“What did the brownies tell you?” Esperanza pushed.
Rowan looked to Cree. “Can you please find Bain for me? Just Bain, let me get settled, and then I’ll talk to the others.”
“Of course, love.” Cree settled a soft kiss on Rowan’s lips, before dropping his forehead against hers.
Don’t let her get to you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Rowan smiled. She loved the telepathy she and Cree shared; it made moments like this bearable.
I’ll survive; she just worries too much.
Cree smiled, pressed a kiss to her lips again, and headed for the door.
Esperanza stood with her hands upon her hips, her perfect brows arched. “Don’t think I don’t know what was just going on, Rowan. What did he say about me?”
“You’re paranoid, Mother,” Rowan joked.
“No, I just know you two very well.”
Rowan laughed. “Can we let this go? I promise you, I am working on finding the drifters, and the brownies really didn’t know anything. They were stealing things to sell on their journey to seek out the drifters.”
Esperanza nodded and left it at that.
Not long after the conversation had ended, Bain and Cree returned.
“Hello Ro,” Bain called as he entered the room. “Wow, you do look drained. This may be more of a job for the Immortal brothers.”
“You are an Immortal brother,” she teased as she stood to hug him.
“You know what I mean.”
“You’ll do just fine.” She smiled, and Bain raised his palms to cup her cheeks.
Rowan felt the cool breath of Bain’s healing power and smiled as a new burst of energy flowed through her.
“So tell me… How is Isabelle? I assume you convinced her to come home with you.” Rowan asked, her eyes still closed as Bain infused her with new energy.
Bain’s chuckle came out deep and smug. “Are you surprised?”
Rowan shook her head as much as it would move in Bain’s hands. “Not really, but I had hoped it would take longer.”
“Rowan!” Lady Esperanza said her name in chiding. “The less time any of you spend in the Human World, the better.”
Bain and Rowan both ignored Esperanza’s reprimand.
“A near-death experience helped my cause,” Bain admitted.
Rowan’s eyes flew open. “What happened?” she demanded. “Did Zander come back for her?”
Bain shook his head.
Not exactly… if Zander had truly come after Izzy again, Bain would have killed the bastard.
“We did run into him, but that’s not what made her decision. She was stung by a bee and went into anaphylactic shock.”
Rowan’s face went from concern to surprise. “Did she not know she was allergic?”
Bain’s lips curled in a small smirk that held no humor. “She never had been.”
He let go of Rowans face, placing a finger on her chin. He moved her head from left to right, inspecting his handy work.
“Much better,” he declared. “How do you feel?”
“Better, thank you, but I would like to meet this Isabelle soon. It’s not a good sign if her body chemistry itself is changing. Zander may have taken more then I realized.”
Bain nodded. Yeah, that was something he had worried about too. She’d been okay since she got here, but he had no clue how long it would last.
“Bain, why don’t you go get her? I can meet with Isabelle while Cree fills you and the brothers in on what we found out.”
“Sure thing,” Bain agreed and left with Cree. He had no fears about leaving Izzy with Rowan, not like he worried about leaving her with his mother.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You look nervous, please take a seat.”
Izzy was a little nervous. Bain had left her alone with the Light Fae queen, his sister. Did Rowan actually expect her not to be nervous? But Izzy took a deep breath and moved to sit in the silky, cream-colored armchair that sat across from the matching one Rowan currently occupied.
Rowan smiled, dipping her chin when Izzy finally sat.
“I suppose I should start by asking how you’re feeling? Aside from the nerves.” Her eyes were soft and gentle, even compassionate, in their ethereal shade of lilac.
“I’m confused, nervous as you pointed out, and overwhelmed.”
Rowan smiled. She was beautiful and looked a bit like Bain, same color hair and similar eyes, only hers were light to his more vibrant.
“Well, let’s address the nerves first, shall we?”
Izzy nodded.
