Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Skye had left hours ago, leaving Shade to worry. Where the hell was she? Was she all right? Why didn’t she call?

Oh, right, she could call, but he couldn’t answer.

Boomer following at his heels, he wandered through the apartment, unable to stop imagining bad things happening to his sister. Eventually the dog grew tired of pacing with him and curled up on a living room chair.

When Shade finally heard footsteps in the foyer and the key unlocking the front door, relief filled him. Boomer’s tail thumped against the arm of the chair, but he didn’t stir. Skye entered the apartment and flipped the light switch, her smile sad when her gaze met his.

“Thank God you’re all right.”

“It’s over, Shade. We did it.”

He looked past her to see the woman he never should have forgotten. “Nuala.”

If he still had a heart, it would have stopped right then just seeing her again. He drank her in. Her exotic beauty that had first drawn his attention. Her lush dark hair that had felt like silk on his bare skin. Her dark eyes that had enticed him. Now those eyes were filled with tears. For him?

“Shade, you remember?” she asked softly.

“I do now. Everything.”

Nuala rushed to him and reached out as if to touch him. “I wanted to see you one last time.” Her hand went straight through the spot where his heart would have been if he still had a corporeal body.

Body or not, Shade swore he felt her, and memories of their time together whirled through his thoughts. “Who says I’m going anywhere?”

“You must.” Nuala pulled herself together. “No matter how much I want you here, it’s not your destiny.” She gazed at him, and her love filled him. “Once you have your soul, you’ll be gone.”

No, not yet. He’d just found her again. “Not until the case is closed.”

“It’ll be closed now,” Skye said, a strange hitch in her voice.

Shade started. He’d almost forgotten that he and Nuala weren’t alone. His sister looked ready to break. “What happened tonight?”

Skye filled him in. “Doyle was running the fights. He’s dead. So is his former human partner. Your lieutenant.”

“Connelly?” Shade frowned. “I
knew
he was more than a paying customer.”

Nuala blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Connelly killed you to protect himself, but Pop took care of him.”

Shade realized this was it, then. The case was resolved. His essence stirred as if summoned from beyond. As soon as his soul was returned to him, he would leave this earth and the people he loved. Perhaps the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. But it was his destiny, and he couldn’t keep fighting it.

He reached out as if he could touch Nuala’s cheek. “I will always love you, Nuala, but you need to find a good man who will make you happy.”

“I could never love anyone the way I do you.” A sob caught in her throat. “When you leave, part of you will still be with me.” She put her hand to her stomach. “Your child.”

Shade looked for a baby bump, but Nuala wasn’t showing yet.

“I won’t be here.” Devastated that he would never see his child in person, he placed his open hands on either side of her. “Is it okay if I meet my child now?”

She nodded, and he moved his hands closer. He concentrated the same way he did when entering Boomer. His hands began to shimmer, and he gently moved them until the presence inside filled him with an otherworldly joy.

…

Shade’s expression of wonder and happiness brought tears to my eyes. It was so obvious that he and Nuala were in love and should have had a life together. Thinking about what might have been between Luc and me gave me another reason for tears. I slashed my hand across my eyes and looked to my brother as he removed his hands from Nuala’s belly.

He was smiling. “She told me her name is Maeve.”

“Maeve.” Nuala smiled through her tears. “A good name.”

I realized it was the name of an ancient Protectress, one of the first who’d signed
The Book of Powers
. An inheritance for a descendent of the Nephilim? I didn’t miss the irony. Something I needed to keep to myself. For now.

“I wish more than anything that I could be here for you and our daughter,” Shade told Nuala.

“I’ll always be there for both of them.” Wondering how I was going to restore my brother’s soul to him, I removed the pendant he’d put around my neck at the shifter fight. “You knew I had your soul all along, didn’t you?”

“It was the first thing I remembered. I feared for you when I realized you were at that shifter fight. I gave it to you because I wanted to keep you safe.”

Tears welled in my eyes again. “It helped me to do what Mom asked of us. We made a difference, our two souls together.” I stared at the sea glass in my hand. “Now I have to figure out how to return yours.”

