Heart of Darkness bbm-1

by Lauren Dane

  With him too, Dominic supposed, Meriel understood his need to protect and lead. He loved that she could be so in charge in every aspect of her life. But with him she softened, let him be in charge. It soothed him. Not that she didn’t push back when he got too bossy. She let him know when he overstepped. Which meant there’d be really smoking-hot make-up sex in store.

  The scenery changed as they drove. From the lusher forests of western Washington into the warmer and drier climate of central Oregon. There’d been snow several places along the way.

  Meriel, like most other Seattleites he knew, was fascinated and slightly fearful of the snow. But he’d grown up with it — with lots of it — his whole life. For months on end.

  But he’d stopped and let her take pictures of it. She brought that into his life too. The little experiences he’d forgotten about.

  She gave orders in the background as he thought about this place and wondered why Tom had settled here. He’d grown up on the East Coast, but when he’d gotten the call that the baby of one of his friends needed a home, he’d come out west and had built a home and a life for both of them.

  But every summer Dominic had worked to keep his body strong and his mind clear as he’d worked with Tom on his backcountry trips. They’d canoed and white-water rafted. Hiked. Biked. Camped.

  In the winter it had been skiing and sledding on the trips they’d taken. Snow camping.

  It had kept him out of trouble because he was too tired to get out of line. He’d respected his body and his mind. Until he’d left and binged on all the larger world had to offer.

  And now he’d come full circle.

  When she hung up he touched her hand, because he could and because he wanted to. She smiled and tipped her wrist up to capture his fingers with hers. “Hey there. I’m hungry. At the risk of sounding like a kid, are we there yet?”

  “We’ve got another three hours or so. But Tom’s making a feast, he says. He’s a great cook so that’ll be true and believe me, you want to have plenty of space in your belly to eat. But let’s stop and stretch in the next town. I’ll get gas and look the other way when you drink yet another cup of coffee.”

  “We all have our addictions, Mr. Bright.” She said it primly but the grin at the end sort of messed up that delivery.

  “Damn it, I’m so glad you came into my club and gave me a stern talking-to.”

  Her grin softened and she brought his fingers to her lips to kiss them. “Watch the road. And me too.”

  Chapter 19

  DOMINIC sent out silent thanks to Simon for suggesting they take his SUV for the drive. The road out to the house had been cleared, but it had started to snow and the curves would have been a lot worse had Tom not kept everything tidy and shipshape.

  “Wow, is that it?” She leaned forward to get a better look through the windshield.

  Tom had bought the small house on a big plot of land with a mountain view. The river was down a winding path that kept it out of harm’s way when the snowmelt hit and the water levels rose. Right now it felt like home as they approached. The window glowed golden and smoke rose lazily from the chimney.

  He parked out of the way. Old habit he supposed. Sometimes Tom’s clients would meet him at the house and they started a trip from there so Dominic wanted to keep the drive clear just in case.

  She squeezed his hand and he looked at her, just looking for long moments.

  “We’re here.” She grinned but he saw the worry at the edges.

  “We are. He’s going to love you. How could he not?”

  Ha.

  Meriel let him open her door and help her down. She pulled her zipper up, sealing out the cold. The place was absolutely gorgeous. The house was rough hewn, but beautifully constructed. She had no doubt that the views from just about every part of the house would be fabulous.

  “Come on in then,” a man called from the front steps and when Meriel saw him, she looked back to Dominic and did it once more. It was when she went back for the third look that she noticed the warding.

  Everywhere.

  Meriel paused and turned in a slow circle. The place was a virtual impenetrable fortress. This warding was cast one on top of the next. It appeared to be crumbling and weak, but once you took a closer look any witch with a decent amount of talent would be able to see just how good they were. Tangled roots and thorny dead ends.

  Tom Bright was no ordinary witch. And he sure as hell wasn’t just Dominic’s foster father. Now the fact that Dominic was full-council made sense. It was clear where the magick in his genes came from. Just what it was the man had been hiding wasn’t clear. But it was big and it made her wary.

