Born of Shadows (The League Gen 1 #3)(26)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Caillen glanced away as old memories surged. Teratin had seemed like such a decent person when he’d met her. Unassuming, even sweet. Bashful just enough to be endearing, but not off-putting. Little had he known at the time that all of that was well-practiced affectation. Hell, she’d even been easy to talk to most days.

A snake hidden underneath a pretty cover. Damn him for being stupid enough to be deceived.

He felt the tic in his jaw as he took a drink of water and tried to squelch the need he still had to hunt the bitch down and kill her. “We were together casually for about three years.”

She arched her right eyebrow northward in an expression that would have amused him if they weren’t discussing the Great Evil. “Define casually.”

Yeah, that was the crux of it. One word, many definitions. Too bad his perception of their relationship had been completely different than her psycho ass.

“We had sex a couple of times, dinner a few more and hung out from time to time whenever she was in town. I never sought her out. Not once. But she’d come see me for no particular reason. Said she just liked hanging out with me, and I felt sorry for her that she didn’t have anyone else to be with—in retrospect I should have realized anyone who travels from one planet to another just to spend an afternoon with you is krikkin insane. But I like to give lunatics the benefit of the doubt and if I have one flaw in life it’s that I too often take people at face value even when I should know better. I swear, one day I’m going to learn to be jaded with the loons and underdogs too.” Something easier said than done. He knew to be jaded around takers and grifters. But he was a sucker for anyone with a sad story. Loners who had no one. People who weren’t liked by others. Any underdog could take him.

Most were decent. But a handful…

They were nuts to a level that defied human understanding.

He tightened his grip on the bottle as he took another drink and rode hard herd on his temper. Gods help Teratin if he ever came across her again. Most likely, he’d kill her.

And he’d relish her death rattle.

Probably celebrate it too and that was what scared him the most.

“Let me reiterate, it was nothing serious. Or so I thought. One day I get this hostile voice mail from her because I forgot her birthday. Hell, I hadn’t thought anything about it—you know, three years and I’d never wished her a happy birthday before. Didn’t know three was the magic number and if I failed to acknowledge it on that particular year, Crazy Bitch would rain down hell’s wrath on my head. At that time I was being slammed with a massive shitfest every which way I moved. My sister Tessa was being chased by loaners who’d already landed her in the hospital for her debt, Kasen was in the hospital with another round of stop-the-blood-disease-from-killing-her and Shahara was after a target and missing in action—I was terrified she was dead and that we’d find her body somewhere gruesome. One of my regular jobs had just dried up completely and another was pushing me to the wall with regulations and equipment requirements I was struggling to meet. Little preoccupied with family and work at the time which any normal, sane human being would have understood.

“Instead, she goes mental on me and the next thing I know the bitch has called the authorities in an attempt to get me and my sister Kasen arrested. She’s contacted my business associates trying to ruin my reputation any which way she can. She even called my best friend and tried to get him to turn on me. Never have I seen anything like it. And for what? A f**king birthday wish? Hell, I don’t even know when Kasen’s birthday is and I was not only raised with her, I love her—anyone who knows me, knows this about me. Failure to acknowledge a birthday doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I believe in celebrating the life of the people you love every day—not just on one particular day. All it meant was that I was up to my neck in crap to deal with and the last thing I needed was one more pain in my ass. Little Miss Give-Me-Attention-Cause-I-Have-No-Real-Friends needs to be schooled on the fact that the universe doesn’t revolve around her and when other people are barely hanging on by their fingernails, a real friend would have helped and not added to the stress.”

Desideria let out an elongated breath as he finished his diatribe. Not that she blamed him. He was right. Any human who would hurt another and try to ruin them over something so petty was sorry beyond belief and she hated that he’d been forced to go through that. It made her want to hurt the woman for him.

Like Caillen, she didn’t keep track of that sort of thing either.

But it left her with one question. “And you judge all women by her actions?”

He shook his head. “No. I judge all people by that. I’ve seen too many spaz out over absolutely nothing, not quite to her dangerous extent, but enough that it’s taught me to be wary of everyone, especially when they’re trying to play the victim role. And she’s an extreme reminder that no matter how well you think you know someone, they can turn on you for the dumbest reasons imaginable. Male, female, whatever. I mean, shit. Happy Birthday, bitch. Didn’t she have anyone else in her life that mattered? I mean really, my sisters and friends don’t call me on mine and I’m good with that. Never have I held it against them. I wish my life was so pathetically uneventful that all I had to get torn up over was the fact that some casual friend didn’t wish me a Happy Birthday. My own family forgets mine about half the time and none of my friends know when it is and never once have I doubted their loyalty to me. What’s the big deal?”

Desideria bit back a smile. Not because it was funny—it was actually very tragic—but because his over-the-top tirade was so out of character that it amused her to see this side of him.

He did indeed have a temper.

However, she didn’t want to offend him, especially over something that had left a lasting scar and changed the way he dealt with people. It angered her that anyone would be so needlessly vicious.

“Obviously to her, it was a big deal. But I agree with you. She had no right to do that to you.”

“No kidding and do you know to this day, and it’s been over four years now since it happened, she’s still taking swipes at me? Any chance she can get to try and damage my reputation or interfere with my business, she takes. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and believe me, I’ve seen some shit.”

She was aghast. “Are you serious? Four years later?”

He held his hand up in indignation. “Right hand to the gods and I swear to you I did nothing to her at all. Nothing. I was never anything but nice to her no matter how weird she’d get around me and even while her supposed real friends criticized and mocked her behind her back. I guess I should have done what they did. Then she would have loved me forever.”

