Dark Haven Unmasked (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Book 48)

by I. T. Lucas

  Leon sniffed the air for the mother, but all he could smell was the cub. That didn’t mean she wasn’t near, though. It was a little windy, and she was probably downwind from him.

  As several moments passed and the damn cub still hadn’t moved, Leon considered scaring him off with a growl. The problem with that was that the mother might interpret it not as a warning but as an attack and charge, even though she normally wouldn’t.

  Instead, he attempted something he had never done before and reached into the animal’s mind. “Find your mama, little guy.” Leon projected an image of a female bear into the cub’s mind.

  To his great surprise, the cub turned around and trotted away.

  “How did you do that?” Anastasia asked.

  “How did I do what?”

  “Tell it to go away. He was looking right into your eyes, and you were looking into his. Did you hypnotize the cub?”

  “I tried to,” he admitted. “But I didn’t think it would work. I’ve never attempted to hypnotize an animal.”

  “How does hypnotism work?”

  Good question. He assumed that it was similar to thralling, just without reaching into the person’s mind because humans couldn’t do that. Or maybe they could? Telepaths could project their intentions to a susceptible mind and influence it.

  “It’s difficult to explain.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and started toward the cabin. “We’d better get back before mama bear and baby bear decide to pay us another visit.”

  “Did you learn how to hypnotize people during your time in the service?”

  He nodded, hating the lie. “I had an inborn natural talent for it,” he modified, so it was closer to the truth.

  “Can anyone learn to do it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She lifted a pair of suspicious eyes to him. “You should. It’s simple. Did everyone in your unit learn how to hypnotize, or just those who had a natural knack for it?”

  He had no choice but to lie. “The instruction was done individually, so I don’t know if everyone was successful in learning how to do it. We can check online.” He pulled out his phone and typed the question.

  “Why don’t you use Siri?” She pointed to the phone.

  “It’s not an iPhone.”

  “It looks like it. What make is it?”

  “It’s a knock-off.” Since he’d answered the same question many times before, the lie rolled off his tongue easily.

  “Your family owns a private jet but uses cheap knock-offs? I don’t think so.”

  “It’s a satellite phone, so it’s definitely not cheap. It was just designed to look like an iPhone.”

  “That makes more sense.” Her lips kicked up in a sly smile. “For a spy. Everyone and their aunt have an iPhone, so it doesn’t stand out. Pulling out a specialty device, however, would have attracted attention.”

  “I’m not a spy.”

  “Maybe not now, but you used to be.”

  “How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

  “You speak an insane number of languages, you said that you were stationed all over the world, and you wear special contact lenses that project light. I think that there are tiny cameras implanted in them.”

  He laughed. “You have one hell of an imagination. I can’t tell you what I did in the service, but I can promise you that it wasn’t spying. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Information gathering is crucial for any country’s defense, but it wasn’t my job.”

  23

  Anastasia

  Was he lying?

  Leon claimed to be truthful, but Ana didn’t believe it. As a former special operator, lying must have become second nature to him. He probably did it without having to give it another thought.

  She didn’t even mind that much, but she wished he would just admit that he couldn’t tell her the truth instead of telling her half-lies and insulting her intelligence.

  As they reached the cabin, she glanced at the shed. “Can you show me the motorcycle?”

  “I thought that you hated them.”

  “I didn’t say that I wanted to ride it. I just want to see it.”

  He walked up to the shed, pulled the door open, and switched the light on.

  The bike took up most of the space, and the rest was taken by gardening equipment, a ladder, and some other tools. The bows he and Bowen had used the day before were propped against one of the walls.

  “Can you teach me how to use a bow?” She picked one up. “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

  “It would be my pleasure. But why do you want to learn?”

  “There is not much else to do around here, and we need something to entertain ourselves with besides sex.”

  “I can take you for a ride.” Leon patted the bike’s leather seat.

  “No way.”

  “Why are you so afraid of motorbikes?”

  “Because they are death traps. If you are in a car accident, you might come out in one piece. But the same impact will most likely kill a biker.”

  “I can take you on a ride somewhere with no traffic.” He picked up a helmet. “How about it?”

  She shook her head. “I’m scared of even sitting on it.”

  “Does it have anything to do with your mother’s death?”

  She recoiled. “Why would you think that?”

  Not that he was wrong, but she was surprised he could be so insensitive. Most people knew better than to bring up painful memories.

  “You are afraid of a lot of things.”

  “Perhaps because I know how fragile life is and how quickly it can be lost.” She walked over to the bike and smoothed her hand over the shiny metal. “Most people my age think that they are indestructible, and that nothing can happen to them, but I know better.”

  “How did she die?”

  “Wasn’t that part of the dossier your friend compiled about me?”

  “It wasn’t. Was she sick?”

  Shaking her head, Ana put a hand over her chest. “She was perfectly healthy. It was an accident.”

  “Traffic?”

  “She drowned.”

  He frowned. “Did they find the body?”