  What he did, however, was look at Dominic with so much love on his face all her suspicions fell away. This man loved Dominic. There was no doubt in Meriel’s mind of this fact.

  “Dominic!” He came off the porch and the two men embraced. It wasn’t until they stood back and Tom got a better look that he stopped and gaped. “What have you done?” Accusing eyes moved to Meriel, who startled, looked back to Dominic, who was as confused as she was.

  “This is Meriel Owen. She’s my bond-mate.”

  “You’ve ascended!” Tom began to pace and Meriel began to examine her surroundings better. She didn’t know what was going on with the guy, but she sure as hell wanted to be able to get away if this went south.

  “Why are you acting this way?” Dominic looked back and forth between them. He looked so hurt and surprised, Meriel just took his hand and squeezed.

  “Sir, is there a problem?” Meriel bent a little to see past the hands he’d put over his face.

  “You need to go. Get away from here as fast as you can.” He looked around, alarm on his face.

  That alarm jumped straight to Meriel’s belly.

  “What the hell is going on?” Dominic stood taller, his hands on his hips, looking very authoritative. “You’re scaring Meriel and you’re really scaring me. I’m not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what’s gotten you so spooked. Let me help you.”

  Meriel ached for him and hoped they could fix whatever it was that has spooked him the moment he saw who she was and they’d mentioned the bond.

  Tom threw his hands in the air. “Get in the house. Now.”

  Meriel let Dominic drag her into the house as she watched Tom close the wards up tight in their wake.

  The house was warm and lived in. Comfortable. Overwhelmingly male. It also smelled really good, though Meriel wasn’t sure her appetite would come back after they found out what was going on.

  Tom came into the house and locked the door in his wake.

  She turned to Dominic. “Would you like if I went into another room so you two can talk?”

  “You’re not going anywhere. I don’t know what’s happening, but you’re not leaving my sight and he’s going to tell me what’s going on.”

  “I’m just surprised I guess.”

  “Mr. Bright, it’s more than that. These wards around your land are not simple. This is decades of magick on top of decades of magick.”

  “How do you know? What do you know about it? Clan witches don’t have the corner on the magick market. Unaffiliated witches can do wards too.”

  “I’m Meriel Owen, next in line to run Clan Owen. This ward craft isn’t the work of a man who doesn’t know a lot about magick. It’s not sophisticated, but it’s very good and very strong. And the runes on his skin, those are also some serious protective magick. I’d wager you used some flesh and blood to bond them to his body.”

  “My flesh and blood. I didn’t take it from anyone. Freely given and I’ve done no wrong to protect my boy.” Tom spun to glare at Dominic. “Clan Owen. You bonded with the goddamn next in line to a big, giant clan?”

  “Yes. So if I’m full-council, what’s that make you?”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “All right, it’s time I guess. Go drop your bags in your room and wash your hands. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner and had planned a bott
le of wine to go with. I’m guessing we’ll need at least another bottle to get through the story.”

  “I apologize for his reaction,” Dominic said as he pushed the door to his room open. Just as he’d left it, which always made him feel better when he came back home.

  “He’s scared. Let’s find out why before we go getting offended or handing out apologies.”

  She smoothed a hand over his bedspread and he watched her take in his childhood as she walked through the room.

  Leave it to her to see past the window dressing and right into the heart of the problem.

  “We’ll get through it. No matter what it is. He’s clearly worried for you. Scared even, at a few points. But the earth here respects him. His magick is accepted by the surroundings. The earth is rarely wrong.”

  He hugged her tight and she hugged him back. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” She traded her boots for the wool-lined slippers Tom favored for use inside the house.

  “For being here. For making me see past all this emotion to whatever the hell lies beneath. It feels like I can get through it because you’re here.”

  “I’m really only here for the chicken and dumplings.”