Desideria actually believed that. He’d been nice to her and that after her mother had tried to harm him and she’d gotten him shot. “I’m so sorry, Caillen.”

“Yeah, don’t be. It is what it is. I just don’t understand people who are cruel without justification. People who try to tear down someone over petty nothings.” He leaned his head back as he reached for a small bag of food. There was something boyish in his manner. Something that belied the ferocity and power. The more she was around him, the less threatening he appeared.

Weird. Very weird. She knew he could kill her and yet, she liked being with him.

She licked her suddenly dry lips as a wave of desire ripped through her. “I admire that about you though. I think it’s a great thing you can’t understand that kind of cruelty.”

Caillen paused as he realized what she was saying to him. The tender look she gave him made his heart speed up as a part of his anatomy jerked to life and wanted something a little more intimate than this chat. “You admire me?”

She raked a playful glance over his body that sent chills through him. “Don’t let that go to your head. If it grows any bigger, we’ll have to find a larger place to hide just to accommodate it.”

He laughed and that amazed him most of all. He’d never been able to laugh about Teratin’s PMS until now. Not even Shahara had ever been able to cheer him on the topic. Anytime her name came up, he went into a fume for days. Yet Desideria had done the impossible. “So are you another deranged woman out to ruin a man over forgetting your birthday?”

She picked at her food in a dainty way that was incongruous with her tough aura. He didn’t know why, but there was something about her right now that was almost vulnerable. Something that called out to him and made him want to brush his hand through her hair and taste those moist lips and sample other, more lush parts of her body.

But she wouldn’t welcome that and he would die before he ever pressed himself on any female. He only proceeded when they were jumping on him.

And yet it was hard to sit here and not do anything when she was so close to him that all he had to do was reach out and touer. Oh to have the ability and right to close the distance between them and kiss those gorgeous lips. Damn. The more he was around her, the more he wanted her. It was slowly driving him crazy.

She glanced at him again, then stared at a space by his side. “Birthdays are unimportant to my people.”

“Because you celebrate accomplishments?”

She nodded. “Being born is a state of the natural order. Why should you celebrate something that happens to everyone and everything?”

That was harsh and it made him glad he wasn’t a Qill. While he might not care about them as an adult, some of his best memories of childhood had been his sisters decorating their small house with signs they’d made for him. Of Shahara bringing him a small treat whenever she could. It was why he didn’t sweat when people ignored it. Don’t stab me in the back and we’re all good. “Your people are seriously screwed up.”

She arched a brow at him. “Like yours aren’t?”

“Oh, I never said they weren’t. We invent other ways to be total a**holes to each other.”

She laughed, then sobered. “It wasn’t all bad though. Unlike my sisters, when I was little, my father would sneak gifts to me on my birthday and he always remembered the date.”

He caught the way her voice softened as she spoke about her dad. It was obvious she loved the man. “That was nice of him.”

“You have no idea.”

Desideria fell silent as a surreal out-of-body experience came over her. She was sharing stories of her past with Caillen like he was an old friend. More than that, she became aware of how much physical pain he had to be in from his injuries and yet he managed to tease and not snap at her. He never took his emotions out on her.

Poor baby. And she appreciated his control. It meant a lot to her that he was being pleasant when he had no reason to.

She leaned forward and wiped at the blood on his bruised forehead. “Do you ever have a fight where you don’t bleed?”

“All the time.”

She held her hand so that he could see how much damage he’d done to himself with his latest run-in with the mugger. “Not since I’ve met you.”

He gave her a napkin to wipe her hand on. “Yeah, you’re like an unlucky charm for me.”

Feigning indignation, she tossed the bloodied cloth at him. “You need to be nicer to me. Remember I’m the one who tends your wounds.”

“Uh-huh. And if you’re true to your gender, you’ll salt it anyway and kick me in the teeth on your way out the door.”

She scowled at him as her humor fled. He was serious with that comment. “Why would you say that?”

He cleaned away the remnants of his food. “Simple. Women only want to jump my bones or take my money. Outside of the bedroom, they don’t really think that much of me and most of them are only after a quick take.”

“Your sisters aren’t like that. They love you.”

“Yeah, but they think I’m mentally challenged. They still try to cut my meat for me most days.”

That surprised her. He was without a doubt the most capable man she’d ever met. Why would they treat him like a child? “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s the most screwed-up thing you’ve ever seen. They really think I’m a kid until one of them gets into trouble, then I’m the first one they call to bail them out. Insanity, right?”

She didn’t want to agree, yet he was correct. It would be weird to be treated like a child and then be relied on so heavily by the very people who refused to see her as an adult. “So what do your sisters do for a living?”

He rose to his feet before he stretched. The tightness of his shirt over his chest distracted her from the question as she became fascinated with the way his muscles played.

“Shahara’s the oldest. She was a tracer until she married a couple of years ago. Now she runs a charitable organization for her husband. Kasen’s my business partner and I use that term with all due hostility and sarcasm. She mostly sucks off my share of our profits by making me feel guilty over her medical condition.”

“Which is?”

“Diabetes and a rare blood disorder. She’s spent most of her life in and out of hospitals and you have to be really careful with what she comes into contact with or you can kill her—which has occasionally crossed my mind. And lastly there’s Tessa.” He let out a long breath as if the mere thought of her gave him an ulcer.

“What about her?”

“I love her, don’t get me wrong, but she’s constantly in trouble with loaners. Not that I can say much. I have a nasty tendency to gamble too. But I stop before I go into debt doing it. She doesn’t. Since she was sixteen, we’ve all had to chip in to save her ass. Over and over again. But she married last year and seems to be doing better now. She works as an admin for the Ritadarion press corps.” He came back to help her clean up her food. “What about you? What do your sisters do?”