He’d been weak on the ride to the network, drifting in and out of consciousness from the beating he’d taken, and the drain from the Similitude. But he’d never once let go of Jordan, funneling and buffeting the healing energy of his clan through himself, to her. Because she didn’t have a Vitality stone of her own, her healing process would take longer. If it slowed his recovery, he didn’t give a damn. No way would he allow her to return to the near-death state she’d been in when he’d first found her. He berated himself for her current condition.
On my watch. Never again.
She was his now, whether Jordan or his clan knew or understood it.
Curtis faced the others. “This isn’t easy for me either. I’m not even sure how I feel about all of this,” he said, almost ashamed to admit it. “I would never have believed or expected it.”
“What does she think?” His mother, Charlotte, smoothed her long braid, which had always made him think of hippies. And a tiny—but formidable—one she was, at five-two.
He said nothing for a moment. “I’m not sure,” he answered softly, meeting his mother’s far too discerning gaze. “But I know it.” He rubbed a hand over his heart as if to ease its ache. “Know it the way you all do, about your mates.” He fought to keep his voice even, determined not to shout, for Jordan’s sake, as well as his family’s. They’d suffered enough. And would suffer more.
“I have a lot to tell you. But first.” He went to Saxon, the normally cheerful blonde who looked at him with Zane’s eyes. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he murmured against her hair. “Please tell me what happened to Zane.” Guilt burned a hole in his gut. Grief iced it over.
She spoke, her voice so low he strained to hear her. “The Betrayers used the Similitude Meda and Dev created to kill him.”
The irony and the waste sickened Curtis, and the harsh reality of their situation flattened him. Tears scorched his throat. “My gods.”
“They used my brother to test it.” Horror shredded Saxon’s voice. “The Flint couldn’t stop it.” She hung her head. “Right before he died, Zane passed into my Vista. He used the last of his energy to tell me.”
In one swift motion, the clan encircled Curtis and Saxon. Arms around one another, they wept, drawing comfort as they gave it.
“This is all my fault,” Meda lamented.
Dev reached for her. “No, it isn’t,” he said definitively. “I was right there with you, remember?” He stroked her cheek, making them into an island in a sea of chaos. “I loved Zane like he was my brother.” He cleared his throat several times. “Mataeus told me experience cannot be replaced. The Watcher who allowed me to be here. Are you going to argue with that?”
“He’s right, Meda,” Saxon agreed. “In every war, there are losses. We know as clan leaders we put our lives on the line every day.” Her voice broke. “He was my brother.”
“He was a brother to all of us,” Nick said softly. “We’ve all lost. We will avenge Zane, and we will fight to honor him. That’s what and who he was. A fighter to the very end. Zane died protecting us. His family.”
The clan moved into the living room and took up equal residence on furniture and the floor. Curtis downed the steaming black coffee Fiona pushed into his hand in three swallows, then accepted the washcloths Libby offered him. He wiped his face, the moist heat bliss. Once more, he knelt beside Jordan and cleansed the dirt from her face gently, willing her to rouse.
Saxon laid her hand on Curtis’ arm. “Please tell us what happened.”
Curtis released a pent-up breath, recalling how anxious he’d been at the reno to make sense of the situation, utilizing science and logic. None of it seemed to apply anymore. Shaking his head, he ordered his thoughts, intent on updating his clan. “Three days ago when Zane and I were at the warehouse, we found Jordan. She was dying, and I received a Compulsion for her. We took her, holed up in the reno in Deutschtown. She’d had no influx of dark energy in days.” He paused, what he had to say next a raw, gut punch. “I made Zane leave,” he admitted, a hard knot constricting his throat. “His energy, along with mine, would’ve killed her.”
Saxon’s cheeks glistened with tears. “You did what you had to do to fulfill the Compulsion. Zane would’ve done the same.”
Curtis pulled her into a hug. “That badass S.O.B.,” he murmured. He knew if Zane was with him in this realm, he’d tell him he couldn’t change the past but he’d better damn well look ahead.
