Linked (Prophecy Book One)

by Welsh, Hope

  He blew out a sigh and tried to rein in his temper. She’d only been doing what she thought was right. “I guess I’m a little on the protective side, Lana. I’m sorry I jumped on you, I just don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

  “I only meant that you’ve done more than enough, and I don’t want you to be obligated to do more,” she muttered.

  “I’ve already addressed that. We’re in this together, Lana,” he replied, adding a pointed stare for good measure.

  “Okay.”

  “The sooner we have answers, the sooner I’ll know you’re safe.”

  He’d never been the overly-macho type. What was it about her that made him feel this overwhelming protectiveness towards her?

  Things were getting…difficult, confusing. They were happening too fast, and he didn’t have the time to analyze all the pieces of it yet.

  He felt her eyes on the back of his head and turned to look at her. By the speculative look in them, he knew he had to tread carefully. She had good reason to be wary. “It’s just that I keep thinking about what could have happened last night,” he explained, his tone quiet. “Between that and what you’ve told me about your mother, I’m very concerned you’re in danger. I don’t think last night was a chance incident, Lana.”

  “I know that, too, Cole.”

  “Let’s get out of here. We’re not going to find any answers sitting around here doing nothing.”

  “Let me grab my purse and the keys.” She left the room without another word.

  Cole watched her walk away and sighed. Her anxiety reached him even as she walked away. He didn’t know what to do about it, wasn’t sure anything could be done about it at this point.

  As he waited, his mind wandered back to the wolf. That was one of the big questions he wanted answered. He had a few people he could call that may or may not have some information on that front.

  She walked back into the room a few moments later and he forced a smile. “Ready?”

  “As ready as I’m ever going to be,” she said. “We just need to get this over with.” She paused on her way to the door. “I just want you to know I think this is a waste of time. I don’t think we’re going to find much at her house.”

  He nodded and hoped like hell that she was wrong. If she wasn’t, then they didn’t have the first lead other than a wolf with no scent that could disappear and an intruder that had no human scent. He was sure they were one and the same. At this point, he hoped they were. One threat was more than enough.

  §§§

  The Evil One sat on his haunches beside Lana’s apartment building, his ears perked as he listened to the sound of footsteps walking outside. The woman and man were so foolish...so human.

  The man might prove to be a small obstacle, however. He had not expected him to be a shifter. Even with that little surprise, he did not worry. He would take care of them both.

  He still wondered how she had eluded him earlier. She could not have done it alone. He had kept his eye on her for years and knew she had no real power. The mother had not told the woman about him, he was sure.

  That left the shifter.

  How the man had managed to shield the woman from his senses he did not know. Even among shifters, that was not something he had heard of or even believed possible. Puzzling, granted, but nothing that concerned him.

  He would prevail.

  Soon he would be at full power once more. He relished the thought of what he would do to humankind when that day came.

  The world would be his once again as soon as he rid it of two simple humans.

  After that…the world would suffer and bow before him.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Twenty minutes later, Lana sat quietly next to him in the car, wondering what he expected to find at her mother’s house. She had been through the house herself, sorting and sifting through her things. The things that meant most to her mother—jewelry, antiques, pictures, knick-knacks—had been placed in storage or taken to her own house and the rest would be, or had been, taken to the local thrift store. Of course, some things she couldn’t part with, regardless of how useless they would be. Some things she kept purely for their sentimental value.

  Throughout her search, she didn’t find anything that stuck out. Nothing that said ‘Here’s the reason the bad guys are after you!’ But let him search. Maybe he would notice something she hadn’t, or maybe he’d find a hidden room.

  “Make a right at the next light,” she said, finally breaking the silence. “It’s a pale blue house about a half mile down on the left. You can’t miss it. It’s the only house for about half a mile.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him nod. “Okay, thanks.”

  Cole pulled into the driveway, put the car in park, and shut off the engine. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

  Good question. Was she okay with this?

  A minute passed before she turned her head in his direction, first looking at the house, then at his face. “I guess it’s time to find out,” she said and reached for the door handle.

  Before she had a chance to open the car door, he grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. She opened her mouth to question him, but her response died out as his mouth came down over hers, hard and fast.

  The kiss had been quick, heated. Demanding and…cinnamony. Before she could react and deepen the kiss, her lips grew chilled by the absence of his.

  Didn’t see that one coming, she thought, slightly breathless. Not because she didn’t know he was attracted to her—she’d felt that much. Nevertheless, it caught her off guard, something that happened rarely. Or, rather, something that, until yesterday, used to happen rarely.

  She didn’t see fireworks, but there had been stars. Her original thought about him looking potent was only half-true. He was potent. If he made love like he kissed….

  Her mouth tingled. His lips weren’t anywhere near hers, but she thought she could still feel them on her mouth.

  Part of her wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing. The other half wanted to pull him back by the lapel of his shirt and leave him breathless. So much had happened and continued to happen. Could she handle this attraction to him on top of everything else?

