Rogue Soul (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 3) (26 page)

Ana nodded, peering hard into the darkened windows of the cottage as Cam parked in the small drive.
He had to be here. He had to.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Cam followed Ana to the door, his eyes alert for any movement in or around the house. Fat snowflakes glinted in the light of the car’s headlights. They stepped onto the stoop, and Cam glanced down at Ana. She nodded, so he knocked. Waited. Knocked again. The wind picked up, and with it the snow.

“This sucks,” Ana said, rubbing her arms.

Cam knocked again, but by now didn’t expect an answer. He glanced behind him to see the drive to the house now blanketed with snow. What had started as fat white flakes had turned into a storm that was whiting out the night.

Ana hopped off the stoop and walked to one of the windows to peer in.

“I think it’s empty,” she said, moving on to the next window.

Fuck.
Disappointment dropped Cam’s heart to his feet. As much as he felt like a worthless bastard for abandoning his post in Otherworld, he wanted to stay with Ana far more than he wanted to live out that destiny. He hadn’t realized how much hope he’d had riding on finding Logan Laufeyson and getting him to take Ana’s place.

“Let’s try the back,” he said, and trekked through the snow to the rear of the cottage. It was just as dark on this side, but when he tried the back door, he found it unlocked.

“What do you think?” Ana whispered.

“It’s worth a check to see if we’re in the right place. And we’re not going to get back up that road until this storm lets up.”
 

“Good. I’m freezing. Let’s go in.”

They scraped their shoes on the mat and stepped inside, careful not to drip too much water. Better not piss off their host when they wanted something from him. They crept silently through the cottage, determining within a minute that it was empty.

“Must be a rental,” Ana said, tapping the small binder of brochures and house directions on the counter. Sturdy, generic furniture and the lack of photos corroborated the theory. “Do you think he’s staying here?”

“Could be. If so, he’s changing his hermit ways.” Cam swung open the fridge to reveal a six pack of Tennant’s Lager and some ham and bread. He went back into the bedroom, drew the curtains, flipped on the light. The closet revealed a bag containing a few changes of men’s clothing and a passport at the bottom. He flipped the passport open and peered down at the face of a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, though he was far older.

He frowned at the name next to the picture.
Conrad Allen.
 

“What’d you find?” Ana asked as she walked into the room and stopped at his side.

He tilted the passport to her.
 

“Could be fake,” she said.

“That’s what I'm thinking. He wouldn’t leave his real name lying around.” With that thought, Cam slipped a cell phone out of his back pocket and dialed Fiona.

“It’s Cam,” he said when she picked up the line.

“I bet you have another question that’s going to be a pain to answer,” Fiona said.

“Probably. Do you know what Logan Laufeyson looks like?”

“Sort of. I’ve got a description from the Acquirer who saw him steal the bow and arrow. It’s one of the ways I tracked him.”

Cam looked down at the passport. “Has he got real pale skin, a thin scar along his jaw, longish black hair, and”—he squinted at the picture— “black eyes?”

“That scar sounds right, as does the rest.”

“Good. Do you have any record of him going by the name Conrad Allen?”

“No, but I’d buy it. I’ll do some research, add it to my records. But I’d bet it’s him. The witches pinpointed him to that valley, and almost no one lives there. And that description fits.”

“Good. How would he feel if he came back to his rental and found two squatters waiting for him? The snow’s coming down hard and we won’t make it out of here ’til it clears.”

“I have no idea. But there’s no record of him being insane. A rental isn’t like your own house, you know? So just leave the lights on and wait in the living room. It’ll probably be fine.”

Cam didn’t love the sound of that, but he also didn’t love the sound of waiting in the car. It’d be damn hard to defend them while he was sitting. And lurking outside was too threatening.

“I see. One last thing. What is he? Can he aetherwalk?”
 

“Don’t quite know what he is, but he is Mythean. And I’ve never heard of him aetherwalking.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” He hung up when the line went dead.

“It’s him?” Ana asked.

“Think so. Come on. Let’s go in the living room so that when he arrives we’re not shifting around through his stuff. He probably doesn’t aetherwalk, so we’ll have to hear his car come up the drive.”

He flipped off the light and glanced back to make sure the room looked the same as when they’d entered. When they reached the tiny room with its overstuffed couch, Ana went straight to the window and peered out into the darkness.

“It’s a mess out there. Really coming down now,” she said.

Cam flipped on two of the lamps so that a low glow would shine out the window and stepped up behind her to look out into the night.

“Damn. It’ll be a while before he’s back,” he said, trying to focus on the view rather than the heat of her back pressed against him. The memory of last night in the pub made him shift behind her, drawing his hips away. Now was not the time for a fucking hard-on.

She slipped her quiver from her back, let it slip to the floor, and leaned back against him. He couldn’t stifle the sigh that escaped him. He wrapped an arm about her middle and pulled her back to rest against him.
 

“It’s barely seven. We might as well keep a lookout,” she said, resting her head against his chest.
 

He nodded and reached over to turn off the closest lamp so that they could see out. There was still enough light to alert Logan when he came home, and their shadows in the window would be a big clue.

“Do you really think Cernowain used the rain in Inverness to send his boars to find us?” Ana asked, idly running her hand up and down the arm Cam had wrapped around her waist. Her other hand hung at her hip, gripping her bow so that it rested against his thigh. He swore he could feel her all over his body, and he had to shake his head to focus.

