Treasured Secrets (Coveted Saga #1) (The Coveted Saga) Page 11

  He turned to face me. His voice was sincere. "No." He smiled at me. "My mom and dad explain it pretty well though."

  I was still choking back my overwhelming urge to burst out into tears. "So I take it that I'm not your soul mate?"

  I got sick. I couldn't believe I just sounded so whiny and devastated. I barely knew him.

  His mood changed and he stepped away from the window before walking over to me. "I didn't say that. I don't know."

  Now I felt like he was trying to spare my feelings. "You said you knew it instantly."

  He shook his head, smiling. Oh his smile was so perfect. "When you're eternal. Not until then. So we won't know until you transform."

  I sighed out in relief. "Do you think we're soul mates?"

  Again, I was the whiny girl acting far too clingy. I couldn't stop myself though. There had to be a reason for the madness.

  "I think we're talking about too much for one day, and I think you should sleep." He was avoiding answering my question. With too many tears wavering, I decided to drop it.

  "Are you sleeping?"

  He smiled and looked away. "Yeah. Aster is going to keep an eye out and wake me if I'm needed."

  My stomach fluttered as he climbed into my bed and peeled off his shirt. I had changed into some cute silky pajamas - kind of a simple sexy. Thank goodness for Ash and Aster.

  He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead, making me feel warm and safe. His lips were even softer than I had imagined. It made me want him even more.

  I looked up and he was staring out the window. I laid my head on his chest and was asleep within seconds.

  The next morning I woke up to see the sun shining brightly through the window. My alarm was buzzing in the usual annoying fashion. I looked around as I slapped it very hard, praying the vexing box would just break. Tallis was nowhere to be found.

  I jumped up and ran downstairs. He wasn't there either. I walked back up the steps very disappointed and got ready for school. I grabbed my bag and headed toward the door. When I got outside, Tallis was waiting on me, propped up against his car.

  His tone was as seductively tempting as it could possibly be. "Good morning, Aria." I smiled sheepishly as his smug grin sent chills up and down my spine.

  "Good morning." The top was down on his car. He reached in and grabbed a tray of coffee.

  "I wasn't sure how you liked it, so I got you some selections. I thought you might need it."

  His voice was gentle. He didn't sound tired at all. I, on the other hand, was exhausted. I reached out and grabbed the one that was plain coffee with cream only.

  "Simple girl, nice." He walked me around to the other side of the car and opened the door for me. I couldn't stop smiling. I sat down, sipping my coffee and buckled my seatbelt. He reached over me, picking the tray of coffee back up.

  "I'm going to take this in there for everyone else so that it doesn't go to waste." He was in and out before I could even look at myself in the mirror.

  I noticed my family crest imprinted into the upholstery on his leather seats and his dashboard. He saw me staring at it.

  "Better protection for you," he explained. "If you're going to be with me, you're going to be safe. My crest works best on our blood, which I don't need it, but Mom and Dad do. I know your crest works better for your blood. I figured it was better safe than sorry, you know?"

  I could feel myself falling more for him with each passing second. "Thanks."

  He glanced at himself in the rearview mirror as he sat down. I looked at him, admiring how much better he looked than yesterday.

  "Thank you for the coffee. I did need it. Four hours of sleep isn't so refreshing, so caffeine was a must. You keep saving me."

  He put the car in first gear, smiling cockily. "That's what I do."

  Chapter 9

  Changers

  It's amazing at how much better you can see when you open your eyes.

  School finally ended, and Tallis was waiting on me when I walked to my locker. McKee and Taryn walked up.

  "Hey, Aria, we were just going to tell you that we we're going to follow you home today. I didn't see your car outside though." McKee paused. He was talking to me but he was staring at Tallis. "I thought maybe you might want to catch a ride with us."

  I looked at Tallis, hopeful he was going to join in and object to that for me. He didn't let me down.

