by Nicole Hall
Luc joined them at the door. “What about your safety, love? If your protections are mediocre at best, what’s to stop Dru’s assailant from harming you while searching for her?”
“My protections are not mediocre.”
Luc adopted a skeptical look. “Dru is moving in with Oren because a simple mark interferes with your spells. Perhaps I should stay here to ensure your safety.”
Samantha’s slow smile should have been a warning for him, but Luc stood his ground. “Get out.” She flicked her fingers at him, and to Dru’s astonishment, he disappeared, satchel and all.
Now there was a skill she’d like to learn. She pointed at Samantha. “You need to teach me that when I get back.”
Samantha hugged her, more relaxed than she’d been all morning. “It only works in the house. Don’t get yourself killed. You still have seven months on the sub-lease. If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
Dru sniffled and pulled back. “Were you ever going to tell me about your power?”
Secrets filled Samantha’s eyes. “It’s not the right time for me to explain it, but I promise it had nothing to do with my feelings for you.”
Dru nodded and tried to take the sentiment to heart, tried not to think about how this felt like a real goodbye. “Go easy on Nick. He’s a good guy.” She shifted to Oren, who’d been waiting silently by the door. “I’m going to pack a bag really quick and grab my work stuff.”
“I hope you’re ready to be a pack mule,” Samantha muttered as Dru ran up the steps.
Staying with Oren turned out to be surprisingly drama-free. And surprisingly sex-free. Oren seemed to take Samantha’s concerns to heart and limited himself to nothing more sensual than a fleeting touch. Dru accepted the new restraint for all of a day and a half.
Dru liked sex, and Oren had proved willing enough that first night before all hell had broken loose. Bonus, she trusted this guy enough to share her magic with him. After that, she had no qualms about sharing her body.
After escorting her back to the apartment covered in bags, Oren had left to meet with a contact he hoped could narrow the search for Brianne. Dru wanted to help, but her area of expertise mostly centered around finding other people to do the searching for her. At most, she could drive around and hope she noticed Brianne’s magic, but even with the area narrowed, finding Brianne would still come down to dumb luck.
Dru’s number one priority never wavered from finding her sister, but while she waited, she needed to work on the project she’d accepted. On the off chance that she survived and would be able to live out her life in Terra, she wanted to have a life. That meant working and maintaining friendships.
She took over the guest room in Seth’s apartment, and over the course of the next few hours, shifted all of Keely’s things into the main bedroom. Oren wouldn’t mind, and Dru figured Seth and Keely would get there at some point anyway. She was helping. Yeah. Helping. Besides, she needed the space to spread out her designs.
Dru wouldn’t admit the truth to Samantha, but the spacious layout of Seth’s apartment worked way better for her system. And she didn’t have to fear reprisals for say, accidentally leaving a streak of paint on a table for a few hours.
Oren returned after dark, gave her a quick update, asked her how her day went, and crashed in his bedroom before the talking turned into anything more. She understood the feeling. After their magic adventure that morning, Dru hadn’t been able to recoup her energy. She’d stayed awake purely through caffeine and sugar, so she didn’t last much longer than he did.
The next morning, Oren had already left when she woke up. Dru filled her time with work, followed by the same deal as the day before. Return after dark, quick update, talk about her day, and straight to his bedroom as soon as the air started crackling between them. Dru considered barging in like she would have done with Samantha, but that choice would have a whole different ending with Oren than it would with her former roommate. At least, she hoped it would.
Instead of forcing his hand, she read one of her beloved man-chest books and called it a night. Dru wasn’t in a rush, despite only having limited time for fun sexy indulgences, but that didn’t mean she wanted this avoidance to be a regular thing. Naked time or not, finding her sister was only the first step in tackling the problem with Hollis.
Her plan to refuse marriage before becoming the vessel wouldn’t work any longer, so it was time for a new plan. Ljos would kill her without a bond, and the bond with Oren put him in direct danger right along with her. Thinking about it made her chest tight, but she couldn’t think of a single solution that wouldn’t involve a sacrifice. At least focusing on Brianne and Oren kept her mind off impending death.
And underneath it all, she missed Oren. While she respected his laser-like focus, she’d enjoyed the friendship they were building. Her relationship with Oren was the first time anyone had liked her whole self. None of her current friends knew about magic or Hollis or her desperate need to not be a puppet—or a conduit.
On the third day of an absent Oren, Dru finished her work and camped out in the living room. He always searched her out when he got home, but this time she planned to surprise him with dinner. Chinese take-out, to be specific. He may pretend to be worldly, but he’d never had Pan’s Chinese.
Dru had assumed Pan was the owner’s name until Keely had insisted that she visit the restaurant in person. The place was run by a Greek family that decorated it in grapes and fig leaves. A giant mural of a satyr took up one wall. They made the best lo mein she’d ever had. Lucky for her, they delivered to Seth’s apartment as well as the row house.
She’d already put the order in, but they’d told her the restaurant was swamped, so she didn’t expect it to beat Oren home. Some superhero show droned on in front of her, but Dru was more interested in her missing knife wound. She stroked her unmarked palm. One more thing she needed to clear up with Oren.
