You will love another.
A shiver ran through me and I wrapped my arms tightly around my middle. He was bound and determined to carry this on his own, whatever it was. So we were not the team I’d thought we were.
So be it.
Chapter 5
Sometime around two in the morning, Liam slipped into the room and lay beside me, his hand icy cold from the snow slipping over my hip. Within minutes, he conked out, twitching every now and then as he slept. Alex and Pamela slept on the floor, curled up together. Milly was in the room across the hall—her old bedroom. No one would admit they didn’t want to be alone after what had happened to Dox, Sla, the Triplets, and the Coven—all powerful supernaturals in their own right, and they had been wiped out like they were human and unable to defend themselves.
Sleep came to me after a long while, but not kindly.
Oh, I knew what I saw in my sleep was just a dream, but it still bit at me, tearing my heart as if a test to see how much more I had in me.
Berget sat with me on the swings in Deerborn Park where she’d been taken so many years ago. The air smelled like early spring, fresh growing things and new life, and the wind drew on her golden locks, teasing them around her face.
“Rylee, you won’t give up on me, will you?” The shake in her voice and tremor in her lips tugged at me. Her blue eyes were full of her soul, not like the Berget I’d seen below Venice. The one who’d try to kill all those I loved. These were the eyes of the little girl I knew as my sister.
“How am I supposed to help you, if this is even the real you?” I pushed myself on the swing with a bare toe in the soft sand, my loose skirt blowing around my knees.
Berget shrugged. “I don’t know all the answers, I only know you will save me from this. If you don’t, I will never be free. I will forever be in limbo. I know it will be hard. I know my body will fight you, because I don’t have control of it anymore.”
I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, breathing the air deeply into my lungs. “Can you tell me anything that might help?”
She stepped off her swing and moved behind me, pushing me higher. I let my head fall back to look at her, balancing on my seat. Without warning, her hands were around my neck, squeezing, just hard enough to stop me from breathing, her fingers digging into my skin.
“Whatever you do, don’t let me bite you; it will bind you to me.”
My eyes flew open, sweat soaking the pillow beneath me, my heart pounding like an oversized drum in my chest. I leaned over and checked the clock. Just after three. I’d been asleep for maybe an hour if I was lucky. Fuck, I was exhausted.
Yet, I lay in my bed unable to sleep. To have Berget beg me not to give up on her, her words dug into my brain and wouldn’t let my eyes close again. How did I know it wasn’t Berget the vampire, the one who was mad with the power her parents bestowed on her? It made no sense, other than to say when Berget came to me in my sleep, I saw her as if it were her soul. And if her soul still cried out to be saved, how could I deny her that?
I slipped out of bed, stepped over Pamela and Alex and to my weapons. I scooped up my two blades, whip, and hesitated over the crossbow. I was just going downstairs to think, what the hell did I need any of this for? Yeah, good question. I took my weapons anyway, left the crossbow behind and then went out the door. My jeans and t-shirt weren’t warm enough without Liam’s body heat beside me and I ran my hands over my arms. In the hallway, I stood silently, staring at Milly’s door.
I wanted to talk to her about everything that had happened. Not as enemies, but as the friends we had been for so long. I wanted to discuss with her all the things going through my head, the worries, the concerns at one time she would have listened to. She would’ve been the one I’d turn to. Especially with Liam blocking me from him … .
She’ll use you again, break your heart with her lies. In the process, you could lose those who truly love you. Shit, that was the truth. I bypassed her door and headed downstairs, avoiding the steps I knew creaked without even thinking, sliding on my weapons in a rhythm as natural as breathing.
The living room was dark, but I didn’t need light to find what I was looking for. In the old Victorian desk Giselle had so loved was a stub of a pencil and a few blank sheets of paper.
“Okay, get your brain wrapped around this,” I muttered. I lit two candles, placing one on both sides of the desk.
I paused, the pencil hovering over the paper for a split second before writing.