“Good, it’s simple… you have nothing to be nervous about. You’re safe here, and you have every Immortal warrior watching out for you. Zander cannot get to you here. As far as for me, I pose no threat to you. I liked you from the moment Uriah called to tell me that you had refused to come with him, and that you had put Bain in his place the night Zander had attacked you.”
Izzy laughed. “It wasn’t exactly an attack, but then again, I didn’t know he was stealing anything from me.”
Rowan nodded. “Yes, from what Uriah told me, you were more afraid of my brother at the time.”
Izzy felt a small flush heat the back of her neck; she wasn’t afraid of Bain now. Not physically, but she was worried about her heart.
“Yes, he’s an intimidating force,” Izzy said simply.
“Yes, but I heard you found nerves of steel. I liked that about you. Not many women stand up to Bain. It’s ridiculous, but he seems to spell them with his looks.”
“I can see why.” Izzy smirked.
“Yes well, anyhow, Uriah told me about the back and forth between you two. It, among other things, made me want to meet you.”
Izzy studied Rowan, wondering how much she wanted to know and how much she was like her mother. Was she becoming the specimen in the Petri dish again?
“What are the other things?” Izzy asked, while focusing on keeping her tone friendly.
“Zander is one of the reasons, of course. All the others relate back to my brother, and they aren’t important right now.”
“What do you want to know about Zander?”
Izzy would rather talk about him right now than talk about whatever Rowan had to say about her and Bain.
“Okay, down to business. Did Bain mention anything about me and what my gifts… my Fae blood, gives me?”
“Sort of, he said you were part leprechaun, and that you could help with the luck Zander stole from me.”
“That’s right. I can’t give you back what he stole, but I can balance what you have left.”
“Okay.” Izzy didn’t know what else to say.
“So how bad has it been?” Rowan asked.
Izzy shrugged. “Not too bad, well at least not until I had the reaction to the bee sting.”
“Have you had any problems since you came here?”
Izzy’s brows pinched together as she thought about her past few days in the Middle World… Now that she truly considered it, no, she hadn’t.
She shook her head.
Rowan smiled. “Good, I figured the magic here would help. Yet, let’s still see what I can do to help you.”
“Okay, how does it work?”
Rowan smiled and moved to stand next to Izzy’s chair.
“I know Bain healed you; it will be a bit like that. He always says his healing has nothing to do with our leprechaun blood, but our gifts work so similar, I think he has a bit of our grandfather’s magic in him.”
Rowan placed a gentle hand on Izzy’s shoulder. Izzy felt warmth spread from Rowan’s fingers. It lasted only a few brief seconds. Once Rowan removed her hand, she took her seat again.
“He took a lot. I’m glad you agreed to come here.”
“What do we do now?” Izzy asked.
“I’m trying to get Darion to agree to give us Zander so he can restore your luck, but I want to be clear that even if he agrees, Zander will not give it all back.”
“I’ve never believed i
n luck,” Izzy admitted, “but I would never have believed in any of the things I’ve seen the past few days, if it weren’t for actually seeing them. With that being said, what does it mean if I don’t get all of my luck back?”
Rowan smiled; it was a soft and gentle reassurance of the words she spoke. “It means that your life will be safe again, though it may not be as easy as it once was.”
Izzy grunted. What did Rowan know of her life? It had never been easy. She had worked for everything she had.
“I’ve offended you.” Rowan sighed.
Izzy arched a brow at her. Was she a mind reader or empath too?
“I’ve worked hard my entire life. Things haven’t always been easy for me,” Izzy explained.
“I didn’t mean to imply that you hadn’t worked hard for what you have. What I meant is the things that once came simply for you may no longer work out that way, but with time, your luck will replenish.”
Izzy nodded, it might have been a little curtly, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it.
“I need to get back to work soon. How long until you hear from Darion?”
Rowan shook her head. “I can’t say for sure, there are a lot of things happening right now, but I promise I am working on it.”