  "I'll take her home. I put her crest in my car. so you don't have to follow her. Everett said earlier that he would walk us out to the car, so we should be good." Tallis put his arm around my waist possessively.

  I smiled, but then McKee made that smile vanish very abruptly. "I was talking to Aria. I don't remember saying your name."

  He was angry, or jealous, or maybe he was both.

  "I couldn't tell, since you were staring right at me." Tallis's comeback was quick and spoken with layers of threatening tones.

  "I don't take my eyes off of a Craymon when they're around. It's bad enough that our coven let you sleep at their house, but now they're letting you touch her?"

  I could see the glowing red anger racing violently through McKee's brow. He wanted a reason to fight with Tallis.

  I had to interject and stop the fight before it started. McKee was looking for any reason to turn my family against Tallis. My tone was slightly more scolding than I had planned on it being. It seemed as though my frustration with McKee grew as I spoke.

  "Stop it, McKee. This is ridiculous. He takes care of me. I'm safe as long as I'm with him. There's nothing more important to my family than my safety."

  Tallis had been there for me when I needed him most. I wasn't going to let McKee put him down without stepping in.

  "Whatever."

  McKee rolled his eyes and motioned for his sister to follow him as he walked away. He wasn't going to let this go easily though. I knew there would be more confrontations between the two of them.

  Everett met us outside and walked us to the car. Tallis opened my door, and then we headed back to my house. The drive was nice with the wind in my hair. I looked to the right and saw a brilliantly white horse. I started to say something, but then I saw Tallis wave at the horse.

  I playfully teased him. "Friend of yours?"

  He smiled and started pulling over on the side of the road, and spoke in a bit of a mysterious sort of way. "He's more like a brother to me."

  He hopped out, and then he bent over, sounding insistent when he said, "Stay in the car for a minute, please."

  "Stupid essence," I growled.

  I said it loud enough for Tallis to hear apparently, because he snickered. I hated having to stay confined by bodyguards or protective crests. I missed being able to just take a walk by myself.

  Tallis walked back beside the horse. The horse snorted and suddenly started bucking. I was worried it was going to hurt Tallis. Tallis didn't seem afraid at all though. Of course, he was built to withstand almost anything, given that he was an immortal or an eternal or whatever.

  Tallis's tone was threatening in a seemingly playful way. "Don't do it. I mean it." Tallis talked to the horse as if it could understand him.

  Suddenly, the horse charged. It was running full speed directly toward the car, more specifically, me.

  I screamed, "Tallis!"

  But Tallis didn't move. It looked like he was rolling his eyes. The horse got to the car and suddenly changed into a solid white owl. I gasped very loudly. I couldn't believe it. I blinked at least a hundred times in less than five seconds.

  Tallis rolled his eyes again and picked up a set of clothes lying on the ground. He threw them at the owl, knocking it into the backseat. I screamed again as I scrambled around in the car, trying to get away from the bird.

  Tallis jogged over to the car. I heard a distinctively peculiar noise - like wind stirring in a barrel. I heard Tallis trying to warn me.

  "Aria, don't-" It was too late though. I turned around before he finished his sentence. Tallis dropped his head, shaking i
t slightly as he uselessly finished his sentence. "Turn around."

  I squealed, shocked and mortified. There was Desmond, stark naked in the backseat. I almost gave myself whiplash from jerking my head violently back toward the front with my eyes closed so tightly that it almost hurt. I could feel the red burning on my face. Desmond was laughing hysterically.

  "Good to see you, Aria."

  He wasn't the seething brute he had been to me before the meeting with my family. I almost wish he still detested me just as furiously as he had. Now he was scarring me for life. I could hear him pulling on his pants as the belt clanked around. He still chuckled at my embarrassment.

  I kept the side of my face shielded with my hand so that I didn't see anything else as I replied with sarcasm. "It would've been good to have seen less of you, Desmond."

  I heard Tallis laughing as he neared. Desmond was laughing at my little joke, too.

