Bradley didn’t know if that was it, but
agreed that something was off. He answered Aaron back through their link.
“I’m
thinking you might be right. And we need to keep her here more than ever if
someone is fucking with her mind. Yesterday, she was fine. Now she looks like—”
“Have you ever had a dream so vivid that
you thought it was real?” Both of them looked at her when she asked. “I don’t
mean a dream where you fall off the cliff and wake before you hit the ground,
but something like…well, not that kind of dream.”
Her blush had Bradley thinking it had
been of the sexual nature and wondered who the lucky vampire was. He knew that
they could do that, dream walking they called it, and smiled. He glanced over
at Aaron and saw he was thinking the same thing if his smile was any
indication.
“Yes. Do you know who it was?” Aaron had
spoken so softly that Bradley wasn’t sure if she heard him or not. But she
shook her head. “Did you see his face?”
“I thought I did, but when I woke, it
was…” She looked at them both as if she just realized what they were talking
about. “I’m sorry. We should be discussing my pay. When I left the job
yesterday there was only the painting to do. You said your crew would finish
that up. I believe my part of the sentence is finished.”
Bradley had gotten more than he’d
bargained for and he was pretty sure that she knew it. The deal was for her to
work off a debt he’d enforced on her and she agreed rather than go to jail.
He’d found her camping on his land and
living in a beater of a truck. He’d told her then that she would either pay him
a fine or work it off. She’d agreed to the work and had told him she could hang
dry wall. He’d been surprised by her ability to do it so well and had offered
her a job with the stipulation that she stayed in the hotel until she was
finished.
“We’ve decided that we’d like to
renovate the other buildings. If you stay we’ll double your pay and give you a
better ride. Your work is excellent and we’d like for you to stay on as crew.” Bradley
didn’t look at Aaron. They’d not discussed any such thing, but he had a feeling
that this girl was going to meet up with trouble if she left and he found he
wanted to protect her.
She got up and walked to the window in
his office. He knew what she was looking at. There was Airic’s garden and the
forest beyond. He looked out the same window enough to know every branch and
every blade of grass. He even knew the colors of the leaves as they fell. He
moved to his desk, pulled out the standard contract that they gave all their
employees and started to hand it to Aaron.
“What’s out there, Mr. Wolfe?” He was so
startled by the question he didn’t let go of the sheet when Aaron tried to take
it. “I know you warned us not to stay out after dark, but there’s something out
there. It watches me even now.”
“Andi, come here.” The compulsion in
Aaron’s voice would have made anyone come to him, but she simply stiffened and
didn’t move. “Brandi Caroline Daniel, come to me now.”
She remained where she was. She closed
her eyes and took several deep breaths before she looked out the window again. This
time, when she spoke, it was with a great deal of fear. “I have to move on. I’m
sorry, but I can’t stay here. There’s someone out there and he’s coming for
me.” The door slammed open suddenly and there stood Mac.
Bradley didn’t move when Mac went toward
his father. Mac looked murderous and, frankly, Bradley was afraid for Aaron’s
well being. As he started to step forward to stand in front of his friend, Mac
growled low and Bradley felt his wolf snarl.
“Don’t move,” Aaron said, and stood up. He
put his hand out in front of his son and said, “Stop.”
Mac stopped, but with a great deal of
effort. His fangs had dropped and his eyes turned. Bradley had no idea what was
going on, but went to stand near the human girl. If things went as badly as
they looked like they might, then he didn’t want her hurt. But before he could
get within three feet of her, Mac turned to him.
Bradley woke and started to sit up. A
hand on his shoulder kept him down. He looked up into the worried face of his
mate. Smiling, he started to reach for her when she slapped him across the
face.