He drew several breaths. “Her brood left her for dead,” he continued. “I saved her with Vitality. It’s like I gave her a transfusion,” he said, recalling Jordan’s explanation. “I didn’t even know I was doing it at first. She told me she was half Keeper and half Betrayer.” He hesitated. “I kissed her.” He hitched his chin at Nick. “Like you did with Libby. To find out if she was telling the truth.”
Curtis paused, knowing what he had to say would rock the clan. “Only I learned she was all Keeper. That I’d transformed her with my energy. She didn’t burn me the way Libby did you, Nick. When we realized she was going to live, I gradually dialed up to full power, to make certain she was able to tolerate it. Because she can, that’s the proof for me. She’s a Keeper. Not a Betrayer. Not anymore.”
No one spoke for a moment, then everyone hurled questions, at him and one another.
“Proof?”
“Transformed? What the—”
“I’ll give you the truth!”
“How is it possible—”
Curtis held up a hand. “Hold on! I understand how you feel. Let me finish.” Waiting until they’d quieted, he continued. “As soon as we knew she could tolerate the Vitality energy, even thrive on it the same way we do, we left the reno for the network. Before we could get here, I received another Compulsion. To save a little girl.”
He paused to ensure they would grasp the full impact of what he was about to say. “Jordan was able to hear her. From miles away.” He scanned each face, settling first on Meda’s, then Libby’s. “She has an ability. Uber hearing. Without it, I doubt I’d have been able to find the girl so quickly. Neither of us are sure how it works. But I know this.” He surveyed his family. “It’s why the Watchers sent me the first Compulsion, and I believe it can help our clan.”
Curtis settled next to Jordan on the couch, craving the contact. His thigh molded to hers. “It’s no accident the way our paths crossed. Mysterious ways,” he muttered. “It’s too much like the way you and your mates met.”
Smoothing an errant dreadlock from her forehead, he divided a look between Dev and Nick. “Before we even left the reno, I somehow knew she and I would receive a Compulsion because of what you’d experienced with your mates. It’s the Watchers’ way of forcing us to work together, isn’t it? Of making us understand we need each other.”
Nick coughed. “I put stock in mysterious ways, too.” He gestured to Libby, then Meda. “They’re living proof. But,” he waited until Curtis looked his way, “I’m playing devil’s advocate, because it’s what you would do if the roles were reversed.” He sighed. “Is it possible it’s a coincidence?”
Curtis tried not to hold the logic against his brother. He’d do the same. “No. It’s too uncanny. Jordan’s uber hearing, Libby’s heightened sense of smell, and Meda’s impressions through touch. They must be interconnected. How?”
Meda and Libby exchanged long, thoughtful looks. “We need to learn all we can about it. ASAP,” Meda said.
“Sorry, bro,” Dev scoffed. “I put stock in mysterious ways. More than ever before. But this is bull—” He broke off at Meda’s jab to his ribs. “I’m having a real tough time with this one.”
Anger, simmering in Curtis, threatened to erupt. “The clan accepted Libby and Meda under the worst and strangest of circumstances.”
“Neither of them tried to
kill me,” Dev replied hotly. “They weren’t living as Betrayers. With the brood, Curtis! They didn’t spy on us and report our every move to the brood master.”
“I’d think you’d have the most open mind, seeing what you’ve endured.”
“I do,” Dev tossed back. “About certain things.”
His mother bristled. “That’s enough. I raised four of you kids.” She aimed a lethal finger at Curtis, then Dev. “You’re not too old me for to knock your heads together.”
Curtis and Dev glared at each other. Cracking his knuckles, a habit he’d thought he’d broken years ago, Curtis continued. “As far as I’m concerned, the fact she has this ability is proof she’s my mate. I believe our mates, and all of us, and their abilities, are connected. I just don’t know how yet.” He thrust a hand in the air, halting Dev’s next recrimination. “There’s more I have to say about that. First, there’s something you need to know about the Flint.”
Nick’s mouth settled in a grim line. “Go on.”
