by Tami Lund
Carley nodded, as if to affirm her words. “In fact, I think Tanner and Finn are quite charming. If I weren’t already mated, I’d probably develop a crush on one of them,” she confided. “Finn,” she decided. “He’s really quite handsome, and so sweet.”
Cecilia arched her brow. Finn? Sweet? “Do we know the same Finn?”
Carley laughed. “I’m sure it’s partially because he loves my cooking. He is forever in the kitchens, coaxing me out of a sampling of whatever I happen to be making for dinner that evening. I’ve started preparing extra for him to take home, because he says he cannot cook very well.”
“I suspect he says that because you give him leftovers,” Cecilia drawled.
Carley dimpled. “Undoubtedly. But it makes me feel good. His praise is very sincere.”
“Everyone’s praise is sincere, Carley. You are by far the best cook in this entire coterie.”
Carley appeared pleased with her compliment. They moved on to other topics of conversation, topics that did not make Cecilia think about Finn and how sweet he was, just because Carley happened to cook. Cecilia could cook. Maybe not nearly as well as Carley, but her cooking was passable. Finn had never been sweet enough to bother discovering that about her.
After a couple of hours, Carley complained of being tired, and said she was going to seek out her mate to ask if she could go home early. Cecilia let the remark go, but in her head she thought, Carley has to ask her mate for permission to leave? Cecilia could not imagine living in such a relationship.
These thoughts led her to think about Finn, and she thought again about how Carley had called him sweet. Was he truly sweet to the head chef? She tried to imagine Finn acting sweet, and she couldn’t do it.
Her irrational jealousy kicked in at that point. Why was he sweet to Carley but not to her? What was wrong with her? Finn was nothing but confrontational with her, always trying to tell her what to do, how to do it, and why his way was better than hers. Without even meaning to do so, she worked herself into a tizzy and was out the door heading down the path toward his cottage before she really thought about her plan.
By the time her jealousy cooled and rational thought pushed through, she was nearly to Finn’s doorstep. She contemplating turning around and heading back to her parents’ home—or better yet, up to the beach house—but then she decided that he had no doubt seen her standing out there, and would tease her the next time he saw her, if she turned around and left now.
She knocked on the door. Twice. Three times. Apparently, he wasn’t home. She should have turned and walked away at that point, but Cecilia did have a problem with listening and following directions, with doing what was right instead of whatever gut reaction she happened to have.
She used her special magic to open the lock on the front door and slipped inside.
Finn’s cottage was cool, as if there hadn’t been a fire in the hearth for quite a while. She walked over and discovered that was true. The ashes in the fireplace were cold and settled. She looked around the small living room with a frown on her face. She hadn’t seen Finn in at least two days, and now that she thought about it, Tanner had run their practice session, earlier in the day. At the time, she’d assumed it was because he and Finn were trading off, taking turns teaching the female Lightbearers how to defend themselves. Now she couldn’t help but wonder if there was another reason for his absence.
Feeling the strangest sense of dread, Cecilia hurried through the living room, down the short hall to Finn’s bedchamber. The bedcovers were pulled haphazardly over the sheets, as if Finn had been in a hurry or didn’t care enough to fully make the bed. Unable to resist, she pulled open the drawer in the bedside table.
The box of condoms were still there, and the box looked just as full as it had the day she’d first discovered it, when Finn rescued her from the lake after her kayak overturned. She was unaccountably relieved.
The sensation of relief was quickly replaced by an unsettled feeling that something was wrong. She opened the closet doors and noticed that several hangers were empty that had not been, the last time she was here. One of the two dress shirts he owned, as well as the tie and khakis were missing. She pulled open several dresser drawers and noticed that quite a bit of Finn’s clothing was gone.
A swift look in the bath chamber showed her that his toothbrush and some other toiletry items were gone as well. The unsettled feeling morphed into a sense of dread. Cecilia lifted her skirt and ran from the cottage, through the woods and up the staircase built into the cliff.
* * * *
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Finn, damn it.”
“Cici, calm down. Did something happen?”
“I have no idea. You tell me. Finn’s cottage looks as if no one has lived there for days. And all of his stuff is gone. Well, not all of it, but enough to indicate that he left. Where did he go?”
Tanner walked into the room just as Cecilia shouted the last at her cousin. “He went to Tennessee,” he replied to the question she had asked his mate.
Cecilia whirled to face him. “Tennessee? Why? For how long? Where, precisely, in Tennessee?”
“He went to visit his sister and his parents. I have no idea how long he’ll be gone. He’s actually considering moving there, if you want to know the truth.”
“What? Why?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Tanner demanded.
Cecilia took several deep breaths and turned and walked to the window. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to keep from shivering. She wasn’t cold, so she could not imagine why she was shivering.
“I just—I’m just surprised, that’s all. I had no idea he intended to leave.”
“Neither did he, at first. He’s just going through some stuff in his head, right now. He’s never met his two nephews. My father wouldn’t allow him to visit them, when he was alive. You have to understand, even if the pack master was fucked-up, it’s hard for a shifter to leave his pack the way Finn did. He doesn’t feel like he has a place in the world right now. He’s just trying to figure out where he fits. I’m the one who suggested a visit with his family might help him get his head on straight again.” He paused and gave Cecilia a curious look.
