“Then Aldo came along and you saved him.”
“Mmm. I would have been happy with a chicken payment that night.” He looked down on the top of her shining ebony hair. “But then I wouldn’t have met you. We wouldn’t have sealed and been together like this. Do you know what I mean when I say it’s as if there’s no beginning or ending between the two of us?”
She nodded. Her lashes were wet against his chest and tears slipped over his skin. “I’m so lucky.”
Sean tightened his grip on her. “We won’t argue about who is or isn’t lucky here. I feel you when you’re not with me, have I told you that?”
He thought she smiled again. “Sort of.”
“Is that something you do, Elin? In New Orleans, Dora talked about how powerful you are and how many talents you have.”
Elin breathed in slowly, and he didn’t know if she’d answer. Her teeth closed on one of his flat nipples and he jumped. “You’re something,” he said. “Wily.”
“I do it,” she said almost under her breath. “I don’t know how or why, but after we met—after I loved you and was sure it would never stop—I just thought about you and felt your body against my hands.”
Bending forward, he raised her chin and frowned at her. “How many men can you do this with?”
“Only you, silly. It will only ever be you. One day I’ll find out more about who and what I am, and where these things came from. For now I’m going to accept the good stuff and not think too hard about it.”
“We’ll go back to New Orleans and find Dora again—and this Jude you talked about.”
She sighed. “We’ll find Dora. I know we will. But I think seeing Jude was something different. I don’t believe he lives in this world.”
Sean let that go. “We have a long journey ahead. I look forward to it with you. I don’t think I could ever have loved anyone else, but I felt something different the day we met.”
“Yes, you thought I was very different,” she said with a sniff. “I bet that was it. The waif who was all hair and eyes. People have said that about me before.”
“And you take it wrong. First, your body…darn it, Elin, you’re making me hard again.”
She laughed. “Such problems you have.”
“You’re beautiful and you know it. I don’t mind you being beautiful, but I’d still love you if you looked like a troll.”
“Hey. Watch it!”
“I mean, I love you for who you are and the gorgeous trimmings are a bonus.”
“Same here,” she said. “Although your gorgeous trimmings don’t hurt.”
They fell silent. Sean glanced toward the curtained window. Dawn pushed fingers of gray through a narrow gap at one side and stroked across the wall.
“I wish we could stop time,” Elin said.
“If you figure that one out, count me in.”
“We’ll have to go to Niles and Leigh once it’s light. Is Niles trying to reach you yet?”
Sean scooted down and nipped her shoulder. “No. I think he’ll wait for me unless we’re still not out of here by noon.”
“Let’s wait till noon then,” Elin said. “I mean it.”
“I’d like to mean it, but we need an edge today. Niles has to accept my help and he can’t do it with strings attached. I want his input, but I’ll have to lead the way to take out the wolves.”
“What about the vampires?”
He kissed the dip between her breasts. “Maybe we should stay here until someone drags us out. Or maybe we should never leave.”
“Vampires,” she prodded.
“You were with Tarhazian most of your life. Didn’t she tell you the pecking order where vampires are concerned?”
“All she said was that she didn’t ever want me near them.”
He thought about that. The Fae Queen might love her stolen child after all. “They are the strongest of us all—and the hardest to get rid of. You’re never going to forget how it felt when Colin tried to snatch you away. You couldn’t have fought him.”
“But you did.”
“We hounds are not understood by many. We are stronger than the wolves and more patient. We prefer to use more than the obvious when we’re forced to fight.” He didn’t like talking to Elin about this.
“What would that be?” she asked, as he expected her to.
“You deserve to know everything about us, and about me, but could we wait until today is past? And maybe tomorrow and the next day if that’s how long it takes to fight our way out of trouble.” He wouldn’t admit that he had doubts about how easy that would be, if it could be done at all.
“Sean, is this all because Quitus hopes to make a Bloodstone big enough, and powerful enough, to bring everyone and everything he wants under his control?”
