Sharra stood up and placed her hand on Maddie’s arm saying, “Well, sister, then we must visit this place more often. But I think we need to head on back home. We have ten miles to go, remember?”
Chapter 3
The girls got back to the house and headed straight for the kitchen. Their stomachs had been grumbling for the last five miles of the run, and all they could both think about were Zanna’s mouthwatering pancakes. With any luck, there would be enough left over for them in the warming drawer.
Unfortunately, they were disappointed. “I cannot believe they ate them all. Zanna must have made fifty,” Maddie declared.
“You always underestimate the amount of food my brothers can eat. They have bottomless pits for stomachs. I do not know how Zanna keeps them fed as it is,” Sharra said.
The two of them went about trying to decide what to make. Maddie offered, “How about we make up our own batch?”
“Are you sure we can do this?”
Always the optimist, Maddie declared, “Well it can’t be that hard.”
Maddie went to the pantry and retrieved all the ingredients she thought she needed. They started working as a team, mixing up the batter. When it was time to put the pancake mixture on the griddle, Sharra excused herself to go to the restroom, leaving Maddie to do the cooking of the pancakes.
Maddie had poured the grease, and then the batter on the griddle to cook, but unfortunately, she caught a glimpse of Peetar outside planting flowers. This distracted her as she walked out the back door to say hello, forgetting about her pancakes on the griddle.
Therron and Tesslar were down in the security room when the smoke and fire alarms went off. They immediately looked at the camera to see where the fire was, and Therron headed straight up the back stairs that led directly to the kitchen. He was greeted by burning pancakes and a room filled with smoke, but not a cook in sight. He removed the offensive charred globs from the griddle, turned it off, and then turned the exhaust fan on high. That’s when he saw Maddie outside engaged in a conversation with Peetar. By that time, Tesslar and Rykerian had arrived.
“What are we going to do with her, Therron? She is nearly a walking disaster in the kitchen,” said Tesslar, shaking his head.
“Nearly? And you came by that, how? I would classify her as a monumental disaster. We need to change her name to Katrina, as in the hurricane. And to answer your question, I do not know.” He pulled his hand through his hair, stopping to rub his temple. “Someone needs to be around her all the time when she is in here cooking. I will go out and speak to her about this,” Therron said. “I just hope she does not end up burning the house down.”
* * * * *
Rykerian had been restless all day. He’d come in from patrol last night, hoping to get some badly needed rest. Every time he’d close his eyes, visions of Maddie would appear. He simply could not stop thinking about her. He was so envious of Rayn; he would gladly trade places with him at any time.
Rykerian knew it was hopeless for him. When he was home, he had a hard time restraining his thoughts. If any of his siblings ever discovered this, he would never be forgiven. Sharra would go berserk, given how close she and Maddie had become. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide his feelings though. He acted like a tongue-tied moron whenever he was near her, like an adolescent seeing his first female. Dear Divine Being, how did this ever happen?
How could he ever forget that day when he was in the recreation room and Rayn strode in with Maddie on his arm? Rykerian truly felt like an idiot then. He could not tear his eyes off of her. He was sure he looked like a dimwit, staring at her with a befuddled look in his eyes. She was simply the loveliest thing he’d ever seen; and the way she looked at Rayn. If only he could be so lucky, Rykerian thought.
He’d been blessedly absent for the last three weeks, but his presence was required in the next few days for the beginning preparations for their trip to Vesturon. He was sick of dealing with his emotions; he needed to just let it go and move on. Trouble was, it was nearly unthinkable with Maddie living under the same roof, agonizing really.
Rykerian massaged his temples, trying to calm himself. How in the world was he going to get through the next few days here? He knew he was going to be in close confines with her. How was he going to mask his feelings? Right now, he felt like he all but had a sign painted on his back that said, “Maddie, you have bewitched me!”
He’d been tossing and turning in his bed, trying frantically to grab some badly needed sleep when he heard the alarm system activate.
Now what has she done, he thought?
