The Gifted 2: Passions Aflame (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  “And if a couple of guys come around? Will we know if they’re Latents?” Pietro used the term his father had to describe the men who would come looking for Meghan Clark.

  “I’m not sure if we will or not. But remember, there’ll be two of them. We’ll just assume, when two men show up together, that they’re the ones. And we’ll get rid of them. If we do that, and take a picture of their bodies to show Father, he’ll be pleased with us, and maybe we’ll get this whole episode put behind us once and for all.”

  Mario looked around. Somehow, they’d driven all the way through Paisley. He hadn’t seen much of anything. There’d been a single restaurant and a couple of stores. He’d seen a sign that indicated a school, a park, a library, and a doctor’s office. There was no newspaper, no gas station, not even a place to buy aspirin.

  Then he recalled the first business they’d passed on the other edge of town, a general store. He thought of the general stores of the 1950s he’d seen represented in different movies and television shows. That seemed like as likely a place as any to get the information they needed. Meghan Clark might not be listed officially, but if she lived in the area, she likely shopped at the general store.

  “Let’s head back to the other end of town. We’ll stop at the general store. Maybe they know something about Miss Clark.”

  “You’re just going to stop and ask about her? Aren’t the people in these small towns protective of their own?”

  Mario grinned. “So I’ve heard. But Miss Clark has only lived in Paisley for a few years. They’d likely still think of her as an outsider.” Mario nodded, pleased with his inspiration. “Just in case, I’ll tell them we’re asking on behalf of our little sister, who was a college friend of the woman’s, that they went to Purdue together. Should ring true since the Clark woman moved to here from Indianapolis. I’ll add a little boost of power, a compulsion for truth, and the rube behind the counter will tell us everything we need to know.”

  It was all Mario could do not to shudder as he entered the country store. More used to Saks and Neiman Marcus, he cast a decidedly jaundiced eye about the Paisley General Store. He wondered if this was the sort of place where people who were poor shopped, and he hoped like hell none of them who’d been in recently had any communicable diseases.

  “Good afternoon, gentlemen. Is there something I can do for you?”

  The woman behind the counter could have come from a 1950s sitcom, with her graying hair caught up in a bun and the white apron she wore over her pastel-colored flowered dress.

  “Good afternoon, ma’am. My brother and I just realized we were in Paisley. Our sister, Carmelita, her best friend from college moved here a few years ago. We thought we’d drop in and say hi to her, but we don’t know where she lives.”

  “That could be a problem.” The woman smiled and slipped her hands into the pockets of her apron. “If you tell me her name, I may be able to help you. I know all my customers, so if she’s one of them...” The woman let the sentence fall. Her smile reassured him, but he reached down and brought forth his power, just a little of it, to ensure that she told him all that she knew.

  “Her name is Meghan Clark. She moved here from Indianapolis a few years ago.”

  “Five years ago,” Pietro said. “Don’t you remember, Mario? It was right after their graduation.”

  “So it was, Pietro,” Mario said.

  He smiled at the woman, and she smiled back. Yes, I have her.

  “Gosh, I really wish I could help you. I don’t have any customers named Meghan.” She seemed to think for a moment. “Maybe Reverend Patrick over at the Methodist Church might know her...oh, shoot! He’s on vacation this week. I’m so sorry. I really wish I could help you.”

  Mario did his best to keep his annoyance off his face. Since the woman was in his thrall, he gave her an order. “Ask around. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Yes, I’ll ask around. I’m sure someone has heard of her!”

  “Good.”

  He turned and walked out of the store, his brother beside him. “Do you think she’ll do what you told her to do?”

  “I’m certain of it. No mere woman can resist my power. Come, let’s get to that motel by the interstate. Then we can conjure dinner from Antoine’s.” Just the thought of lasagna from his favorite Chicago restaurant put a smile on his face. Tomorrow would be soon enough to begin their campaign of surveillance on Meghan Clark.