“What the fuck was that for?” She had
hit him hard enough that he felt blood on his lip. “I didn’t do anything wr—”
“How many times have you told one of the
younger pups not to stand between a male and his mate? Huh? Fifty? A hundred? But
you did it anyway, didn’t you? Just couldn’t heed your own advice.” When she
looked like she was going to hit him again he pulled her down onto his chest
and held her there. “Let me go, you stupid dog. I’m mad at you.”
“So I can see. Care to explain what the
hell you’re talking about?” He looked over when he heard Aaron laugh. “Go ahead,
blood sucker, laugh it up. You have another mate somewhere that Sara doesn’t
know about?”
“No. And Sara is right here with us.” She
was suddenly in his line of view. “But it wasn’t my mate your lovely mate is
talking about. She’s talking about Andi.”
Bradley tried his best to piece together
what he was talking about. Last he remembered was Andi and getting her to stay,
then there was Mac coming in and— “Holy Christ, Andi is Mac’s mate.”
“So it would seem. But neither of them
is very happy about it. At least he’s not. He keeps going on about children,
which I’m pretty sure she has none of, and she simply left him. I don’t know
how he knew she was frightened because I don’t believe that either of them have
exchanged blood as of yet. He can be a tad pissy when he wants to, can’t he? Then
there is the dream she was telling us about. I wonder what that means.”
Bradley let Airic go to stand then took
her into his arms. “Then how did I end up…I went to protect her when he came
in. I didn’t know what was going on. But he did look like he was ready to tear
you apart. I was going to get her out of the room when I woke up here.”
“Yeah, he tossed you around like an old
newspaper. Then, when he got to her, she sort of…well, I don’t think she’ll
come to him easily. She has a fiery temper I’ve never seen before.” Aaron
glanced at Sara who snorted. “She might even have you beat in that department,
dear. She gave him a piece of her mind then punched him in the nose. When he
picked himself up off the floor she was out the door. I didn’t see them after
that.”
“Do you at least have her name?” Sara
looked both excited and afraid. Aaron nodded and Bradley grinned. “What’s so
funny?”
“She threw him off. Aaron. When he tried
to make her come to him, she threw off his compulsion as if it were nothing. She’s
strong.” Bradley sobered quickly. “She said someone was watching her. Something
was in the woods watching her. She had to leave because someone was coming for
her.”
Magic tightened in the room and,
suddenly Morrigan was there as well as Mel. The two of them rarely came to see
him and neither of them had ever come together as far as he knew. He bowed
before both strong women and asked them to sit.
Morrigan started to pace as she glared
at Mel. “If you had told me at first what was going on, I might have been able
to fix this sooner.”
Bradley raised a brow, but kept his
mouth shut. These two could turn him into a toad or worse, in a heartbeat.
“How was I to know that he wanted to
die?”
“I tried my best to keep him from
letting it happen. You should have told me that you were having him work for
you. A little communication wouldn’t have hurt you.” Mel looked at the woman as
she continued. “And who uses a necromancer to do her dirty work? I, at least,
kept him under surveillance at all times. And now I have him so that he can’t
meet the sun until this is through.”
The room seemed to freeze. Mel realized
what she’d said the moment that Aaron stood. She turned to him as he roared. No
one moved to protect the queen from him because suddenly, Shamus was there as
were several of his warrior fae guards.
“Don’t. I don’t want to have to kill you,
but I will.” Shamus moved toward Aaron and put away his sword. “She’s been
trying to save him for decades. He doesn’t want to be a nightwalker. She has
him under contract to save his mate, but—”
“She knew and didn’t tell me?” Aaron
took another step forward and stopped. Bradley thought it looked like he’d hit
a wall. “She knew my son wanted to meet the sun and had planned it with him and
didn’t tell me? What kind of person has that kind of information and doesn’t
tell his father?”
“The kind that has made a promise. Sit
down, Aaron, and we’ll talk. If you come toward my mate again, I will have you
put to irons.”
Aaron shuddered. His entire body seemed
to be as stiff as a rod. Then he took Sara’s hand and nodded to the room. He
looked at Shamus. “She comes near me again and I will try to harm her. I know I
can’t kill her, but I will try my damndest to hurt her.” He looked at Mel. “You
sicken me.”