He knew the source of it was Maddie. Ever since she had moved in the house, they had experienced one mishap after another. He chuckled to himself. One thing he knew for sure was that Rayn was going to have his hands full with this female!
He hastily threw on some clothes and headed downstairs to find out what the issue was this time. He and Tesslar met up on the stairs and Tesslar declared, “Kitchen, again!”
They barged through the entrance and found Therron already removing the blackened items from the griddle.
“I am going to have a talk with her. Divine Being, help me, please. I cannot hurt her feelings, but I am beginning to think Rayn may have brought her here to test our endurance and patience.”
Therron headed outside to have his little discussion with Maddie.
Rykerian stood there, observing the scenario, with an admiring expression on his face. Tesslar, noticing this, cleared his throat to get Rykerian’s attention.
“Is everything okay with you?” he quizzed.
Rykerian turned his attention back to Tesslar and felt the discomfort of his prying thoughts, trying to penetrate his mind. He immediately blocked the intrusion and harshly responded, “Er, yes. I have to go,” leaving Tesslar with a bemused expression on his face.
Rykerian headed up to his room and made short order of changing into his workout clothes. He needed to get to the gym right this minute. He had to vent before he exploded, and he knew he could take out his frustrations on the treadmill. He was determined to exhaust himself, even if it took all day and fifty miles of running. He put on some rap music to drown out his thoughts and went to town. He’d been going at it, and yes, still thinking of Maddie when Therron’s thoughts slammed into him.
Therron entered the gym and couldn’t hear himself think because of the loud music. He looked around and saw Rykerian on the treadmill trying to destroy himself, or the treadmill, or both. Rykerian didn’t have a clue that Therron was even in the same room with him. Therron hung back and observed him for several minutes trying to understand what Rykerian was attempting to accomplish. He tried to connect with him, but everything kept bouncing back. Rykerian was undoubtedly blocking everything right now. The only thing he was emitting was a sense of anger and hopelessness. Therron knew there was a problem here and a huge one at that, so he blasted his thoughts out with all of his strength and finally penetrated Rykerian’s mind.
Bloody hell, this cannot not happening, Therron thought.
He finally threw his mind into Rykerian’s and that got Rykerian’s attention. Then they started their telepathic conversation.
Therron: What are you thinking? You cannot possibly be thinking that. Rayn is your brother, for the love of the Deity.
Rykerian: Newsflash, Therron! Do you not think I know that? I have tried everything I know to do. Why do you think I have been out on patrol most of the time? I cannot take being near her. I feel like I am betraying Rayn, but I am not doing this on purpose.
Therron: Then stop it, now. You can control your thoughts; just do not go there. She is nearly your sister, for heaven’s sake. You cannot be doing this.
Rykerian: I know that. For the love of the Deity, tell me something I do not know. I do not want to think this way. I have done everything I know not to think this way, but my mind refuses to listen to me. It is not like I am trying to be malicious. I did not ask for this; I never expected this. And y
ou know I would never in a million years act on this either. I simply cannot help the way I feel nor I do expect you to understand.
Therron: Oh, dear Deity, does anyone else know about this?
Rykerian: Heavens above, no, absolutely not. And I do not want you to tell anyone. If you had minded your own bloody business and not barged into my head like that you would not even know. Do you know what torture this has been? How would you like to live under the same roof as the female you so admired, knowing there would never be anything you could do about it other than call her sister someday? How would you feel, Therron, if you were in my shoes? How would you like it knowing that the female you felt so strongly about belonged to your brother? Tell me, how would you feel?
Therron: Damn, Rykerian, I am so sorry about all of this.
Therron was feeling the whole brunt of Rykerian’s emotions, and it was cutting him to the core. Rykerian was in pain. Therron wanted to help, but didn’t know how.
Therron: When?
Rykerian: The first moment Rayn brought her here. One look and I…Therron, I honestly do not know what to do. She is all I can think of.