“Yes. At least, that’s what I believe. And his master plan has gotten bent so he’s flailing and having to work on grabbing what he wants in little pieces. He doesn’t want to subdue one victim at a time. He wants this whole island and that wouldn’t be enough for him. Then he’d want more. But he’s made a hash of whatever he’s done to the elements of The Veil.”
“Red,” she said quietly. “Blood as he’s decided it is.”
“And something is making him sick and weak.”
Elin shivered. “Which is why he wants us. Aldo is part of him and Aldo knows you can renew him. Now he believes my blood and organs are essential, too.”
He would not make her frantic by admitting Aldo was still an unknown quantity to him, or that what he feared most was this unknown surrogate they spoke of. “He won’t get you. But you will have to—”
“Follow your orders?” she broke in. “I will unless I don’t agree with you.”
“Elin!”
“Yes, I mean that. You want to carry the burden for everyone and absolutely for me, but you said you couldn’t find where you ended and I began because we’re one and the same. I don’t have to tell you what that means. Please make love to me again.”
He dragged her to sit on his lap, which did nothing to help his case when he said, “There isn’t time, my love. We could easily be interrupted.”
“Sean,” she said, twisting to sit astride his thighs and teasing his penis against him. “This could be the last time. We don’t have any guarantees.”
Even if he was admitting she was right, he couldn’t make himself deny her.
He let her guide him deep inside her body, and helped stretch them out, still joined, on top of the down blanket.
chapter THIRTY-TWO
Rather than noon, Sean and Elin walked into Niles and Leigh’s house at eleven o’clock. And still all of the icy atmosphere wasn’t left outside.
Sean hardly dared to look at Elin. He had to keep a steady head if he was going to argue his points with Niles, but when he met Elin’s eyes, he couldn’t make himself care as much about what happened beyond their private world.
“Gabriel is with Saul?” Niles said.
The preliminaries were brief. Niles’s narrowed eyes moved between Sean and Elin and probably saw everything, including the strength of their bond.
Good. So be it.
Squinting against a cold sun through the windows by the water, Sean set his jaw and his resolve. “I already told you he is. Saul will make sure Gabriel comes through this okay.”
“But you don’t know where Sally or Cassie and her brother are?”
“You know I don’t.”
“Aw, hell.” Niles threw himself onto a couch beside Leigh and closed his eyes. “This is an unholy mess and it doesn’t end here.”
“No,” Sean said, keeping his voice level. “It doesn’t end here. But you asked me to be responsible for the Team until you feel you can be fully back in control and I agreed. Having you back where you belong can’t come soon enough, but if I’m running things, let me run them, Niles. We can’t have two leaders making so-called final decisions.”
Niles watched him steadily.
“I would always try to involve you in a
ny major calls—if there was time,” Sean added. “But you have to trust me to make good calls. You’ve got to be behind me.” He threw up his hands. “If you can’t, I’m through.”
His alpha shook his head slowly.
“Niles?” Sean said.
“Okay,” Niles said, “Okay, okay, you’re right. When I’m ready, I’ll take over. Until then, I’m damn lucky to have you to step in for me.” He nodded repeatedly.
“I have to know you would join me if things go badly,” Sean said.
Niles put an arm around Leigh. “We’ll work it out. I’ll be there if I have to be. But this woman doesn’t just hold my heart, she holds our future in her body.” He smiled at Elin. “But she may not be the only one for long?”
He winced when his mate elbowed him in the ribs but Elin turned very pink.
“Give us time,” Sean said.
“It didn’t take us much time,” Niles pointed out.
Sean rolled his eyes. “Okay. You’re right. We’ll let you know about that.”
“We have to look for Sally,” Elin said.
“If we don’t stop Quitus, it won’t matter whether or not we find Sally,” Sean told her. He concentrated on Niles. “Do I have everyone with me? I’d like to have the guys who prefer their own territory with us, too. Piers, Renny, and Simon only need the word and they’ll be here.”
