Bound by Light (21 page)

“There are so many people,” Sydney whispered
as she grasped Thane’s shirt before he could get away from her.

He chuckled, facing her and pulling her
against his chest. “You’re fine, love.”

“Don’t you dare leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you, baby, I’m going to
talk to Niall.”

She threw her arms in the air. “That’s
leaving me... to go and talk to Niall.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“What?” With a gasp, she squealed, “Thane,”
as he pinned her arms and lifted her off her feet, carrying her
over to where Niall stood with Charlotte.

Oh my word, I’m going to kill you.

He laughed, setting her down again and
kissing her soundly in front of everyone. Heat covered her neck and
face and she stepped behind him in an effort to hide.

No one’s watching us, love.

I don’t believe you.
She tugged on
his shirt.
I need a second, but murder is still on the
table.

Is twerking off of it?

“Thane,” she whispered dropping her forehead
to his back.

“It’s just us, love.”

She peeked over his shoulder and felt her
blush again as Charlotte and Niall watched her with smiles. Sydney
shook her head and stepped behind him.

“It’s a lot, huh?” Charlotte said.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

Charlotte giggled. “Don’t be sorry,
seriously. Why do you think we’re hiding here in the corner? Niall
would be out there yuckin’ it up with pretty much everyone here if
it wasn’t for me.”

Niall grinned. “I’m happy to be wherever you
are, love.”

Charlotte wrapped her arms around his bicep.
“That’s because you’re a smart man.”

Thane wrapped an arm around Sydney’s waist
and kissed her temple. “We can stay here for as long as you
need.”

“I’m not an invalid, Thane. I just feel a
little overwhelmed.”

“We
are
in a unique position where we
can leave and hang out in the library if we’d like to,” Niall
said.

Charlotte gasped. “We can?”

“Aye, lass. We’ve said hello to everyone we
need to. We don’t have to come back out until four.”

“Then why are we still here?”

“We’re going right now,” Thane said.

Sydney laughed. “Someone else who’s proving
to be smart.”

Thane took her hand and gave it a squeeze,
then the couples headed into the library. Sydney giggled when she
found Pepper, Max, Grace, and Payton there. Samantha breezed in a
few minutes later, Phineas in her arms. “If I’d known the party was
in here, I would have escaped hours ago.”

“I had to feed the baby,” Pepper said, baby
Chelsea cradled against her.

“What a coincidence, Phineas needs to be fed
as well.” Samantha sat in one of the overstuffed chairs and threw a
blanket over her and Phineas to feed him.

See, love? You’re in great company.

Sydney grinned up at him.
Yes, apparently
I am.

The rest of the evening was part meeting
strangers and part connecting with new friends, including spending
more time with Thane’s family. Sydney couldn’t imagine a better
evening, and Ainsley was ecstatic because she had been given
permission to ride Max’s horses the next day.

Midnight came faster than expected and Thane
insisted on taking Sydney to bed. She didn’t complain (much), as
they made their way upstairs. And once he’d kissed every inch of
her body, he made love to her and she realized how perfect their
time at the castle had been.

In some ways, she didn’t want it to end.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

T
HE NEXT DAY, Thane
walked into the king’s chapel and took his place in the Allen pew.
His father was not there today like he normally would be for a
council meeting, as Kade had only called together those who led
high-profile lives.

This meant that all the members of Fallen
Crown were in attendance, along with several other men and women
who were known both locally, nationally, and internationally for
different careers, the most surprising being Ewan McFadden, who had
been voted Scotland’s sexiest botanist. Somewhat random and funny,
but it now put him into a category where he could no longer hide.
All-in-all, there were close to sixty people in the room.

Kade and Samantha sat with Connall and
Brodie and their mates, and Samantha smiled at Thane, her
expression one of overwhelmed resignation. Anyone who knew her
understood how uncomfortable she was at official gatherings, but
she always handled them with grace and humor.

Niall slid in beside him even though it
wasn’t technically his family pew. “Hey.”

Thane shook his hand. “You’re a little
late.”

Niall chuckled. “Moira was having a hard
time letting her da out the door.”

“Not yer mate?”