Chapter 4
Neither of them heard the door to the gym open, nor did they see Maddie walk in and head toward the stack of work out DVD’s. They were still telecommunicating and suddenly, Maddie felt a force against her that literally lifted her up in the air and knocked her on an exercise mat.
Maddie didn’t know what had happened at first, but Rykerian had been projecting his thoughts so forcefully, they even penetrated Maddie’s mind. When she comprehended what was taking place between them, she looked up to see two pairs of eyes on her. Rykerian’s face metamorphosed into a mask of pure agony, and Therron’s was displaying utter shock.
Rykerian jumped off the treadmill and rushed out the door.
Maddie shook her head, as if to clear it. Her mind was not able to understand the gravity of the situation. When it all finally hit her, she exploded off the mat, chasing after Rykerian.
“Rykerian, wait! Please wait,” Maddie begged.
“Leave him alone, Maddie. He needs his space right now,” Therron recommended.
“But, Therron, I heard everything in his mind. I need to go to him.”
“No, you don’t. He needs to be away from you. He is…” Therron began.
“I know, Therron. He thinks he’s in love with me. I understand that. I heard him. But right now, he is in pain, and I think I’m the only one that can help him,” Maddie yelled as she ran out of the room.
She quickly headed outside to try to find Rykerian. She went into the garages where he could usually be found, tinkering with things. When he wasn’t there, she was headed back into the house, and that’s when she saw him sitting near the fire pit.
“Hey, you,” she started, as she approached him.
“Maddie, please. I cannot talk to you right now. I am humiliated beyond reason. I never intended for you, or anyone else for that matter, to discover this about me. It is my own problem, and I must learn to deal with it.”
He turned his back to her. His face was flushed with embarrassment, and he simply could not bear to let her see him this way.
“But, Rykerian,” she began.
“Do you not understand?” he shot back. “I cannot bear to talk with you. Being near you is painful for me; truthfully, it is quite miserable. I do not want your pity or anything right now. I just want to be alone. Sweet Deity, of all the things to happen! Talk about bad timing!” His agitation was disarming.
“It’s not the end of the world. I know you don’t want me to be here, but I’m not listening to you right now. You are not in love with me; you only think you are. You don’t even know me, Rykerian, other than the little exposure you’ve had here. Right now, you are confused and embarrassed because I heard your thoughts,” Maddie tried to rationalize.
“Oh, really, Miss Astrophysicist!” he said snidely, striking out at her. “Wouldn’t you be? Tell me any different, and I will call you a liar right here and now. Bloody hell, you know nothing about me either; how I have thought about you every waking moment since first we met. I am not even trying to do that; I just fell for the wrong girl. So please, leave me so that I can retain one tiny bit of my dignity.”
His voice was raised in anger, and Maddie didn’t quite know how to respond to him. She had never seen him act this way.
She stubbornly refused to back away and not try to resolve this. “Sorry, Rykerian, you’re going to have to get used to me being around and won’t it be easier now that I know?”
“You have got to be kidding, right? What are you anyway? ‘Miss I can solve all of your problems?’ I do not need to hear any of your psychobabble right now. I just want to be alone. What about that can you not understand?” He was rubbing his temples, as if a huge headache had hit him.
“Call me a slow learner, but I’m not walking away from you right now. Look, you know how I feel about Sharra and all the brothers. You all are the greatest things to enter my life other than Rayn. I honestly don’t know what I would do without you. We can work this out. Rykerian, we have to work this out. There is no alternative. If it’s difficult for you, we’ll figure out how to deal with it. I just don’t want you to be hurting like you are now.” She had come up behind him and placed her hand on his back.
He jerked away from her, as if he had been burned. “Impossible, Maddie. We cannot work it out. There is nothing to work out,” he said through gritted teeth as he moved away from her, trying to put some distance between them. “The only way I could deal with it would be to leave. And I cannot do that right now.” He paused and then turned to her and added softly, “Please, I truly want to be alone, before I say something that I will later regret. Please? I am begging here, Maddie.”
