The BlackBurne Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 1) (11 page)

“No. She got bored of his constant irritating and agreed to let him take her for food.”

“Then he charmed her?”

Luka chuckled. “No, then she slap him. He tried to kiss her and she no have it. My Papa, he not give up. He stay in Bucharest and follow her to Alexandria. There he work hard with her family to prove his worth. He learn the way of the Romani and she begin to see how much he love her. Why else would he do so much if he did no? It was there, in Alexandria, he finally convince her to marry him after many months.”

His parents fell in love in a city named Alexandria. I laugh softly. Maybe that is why he’s so fond of me.

“Where did you grow up?”

“Everywhere.” His smile is contagious. “When we little, we travel all over Romania selling our wares. We camp in tents, live in small apartments in the cities. It was good. My papa, he say we need education. Mama do no want us in schools, she teach us, but Papa say no. He educated and so should his children. He compromise. We go to school in Bucharest and not Italy like he want. Mama would have been unhappy away from her home. In summer, we always travel to new cities. Aleric and I would tease our sister we trade her for new toys.”

“Aleric?”

“My brother.”

“It sounds like so much fun.” The wistful note in my voice is lost on neither of us.

“I miss them.”

There is raw pain in his eyes. I turn and wrap my arms around him in a fierce hug. He’d told me his sister died, and I can see how haunted he is by her death. Luka pulls me close and buries his face in my hair.

“I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“Is no you.” His arms tighten around me. “I made promises I can no keep, and now I worry about them.”

“What promises?”

He shakes his head. “I will tell you someday, Alexandria, but no today. I just want to sit here and be at peace with my decisions.”

His decisions about me. He doesn’t have to say it out loud, but I know that is what he means. He chose me and broke a promise when he didn’t let me die. I wish I understood what was going on, but he isn’t willing to talk about it. What promise would put his family in jeopardy?

“Luka?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

I look up at him. “For not letting me fall.”

“I will always keep you safe,
munya
. I promise.”

Before I can say anything, his lips descend. My senses flame when they mold to mine, and my thoughts scatter as heat blazes through every nerve in my body. He sucks on my lower lip and I whimper at the sensation. When I feel him rolling me to the ground, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him tight, deepening the kiss. He surrounds me, cages me in with his body, and I shudder at the intensity of the emotions bombarding me. He’s so much bigger than I am. His tongue sweeps into my mouth and a low moan escapes. I let myself go, kissing him back with all the pent-up emotions I can’t put into words.

He pulls my hands away from him and pins them above my head before looking at me. His eyes glow with lust, their deep green color snapping with desire. “Beautiful.” He lowers his head, his mouth finding my jawbone and trailing kisses down my neck until he hits the base of my throat. He sucks slightly, and I gasp. He licks the spot and then blows on it. It’s the most erotic sensation. I shift restlessly under him.

Luka chuckles and releases my hands from their captivity. He shifts so his elbows support him as he keeps his weight off me. “You see difference between a kiss and a taste?”

“Yes.” My laugh is breathless.

“Tell me about you. Where you grow up, your family. Your brother say you go to a school…Compton Academy?”

“What do you want to know?” I ask cautiously. If he thinks to lull me into telling him all my secrets, he’s got another thing coming.

“What do you want to tell me?”

“It’s a school.”

He sighs and I get the distinct feeling he hopes I’ll confide in him. He can hope on. Not gonna happen, buster. I am not telling my own personal fallen angel lookalike I’m the crazy girl just released from the psych ward.

“You need to trust me, Alexandria.”

“I don’t know you.”

“But you will.”

“I’m not sure I want to.”

That outrageously dangerous smile is back in place. “Yes, you do.”

I manage not to drool, but just barely. Kudos to me.

“Says you.”

“Says me.”

I shake my head at the arrogance in his voice. “You are very cocky too, aren’t you?

“No,” he denies. “I just know what I want.”

“And what do you want?”

“I’m no sure yet.”

“You just said you knew what you wanted.”