“Will it be enough?” Niles said.
“I hope so. It probably depends on how the pack reacts to what happened in the night. Do you think they’ll lose wolves now?”
“Yeah,” Niles said. “But we can’t count on it. The real wild cards are the vamps. They’re very self-protective. They won’t open themselves up to this Sangue Debolezza. Just knowing it’s in the area must have them retreating and regrouping.”
“We can hope,” Sean said. “I plan to hunt them down, whoever is with Quitus, and I expect to find him, then surround, and attack.”
Niles gave no argument.
“Innes and Campion are already out scouting. They have their orders.”
He avoided meeting Elin’s stare as long as he could. Finally he had to look at her but he couldn’t answer the questions on her mind. She wanted to know what the plans were. He shook his head slightly, smiling at her, but she averted her face.
“Where is Phoebe Harris?” Niles said.
In other words, were all the known Deseran safe? “Saul will watch over her,” Elin said. “He regards her as a close friend and she trusts him.”
Niles snorted. “She should choose her friends more carefully, but I suppose if anyone can look after her, he can.”
Letting out a frustrated breath, Sean said, “Niles.”
“Yeah,” Niles said. “Right. A vampire saint. I forgot for a moment. Oh, come on, I’m sorry. He’s the first one to talk about old habits being tough to get rid of.”
“Leigh and Elin will stay with you,” Sean said, letting the subject of Saul pass. “But we need a backup in case I have to send for you.”
“I’m going with you,” Elin said. She stepped backward away from him and toward the door. “Where you go, I go.”
“Where I go, you’ll be with me,” Sean said. He couldn’t even identify all of his feelings. “You’ll be here, but with me, do you understand?”
She didn’t answer.
“If you were physically there, I couldn’t do what I’ve got to do,” Sean told her and her mouth trembled.
“Bear with him,” Niles said. “You won’t like it, Elin, but it could be we need to pull in Tarhazian. Quitus double-crossed her. She has to want his blood now—and for what it’s worth, I believe she loves you.”
Elin covered her face, muffling her voice. “In her own way she does, but she loves herself a lot more.”
chapter THIRTY-THREE
When Sean had left, Elin felt as if her life were going with him. She couldn’t beg him to stay, but she wanted to.
“Hush,” Leigh said, putting an arm around her waist. “They have to be the ones who feel strong and in charge. They are the strong ones, but are they in charge?”
Elin saw Leigh’s arched right brow and had to smile. “Just don’t let either of them know what we think,” she said. But the ache she felt was deep and mixed with horrible fear—for Sean, and because she couldn’t face Niles’s suggestion that they might have to go to Tarhazian.
She patted Leigh’s back. “How do you feel?”
“I’ll be okay,” Leigh said. “It’s just a bug. It was violent but I’ve come out of it fast and the baby seems just fine. Come into the kitchen. It’s Niles’s least favorite place.”
Understanding the message, Elin followed to the kitchen at the back of the house. Niles seemed to have moved into his own world and she was fairly certain he was connecting with the Team.
Leigh closed the kitchen door behind them. “Notice there’s no window and no external door in here,” she said. “The only way in is through that door and that would mean coming through Niles or Ethan. Ethan’s at the back entrance until he’s called to join the others. Then we’ll have to be where Niles can see us all the time.”
“Yes,” Elin said but she didn’t feel better. “I don’t want to go to Tarhazian. How can anyone understand how I feel? I care about her in a way, but she used me and she had no right to me in the first place. We could never be on equal terms and I wouldn’t accept anything else—even if I didn’t know how devious she is.”
“I do understand,” Leigh said. “But Niles won’t contact her unless he doesn’t have a choice and then he’ll come up with a way to make sure she doesn’t betray us.”
Elin wished she could accept Leigh’s assurance.