“Cup the sea glass in your palm and concentrate,” Nuala said. “Visualize it leaving its resting place. It will—”

“You do it, Nuala.” As much as I wanted to be the last one to say good-bye to Shade, I knew how much it would mean to her. I held out the pendant to the woman my brother so obviously loved. “You stole it back for Shade. You should be the one to return it to him.”

Nuala smiled through her tears. Taking the pendant from me, she cradled the sea glass in the palm of her hand and went quiet.

As if the dog knew this was it, Boomer jumped off the chair and sat in front of Shade, who stooped to give him an air kiss. “Bye, buddy. Take care of Skye for me.”

Boomer barked once in agreement.

“Good-bye, Shade,” I whispered, unable to stop the tears any longer. “I love you. I’ll think of you every day.” I sniffed. “Oh, I almost forgot. Ethan said to tell you he’ll meet you for a beer when he gets to the next life.”

Shade’s grin was sad. “Tell him I’m counting on it. And if you ever get the chance to tell Dad…well, everything, I guess…tell him I love him.”

I knew I would have to find a way to tell our father about the supernatural underworld, because I couldn’t cheat him of a granddaughter, no matter her birthright.

“I’ll tell him.”

“Love you, sis.”

A dazzling green light filled Nuala’s hand and slowly spread up her arm and throughout her body. She wept as she placed her hand over Shade’s chest. The dazzling light worked its way into him until they were both lit and glowing green together.

“I love you!” Nuala cried as the light transferred completely from her to him.

Shade began to shimmer and fade. “Find happiness with someone you can love here on earth, someone who would make a good father to our daughter.”

The light flickered out.

He was gone.

Boomer whined and ran away, disappearing into the darkened rear of the apartment.

Nuala wailed, and before I could try to comfort her, she vanished.

I wasn’t surprised. Apparently the Lazares seemed to think that was the way to end a conversation.

Deeply touched by her and Shade’s love for each other, I gave in to my tears. At least
some
people knew how to love despite all odds, I thought, remembering how Luc had walked away from me without so much as a word. I was certain that if he had lived, no way would my brother have given up on his relationship with Nuala. He would have fought for her against all odds. At least Nuala would have his child to keep him close to her.

While I was alone for the foreseeable future. I had to accept that.

Boomer whined and barked once at something behind me.

My pulse thudded and my mouth went dry when I sensed Luc’s presence. I wiped my hand across my eyes to dry them, then turned to see him standing in the bay window, staring at me.

“Am I too late?” he asked.

Somehow, I found my voice. “Shade already moved on, and Nuala blinked out.” I hated that I sounded breathless. Vulnerable. My anger put me on the defensive. “You should have gotten here faster if you wanted to see the show.”

His brow furrowed into a puzzled frown. “I got here as soon as I could. Pop wanted to talk to me about Connelly.”

The manner of the man’s death would always haunt me. “Did Cezar have some regrets?”

“None. He simply wanted to make sure no one was blamed for Connelly’s disappearance.”

Of course not. Heaven forbid that Cezar Lazare be blamed for any of his actions. “So he what? Cast a spell on the police so they’ll forget Connelly even existed?”

“That’s a little beyond what even Pop can manage. He suggested that Connelly’s wallet should wash up on the beach north of The Ark, and that a witness will claim he stole a motorboat to make his getaway. The boat will be found near one of the water cribs.”

The water cribs providing drinking water for the city were two miles out in the lake. “So the authorities will assume Connelly drowned.”

Luc nodded. “Since no body will ever be found, they’ll assume he’s resting at the bottom of the lake.”

So Luc had intruded on my grief just to tell me about his father’s clever plan.

I snapped at him. “I’ll let Ethan know in the morning. Now if you don’t mind, you can do one of your vanishing acts. I’m exhausted.”

My spine so straight I felt stiff, I started down the hallway toward the kitchen door and whistled for Boomer, who trotted after me.

Luc’s words stopped me in my tracks. “When I asked if I was too late, I meant
for us.
”

What was this? Another of his word games? I wasn’t playing anymore.