Dru sighed and turned off the TV, then tossed the remote on the coffee table. Seth’s channel choices left a lot to be desired. For a super-rich guy, he had terrible taste in movie packages, and she didn’t watch much TV, mostly because books were the superior story-telling conveyance.
The light from the TV messed up the view through the windows anyway. Dru considered returning to her room to get her latest book, but laziness dictated that sitting on the couch in the dark would be just as good. The sun set pretty late in the summer, so she wondered what exactly Oren did that kept him out all day and into the night. Her bounty hunter experience was limited to books with half-naked guys on the cover.
Come to think of it, Oren would make a great cover model. Heat spread, making her shift restlessly as she remembered the feel of him under her. First, they’d share a meal, then she’d make it absolutely clear that she wanted him naked. The man himself came in before she could muster up a plan to try to convince him to let her take some pictures. She curled up on the couch to face him.
“How do you feel about posing semi-nude?”
Oren closed the door and locked it behind him before joining her. “Depends. Are you the artist?”
“I was speaking more hypothetically, but if you’re interested, I’ve been wanting to paint you since we first met.”
He studied her face and tension crackled between them. The mark on her neck warmed, and Dru had to tangle her fingers in her shorts to keep from touching it. A buzz from his pants made Oren dig out his phone. He hit a few buttons, then frowned at it.
Dru sighed as the moment passed. “Speaking of naked time, I thought you were supposed to be protecting me. What’s with all the hiding?”
Oren glanced up at her, then back to his phone. “I think I might have a lead on Brianne.”
Dru narrowed her eyes. “That’s an excellent distraction, and I’m going to jump on it, but we’re coming back to this later.”
“Understood.”
“What’s the lead?”
“A girl named Brianne with similar bone structure to you showed u
p in a small-town paper a couple of years ago.”
Dru sat up straighter. “Where? And how did you find that obscure piece of information?”
He waved his phone at her. “I have friends who are adept at using technology to find things. Did you think I just wandered around sniffing the air like a basset hound?”
She cocked her head. “Are there basset hounds in Aecantha?”
“No, but I happened to help a search and rescue team once who used them.”
Dru had assumed all his jobs involved chasing down hardened criminals, probably of the magical variety. She’d never considered he helped save people too. “One day, I want you to tell me all about your adventures as a bounty hunter.”
His face softened. “I’d like that. Now as to where. The town is in a heavily forested area of New York state about sixty miles north of here.”
Dru hopped up. “Perfect. Let’s go get her.”
“That sounds suspiciously like kidnapping.”
“It’s not kidnapping if she’s going voluntarily.”
“What happens if she doesn’t volunteer to leave with us?”
“Then it becomes an involuntary road trip.”
“And how is this not kidnapping?”
Dru propped her hands on her hips. “I’m not hearing any other suggestions here. If we—” A knock on the door interrupted her thought, and Dru pointed a finger at Oren. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He smiled and leaned back. “Where am I going to go?”
Dru pulled the door open to Jeff holding two paper bags. “Aw, Jeff. I could have come down to get it. You’re so sweet.”
The older man blushed as Dru took the food from him. “It’s my job, miss. Have a good evening.” He turned away, and Dru kicked the door shut.
She turned to Oren with a flourish. “Ta da! I have provided dinner. Delicious dinner in the form of saucy noodles.”
He laughed and followed her into the kitchen. Dru pulled out the various offerings and opened the lo mein to breathe in the spicy scent. She grabbed a long noodle intending to pop it in her mouth, but Oren closed his hand over hers.
“Don’t eat that.”
Dru looked up at him, planning to tease him, but he’d abandoned the relaxed vibe they’d had going in favor of a tense frown. “Why not?”
“It smells like nightshade. A lot of it.”
She rolled her eyes and tried to tug her hand free. “Well, there’s eggplant in the vegetables on here.”
“Not eggplant. Belladonna.”
Dru dropped the noodle and backed away from the containers. “Like the poisonous nightshade? Why would that be in my Chinese food?”
Oren drew her over to the sink to wash both their hands. “Because someone’s still trying to kill you.”
8
DRU
Warm water flowed over her hands as Oren cleaned them. Admittedly, Dru didn’t know much about belladonna poisoning, but she appreciated Oren’s ‘better safe than sorry’ approach. She also appreciated his big body pressed against hers. Too bad she couldn’t take advantage of it until they discussed a few things.
“I forgot with everything else going on, but when we did the finding spell, my hand didn’t even show a mark where you cut me.” Dru spoke to the sink, but she felt him nod behind her.
“I think the mark connected us a little more thoroughly than intended.”
“We’ve already discussed that fun side effect. What did it do to my hand?”
He shut off the water and dried them both off before moving away. “One of the more useful traits of my kind is the ability to heal from most non-fatal injuries. Unless dryads have a similar ability, and from what I’ve learned that seems unlikely, you may have picked up the same trait.”
Dru nodded, not surprised. The idea had been floating around in the back of her mind for a few days. “In that case, the belladonna probably wouldn’t have killed me.”