“You’re really in love with Sean, aren’t you?” Leigh said, smiling and rubbing Elin’s arm.
She pressed her eyes. “You know how I feel. I can see it in you with Niles. We are so lucky, Leigh. How did we get this lucky?”
Leigh hugged her. “You and I have a special bond. We’re the same kind. I still don’t know about my sister, Jan, but she’s my twin. I keep expecting her to contact me and say something, but…” She let the sentence trail off. “And there’s Phoebe. We know so little about ourselves.”
“Like how many of us there are,” Elin said. “And all the other questions you and I already have. Sean knows I have to go back to New Orleans.” She told Leigh what had happened on her odd journey. “Dora wants me to take you with me.”
“How do we cope with it all?” Leigh sat down hard on a kitchen chair. “For so many years I had no idea there was anything different about me. I will always thank Sally for helping me find Niles.”
When Elin didn’t respond, Leigh said, “What is it?”
“Sean doesn’t seem to trust Sally anymore. Maybe he doesn’t trust any of the fae.”
“Not even one of them?” Leigh said. She frowned and shook her head. “Of course, all that’s changed.”
“Yes, he knows I’m not fae now,” Elin told her. “I don’t know how much damage I did by keeping that from him, but he’s decided the fae shouldn’t be trusted, none of them. He hates Tarhazian.”
“Do you?”
“Most of the time. But she hasn’t always been the way she is with me now.”
“Not when she could make sure you did what she wanted?” Leigh said.
“I guess.” Elin bit her lip. “But I haven’t always been unhappy. She wouldn’t let me grow up—or she didn’t want me to grow up. I don’t know which is really true.”
Leigh looked thoughtful. “If she had a decision to make that could change your future, in a way that might break your heart, what do you think she’d do?”
“I don’t know,” Elin said promptly, but the thought lingered that perhaps she did.
“Just a minute,” Leigh said. Her expression became distant.
She had to be communicating with Niles. Sean said they were really good at it and Elin wished he would say something to her now. If she tried to contact him, he would only worry more.
> “Oh, boy,” Leigh said. She stood up. “We’ve got company. Cliff Ames from Gabriel’s. He’s looking for Gabriel and Sally.”
Elin sighed. “I hope I’ll know the right things to say.”
In the living room, Cliff sat on the edge of a chair but looked as if he could take flight at any moment. He wore a heavy gray wool coat that hung open over his batter-smeared apron and white pants.
“Leigh,” he said when he saw her and jumped to his feet. His relief showed. “How’re you doing? I wouldn’t come only there’s nowhere else. I closed up when I left—figured you and me could open again if we go back together. The twins are there, but that’s all. The four of us can hold things together.”
When Niles kept his eyes down instead of interrupting, Elin figured Leigh didn’t like him talking for her.
“Sean said he couldn’t come when Gabriel was taking it so bad about Molly,” Cliff said, looking at Elin. “I called him. I thought he would come and help when he could.”
Elin didn’t know what to say.
“Let’s go over this,” Leigh said. “Sit down again, Cliff. Do you want anything? Coffee?”
“All I want is to find Gabriel and Sally,” Cliff said, but he did resume his place at the edge of the chair. “I think it was the night before last when I called Sean. Gabriel was…he wasn’t making any sense, just yelling and out of his mind about Molly being missing. I couldn’t get hold of Sally so I tried Sean.”
Elin found her voice. “When did Gabriel leave his place? Didn’t he tell you where he was going?”
Shaking his head, no, Cliff laced his thick fingers tightly together.
Without a word, or making a sound in his bare feet, Niles got up and went to stare out of the window. He only made Elin edgier and Cliff jumped visibly when he saw the other man move.
Leigh said, “When did you last talk to Sally?”
“When she was leaving Gabriel’s the day before yesterday. Her shop in Langley hasn’t opened as far as anyone knows. There’s no sign of her.”
Darkness Bred (Chimney Rock) Page 24