  * * * *

  Bridget Farris stood back from the front window so they wouldn’t see her. Her brow furrowed as she considered them. She made a note of the license plate.

  Bad news. She couldn’t say why she knew that, but she did. Oh, they’d looked handsome as sin, and their smiles could surely tempt angels, but those two men were bad news.

  Bea’s hands were still in her pockets, the fingers of her right hand toying with a small object she kept there. She pulled it out and looked down at it. The glass amulet was nothing fancy. White with swirled colors, it had reminded her of a big opal the day Meghan had given it to her.

  She wasn’t sure what Meghan was. A witch? Maybe, maybe not. There was power in that girl. Bea had no doubt about it. The first day she’d laid eyes on her she knew it was her duty to be kind to her, take care of her.

  Some thought the pixie-like woman was Wiccan, but she wasn’t so certain of that. What Bea did know was she’d been badly hurt—and she was special.

  She has talent for making good luck charms, too. That was how she’d presented the amulet and how Bea had received it. She kept it on her all the time.

  That one man—Mario—he’d pushed on her mind. She didn’t know how she knew to pretend as if he’d mesmerized her, but she did.

  I have to warn Meghan. A smile ghosted her lips as she wondered how her favorite supplier was faring with those two young hotties she’d sent her way. Hopefully, she hadn’t run them off.

  Bea had a feeling Meghan was going to need the help of a couple of strong men sooner, if not later.

  * * * *

  Ryan spooned Meghan and kissed her shoulder. Never in a million years had he ever expected to find a woman like her. He couldn’t deny that she was perfect, perfect for him, and for Jeremy.

  Not a wisp of jealousy had touched him as he’d watched his brother take her virginity. It hadn’t been only Meghan’s mind he’d slipped into then. He hadn’t meant to look in on Jeremy, but he acknowledged he didn’t yet have enough control over these powers of his to be more specific in what he wanted to do.

  Jeremy had Meghan snuggled on his chest, and Ryan wanted to fist pump the air at the look on his brother’s face. Sexually satisfied, yes, but it was more.

  “You should have a nice long soak in a warm tub,” Jeremy said.

  “Mmm. That would be good. My bathroom doesn’t have a tub, just a shower.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, sweetheart,” Ryan said, “but every woman I’ve ever known has loved their tubs and long soaks, often with candles burning and wine sliding down their throats.”

  “I’d better add that bit of information my brother just thoughtlessly tossed out came from a survey we conducted once, on methods of relaxation.” Then Jeremy shot him a glare. “You’re usually more suave than that.”

  “I am. It’s good to know I don’t have to do suave all alone, or all the time anymore.”

  “Huh.”

  Ryan read a wealth of information in that one syllable. Jeremy was indeed surprised that instead of his usual love ’em and leave ’em self, he’d tuned into Meghan.

  “Gentlemen.” Meghan turned onto her back. “I don’t have a tub here in my house. But I know where there’s a warm pond fed by a spring, one that is completely private. It’s not that far from here, and if you trust me, we can be there in a heartbeat.”

  Ryan shot a quick look at his brother and read his thought on the matter. He’d always been able to do this, but now his emotions, his expressions, seemed clearer than ever. Maybe the magic has always been at work in us. H
e would have to think on that, but later.

  He looked down and met Meghan’s gaze. “We trust you in this.”

  “That’s fair enough. Take my hands.”

  Ryan took hold of her right and Jeremy her left.

  True to her word, in the next heartbeat, they were standing on the edge of a pond. Vibrant green grass surrounded it, and the lushness of tall trees standing as sentinels and providing an umbrella-like bit of shade served as a curtain between them and the world.

  We need more than this. Ryan imagined several big, fluffy towels—and a loofah—and smiled when they appeared on the ground beside them. Jeremy conjured a large quilt, with a bottle of champagne on ice and three glasses beside it, a clear sign that he’d like to be here for more than just a quick dip.

