Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(33)
Author: K.A. Tucker

Then, for the first time in one hundred and twenty odd-years, I lost consciousness.

12. Full Disclosure—Evangeline

Thump, thump, thump … A man with a drum had taken up residence inside my head and he was pounding on his instrument as if it kept his heart beating. I groaned into my pillow. What’s that … ugh! My mouth tasted terrible. Something may have died inside there last night.

Why are humans so bloody stupid? The sound of Max’s low rumble in my head only made the pain worse. You know that alcohol will make you sick so, what do you do? You guzzle an entire bottle as if it’s going to spontaneously combust if not consumed in record time!

I groaned feebly again. “Don’t give me that daddy werebeast lecture. Just make it stop! Please!” I moaned, gripping my forehead with both palms and squeezing tightly.

It could be worse, you know, Max continued, not at all sympathetic to how his special telepathic ability was torturing me at that moment. At least you threw up last night. That got most of the alcohol out of your system.

I felt my face screw up as I raked my brain. “I threw up last night?” I didn’t remember throwing up. I didn’t remember … much of anything.

Yeah, Caden and Bishop took turns carting you back here. What a train wreck! You weren’t in here thirty seconds before you stumbled for the bathroom. Of course you plowed into the wall but …

The pain in my head instantly dulled, replaced by another excruciating pain—mortification. I gasped out load and my hands flew to my mouth. “Oh my God! Max, did Caden see me puke?”

“Only enough to make sure you hit the bowl,” a male voice called out. I lifted my head to see Caden leaning against the door, jade eyes sparkling, looking as striking as ever in an untucked dark blue button-down shirt and dark jeans. It made the entire situation ten times worse.

I flopped down into my pillow and pulled the covers over my head, intent on hiding for the rest of the day, praying that the man with the drum would bash my brains in and be done with it.

“Merry Christmas!” Caden’s voice boomed from somewhere above me.

“Bah humbug.”

“Don’t be silly.” The bed sank under Caden’s weight and I felt him tugging at the covers. My fists curled around the folds, resisting, but he finally won out, yanking them clean from my grip. With my face exposed, I noticed his gaze briefly skim my jaw. I wondered what it looked like today. It didn’t hurt nearly as bad but maybe that was because it now had competition with an unruly hangover.

Did something die in here? Max murmured and noticed his black nose twitching. You can shower anytime, you know.

“Oh my God, this is getting worse by the second,” I cried, curling up like a possum, burying my face in my arms.

“What?”

“Max just told me I smell like a corpse …”

The bed began shaking, sending waves of nausea through me. Caden was laughing. “Here,” he said, “take this.”

Suspiciously, I peeked out over my arm to see Caden’s hand cradling two small blue pills. A glass of water sat on my bedside table. “They’ll help with the pain.”

“Just the words I want to hear right now.” Without thinking, I reached for the pills but then froze midair. His hand, his skin … my touch. Was today the day that I transformed? Was today the day I’d kill Caden?

Before I could pull back and ask Caden to place the pills on the counter, his hand lifted to stroke my cheek. Jerking back, I held a gasp, waiting …

Nothing.

I wouldn’t kill Caden today.

A lifetime of air released from my lungs. I greedily snatched the two pills out of his hand and threw them back. Caden sat quietly while I polished off the tall glass of water. I had never been so parched before in my life. “Why on earth does anyone do this to themselves more than once?”

Caden’s hand found its way to my knee and kneaded gently, sending electricity through my body.

“Where’s Bishop?” Can’t forget about my fake relationship! It would look bad to him if he were to walk in on this …

Caden offered a tight-lipped smile as he pulled his hand away, pulling my heart out of my chest with it. “Last-minute Christmas shopping.”

“Shopping? I thought stores were closed on Christmas Day …”

“He’ll be back soon, but he’s not here right now. Why don’t you go have a long, hot shower? You’ll feel better, I promise,” Caden said.

A shower sounded like a fantastic idea. If a giant werebeast thought I smelled bad, the hot guy sitting next to me couldn’t be overly impressed … I stumbled out of bed, on a mission to get to the en suite faster than the fastest person in the world. I may have made it too, had it not been for a still figure in my peripheral vision distracting me. A tall, dark man sitting in the corner.

Wraith.

He stopped me dead in my tracks. “What are you doing here?” I asked in a low, wary voice. How could I have forgotten about him?

“He’s been here all night,” Caden explained before Wraith could answer. “I tried getting rid of him,” he grimaced, as if remembering an unpleasant experience. “It didn’t work so well.”

I rubbed my nose, digging into my foggy memory. “Oh … that’s right …” Blurry patches of the prior night fluttered past. I tried losing Wraith several times. I don’t know if it was his stellar Evangeline tracking skills or that I was louder than a herd of buffalo in a church, but there was no getting rid of Wraith. He was like an annoying little brother. Everywhere I went, he was one step behind. Only he killed for me …

“Whatever …” I decided I was more interested in a hot shower than dealing with my grim reaper at that point. I turned back and continued toward the bathroom.

“Wait.” The word—though flatly delivered—had the effect. I stopped midstride and turned to find Wraith marching toward me in that stiff way of his.

“What?”

He didn’t answer. He just kept moving, his eyes trained on the bathroom.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked sharply. He didn’t think he was …

“I am accompanying you to your next destination,” he answered in the weird, robotic language he used.

I shared my panicked look with Caden and Max. Caden’s eyes filled with fury. This bothered him, I could tell. But he was helpless and that made it worse. Interference led to dire consequences and no one wanted that. Max leaned back to settle onto his haunches, clearly not interested in being put down again. I’d have to manage my grim reaper on my own. I turned back to level him with a stare.

