So, are you actually going to pay to have the basement redone and the driveway paved?”

  “The basement, yes—reinforced steel, like a friggin’ bomb shelter to keep someone I know inside once a month,” he says, squeezing my hips gently, “but not the driveway.”

  “Where do you get the money for all this stuff anyway,” I say, running my fingers through his wet hair. “The only one around here that actually works is Nathan and I know his salary at Finch’s isn’t enough to pay for an FJ Cruiser.”

  “What?” Isaac says with a grin and I feel his fingers pinch my hips. “Are you with me for my money?”

  I wrap my legs around his upper chest and squeeze really hard. Isaac fastens his hands firmly around my hips and pulls me off the dock and into the water. My body slides down against his until we’re face to face, his hands holding me at the center of my back. I wrap my legs around his waist underneath the water.

  Isaac kisses me once. “Being a six hundred year old Alpha has its perks,” he says. “I guess you can call us a bunch of spoiled royal sons living off daddy’s money.”

  “I wouldn’t call you that.” I press my lips softly to his once in return. “Your life is different and those human stereotypes really don’t apply.”

  “I guess so,” he says.

  “You said ‘sons’—what about your sisters?”

  He pushes farther away from the dock, easily keeping us both afloat.

  “We give them money,” he says, “because we take care of the girls. Technically, they’re not allowed to take care of themselves—well, financially anyway.”

  My eyebrows crumple with perplexity. “Seriously? That’s kind of messed up.”

  Isaac nods and looks away from my eyes. We’re drifting farther and farther away from the bank and my mound of clothes is getting smaller on the dock. I can just barely see a light shining through the trees off in the distance from inside the house.

  “I agree with you,” Isaac says, though he seems lost in thought. “But hopefully that will change soon. Hopefully a lot of things about our way of life will change.” The last of his words seem to drift away into the warm night air.

  “How so?” I don’t like the feeling I’m getting from him. For a second I think of opening my mind and listening to his thoughts which are unreadable all over his face, but I decide against it. If it’s something he wants me to know then I want him to tell me on his own time.

  Isaac breaks free from those deep thoughts and smiles in at me. He kisses me on the nose. “Being a twenty-year old Alpha also has its perks.”

  I curl my fingers around the soaked fabric of his t-shirt and unpeel it from his body. He lifts his arms and slips it the rest of the way off, letting it fall into the water. Cradling the sides of his neck in my hands, I pull him towards me, instantly feeling the heat of his bare chest through my shirt. “We’re alone out here, you know.” His breath is warm and sweet on my lips and I shut my eyes softly, intoxicated by his closeness.

  “But for how long?” I whisper against his mouth.

  He teases my bottom lip with his tongue until I fold and kiss him hungrily, digging my fingers into his hair. The waist of his jeans is thick with water, scratching against my inner thighs. I wish he would just take them off.

  He moans against my mouth, kissing me savagely. His fingers press aggressively into my back and my insides shudder.

  And then splash!

  I yelp, jerking around in Isaac’s grasp to see behind us.

  Two more bodies leap off the edge of the dock and barrel into the water afterwards.

  The first head that emerges, bobbing at the top of the water is white-blond, short and still kind of spiky despite being soaked with pond water.

  “Zia!” I yell out, turning around so that my back is pressed into Isaac’s hard chest, “you scared the crap out of me!”

  “That was the point!” she yells back as she begins to swim closer. “Yeah, so if you two were gettin’ busy aquatic-style, please do us all a favor and stop!”

  “Jesus, Zia,” I laugh, “you are so frickin’ sick!”

  “I know,” she says, “I can’t help it.”

  When she’s in retaliation distance, I thrust my hand on the surface of the water towards her, sending a gush of water in her face. Seconds later, we’re in a splashing war and I can’t tell if Isaac has joined in too, or if he’s swimming backward and away from us. Our screams resonate across the pond, until suddenly I’m pulled under. Water is flooding my nose and my mouth as I didn’t have enough warning to prevent it. I kick my legs free from Zia’s hands and swim around her, emerging at her back.

  “Oh, you bitch!” Zia screams just before her head goes under, forced down by both of my hands.

  Knowing she’ll get me back in worse ways than I can imagine, I swim away from her fast, looking for Isaac who is just a few feet to my right. I swim in behind him, hiding at his back for protection, all the while laughing hysterically.

