Lies for Truth

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Ariana was nervous as she pulled into the driveway of Marc’s cabin where he was waiting along with Jax. She and Jax were in love, she was comfortable a hundred percent with him but Marc was a different matter.

Marc Reed didn’t hide what he was, he didn’t try to pretend to be normal and human. He stood proud with strength that would make anyone wary. His blue eyes held the yellow glint of his wolf permanently, everything about him hinted at the animal inside his soul.

He smiled as she came closer, she ignored it and focused on Jax. “Charlie wants to speak to you alone first. He’s not doing too well.” She said to her boyfriend. She was always happy to see him but she wished it didn’t have to be this way tonight.

Jax nodded and touched his hand to her shoulder before continuing to the car where Charlie sat waiting.

Marc took a step closer to stand next to her. “Tell me something about this Charlie kid.”

“He’s scared.”

“Can’t blame him for that. It was an idiot move on Jax’s part to bite him.”

Ariana glanced up at Marc to find he had been watching her. “Jax said there was already a dormant gene inside of him and that’s what triggered the change.”

Marc nodded. “Normally a bite wouldn’t change a human, they usually have to be close to death for it to happen. From what we know it looks like Charlie’s father might carry the gene.”

“How does that work?” Ariana hoped she didn’t appear as curious as she was. While all of this still scared her she was also very curious about how all of it worked. She was a science major and thought she knew the basics about all forms of life and now here was this huge different race nothing like she had ever read in her books.

“The doormat gene?”

“Yes. The way Jax made it sound only two werewolves can have children but Charlie’s mom is human.”

“It’s not possible. His mother may not be a wolf but she isn’t human either. The lines blur when it comes to other supernatural races.” Marc explained easily with a shrug. “It’s not really possible for any supernatural to have children with humans.”

Ariana’s head was spinning. “What other supernaturals are there?”

Marc smiled. “You have no idea sweetheart.”

“I can’t understand how all of this exists and there’s no proof lurking in history.”

“It’s there once you know what to look for. Since the beginning of mankind there have been supernatural races roaming the earth. If you truly are that interested there are books I can lend you.”

Ariana’s eyes went wide. “Yes.” She wanted to learn and hopefully the more she knew the less she’d fear it. Over the last few days she had come to accept there was no more walking away from Jax, they were in this together now for the long run. If she was going to be around it she wanted to know how it all worked starting with the werewolves. The other supernatural races intrigued her.

Her excitement amused Marc; he chuckled before saying “Come on.” He placed his hand on her back and led the way toward the porch. “They’ll be fine.” He added as she looked at the car where Charlie and Jax were still talking.

Ariana reminded herself this was about Charlie and she had to butt out, if and when he decided to talk to her it’d be up to him. She prayed Jax would be able to help him face these changes happening to his life and find away to get away from the abuse at home.

She followed Marc up the long staircase and into the cabin. The living room was large with simple furniture and accents. He led her up another staircase to the second floor. “Downstairs are the spare bedrooms and common areas. The permanent pack members reside on the second floor and I kept the third for me.” Marc explained as they walked.

They had climbed up three pretty long staircases, Ariana was winded by the time they stopped but of course it didn’t faze Marc in the least. “What are permanent pack members?”

“They are apart of my pack and under my ruling. The others are guests we sometimes help out from out of town or lone wolves who have fallen under rough times.”

“That’s very nice of you.”

“I’m a nice guy.”

Ariana wondered if he knew the way he said things and the small grin across his mouth led everything to have a suggestive undertone to it? She shook her head and realized it wasn’t important. As she glanced around this room she noted it was a library with two out of the four walls covered from floor to ceiling with books.

“You’re heart is racing.” Marc pointed out as he walked behind a desk and sat.

Ariana felt like the biggest nerd in the world over the fact that yes these books had her heart racing. “I love to read.” She walked over to one of the shelves and touched her hand to several of the spines. “Jax hasn’t mentioned he’s involved with one of the biggest geeks probably in the whole city? Most people can tell by just looking at me.” she said while reading the titles of all the books on the shelf she could reach. There were so many high above her head.

“I see a beautiful modest girl. You don’t have to have your assets on display to see you have them.”

Ariana was coming to accept Marc just had that flirting way about him but nonetheless her heart beat picked up again and this time it had nothing to do with the books she was staring at. What she couldn’t figure out is why it affected her? She was in love with Jax and very content with him. She didn’t want Marc, not at all, but there was something inside of her that reacted to his words, the way he said them, the look in his eyes when he spoke. It had been happening since that very first time they met.

This is stupid, she thought with another shake of her head. “Which ones do you recommend?” she was here to learn and support her boyfriend. Anything outside of that didn’t matter in the least.

Marc was standing next to her before she could hear him moving. “People look at a lot of these and chalk it up to faction or over active imaginations of the people back then and what they saw.” he pulled two books from the shelf just above her. “You’re not the only one here who likes to read. I pride myself in knowing my history and the history of my fellow supernaturals. But even with all these books and history there are still things unknown.” He didn’t want her to be disappointed if she didn’t find all the answers she was looking for. “These are good to get you started.”

Ariana grabbed the books from his hands. “I’m surprised you’re comfortable with me wanting to learn all of this.”

“You’re not some outsider, you’re apart of this family now in many ways and it’ll be good for you to know what you’re getting into.”

“Does this happen often, the wolf falling for the human girl?”

“More than you can imagine.”

There it was again, that reaction she couldn’t control that had her heart racing all over her ribcage. “Thanks for the help. I should go see how they’re doing.” She turned toward the door and stopped short when she spotted Jax coming inside.

He looked at the books in her hands and smiled. “I should’ve known.”

Ariana smiled back, she felt much better with him around. “How’d it go with Charlie?”

“Surprisingly very well. I don’t know if it was the bite or the friendship between the two of you but he’s accepting my advice pretty easily and I think he might even trust me.” Jax explained.

“That’s good.” Marc said. “Did you suggest to him that he stays here?”

Ariana turned and looked at Marc as he spoke. She was grateful he could give Charlie a place out of that hellhole he grew up in. “He can’t go back home.” she said to them both.

Jax nodded. “Yeah I told him about what we do here and already set him up in the spare on the first floor.”

Marc was proud of his nephew. “If you keep this up you’ll be rivaling Andrew for second.”