  “Shall we?” Meghan asked. She took a step and then squealed when Ryan scooped her into his arms.

  “We shall.” He looked where he was walking, clearly seeing the bottom of the pond and discovering there were no hidden dangers. Meghan sighed as he immersed them to their shoulders in the warm, soothing water.

  “This is amazing.” Jeremy sighed as he sank into the pond beside them. “Is this a real place?”

  “It is.” She blushed. “It’s part of a parcel of land we own, my sisters and I. I had to mentally ask Cheri if it was all right for us to come here. Diana and I have given her and her husbands exclusive use of the cabin for the next little while. It was our wedding gift to them. They live in New York. Max and Tony are surgeons, and Cheri is a second grade teacher, and so they really couldn’t take time for a honeymoon.”

  “We’re in New York?” Ryan asked.

  “No, we’re in Colorado. We bought this place several years ago, for times when we wanted to be together and take a break from this new hectic world we found ourselves in.”

  “You said something before when you were telling us about them, just before we temporarily turned into assholes,” Jeremy said. “You mentioned a force that tried to stop them from getting together. Is that something we need to worry about?”

  Meghan sighed. “I’ve been called ‘blissfully naïve’ all my life. Well, all my life before I came here. Those two who tried to stop them? They were twins, named Vincente and Emilio Fortuna. I know they’re dead. You’ll discover that, when events touch those to whom you’re connected, emotionally, you just know things.” She looked down at the water for a moment as if marshalling her thoughts. “They called themselves warlocks, and according to Cheri and Max and Tony, they did possess some power. Cheri said it was as if their power hadn’t fully matured. And there’s one other thing that might be important. They seemed either unable or unwilling to combine their magic. Max thought they didn’t trust each other enough for that.”

  “Brothers who don’t trust each other?” Jeremy shook his head. “That doesn’t speak well of their mind set at all.”

  Ryan nodded. “It doesn’t. Jeremy and I have been what we call ‘on the same page’ for most of our lives. We never really fully understood the degree to which we were in tune with each other mentally. But after we saved Dad’s life, we figured it was all connected.”

  “It probably is.”

  “Vincente and Emilio Fortuna? There’s a conglomerate, based in Chicago, called Fortuna International. Do you think there’s a connection?”

  “I have no idea.” Meghan looked from one to the other of them.

  “I think we better find out,” Jeremy said.

  “I agree. It’s better to be prepared than not.” Ryan looked over at his brother. He still wasn’t necessarily buying into this whole prophecy deal. But Meghan had given them her virginity, and she was the woman they’d be making love to, at least in the short term.

  They were men who took their responsibilities seriously—and it was their duty, and their privilege, to protect their woman.

  Chapter 8

  They’d spent a fair bit of time by the hot spring. After a good long relaxing swim, Ryan and Jeremy had dried her and then served her wine, along with some cheese and crackers they’d conjured.

  Meghan wanted to make love some more, but they’d simply held her, refusing to take her again so soon. Meghan decided she really liked being held.

  “Time is the same,” Ryan said.

  Meghan had just brought them back to her house. It was late afternoon, and she was feeling pleasantly sleepy. Ryan’s words didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her at first.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know, I guess that I thought time here would have stood still while we got beamed to Colorado—or whatever it was that happened to us.”

  He looked so sweetly embarrassed that she went over to him, stretched up, and kissed him. “We don’t do that, generally speaking—make time stand still, that is.”

  “Because we can’t, or we just don’t?” Jeremy asked.

  The warm feeling she got when he said “we” instead of “you” was a nice surprise.