“Sadly, no,” Niall said. “Charlotte was
trying to pry Moira the spider monkey from my body. I left her with
my screaming daughter who you would think was never going to see me
again.”

Before Thane could comment, Kade walked to
the middle of the dais. “Welcome everyone.” The din died down as
the king spoke. “I’ve asked you here because we need to discuss our
public profiles going forward. All of you are high-profile, and
depending on how long you plan to be high-profile, humans will
start to notice that we don’t age at the same rate as they do.
About every fifty years, we face this dilemma and need to
brainstorm how we want to handle it. Some of us may decide to go
underground, out of the limelight; others may opt to cope another
way.”

“I vote to kill off Max in some tragic but
messy accident,” Connall said. “Fiery car crash should do it.”

“I’m too damn pretty to go out in a fiery
car crash,” Max countered. “But I have a few ideas for you,
brother. Guillotine is the immediate choice. I’ll even have one
built at my home if that will help expedite things.”

The room erupted in laughs.

“We’ll forget the feud between Max and Con
for the moment,” Kade said. “Especially considering that the fight
has been going on for several hundred years and I see no end
anytime soon.” He waited for the laughs to die down again and
raised his hands. “This meeting is a short one, to introduce the
topic for our next meeting in the spring, when I hope you’ll have
some
legitimate
”—he glared at Connal and then at Max—“and
effective ideas for how to handle this ongoing problem we have as
Cauld Ane in a human world. In the spring we can discuss what your
plans are and how we can support you. I’m sure I don’t have to
remind you not to put anything in writing. Thank you for your
time.”

The room stood en masse, bowed to Kane, and
then filed out. Thane and Niall walked out together, while Max
stayed behind to speak with Connall.

“I love it when these things are short,”
Thane confessed.

“Aye, brother. Me as well.”

“How long are you staying?”

“We’re leaving day after tomorrow. What
about you?”

“Same, but we’re heading back to London
first.”

“Grace and Charlotte want to know if you and
Sydney want to join us for dinner tonight,” Niall said, as he and
Thane walked to the cars.

Do you want to have dinner with the
MacMillan’s tonight?

Sounds fun. Are you finished?

Aye, lass. Be home soon.

“We’d love to,” Thane said.

“Perfect.” Niall grinned. “Six?”

“We’ll see you then,” Thane said, and
climbed into the car. He drove back up to the castle and found
Sydney in the great hall speaking with Samantha’s brother,
Dalton.

Dalton Moore was ex-FBI, and he and his
buddy Colton ran the human side of security for the royals. Dalton
apparently owned several car dealerships back in Georgia, which,
along with his salary from Kade, made him a wealthy man. With his
model good looks and southern accent, Thane knew the women flocked
to him.

Right now, he was smiling at Sydney in a way
that irked Thane, and he walked quickly to her side, wrapping an
arm around her waist and kissing her temple. “Hi.”

She grinned up at him. “Hi, honey. Have you
met Dalton?”

“Aye.” He shook Dalton’s hand and forced a
smile.

“I was telling Sydney that if you can’t get
answers from the local cops, I can call a few contacts back in D.C.
They’ll be able to get to the bottom of her mother’s accident.”

Sydney slid her hand into Thane’s back
pocket. “Dalton says they can put pressure on the powers that be to
tell them more than they’re telling us.”

“That’s a generous offer,” Thane said,
carefully. “We’ll be sure to let you know if we run into
issues.”

“Sounds good. I’m gonna go see my nephews
for a bit, then head out. It was nice to meet you, Sydney.”

“You too, Dalton.”

The American left and Sydney faced Thane.
“Chill.”

“I’m sorry?”

She grinned and slid her hand to the back of
his neck. “You went all squirrely with Dalton. You aren’t jealous,
are you?”

Thane sighed. “Admittedly, a little.”

She giggled. “Silly man.”

“Aye, lass. I am.”

“Kiss me so I can make you feel better.”

He leaned down and touched his forehead to
hers. “I’d rather take you back to bed.”

“Even better. We’ve got a few hours before
we have to get ready for dinner, so let’s go slay that jealousy
dragon.”