He glances at me and his eyes are swirling with questions. “I mostly know what I want.”

“Care to share?”

“Care to tell me more about Compton?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll share when you do.”

“This is a ridiculous conversation,” I tell him, frustrated.

“Is it,
munya
?”

His voice has gone all soft and deep. It slides over me like warm velvet, and I shudder. He leans closer, and my pulse speeds up and the butterflies in my stomach flutter so hard, it feels like they are in a mad dash for freedom. His breath is warm against my cheek, and it drives my hormones a little mad.

I manage to get out some kind of noise that counts as an answer, or at least I hope so.

“You are a stubborn one, yes?”

“Yes, I am.”

He dips down and places a kiss on my forehead. “We should go before it get dark. The trail is not safe after dark.” He jumps up, as agile as a cat, and then helps me up.

I brush the dirt and grass from my jeans and ask a question that has bothered me for a while. “Why does Micah not like you? And don’t tell me it’s just because you are an outsider. This goes deeper.”

Luka takes my hand and we start to walk back up the path to the top of the mountain. “It is complicated.”

“I’m a smart girl. I think I can keep up.”

He shoots me a look of irritation. “You and Micah…do you like him?”

“I’m not out kissing him, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s my friend.”

“Friends can be more.”

“No.” I stop walking, forcing him to stop as well. “Micah is my friend, and I have a feeling our friendship is special, but I don’t like him like that, like I do you. He’s more like Jason, like a brother.”

“But does he know that?” Luka’s voice is dark and surly.

“If he doesn’t, he will soon enough.”

“No kissing anyone but me.”

I really hate when people try to tell me what to do. The devil inside urges me on. “If I want to kiss someone, I will…”

Luka hauls me up against him faster than I can blink. His mouth is on mine like an invading army, and I’m helpless to resist the desire that swamps me. His tongue takes possession of my mouth. My knees buckle and all that is holding me up is his arms around me. He leans in, forcing my back to arch, my breasts flush against him as he devours my mouth. Every nerve in my body is liquid fire as his mouth demands my surrender and I give it to him.

When he finally pulls his mouth from mine, the cold hardness in his eyes doesn’t frighten me this time. It excites me. “No one but me, Alexandria.”

“No one but you,” I whisper.

The fire burning in his eyes sparks something in my mind. It rolls through my subconscious, turning and twisting. Mine. The feeling more than the word fills my head. Territorial. It purrs, reverberating throughout every inch of my body.

Luka Rinaldi is mine.

Chapter Eleven

It seems like even the elements have turned against me.

The wind wails around me while the salt from the fog stings my eyes. Branches tear at me, cutting into my skin, trying to slow me, but I refuse to let up. I can’t. They are behind me.

I run hard and fast. My breath comes out shallow and labored as I struggle to pull air into my lungs, trying to ignore the fire slowly expanding in my chest. The stitch in my sides turns into a burning agony.

They are so close.

I can hear them all around me. Whispered laughter taunts me.

I knew it was useless to run. They are faster than me, but I force myself forward. If I stop for even a second, they will have me.

I break through the line of trees and flee toward the cliffs. Looking over my shoulder, I scream in helpless rage. Their laughter washes over me, and I stumble. And still I run.

Fingers trail along my arms, and blood wells up from the shallow cuts left by the razor-sharp fingernails that ripped my tender flesh open.

God, no…please, no.

Terror gives my feet wings and I push on, trying to escape. It is hopeless, but I force myself to run.

Fingers catch my hair, pulling me backward. They stroke the exposed skin of my throat. A nose buries itself into my hair. Icy breath tickles my ear. His breath so sweet, so intoxicating.

No.

Panic overwhelms me.

I rip myself free, crying out as my hair is torn from my scalp. Ignoring the pain, I veer left, closer to the edge of the cliffs.

I’d never had a chance. I know this.