Turning, I found him directly behind me. Too close. I licked my lips. “I don’t get it. What exactly are you saying?”

“That I love you and want a future with you.”

I nearly reeled with shock. “Why are you doing this?”

My pulse thrummed and my head went light, but I couldn’t open myself up to more heartbreak.

So when Luc came closer, hand reaching for me, I cried, “Don’t touch me.”

He didn’t stop and I reacted on instinct. Furious, I hit him in the chest with the flat of both hands to make him stop. What felt like an electrical charge jolted up my arms to my shoulders, but Luc lit up like a Christmas tree, then flew back down the hallway and landed on his butt square in the middle of the dining room.

He looked as shocked as I was feeling. I hadn’t thought to do him any harm, but apparently my anger had gone out of control even more than it had with Doyle’s wild dog. I could thank my ancestors and
The Book of Powers
for protecting me.

“Are you going to do that to me every time I touch you?” Luc asked.

“Which will be
never
.”

He got to his feet. Despite his getting tossed, his lips quivered as if he were trying not to smile. “Remember how much you like me touching you?”

He was putting out that seductive beacon again. As much as I tried to shut it out, a wave of familiar, knee-weakening sensation washed through me.

“Luc, don’t.”

Panic made me back up. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I didn’t want to be hurt again, either.

So when he reached for me a second time, I batted away his arm. The mutual shock jarred me but sent him spinning into a wall, face first.

He righted himself and his smile widened into a grin. “You’re angry with me.”

“What was your first clue?”

He was doing it again, making me feel things I didn’t want to feel. He stood so close that I had trouble breathing. He wasn’t even touching me this time, yet sensations I couldn’t banish spread throughout my body. I wanted to back up. To run from him. I couldn’t move. Instead, I imagined his touching me, his taking me, my giving over to him.

“Luc, don’t make me feel things for you when you don’t mean it.”

“What makes you think I don’t mean it?”

“You walked away from me twice tonight. Okay, vanished once, walked the second time.”

“Afraid for you once. Had to talk to Pop the second time.”

“We’ve already been through that.”

“Not all of it. Not the part when I told him I was coming for you.”

“You
told
him?”

“More like warned him. I told him I didn’t want any repercussions. That I was going to make sure you were safe no matter what.”

“And he agreed?”

“He didn’t disagree.”

“What changed in a matter of hours?” I asked.

“Nuala’s love for your brother made me rethink everything. She would have done anything to be with Shade, and she reminded me that she never abandoned
me
and that some people are worth fighting for.”

My voice went up in pitch. “
Now
you think I’m worth fighting for?”

“I think you’re worth everything to me, Skye Cross. I especially love you for your courage, which has nothing to do with your birthright. It’s who you are. An extraordinary woman.”

He was so close, his breath whispered over my face as he spoke. I wanted to sway straight into his arms and stay there forever. Instead, I glared at him.

“Um, I do I hold
The Book of Powers
, remember. You realize that I’m going to work to save humanity from Kindred corruption.”

“That’ll be a challenging task, and I won’t try to stop you. I’ll even be there for you when you need me.” He grinned. “Besides, even if we’re not together, you’re bound to get into trouble anyway.”

“And you won’t try to stop me?”

“I have no reason to. I may continue to work for my father, but know that I will never pledge my soul to the Kindred.”

I gasped. Could I believe him? “When did that happen?”

“When
I
realized that’s who I was. No matter what you decide, I stand by you, because I love you. And when Pop gets to know you, he’ll give you his respect.” His expression intent on my face, he asked, “So what do you say? Can you see a future with me?”

His voice was as mesmerizing as his touch. As he had on the first night we’d met, he made my insides tremble and my breasts feel full and tight. Every fiber in my being longed to say yes, but I couldn’t speak.

Instead, I slipped my hands up his chest. Little sparks followed the trail made by my fingers, making me think any heightened emotion could transform me. Which would make the future even more interesting for us.

I wound my arms around Luc’s neck and felt the current pass through us and bind us together. I kissed him until we were both breathless.