Light Beyond the Darkness

by Tami Lund

  “And?”

  The tears streamed down her face, and she did not brush them away as they blurred her vision, and she choked on her sobs. “He pushed me down the stairs.” She closed her eyes and cried.

  Strong arms came around her from behind, pulling her backward, into his embrace. He gently turned her in his arms, cupped the back of her head, and pressed her face into his shoulder. She clung to his shirt and cried until the tears dried up. He made no move to change their position until she was done and lifted her head to look up at him.

  “Did you love him?” he asked.

  She shook her head, but didn’t speak.

  “I’m sorry you lost your pup—er—babe.”

  She gasped, shocked by the sincerity in his voice. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  He shrugged. “Why? It isn’t something that would affect our relationship, unless you aren’t able to have any more children.”

  He didn’t assume she’d had a mate, and she could not seem to find the words to tell him the whole truth. She was too afraid. She hated that she spent her life feeling afraid, for one reason or another, but right now, she was not strong enough to risk this fragile relationship she had with Reid.

  “I don’t know. I ran away before I was fully healed, so I never asked Alexa.”

  “I don’t care, either way.” He cupped her cheek and dropped a gentle kiss on her temple.

  “You’re too good for me, Reid,” she whispered as a fresh outpouring of tears welled.

  “No, I’m not. Trust me. I’m lucky to have found someone like you, Carley.”

  *

  The pup did not improve over the next few days. The healers used every bit of magic at their disposal to keep him alive, and the rest of the coterie began to suffer from their lack of attention.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Tanner demanded at least ten times a day.

  “No one knows,” Alexa told him miserably. Whatever it was, it was beyond her capacity as a lightbearer healer. And if it was beyond her capacity, it was beyond the lot of them. She was the best they had.

  “I think we should take him to the human healers,” she suggested to Olivia on the third day. “Perhaps they will see something I cannot.”

  Olivia was not opposed, but Tanner wouldn’t hear of it. “I’m not letting those heathens poke and prod my son,” he raged when Alexa voiced her thoughts.

  “Those heathens might be able to save your son,” Alexa argued, but Tanner was stubborn.

  “Finn can go downstate to the pack in Detroit. I’m sure there’s a shifter midwife. We’ll bring her here.”

  *

  When Finn returned to the coterie, it was with a midwife and the pack master from the Detroit shifter pack.

  “Josh Tigre,” he introduced himself, shaking hands and staring all around, clearly enthralled with the beach house and the lightbearers who all sparkled and glittered with magic. “I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see this place for myself,” he explained, while the midwife disappeared into Olivia and Tanner’s suite to examine the pup.

  When Finn returned with the other two shifters, Reid had met them in the foyer, and once the midwife was escorted upstairs, he nodded at his brother, indicating he wanted to speak with him alone. But Josh wasn’t ready to let them go yet.

  “So what’s it like, living in a lightbearer’s coterie?” he asked, looking at Reid.

  Reid glanced at the hall leading to the kitchen, where Carley was busy overseeing preparations for the next meal. “I don’t live here,” he said shortly.

  He felt a slight pang saying the words. In truth, in the short time they’d been in the coterie, he had felt more comfortable than anywhere else he’d ever settled, regardless of the timeframe. Even in Tennessee, surrounded by his sister’s adopted pack, he hadn’t felt as though he belonged. Yet he did, here, in a lightbearers’ hidden village.

  Except he couldn’t stay. Carley was still far too skittish. And now, with the reminder of the babe she’d lost, he figured she was more than ready to head back to Chicago, back to the life she’d forged there, in an effort to forget the memories of this place.

  Josh glanced from Finn to Reid and frowned. “You’re brothers, right? How come one’s here and the other isn’t?”

  “Our sister and parents live in Tennessee,” Finn offered. Reid figured he was leading Josh to believe Reid lived there too. But the pack master wouldn’t relent.

  “But you glow,” he commented, pointing at Reid’s hand. “According to Tanner, that only happens when you’re sleeping with a lightbearer.”