Curtis wiped his palms along his jeans, the denim suddenly rough beneath his skin. “When you, Dev, and Saxon found us tonight in the city, my Flint’s energy was waning. I don’t know why, except I’d drawn on it several times, and I guess I put it through the last of its field tests. I depleted its energy. It confirms what, I’m afraid, Zane also learned.” He let his head fall back for a moment, then straightened. “As a weapon, the Flint isn’t always predictable, or reliable. It’s only a temporary solution. Which means—”
“Which means,” Nick interrupted, “the only way to defeat the Betrayers is to somehow restore the Similitude to Vitality.”
Like a dense fog, silence permeated the room. After a moment, Curtis let out a strangled breath. “Yes. In other words, we have to find a way to reverse the process. I believe Jordan and her ability could be the key.”
Nick rolled his shoulders. “That being said, the Flint continues to buy us time. For the foreseeable future, I’m not sure we have a choice but to continue to use it.” His gaze rested on Jordan. “And in the meantime . . .”
Curtis caressed Jordan’s cheek, drawing strength from the connection. “I think she can help us. First, we have to get her well.” He’d lend her energy now, as he’d done at the reno and on the way to the network. As he would do, as long as he drew breath.
His hands shook with swift awareness. As she had done, in the street, to fortify him for battle.
Curtis chose his next words carefully. “She’s a Keeper. She needs her own Vitality stone, and I’m going to give her one,” he finished, and braced for the onslaught.
His father coughed violently, his face reddening.
Dev growled low in his throat and stepped closer. “You can’t be serious.”
Nick spoke quickly, heading off the impending outrage. “Curtis, I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m trying to be supportive of you and our clan.” His brother’s frustration was almost palpable. “I don’t think it’s smart, at least not right now. One of our own was killed with a weapon we created. We don’t know how. If we give her, an untested Keeper, a Vitality stone, there’s no telling what the consequences might be. To her. Or us.”
“Why don’t you ask me?”
“Jordan?” Startled, Curtis jerked to attention and assessed the woman at his side, joy surging in him. Palming the small of her back, he guided her into a sitting position.
At some point during the clan’s discussions, Tan had tucked himself in beside Jordan. Now, she reached out a tentative hand to the dog. Gazing at her with his dark brown eyes, Tan licked her. Slowly, she looped an arm around his neck. Seeming to gather comfort from the dog, and Curtis hoped, from him, she scanned the roomful of clan members.
Curtis squeezed her hand to reassure her she was safe with him, here in the network. “How are you?”
“Much better. I think.”
“Feel like meeting everyone? Officially?” He grinned, tucking a dreadlock behind her ear.
She glared. “Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.” Helping her to her feet, he encircled her waist with his arm.
Dev’s voice cut the silence like a pick through ice. “Why don’t we ask you what, Dreadlocks?”
Instinctively, Curtis stepped in front of Jordan to shield her. He sized up Dev. “You back to stay?”
Dev hooked a finger in his belt loops. “Looks that way.”
“I’m thrilled to see you. Love to hear how you managed it. And I’m grateful you saved my ass tonight. But I’d just as soon kick yours.”
“Yeah?” Dev shot forward, fists raised. “Let’s go.”
Meda slapped a hand on Dev’s chest. “Stop! No one’s kicking anyone’s ass.” She shoved him. “Except maybe me.”
Grumbling, Dev dipped his hands in his pockets.
Curtis turned back to Jordan. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
She stared at him with those unfathomable eyes, as clear and ancient as a prophecy. Swiveling her head in Dev’s direction, she repeated herself in a voice packing its own chill. “Why don’t you ask me why Zane’s Flint didn’t work? I know a little something about dark energy.”
Chapter 16
Jordan accepted the glass of water the petite woman with the braid thrust into her hand. With every eye in the room boring into her, she considered refusing it, but her parched throat wouldn’t be denied. Each swallow roared in her head. She set it on the coffee table, the clink of glass meeting wood the only sound in this massive, stylish room. One that, with its framed pictures, comfortable couch, and scent of a recently cooked meal, spoke of family and the unity of the clan who lived here.
