Indebted: The Premonition Series (50 page)

“Hungry?” he murmurs.

“Starving,” I admit, “do you have any more of those muffins left?” I ask.

“No. You ate all of them an hour ago,” Reed says with a smile that almost stops my heart. Reed rises from our blanket and gathers up my clothes, handing them to me. “We have to go back anyway. Buns is planning a barbeque on the beach for dinner tonight. I think she will be hurt if I don’t bring you back.” He watches me slip into the black bikini and wrap skirt. Then he groans and wraps his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. “Evie, you are so beautiful.”

A blush of pleasure rushes over me. “I only really ever feel beautiful when you look at me,” I reply honestly, resting my cheek against his chest and hearing his heart beat to the rhythm of mine. “You’re going to have to help me out of here. I can’t fly very well yet.”

“Phaedrus told me you flew,” he says, picking me up off my feet and holding me in his arms. “I wanted to be with you when you did that,” he says in a disappointed tone.

“It’s probably better that you missed that,” I reply, remembering jumping from the gazebo and being pursued by Declan. “It’s a lot harder than it looks.”

“When your wings grow larger, it will be easier,” Reed replies with a grin. “You ready?” he asks, and when I nod, he launches us through the wall of water in front of us. His wings snap out around us as we glide steadily to the ground.

“Where is Phaedrus?” I ask Reed when he sets me back on my feet by the car. I climb into the passenger seat and Reed closes the door for me.

“He is still with Dominion,” Reed says, starting the car and wheeling it around back towards the beach.

“You didn’t tell him your plan?” I ask, watching his face.

“No,” Reed says, his hand tightening on the steering wheel.

“Why not?” I ask.

“He didn’t tell us of the plans he made with you, so we reciprocated,” Reed replies.

“REED!” I say in exasperation, “That’s not fair! I made him do things my way. He had a mission and he fulfilled it. How can you shut him out like that?”

“How could
you
shut
me
out like that?” he asks quietly, slamming his foot on the brake and bringing the car to a screeching halt. “You promised me that you would never leave again, but you did.”

“Technically I didn’t leave you—I just didn’t come straight back when I escaped,” I reason, watching his face grow darker at my flimsy argument.

“No, you’re right. Technically you just pretended that I didn’t exist,” he agrees, and I have to hold on to the door handle as the car shoots forward again at a dizzying speed.

“I…I had to make a choice—what I could live with,” I say, watching the trees whip past the window as the wheels dig up the earth, spattering it loudly against the wheel well. “Valentine wanted me, not them—the time to play it safe was over,” I explain, wanting to close my eyes as the car fishtails a little.

“
I
wanted
you
,” Reed retorts, looking hostile.

“I was desperate. They were dying, Reed. Valentine kept telling me how he would kill them—and then he promised me that he’d let them go if I came to him,” I say, my heart racing with panic. “Valentine wasn’t going to stop. He was going to kill them and then he was going to find me…and you. I couldn’t live with that. I couldn’t live knowing I could’ve done something!”

Reed lets his foot ease off the accelerator. The car begins to slow down and I say in a low voice that wavers with emotion, “I know I hurt you, Reed. Please forgive me.”

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone, Evie,” Reed says, not looking at me. “I didn’t know that I’d have this ache within me, but I do and I thought it would go away when I got you back,” he says, looking confused as he looks over at me. “I know that what you did was necessary…you don’t need to ask for my forgiveness,” he says grimly.

“Reed, sometimes it’s impossible to make your heart believe what your head knows to be true,” I say, crawling from my seat to sit on his lap as he drives the car slowly over the tree-lined path. “Where is this ache?” I ask him, feeling my own heart responding with an ache of its own.

He takes my hand and places it on his chest, above his heart. My eyes fill with tears as I gently touch the spot where my wings are etched. I place my lips against his chest and kiss his skin, before whispering to his heart, “I’m sorry. I love you and I will show no mercy to anyone who tries to keep us apart again. No mercy…I swear it.”

Stopping the car, Reed feverously presses his lips to mine. He lifts me out of my seat and carries me towards our bungalow. My arms go behind his neck as I kiss him back, unaware of anything but him. As we round the corner to the entrance, Zephyr calls out, “You are back!”

