Black Moon (Alpha Pack #3)(15)

Malik shook his head. "You're not ready to hear it yet. Soon."

Okay, that missing piece of the puzzle would have to wait. Trying another tack, he asked, "How did you know my grandmother? What's your connection to my family?"

"The Fae are not a vast people numbering in the millions," he replied smoothly. "We had met."

"Yeah, but you said Grandma was Seelie. You're Unseelie. I seriously doubt she ran in your circles."

"True. However, we had crossed paths all the same, arguing on opposite sides of issues before our royal courts."

"All right. I'll buy that for now. So why did she live her life posing as a human?" That she hadn't entrusted him with her biggest secret cut deep. It hurt badly. He realized his mistake when Malik immediately used that emotion to his advantage.

Leaving his chair, the Unseelie moved next to Kalen on the sofa, sitting beside him. Turning slightly to face him, Malik set his glass of Cognac on the coffee table and laid a palm on Kalen's thigh. The touch was surprisingly warm. Normally he would flinch, demanding the offender remove his hand as he'd done with Aric. But suddenly he was caught in the other male's gaze. The warmth extended through his limbs, like sweet honey, fostering a sense of peace. Of belonging. Companionship.

All the things he'd longed for these many cold years.

"I don't know why Ida made some of the choices she did, boy. I don't know why she lied to you."

Christ. It was true. His beloved grandmother had lied about something huge-the both of them being Fae.

"Maybe she wanted to protect me from something. . . ."

"Perhaps. But did she keep you safe?"

"No," he whispered, staring into the brown liquor in his hand.

"No," Malik repeated. "She didn't. All she managed was to keep you away from me, the one who could have taken you in after she passed on. Who could have fed and sheltered you. Cared for you. Instructed you properly in the arts-"

"The dark arts. She wanted to keep me from the dark arts, she said."

"Foolish boy. I know you feel compelled to defend your beloved grandmother." Again the squeeze. The sense of belonging. "There are no dark arts, merely dark uses. And we've already established that no one is innocent, no matter which side you're on."

"Maybe." Another thought occurred to him. "Why don't I have wings, like Sariel, if I'm Fae?"

Malik shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps you took after your mother."

Kalen got the distinct feeling he wasn't telling the whole truth. "Hmm. You say my grandmother was Fae, but she looked like any old woman to me."

"Glamour. If she'd dropped it, I doubt she'd have appeared to be many years older than you are now."

"Then how could she die? Aren't Fae immortal?"

"Up to a point, we are. I'm guessing her life force was tied to the amulet. When she gave it to you, she accepted her death. She could also have been ill from using her glamour too long, living as a human who ages and gets sick. It's all speculation. Who knows?"

"I gave the amulet away. Will I die now?"

"No," Malik said firmly. "You won't. If your life force was in fact tied to the pendant, it isn't any longer. The link was severed the night you disobeyed your grandmother by taking it off."

He'd always had the sense that he'd made a dire mistake when he'd first taken off the pendant. Not the night he and Mackenzie made love in the hotel room, but years before. He'd been barely eighteen and had slept with a much older woman who'd admired the pendant. And like an idiot, he'd ignored his grandmother's warning. He'd set in motion something terrible and irrevocable that night.

"What?" He stared at Malik, stunned. "You were watching then, too?"

"I was." His lips turned up. "You were a young man trying to impress that older woman you f**ked, letting her try the thing on. As soon as it left your hand, I made certain to sever its hold on you forever. It will protect the wearer now, as your grandmother said, but without draining the person's life force if removed or given away."

"So, a few weeks ago you forced me to give away the amulet to my . . . my friend Mackenzie. But you did so knowing I wouldn't be harmed by removing it."

Except by Malik himself, of course.

"As I told you, I knew one day you would belong to me." He paused. "I would have saved you from that harsh life years ago, when you first removed the pendant, but I didn't act quickly enough."

Kalen narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said you didn't rescue me because I wasn't ready."

"You weren't. But I would have anyway." He sighed. "There. Now you have a confession of one of my failings."

He wasn't so sure. Was Malik lying, or telling the truth about his part in everything? Or confusing him with half-lies, half-truths? God, if that was the case, Malik was succeeding.

That missing piece of the puzzle, the part of the story Malik wasn't yet telling him, nagged at him like a sore tooth. But he knew nothing would be gained on that score tonight even if he pushed. Instead, he brought the topic back to the original purpose of the visit.

"You wanted to show me something. To prove that you understand me and will stick beside me."