Fourteen

Calix took me up to his apartment. “You should take a shower.”

I sighed. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

Calix sighed. “I’ll go to Lola’s place. I’ll borrow some clothes. They’ll be waiting for you when you’re finished.”

“Uh—I’m pretty sure Lola hates me. She’s always mean to me.”

Calix chuckled. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s simply protective of me. She…”

I was skeptical. “She hates me. She’s always mean to me when I work at the bar.”

He smiled. “She’s mean to everyone. Trust me, it will be fine. I’ll be back. Enjoy your shower.” He left me. When he was gone, I went to his bathroom. He had one of those rain showers, filled with every kind of shampoo, lotion, and body scrub possible. Immortal vampires still had to keep clean. Good to know.

I washed the grime and blood off of me. I watched as it swirled down the drain with the water. I scrubbed, and scrubbed, unable to stop the images of my newly turned mother climbing out of her unmarked grave.

This was ridiculous. I wanted to be a Peace Broker. I couldn’t…I couldn’t handle everything. A Peace Broker would have to deal with things that were worse than this. I held myself up with the shower wall as the tears stung my eyes while I sobbed uncontrollably. My mom was dead.

I was never going to see her again.

I never knew my father. He was banished before I was born. But my mom had been there for me my whole life. When I wasn’t invited to birthday parties as a kid because of it, she would take me out to go do something special.

Once, she took me out to the Fae city. The fae city was called Hada. Moon City was in New York. Hada was in Florida. We took the train from New York to Florida. Mom read one of her mystery novels on the trip, while I stared out the window the entire time. Moon City had a secret train that went underground.

It connected to the other secret cities. You could only get on if you had special permission. I had no idea how she had managed to since most of the time, she was against going out of the city.

            That day though, we walked around Hada. I ate fairy food for the first time. It was the most delicious cake of my life. We went to the Hall of Fae where I was given a necklace.

            She didn’t always get me. When I told her I wanted to be a Peace Broker, she didn’t speak to me for a month. When I got the job at the Night Owl, we fought for three days before she gave into me working there.

            She had other ideas about what my future should be. Her hope was that my sister and me would both marry Alpha’s to help us regain the respect in Moonlight City that we had lost because of my father. But she was my mother. She always did what she needed to in order to keep me safe.

            I turned the water off.

            I stood in the shower, letting the water drip, drip, drip on my head. Jenna Westmore was dead. My mother was dead.

            There was a knock on the door. “Iris?” it was Desmond that spoke. Slowly, I opened up the glass door. I wrapped myself on the towel. I was dripping and naked and my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest, it hurt so much.

            Desmond’s eyes roamed over my body. He coughed. “I wanted to check on you. Also, Calix got you some clothes from Lola. If you ruin these, she warned me she would suck you dry. That was a direct quote.”

            “Oh. Okay. Good to know. I won’t ruin them.” I took the clothes. “Thank you.”

            “You don’t….um…. if you don’t want to do this…”

            I shook my head. “My sister is missing. My mother is dead. All of this ties back to whoever tried to kill you. Let’s be real, it is probably my father who may or may not be part of some terrorist organization that happens to be named after the devil. I’m helping.”

            Desmond did that towering thing he did when he was trying to show his power. “It’s not safe. I’m the Alpha. Your family swore fealty to me. I should be keeping you safe.”

            I looked up at him. “What makes what I’m doing any different from what you’re trying to do?”

            He made a long hmmm sound. “I suppose you make a good point.” I was surprised when he looked me up and down again.

            “Will you quit doing that?” I demanded.

            He coughed. “Quit doing what?”

            “That!” I poked him in his chest, which only hurt my finger instead of him. I didn’t know why I kept on doing it. “You’ve checked me out twice. I lost my mom. My sisters been kidnapped. Stop checking me out!”

            “Sorry, Little Flower,” he apologized, giving me a wolfish smile that I really hated at that moment. “I take care of my pack. I was trying to make you smile. You look good naked.”

            “Out! Now!” I ordered, pointing in the opposite direction.

            He chuckled. “Alright, alright. When you’re done getting dressed, we’ve got to go back to the Werewolf Center.”

            I furrowed my brows together. “Why?”

            “They’re doing a truth serum hearing.”

            I flinched. “For you?”

            He nodded. “For me, my brother, my uncle…and my mother. All of the people that I thought could have possibly killed me. The full moon is at the end of the month.”

            “What’s important about that?”

            Desmond raised an eyebrow “You’re asking a werewolf you grew up with what’s important about the full moon?”

            I sighed. “I know, I know. The full moon is important because it’s part of rituals and magic. But what do we need it for? I’m a human, not a wolf. There are gaps in my knowledge. I’m sorry.”

            “It’s the one time where immortals can cross over into the realm of the gods for the trials to choose who is going to be Alpha. Once I assert my power again, we can start our tour of the other secret cities to try and find your sister. We’ll look into your father too. There’s a chance Morningstar might have been responsible for my almost murder.”

            I grimaced. “So, fun morning.”

            “Exactly…. oh…and um…we’re having an engagement party/welcome back from the dead party tomorrow.”

            I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, what?”

            “We’re supposed to be madly in love. You’re my mate. I’m back from the dead. It’s a common practice after The Choosing Ceremony to celebrate. You know this.”

            “Um, you remember who my family is, right? We weren’t exactly invited to a lot of werewolf things. People tend not to be big on inviting you when your dad is a traitor.”

            “Right…well, that’s what’s happening. I’ll see you out there, Little Flower.” He winked.

            “Shut up!” I hissed, blushing. I slammed the door closed. I got dressed and ready, and tried hard not to think about the way that Desmond had been looking at me the entire time we had talked.

            There were more important things to think about other than Desmond looking at me naked. Well, half-naked. I’d been in a towel. Whatever. I had immortals’ nonsense to deal with.