  That was the last thing she’d expected him to ask. “What kind of a question is that?”

  “I’m just curious. Someone I know lost his grandmother to a drowning accident, and her body was never found. He thinks that she might have staged it to run away and start a new life somewhere.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she was in a shitty marriage and couldn’t see another way out. Or perhaps she fell in love with someone and decided to run away with him. No one knows. She also might have really drowned.”

  “My mother’s body was found. I was there when it happened, watching them trying to revive her, but it was too late.”

  Even after all these years, she still felt like she was suffocating when that memory surfaced.

  “I’m so sorry.” He pulled her into his arms. “How did it happen?”

  Ana hadn’t talked about it for years, burying the grief and the horror in a small corner of her mind and doing her best to never visit there.

  “It was a freak accident. We were walking on the pier, and there were really big waves that day. One of them was so huge that it swept her away.”

  “There was no railing?”

  “It was just a small pier that was mostly used by fishermen. It wasn’t a touristy place.”

  “How come it didn’t get you as well? You were just a little girl.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she slipped and lost her balance. I closed my eyes when the wave hit us, and when I opened them, she was gone. I didn’t understand what happened to her. I started screaming for her, and people rushed over to see what was wrong. It took them a minute or two to figure out what must have happened. Someone jumped into the water, but he couldn’t find her. It was winter, and the water was murky.” Ana dragged in a shuddering breath. “She hi
t her head when she got swept over and sank straight down. It took a long time until she was found.”

  “I’m so sorry,” he said again. “Was your father there?”

  “No, he was at work.” She pushed out of his arms. “I need some wine in me. Can we go back to the cabin?”

  “Sure.” He closed the shed door behind them.

  “Aren’t you going to argue that it’s too early for wine?”

  “Not at all.” He wrapped his arm around her waist. “But you might want to go easy on that, or you’re going to miss the target.”

  Welcoming the change of subject, she chuckled. “I’m going to miss it anyway. I have the worst aim ever.”

  “Not with me as your teacher. By the time I’m done with you, you will be hitting the bullseye every time.”

  “Overconfident much?” She waited for him to input the numbers into the lock.

  “Let’s make a bet.” He opened the door. “But you need to promise not to miss the target on purpose.”

  “I promise.” She walked inside. “What do you want to bet on?”

  “Sexual favors, of course.”

  Ana had a good idea what he had in mind, but she asked anyway. “If you win, which I very much doubt, I’ll give you a full-body massage with a happy ending. But if you lose, we are going to have sex without the blindfold.”

  He stopped. “I thought that you enjoyed that.”

  “I did. I mean, I do. But I want to see you naked, which I haven’t had the pleasure of yet, and I also want to see your face when you climax.”

  24

  Eleanor

  “Acts of selfless kindness.” Tammy wrote on the whiteboard. “Your homework for today is to list acts of selfless kindness that you’ve done for others, and those that have been done to you. If you can’t come up with personal experiences, you can list any that you have witnessed.”

  Eleanor’s first instinct was to snort derisively, but then she remembered Vivian sitting next to her bed in the keep’s clinic and holding her hand during her transition.

  That definitely qualified as an act of selfless kindness.

  She’d never been nice to her sister-in-law, and after her brother’s death, she had cut ties with her. The excuse was that she’d blamed Vivian for Josh’s death, but her niece and nephew were innocent, and they could have used the love and support of a family member.

  Raising two kids by herself had been rough, and yet Vivian didn’t hold a grudge and had been there for Eleanor in her time of need. Not only that, Vivian had opened her home to Eleanor and treated her as if she had never wronged her.

  Perhaps her sister-in-law blamed herself for Josh’s death as well, and helping Eleanor was her way of atoning for it?

  Still, it had been as close as she had ever been to experiencing an act of selfless kindness.

  People were selfish by nature, and when they did something nice, it was usually because they expected something in return. Even the so-called saintly ones like Mother Teresa, who seemingly dedicated themselves to helping others, did that for personal gain. It wasn’t necessarily financial, but to some, admiration and fame were more valuable than money.

  Eleanor wasn’t any different, but then she’d never pretended to be a saint.

  “Marisol.” Tammy called her fake name. “Please see me after class.”

  Was she about to get reprimanded for her lack of enthusiasm?

  Eleanor arched a brow. “Am I in trouble?”

  Tammy smiled. “Not at all. I have good news for you.”

  Her heartbeat accelerated. The only good news the counselor could have for her was the approval of her request for an audience with Emmett.

  “What timing,” Peter whispered in her ear. “Just as we were planning to pack up and leave.”

  “We were? You said that you weren’t ready yet.”

  “I was thinking about leaving on Saturday.”

  “We still might.” Eleanor tucked the yellow pad under her arm and slipped her pen into her back pocket. “Save a seat in the dining hall for me.”

  When everyone had left the classroom, she walked up to the counselor. “What is the good news?”

  “Emmett is going to see you.”

  A wide grin spread over Eleanor’s face. “When?”