  “Before recent events, I would have said can’t because I’d never heard of it being done.” Meghan thought about all she’d learned of the final confrontation between Cheri, her men, and the Fortuna brothers. Because Ryan and Jeremy were clearly waiting for her to say more, she continued. “Cheri told me that she’d felt someone else working with her when she’d said an old Latin phrase as she used her magic to protect a small child the Fortunas had snatched up and held as a hostage. They’d ripped the boy from his mother’s arms and held him suspended above the deck of the cruise ship they were all on.” Just thinking about that moment made her shudder. “Cheri spoke the ancient words, even as another spoke them, and then, she said it was as if all the people on the deck of the ship, as well as the water itself, became suspended in time. All, that is, except them and the Fortunas. She didn’t recognize the feel of the other power, either.” Meghan met each man’s gaze in turn. “All she could say was that it wasn’t truly dark and it wasn’t truly light.”

  “She’s worried because there might have been another person wielding magic, beyond her, her husbands, and the Fortunas?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what worried her. Until those two Fortunas accosted her, none of us had any idea there’d be...well, villains, for lack of a better word.”

  Jeremy cupped her face. “Sweetheart, in our world, when someone tries to do something good, there are almost always villains trying to muck it up.”

  “I wasn’t as prepared for life here when I arrived as I thought I was. Major events have always been known in the homeland. We have access to your books and television and movies. We haven’t lived in a total vacuum. It’s just that things we thought weren’t real are, and things we thought were real, aren’t. Life is very complicated here.”

  “Honey, that’s true for us, too, and we’ve always lived here.” Ryan’s words and Jeremy’s kiss bolstered her. In those first hectic months, Meghan was so glad she’d had her friends to turn to.

  “Do you want to have a nap?” Ryan came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “You were pretty sleepy there by the hot spring.”

  “A nap sounds good, as long as I get to have that nap between the two of you.” They’d made love only once, had been together for only a matter of hours, really. And already she didn’t want to be without them nearby.

  “That’s the plan.” Jeremy looked at Ryan and nodded.

  “We wanted to ask you something.” Ryan turned her in his arms. When she looked up at him, he placed a sweet kiss on her lips. “You know we’re officially staying at the B and B in town. And we can keep doing that. Or we can check out of there and stay here, with you.”

  “I like that idea. After our nap, why don’t we go get your things?” She didn’t really know how much time they’d have together. She wasn’t taking anything for granted. They really could decide to walk away. She doubted, if they did, that she’d ever let anyone else into her bed, or her heart. I want to soak up as much of this—as much of them—as possible while I can.

  Meg
han found it more than a little ironic that the person her friends and family had always considered to be “blissfully naïve” was already anticipating the end of this relationship.

  The sound of a dog barking erupted, and the men both immediately looked around for the animal. Meghan chuckled and reached for her purse. A barking dog was the sound she’d assigned to Bea Farris’s cell phone. She recalled then that she never had gotten around to delivering those items to her the other day—the reality of Ryan and Jeremy entering her life had put the shopkeeper right out of her mind.

  “Just give me a moment.” She brought up Bea’s message, but it wasn’t about dwindling supplies of jam or creams.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Megan looked up at Jeremy and then over at Ryan. “Bea’s had another couple of visitors looking for me. She says they worried her. We should go and see her.”

  “We’ll take our car,” Ryan said.

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the Paisley General Store. Since they were heading there, it took only a thought for Meghan to gather the things she wanted to place on consignment. Neither man seemed to so much as blink when a box appeared in her hands as they were walking toward the car.

  Jeremy seated her in the front, leaned in, and kissed her, then got in the back behind her. “You’re really worried,” Jeremy said.

  “I can’t explain it, but yes, I am.” Meghan looked down at the box on her lap. “I know you’ve met Bea, but this time, tell me what else you see, okay?”

  She could tell that her request confused them, but there really was no time for them to say much else because it really took only a few minutes to get to the store.

  There was an older gentleman at the counter, paying for his purchase when they walked in. Meghan recognized him—Mr. Stevenson—as someone who would nod to her when she entered the restaurant or whom she’d wave to as she drove by if she saw him out walking in town. Paisley had a lot of older residents who’d lived there all their lives. Kay had explained to her that they were, most of them, very nice people—just very reserved and proper.