Wrenching his lips from mine, Reed answers, “No.”

Reed kicks the door of our villa in and heads to the bedroom with me still in his arms. Using his foot, Reed closes the bedroom door behind us as he strides purposefully to our bed.

CHAPTER 26

No Sunshine

A knock on the bedroom door wakes me from the dream I’m having. As I open my eyes, I look around the room of our bungalow and see the almost complete destruction of it. A blush stains my cheeks instantly. Reed and I had not been very careful when we returned from our visit to the waterfall yesterday. Our room resembles something close to a rockstar makeover. I sit up against the pillows and notice that I’m alone in the bed. I glance around me and realize I’m alone in the room, unless Reed is somewhere under the destroyed dresser, which I highly doubt.

Another knock sounds. “Uh, just a second,” I call out, wrapping a sheet around me and stumbling out of bed. Gingerly stepping around the debris on the floor, I pause at the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” I hear Russell say. I bite my lip, looking over my shoulder at the carnage of the room and then looking up in embarrassment.

After whispering a few choice words under my breath, I say, “Uh…yeah?” through the door, wrapping the sheet around me tighter and running my fingers through my tangled bedhead.

I crack the door a few inches, peeking at him timidly, I mumble, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Russell grins, pushing the door open and forcing me to step back from it as he walks into the room.

“By all means, come in,” I say with irritation in my tone, feeling my face grow beet-red.

“Good Lord, woman…what happened in here?” Russell asks, his face growing almost as red as mine.

“Nothing…uh, what’s up?” I ask quickly.

“Strategy meeting—ya might want to be there—we’re gonna discuss security…” he trails off, picking up my black bikini top that was flung over the lamp.

I pluck what’s left of the top out of his hand and hide it behind my back with one hand while the other hand grasps Russell by the bicep. “Thanks, Russ,” I say, trying to lead him back to the door, but Brownie is right, he is really freaking strong and I can’t move him an inch now.

“You know what this room reminds me of?” he asks, looking around and then at my face. I shrug, wanting to crawl under a rock. “Athens. We totally destroyed our rooms when I came back from the campaign in—”

I interrupt him, “Was I the girl or the boy in that life?” I ask, trying to throw him off the story.

“Definitely the girl, Red,” he grins. “Ya used to make this little squeak when I—”

“Okay! Where’s the meeting, Russell?” I ask, feeling like I can’t be any redder than I am right now.

Russell sees my distress and his grin becomes broader. He seems to look right through the sheet I’m wearing. “It’s at the big house,” he answers, pointing over his shoulder in the direction of Zephyr’s plantation house. “We’re havin’ breakfast there. I bet yer hungry, since y’all missed the barbeque last night. Oh yeah, Zee told me to tell ya that his staff came in early to prepare the food and clean, so ya should try to look human.”

“Okay—when?” I ask, trying to smooth my hair down a little more as his eyes go to it.

“Yer hair is longer,” he says, watching me try to pull the tangles from it.

“Yeah, I should cut it,” I reply absently.

“Naw, don’t do that…I like it,” he says softly, his smile wavers and begins to slip. I catch a glimpse of his true, raw emotion before he brings the mask back up and smiles again.

“Oh, okay,” I say, feeling my heart pick up a little as he looks at me. Then I glance away and say, “I should probably take a shower.”

“I thought we could get together after breakfast…just us. I need to learn all they taught ya ‘bout…magic.” He makes a face. “Damn, sayin’ the word, ‘magic,’ makes me sound
so
stupid!” Russell says, looking at me for understanding.

I grin, “I know, right!” I agree. “It makes you feel like a complete tool to say it, doesn’t it!”

“Yeah, I swear, I was in that fight with all those freaks and they’re all like, ‘I will destroy yer soul!’” Russell says, emulating the deep voice of a Kevev as he hunches his back and shakes his fist like an ogre. “And I’m like, ‘do all y’all know what total goofs all y’all sound like?’” he says, shaking his head.

I can’t contain the laughter that bursts from me. I have to cover my face with my hands as it keeps coming so that I can’t see his face because it just makes me laugh harder to look at him.

Finally getting myself under control, I wipe away the tears of laughter with the back of my hand, “Yeah, it’s a trip sometimes.”

