Chapter
Twenty-Four
Three
days on the hunt. Three days without sleep. As Nate turned the jeep
on to Beach road, he questioned whether it was a good idea to see Cyd,
considering the woeful state he was in. Problem was, common sense had
long flown out the door when it came to Cyd. It had been all he could do
when he was released from duty to shower, change and grab a quick bite before
he was running for the nearest portal, destination the Southern
Sanctuary.
Unsure
of his welcome, driving, rather than just arriving via her hall closest portal
seemed the wisest, if not the most expedient way of approaching Cyd. With
that in mind he transported himself directly to Hadleigh’s place and
commandeered an available vehicle.
Bringing
the jeep to a halt in front of her place, three things slapped him wide
awake. The large ‘For Sale’ sign, smack dab in her front yard, being the
first. The medium-sized moving truck backed into her driveway was the second
and the third… perhaps the most galling of all, was the sight of
cousin
Declan, loading boxes into the
van.
At
the sound of the jeep door slamming shut Declan looked up, giving Nate a
friendly wave and one of those mega taunting dimpled smiles of his, before
picking up three boxes at once as if they weighed nothing and sliding them into
the van. Once that was done, he wiped his sweaty brow with the back of
his hand, paused, then yanked his t-shirt off over his head, using it to wipe
down his throat and the back of his neck.
Maat,
what Nate wouldn’t give for the ability to call a lightning strike right at
this minute, he’d be frying that blonde haired, purple-eyed, freakishly
handsome Romeo until he was an extra-crispy smouldering heap of nothing but
ash.
“Phew…
hot work. Welcome back.” The sun’s rays fell lovingly across
Declan’s unblemished alabaster skin, showcasing his honed six-pack and lean
sculpted muscles.
Nate
clenched his teeth, forcing a smile, holding back the urge to growl. What
was it about this dude that bought out his basest caveman urges? He wanted to
protect his woman and beat this himbo to death with a club at the same
time. “Yeah… warm.” He agreed, lame, but it was all he could
manage. Just what was going on here? Where was Cyd moving
too? Was she running? What about Bettina? More importantly,
what about him? “Er… what’s going on?”
“Moving.”
Declan stated simply, throwing his discarded t-shirt into the truck with a
careless back-handed throw.
Maat,
it would only be fair to the world if this man was as smart as a bag of rocks,
but Nate had the distinct impression that Declan was fucking with him. A
car horn tooted, Nate turned to see a car full of young girls idling across the
street, giggling and leering Declan’s way. “Fan club?”
“Nah.”
Declan didn’t even bother to acknowledge the girls. “They’re probably
just checking out the house. It’s prime real estate around here.”
“Cyd
around?”
“In
the house.” Declan turned, cupped his hands around his mouth and
yelled. “Charisse… Visitor!” He turned to give Nate another
friendly smile. “She should be out in a moment.”
“Er…
thanks.” Yeah, the guy was definitely fucking with him. He was
thinking night ambush, Drum for back up, a baseball bat and a solid follow
through swing or two… happy thoughts.
Then
Cyd emerged from the house, carrying a cardboard box. She looked great,
better than great, she looked edible. Red shorts showcasing those drool
worthy legs of hers, white sneakers on her feet and a snug navy tank top that
clung lovingly to her lush breasts.
Maat, he’d missed those breasts, missed her. With her auburn hair
flowing loose and a light smile on her full lips, Cyd looked relaxed and
happy.
Maat,
with over a century of chatting, flirting and worshipping women, he should be
able to come up with the perfect combo of greeting, slash, wicked
open-invitation to defile his body. “Hi.”
Charisse
fought hard not to roll her eyes at Nate. That was the best he could come
up with? Hi! After all they’d been through together? She
swept past him, smoothing out the frown that had settled momentarily over her
features. What had happened to the man who said he cared for her?
The one who’d treated her like a woman in the bedroom and not a pedestal
princess? “Hi… I didn’t expect to see you today.”
Nate
scowled as Charisse skipped past him, headed all too eagerly in the direction
of the shirtless wonder. “Obviously.”
“Hey
Charisse.” Declan leant down to scoop the box out of her arms, flexing
all the muscles in his upper body as he did so. “The truck’s pretty much
full. This box will have to be the last for this load.”
Charisse
smiled up at Declan, grateful that for just three seconds she had her back to
Nate as relief flooded through every atom of her being… he was safe, thank
Goddess. On autopilot she stepped back out of the way as Declan
proceeded to lock and secure the truck.
“I’ll
be back in a flash.” He promised her.
“Thanks
Sweetie.”
Declan
sent Nate another smile. “Later Nate.”
Sweetie
my ass, Nate was forced to lock every muscle he had so he wouldn’t launch
himself at the himbo and rip every tooth from that smug dimpled smile.
Charisse
gave Declan one last wave as he pulled the truck out of the driveway before
shifting her attention to Nate. “You’re alright?”
“Yes…
good. You? I mean, you look good.”
“Thanks.”
Charisse swept her hair back over her shoulder.
“And
the house?” Nate looked around and frowned for a moment. “It looks
great.”
It
had been pretty dark and he’d been kind of distracted the other night but he
could have sworn there’d been quite a bit of external damage to the house in
their attempts to keep vamp Queen D contained.
Charisse
just smiled and shrugged. “Would you like to come in and have a
drink? Personally, I could use a bit of a break.” Absently she
rubbed the small of her back as she entered the house and wandered down the
hallway.
Nate
trailed close on her heels, his head swivelling every which way; taking in the
pristine floorboards, the large light filled living room, looking incredibly
spacious given it was barren of furniture.
“You’ve
re-decorated?”