  Opening her eyes, she met his intense gaze. His normally bright green eyes were now clouded with restrained desire.

  Her planned witty response turned into, “What was that for?”

  “It just seemed like the thing to do,” he said with an easy smile as he released her from his arms and reached for his door handle.

  It just seemed like the thing to do? Well. She wasn’t normally the forward type, but if he didn’t try that again, and soon, she would definitely take the initiative. Consequences be damned.

  As Lana got out of the car, she glanced around. The once colorful array of flowers needed tending to. And the house could use a coat of paint. She and her mother had made plans to do that during the summer.

  Lana walked up the stairs and stood next to Cole on the porch. This was the first time she’d been back in over a month. She just couldn’t bring herself to, until now. She reached into her purse and pulled out the keys to the house. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

  Holding her breath, she stepped inside.

  Nothing had changed, but it seemed like something should have. There should be books everywhere, music playing, the smell of flowers coming through the open windows. Her mother.

  “The electricity should still be on,” she said, her tone thick with emotion. “My mother had it on one of those budget plans, so it’s paid until the end of next month. She liked having her bills paid before they were due, so any that could be paid for in advance were.”

  She was rambling, and she didn’t care. “I loved growing up here. It was always warm and welcoming. Now it’s…lifeless.”

  He took her hand in his, squeezing gently. “What are you going to do with it?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her hea
d. “I had always assumed I would move in eventually, but eventually keeps getting further away.” She turned, glanced at him, and studied the bare-bones room. “I should put it on the market if I’m not going to move in, but I keep hoping it’ll feel right someday.” Today, though, would not be that day.

  Pushing aside the bittersweet memories, she led Cole down the hall. “I guess the most logical place to start would be with her office, or her bedroom. Those were the main places she kept any documents. I didn’t throw any of those away.” She didn’t need to elaborate that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to go through her mother’s papers, except those she needed. Eventually, most of it would go in storage, but that would have to wait until she could deal with things a little easier. Right now, everything played too fresh in her mind. “We can start in the office,” she suggested.

  “Sounds good to me. Lead the way,” he said, staring at her intently.

  Lana walked toward the stairs, glancing around as she did. There would be no point putting things into storage until she knew exactly what she planned on doing.

  To keep them protected from dust, Lana had covered the couch, loveseat, and chairs. The bookshelf in the corner of the living room stood empty. She had packed and taken those books with her to keep for herself. If she came across duplicates, she took her own copies to the bookstore and kept her mother’s.

  “How many rooms does this house have, anyway?” Cole asked as he followed her up the stairs.

  She glanced behind her. His lips were curled up slightly, just enough to tell her he liked what he saw. That pleased her on several levels.

  Her mother’s house had been her pride and joy. “It has four bedrooms and two and a half baths. Mom converted one bedroom into an office. And, of course, the living room, dining room, and kitchen.” Duh. Of course it had a living room and kitchen, she thought, more than a little flustered at her rambling.

  They reached the top landing, and Lana entered the second room on the left. “This was her office.”

  “Did you already take the books?” he asked.

  “Yeah, we had similar tastes in novels.”

  She sat down in the computer chair, reached for the desk drawer, and pulled it open. It wasn’t as organized as it had been during her last visit. She knew, because she had personally gone through each and every one, sifting and boxing any papers that had to do with her house, cars, bills…her mother’s will.

  Maybe she wasn’t as organized as her mother was, but she left things the way she found them since everything was labeled and she didn’t have to search for anything.

  Thinking perhaps she was mistaken, Lana yanked open the second and bottom drawers and found them in a similar state to the first.

  She frowned. “Someone’s been through these,” she said with certainty.

  Though her tone had been quiet, Cole heard her and walked over to the desk. “Are you sure?”

  The chair squeaked as she swiveled to face him. “Yes. She kept her drawers perfectly organized. She was a bit OCD,” she admitted with a shrug. “When I went through them before, I left the drawers how I found them.”

  “She didn’t have a friend or lawyer she trusted to go through her things or anything like that?”

  “As far as I know, no, but I guess I can check on that.” She said nothing more of it and continued their search. Neither the office nor bedroom turned up anything useful. “Want a tour of the place?” she asked.

  Cole looked up, noticed the attic. “What’s up there?”

  “Nothing. It’s just the attic.”

  “You never checked?”

  She shook her head. “No. They have bees and bats and things that go crawl in the night.”

  He leaned against the doorjamb before responding, his arms folded across his broad chest. “You don’t like bees and bats?”

  “No.” She couldn’t quite suppress a slight shudder.

  “You’re not terrified to stay in your apartment alone after someone breaking in, but you’re scared of a little ole bee?” he teased.

  “No. And if you must know, I’m not scared of them. I’m terrified of them. Bats with their little wings and vampire fangs and bloodsucking ways and bees with their buzzing and giant stingers,” she said as a shiver ran through her body. The thought of them alone was enough to scare her.

