Chapter Twenty-six
Unwelcomed
I headed back home to make my preparations for Romania. I was only a few steps up in the building when my body tensed and stopped in mid-motion.
The smell of wolf was strong in the air, and it mingled with a different scent. Something sweet and unpleasant at the same time.
Just as I suspected, my apartment door had been vandalized.
I could taste my heartbeat in my throat as I slowly entered my apartment. The scent of wolf was like a poisonous flower.
From the doorway, I could see that my apartment had been ripped apart, everything from my movie collection to my couch cushions had been torn to pieces.
My chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. My hands shook with anxiety as it leaked into my body and sped up my pulse.
Shit. Shit.
I stayed close to the wall as I made my way through the apartment and into my bedroom.
My drawers had been ransacked, clothes and lingerie covered the floor and the bed. What could they have been looking for?
I’m not easily spooked but the thought of strangers in my apartment touching my personal belongings freaked me out and made me feel violated.
When I got to the closet in my room, I reached my hand into a red shoebox on the shelf, gripped my silver 9mm and squeezed it so hard in my hand that I nearly pulled a tendon.
“Jade!” Stephan’s panicked voice called me from the hallway. “Jade!”
“In here!” I yelled from the bedroom.
I heard him running toward me fumbling over broken pieces of furniture. He was in the doorway now. His face was horrified until he saw me and the next second his arms were wrapped tight around me. So tight that he was bruising my bones.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, kissing the top of my head and then taking my face in his hands to look at me.
I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t here when it happened.”
He pulled me back into his arms and rested his chin on my head.
“Who would do this, and why?” I asked, relaxing into Stephan’s body and breathing in his scent. “Maybe I should talk to my father.”
“He already knows. He’s on his way,” Stephan responded.
I nodded and pulled myself closer to him while still holding an iron grip on my gun.
Five minutes later, my father and two of his puppets were there sniffing the air and my ruined things.
His blue-gray eyes were furious as he took in the atmosphere with a deep breath. “Vampires. Two vampires and one of Vladimir’s wolves.”
“You can tell that just by smelling the air?” I asked, leaning against the living room wall. My gun was still in my hand.
“You can too,” he answered. “If you concentrate.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in the musty air. The wolf I could smell but unlike wolves I’ve smelled before, this one smelled different.
The other scent was floral, like withering roses. “I smell rotting flowers and a different kind of wolf,” I said opening my eyes. “What do they want?”
“Perhaps the other packs have forged some sort of treaty with the vampires.” He walked over to me and took my hands. “Jade, my child, you must shield yourself.”
“How?” My voice was but a whisper.
Lucian touched my face gently. “The same way you contain your gift. You must surround yourself with iron gates, impenetrable gates that will keep out anyone following your scent like you did earlier when you disobeyed me.”
“I’ll try.” I nodded.
“Yes, you will,” Lucian said, sternly. “But until you learn, you will come and stay with me at the hotel.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Jade.”
“No. I don’t want to stay there with you.” I moved away from him and paced around the room. “Look, no offense, but I don’t think I can be around you and Mom right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Your mother and I will continue to seek your forgiveness, Jade. We are aware it will take time. Can you look past your anger and do as I command?”
“Maybe eventually. But I can’t right now. There is too much anger inside me. Too many years of pain and resentment.”
He nodded as if he understood.
“I will stay with Adrian.”
Stephan raised disapproving eyes up at me.
“I will not allow that.” Lucian dismissed.
“I didn’t ask for your permission.”
“Jade.” Stephan intercepted.
“Don’t try to talk me out of it.” I told both of them. “I want to stay with Adrian because he is the one person in my life that has been honest with me. Besides, he can calm me with—”
“As can I.” My father cut in.
“Maybe,” I said giving my father my full gaze. “But I hold no resentment toward Adrian.”
“Maybe you should,” Stephan said through gritted teeth.
I dismissed him. “It will only be for a few days anyway. I’ve booked a flight to Romania on Saturday.” I informed him. “I want to stay with Adrian. He keeps me sane. He’s my connection to Seth. Can’t you see that?”
Stephan looked from my father to me and clenched his jaw. Clearly he wanted my father to forbid this, but my father started nodding. “Fine, Jade. As you wish but do not foolishly believe that you will be alone with him – at his home or in Romania. I allow it because I seek your forgiveness and because I know you are set on this.”
“I wasn’t betting on that. Is it the fact that you think my virginity is in danger when I’m around Adrian that bothers you or the fact that you don’t believe he can protect me on his own?”
“I do not believe anyone is capable of protecting you anymore, Jade.” My father’s angry eyes fell on Stephan and then flickered back to me. “And I will not begin to discuss something as private as your virginity.”
Thank goodness.
“I along with your mother and Stephan will accompany you on your trip. We will help you finish this case and be done with it once and for all.”
“Fine.” I took out my phone to call Adrian. “What did you do to him by the way?” I asked.
“I warned him to stay away from you, and he did not listen.”
“Should he have?” I quizzed.
Stephan made a noise in his throat. “A wiser wolf would have.”
“I could feel his pain because of our connection?”
“Maybe, but it could also be your clairvoyant powers.”
I nodded. “Super.”
“You are what you are. Your power makes you an asset to our community as well as the human one. Now, you know why I must protect you so, Jade.” My father stated. “Please don’t make that harder for me.”
Understood.