Oath bound to Faris—leaving in six days. Must help him gain throne.
Guns that are accurate around supernaturals?
Orion is on the hunt for my allies and is going to try and take over the world. Fucking peachy.
Berget.
My sister’s name stilled my pencil. What the hell was I supposed to do about her? I’d sworn an oath to Faris that I would kill her, despite the fact I didn’t know who she was at the time. An oath was an oath, and he was holding me to it. I looked at my list and knew, while they were all important, no way could I deal with them all. Not on my own. In helping Faris, I would try and secure the vampires as allies. That would help with Orion and was about the only damn good thing coming out of helping the bastard vampire.
I closed my eyes, tried not to think about Orion for a second, because while he was the biggest threat, I didn’t know how to stop him … so at the moment, trying to figure him out was a waste of time. My train of thought skittered sideways. Maybe not so wasteful … I had the demon book of prophecies tucked away that could have information in it, information that would give me what I needed to wipe out Orion. Mind you, it was in New Mexico in a safe in The Landing Pad. My heart constricted as I thought about Dox, about how much he would have suffered to have his skin removed while he still lived. I clenched my hands; no time, there was no time for this grief, and that hurt.
Later, the tears could come later.
I let out a tight breath, and tapped my pencil on the desk. Doran was near Roswell too. Doran could potentially have information, or know where to go for information on Orion. Or maybe even one of the other Shamans there. A few of them still owed me favors. What the hell was I thinking? No one knew how to deal with a demon like Orion. If someone did, they would have dealt with him by now.
My mind flicked back to Doran and his connection with Berget. Again, there was a possibility he could help me. It looked like everything pointed to New Mexico. The thing was, I knew I was going to deal with Berget, probably sooner rather than later. Saving her would have to be before I went to “work” for Faris. There was no way he would go along with saving his sworn enemy.
Death or dishonor: that’s what I faced.
Take what was left of my sister’s life—filled with the mad rage and power of her adopted parents—or try to find a way to save her, to work around Faris’s stupid fucking oath. I shook my head. Too many tasks, not enough time.
I continued to tap my pencil. Two things had to be done without any fucking dawdling, and there was no way I could manage both. One, we had to find out who the hell was putting together weapons that worked around supernaturals, because Milly was right. If Orion got his hands on them, if he found out … I shuddered. A demon with working guns? We were in seriously deep shit if that happened. Might as well just lie down and let him take us.
Two, I needed Doran and that black-skinned demon book. If I was lucky, Doran would have some info on Berget that would be of use too. Either way I looked at things, it meant a trip to Roswell.
Two tasks, two teams. Son of a bitch, I had to split us up again to make this happen. Apparently, my subconscious already knew this when I got out of bed. My skin tingled, chills racing. Splitting up hadn’t worked well in the past. Someone always ended up hurt, or worse, skinned alive. I tried to swallow, struggled to work around the sandpaper feel of my mouth.
The creak of a foot on the stairs snapped my head up. I lifted the sheet of paper and held it over the candle on my left, and let the flames take the word
s.
I turned in my seat as the last of the paper burned to ash and floated to the desktop.
Pamela stepped off the bottom stair and peered around the corner at me. “Rylee, Alex is snoring and Liam is talking in his sleep.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Did he say anything interesting?” Her eyes dropped and with them, so did my stomach. “Pamela, what did he say?”
She gripped the bottom edge of her shirt and lifted her face. “He said, ‘I can’t tell her, she’ll never let me go.’”
I gave a sharp nod, like I knew what she was talking about. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” But hell, it wasn’t nothing. Even in his sleep the bastard was close mouthed. Shit, for once I was glad I couldn’t be Read. Except by Doran and that had been temporary. Seemed little good came from knowing the future, and rarely could you do anything to change it.
Pamela let out a sigh.
“Oh, good. I was worried he was going to leave us.”
A twang around my heart reverberated through me. Us. Yeah, we were family, a pack, whatever the hell you wanted to call it.