“It’s definitively that, Red,” he agrees with a small smile. “So you’ll teach me…yer magic?” he asks, looking up at the ceiling and then down at me.

“Of course. I want you to be stronger than anything out there,” I reply.

“I’ll work with ya on yer clones. Have ya practiced them at all while you were gone?” he asks.

“No,” I admit, looking down. “They didn’t work…I couldn’t send them to you guys and…it was…they’re very sort of intimate when I send them, so I didn’t send them to the Gancanagh. I used some to get away from Brennus when he first took me, but after the contract I…” I trail off, feeling awkward again.

“Yeah,” Russell says, and I realize that he is the only person that can completely relate to what I’m saying. He and I are the same. The only.

I fidget, not knowing what to say because there is so much we haven’t said to each other and it’s just sitting like a wall between us.

“Ahh, Red, ya can’t do that,” Russell groans.

“What?” I ask, looking at his face.

“Ya look so lost—so fragile,” he says, looking confused himself.

“I’m okay,” I say with a nervous smile. “It’s just that I’m used to living in a minefield. I don’t know how to be around someone who knows exactly how weird this all is. It’s hard to fake anything with you.”

“Impossible for ya,” he replies. “Ya never have to fake anythin’ with me.”

“Shoot the moon?” I ask him softly.

“And if ya miss completely, I’ll still love ya,” he says, before walking towards the door.

My throat gets really tight. “Thank you, Russell,” I say before he can make it to the door.

Pausing, he asks, “For what?” not turning around.

“For finding me,” I answer.

“I think I was a little late,” he replies.

“You weren’t,” I say, not sure that we’re talking about the same thing.

“I hope not,” he says in a strained voice before he leaves the bungalow.

I pick up the overturned chair from the floor and put it back by the crushed table. Then, I clear a path to the shower and close the door. Turning on the water and unwrapping the sheet from me, I step in, letting the water flow over my hair. I wash and rinse it quickly before stepping out of the shower.

Drying myself off, a cold current of icy air drifts around me. Goose bumps rise on my arms as I sniff the air, trying to recognize the scent, but there isn’t anything unusual about it.

I wrap a towel around me and follow the current of air, feeling it like an icy path. It leads me to the closet. My hand trembles a little as I open the door, expecting to see some scary creature inside. There is nothing in there but my clothes.

I search for something to wear and choose a red swimsuit with matching sarong. As I select sandals to match the outfit, my hand touches the boots that I wore here. One boot feels colder than the other. After I pick it up, I reach inside the boot and pull out the knife that Brennus gave me when we were escaping at the estate. The eerie metal begins to lose its frigid chill the minute I touch it, warming in my hand like it’s happy to be with me again.

I take the knife with me to the bathroom and place it near the sink before I put my clothes on. Then, I search through the black duffle bag that Reed keeps under the sink. It has weapons of various kinds in it. I find a black, thigh sheath and secure it to my leg, slipping the knife into it. I had promised myself that I would carry a weapon with me if I ever made it out of the caves in Houghton. It’s only fitting that it be Brennus’ weapon that I carry, since he was the one that made me need a weapon in the first place.

Walking out of the bathroom, I gasp when arms materialize on either side of me, caging me against the wall of the bedroom. A shiver of excitement runs the length of me as Reed presses his body to mine, inhaling the scent of my hair spilling over my shoulders.

“You scared me,” I say, my heartbeat increasing even faster as his cheek brushes mine.

“I shouldn’t be able to sneak up on you,” Reed says in a serious tone. “If I can do it, with our attraction, then that means you are not paying attention to your environment.”

“My environment is a bit of a mess right now,” I reply, smiling as I lean against his bare torso.

“I will take care of this mess, then we are going to work on improving all of your skills,” he says, his mouth inches from mine.

“Are you saying that you’re going to start training me?” I ask, trailing my hands over his shoulders.

“Yes,” he smiles.

“But, you rarely did that before…” I trail off as his lips meet mine.

“You are tougher now,” he says, his mouth teasing mine.

“When do you want to start?” I ask, letting my hands explore his broad back.

“After breakfast?” he asks.

I groan, pulling back and looking into his eyes. “Can’t. I promised Russell I’d work with him. He needs to learn how to do what I can do—magic,” I explain. “How about after lunch?”