The Paranormal Council

Chapter 6

6

Lia stretched, relishing the strain of muscles sore from being used for the first time in a year. The previous night had been amazing, the passion between the two of them hadn’t been sated easily, though they’d certainly given it a go. In fact, she could easily go again now. Reaching out to the other side of the bed, it took Lia a few moments to realise that there was no one there. She bolted upright, her eyes flying open and making a frantic search of the room, but there was no sign of Kem anywhere.

Lia blinked away the tears welling up in her eyes, at some point during the night she’d really started to believe that her research was actually right and that he was her mate. But if he’d left her so suddenly then it didn’t seem likely. Logically, she knew he’d have had to leave soon anyway. Her father was notoriously protective, evidenced by the fact that, despite having jobs and lives of their own, his two daughters still lived in the family mansion. Lia had tried to move out, but he’d managed to guilt her into staying. Not that any of that changed the hurt she was feeling at being abandoned.

Determined not to wallow, Lia forced herself out of bed and into her workout clothes. It was her day off from the lab where she studied the medicinal properties of various plants, so no one was expecting her anywhere. Normally, she’d curl up and read a book, or spend the day outside in the garden, but something told her that it just wasn’t going to cut it today, especially as the hurt grew into anger.

She grabbed her ear buds from her dresser and plugged them into her phone, the last thing she wanted was to be alone with her thoughts while she burnt off the pent-up anger. She sighed, and made her way out of her room towards the private gym her father had installed when she’d been a teenager. Yet another example of his overprotectiveness; he didn’t want her and Aella to end up in a vulnerable situation just because they wanted to keep active. Lia had come to hate it. She wanted her own life, away from her father and her sister and the constant feeling of being watched.

Lost in her own thoughts, she almost missed the sound of raised voices coming from her sister’s room. Curious, she crept forwards, using every bit of inbuilt stealth that she possessed to stay quiet and unnoticed. She knew that it was wrong to listen in, but she knew that Aella had listened into her own arguments with their father, so it only seemed fair that she listened in too.

“I won’t marry him father,” Aella sounded furious, and even if it wasn’t aimed at her, Lia wanted to flinch away. Aella had been born under a particularly violent and magically potent storm, and as such, she’d been the first storm nymph born in three hundred years. While nymphs were long-lived, like most other paranormals, there weren’t any alive who could remember the last one, leaving them all a bit clueless when it came to dealing with Aella’s mood swings.

“You have to Aella. We need the alliance.”

“Why?” she bit out. Lia was curious now, she knew that her father was the head of the dryads, and that he had a position on the Nymph Council, but she didn’t know too much more than that. It was yet another topic that shut her father down whenever she asked about it.

“We’re tied to nature, Aella. With the world becoming more urban, so we get weaker. Unfortunately, it’s started to show and the other Councils have noticed. Without an alliance with the shifters, we risk losing all credibility in front of the High Council.”

“You didn’t see the way he looked through me. No man gets away with looking through me.” Lia could imagine her sister pouting now, like she normally did when she was angry. It was almost making her wish that she’d been paying more attention to what was going on at the reception, rather than just focusing on how she felt about Kem; any man that looked through Aella was either brave, or incredibly stupid.

“He only found out about the marriage two days ago, he was probably still in shock,” their father tried to reason. Lia felt sorry for the man, whoever he was. Being forced in to a marriage sounded particularly unpleasant as it was, and there was a part of her that pitied the man for having to live with her sister for the rest of his life. She loved Aella, but even she had to admit that she had her failings.

“I don’t care! I don’t want to marry him.”

“Aella, you will marry Kemnebi. We are out of options if you don’t.” Lia was sure that her father kept talking after that, but nothing was registering in her mind except for Kem’s name repeated over and over. She backed away, her back slamming into the wall and a pained growl slipping from her. A familiar tingling sensation travelled through her body; her shape changing rapidly until a sleek black panther stood in her place. Inwardly, Lia began to panic and made a break for the garden, where she’d be able to hide until her emotions calmed down and she could return to human form.