Daniels nodded. “Actually, yes, I did. I returned to England shortly after the night we spent together. But when I came back to the States several months later, I tried to track her down. I soon found out, however, that she’d given me a false last name.” He smiled then but he wasn’t amused. Nic figured he wasn’t a man who liked to lose. “I thought that was the end of it. I have to admit I was quite put out about not being able to find her. And I admit to thinking about her over the years.”
He paused and Nic thought he was going to stop there but then the guy took a deep breath and continued, his gaze never leaving Tira’s.
“If I had known I had a child, I would have…demanded to have a place in your life, Tira. I can only imagine why she never told me about you all these years. But that’s a question I wish to pose to your mother. She sent for me. I would like to see her. Now.”
Duke stopped behind Tira, his hands landing on her shoulders as she clutched Nic’s hand.
Nic watched Daniels note each point of contact, his expression registering nothing at all. Vaffanculo, the guy was nearly as stoic as Kyle, before Tamra had come into the picture. And that was saying something.
Tira paused for a brief second before sighing. “My mother’s not well. Hasn’t been for several years.”
Daniels stilled, his eyes narrowing. “Is she ill?”
Tira paused again. “Not physically, no. It’s…hard to explain. There are circumstances…”
“What kind of circumstances?”
Tira looked at Nic, her blue eyes dull with confusion, pain and grief. He wanted to wipe those emotions away, hated to see them there. He wanted to go back a few hours, to when they still had the rest of the day ahead of them.
Now…
Nic looked at Daniels. “Su’s mental health is compromised. She has episodes of psychosis that have been getting worse. She can be lucid for days then be out of it for a week.” Or a month.
Now the man actually showed some emotion. He blanched, his skin becoming the color of ashes.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Years,” Tira continued. “It started when I was in my teens.”
That muscle in Daniel’s jaw ticked again. “I’m sorry. If I had known…” He took a deep breath. “I would like to talk to your mother now, Tira. She did send for me and there are things we need to discuss.”
Tira nodded. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to be prepared if she should…become agitated or incoherent. It can happen in a split second. She can be lucid and hold a normal conversation one second and the next she’ll be…off. I don’t know why she called for you but if she sent for you, she had to have a good reason.”
As Tira stood, Nic again had the urge to grab her and run. Instead he rose with her, releasing her hand as Duke’s hands fell away from her shoulders.
The lump in Nic’s gut twisted and rolled and muscles tightened with anxiety.
Which was stupid. The guy didn’t pose a threat, not with him, Duke and Dan ready to tear him limb from limb if he so much as looked at Tira or Su cross-eyed.
And no one except Tira had the right to deny Su the opportunity to talk to Daniels.
Nic had deliberately listened in on Dan and Margie’s conversation with Cat while Tira had been talking to Daniels. Only weeks away from sixteen, Cat was bright and levelheaded but she had a soft heart. Everyone, including her three parents, spoiled her but she managed not to be a brat.
Dan was furious with her for shielding the man and bringing him through the wards around the property without telling anyone, but Margie had wanted to know more about Su’s state of mind when she’d told Cat her plan.
Cat had explained how she’d carefully considered Su’s request and taken into account her mental state before she’d agreed to help. Nic could find no fault with her reasoning.
Daniels had no power. He hadn’t simply walked through the wards, he’d been brought through. If he knew what Su and his daughter were, he gave no indication and so far he hadn’t lied about anything. He, Duke or Dan would have smelled it on him.
“Please, follow me,” Tira said. “I’ll take you back to our house.”
Tira and Daniels made polite small talk about the weather as they left Dan and Margie’s. They didn’t linger on their walk. It was too cold for that. Nic followed along behind Tira, only realizing as they reached Su’s house that Duke had stayed behind to talk to Margie and Dan.
Or not.
Duke had his cell phone at his ear.
Vaffanculo. Duke would only have answered the phone for Kyle.
“Nic? What’s wrong?”
Tira called to him from her mother’s porch, where she had one hand on the doorknob.
As he watched Duke, he reached for his own cell and pulled it out to check for messages or missed calls, knowing he didn’t have any. He wouldn’t have missed the vibration.
Duke’s expression went from guarded to stone in a split second. His gaze caught and held Nic’s for two very long seconds before he looked away, nodding as he said something and then pushed the phone back into his pocket.
Tinia’s teat, what the hell else was going on? And did he really want to know?
“Hang tight a sec, Ti.”
After a few words to Margie, Dan and Duke started toward them.
Duke’s expression was carefully blank and that told Nic almost everything he needed to know.
“What’s going on?” he asked when Duke reached him.
“The eteri’s gone and so is Kaine.” Duke shook his head. “Kyle’s pretty sure Kaine released the guy then followed him. I’m going back to help Kyle track Kaine. You stay with Tira. With any luck, we’ll find them both in a few hours.”
Dread made Nic’s stomach tighten into a ball. Dread and resignation.
“One of us needs to stay with Tira,” Duke continued. “It should be you.”
Because you only have a few more hours to touch her.
Duke didn’t say it but Nic couldn’t argue the fact.
He wanted to stay.