  Finn glanced down at Reid’s hands, and Reid shoved them into the front pockets of his jeans. It was no one’s business whether he glowed or was sleeping with a lightbearer.

  “Actually, just sleeping with them doesn’t cause the glow,” Finn said, still steadily watching his brother.

  Reid did not like this conversation. It made him uncomfortable. Sure, he’d all but admitted to himself that he was in love with Carley, but they hadn’t mated, and he knew they couldn’t, not yet. He had to tell her about his past, first. She needed to know the history behind the scars, the reason he had them. And if she still accepted him, even after that, well, he’d probably shout from the rooftops, frankly. But until then—

  “I think I figured out who was behind the most recent attacks,” he blurted, searching for a change of subject.

  Both Finn and Josh’s gazes sharpened. He hadn’t meant to mention anything in front of the other pack master, but he needed a distraction away from his personal life.

  “There’ve been attacks?” Josh asked. “Against shifters?”

  Finn shook his head. “Against other lightbearers, although it’s because of our presence, or so we believe.”

  “Inside this place? Inside the wards? I thought this was the lightbearers’ safe place.”

  “Yeah, well, when your own are attacking you, even your safe place isn’t exactly safe,” Finn muttered.

  “Well, since I’m here, let me help.” Josh rubbed his hands together, as if in anticipation.

  Reid looked to Finn to make the decision. He was Tanner’s second-in-command. It was his call.

  Finn nodded at the hall leading to the king’s library. “Let’s talk in there. Tanner trusts you, so if you want to get yourself caught up in our troubles, by all means.” He walked across the foyer, and Reid and Josh followed.

  *

  While she finished dinner preparations, Reid slipped into the kitchen. He snagged a chunk of venison from one of the roasts she’d made, and informed her that they’d caught two more lightbearers who had been followers of the Chosen One.

  “Josh actually figured it out. He’s pretty cool. And a handy ally. Doesn’t give two shits about lightbearer magic, other than the standard appreciation for its existence.”

  Carley held her breath, wondering if they’d finally found Miguel.

  “Kids,” he added as he popped a roasted carrot into his mouth. “Not even out of school yet. Probably have been brainwashed for nearly their entire lives.” He sounded disgusted, but all Carley could think was, They still haven’t found Miguel. She didn’t know which was worse: the idea that they would catch him and it would come out that he was her mate, or the idea that he was still out there, waiting to finish the job he’d thought he’d done when he pushed her down the stairs.

  “H-hopefully because they’re so young, it won’t be hard to rehabilitate them,” she managed to respond.

  Without her asking, he loaded dishes onto a serving tray and headed to the dining room. “Hopefully,” he responded, before disappearing through the swinging door and out of the kitchen.

  Mica stepped into the space he’d just occupied and began loading a second tray with dishes. “Sure is handy having him around. He can carry twice as much as the rest of us.” She hefted the tray and walked through the door Reid was now holding open for her.

  He stepped up next to Carley and began piling food onto a plate. While Mica and
a handful of servants went back and forth, replenishing food for the diners in the other room and pulling away used dishes when they were done, Reid leaned against the counter and ate, while Carley managed the kitchen, ensuring food was continually sent to the dining room, and cleaning up as she went.

  “The midwife didn’t have any more luck than the healer did,” he commented in between bites.

  Carley’s heart ached for the poor babe and his parents. “Maybe they should let Alexa take him to the human healers after all.”

  “Tanner refuses. He doesn’t believe humans know any more than us. He says they’ll take his blood and run tests and figure out he isn’t human. Then what do we do?”

  * * * *

  Josh and the midwife went back to their pack the next day. Alexa continued to implore Tanner to let her take his pup to human doctors, and he continued to refuse her request. After she’d overseen breakfast, Carley took a tray of food up to Olivia and Tanner’s suite. Olivia, Cecilia, Alexa, and the babe were the only occupants at the moment.