A clan currently staring her down, save for Curtis. Clearing her throat, she took them in with one sweeping glance. And could tell they despised her. Some faces she recognized, others were unfamiliar. It didn’t matter. She registered their scowls, their weepy eyes, their confusion.
Fingers linked with hers, Curtis made the necessary introductions. His mother, Charlotte–the owner of the braid. Her slender hand still managed to envelop Jordan’s. With a nod, Jordan thanked her for the water. His father, Sean, whose gruff greeting matched his reddened face. His very pregnant sister, Fiona, a blond leggy woman. Her mate, Thad, who stood close by, his hand resting on the nape of her neck.
The others, Jordan recognized from the warehouse. Saxon, Nick, and Dev possessed more than their fair share of height and muscles. Meda was every bit the siren she remembered, with her curves and revealing clothes. But she’d never met the doe-eyed beauty standing at Nick’s side, auburn curls framing her face. This must be Libby.
Sheer admiration rippled through Jordan. Libby was, in effect, the catalyst who’d started it all. She too, was a mongrel. And from what Curtis had told her, remained one. Wisely, Jordan knew not to expect any sympathy from the clan leader’s mate, simply because they had something in common, or used to. She sighed. Would she ever get her head around the fact she was no longer a mongrel? Or conversely, that she was a Keeper?
Regardless, Jordan wasn’t wanted or welcome here, no matter what Curtis said, and she’d do well to remember it.
She tore her gaze from the clan and forked a hand through her dreadlocks, painfully aware of her disheveled appearance. Focusing on Curtis, she latched onto the warmth and encouragement radiating from him, and his smile. He’d saved her, how many times? At the reno. In the street. And again, when two of her brood attacked them. Dear gods. He’d killed Roc. Her stomach lurched.
How had it come to this?
With his energy, Curtis invigorated her. Her pulse thrummed. This man, this Keeper, whose voice alone could soothe and excite, challenge and comfort her, had healed her.
And he believed her to be his mate.
He’d proclaimed it twice. Once in the street, and again, here, to his entire clan. The first time
, she’d been on the verge of losing consciousness and thought she’d misunderstood. There was no mistaking him the second time.
Impossible. Shockwaves rippled through her. What that meant about the depth of his feelings for her, she couldn’t even begin to fathom.
“Jordan, we can take a minute alone,” Curtis told her softly, interrupting her thoughts. “You don’t have to get into explanations right away.”
“Yes. I do,” she said fervently, her tone sharper than she’d intended. She slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans, a casual gesture belying her turmoil. She’d been terrified of coming to the network. Being alone with him, however, would be far worse. Under his scrutinizing gaze that seemed to miss nothing, she’d be forced to respond and examine his feelings and hers.
Along with what she’d heard him tell the clan while she’d essentially played possum-one of her many survival skills.
He believed her ability was somehow connected to Libby and Meda’s.
He was actually willing to give her a Vitality stone, when only hours ago, she’d been prepared to attack, and rob him.
He’d killed for her. To protect her from Abel.
Equally alarming? Only hours ago, she’d almost died from an overdose of dark energy.
Sealing off her emotions like a body in a tomb, she released Curtis’ hand and addressed the clan. “The Similitude most likely didn’t work because you got the dark energy from me. A mongrel.” She bit off the word. Here was familiar footing—degrading herself before anyone else had the chance. She relaxed marginally, enough to think it through. “It was probably why Zane’s Flint didn’t work either. At that point, the release of energy was too unstable.” She gestured with her hands. “It may have been explosive, happening all at once.”
She’d heard enough of the clan’s conversation as she’d slipped in and out of consciousness to know one of their own, Zane, had died. Abel was no doubt enthralled the brood had used a weapon the Keepers themselves had created to kill him. It was a loss the clan would feel, and blame themselves for, until the end of their days. She ached for them, for herself.
The Betrayer (Crossing Realms Series Book 3) Page 11