Duke should have no trouble tracking Kaine. But…Nic and Duke were a team. They worked like a well-oiled machine, their strengths complementing each other, filling in the other’s weaknesses.
And Kyle was used to working solo. Not that Nic didn’t trust Kyle with Duke’s life. He did. But… Shit.
Torn, Nic battled back the rage threatening to make him howl.
One day. All she’d asked for was one fucking day.
“Go.”
Tira’s voice sounded right behind him and he turned to see her standing only two feet away from him.
“Ti—”
“Whatever’s going on, you need to go.” The resignation in her eyes made his chest throb with pain. “This is going to be hard enough to get through without having you and Duke hovering over my shoulder.” When he winced, she shook her head. “I don’t say that to hurt you. I never want to hurt you. But this is something Mom and I need to do on our own right now. Dan and Margie and the streghe will be here if I need anything. Go. But be careful. Please.”
Nic swore he ground his molars into dust.
He understood. He hated it but understood where she was coming from.
Ho nodded. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Then he reached out to grab her shoulders and bring her close enough for a long, hard kiss. One hand reached up to cup her chin, his other pressed against her back and brought her flush up against him, fitting them together so tightly, he felt her heartbeat.
He kissed her until he had to stop to draw in air or risk passing out then let his forehead rest against hers.
“Ti, just… I love you, sweetheart.”
Her lips curved in a bittersweet smile. “I know. I love you too.”
And that would have to be enough.
When Nic stepped back, Duke stepped around him, reaching for her. She wound her arms ’round his neck and let him lift her off her feet in a tight hug. Then she k
issed Duke with just as much passion as she had Nic.
Nic’s gaze flipped to Daniels, standing on the porch watching everything with that impassive expression. If he had a problem watching his daughter kiss two men equally lovingly, he gave no outward sign.
As Duke moved to pull away, Tira’s hands caught him to her and she whispered something in Duke’s ear, something Nic wasn’t quick enough to catch.
Duke nodded before giving her another hard kiss then turning to Nic.
“Come on. Kaine has at least an hour jump on us.”
Nic nodded but didn’t move. His gaze followed Tira as she opened the door to the home she shared with her mom and waved her father through.
Only when she shut the door did he turn to Duke.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter Eleven
Two hours later, Tira’s head spun with a thousand different emotions, none of which she could make settle long enough to think about.
She’d just met her father. Duke and Nic had left to find Kaine and the eteri who’d escaped, probably with Kaine’s help.
And any help she might have provided to the guys by using her Gift was gone.
But not for long.
“Mom, I need to step out for a minute,” Tira said when her parents—Goddess, that sounded so strange—paused long enough in their conversation for her to get a word in edgewise.
They’d been sitting in the living room, where her mom had been waiting when Tira had opened the door two hours ago. Tira had caught back a gasp at the sight of her mother, clear-eyed and even wearing a tiny bit of makeup. And no longer blind. Blessed Goddess, Su looked so much like the woman Tira thought she’d lost months ago. So much so it nearly made her cry.
But she’d bitten her tongue to fight back tears as Su had smiled at Mark, holding out her hand to shake as if they were meeting for the first time, which wasn’t too far off the mark. They hadn’t spent much time together all those years ago. Just enough to fall hopelessly in lust and create Tira.
When Su and Mark had looked into each other’s eyes today, Tira saw that spark remained. Even though her mom had kept his daughter a secret all these years.
He’d asked about that, about why she’d done it. And her mom had given him as much of a straight answer as she could without divulging boschetta secrets.
He’d appeared to accept her explanations at face value and their discussion had turned from Why did you do that? to What have you been doing? What are you doing now?
They hadn’t gotten to the What do we do now? part.
But Tira could tell by the way Mark looked at her mom he wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast. He still wanted her.
And her mom deserved that chance.
“Mom,” Tira tried again to catch Su’s attention. “I’m just going to go talk to Margie for a minute, okay?”
Su glanced her way, her smile so sweet, it nearly made Tira tear up. “That’s fine, hon.”
Mark stood as she did, the old-fashioned gesture endearing. And his small smile warmed his expression by a few degrees when aimed at her.
“I’d like to talk to you as well, Tira. A little later. I’m afraid we’ve cut you out of the conversation, haven’t we?”
Tira forced a smile for him, hoping he didn’t notice the strain behind it. “Not a problem. There’ll be time. I’ll be back a little later.”
And when she returned, things would be different. Better.
They had to be.
* * * * *
Tira walked back to Margie’s and asked Dan if he wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on her house.
After a piercing stare which she held, he nodded and headed for the kitchen and the back door, shedding his clothes as he went.
“Is everything okay, Tira?”
Cat walked up to her, teeth lodged in her bottom lip. The girl looked more worried now than she had earlier and Tira gave her a hug.
“Everything’s fine, Cat. Thank you for helping my mom. And I’m sorry you’re going to get in trouble for it.”
A little of the tension eased from Cat’s pretty face and a smile lifted her lips. “The ‘rents were pretty cool about it, after Daddy got over being so scared.” Her eyes rolled in classic teen disgust but Tira knew Cat idolized her parents. All three of them. “Of course, Daddy Kyle’ll make me go through my self-defense training again. I swear he’s worse than a girl sometimes.”