“I don’t know. Seems odd. But I suppose. They’re determined to have you back.”

“It’s not my destiny.”

“No. It was mine.”

“But you hated Otherworld. And your destiny.”

“True. But it’s hard not to feel like I ran from something that felt wrong without even trying to fix it.”

“Part of you wants to go back, doesn’t it?” Her voice wavered, so slightly that he could barely hear it.
 

It shot a pang through his heart even as that same heart leapt at the idea that she would miss him. He spun her to face him, vaguely registering her bow hitting the carpet and her hands coming up to grip his shirt.

“Yes, but I have important work to do here, back in the jungle. I
can’t
leave it. But more than that, I’d rather be here with you. A thousand times over.” He’d realized it as soon as Druantia had told him that Logan wasn’t there. With the safety net that Logan provided gone, the likelihood that he might have to go in order to save Ana had hit him hard. He’d realized without a doubt that he didn’t want to leave her, not even to fulfill the destiny that he’d been running from.

A tremulous smile stretched across her face. “Good.” She reached up to yank his head down to hers. The press of her lips drove any thought of liking or loving from his brain, and he gripped her tighter to him.
 

The feel of her body, hot and soft and curved, drew his hands, desperate to touch as much of her as he could in the few seconds they had to spare before common sense returned. The shadow of all that weighed on them hovered at the corner of his mind as he bit her bottom lip and tugged with his teeth. When she moaned, he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, stroking and tasting and wishing it could go on but knowing it couldn’t.

He broke the kiss, his chest heaving, and leaned his forehead against hers while his hands gripped her hips. “Ana, the things I feel with you.”

She clutched his shirt. “Don’t leave me. Logan will agree to go, and it’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.” There was the barest crazed edge to her voice, but she spun quickly and put her hands against the window to peer out.

He stepped up behind her and reached for her hand. After a few minutes, she relaxed enough to lean back against his chest. They watched out the window for nearly an hour, hypnotized by the falling snow. Finally, it started to lighten.
 

“If he’s been waiting this out in the village, he should be heading back soon,” Cam said.

Ana nodded, her gaze still intent on the outside. It was another hour before headlights came down the drive. Ana stiffened in his arms.

“Wow. I can’t believe this is happening,” Ana said. She bent down to pick up her quiver.

“Leave it.” He touched her arm and she straightened. “Close enough that you can get to it if you need it. But he knows we’re here. I’m a fast draw, and we don’t want him to feel threatened if he sees us armed.”

Ana watched the man climb out of a Range Rover. Her eyes met his through the window and a chill raced across her skin on tiny mouse feet. Suspicion stretched across his face at the sight of her in his house, but she didn’t see anger or fear.
 

No, it didn’t look like anything would frighten this man. He was tall, with a lean strength that couldn’t be concealed by his black winter coat. His strides ate up the ground too quickly as he headed toward the house.

The front door creaked as it opened, the sound ominous in the silence. A rush of cold air followed Logan inside, but Ana couldn’t really feel it. She was too focused on the man who stepped into the living room. He was eerily beautiful, with inky hair and eyes that only emphasized his pale skin.
 

He had more than just dark color in his eyes. He had dark thoughts as well. They made him a type of scary handsome. But not like Cam, who looked as if he could beat the shit out of anyone with his fists without breaking a sweat. No, this man was another kind of frightening, a kind she wasn’t familiar with because she hadn’t felt fear in a very long time. She swallowed hard.

“Visitors?” His raspy voice carried a sarcastic twist.
 

“Um, no,” Ana said, unsure of how to start now that he was here and pinning her with his black gaze. No, not her. Cam, who was standing behind her. Was he looking at Cam strangely? “I’m Ana, Celtic goddess of victory. This is Cam, a Celtic demigod.”

There. She saw it. A light of recognition in his eyes. She looked behind her to see suspicion in Cam’s gaze. Did he recognize him? She tried to catch Cam’s eyes, but his were glued to Logan.

Fates, this was already going poorly. She’d expected this to be awkward; they were sitting in this man’s living room, after all. But something was off, something that made her heart climb into her throat and beat like a moth trying to escape a jar.
 

“Why are you here?” Logan asked.

She rushed to make her offer before the suspense made her pass out. “You see, I don’t want to be a god anymore. And we heard that you’re an incredible archer. Strong enough to maybe take my place if you wanted to. Be a Celtic war god, that is.”

A sardonic smile twisted his lips, and a chill raced down her spine. “That’s an interesting offer.”

“It’s a lot of prestige.” The words tumbled from Ana’s lips.
He had to agree. He had to.

“Ana,” Cam said, warning in his voice.

But she ignored him, her tongue running away from her mind in her desperation to convince him. This was her last, her only, chance. “It’s not the most exciting place in the universe, but Otherworld is lovely. And you’d be a god. The respect and fear people show you is great.” He had to agree it was a good deal.

“Being a god does sound good,” he said, that strange smile still cutting across his face. “But I’m —”

The rubber-band snap of many gods appearing in the living room made Ana’s knees weaken. They filled the space, a dozen or more of the most powerful gods in Otherworld crowded into the room. Their eyes found her before she could count them all, and every expression was darker than the last. Logan looked on with interest, and she remembered that he was the only person besides her who could see Cam.