by Gigi Moore
He pressed his hand against hers. “I could never say no to you.” He just couldn’t tell her he loved her, especially not now. He didn’t deserve her or her love.
“Well aren’t you the lucky one? He says no to me all the time,” Thayne mumbled from behind Maia, and she and Cade both laughed.
“That’s because you’re not nearly as pretty as our Little Maia.”
“I’ve been told differently.”
“Whoever said it, they lied.”
Maia slid one arm around his waist and the other around his neck.
Cade welcomed the touch of her fingers in his hair, the way her hands played with the hair at the nape of his neck, steady and soothing.
She pressed close, tilting her head up for a kiss, and Cade obliged.
He closed his eyes, burying her lips beneath his before driving in his tongue, desperately sweeping inside the cavern of her mouth, seeking the reassuring stroke of hers. He groaned deep in his throat as their tongues met and tangled, roughly grabbing her leg and hooking it over his hip while he ground his hard shaft against her slit.
She was already wet, sopping, her juices mingling with his pre-cum as he teased her soft folds with the head of his cock. He moved his hips, sliding inside her pussy with almost no effort, glad that they were all already naked, slept no other way, even Thayne.
“Mmm, yes. Right where you belong,” Maia murmured.
“To you, baby, only to you.”
“You guys starting without me again?”
“You know you’re always welcome to join us.” Maia’s inner muscles trembled around Cade, gloving him so tight he barely got the words out past a gasp.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
Cade felt Thayne enter Maia from behind, bracing himself for the mental incursion that always accompanied their physical encounters. The moment the tendrils of his brother’s thoughts washed over him he relaxed, however. He wondered why he almost always dreaded this part when it was so…calming.
Cade ground his hips flush against Maia as she pitched her body into his and matched his and Thayne’s pace.
Her thoughts were as chaotic as his own, and he admired how Thayne maintained a connection between them all without losing himself or going crazy.
It’s easy. I love you both.
Cade trembled at his brother’s simple thought, knowing that Maia had caught it, too, no way she couldn’t have with them all linked.
He buried his face against her shoulder, inhaling deep and mapping a path from her neck to her earlobe with his teeth and tongue. He licked the shell of her ear, matching the flicks and pinches he gave her swollen clit with his thumb.
When she panted and bucked against him, her thoughts spiraling, he knew how close she was to losing it. Cade thrust into her pussy one final time, grinding his hips hard against her as he put his mouth on her ear. “I love you, baby. I love you so much.”
“Oh, Cade!” She came as if his words had flipped a switch inside her cunt.
Cade and Thayne instantly joined her, a violent burst of energy flaring between them all and blasting out to encompass them in a shimmering light.
Cade fiercely trembled in Maia’s arms, the shock wave of their combined climax echoing through him as it never had before—love the defining force behind his orgasm.
What a surprise, Cade thought.
“It’s going to be all right, Cade.” Maia cupped his face with both hands, kissing his mouth again and again. “Whatever happens later, we’ll get through it together, all three of us. Together.”
Was she speaking with her heart or her gifts? Either way, Cade didn’t have the heart to tell her that one of them might not make it through, and that one was probably him.
* * * *
A few hours later the three of them were down in the kitchen finishing breakfast with Sabrina, Luke, and Joshua when a knock sounded on the front door.
They all looked at each other before Sabrina finally got up to answer the door.
The silence that followed her departure was deafening, and when she returned a moment later trailing the sheriff, Cade’s heart somersaulted in his chest.
Jed took off his hat and nodded at everyone at the table before staring at Cade.
“Clay paid me a visit this morning with some disturbing information about you, Cade.”
It didn’t escape Cade’s notice that Joshua seemed to flinch at the mention of Clay more than the “disturbing information.”
Before he could respond, Thayne stood up and faced the sheriff. “What kind of information?”
“Well now, Thayne, he seems to think that your brother has something to do with the boys who’ve turned up missing around Elk Creek.”
“What? That’s crazy!”
“Crazy or not, I’ve gotta ask.” Jed ignored Thayne, peering at Cade.
Cade stood up. “He’s just doing his job, Thayne.”
“You know us, Jed.”
“I’ve known the Coles a lot longer. Not that this is a contest or anything, mind you.”
“Jed, I can assure you Cade didn’t have anything to do with those boys’ disappearances. I can vouch for him.”
“Who’s vouching for you?”
“I am.” Maia stood and stepped forward, standing just between Cade and Thayne, looking around the kitchen at everyone else gathered. “We all do, right?”
“She’s right, Jed,” Sabrina said.
“Well now, why don’t you let me take Cade down to my office, and he can help me sort things out there.”
If this worked anything like the frontier justice Cade had always heard about, he didn’t have a chance of coming out of this alive. What choice did he have, though? He had to trust that the sheriff would hear him out and get to the truth.
When Jed reached to cuff Cade’s wrists, Joshua stepped between them.
Jed frowned at him for a long silent moment as if trying to process where he knew him from. “Now, son, I know you want to help but—”
“I’ve been a boarder in this house with these good people for a little while now, and I’m telling you you’re making a mistake. Hell, Cade wasn’t even here when Tommy and Aaron disappeared.”