“Your dads worry, Cat.” Margie’s droll reply made Tira glance behind Cat to her mother. “And so do I. We’ll be talking more about this. But not now. What can I do for you, Tira? You have something on your mind.”
Yeah, she did. Something she should have agreed to do a long time ago. Before her mom’s condition had gotten so bad. Before she’d let herself even consider the insanity of giving up her Gift.
She was tired of being considered weak. Hell, she was tired of being weak.
Time to pull her head out of the ground and use it for more than weeping and mentally wringing her hands.
“I need to use your landline,” Tira said. “I need to get in touch with Nortia and I need you to get Kotev.”
Cat drew in a short breath and held it, her blue eyes going wide as Tira mentioned the name of the leader of the boschetta. As the strongest of the streghe, Kotev needed to be here to do the transfer.
Margie reached for Tira’s arm.
“Tira, I’m not sure now is the time to make this decision. With everything going on—”
“It’s the right time.” Tira knew it down to her toes. This was right. She had a direction, a goal. A purpose. She wasn’t going to be talked out of this. “I should have done this a year ago but I was scared. I’m sick of being scared. I’m sick of being weak and frightened and without direction. I refuse to let my mom suffer any longer when this is what I was born to do.”
“You have to be very sure, Tira.” Margie’s expression didn’t lighten a bit. “This isn’t a decision to make in haste—”
Tira stopped her with a shake of her head. “This is all I’ve thought about for the past year. Agonized over for months. I know what I’m doing. Please. Send Cat for Kotev while I make this call. I want this done as soon as possible.”
* * * * *
They picked up the eteri’s trail easily.
The guy had had training on how to cover his tracks but Duke wasn’t looking for tracks. He followed scent. All he had to do was sniff the sheets the guy had lain in then follow that.
Kaine was a different story. He didn’t catch more than a whiff of her but it was enough to know he was on the right track.
And that Kyle was probably right. Kaine had released the eteri and set off after him.
The question was why.
With Nic beside him, Duke ran, the pack Nic had fastened to his back with their clothes and weapons barely noticeable. If any eteri caught sight of them, they’d do a double take but Duke would be long gone by the time their brain registered what they’d seen.
Duke wasn’t sure how long they ran but it had to be almost an hour, heading east into District then Hereford Township. The distance between houses grew farther and farther apart and forest and farmers’ fields took the place of suburban developments.
Duke had to wonder how the guy had run so far and so fast. Yeah, he’d seemed to be in pretty damn good shape and he was probably Duke’s age if not younger. Still, they’d covered a fairly decent distance in a short amount of time.
So where the hell was he going and why?
Too many questions. Duke hated not having any answers.
What’s worse, he hated having to chase this fucker down when he really wanted to be with Tira.
Gods damn—
Duke skidded to a stop, realizing he’d lost the trail.
He sniffed the air, lifting his snout in all different directions. Shit, what the hell—
With a yip, Nic tore off to his right and Duke followed, realizing that the scent hadn’t disappeared, he’d just run past where the guy must have veered off.
The scent grew stronger in seconds and they slowed to a wary stalk. Through the trees, Duke saw a small, old stone house that looked mostly deserted. There was no car in the rutted track that led to the house from the two-lane country road Duke and Nic had crossed almost a mile away. It closely resembled the streghe houses in New Tarquin but this was run-down, older and not as well-cared-for as the streghe’s homes.
But the guy was in there. And so was Kaine. In her pelt.
Beside him, he felt Nic’s energy brush against his as he shifted. In seconds, Nic was back in his skin and unfastening the pack from Duke’s back. He dressed in seconds. The temperature hovered around freezing and seemed to be dropping every minute. The snow had stopped falling but it covered the ground in a thin blanket of white.
Following Nic’s lead, Duke shifted and dressed as quickly as he could. He hated not having his boots but they were too heavy to carry and too bulky. The sneakers were unwieldy but not as heavy and took up less space in the pack.
After stuffing his knife sheath in the small of his back, Duke and Nic made their way around to the back of the house.
About five feet from the back door, Nic froze in his tracks, signaling for Duke to do the same. Nic scanned the ground in front of him then finally pointed in front of them.
Looking down, Duke searched for whatever had set off Nic. And saw a razor-thin wire running along the ground only inches from his feet.
He looked at Nic, who raised his brows then began to search the area more carefully.
Still out of sight of the windows, they made a more thorough perimeter check and found several other wires, probably connected to alarms in the house.
This guy either had a lot to hide or was very, very paranoid.
Since they already knew they’d have to expose themselves to get to either the front or the back door, they decided to head for the front. Back doors usually led into mudrooms or kitchens, smaller spaces, easier to defend from inside. Front door meant front room, more space, more room to move.
After a nod from Nic, Duke headed for the entrance, not trying to hide. Nic waited in the shadows, waited to see if Duke made it to the door without alerting the guy inside. Maybe they’d get lucky—
Moonlight Menage Page 16