  “We should take him anyway,” Cecilia said. She plucked a grape from the tray, said hello to Carley, and popped it into her mouth. “We just need to distract Tanner—and Finn,” she added as an afterthought. “We’ll take one of the trucks. Finn taught me how to drive.”

  “There is a human hospital not twenty miles from here,” Alexa added.

  “Let’s do it,” Olivia said with determination.

  The distraction, as it turned out, happened of its own accord, and purely by accident. Nona, with her bad hip, decided to try to climb the stairs to the beach house and made it up five steps before she slipped and fell back to the bottom. In an impressive act of altruism, Tanner, Finn, and Reid fled the house and rushed to help. Even the king and queen rushed outside to help. Nona was the oldest member of the coterie, and everyone knew her, and no one wanted to see her in pain.

  “This is our chance,” Alexa said as she stuffed necessary baby items into a bag.

  “Shouldn’t you be rushing to help, too?” Olivia asked even as she climbed out of bed and began throwing on clothes.

  Alexa shook her head. “No offense to Nona, but saving your babe’s life is more critical at the moment. Besides, there are half a dozen other healers in this coterie. She’ll be in good hands. Let’s go. Hurry.”

  Cecilia grabbed the bag of baby items, Olivia wrapped the babe in blankets, and Alexa led the way down the stairs to the foyer. Carley hurried after them. In the foyer, Cecilia stopped and turned to Carley. “Cover for us?” she asked, looking earnest.

  Carley automatically nodded. If it would save Olivia’s babe, she would do anything to help.

  “We’ll be back as quickly as we can,” Cecilia promised, and the three women skirted around her and rushed out of the foyer, toward the kitchen and the back door.

  Carley stood there, in the middle of the room, until she heard the door bang shut behind them. She realized she was alone. The last time she’d been alone was during the trip from the coterie to Chicago, five months ago. It had taken her three days to determine her destination, and another week to find the restaurant, and with the help of her magic, persuade the general manager to hire her.

  Vivian had befriended her instantly; she had a knack for collecting lost souls. The first night they worked together, she informed Carley they had an empty bedroom in their house, if she was so inclined to move in. Carley liked Vivian, had liked all her human coworkers thus far, and she needed a more permanent residence than the motel she had been using.

  Since then, the only times she’d been alone were in the bathroom and when she slept at night. These days, she didn’t even sleep alone.

  The constant human company hadn’t bothered her in the least. Just as Reid had accused when they first met, being surrounded by humans made her feel safe. Hidden out in the open. It was a brilliant plan, really. If Reid had not stumbled into her restaurant, she could have continued to live like that for the rest of her days.

  Oh, but then she would not have met him, would not have been courted so thoroughly, treated so wonderfully. She would never have discovered that sex really was a joy. She would never have had hope that she could be part of a love match.

  Except she couldn’t, not really. She couldn’t be part of a match at all. Miguel was out there, somewhere. She didn’t for a moment think he was dead, however convenient that would be. They’d scoured the land for traces of the Chosen One’s followers for over a month after he died. If Miguel was dead, they would have found a body. Someone would have noticed the telltale flash of light that precedes a lightbearer’s death.

  Which meant she could never truly, fully be happy with Reid. Even if one day he asked her to mate with him—she couldn’t. And when she finally worked up the courage to confess the reason why, she was certain he would walk away from whatever was blooming between them. From what little she’d learned about his past, he would not tolerate sharing a bed with a woman who belonged to another.

  Every day the guilt gnawed at her. How many times had she opened her mouth, had she started to come clean? But her fear—fear of losing him, more than anything else—always stopped her. And the longer she waited…the worse it would be when he did find out. Because it was inevitable. Unless Miguel really was dead, Reid would, at some point, discover she was not free to be his.

  “Hello, mate.”

  Carley gasped and whirled around, and came face-to-face with her worst nightmare.

  “Miguel.” She sucked in a harsh breath, scarcely able to believe. And yet—he was there, standing not ten feet away, in the middle of the foyer in the king’s beach house.

  And they were all alone.