Charisse
headed through to the kitchen and the fridge. “Thanks to your head start
it made things kind of easy, the family worked hard to get it back into shape.”
“Umm.”
Nate watched as she bent over to fetch the drinks, best view in the house.
“Yeah, sorry about that… the mess… and leaving like that. So you’re
moving?”
“Yes.”
She turned and bobbed her head but made no effort to elaborate.
“And
Declan’s helping you?”
“Like
I said, the family have been great.” Charisse found a tray to put the
cold cans on then began rooting through a nearby box in search of glasses.
“Isn’t
he an enforcer or something? Shouldn’t he be out there… enforcing?”
“It’s
his day off.” She found two glasses and added them to the tray.
“Well,
he should at least wear a shirt when he’s here.” Nate all but growled.
Charisse
bit the inside of her cheek to keep from howling with laughter, recalling
the number of times she’d thought the same thing about Nate’s propensity of
running around half dressed. “I’ll remind him about sun exposure dangers
when he comes back.”
“There
was a wall here before, wasn’t there?” Nate found himself scowling at the
open air between the kitchen and living room.
“It
was Locke’s idea to open up the space. Not that Dave and the boys had to
do much demolition-wise; you’d pretty much decimated that section of wall with
something anyway.”
Nate
frowned. “Destiny’s face if I recall correctly. Surly Dave and his
boys helped out too?”
“Said
it was no trouble, and Dave and Serena got on like a house on fire. I
think he’s going to help her plan and build her plant nursery.”
Nate
found himself prowling around the bare room. “Furniture gone already?”
Charisse
bit back another laugh. “Gone to the Goddess would be a more accurate description.
What wasn’t in pieces was pretty much ruined beyond even Serena’s amazing stain
removal powers.” Charisse picked up the tray. “Let’s head outside
to the deck, it should be cooler out there.”
“This
is all new, isn’t it?” Stepping outside Nate admired the small deck
overlooking Cyd’s back garden and the beach beyond.
The small oval outdoor table, matching chairs
and large gold coloured canvas umbrella, completed the alfresco picture.
“The
deck was Serena’s idea but it was Locke who suggested making the entire back
wall of the house glass. Kind of makes me sad I won’t get a chance to
enjoy it.” Charisse opened her soda, pouring half the contents into her
glass before taking a big sip, cold and refreshing, just what she needed.
Nate
followed her example. Wow, the stress drained out of his shoulders as he
sat back, his eyes drifting over the deep blue horizon, seagulls gliding
overhead on thermals, colourful sails of several catamarans dipping and
twirling off in the distance whilst a group of kids laughed and played just
down the beach.
“Better?”
Charisse questioned.
“Yes.”
He smiled tiredly.
“Want
to tell me about it?”
“They
were there alright, holed up in the most secure wing of the complex, lots of
hostages, lots of civilians in the mix. We did the whole Mexican
stand-off thing for a day and half before we managed to breach the section they
were in. It was a set-up; they had the placed rigged to blow.”
Charisse
drew in a sharp breath of surprise. “Is everyone alright?
Hadleigh?”
“Cuts,
bruises… everyone’s fine.
Though as you
can imagine, Drum is beyond pissed. He really wanted to be the one to
blow that cement shit-house sky high. We got the hostages to safety but
in the confusion Sek and Mot managed one last burst of power and transported
themselves out of there… it seems Destiny was right about one thing, those boys
are practically tapped out power wise.”
“Do
you know where they went?”
Nate
shook his head. “No, we did manage to grab some reports they’d been
studying on our way out the building. That’s what we’ve been doing the
last day or so, deciphering the information. The Chaos dweebs are frantic
to find a long lost relative. We don’t know what they did to Xander when
he was alive, fed off him or something but it seems with Daddy Apep mummified
and Xander dead, their circling the drain.”
“That’s
good right?” Charisse enquired, wondering why Nate wasn’t more psyched by
the news.
“No,
that means they’re desperate and we think they have a lead on a descendent,
Marcus and his hackers are running with it right now. If they get to them
first and power up… well, it’s not just about the blood anymore and stopping
the ritual of waking their father.” Absently Nate ran a hand over the
three days of stubble clinging to his chin… damn, he’d forgotten to
shave. “So you and Bettina still haven’t made up yet?” His gaze
flicked down to her core where Bettina nested invisibly, all but encompassing
Cyd’s psyche. The nest writhing restlessly, small tentacles creeping out to
tentatively pet Cyd’s arm and hug her around the waist.
Charisse
absently wrapped her arms around her middle. “I keep forgetting you can
see the bond. Isn’t that creepy for you?”
Nate
shrugged. “I’m over a century old, I’ve seen a lot of strange things in
my time… this doesn’t even rank in the top one thousand.”
Charisse
smiled, relaxing back in her chair slightly. “She’s been acting strangely
ever since you left your calling card crowbar out there… subdued, fussy and
sulking. I’ve been ultra-busy getting the house back in order and then
with moving, so I must admit I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to
her. I dropped by yesterday for a cursory feeding and then sped back
here, she’s been remarkably quiet.”
Nate
shifted in his seat… a guilty expression on his face. “Before that final
show down with Destiny here the other night, I had a visit from Maat. She
dropped a few clues about what’s going on between you and the rock.”
“Maat
knows I exist?” Charisse shook her head. “That’s not good is
it? Having a Goddess take an interest in me?”
Nate
waved off her concerns with a casual shrug. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Um,
okay, so what did Maat say?”
“I
think it’s better if I show you.” Nate reached over and captured one of
her hands. “Can you take us out there?”
Charisse
frowned, looking down the beach at her paddleboard.
“No,
just open yourself to the bond and take us there.”
“But…?”
Giving Bettina that kind of power?