  He grinned and took her hand. “You might actually mean that once you taste them.”

  When they got back downstairs, Dominic had calmed considerably. Meriel had been the reason for it and he’d been glad she’d been there.

  The kitchen was well lit; the table dominated one entire half, sitting in front of the windows fronting the water and the mountains in the distance.

  “Perfect timing. Come on and sit. Get some food into you and a few swigs of something alcoholic and I’ll give you the story.” Tom began dishing up the food in large bowls and sending them toward Dominic and Meriel. “I apologize for the reception I gave you.” He looked up to Meriel, who nodded, accepting the apology.

  “Just tell me what’s going on. We’ll work through it. Whatever it is.”

  Meriel made a soft moaning sound when she got the first spoonful of food into her mouth. “I told you,” he said before digging in himself.

  They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, but eventually Tom looked up from his food and sighed.

  “You’re my nephew.”

  Dominic blinked several times, surprised. “What?”

  “A little over thirty years ago my brother came to my house. He had you with him. You were maybe six months old at the time. He and your mother had …” Tom licked his lips. “They were stuck. Worse, it was pretty clear Felix, that’s your dad, was close to turning entirely.”

  Meriel sat straight up with a gasp.

  “Yes, you’ve the right of it.” Tom looked down to Meriel. “He brought you to me and begged me to take you and run. To raise you far away and never look back. He was in a bad way. Your dad, he was big and bold. An excellent fighter. Smart. He had a big future but she was bad for him. Your mother that is. Was. Whatever.” Tom looked back to Dominic.

  Meriel took his hand and squeezed.

  “To be fair, Felix was bad for her too. They were all wrong together. They were so young.”

  “You’re full-council too. What clan?” Meriel thought it might be a good idea to reach out to them.

  “Not clan affiliated. We had a coven back home in Tallahassee. Our parents were active in it until they died. Anyway, he gave me some money and told me to go. He was worried about your safety. Said he was concerned about what she had planned for you. I took you and the money that very night and got out of there. I picked Bend off a map. I had some skills, used to be an Eagle Scout back in the day. Got some identification for us both and built a life.”

  “Why did you lie to me about all this? You said they died.”

  “You were about five when I got a call from your grandfather. Your dad wanted to meet. Wanted to see you. This was back in the day before caller ID or any of that stuff. I called the number he’d left and arranged to meet Felix in Chicago. He wanted me to bring you, but I wouldn’t promise. I didn’t trust him. Not after the way he’d left. Not after what he’d said to me. You have to understand, Dominic. If he’d turned, and I had every reason to believe he had, he’d be nothing but danger to you. I took an oath to protect you.”

  Dominic looked shell-shocked, but he nodded at Tom’s words.

  “I went but he never showed up. I waited another day, just in case. He didn’t contact our parents either. But while I was there, some bodies had been found in a local park. The description of one of the victims matched Felix. It just always felt like it was him. I think anyway. But I can never know for sure. So I got out of there and came back here. Your grandparents were killed just a few months later. I never saw any of them again and I knew it was just better for you if I kept your existence a secret.

  “So I raised you here and kept you suspicious of clans to keep you from the public eye.”

  Meriel snagged another dumpling.

  “My parents’ death wasn’t of natural causes. It was suspicious. But I couldn’t ever get there to see for myself. I believe Felix is gone, that connection we once had is empty. But Gloria? Your mother? I don’t know. I couldn’t take that risk.”

  “How can you know if she wasn’t trying to find me because she’d cleaned up?” Dominic pushed from his chair and moved to go stare out the windows at the stars.

  “Gloria threatened my parents multiple times. Felix had faked your death and for a while she believed it. But in the time before I went to Chicago to meet my brother, your mother came to my parents’ house. She watched them. Came around later with a friend my mother insisted wasn’t a witch at all, but a mage.”

  Dominic could hear Meriel’s intake of breath at his back.

