Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (21 page)

Melanie sat in her kitchen two mornings later,
tapping her fingernails on the table. She was nervous and twitchy and she kept
changing positions in her seat. Her dad was due to show up any minute and she
was trying to keep herself from bolting.

A hand reached out and took hers, squeezing it
with reassurance. She looked over and met eyes the darkest shade of brown, and
one of them closed with a quick wink.

“You’re gonna be fine,” he mouthed at her.

Melanie’s mom shuffled around behind them,
banging pots and pans together like some kind of chaotic symphony. Every so
often, the sounds would stop and her mom would make a comment under her breath
like “I can do this,” or “Why am I doing this?”

“Mom, can you please relax and sit down?”

Her mom plopped down into the chair across
from them. She looked at Melanie intently, then slid her gaze to Jeremy.

“Jeremy, I really appreciate you being here
for Melanie, but I think maybe you should leave before her father gets here.”

“What? Mom, no! He’s not leaving!”

“Mel…”

“No! I’m serious mom. If he goes, I go.”

“It’s okay, Mel. I can go if she wants me to.”

“Jeremy, please. I need you to stay. Please
stay.”

Jeremy looked back at Melanie’s mom, who just
shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, baby,” she said calmly. “He can stay for now,
but your father needs to tell you some things, private things, and he may ask
him to leave.”

A loud knock on the front door cut Melanie off
before she could respond. Her mother took a deep breath and went to answer.
Melanie heard the door open and the murmur of a deep voice greeting her mom.

She had been hyper aware of sounds all
morning, attributing it to her nervous state. She heard the footsteps on the
carpet, her mother’s rapid breathing and her father’s sharp inhale as he
stopped in the doorway in front of her.

Jeremy tensed and dropped her hand. She looked
at him in bewilderment as he stared incredulously at her father. She shot a
glance at her dad and was transfixed. He looked just like the picture, only a
bit older and scruffier. His wavy brown hair was shot through with a few gray
strands and his blue eyes had creases around the corners.

He was staring at Jeremy with intensity.
Melanie cleared her throat and his gaze shot to her. Instantly, his face
softened and a slight smile lifted the corners of his lips.  He took
another step forward, and her mom slipped into the kitchen from around behind
him.

“Melanie,” he breathed.

Jeremy stood up and walked behind her chair,
taking up a protective stance. Melanie stayed where she was and her dad’s eyes
stayed on her. The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever, until
Melanie’s mom took charge of the situation.

“Melanie,” her mom said gently. “I’d like you
to meet your father, Darren Wilkes.”

Darren closed the distance and Melanie stood,
keeping the table between them. She held out her hand for him to shake, and he
smirked at it before grasping it firmly. Melanie sat back down and Darren and
her mom followed suit. Jeremy stayed where he was, standing behind Melanie. She
couldn’t see his face, but she could feel the tension radiating off of him.

Finally, her father spoke. “Melanie, it’s so
wonderful to finally meet you.”

“Really,” Melanie spouted off with attitude,
“where have you been until now? Why didn’t you care enough to find me?” She
could feel her face heating with anger.

“Melanie,” her mom scolded. “This is her
boyfriend, Jeremy.”

“No, Elaine, it’s okay. The anger is normal,”
he remarked, then nodded at Jeremy.

Jeremy’s hands landed on Melanie’s shoulders
with a squeeze. She looked up at him in question, but she couldn’t discern the
look on his face. He looked angry with a little dumbfounded thrown in for good
measure.

Darren cleared his throat to get her attention
back on him. “Melanie, there are reasons why I haven’t been here. Valid ones
that I’m sure you’ll understand.”

“Do tell.”

God, what is wrong with me? I’ve been
wanting to meet this man my whole life, and here I am being a class “A” bitch.
She took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Darren smiled. “It’s okay, I understand. See,
your mom and I were totally, deeply, undeniably in love with each other.” He
reached out and took her mom’s hand, and she smiled back at him.

Melanie drew her brows down at the gesture.
“If you were so in love then why didn’t you stay?”

“Because, honey,” her mom interjected, “I made
him go.”

“What? Why?”

Darren continued, “There are things about me,
about my life and my family that your mother didn’t like. She loved me, but she
couldn’t deal with the rest. She didn’t want you to have to deal with it
either.”

“Like what?”

“We live a different lifestyle than most
people.” His eyes shot up to Jeremy for a brief moment before settling back on
Melanie.

“Okay.”

“Melanie,” her mom began, “there are certain
family traits, or genes rather, that your father carries and we think that
they’ve been passed to you.”

“Like a blood disorder, or something?”

Jeremy’s hands left her shoulders and she felt
him back away from her to lean on the counter behind him. She looked back and
he was still staring at Darren, his eyes tight and his arms crossed over his
chest.

“Something like that,” Darren said, bringing her
attention back to him. “Have you noticed any dramatic changes lately? Either
mental or physical?”

Melanie’s eyes shot to her mom and she nodded
back at her. “Yes,” Melanie replied, “I have. I lost some weight and got
physically stronger really fast.”

Darren nodded. “Anything else?”

“I have a short temper and enough confidence
to back it up,” she said with a smirk, and Jeremy barked out a laugh behind
her, covering it with a cough. “Oh, and I can hear and see better. Nothing too
dramatic, just sharper.”

“Your birthday is next week, right? You’ll be
seventeen?” He directed the question to her, but he was looking at Jeremy.

“Yes,” she snapped testily. “Why are you
looking at him and not me?”

“Because he knows what I am, just as I know
what he is.”

“Huh?” Melanie looked questioningly at Jeremy,
as her mom stood up and angrily shouted, “What?”

“Elaine, calm down. The boy is good to her,
right?”

Her mom sputtered and Melanie looked around,
bewildered. “What the hell is going on here? What do you mean, you know what
he…is……”

Darren just smiled and nodded his head
knowingly.

“I see you told her.” This was directed not at
Melanie, but at Jeremy. Jeremy nodded the affirmative.

Melanie looked at her dad helplessly. He
smiled sadly and said, “I smelled him the second I walked in here, just like he
smelled me. We recognize each other because we’re the same. And so are you.”

The
End