“Besides, I thought you two hated each other?”
Cecilia shook her head. Hate was such a strong word. Especially in reference to a man she wanted to sleep with.
“So who have you assigned to Cecilia Duty in his absence?”
Tanner’s lips quirked. “You know he refers to it as Cecilia Duty?”
“Yes.”
Tanner sobered. Her tone did not invite teasing.
“Actually, I asked Dane to watch out for you. I know he isn’t the strongest guy in the world, but he knows you well enough to mostly be able to keep track of you. You could make things easier on all of us by sticking around,” he suggested.
Cecilia shook her head. “Let him know that I will be heading to Tennessee at first light. If he wishes to accompany me, be ready at dawn. Although you can let him know that I am perfectly capable of getting there on my own.”
Chapter 8
“What are you doing here, Dane?”
“You didn’t really think Olivia would not see through your attempt to put her off your plan, did you?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Cecilia grumbled. It was three o’clock in the morning, well before dawn, and she and Dane were standing in the pole barn located behind the beach house.
“Why are you going?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
Dane nodded. “As good a reason as any, when it comes to your heart, Cecilia.”
“What?” she asked, startled. What did her heart have to do with any of this? She was simply going to Tennessee, to talk to Finn. To find out if he intended to stay, or if he planned to return to the coterie. To see if she could somehow help him through whatever issues he was currently facing. Why she had such intentions was still beyond her
own comprehension, but Cecilia had never let something such as the “why” of the situation stop her before.
Dane didn’t respond. Instead, he waved at the array of motor vehicles parked before them. “Which one shall we use?”
Cecilia eyed the sleek black-and-yellow Suzuki GSX-R 750. Dane saw the direction of her gaze and paled, his eyes filling with trepidation. “I have no earthly idea how to drive that thing. While I would not be remotely surprised if you did, I have to protest. If I must drive all the way to Tennessee, I would prefer to be wrapped within some semblance of protection, even if it is iron.”
Cecilia rolled her eyes. “It’s much too cold to ride a motorcycle right now,” she said. She pointed at a royal-blue Silverado. “That would better suit our needs, I think.”
Dane glanced at a small red Mazda Miata. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather…?”
Cecilia nodded firmly. “If it snows, we’re significantly better off in the truck. Are you certain you want to go with me?”
“It is not a question of what I want to do, and you well know it, Cecilia. Lisa is furious, just so you know.”
Cecilia arched her blond brow. “You truly are sleeping with her, then?”
“It’s more than simply sleeping with her,” Dane protested primly.
Cecilia could see that, at least from Dane’s perspective. Lisa had only lost her mate and then subsequently given birth to her second child, just about five months ago. As Cecilia understood it, she and her mate had been together for more than half their lives. She didn’t believe Lisa had gotten over her mate that quickly. Not when she was also trying to be a single mother to a young pup and a newborn, as well as trying to adjust to life within the coterie. After her mate died at the hands of her pack master, Lisa had walked away from the only life she had ever known. If Finn thought he had problems, maybe he should talk to Lisa.
Or maybe not. Lisa was the only female shifter of mating age living amongst the Lightbearers. What if Finn decided he wanted to mate with her?
“I promise to return you all in one piece, as swiftly as I can,” Cecilia said to Dane as she climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck and tossed her small satchel into the extended cab.
Dane looked grim as he climbed into the passenger seat. “Swiftly being the operative word in that sentence.”
Cecilia laughed. “You don’t mind if I do not return you all in one piece?”
He glared at her and didn’t dignify her question with a response.
* * * *
“I could not help but notice that we have not yet heard a summons to a mating ceremony, Samuel.”
Samuel stood before the hooded Lightbearer and willed his legs not to shake. He was a Lightbearer, damn it. One of the strongest in their small community. The shifters said so, and those were some of the baddest guys he’d ever met.
“She left the coterie,” he blurted.
The hooded Lightbearer sucked in a breath and shifted in his chair. “You are certain?”
Samuel bobbed his head, nodding furiously.
“Why? Is she going to consort with the humans again?” The tone in his voice left no doubt as to his feelings on the subject of mingling with humans.
Samuel switched from nodding to shaking his head. “I heard from one of the servants at the beach house that the shifter left too.”
“The shifter? The one who fancies himself mated to the Lightbearer princess?”
“No. The other one. The other male, I mean. Finn. F-Finnegan Hennigan. He—he went to Tennessee.”
“And he took our Cecilia with him?”
Samuel puckered his brow. “No, actually. He left a few days ago. Cecilia just left last night some time. To go after him, I guess.”
“Why would she do that? I had been under the impression that you have been wooing her. As you pointed out, the two of you have a history, and you swore it would not be very difficult to convince her to mate with you.”
“I didn’t think it would be,” Samuel admitted. “It’s that shifter. He’s always around, always watching her. It’s damn near impossible to get her alone these days.”