Still, I scream in fury when they overtake me. There are just too many of them. They throw me to the ground and I struggle, using my hands and feet to hit at bodies hard as marble. I scratch, bucking the hands holding me down. I fight them as they tear into me, their teeth ripping into my flesh. Blood gushes out of the wounds. I hear them laugh softly and then the sounds of their suckling as they feed from me. Pain cracks like a whip through my body with each new bite. I grow weaker, my life slipping away with every drop of blood spilled.

No, I will not die like this.

Saying a prayer for strength, I twist to the right and manage to break free one last time. I force myself to roll and stand up, evading the hands that reach for me.

Then I jump.

Chapter Twelve

Saidie jabbers away in my ear as we walk out of our English lit class. She is going on and on about some guy she’d met yesterday in the student union. I can’t shake the dream I had of jumping off a cliff to escape the people chasing me. It terrified me, especially after what happened on the cliff with Luka. Jase has been watching me, and The fear in his eyes makes my heart hurt. He’s afraid I’m slipping, that all of this is really too much for me, but he won’t broach the subject. I can’t say I blame him with both our tempers spiking off the charts over the smallest things.

It’s not what he thinks, though. I’m fine with school. I settled into a routine. Conner has become a permanent fixture in our little group of me, Micah, Saidie, Bree, and Luka. I’m not sure how that happened, really, because he had a huge group of friends to begin with, but he waves to them and continues to sit with us in classes, at lunch, and outside of school. Not that I mind. I like my new friends very much.

Even as happy as I’ve been, I’m exhausted. The nightmares are back. Not your average, ordinary ones, but ones where I wake up terrified. I wake up screaming every night, and that has Jason freaked. I’m no longer taking the meds to keep me from dreaming, and the nightmares are coming back full force. I actually dread going to sleep. I couldn’t remember my dreams before, but now they’re vivid memories.

“Alex, you’re off in la-la land again.” Saidie shakes her head as we stop at my Jeep. “I’m trying to tell you about Brad, and you’re not paying attention.”

“Brad is the most awesome, coolest dude you’ve met in years.” I did listen to her. I was just trying to sort through my own stuff too.

“What’s wrong? You’re surly, and you’re never surly.”

“I just haven’t been sleeping, that’s all.”

“Girl, go take a nap. I want my Alex back, not this imposter.”

I give her a tight smile. If she only knew the depth of the panic the thought of sleep inspires. “I’ll try. Sorry for being so
surly
.”

“I mean it.” She wags her finger at me. “I want details about Luka, and I can’t get them out of you in this mood. Sleep. That’s an order!”

“You do need to sleep.” Micah startles us both. I swear he’s as quiet as Luka. “Are you heading home, Blue?”

“Yeah. Apparently I need a nap.”

“Drop me off at home? My ride fizzled out.”

“Sure. I need to stop at my dad’s, though. He sent me a text asking me to come over as soon as I got out of class.”

“No problem. Maybe your step-mom will have made some of those famous cookies I keep hearing about.”

“Cookies?” Saidie perks up. “Bring some home for us all!”

I laugh and get in the Jeep, Micah sliding in next to me. Saidie waves and wanders off in the direction of the library. She still has two more classes today.

“What happened to your ride?” I ask as I pull out of the parking lot. “And why don’t you have a car, anyway?”

“I have a car.” He flips on the radio. “I just like walking. I walk almost everywhere.”

“Why?”

“Why do you run every day?”

I think about that for a minute before answering. “I feel at peace when I run. I can smell the trees and the grass, feel the dirt beneath me. It just feels right, I guess, like I’m finally free.”

“Exactly.” Micah nods. “That is how I feel. I’d rather feel that than being trapped in a box of metal and plastic.”

I never thought of it like that. Truthfully, I live close enough to campus to walk there, but I drive because I love driving. I’ve only had my license a bit, and it’s still new. Maybe once the newness wears off, I’ll be footing it to school too.

“You look tired, Blue.”

“I haven’t been sleeping a lot.” For some reason, I’m always honest with Micah. I can’t lie to him. It irritates me.

“Nightmares?”

“Yeah.”