“We don’t rightly know where he was, do we now? Excepting for the word of his brother, whose whereabouts we can’t really account for either before Wyatt and Lily brought them all into town.”
Cade knew that it wasn’t just Clay who had spoken to the sheriff, but someone else had also planted a bug in the lawman’s ear.
Prentice!
Everyone started talking at once in Cade’s defense, making his chest tight with all the affection and support he felt in the room. He couldn’t let any of it stop him from doing what he knew was best.
Cade put his finger and thumb in his mouth and released a high-pitched whistle that caught everyone’s attention. “I’ll go with the sheriff and we’ll straighten all this out down at his office.”
Thayne stared at him for a long silent moment before turning to Jed.
Cade could see his brother’s jaw muscles working before Thayne said, “No handcuffs.”
Jed nodded. “Fair enough.” He still caught Cade around the biceps and led him toward the front door just as Abigail Miller, Isaiah’s mother, burst through it, crying, disheveled, and hysterical.
“Why, Abigail, what’s troubling you?” Jed asked.
“Isaiah didn’t make it home last night!”
Chapter 27
“We can’t let anything happen to him, Thayne. I promised we were all going to make it through this okay,” Maia said, breathless as she ran beside him to keep up with his determined, long-legged strides.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to him, honey.” Thayne stopped in front of the lawyer’s office, hand on the doorknob.
Maia bumped into him when he didn’t turn it to open the door. “What’s the matter?”
“Oh Goddess…” Thayne stepped back, grabbing Maia’s hand and jerking her with him behind the building.
“Thayne, what is it?”
“Prentice is in there, speaking with the lawyer.”
Maia peeked from behind Thayne to glance through the windows and saw Prentice and the town lawyer smiling and shaking hands. “What the—?”
“Cade’s in trouble.”
“No shit, Sherlock!”
“Okay, take a deep breath. We need to think this through. We don’t know what they’re talking about or if it has anything at all to do with Cade.”
Maia stared at him. “You know what you need to do, then.”
His heart squeezed in his chest at the challenge in her voice.
Penetrating Cade and Maia’s thought’s during sex was one thing. Using his gifts to save all their lives or heal a patient in his care was another thing, but this, invading a man’s private thoughts and—
A man who tried to kill me and everyone I care about, a man who killed my aunt.
Maia was right. He knew what he had to do. He just had to do things carefully, without letting Prentice know he was here, no mean feat with someone as powerful as Prentice had proven to be so far. The man might already know they were there.
Thayne pushed Maia back behind him and concentrated, reaching out his thoughts to the lawyer first and ascertaining that he and Prentice were indeed talking about Cade. Money had exchanged hands, and an allegiance had been forged. Cade would not be getting any help from this quarter. They were on their own.
Before he could turn his thoughts to Prentice, the powerful Wiccan-gone-wrong turned from the lawyer and stared out the window directly at Thayne. He smiled.
You’re too late, Malloy. I’ve set the wheels in motion for your brother’s belated demise. Glad you could come to see the finale, though.
Thayne staggered back, nose bleeding from Prentice’s sudden psychic attack.
Maia caught him against her as he wiped the back of his hand beneath his nose.
“What happened, Thayne?”
“C’mon!” Thayne grabbed her hand and dragged her to their horses, quickly mounting his.
Maia stared up at him, fists on her hips. “We can’t just let him get away with this.”
“We’re not, but trust me, you have to get on your horse now and follow me.” Prentice had been at meticulous work poisoning the well water, and now it was bubbling over, festering and toxic, in the form of a budding lynch mob.
They were on their way to the jailhouse, looking for an outlet to release their simmering anger and hate, looking for someone to kill.
Not my brother. Not Cade.
The look on Thayne’s face must have clued Maia in as to how desperate the situation was. She climbed onto her mount and followed Thayne as he kicked his horse into a gallop.
The pair of them dashed from the lawyer’s office to the other side of town where the sheriff’s office was located.
A small crowd gathered around the entrance. Thayne didn’t trust it not to quickly grow.
He dismounted his horse, heart pounding at the hush that fell over the throng as he and Maia fought their way through them to the front door.
He tried not to show his fear, but he could feel the horde’s collective animosity and disapproval. He knew that the sheriff and his deputy wouldn’t be able to hold off this bunch if they really put their minds to rushing the station.
Thayne thought of the telegraph office but knew it was too late now to get a message out to any of the nearby forts like Smith. Even apprising a marshal of the clear crisis would be a waste of time at this point.
Maybe had he listened to Cade last night they all could have headed off this situation at the pass. He still wasn’t sure how. He didn’t think the sheriff or his deputy would have looked at them any less askance or that their story of a serial killer would have been any more feasible to the Old West lawmen, but at least they could have gotten their own version of the events on the table instead of allowing Prentice free reign of the situation.
Thayne thought they were well and truly screwed now. They were on their own.
Jed turned to him from the cell where he had locked Cade, gun drawn. “What are you two doing here?”
