Her Pact

Part 25

Chapter 25

Charlie narrowed her eyes at her mother as the woman hugged Zeke as if he were a long lost son.  She had never told Charlie that she knew Zeke, and by the way Zeke let her hug him, Charlie knew that he held her mother in high regards.  They talked amongst one another to quiet for her to hear.  Whatever they were talking about, it made Zeke uncomfortable.  She could tell by the he shifted on his feet and let out that harsh chuckle of his. 

Walking forward, she stopped at Zeke’s side to face her mom.  It didn’t matter if the man wanted her away from him.  She wanted answers now.  “How do the two of you know one another?”

“Do you think we could talk about this at home?” Ryder asked, his smile slipping from his face a little.

She smiled towards him.  That was just like Ryder, always trying to keep everyone in the family happy.  Charlie used to wonder why he did it, but the longer she stayed around him, the more she realized that he did it because it made him happy to have those around him happy.  Her brother might not realize it, but he could pick up on emotions.  He couldn’t do it as well as Empaths in her pack, but he could feel enough. 

“I just want the answer to that one question,” she promised him.  “After that, I’ll wait until were on the road to start with more.”

Beside her, Zeke let out a chuckle.  “I’m surprised you can wait for the car drive home.  Aren’t you afraid I’ll jump out then?”

Charlie ignored him.  Instead, she stared at her mother until the woman let out a sigh.  “It’s a simple story.  Zeke got hurt on our lands, and I healed him.”

“There’s more to it,” Ryder and Charlie accused. 

Her mom looked up as if trying to gain strength from an unseen force.  “Why did you let the two of them meet up again?  I’ll never have a moment of peace.”

“The three could be here,” Charlie mumbled, causing her mom to smile.  “Please, just tell me this, and I’ll leave it alone for a while.”

“A while to you is a whole ten minutes until we get to the car,” her mom groaned.  Looking around, she shrugged.  Even with all the people mulling about, it didn’t make a difference.  If they heard their conversation, they wouldn’t think twice.  “Since we do not make violence a choice, we sometimes have to call outside forces in to do our dirty work.”

“And Zeke was your outside source.”

Her mother frowned at her.  “Don’t say it like that.  I know what you’re thinking, but your boy wasn’t supposed to come on his own.  He had a group of them, you see, but I guess that day, he decided to do it himself.”

“It was personal,” Zeke said.

Charlie turned towards him, finally giving in.  “Your group is Ally’s guards aren’t they?”

A small, sad smile covered his lips.  “What is left of them, yes.  Some died along the way, and no matter how much the boys don’t want to admit it, settling down has been a blessing.”

“Satisfied?” Her mother asked.  The slight frown on her face let Charlie know that there was more to the story.

“For now,” Charlie mumbled reluctantly.  She wanted to know more, but she could wait until they were out of public and on the road.

“You’ve grown some balls while you were gone.”

“Ryder,” her mom snapped, narrowing her eyes at him.  “Get in the car.”

Ryder threw is arm around her mom before steering her through the crowd.  A hand curled around hers, and she squeezed it back.  Thinking that it was Peyton offering comfort, she almost let go.  The roughness of the hand didn’t feel like Peyton’s.  It felt a lot like Zeke.  She looked over at him, a question on her face.

“You do stand up for yourself more than you did when you first arrived.”

Peyton passed them up, making her look away from Zeke in order to get her thoughts together.  She didn’t know what caused the change in him, but did she really want to know?  It didn’t matter though.  It didn’t change the facts.  She tried pulling her hand from his, but he kept his grip secure.  “Come on,” he mumbled, “we have to hurry before they leave us.”

“Promise that you’ll finish the story on the way?”

“Promise,” he said, pulling her after Peyton, “but you’re not going to like it.”

“There are a lot of things in this world that I don’t like,” she whispered.

The small laugh that left his lips made her smile.  Even when he was meant to be mad at her, he could laugh at her dry humor.

“The man that I killed for your people was kidnapping them.  He was trying to find a way to harness the powers of your people.  In doing so, he would drain them dry.  I don’t think he ever accomplished his goal, but the fact that he was killing people was enough to make your people act.  They knew they couldn’t talk him out of doing what he was doing, but they couldn’t kill him either.  So, they called me.”

“You said it was personal,” Charlie reminded as they exited the airport.

“It was,” Zeke replied, looking back at her with the same sad smile from earlier.  “He killed one of my people.  It was the only female that I had let in the guard, and the only reason why she was let in there in the first place was because she was Barron’s sister.”

“Two of them.”  She shuddered before noticing that Zeke didn’t smile at her joke.  “You loved her?”

“Yes.”  He took a deep breath.  “I loved her like I love Ally.  I would have done anything for her, and she was needed in our little crew.  She was the perfect balance to Barron, kept him in check.  I think the reason why Barron likes Ally so much is that he can see some of his sister’s qualities in Ally.  Anyway,” Zeke said, clearing his throat, “I couldn’t let Barron go on the mission.  He was too far into it.  I knew that if I told one of the others, Barron would find out. The man hides behind his harshness, but deep down, he’s more powerful than I am.”

She stared at Zeke’s back, amazed that he would admit to being weaker than somebody, but knowing that he would never lie to her.  “Go on,” she said as they reached her mother’s van.

Zeke stopped.  Turning to face her, he kept his face blank.  “I showed up at the man’s workshop.  I stood there, watching as he began cutting up another person.  I knew that I should have waited until he was more into his work, wait until he was distracted.  He was strong, and I was young.  I was too hotheaded; I didn’t usually think things through.  I jumped in, saved the person on the table, but in the process, I got a nasty cut to the neck.”

“How did my mom come into this?”

He dropped her hand as he began to turn away from her.  “She was the one on the table.”