“What happens if you can’t get Darion to give over Zander? What happens if I don’t get at least some of my luck back?”
Rowan’s brows squeezed together; the first signs Izzy saw of any sort of distress in the Light Fae leader.
“That look isn’t inspiring happy warm feelings for me, Rowan.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t. The truth of the matter is that if we can’t get at least a quarter of the luck that was stolen from you back, we may need to make more permanent living arrangements for you.”
“How permanent?” Izzy asked, her eyes narrowing with worry.
Rowan smiled sympathetically. “Probably somewhere around a year or two. It all depends on how fast your luck replenishes.”
Izzy shook her head. “No, that won’t work. I have a home, a mortgage, a family, and a job. I have a life I need to get back to.”
Rowan nodded. “I know, and I’m doing everything I can. We needn’t stress over this right now. You don’t have to get back to it today or even tomorrow and, as far as your work goes, I’ll have Kale set you up with everything you need so you can do whatever work you can from here.”
Izzy wasn’t sure about that, but she could at least, hopefully, check her emails and place any important calls. Eventually, she was going to have to meet with her clients, but that wasn’t something she needed to do today or even tomorrow.
“All right, I’ll need internet access.”
“That won’t be a problem; you can work out of the library. There’s internet in there.”
Izzy smiled. “Thank you.”
Rowan smiled back. “You’re welcome. Is there anything else you need for right now?”
Izzy shook her head. “Not that I can think of… oh wait, where is the library?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I saw her coming,” Cree noted as he and Bain walked towards his office.
Bain gave him a sidelong glance; he knew better then to take Cree’s visions for granted. His brother’s vision came in different forms, sometimes feeling the outcome as it played out in front of him, sometimes dreams of the future and an uncanny knowledge of everyone’s thoughts.
“Oh yeah, and what did you see?”
Cree shook his head. “I can’t tell you that, just know she has a role among us.”
That was the thing Bain hated about Cree’s omniscience. He was cryptic when it affected one of his brothers directly.
“Right, I know the party line and the rules of your future peeking,” Bain joked.
Cree raised a brow, and gave him a half-cocked smirk.
The other brothers were already seated in Cree’s office, waiting for the two of them.
“All right, guys, let’s get down to business,” Cree said, taking his seat behind his desk, shuffling through some reports from Hawk’s Eye.
“It’s so nice to have you back,” Kale said mockingly.
Cree lifted a brow. “I bet it is, now fill me in.”
Kale and Uriah gave him a run down on the vampires they had tracked in Los Angeles. They would be healing in Darion’s lands for the next couple of days.
Bain had told Izzy their fangs were used to feed and were good in a fight; what he didn’t tell her was that they also secreted a venom that weakened Fae of all kind. It wouldn’t kill the vampires Uriah and Kale had attacked, but it would slow their ability to heal themselves.
Cree nodded and listened to his two brothers as he checked his e-mail.
“And what of Isabelle, did she have any insight into Zander?” Cree looked to Bain when Kale and Uriah were done with their report.
Bain grunted. “Not much.” He hesitated briefly before continuing, “Though she did in fact meet him the night before we found him feeding from her. He asked her out on a dinner date instead of just trying his stolen luck right then.”
“Really?” Cree was as surprised as Bain had been when Izzy told him about how she had ended up in that dark parking lot with Zander, but after their exchange at Club Zion, he had pushed her for some details.
Cree’s eyes narrowed as he finished reading whatever was on the screen of his laptop.
“Have you been keeping in touch with Lucas?” Cree asked Lothar, gesturing with two fingers for him to come see what he was looking at.
“I spoke with him earlier,” Lothar said, moving around Cree’s desk to view whatever had peaked Cree’s interest.
The two men made quick eye contact before both their stares lifted to Bain.
Kale and Uriah decided then to stare at him too.
“What?” Bain demanded.
“You and Uriah go gear up. We’ve got a lead on Zander,” Cree told them. “Lothar, you go with them.”