“You have to get my brother out of there.”
“We had everything under control before you two got here. Your presence is stirring up the crowd.”
“I’ve got news for you, deputy, that crowd was stirred up long before we arrived.”
Despite himself and the situation, Thayne smiled at Maia’s bossy tone and stance when she slammed her fists on her hips to face off with Jed’s second-in-command.
“You send that child killer out here, Jed, or we’re coming in there to get him!”
“Oh Goddess, this is serious.”
Thayne wished he could dispute Maia, but he couldn’t.
Maia walked over to the cell, linking her fingers with Cade’s as she squeezed her face between the bars to kiss him. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay, but you two need to leave before things get out of hand.”
“And leave you? I don’t think so.”
“Thayne…” Cade stepped away from the bars and gave his brother a look over Maia’s shoulder. “Get her out of here.”
“What? No. No way.”
“Maia…” Thayne caught her by the shoulders and drew her back against his chest. “We’ll figure this out.”
“We’re not leaving him.”
In the next moment, a rock crashed through the window and snatched the decision out of their hands.
Before the sheriff could react, the crowd rushed the front doors, flooding into the jailhouse and overtaking the deputy.
Jed fired a round over the vociferous mob’s heads, but their forward momentum continued, two of the men breaking from the crowd to tackle the sheriff to the floor.
“Stop what you’re doing right now! That man is under my jurisdiction and protection and innocent until proven guilty.”
“You let us handle this, Jed, if you don’t have the stomach to,” Cody Paxton said.
“Yes, sheriff. We’ll handle things from here.” Prentice emerged from the crowd, squatting next to Jed, who struggled against the two men holding him down.
“You son of a bitch!” Thayne made a move forward to attack Prentice, but two men from the crowd intercepted and grabbed him by the arms, holding him back.
“Let him go!” Maia shouted, and two men grabbed her from behind.
Thayne watched helplessly as Prentice snatched the set of keys from the sheriff’s belt and stood to approach the cell.
Cade reached through the bars and caught Prentice by the lapel, but before he could get a solid grip, someone hit him in the face with a rifle butt. Cade lurched back, blood spurting from his nose. “Stop it!” Maia screamed, fiercely struggling against the two men holding her.
“That’ll teach ’im for sticking his nose where it don’t belong.” Cody smirked.
“I’ll take care of things here, Cody. Why don’t you oversee the final preparations at the stable,” Prentice said.
“You got it, Mr. Teague.” Cody trotted off to do Prentice’s bidding like a giddy kid, and Thayne wondered what Prentice was paying him. Was it possible the simpleton was doing this for free and had no other motivation driving him except his grudge against him, Cade, and Maia for thwarting him at Hank’s?
Whatever the reason, Thayne wasn’t allowed any further reflection as the rifle wielder who’d attacked Cade used his weapon on Thayne, striking him in the temple.
He crumpled to his knees, bleary-eyed, but he didn’t completely black out. He held onto consciousness by a thread, listening to Maia’s outraged shrieks above him as the two men holding his arms finally released him.
Prentice’s face filled his waning sight, and Thayne felt a tug on his neck when the man snatched off his pendant.
Not Mom’s pendant. No! “Don’t,” Thayne croaked, weakly reaching for it to no avail.
Prentice stood, stepping out of Thayne’s reach. “See you later at the neckti
e party. Your brother’s the guest of honor.”
Thayne held onto awareness for as long as he could before finally losing the battle and succumbing to merciful darkness.
* * * *
Cade woke to the murmur of voices. He felt the underlying excitement of people milling around nearby waiting for the show to begin.
He didn’t open his eyes and reached out for Maia’s and Thayne’s thoughts instead, curious at whether he could initiate a link on his own.
You are not alone, Cade.
“Mom?”
Remember what I told you before. Your belief will get you through this. Your belief is your strength. Believe in the magick. Use it.
Cade held onto his mother’s voice. He held onto her presence in his mind, garnering power from it.
Would it be enough?
He reached out further for his brother and Maia.
It took several moments before he hit pay dirt, and when he did Maia’s and Thayne’s thoughts were fuzzy. Their consciousnesses faded in and out like a weak, static-filled cell phone connection.
Panic-stricken, he silently screamed at them with his psychic voice.
Cade?
Thayne!
He has Mom’s pendant.
It doesn’t matter. We can do this on our own. We just have to believe. Isn’t that what Mom always told you?
I don’t know…
Thayne! Thayne, stay with me.
What had Prentice had his men do to Thayne besides hit him with that rifle? Had they beaten him further? Was he too weak to do this? Was Maia?
Maia? Maia!
I’m here. Don’t shout.
We need to pool our energy. We can’t win any other way.
Do you remember the incantation?
Cade chuckled at his brother’s question. He didn’t think he could forget that chant if his life depended on it.
“I see you’re coming around. No use playing possum.”
Cade felt Prentice squatting beside him but didn’t respond, not even when Prentice nudged him in the ribs with the toe of his boot.
He can only beat you if you let him, Cade. Believe.
Cade held onto his mother’s words and took a deep breath.