And I was about to break us up in order to try and save us.
Days like this, I wished I were human and had no knowledge of the life that hovered on the edge of darkness. That I could just go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning knowing it had all been a bad dream, not reality.
There was no doubt in my mind Liam would fight me on this decision to leave, even though he’d said he was okay with me going with Faris. This was different. This wasn’t Faris anymore; this was me leaving without even telling him. Yet he was the only one I trusted to go after the weapons. Despite his assertions he would be okay with me doing what I thought was best, he would be pissed. And I couldn’t really blame him
But he isn’t exactly trusting you right now. I did my best to ignore that little voice in my head. Still, I could soften the blow by taking along someone to watch my back. Someone Liam said he trusted only second to himself.
“Pamela, wake Alex and bring him down here. Quietly. If Liam wakes up, tell him you are taking Alex for a pee.”
Her lips tightened. “You’re leaving us, aren’t you?”
I reached out and grasped her forearms. “I need you to stay with Liam, keep him and Milly from killing each other. Find out who is making those weapons. Liam has connections with the FBI, and they can help us on this.”
Her jaw twitched. “But you’re still leaving us.”
I wanted to shake her, to scream she had no fucking idea what was going to happen, forgetting for a split second she had been the one to find Dox and the other ogres hung from the rafters of the barn. She knew exactly what was going on, and what was at stake. “Yes, for a day, no more. I need to get information.”
“Where are you going?” Damn her persistence, yet I was proud of her too. She wasn’t backing down.
I let her go, decided to tell her the truth. “To Doran. I won’t be gone long. I need to speak to him and maybe the other Shamans. I’ll go through the mineshaft.”
“Liam will come after you.” She said it with the certainty only a teenager has. That certainty where teenagers think they know it all and the adults couldn’t possibly get how wrong they were. I wondered what he said in his sleep. Maybe he was done with us, maybe he’d finally seen his life was pretty much forfeit if he stayed.
No, I didn’t really believe that. Of all the things Liam was, disloyal was not one of them.
“Go get Alex. I’ll deal with Liam.”
Pamela turned and headed up the stairs. I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t wake Liam; the girl had a mind of her own. But if she did, I would remind him that he said I would make the right choices. A few minutes later, Pamela and Alex came down the stairs, him creeping on his toes with exaggerated steps that I just shook my head at.
“Alex beeees quiet,” he whispered, lifting a claw to his lips.
Pamela stood with her arms folded across her chest, jaw twitching periodically. I pulled out a second sheet of paper and scrawled a note on it, folded it in half, and gave it to her. “Give this to Liam when he wakes up.”
“And if he tries to go after you?” She arched an eyebrow at me.
“He won’t. Not when he sees the note.” I was not that confident, actually, but she didn’t need to know that. I was betting on him remembering our earlier conversation, and even if he didn’t trust me with his Reading, he could trust me on this.
She took the folded paper and tucked it into her back pocket. “I don’t want you to go.”
Her blue eyes welled up with tears, and I felt my own emotions curl up toward the surface. I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. “I think there’s going to be a lot of things we don’t want to happen, that we will have no choice in. Not if we want to survive what’s coming.”
A hiccupped sob escaped her and I held her tighter. There was nothing else I could do. Alex crept forward and wrapped his gangly arms around us both. “Alex loves Pamie and Rylee.”
I ran a hand over his head. “We love you too, buddy.”
A minute passed and I pushed her away. “I have to go. Before Liam wakes.”
“If you think he’ll let you go, why don’t you wait to tell him?” Pamela wiped her cheeks, her eyes questioning me.
I shook my head, unable to tell her the truth. It wasn’t just Liam I worried about; I had doubts about myself, too. While being dependent on Liam wasn’t totally bad, it was making me soft. I had to be strong enough to do things on my own, like before I’d started my own pack.
Good practice for when Faris showed up and I had to leave.
Again.