  "It's better than anything you'll see on his body," Desmond playfully teased.

  I heard a slapping sound. I could only assume Tallis had just popped Desmond for his crude comment. I certainly wasn't turning around to see if I was right or not. I wanted to wash my eyes out with soap.

  My mind went to all the wrong places as I thought of the tidbits of Tallis I had seen.

  "I've liked what I've seen of his body so far."

  I was thinking about him with his shirt off the day before. He had such a perfectly sculptured, lean piece of art. Then I noticed that Tallis was blushing. My face paled when I realized I had said that out loud. I ducked down slightly in the front seat, wishing I had something to put over my head.

  Tallis smiled at me bashfully. Then Desmond embarrassed me even more.

  "So... How much of his body did you see last night?"

  "Des!" Tallis yelled before slapping his own forehead, exasperated.

  Desmond jumped out of the car and changed back into a owl as Tallis swatted at him. He fell out of his clothes as he did so, and they collapsed onto the asphalt.

  Tallis walked back to the car, picking up Desmond's clothes out of the road. He tossed them in the backseat as he opened the door. He looked at me sort of sheepishly, grimacing after a second.

  "Sorry about that. Des has his moments when he… Well, he's just an ass."

  I laughed, still slightly mortified about my rogue confession.

  "I have two brothers and two sisters. Explanations for family humiliation is so not necessary." I smiled as he laughed.

  "Good to know." He put the car in gear and started in a different direction than what we had been going.

  I was unaware of any changes to the plan. "Where are we going?"

  "We're going to my house first. I want you to meet some of the changers. I forgot they're meeting today."

  "I wish I had dressed better." I looked down at my blue jeans and T-Shirt. It wasn't exactly going to make a good first impression.

  His head tilted and his eyes locked with mine as he spoke in his smoldering tone. "You look pretty amazing to me."

  I blushed fiercely, and started to squirm directly after.

  "Can you change?"

  I hadn't given it much thought. I knew he could blow stuff up, but he was half witch, half changer.

  He smiled. "No, I tried for a while though. Des would tackle me or punch me in the arm and change while he was jumping out the window. Very frustrating."

  I snickered slightly at the small scowl on his face. Then he smiled. "When I learned to control my power, things changed. He would fly away, and I'd use enough power to break a branch to land on him. Once I broke a whole tree over on him."

  I looked at him oddly while gasping. He recognized my quizzical face. "Don't worry. I didn't hurt him. I did, however, blow out the window to his bedroom by accident. He got rained on for several days before it got fixed. That was nice."

  He sighed with a bit of pride. He seemed to be reminiscing about those events like they were some small victories.

  "I guess my siblings aren't so bad after all."

  He let a louder laugh escape.

  "Things will change when you get your powers. You find ways to amuse yourself when you've lived as long as we have."

  I looked at his face. It was pristine and captivating. I could have stared all day.

  I was falling for him so fast. Every amazing detail about him drew me in closer. The wind continued to blow in my hair. He turned and smiled at me.

  "Are you going to be okay with this? I didn't think about it, but this might be pretty scary for you. You've had a lot thrown on your plate in two days. Maybe I should take you home first before I go to this. I could come over later, or just pick you up in the morning."

  I decided quickly that I could deal with any sort of crazy better than I could handle being separated from him.

  "No. I'm fine. I admit that it's a lot to process, but I'm good. I already know about changers, and I just saw your brother naked, so it can't get too much worse." I thought about that for a minute. "Oh no. They're not going to get naked in front of me, too, are they?"

  He laughed so hard that it turned into a cough. "No. They're a little more modest than Des. You're not meeting a band of naked men or anything." He smiled at me as we pulled into his driveway.

  "You probably need to call your grandma though. So she doesn't worry." Then he handed me his phone.

  I got off the phone and walked over to Tallis. "I hate to ask anything else from you, but Iris wants to meet them. I told her I would ask you first." He looked at me and nodded. Then he walked inside. He came back out with his father.