“Does that happen often?” The concern in his voice is obvious, and I find myself wanting to tell him about them.

“Since my mom left us when I was little.”

“I remember you telling me that.”

Micah waits. He never pushes, just lets me talk to him in my own time. It’s why I feel like I can talk to him. I was serious when I told Luka that Micah and I had a special friendship. In the few weeks I’ve known him, he feels like a missing piece of me. It’s weird, but I gave up on normal. I’ll take the weird if it means I have friends like the ones I have.

I wish it was as simple as talking about it. I wish I could get past the nightmares simply by talking about that day, but it’s more complicated than that. My mom leaving is what screwed me up. It broke something inside that I’m not sure can ever be fixed. I hate her for what she did.

Honeysuckle surrounds me. The faint scent of dirt, leaves, and the musty smell of the forest invades my senses, and I relax. Micah has such a calming effect on me. It’s bizarre, but I find myself wanting to tell him about my mom, about me, about everything. I need to. I can’t talk to Jason about this. He’ll freak out. Maybe I can tell Micah, though. God knows, I need someone.

“I call it The Event, but to be honest, I don’t remember much about it.” My eyes drift closed and I let myself go back there, to that day, and I start to tell him about it. “I’d turned seven a few days before. I remember I wore my brand new blue sundress and my white sandals. Mama had taken me to get my hair cut. I used to hate long hair. We’d stopped in the park and I was playing on the swing. The sun was bright, but it wasn’t hot. It wasn’t even noon yet, so it felt really nice out. The birds were singing, and I could hear the wind in the trees. My favorite thing about the park was the swings. I loved them, and I made Mama push me. She laughed every time I squealed when I went too high, but I loved to go higher and higher. It never scared me. I could fly. One minute I was up in the air, and the next is just a jumbled mess of images and sounds.”

I shudder at the memory, but I’m not terrified like I normally am. Something’s different this time. “Dad said a bunch of wild dogs attacked us and that I fell and hit my head when Mom and I were running, but I’m not sure I believe him. I didn’t see what attacked us, or at least I don’t think I did, but somehow, I get the impression they were bigger than dogs, maybe not even dogs at all. I can still see images of snapping, snarling teeth, and I can almost hear something, but I don’t know what.”

“You hit your head?”

I nod. “Yeah, that’s what they tell me.”

“And your mom left after that?”

“I hate her.” The words pop out, but they’re true.

Again, Micah waits for me to continue. He doesn’t push or prod, just sits there, patiently waiting.

“She left us the day after the attack. It’s a little odd I can remember that, but not what happened in the park.” I sigh with old frustration, The hurt I keep buried surfaces. Micah’s hand finds mine as a tear slips free. I haven’t cried over my mom in ten years. I’m more than a little shocked.

“I never really recovered,” I tell him. “Something broke inside that day, and it’s been broken since. I guess I just shut down. I stopped talking, and my friends left when I wouldn’t play with them anymore. I’ve had nightmares since then too. Really awful nightmares. The doctors diagnosed me with night terrors. I started to feel afraid all the time, even when I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. I couldn’t sleep, and by the time I hit junior high, you could say I was a real basket case.”

“Sounds like you had it pretty rough.”

Now there is the understatement of the century. A bitter laugh escapes. “You have no idea. It got so bad, Dad and Emma and my psychologist all agreed the best thing for me was Compton Academy.”

“What’s that?” Micah asked.

“A mental institute posing as a school. It’s a real school. I mean, we had normal classes and stuff, but there is an excellent psychiatric staff too. I tried to hurt my brother—I did hurt my brother. I was so messed up, I didn’t know what was real and what was a figment from my nightmares. They decided to put me somewhere I couldn’t hurt myself or others.”

“So your dad locked you up in the looney bin?” Anger laces his words, and I can feel it radiate off him in waves.

“I needed to be there, Micah. I hurt my brother. I needed help.”

“Are you better now?” I don’t understand his anger. Why is he so upset that my dad put me somewhere I could get the help I needed?