She was deeply saddened by his pain. “Okay, Rykerian. I’ll leave it be for now, but this conversation isn’t over. Rykerian, sometimes you cannot control everything that happens to you. Just so you know, I am honored you feel this way. And one other thing, I promise not to speak of this to anyone. Just know that if you need to talk, I am here for you.” She turned and walked away, leaving Rykerian alone and still feeling humiliated.
“How had it come to this?” he wondered. He also wondered how he could ever make it through the next few weeks.
As Maddie headed back to the house in search of Therron, she heard the loud roar of Rykerian’s Lamborghini come to life, followed by the squeal of his tires as he sped down the road. She was in turmoil over what had happened. She needed to discuss it with someone, and Therron was the only one she could talk to about it.
She found him in the kitchen, and thankfully, he was alone. “He wouldn’t talk with me, and I feel just awful about all of this.”
“Not your fault, Maddie, and honestly, this is a bit uncomfortable for me to talk about as well. I think we should just leave it and let Rykerian deal with it in his own way.”
“But—”
Therron quickly cut her off, “No ‘buts’ Maddie. Just think about it if you were in his shoes. He is embarrassed and disgraced by it all. He never intended for his thoughts to get out. I have put him in a terrible position.” Therron sat down and dropped his head into his hands. “He is at great odds with himself; you for one, but also he feels as if he is betraying Rayn somehow. It is best to just walk away and let him deal with it.”
“I guess you’re right. I feel like all of this is my fault. I somehow happen to be a bad luck charm,” she bit back.
“Why would you say that? You did not ask for any of this.”
“True, but almost everyone I’ve ever been close to has experienced some really yucky things. Look, you must admit, my parents, then Rayn, and now Rykerian. I have to ask myself who will be next.”
“You must stop thinking that way. Rayn is where he is because he chose that, Maddie. You had nothing to do with the deaths of your parents, and what Rykerian is experiencing is not your fault in any way.”
“Not dir
ectly, but I still cannot help but feel this way. Therron, how will Rykerian handle Rayn?”
“Maddie, Rykerian would walk through fire to do anything for Rayn. Do not worry about that. That is why he is such a mess over all of this; his love for his brother is deeply rooted in him. That is also why he would never act on his feelings for you. You will always be safe around him. Let us pretend all of this never happened, that we never discovered his secret. I am sure that would be best for everyone.”
“Okay, but on one condition: if anything happens where Rykerian is in need, I would ask that you let me know. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that he suffered, and I did nothing to help. Can you make that promise to me?” She had taken a hold of his arm and was tightly gripping it.
“I foreswear before you that if my brother Rykerian is suffering and in need of your assistance, you shall be made aware of it,” he replied in the Ancient Tongue. He was standing before her with his hand over his heart, so she knew he had just sworn an oath to her. “Maddie, you have my word that I will let you know.”
“Thank you, Therron.” She leaned over and gave him a hug, turned and left the room.
Therron sat there staring after her as she left, still worried about how Rykerian was going to work through all of this.
Brother, you are going to have to find it within you to get through all of this and what lies ahead, Therron thought.
Chapter 5
Zanna was busy doing her usual, cleaning and laundry, when Maddie crossed her path. Zanna became slightly suspicious when Maddie began asking about dinner. She was interested in what Zanna had planned for that night. Since it was so early in the day, Zanna hadn’t begun her preparations, so she explained that to Maddie.
Later that day, Zanna would be chastising herself for not picking up on Maddie’s clues.
Maddie had been contemplating how she could do something special for the family. Ever since Rayn’s departure, they had gone to great lengths to see her every whim satisfied. They had entertained her, kept her company, taught her many things, and Maddie had honestly been enjoying herself. The first morning after Rayn was gone, Maddie opened her bedroom door to a large pile of boxes. They were filled with all sorts of clothing: beautiful designer tops and jeans, skirts, sweaters and things made from Vesturion fabric. Everything fit perfectly, so she no longer had wardrobe issues.