  "It should be fine for Iris to come. This alliance is important," Edmond answered, proving he was a bit of an alpha.

  "Thanks, Mr. Verdan. I'll call her back."

  I walked back down to the car and called Iris again, telling her the good news. When I returned, Edmond and Tallis were doing something to the side of the house.

  I spoke with an inquiring tone. "What are you guys doing?"

  Tallis was the one to respond, but he didn't look up. "We're putting up more of your protective crests. Bradbury's have strong magic, so the scent of their essences are very strong as well. The more we have, the safer you all are."

  Their precautionary measures were admirable. It made me feel safe. I stared at them as they pressed their palms against the house, then I heard a sizzling sound.

  "Are you burning something?" I couldn't smell anything. I could just hear the sound of something that sounded almost like bacon frying in a pan, just a little more subtle.

  "It's cresting. It's something you'll learn to do when you get your magic. It is similar to burning, minus the fire. There are a lot of things you can do when you get your magic. It's something you have to see and do to really understand."

  They finished up and then we headed inside to join Allaysia. She was preparing food and cocktails for the company. Tallis ran up some steps to go change. I wanted to change, too, but I had no clothes.

  "You need any help?" I asked. I didn’t know how to cook, not on a conventional stove anyway. But I thought I could set the plates or something for her.

  "Actually, could you stir this? I need to get the dessert ready to put in the oven."

  She pulled me to the pan and put my hand on the handle as she handed me a large wooden spoon.

  "Yeah… sure." I nervously stirred the pan that smelled heavenly.

  It was soup - a deliciously enticing soup. I was so worried I was going to mess it up.

  "Aria, if you're okay, I need to go finish getting ready. Could you take the soup off in about five or six more minutes?"

  "Yeah, no problem."

  I continued stirring. It was awkward. I worried about ruining her soup portion of the evening. Contemporary appliances made me feel a little out of my element. I had always heated soup out of a can on top of a fire. We had a wood burning stove back home, but it always made the hut so hot that we barely used it.

  I felt like such a roughneck around here.

&nb
sp; Tallis walked up behind me, surprising me a little. He was so close that our bodies grazed each other. Then he leaned into me, fully pressing his front to my back, as he reached over and put his hand on my hand, stirring the soup with me.

  "You have to go all the way around the pan. It'll burn around the edges, otherwise."

  His free hand was resting on my hip, and it just felt so right. I couldn't fight off the smirk as his head leaned over to the spoon and dipped out a bit to taste.

  "It needs salt and a bit of pepper, too." He was off to the cupboard then. He added the extra ingredients and then dipped out another spoonful to taste.

  He smiled big. "Perfect."

  I giggled at his expertise in the kitchen. Then he took it off the stove. I leaned against the countertop and spoke lightly.

  "How long do you think it will be before all the changers get here?"

  He looked out through the giant glass windows in the living room. He stared at a flock of birds who were all perched on the porch railing. "Most of them are already here."

  I was suddenly very puzzled by that. "I didn't hear any cars drive up."

  Desmond walked in, pulling on a sleeveless shirt. "That's because they didn't drive." Then he pointed to the birds that Tallis had been staring at.

  "Oh." My shoulders dropped slightly as I spoke somewhat comically. "Oh man. They are going to get naked."

  Desmond burst out into laughter as he doubled over and rested his hands on his knees. He bent down and started tying his shoes, still laughing as he did so. Then he looked up and spoke with the same comical tone I had carried. "Did I scar you for life, Aria?"

  "Pretty much." I shot him a playfully mean look with a slight grin.

  Tallis smiled as he spoke reassuringly. "Don't worry, Aria. They've got clothes. They'll change after everyone gets here. They just prefer being in their animal forms. It makes them feel safe."

  Tallis knew I really was worried about seeing more than I wanted to again. He took my hand as he led me away from the kitchen. He took me up the stairs to the second floor. He smiled as we entered a bedroom.