  “Ten o’clock tonight.” Tammy sighed dramatically. “Consider yourself flattered. From this round of attendees, you are the only guest he has invited so far.”

  Given the late hour he had scheduled the audience for, the guy wasn’t even pretending that it was about anything other than sex.

  “How does it work? Do I go to his office?”

  “One of Emmett’s personal assistants is going to escort you. Be ready in your room by quarter to ten. He will come to get you.”

  “Do I need to wear anything special?”

  Tammy smiled indulgently. “We don’t believe in frivolous adornments in Safe Haven. You can come as you are.”

  Eleanor leaned closer to the counselor. “What about shaving? Does he like things au naturel, or should I unpack my disposable razor?” After her transition, body hair was no longer an issue, but she couldn’t resist the temptation to mess with Tammy.

  Besides, she wanted to make sure that she wasn’t misinterpreting what the invitation was about.

  The counselor cast her another one of her condescending smiles. “It’s a matter of your own personal preference. We don’t believe in changing ourselves for the benefit of others either. If you feel more confident in your femininity with no body hair, go for it. But you don’t have to do it in order to please Emmett or anyone else in the community.”

  “Good to know. Is it going to be just him and me, or is he inviting a third player? I’m bisexual, so I don’t mind if it’s a man or a woman.”

  “I wasn’t given details. I was only told that Emmett decided to grant your request and the time of the appointment.”

  Eleanor pouted, feigning disappointment. “What if all he wants to do with me is talk?”

  As Tammy cast her an appraising look, the condescending mask slipped for a moment. “I doubt that. You have a phenomenal figure. I’m sure he noticed that.”

  Ice coated Eleanor’s arms. Were there hidden cameras in the lodge after all?

  “When? I’ve only seen him once at the welcome dinner.”

  “He gets daily reports from us. Besides, your Instagram account is full of beautiful pictures.”

  What the hell had Roni put in the fake social media profiles he’d created for her? Had he superimposed her face on nude models? She should have checked it out.

  “I doubt Emmett is trolling my Instagram profile.”

  Tammy looked affronted on behalf of her leader. “No one is trolling your social media. We make minimal background checks on the guests we invite to the retreat to ensure everyone has a positive experience, and we provide Emmett with a file on each guest.”

  Eleanor had seen those files, and there had been no Instagram screenshots in them.

  “Well, I hope he liked what he saw.” Eleanor smiled sweetly, or as sweetly as she was capable of. “I clean up quite nicely.”

  Which was true. She’d looked like a freaking supermodel at Kalugal and Jacki’s wedding. Perhaps those were the pictures Roni had posted? That would explain why she’d gotten an invitation from Emmett.

  “Yes, you do.” It would have been a nice compliment if Tammy hadn’t spoiled it with her condescending expression. “Enjoy tonight. You probably won’t get another invitation.”

  25

  Peter

  “I have an audience with Emmett today at ten.” Eleanor put her tray on the table and pulled out a chair.

  “Ten at night?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, ten the next morning. Of course, it’s ten tonight.”

  Peter shook his head. “That’s not good.”

  “Why not? It’s what I was waiting for.”

  Glancing around to make sure the other diners weren’t paying attention to them, he leaned tow
ard her. “That’s not an invitation for a chat. Emmett assumes that you want an audience because you want a roll in his bed, but you are bonded to Greggory. How are you going to pull it off?”

  “We haven’t bonded yet. But I care for Greggory, and I have no intention of cheating on him.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  She leaned closer. “I will pretend to be under Emmett’s spell, and I might even have to suffer through some mild necking, but when things start to get heavy, I’ll make up a story about why I changed my mind.” She grimaced. “If not for the damn contraceptive shot, I could have used a period as an excuse. Maybe I’ll get another attack of debilitating stomachache.”

  “That’s a good one. He can’t compel you not to feel pain, right?”

  “He can, but if he is even a half-decent human being, he will figure out that something is wrong with me and get me to the nurse or call her to come over to check on me. Besides, I can threaten him with explosive diarrhea. That would kill his mood for sure, even if he is on Viagra.”

  Snorting, Peter almost choked on a piece of lettuce. “You are a devious lady.”

  “I am when I need to be. Sometimes it comes in handy, eh?”

  “When in the service of the clan, your deviousness is an asset.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took a long sip of water. “How come you and Gregg are not bonded yet?”

  She shrugged. “We didn’t have enough time together, as in face to face. We talked on the phone a lot, but I don’t think people can bond via phone sex.”

  He stifled another laugh. “If you decide that you don’t want to be a Guardian, you could become a stand-up comedian.”

  She cast him a baleful glare. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

  “That’s why it was so hilarious. The best jokes are told with a straight face.”

  “If I ever go on stage, I will know that I’ve died and gone to hell.” She sighed. “Fortunately, the clan doesn’t believe in eternal damnation. I’ve done a lot of shitty things in my life, and if hell were real, that would have been my final destination for sure.”