  “I’d know a lot more about what I should be upset over if you hadn’t raised me to hate and fear clans.”

  “He had to.” Meriel came to him, putting her head on his shoulder. “Don’t you see? He brought you out here and protected you. Changed your name and raised you to keep you away from any situation where you could be identified. If she’s alive somewhere now, she might know about you. We didn’t make a big deal out of the ascension, Mr. Bright. But certainly I’m next in line so I get photographed at events. My finding my bond-mate and news of the ascension would be pretty common knowledge in our world.”

  “If she came to the door with a mage”—Tom paused—”it could mean she was working with them to get her fix. It’s not entirely unheard of.”

  Meriel turned to him. “Right now there’s a rise across the county of magical thefts and the mages are part of it. They’re working with what looks like human supremacy organizations to track us. I learned just this morning that one of their victims, a woman lucky enough to escape where they’d been keeping her and bleeding her magick dry, that the mages and some turned witches had told the humans what they were doing was exorcising the demons from their captives.”

  Tom blinked several times. Shock turning him pale.

  “We have no reason to think my mother was one of them.” Dominic went to sit.

  Tom sighed heavily. “Yes, we do. I know this day has been a challenge, Dom, but we have every reason to believe your mother, if she’s alive, is one of them. If she was on the verge of turning — as close as Felix was when I last saw him and I am sure she was — the only way she can survive is to steal magick. The only way she’d be alive today is by harming people. Pain, death, emotional torture and theft. That’s how their magic works. They can’t earn it like you and I do. Turned witches have lost their connection to the earth. They have no natural power left at all.”

  “She could have gotten herself straight again.”

  Meriel took his hands and made him look her in the face. “No, she couldn’t have. There’s no cure once a witch turns. At the very best you can hope she’s off far away and using animal blood. Or that she did indeed die at that park. She would not mean you any kindness if she’s alive today.”

  “You don’t even know her!”

/>   “No, I don’t. But I know witches and I know how this works. I’m sorry, Dominic, but your uncle was right to keep you away from them. God, what if I’ve put you in danger? I need to get Nell searching for your mother.”

  “If I’d have known any of this, we could have avoided it.”

  “I did what I thought was best. You’re alive today. For a while I wasn’t sure if you’d make it through your little phase down south. But once you got to New York I knew you’d find your way in the world and back here. I had to trust that. I couldn’t risk you as a child and I don’t want to risk you now either.”

  “There’s no reason just yet to panic.” Meriel turned back to Dominic. “I’m asking your permission to have Nell do some research on your parents. I want to see what we can find out.”

  Dominic scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fine, go ahead.” He turned back to his uncle. “I had a bond-mate out there somewhere and you never told me. I could have completely missed out on this amazing connection I have with Meriel.”

  “I didn’t come from a world of council witches. Sure, I knew of bond-mates and all that, but I had no way of knowing you’d be their equivalent of full-council. I made mistakes, Dominic. But I did everything I did for you.”

  Meriel remained at his side, stroking a hand up and down his back.

  “I know.” He went to Tom. To his uncle, and hugged him. “I know.” And he did.

  But he didn’t know how to move forward. Didn’t know what to think of all this. He was filled with a sharp longing for his parents. Anger at Tom. Love for what Tom had given up. He just couldn’t let go of that ember of hope that maybe his mother wanted him and had been searching for him his whole life.

  DOMINIC had been asleep for some time, but Meriel found herself restless and headed downstairs.

  She nearly jumped from her skin when Tom spoke to her from the dark of the living room. “I’m sorry to startle you. Can’t sleep?”

  “No. Not really. He’s out though.” Thankfully.

  “You understand.” It was a simple statement. “He doesn’t though. I worry he’s going to entertain some idea that she can be saved despite whatever the facts might point to. He’s a boy who grew up without a mother. I thought, you know, for a while I thought I might find someone. Marry. Give him a mother he so desperately needed. But I was worried about how I’d explain my past to them.”