Thane laughed, kissed her quickly, and then
took her hand and led her to bed.

* * *

“Did you ask what we could bring?” Sydney
buckled her seat belt and set her purse on the car floor.

“We don’t need to bring anything, love.”

“Honey, we should at least bring a bottle of
wine. It’s rude to show up empty handed.”

Thane turned to her and raised an eyebrow.
“Niall is arguably my closest friend outside of you, and I highly
doubt he will care if we don’t bring a bottle of cheap wine.”

“It’s a good thing we’re going to stop at
the store and buy an expensive one, then, isn’t it?”

“We’re already late, Sydney.”

She sighed. “It’s rude, Thane.”

He shook his head and unbuckled his seat
belt. “Give me a second.”

Thane jogged back into the castle, returning
a few minutes later with two bottles of wine, one red, one white.
He climbed back in the car and handed them to Sydney. “Okay?”

“You did not just go and steal wine from the
king, did you?”

“No, lass, I borrowed them. I’ll be
replacing them tomorrow. And you’d better be happy... the red’s
going to cost me six hundred pounds to replace.”

Sydney gasped. “Go put it back.”

Thane turned the car toward the drawbridge
with a smirk. “We don’t have time to put it back.”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“What?”

“I’ll pay for the wine.”

“Like hell you will,” he snapped.

Sydney rolled her eyes. “I insisted we have
it.
I’ll
pay for it.”

“You will not.”

“Thane, I have inherited a great deal of
money from my parents, which I rarely get to spend. And once you
and I combine our finances, it’ll be more money that either of us
can spend in a lifetime, so a couple bottles of wine is no
problem.”

He pulled the car over to the side of the
road and took her hand. “You’ll no’ be payin’ for the wine, Sydney.
Yer me mate and it’s my job to pay for things now, ye ken? I’ll be
hearin’ no argument from ye, lass.”

Sydney bit the inside of her cheek in an
attempt not to giggle. “Ye ken? What does ‘ye ken’ mean? Are you
turning into Tarzan, mister movie star?”

“Shite.” Thane took a deep breath and shook
his head, her touch calming him. “Sorry, love.”

She widened her eyes. “What
was
that?”

“Remember when we talked about how mates
take on attributes of each other after bonding?”

Sydney nodded.

“I think your passionate nature has become
just as strong in me, and I’m feeling things I’m not used to
feeling. It’s strange, really.” He squeezed her hand. “Intense.
Overwhelming.”

She giggled. “I get it. I’m sorry if I upset
you.”

“You didn’t upset me, love. I just don’t
want you thinking you have to pay for things.”

“But I really don’t mind. Although, I guess
our money’s kind of each other’s anyway, right, so it’s silly of me
to separate it. Chalk it up to not being used to having a
partner.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised.

Sydney smiled and leaned over to kiss him.
“This bottle of wine better be
really
good.”

“Oh, ’tis, love.” He kissed her again. “It’s
actually my favorite.”

“Of course it is.”

He chuckled as he pulled the car back onto
the road.

“Is ‘ye ken’ like a form of ‘you get me’?”
She lowered her voice and waved a finger. “Like, big man hear me
roar will be buying all things for you, little lady, do you get
me?”

Thane laughed. “Aye, lass.”

“Well, you better get a handle on that one,
buddy.” She let out a rather inelegant snort. “’Cause I’m no one’s
little lady.”

“You are most definitely mine, Sydney.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You are a ridiculous person,” she
retorted.

“Aye, but I’m
your
ridiculous
person,” he said as he pulled up to Max and Grace’s home.

“Well, there is that.”

Thane grinned and shut off the engine,
climbing out and rushing to Sydney’s side. After opening the door,
he took the wine and kissed her once she’d climbed out of the car.
“I love you, little woman.”

“Suck it, big man.”

“Oh, I plan to later.”

She shivered. “Stop with the dirty talk or
I’ll ask Grace to give us a room.”

He grinned. “The gauntlet has been dropped,
love.”

And I plan to suck and lick all manner—

“Oh my word, Thane Allen, if you start with
the dirty mind talk while we’re in the middle of dinner, I will
kill you in the face.”