“God, I hope so,” I mutter. The voices in my head make me wonder if I really am better or not.

He gives me the patented Micah’s look of patience. “You
are
better, Blue, you’re just worrying too much. It’s time to loosen up a bit and have some fun.”

“It doesn’t bother you I’ve been in a mental institute or that I could still be just as crazy as I was then?”

“Nope. There’s your dad’s house.”

I slow down and see a car parked behind Dad’s truck. Maybe he has some friends over, or a client? But why would he want me to come over if that’s the case?

“Something wrong?”

“I just don’t recognize the car.” I pull in behind Emma’s car and we get out.

“Want me to wait out here? I can nap if you want.”

“Up to you.”

“I think I’ll snooze, if that’s okay. They might need to talk to you alone. Could be a friend they want to introduce you to or something.”

I toss him the keys so he can have air conditioning then walk up the steps and knock on the door. The man who answers is a shock and I stumble backward. He’s darkly handsome with copper-tinged black hair that frames a strong face. My own eyes stare back at me. There’s no mistaking who he is.

“Alexandria.”

“Uncle Sabien.”

“You remember me?” He looks surprised.

“Not really. Your picture is in some of the family albums. What are you doing here?”

He stands back to let me in. “Please follow me. I wish I were here under happier circumstances.”

Confusion swamps me when I see my dad with his head buried on his desk, sobs wracking him. What is going on? Dad doesn’t cry about anything. “What’s wrong, Daddy?”

“It’s your mother, Alexandria.” Sabien’s voice is quiet, gentle. “She died a few days ago in Paris. There was a car accident.”

A deep, wrenching sob is torn from my father. I stand staring at him, wanting to go to him, to try to help him, but I can’t.

Dead? She’s dead? She can’t be dead. Not yet.

“I’m sorry, John.” Sabien’s voice is soothing. “The hospital assured me she didn’t suffer. They said she died instantly.”

Dad mutters something, his shoulders heaving. Where’s Emma? He needs her.

“I’m so sorry, Alexandria.” Sabien turns to look at me, and I’m struck again by how much the two of us look alike. It’s eerie. “I can’t believe you’re all grown up. Alesha told me you and I looked alike, but I never realized. You do favor our side of the family, the Blackthornes. Judging by his picture, I have to agree with your mother that Jason is the image of his father. He has our eyes, though. There wasn’t a day that went by she didn’t talk about all of you.”

“My mom talked to you?”
How dare she?

“Yes, almost every day. Her family was very important to her. You were all she ever talked about.”

Yeah, right.

His next question is directed to my father.

“John, I brought her back with me from Paris. The accident was bad, there wasn’t that much left, but I knew she’d want to be here with her family.” He pauses. “Would you like me to help with the arrangements?”

“I…I…I…”

“Don’t worry, Dad. Jason and I will help Uncle Sabien make the arrangements.” 

Sabien looks at me curiously.

“Where’s Emma?” I ask.

“She’s at Marion’s,” Dad whispers, his voice hoarse. He still loves my mom, even after all these years. I know he loves Emma too, but I never realized how much he still loves my mother. She left us, and he still loves her. Even after our talk a few weeks ago, I still didn’t realize how much he loves her. Not until right now. He needs Emma, though. She’ll be able to help him get through this.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go fetch Emma.”

“Alexandria?” Sabien stops me.

“Yeah?”

“Are you all right?” 

I can hear the concern in his voice. Everyone seems to be concerned about me today.

“Sure, I’m fine.” I shrug. “If you’re worried because I’m not crying hysterically, don’t. I decided the day my mom left that crying wasn’t going to change anything. It was true then, and it’s true now. I’ve shed all the tears over her I’m going to.”

“Despite what you may think, Alexandria, she loved you.”

“Really?” I ask in a mocking tone that could rival Luka’s best. “Doesn’t matter. That won’t bring her back either. Now, I need to get Emma.”

Closing the study door, I leave the house.

My mother.