“My next destination is right in there … for a shower,” I said slowly, enunciating every word. “Thanks for your help, but I won’t need you in there.”

Blue orbs shifted from the door to the en suite to me, and then back to the en suite, as if weighing options. “That is not for you to decide,” he finally said.

“Oh, yes it is!” I snapped, waggling my finger at him. “You are my guardian … not my captor!” This was feeling all too much like Max’s wishy-washy servitude. “I will have some privacy! Please!” The last word came out a little shaky, like I was pleading. I couldn’t be pleading with this thing. Pulling my shoulders up straight, I crossed my arms and set my jaw.

“I do not feel the same desires as a human—” he began to say.

A mental image of that placid face, those mirror balls drifting over my bare body made me shudder violently. But he was likely telling the truth. He probably didn’t desire that. Only one desire motivated him—to kill for me, without discretion, without remorse. It’s why he existed and I couldn’t fault him for that. Putting all else aside, I needed him right now. I needed all the help I could get to keep me alive until I turned into Walking Death and jumped off a cliff …

I tempered my tone. “That’s great, Wraith, but guess what? I’m human and I do have desires—the desire to shower without an audience.”

He stared blankly at me for a long moment, so long I was sure my words hadn’t register with him. I decided to test him, and so I stepped into the bathroom. Somehow he managed to get in front of me, his broad arm sweeping me back and out of the way as he stepped into the little room.

“Hey!”

“No windows. No doors. No other occupants. It is empty,” he assessed, as if reporting on a crime scene.

“Yes, that’s because it’s a bathroom. They’re generally not party rooms. Now get out!” I snapped, gritting my teeth against the resulting stab of pain in my head. I threw my hands up to Wraith’s chest and gave him a hard shove out. Surprisingly, he moved without much effort. As soon as his toes crossed the threshold, I slammed the door shut and locked it. A tiny triumph tickled my confidence, though short-lived. If he wanted in, I was sure a stupid little metal lock wouldn’t stop him.

I sighed. Finally alone … I walked over to the large rectangular mirror and stared at the sallow reflection. I look hideous, I grimaced, taking in the dark circles accentuating my already puffy eyes, and the cowlick of wispy front hairs sticking out and off to the side of my forehead. My jaw wasn’t much better. At least my lip was back to its original size, though still purple. All in all … far from appealing.

Shaking off my rumpled clothes from the day before, I climbed into the shower. I stood under the hot water for what felt like an eternity, allowing it to soak into my pores and clean the toxins out as I thought about all that had transpired in twenty-four hours. When I’d woken yesterday, my life was in shambles. Then it slapped on a pair of skis and hot-dogged down the side of a mountain. Attacked by witches and Sentinel, I came home to a freed Bishop who’d been lobotomized by the Fates and now had the hots for me. To top it all off, I released the ghost of Sofie’s true love because of my toxic magic and now I had him closer to me than my own shadow, granting me permission to go to the bathroom on my own.

Yes … my life was better when it was just in shambles and not doing a full nosedive into hell.

I hadn’t connected with Veronique last night, though, from what I recalled. I hope I hadn’t! Would I have been drunk if I had? Either way, if they weren’t torturing her, then I had bought myself some time. Now, as long as Viggo and Mortimer didn’t find out about her, and, worse, that I knew about her predicament, then maybe I wouldn’t die a slow, horrible death at their hands. Lilly had to have some information for me soon …

Once sufficiently scrubbed, cleaned, and primped—and feeling marginally better—I cracked open the door and peeked out. Three sets of eyes watched me. I knew asking any of them to leave so I could get dressed was a hopeless cause. Ducking out in my robe, I reached into the dresser near the door, discreetly assembling an outfit down to underwear and socks, silently wishing I were alone with Caden. What I would do to be alone with Caden …

Once dressed, I took a giant breath and stepped out. There they were. Still. The three of them. Caden, Max, and Wraith, forming a narrow triangle in my room. Wraith was closest to me, his gaze weighing me down. Sidestepping around him with a wary eye fixed on his movements, I made my way to Caden’s side.

“Feel better?” Caden smiled, wrapping himself around my upper body, enveloping me into him.

I nodded. Surprisingly, whether it was the hot shower, or the two little pills, or Caden’s arms around me, the pounding had subsided. I may even be a little bit hungry …

You certainly smell better and … Max began.

I rolled my head within Caden’s chest to throw Max an evil stare. He didn’t finish his sentence. “Yeah … I’m never drinking again,” I said. My head shook against Caden’s chest as he chuckled. Warmth exploded within me. I loved the feel of his happiness. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt it.

Pulling back slightly to look down at my face, the back of his hand grazed over my lip gently. “Does this hurt?’

I shook my head, melting. He leaned forward and placed the lightest kiss on my lips. “Does that hurt?” he whispered.

Blood rushed to my ears as my heart hammered against my ribs. Whatever resentment or hurt held him back before, it wasn’t present anymore. On impulse, I grabbed hold of his neck and drew him down for another kiss. He responded without restraint. If my lip still hurt, it wasn’t registering at the moment, too overjoyed by being in contact with Caden’s mouth to complain. Once Bishop returned, we’d be back to the twisted delusion. Until then …

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled suddenly, an eerie feeling sweeping through my body, ruining the moment. On instinct, I broke free of Caden’s lips and checked over my shoulder. Wraith had slinked in behind me, no more than three feet away from us. He didn’t do anything or say anything. He just stood still, waiting expectantly. I knew exactly why—to level Caden if he felt I was at risk. That bugged me. Greatly. The only thing I was at risk of now was losing precious time with Caden.