“What about me?” Kale asked, wondering why he was going to miss out on all the fun.
“You said it was nice to see me,” Cree said, a sarcastic twist to his tone, “I assume that meant you’d like to stay here and catch up.” Cree smiled as the others took off.
Kale watched longingly as his brothers left the office.
“Think you’ll learn someday?” Cree laughed from behind Kale.
Kale turned, a Cheshire smirk playing across his lips. “Probably not.” He chuckled. “So tell me what fun future facts you’ve seen lately.”
Cree laughed. “You’d be amazed, brother. We’re in for some major changes around this castle, though most of them I can’t understand why they’re going to happen.”
Kale was serious now as he sat down in a chair on the opposite side of Cree’s desk. “Good or bad?” he asked.
Cree leaned back in his chair, his long legs stretching out under the desk as he pushed back. “Time will tell. Mostly what I see is just different, but whatever is coming, I see it affecting Rowan and Bain the hardest, though as you know, when something upsets or hurts one of us, we all feel it.”
“That’s the way family works. Do you know anything about it?” Kale asked.
“The only thing I can say is that it feels like it has more to do with Bain than anyone else, but it directly affects Rowan.”
“Is something going to happen to Izzy?” Kale asked. Of all the things around them right now, she was the most pivotal piece in Bain’s world.
“No, I think Izzy will be fine, but as of right now, I don’t know if she will be around for all of this.”
Kale nodded. That didn’t sound promising; he saw what his best friend felt for her. Hell, he liked her too. She seemed to blend into their world so easily. Her understanding personality made her easy to open up to about who and what they were, as well as what they could do, and not at any point did she seem frightened or judgmental towards him when he’d had the pleasure of getting to know her. She’d joked and laughed with him and Uriah. For Christ’s sakes, the
woman had reined Bain in and knocked him down off his womanizing pedestal. What was there not to like?
“I will also tell you that I think Lady Esperanza has a hand in it as well.”
That had Kale’s eyes pinching as his brow knitted together; that wasn’t good. There was something about Lady Esperanza that kept her just beyond trustworthy, which made her all the more dangerous in his opinion. He knew where he stood with her… she didn’t like him. But mostly that was based on her crappy judgmental personality and his give-a-shit attitude. Not liking someone was not reason enough to not trust them. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that if it came down to getting what she wanted, she would pull the rug from under anyone in her way.
“That could be very bad, brother,” Kale commented, a worried set to his young features.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Izzy rolled her eyes; she would have to deal with one of her more difficult clients right now.
“Sally, the theme is Halloween. It doesn’t need to be narrowed down any further.”
Izzy listened to the bar manager argue with her and suppressed a sigh. She knew the client was always supposed to be right, but this was ridiculous.
“Sally, have you talked to Ben about this?”
Ben was the owner and, last she knew, they were on track to create a pretty fantastic Halloween event. She had all the props reserved; she and Ben had put together a simple menu for the night, with specialty drinks and food for the event.
Sally was irritated that Izzy even asked, her curt response that she was in charge of the event now, putting Izzy in her so-called place.
“I can work up a few themes for you… yes… okay, but we don’t have much time. I’ll work on it today, and get some ideas e-mailed out to you tomorrow. Then you’ll need to decide by the end of the week, and Ben will have to approve the changes.”
Izzy hung up and sighed. She rested her face in her palms, her elbow supporting her head on the tabletop.
“Rough day?” a deep voice asked.
Izzy lifted her gaze, and lifted, and lifted, for it to finally settle on the face that belonged to the voice, where it remained. She stared, at a loss for words. The man standing in front of her was tall. Her head seemed to lift until it hit the back of her neck. He had to be around six-foot-seven, with the darkest shade of black hair she’d ever seen. His skin was tan, and his eyes were the most stunning shade of glacial blue. If not for the eyes, she would have said he looked Native American and goddamn if he wasn’t a stunning mix of all things masculine and gorgeous.
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