Fuck, this shit was getting old.
I slid on my heavy winter jacket, the leather-lined coat had as many stitch-up jobs as I did. Weapons already on, I nodded at Pamela. “This time tomorrow, I’ll be back. Don’t worry, okay? You just help Liam get the info he needs, however he needs to do it. I’ll leave the Jeep for you three. Alex and I can make it on foot.”
She gave a quick nod, but the doubt was in her eyes.
“Come on, Alex, let’s go.”
He and I headed out the side door. I turned back on the threshold to see Pamela standing in the candlelight, Giselle behind her.
Go, Rylee. You must. Giselle’s words hummed inside my head, a reassurance I needed. I lifted my hand to them both, and stepped into the blowing snow.
Chapter 6
Sleep, though it stole him away from his worries, was not restful. Giselle’s words haunted his dreams, and a myriad of ways to die filled his mind. He couldn’t tell Rylee, he knew that, but he hated to keep secrets from her. Hated how her eyes had filled with distrust when he couldn’t tell her. Hated that he pushed her away, even if it was for a good reason.
Morning sunlight woke him as it snuck past the drawn sash and bathed his face in weak winter light. Liam groaned and rolled to his side, his hand reaching out for Rylee’s body. Nothing but a cold spot beside him. Not really a surprise, she was probably downstairs working out already—the woman could rarely be pulled from her routine, even when the shit hit the fan.
And hit the fan it had. The entire local coven wiped out, Dox and his friends skinned alive, Eve dead and then brought back to life. Giselle’s Reading of him. Liam ran his hands over his head, still not fully believing everything they’d seen.
Not to mention Rylee was as pissed as a cat in a rainstorm at the moment. Nothing he could do about any of that now, so he shook it off and got out of bed. His spine cracked as he stretched and his eyes were drawn to Rylee’s weapon stash.
Her two best swords were missing.
The winter ice might as well have slid down his back. He threw on his clothes and was in a flat out run in a matter of seconds, down the stairs and into the kitchen where Milly and Pamela stood side by side, heads bowed together. The murmur of Milly’s voice as she explained something about subtle magic to Pamela. No Rylee and no Alex. Maybe she’d just taken the submissive werewolf outside.
Maybe
he was just trying to delay the inevitable once he finally asked the question.
“Where is she?” He drew in a deep lungful of air, trying to scent Rylee. She’d been here, but it was faint, like it had been hours since she’d last been in the house.
Pamela turned and pulled something from her back pocket, handing it to him. He noticed the red around the rim of her eyes, the smell of sadness clinging to her, and anger.
He took the note and flipped it open.
I won’t be long, twenty-four hours at the most. Take Pamela and see what you can find out about those fucking guns. We can’t let Orion or his lackeys get their hands on them.
That was it, nothing about where she’d gone, or what she’d left for. But he knew this was a dig at him. He hadn’t opened up to her, and so now she was fucking off on her own. Having a fucking snit.
“You know where she is, don’t you?” He folded up the note and tucked it into his pocket as he lifted his eyes to Pamela.
She tipped her chin up ever so slightly. “Yes, I do.”
“Are you going to tell me?”
Uncertainty flickered through her eyes, her age showing. “If I do, you’ll go after her and then she’ll be angry with both of us.”
Milly said nothing, just watched them, her green eyes thoughtful.
Liam put his hands on his hips and dropped his chin to his chest, thinking, as he tried to work his mind around the anger coursing through him. A few deep breaths and he managed to get himself under control. He’d told Rylee that she would have to make choices and he trusted her to deal with Faris on her own when the time came. There weren’t a lot of options and, though he and his wolf were pissed as hell, what Rylee was asking him to do made sense. Even if her reason for leaving on her own was stupid and more than a little childish in his eyes, he did understand why she’d done it.
He hurt her, pretty much told her he didn’t trust her, and she’d run away.
Fuck it all.
Tracker: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 6) Page 4