“Maybe. I don’t know how much of my healing you’re getting. A small cut from a very sharp knife in a single location is one thing. A massive dose of poison is another.”
“I like the idea of super-healing, so I’m going to roll with it.” Dru threw the hand towel onto the counter and led him back into the living room. “New topic. We need to go get Brianne.”
He frowned. “That’s not a new topic. We were just talking about that. And I’m still not in favor of kidnapping. We can go tomorrow morning and talk to her.” His calm assurance raised her hackles a little. She didn’t like being told what to do, and this was dangerously close to that territory.
Instead of looking for a fight, Dru reminded herself she’d asked Oren to do a job for her because he was the expert. Still, she couldn’t just give in that easily.
Dru sank onto the couch, and Oren followed suit. “Why not tonight?”
“Because it’s late and someone just tried to kill you again?”
She’d been avoiding that train of thought. None of it made any sense. Without Dru, there wouldn’t be a vessel, and the connection between Ljos and the dryads would be lost. Unless Hollis had misled her about that too. But who else would want her dead?
Dru closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the couch. No. She had plenty of outside information that corroborated Hollis’ teachings in that sense. If she had a way to collect the power from the vessel without suffering the consequences, was there a way to avoid the consequences all together?
“Dru?”
She opened her eyes to see Oren staring at her with his brow furrowed. He really did have a pretty face.
“I don’t understand why Hollis would go all Evil Queen and try to off her daughter. Or why now? She’s known where I am for a good ten years. Why wait until she really needs me to try to kill me?”
Oren glanced at the tainted noodles on the counter. “It means there’s more going on here than we know about. You need to be vigilant with your own safety when I’m not around.”
Dru felt her hackles rise and glared at him. “Excuse you. I’ve kept myself alive for almost twenty-eight years without your help. Maybe this whole thing has nothing to do with me. It didn’t start until I met you.” Even as she said it, Dru didn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. He’d pissed her off, and she’d dropped whatever vestiges of a filter she’d had.
“I’ve considered that. The timing was extraordinarily suspicious, and I’m always conveniently on hand to save you.”
His easy capitulation stopped her snowballing irritation. “Really? Then why are you sure I’m the target?”
“You were the one clearly in danger each time. None of the attempts would have killed me, or even slowed me down for long. It could still have been about me if the person behind it believed that harming you would affect me somehow, but the first time happened right after we’d met.”
Dru blew out a breath, releasing the last of her anger. “You don’t fight fair. The rules clearly state that you need to be a jerk and argue with me to validate my anger. If I rebel against all this serene logic then I’m the asshole.”
He chuckled and ran a lock of her hair through his fingers. “Once again, we appear to be flaunting the rules. I’m beginning to believe that whoever came up with them didn’t know much about their subject.”
Dru frowned as a thought nagged at her, a memory of the guy in the café. “What if that wasn’t the first time?”
Oren sat up a bit straighter. “Tell me.”
“This guy bought me a drink before you and Luc arrived at the coffee shop. My favorite, according to the scribbles on the side. Samantha made him leave and tossed the drink in the trash before I could try it, but it didn’t feel right anyway.”
Oren’s big hand slid over hers and squeezed. “Always trust your gut. Did you recognize him?”
Warmth spread out from her chest. No patronizing. No endless questions to determine if she’d overreacted. He trusted her straight out, and Dru loved it.
“No. I don’t remember seeing him before.” Dru took a second
to pull up his image in her mind. “He was painfully average. Just cute enough that he didn’t draw attention, average height, boring clothes. It was his eyes that stopped me. He spoke casually, but his eyes really wanted me to drink that coffee.”
“Anything before that?”
“Just the usual feeling of being watched. I started noticing it about a year ago. Sometimes when I’m out, I suddenly get goosebumps, and I know someone’s focused on me. I’ve never actually seen anyone doing it, but we both know there are magical ways around that.”
He’d gone back to playing with her hair. “The next time you sense that, let me know and we’ll find them.”
“What about the noodle poisoner?”
“There are too many scents around the box. I get three strong ones—the poison, the sauce, and Jeff—so unless Seth’s doorman has suddenly turned dark, whoever tampered with the food was smart enough to hide their smell among all the others. Does anyone other than Hollis want you dead?”
“Isn’t my mother enough?” Dru’s voice cracked right at the end, and she ducked her head. Not exactly the strong, independent vibe she wanted to give off.
Oren released her hand to curl his arm around her waist and haul her closer. Dru caught herself against his chest, and after the move sent a momentary thrill through her, settled down with her head on his shoulder.
A hug. He’d pulled her in for a hug when her armor had cracked. His hand stayed firmly at her waist. Not a single inappropriate touch, despite her clear enthusiasm. The warmth that had started earlier burst into a wildfire in her blood, and appreciation threatened to choke her.
Dru cleared her throat and relaxed against him. “Thanks.”
“There are people that love you, kalia. That woman may have created you, but she will never be your mother.”
He’d used the same phrase she often told herself, but the words seemed more powerful coming from outside her head. Dru had never been able to talk about these aspects of her life before, and being able to share them with Oren was a luxury she wasn’t sure she wanted to give up.