  “Zia,” Camilla says from the water in her small voice, “maybe we should leave my brother and Adria alone.”

  “No way,” Zia says. “Camilla, you need to grow a pair!” She swims toward me and I shriek as she gets closer, holding onto Isaac for dear life. My arms are tight around his neck and my legs straddle his waist. Isaac may not have wanted any part of this war, but he doesn’t have much of a choice now because there’s no way I’m letting go.

  If Zia wants me she has to go through him.

  The third person, whose identity I’m only now realizing, swims in behind Camilla and cackles with laughter. I think I’m more surprised that Zia is out here with the likes of Cecilia than I am about Cecilia still being here since we left her with Camilla earlier before we set out for Providence.

  Cecilia bobs next to Camilla with her trademark crazy grin that always shows her full set of teeth. Her plain-Jane brown hair, short and spiky like Zia’s, is plastered to her head making her look like a boy in the darkness. “I don’t know why you didn’t invite me over here sooner,” Cecilia says to me. “I’ve never met cooler people—well, I did know this girl once who had a baby skunk for a pet—Oh! And I did meet this guy when I lived in New Hampshire whose life goal was to be a UFC fighter, and my God that was once serious piece of eye candy—.” She stops abruptly and puts her hand vertically against her mouth as if to whisper and says, “He flipped me all kinds of ways one night,” and my face sort of freezes right there. “But really—I love it over here!”

  Same old Cecilia. Eccentric and easily entertained, but never lacking the ability to stump a person in just a few sentences.

  I hear Isaac cough a small laugh and feel his hand slip between my thighs underneath the water. My body locks up and I tighten my legs around his waist from behind; my way of warning him that he better not go there right now. But something tells me by the way he’s turning his chin to see me with such a devilish grin at the corners of his lips that I’m going to have to try harder than that.

  “You better not,” I warn him telepathically. I fail miserably at sounding serious and it probably isn’t helping that I can’t stop smiling, either. “I swear it, Isaac. I won’t give you any for a week.”

  His grin just gets bigger. “Really?” he says and his hand easily wedges itself in-between my crushing thigh and his waist. “A whole week you say?” he taunts.

  I gasp as his fingers move closer and I try to tighten
my legs around him even more intensely.

  “You better stop!” My face feels like it’s on fire. “You are so cruel!”

  “Girl, you have some ‘splainin to do,” Zia says, pulling me out of my little bubble with Isaac and his magic fingers.

  “Huh—what do you mean?” I’m paranoid she knows what’s going on with me and Isaac and my face just gets hotter.

  “Why you didn’t invite Cecilia sooner,” she says and relief washes over me.

  Zia is starting to calm down, now floating on the top of the water rather than forcing her way violently through it to get to me. Maybe she has given up because of my strategically placed Isaac wall.

  I look over at Cecilia, wiping the dirty water from my eyes, which only makes them burn a little more because my hand is also wet. And my nostrils are burning. I think about Cecilia’s earlier comment and want to reply with: “But I didn’t invite you over here at all.” I settle with:

  “Well, it wasn’t ever really my place to invite you.”

  Isaac says, “This is more your home than it is anyone’s.”

  I look down, trying to conceal the blush in my face, but also the awkwardness. I hope Zia and Camilla don’t take offense to his words.

  “So true,” Camilla says, beaming, her pretty oval face glistening in the moonlight from the water dripping over her plump cheeks. Her hair, naturally dark brown like Isaac’s, looks black when it’s wet.

  I’m still trying to toil my way through Zia’s unexpected acceptance of Cecilia. It wasn’t that long ago she couldn’t stand the girl. Something extraordinary must’ve happened while we were in Providence. I don’t know, like maybe Cecilia revealed that she was related to Dax Riggs—Zia’s man-crush underground singer from about a dozen different bands—or, maybe Cecilia offered Zia a friendship in the form of money with any number that has a lot of zeros behind it.

  I can’t think of anything else that might cause Zia’s change of heart.

  Isaac slips his fingers under the edge of my panties and I squeal. Thankfully, he’s just messing with my head and isn’t actually going to touch me where he shouldn’t with others around. At least I hope like hell he doesn’t plan to. Regardless, I don’t think I can contain myself much longer.