Chapter 10
1679 Words
Tabitha freezes in her seat, unsure of how to answer.
“I’m not going to give you time to make something up. I would like an answer now Ms. Faeleen.” Philip presses.
“How did you hear me?” she whispers.
Philip sits back in his chair; his eyes fixated on her face, never wavering. He crosses his legs and lifts his hand to his lips, his arm resting on his chair arm.
“Why would you think I couldn’t hear you?” he asks back.
“Normal people don’t have that ability,” she states.
A sexy, devilish smile spreads across his face. “We both know that neither of us is ‘normal’, are we Tabitha?”
She looks up at his use of her first name. There’s a bit of sadness and pain in her eyes. His eyes narrow at it, confused at its arrival. As soon as it appears, it disappears. She clears her throat and responds.
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about. We may seem strange to each other but most normal people aren’t boring. Isn't normal just a setting on the dryer?”
Philip smirks and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again to look at her, it's Drake at the surface for just a quick second. She’s as still as a statue, still staring directly into his eyes. However, she hasn’t flinched or withdrawn, she had to have seen his irises enlarge. Her only response is a small eyebrow raised.
Philip nods, his questions answered for the moment. “Very well, thank you Ms. Faeleen; for assisting me with my little exercise.”
She nods and gets up to leave. As she reaches the door he makes a final statement. “This subject isn’t over, I will get my answers. One way…or another.” She simply opens the door and closes it softly behind her.
Out of frustration Philip mind links with Gregory to his get his opinion on the new developments.
“Free for a moment?”
“Absolutely. Just working for my boss, but if he wants to chat, I’m game for a break.”
“You're still working when you talk to me, remember that smartass.”
Gregory laughs; he can hear the tension in Philip’s voice. “What’s up?”
“A few very interesting items these past two days.”
“Okay. Oh, what happened at the site yesterday? I never heard back from you. Is she a spy?”
“I’m more undecided than ever about that.”
“Enough with the cryptics. What’s going on?”
“She showed up at the site. Then showed me a text from my phone number telling her to meet me there, last minute.”
“What?!”
“Exactly, so I took her along. The inspection went as planned, until at the end when a dump truck tried to dump its load on top of her and an oil well exploded behind us.”
“WHAT! Tell me you’re okay! Why didn’t you reach out to me last night?!”
“I wasn’t hurt…well, scrapes and bruises, a slight concussion nothing unusual for me. It’s what happened afterwards that has me more intrigued.”
“I’m listening.”
“When I tackled and covered her from the blast, her eyes changed color, just for a moment. I think her eyes are actually green. A very bold and dark, emerald green.”
“Not a normal color.”
“My thoughts. She was more damaged, I suppose I'm not light but she is fine. However, it gave me an excuse to drive her home and she fell asleep within fifteen minutes into the drive.”
Gregory laughs again, “You and women, you can’t even keep them awake for longer than fifteen minutes?”
“Har har. Her falling asleep isn’t the problem, she seemed to have a nightmare as we got closer to home. Greg, she called out my name, pleading with someone for me, it was as if I was being punished or held captive. Was it a dream? A memory from the past or a foretelling of the future? Have I ever been missing for more than a day or two?”
“Let me see, in the last four hundred years? Hell yes! You used to vanish for a couple of days every week or so. And now I find out you have a secret condo I knew nothing about. Have you had other places that I’ve never known about also?”
“Off the subject, focus…”
“I don’t know man… let me think. You think it’s something in the past that you don’t remember? How is that possible?”
“It's just a feeling. The way she said it and she was crying…hard, ugly crying. Could I know her from somewhere else? Some other time? It vexes me. I also heard her whisper that she was running out of time to help me.”
“Wait. You heard her whisper? In the car? or today? How far away was she?”
“At her desk, with the door closed.” He’s smirking, he knows that Gregory gets the importance of his comment.
“HOW? You couldn’t even sense her presence a few days ago! What happened? Was it the blast?”
He chews on his fingernail for a bit. “I don’t think so… I think it might have been the kiss.”
“The…could you repeat that for me please?”
”Yes, alright. I kissed her!”
“You almost hate her, you certainly don’t trust her. What are you playing at?”
“So here’s the weird part…” he gets up and wanders over to his office window to stare out at nothing.
“Kissing her wasn’t the weird part? Forgive me, please do continue.”
Philip doesn’t even respond to the gibe, he’s remembering and feeling exactly what he did last night. His fear when hearing that different voice come from her small frame, the feeling of having her in his arms as he tried to comfort her and the electricity of that kiss.
“I pulled the car over and tried to wake her up. I couldn’t wake her, no matter what I did. Her sobbing suddenly turned into hysterical laughter, almost like a cackle. This voice, it's in the back of my head, I know I’ve heard it before. This voice that wasn’t hers came out of her, telling me she wasn’t Tabitha.”
There is silence for a minute then Philip continues. “I used my alpha voice to command whatever it was to leave.”
He sighs and steps away from the window, suddenly emotionally exhausted. “When the laughter stopped, she was sobbing again. You know me and tears, I can’t handle them. I got out and then pulled her out into my arms to try and comfort her, stop the damn tears. I still couldn't wake her! When she finally calmed down, I don’t know Greg. I really don’t know, it just happened. I lowered my head and touched my lips to hers.”
“And?”
“And it felt like I got struck by lightening! It damn hurt! Every cell in my body was on fire and not a good, pleasant feeling fire either. She must have felt the same because she woke up and her eyes flashed that green again. Then she jumped out of my lap and the typical awkwardness set in. Did you know that she lives within a mile of the pack border?”
“Interesting. So not a mate feeling kiss, but more like a kiss of death?”
“Yes! Exactly! And today at work, when my mother called, she came in with reports. When my mother tried to set me up this weekend she tensed up and I felt it! I don’t know what that kiss did or what she is, or if there’s a spell on her, but it broke something. I can feel her presence now and I can hear her.”
“What about smell? That’s the most important sense, can you smell her yet?”
“No,” he sits back down in his chair dejectedly. “I know…in order to figure out what she is and if she’s lying I have to be able to smell her...Should I kiss her again?”
Gregory bursts out laughing. “While she’s awake? I’d like to see you try! I think that tiny little thing might surprise you and lay you flat if you tried anything like that. Also, I’m not in the mood to hire a lawyer for s****l assault in the office thank you. Keep your lips, hands and all other body parts to yourself.”
“But if it broke part of what’s over her, couldn’t it break the rest?”
“PHILIP, you WILL NOT go near Ms. Faeleen during office hours!”
“So you think I should try after work? Show up at her apartment or something?” Philip is fixated and not listening to anything Gregory is saying. His only thought is that of breaking the remaining spell, if that’s what it is, that’s been cast over Tabitha.
“NO! Philip you aren’t listening to me.” A sigh can be heard and the tension in Gregory’s voice ramps up. “I repeat, do NOT cause us a lawsuit. Do NOT make any further advances of any kind to Ms. Faeleen. She is your assistant right now and we don’t need that trouble. Also, if she isn’t the mole, wouldn’t you be putting her in more danger?”
That finally gets his attention and he stops for a minute. “You’re right. We need to put the rest of our plan into play and see where she ends up. If we are still unsure when it’s all over, I’ll tackle it… or her then.”
Gregory sighs exasperated. “I give up.”
- Writer