He disappeared. Then, a few seconds
later, so did Sara. No one spoke for several seconds then Mel burst into tears.
Bradley didn’t know what was going on, but he’d bet his last dollar that Aaron
would do just what he said he’d do and end up dead for it.
Chapter 4
Mac looked everywhere for the woman. He
knew nothing about her and hadn’t even gotten much of a sense of her before she
left the room. He rubbed his tender nose. But she did hit hard, he’d give her
that. He caught himself smiling again and tried hard to make it go away, but
couldn’t this time any more than he had before.
His phone rang again and, as before, he
ignored it. He had things to do and talking to anyone in that household wasn’t
going to get him any closer to finding her. He did think about calling Bradley,
but didn’t know if the man could be trusted not to tell him to get his ass home
or not. He looked at the phone when it stopped ringing and saw that his sister
had called.
“What do you want, Lizzy? I’m busy.”
The two of them
had a connection like no other. Mates didn’t have one as close as them. He
supposed it had something to do with them being twins.
“Mom’s crying, Dad’s pissed, and Duncan
is cooking. What the hell have you done?”
The thought of Duncan cooking made him
laugh, but he didn’t comment to her about any of them.
“I don’t know what
they have to be pissed about. I was…I sort of lost my head for a minute. I’m
sorry they’re mad, but this has nothing to do with them.”
He moved along
the sidewalk, hoping to catch any kind of scent of her.
When he realized she was quiet, he
stopped walking and waited. He knew she had something on her mind and he knew
whatever it was he wasn’t going to like it.
“Is it true you want to meet the sun?”
The softly
spoken question startled him. Then he grew angry. Someone, namely Mel, was
going to pay for this.
“Please tell me it’s not true and I’ll leave you
alone.”
“Who told you?”
He
didn’t…couldn’t lie to her. She’d know because she had been programmed from
birth to tell when someone was lying, but he could not answer her.
“You son of a bitch. What the fuck gives
you the right to end your life? Who the hell do you think you are wanting to
meet the sun? Have you no care for any of us? Don’t you care what Mom would
think? What Dad would think? I fucking can’t believe this. Come to me right now
and I’ll give you a reason to meet the fucking sun. Of all the stupid, asinine
things to do.”
Mac didn’t answer her. He couldn’t. Not
without sounding like a baby. He’d listened to himself often enough to know
what he said was lame. But he didn’t want to live this way. He couldn’t. When
he caught a scent of the woman, he stopped. She was near.
“Are you listening to me?”
He wasn’t. He told Lizzy that he was,
but she knew better.
“I asked you what the fuck you’re going
to do now that you can be a fucking retard and die?”
“I have to find this woman and her
children. When she’s safe then I can do what I please. Stay out of this, Lizzy.
It has nothing to do with any of you. This is something I want and for the
first time in all my life, I’m going to do something for me.”
He couldn’t shut her out completely, but
he could put her to the back of his mind. He moved to the front of the little
hotel and listened at the door. That’s when he felt the first stirring of black
magic. It was all over her door and he could smell it strongest on the eye
piece. Instead of knocking like he might have done normally, he put his boot to
the door and broke it open.
He didn’t know what he expected, but the
woman standing with a gun wasn’t it. He put up his hands and stood perfectly
still. She’d been crying, he noticed, and her hands trembled slightly. He took
a step closer to her and smelled the air. No silver. If she shot him it would
hurt, but she wouldn’t kill him.
“I want you to put the gun down. I
didn’t come here to hurt you.” She shook her head and he tried again. “I
promise you I’m not going to—”
“Did you do this?” He must have looked
confused because she nodded to the room. “Did you come in here and fuck with my
stuff? If you did, it’s well within my rights to shoot your fucking ass and
have done with this whole town.”