  Lana watched, eyes narrowed, as he tried to hold back a laugh. If he laughed at her, she’d deck him. Really hard.

  When he didn’t seem to be controlling it well, she glared more. Obviously, he wasn’t concerned since he reared his head back and laughed. She felt no sympathy whatsoever as his head rammed into the doorjamb.

  That shut you up. She smiled sweetly with a ‘you-deserved-that-jerk’ look.

  §§§

  Cole stopped laughing immediately and rubbed the back of his head. She was, at least, nice enough not to laugh, but she still smiled.

  He shook his head. “I’ll go up alone and have a quick look around,” he offered, still rubbing his head.

  “If you don’t see any bees or killer vampire bats, I may join you. But if there is so much as an odd buzzing sound, you’re on your own. And if so much as a dust particle comes down from there, I’m running for the hills,” she warned him.

  Cole grinned as she glowered. Apparently, almost giving himself a concussion wasn’t enough to soften her up. He filed that detail away for later. No sympathy for a manly show of pain. Mentally, he snorted. Well, he’d just have to work harder to get her sympathy if he needed to in the future.

  “Gotcha. Buzzing bad,” he commented as he reached up to pull down the attic stairs. “Do you have a flashlight?”

  “I’ll go check for one real fast,” she said and quickly dashed off in search of one.

  She returned a few moments later, flashlight in hand and turned it on to make sure it worked. “Here you go,” she said and reached up to hand it to him.

  He reached the top of the stairs and glanced around the small space. He stood up, careful not to hit his already aching head, and aimed the small ray of light at the ceiling where he noticed a light with a pull string. With his free hand, he reached up and pulled down on the string to turn it on. “There’s a light up here,” he called down as he turned the flashlight off and set it aside.

  “That’s strange,” she called back up. “I’ve only been up there a few times, but the last time I was, there wasn’t a light installed. It’s been about two or three years since, but mom never saw the use to one since she hardly used the space for anything but storage for her junk.”

  Cole thought on that bit of information for a moment, and that too, he filed away for a later time. “Are you sure you just didn’t notice it before?”

  Exasperated, she said, “Yes, I’m fairly sure.”

  He browsed around some more, mindful of her fear of bats and things that went buzz in the night. He didn’t notice any bats or bees, or even spider webs. For a small, dark space that was hardly used, there should have been spider webs everywhere. He’d fully expected a spider-infested room. She may not know it, but her mother had obviously been using it for something.

  “Lana, I hear no buzzing, and I don’t see anything that resembles a vampire bat, so I think it’s safe to come up,” he teased, trying to keep his tone light. He didn’t want to let on his suspicions until after he gauged her reaction to the room.

  She mumbled something under her breath as she climbed the ladder. He didn’t hear exactly what she said, but he decided he probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway.

  Her head poked through the opening and he bent over to grab her hands and help her into the attic.

  His gaze remained on her as she straightened and stood next to him. He could tell by the widening of her eyes that the attic wasn’t at all what she expected. It had obviously changed since she’d seen it last.

  With all that had happened in the last twelve hours, he was convinced that Lana’s mother was somehow involved.

  He wished he could check the atti
c out more thoroughly—and alone. Sometimes, small creatures found things that weren’t clearly visible to a man.

  He’d suspected her mother’s involvement, but now he had proof. On the bad side of things, they found only a minimal amount of answers and uncovered more questions that needed to be answered. Every bit of information would help them, even if it left them with no answers. You couldn’t find those answers if you didn’t ask the right questions.

  “I don’t understand this,” she said, her eyes pleading for answers he didn’t have.

  “My guess is your mom used the attic more than she let on. As you said, Lana, you haven’t been up here in years. Maybe she had the light installed recently and didn’t think to bring it up.” Though it wasn’t exactly something that came up over dinner conversation, he still didn’t believe his explanation to her. With circumstances being what they were, anything that seemed out of place was suspicious.

  “No,” she argued. “It’s not as though I haven’t been here since then, Cole. She was my mother. I visited her a few times a week, minimum. She didn’t want me to know about this, and I’m going to find out why,” she added hotly.

  Cole sighed. So much for that explanation. “I’m sorry, Lana. Maybe we should reserve judgment until we know more?” he suggested in his best diplomatic tone. He had no idea why her mom would hide something from her daughter, but at the same time, he could think of no reason to tell her. Logically, the explanation could go either way—either her mom hadn’t done it to hide it from her, or she had. The former would make it no big deal. If the latter…they’d need to find out why. Over the years, he’d learned not to make assumptions, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t ask questions.

  He could tell she was still unsure what to do, but she said, “Okay. You’re right. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, even though this entire situation is getting more and more bizarre by the hour.”

  He couldn’t blame her for her uncertainty, especially when he shared her sentiments. This situation got stranger by each passing second. With more questions than answers, the time came to start digging some up. He couldn’t think of a better place to start than in an apparently secretly renovated room.