  Chapter 13

  He looked terrible. His hair was long and tangled, and he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in months. He smelled as if he had not bathed in nearly as long. His clothing was dingy and stained. He’d become a wild animal since she saw him last. Ironic, given his hatred of shifters.

  “Well, well, well,” he said as he made a slow circuit around the foyer, his gaze perusing her person in an exaggerated way. “Somebody fixed you up nice and right,” he commented. “I thought for sure that fall would kill you.”

  “You pushed me,” she whispered.

  Miguel nodded. “Why didn’t you die, mate? Why the hell didn’t you die?” His voice increased in volume with his agitation. Carley’s fear shot into hyperspace, as she stood in the middle of the room, her gaze tracking his movements as he paced around her, slowly. Torturously slowly.

  She was a mouse, waiting for the cat to pounce. Was this how she was meant to die? Not from a fall down the stairs, but at Miguel’s hand, in the middle of the king’s home?

  “Carley!” Her name was shouted breathlessly from the porch. Miguel’s head jerked around at the sound. He gave her one last malicious look, and then he bolted from the room, running toward the kitchen, just as Reid stormed through the front door.

  “Carley, what is it?” he demanded as he came to a skidding halt directly in front of her. She opened her mouth to answer when Tanner burst through the door and rushed through the foyer and up the stairs. Carley and Reid both wordlessly watched him, as Finn chased after him and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

  “She’s gone,” Tanner shouted a moment later, as he returned to the top of the stairs. “There’s no one here.”

  “Cecilia too?” Finn demanded, then he added, “What a stupid question. She would have spearheaded this damn plan.”

  “Everyone’s gone,” Tanner confirmed.

  Three shifter gazes focused on Carley.

  “Where are they, Carley?”

  Did he assume her fright was from the fact that Olivia, Cecilia, and Alexa left?

  “The human doctors,” Finn guessed when she did not immediately answer.

  Tanner spewed a string of curses as he stomped down the stairs.

  “Th-they only want to heal him,” Carley stuttered.

  Tanner was at the bottom of the stairs in the
space of one heartbeat. He reached for Carley’s arms, but before he could do anything, Reid grabbed him. Light flashed, and Tanner was thrown across the room, crashing into the far wall with a bone-crunching sound. He growled and glared at Reid, crouching as if he intended to pounce, when Carley said, “How did you do that?”

  All three gazes turned to her once again. “Do what?” Finn asked.

  Carley waved at Reid. “That was lightbearer magic. You’re both shifters. How are you able to use lightbearer magic?”

  Reid looked down at his hand, a confused look on his face.

  Finn gave her a curious look. “Isn’t it your magic?” he asked. “I mean—that is—Cecilia shares her magic with me. It wasn’t even on purpose at first.”

  Carley’s eyes grew wide, and she blurted, “That’s it. Sharing magic.”

  Once again, she received that triple stare.

  “The babe or pup or whatever. Maybe that’s all he needs. Olivia just needs to share her magic. Maybe that will jump-start his system,” she explained impatiently.

  Tanner and Finn exchanged a look. Finn nodded. “Worth a try,” he said, speaking directly to Tanner.

  Tanner nodded as hope bloomed in his glowing eyes. “Let’s go,” he said, and he and Finn turned and once again charged through the foyer, toward the kitchen and the back door. The same way Miguel went. Carley held her breath.

  “You okay?” Reid asked as he reached out and touched her arm.

  When she heard the back door slam closed, she said, “I want to go with them.” She did not want to be in this house right now. Not after having seen Miguel such a short time ago. Not without the protection a crowd afforded. She was not ready to find out if Reid could hold his own against Miguel. She was not ready to tell Reid about him.

  “Okay. Let’s go,” Reid said easily enough, and he clasped her hand and followed Finn and Tanner’s path.

  As they passed through the kitchen, she noticed Mica was there, standing at the counter, rhythmically chopping vegetables. She glanced over her shoulder as Carley and Reid hurried past and remarked, “Busy place today.”