“Every attempt to warn her away from him has only pushed her closer. Not surprising, for one like her.”
“Like her?”
Samuel liked Cecilia. He’d always liked Cecilia. They’d lost their innocence together, and although nothing else ever happened between them, she’d never looked down at him or criticized him or suggested ways he could be better. She simply accepted him. Just like she accepted the shifters.
He reminded himself—again—that shifters were the enemy. Even if they had taught him more about fighting in just a few short months than he’d learned for the entirety of his life thus far.
“Shifter lovers. Human lovers. Those who put aside our kind and give their magic to other beings. Lightbearer magic is meant only for Lightbearers. Yet servants in the king’s household tell me his daughter freely shares her magic with that shifter who claims to be her mate. It is bad enough that she allowed him to plant his seed inside her, but to share her magic as well? It’s blasphemy.”
Samuel heard several murmurs of assent from behind him, but he had no idea who agreed. It was always so dark when he called on the Chosen One, the name the mysterious Lightbearer insisted they use when speaking to or about him.
Samuel had no idea who was hidden under that thick, heavy cloak with the cowl hood. He wondered, not for the first time, how the man maintained his magic, when he was always hanging out down in this dark cellar, covered from head to toe with sun-blocking clothing. Lightbearers needed light to survive, didn’t they? It was the reason their kind were called Lightbearers.
“Go get her, Samuel. Bring her back to us.”
Samuel blanched. “You—you want me to leave the coterie?” He’d never left the protection of the magical wards in his entire life. It was one of the only rules he intended to really enforce, once he and Cecilia were mated. The outside world was far too dangerous. Lightbearers were only truly safe hidden away from everyone else.
“That is precisely what I want you to do,” the Chosen One ’s icy tone uttered from beneath the folds of his hood. He rarely spoke above a harsh whisper, yet his voice carried the weight of one who shouted to get his point across.
Samuel swallowed convulsively. “Wh—what if she will not return?”
The Chosen One was silent for a few moments. When he spoke, his voice was colder than Samuel had ever heard it before.
“If you cannot bring Cecilia to heel, I will have to take drastic measures. My last two warnings failed to do their job, it appears. But those warnings were just that. My next display will not be a warning. Someone will die. If you do not want it to be Cecilia, then bring her to our side, Samuel. Do you hear me? Bring her to our side.”
Chapter 9
Felicia looked great. So did his parents. His two nephews were rambunctious, laughing balls of nonstop energy. Felicia’s mate, Ben, treated her with the reverence of one who utterly adored his mate. Everyone was happy.
Their pack was pretty cool, too. Finn met the pack master, Daniel Foxx, and they’d hit it off almost instantly. “Your family has fit in well here,” Daniel assured him. “They’ve told me about your tracking skills. We could use one like you in this pack.”
The invitation was there.
His sister had introduced him to a number of her friends. He couldn’t help but notice that most were single females. And quite good-looking.
Too bad I left the condoms at home, he thought when Felicia’s friend, Gayle, lightly flirted with him. Then he realized he’d referred to the coterie as home.
That isn’t my home. But this could be.
Then Gayle made some comment that gave him the impression that she was a submissive female, and he thought, I could never live like that for the rest of my life.
Cecilia invaded his thoughts, which pissed him off and made him homesick. And that pissed him off because, damn it, the coterie wasn’t his home. It wasn�
�t even a shifter pack, for the love of Fates. It was a Lightbearer coterie that just happened to be run by a shifter.
That thought made him wonder how Tanner was fairing, running the coterie and continuing the training without Finn to back him up.
“It’s going okay,” Tanner said when he called. “But I won’t be upset if you tell me you’re coming home.”
Home.
“How is everyone?”
“Olivia’s getting bigger, so now she thinks she’s fat. My mother and her mother are arguing over how to remodel the room that we’re going to use as a nursery. Oh yeah, and Cecilia’s on her way to Tennessee to see you.”
“What?”
“You know how Cecilia is. She gets bored easily, and she didn’t have you here to keep her on her toes.”
“You let her come to Tennessee, alone?”
“Nope.”
* * * *
“Dane.”
“Hello, Finnegan.”
Cecilia stood next to him, staring at Finn as if she had never seen him before. She looked damn good. Too damn good. His body reacted the way it always did around her. He was glad for the sweatshirt that hid the instant and painful erection pressing against the front of his jeans.
“What are you two doing here?” he asked. What would she say? What did he want her to say?
“Ask her,” Dane said, jabbing his thumb in Cecilia’s direction.
“Are you enjoying your visit?” she asked before he could repeat his question. She stood on tiptoes and tried to peer over his shoulder. Finn stood in the doorway with his hand holding the door partially closed. Not exactly welcoming, but then again, he hadn’t been expecting Cecilia and Dane to chase him halfway across the country.
“Sure,” he replied.
“I imagine it is nice to see your family again,” she said primly.
He wondered what she was getting at. “Sure,” he said again.
“Family can be so oppressive, though,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose. “I doubt you want to spend all of your time with them.”
