Shit! She was mated.
****
Kiernan dressed while Tabitha was in the bathroom. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face. Sure, he worried about what Racine was going to say and how they were going to get Stryden and the brothers, but his mind was focused solely on Tabitha at the moment. Finally, she had opened up to him and not just sexually either. She started to trust him, he felt it. Letting him in, letting him become a part of her life. She gave them the chance he knew all along they needed.
No one, in all the centuries he had been alive, had made Kiernan feel this way. Seeing as he was well over two hundred years old, ten years might not seem like long to wait for somebody, but waiting for Tabitha to realize she felt something for him too felt like a millennium. Now that they had crossed the physical threshold, he hoped they could soon cross the emotional one, too.
If he were truly honest with himself, Kiernan had loved Tabitha since he first saw her. This afternoon had just cemented it. Waking up with her in his arms felt so right, like home. With Tabitha, he felt whole again. Something he had not felt since his father killed his mother. He had lost his family at a young age and though Racine tried, Kiernan never fully felt a part of anything again. With Tabitha, he did. He felt like he belonged to her, was meant to be with her, keep her safe, make her smile; he felt like part of a family again.
The bathroom door opened, and he looked up with a smile. His smile soon faded as Tabitha stepped out of the bathroom with her head down, hair loose and hiding her face. Her hair looked beautiful down, but he had a feeling she left it down to cover something and not because he said he liked her hair that way. He stepped toward her. Tabitha flinched, moving away from him. A dark stab of hurt sliced through his chest. Why was she pulling away? Had he done something last night to hurt her? Gods, he hoped not. He’d rather cut off a limb than hurt this woman.
“What’s wrong, Tabby Cat?”
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
The anger in her voice tinged with something sounding almost like fear. She didn’t seem to mind the nickname a few hours ago when he was inside her. Confused and worried, he pressed her.
“Okay, Tabitha. What’s wrong?”
He tried to reach out to her again, but she sidestepped him and moved past him toward the front door. She was pulling away, already. Dammit, he thought they made a breakthrough last night.
“Nothing. Come on, we have to get back to headquarters. Racine will be waiting.”
Oh no. She would not use their job to avoid this…whatever the hell was going on with her. He wanted answers and he would get them.
“He’s been waiting for hours. He can wait another few minutes. What’s wrong?”
Tabitha put on her coat, still refusing to look at him. “I said nothing. Are you coming?”
She reached for the door. He stepped in front of her. Her head quickly snapped down. Bothered by the fact she refused to look at him, he prodded her.
“Tabitha, look at me.”
When she refused, he reached out and gently grasped her chin with his hand. She resisted slightly, but allowed him to bring her face up. Her eyes were shut tight. He wondered if he had pushed her last night. She was in a highly emotional state, having almost been killed. He hoped he had not misread the signals all these years.
He was so sure there was something between them, but what if it had all been on his end? What if he had taken advantage of her last night simply for his own emotional gain? Could he have been so wrong? If so, then he hated himself more then she could ever hate him.
Worried he had harmed the woman he loved, Kiernan stroked her cheek in a soothing gesture.
“Tabitha, please open your eyes, and tell me what’s wrong.”
Her brow furrowed, her expression tight and pained, she slowly opened her eyes. She gazed right into his and then he saw the reason for her strange attitude. The thin silver band around her irises. His breath caught in his chest as he gazed at the impossible. Tabitha was his Tira, his mate. But that was impossible, Daemons never mated with humans. Other supernaturals sure, but never a human. It couldn’t be, yet the proof stood before him.
Turning toward the window, he saw his own reflection in the glass. Sure enough, his own eyes were now rimmed with silver, the one sign of a Tira or mate, a lifelong partner for a Daemon, someone perfectly matched. He wasn’t sure about the exact science, but every Daemon knew someone existed out there specifically designed for them, their other half. Legend said when Daemons were first created they had two heads and four arms and legs, then they were split and now each half roamed the earth, searching until they found their other half to complete them.
No one knew if that was really the case, but every Daemon knew they had a Tira somewhere. Someone whose eyes gained a silver band along with theirs and that person would be exactly who they needed and vice versa. A Tira also made a Daemon twice as strong, their life spans connected. They wouldn’t necessarily die at the same time, but if a Daemon mated to a being with a shorter life span, their Tira’s life span would increase to that of the Daemon’s and vice versa if the other being had a longer life span.
Kiernan had never heard of a human Tira. Witches, Vampires, and other beings mated to Daemons, but never a human. The only way the silver band mating marks appeared was after copulation. Most supernatural beings tended to stay away from human relationships; too many questions which couldn’t be answered, too much lying. But Kiernan had never had to lie with Tabitha. She knew all about them. He never dreamed she would be his Tira. Secretly, in his heart of hearts, he had hoped.
He turned back to her, inspecting her silver-rimmed eyes once more. “How…”
Tabitha pushed past him. “We have to go.”
Go? Oh, hell no. She couldn’t drop a bomb like this and then expect him to act like it was nothing. He blocked her path once more. “We have to talk about this, Tabitha.”
She kept her head down, but he was encouraged when she rested it against his chest. “Just let me deal with one thing at a time, Kiernan, please. Racine first. Then we can talk.”
His arms went around her. She was scared. He understood that. Working with the Enforcers all these years, Tabitha knew about their culture. She knew all about Tiras and how humans were not supposed to be one. This new development probably had her questioning her entire sense of self. As confused and admittedly excited as he was, he understood her need to tackle one issue at a time.
Talk about pouring when it rains.
“All right. Racine first.” Kiernan kissed the top of her head softly. “We’ll talk later.”
Her newly ringed eyes rose to his, gratitude filling their chocolate-brown depths. She leaned up as if to kiss him, then hesitated. Kiernan held perfectly still, waiting for her to make a move. After a beat, her head moved down. He let out a sigh of disappointment as she nodded and moved past him out the door.
When they arrived at council headquarters, Hyde waited for them. He stood in the hallway as they entered, not speaking till they had come fully inside and closed the door.
“Tabitha, Racine wants to see you, and I’d step softly. He’s livid.”
Hyde revealed nothing they did not already know. Breathing out a sigh of defeat, Tabitha moved toward Racine’s office. Kiernan followed her, but Hyde stopped him.
“Just Tabitha.”
“Bull shit,” he countered, stepping up to challenge his friend and fellow Enforcer.
****
Tabitha stepped between the two Euadaemons. They might be brothers in arms, but all Enforcers were fiercely loyal to their leader. They carried out Racine’s orders no matter what, even if that meant psychically restraining a fellow Enforcer. Kiernan, even with his bending of the rules, usually had no problem obeying Racine’s orders, but protection of a Tira came above anything else in a Daemon’s world.
Though they had yet to talk about it, Tabitha already saw the protective side of Kiernan coming to the front. While flattered by his willingness to protect he
r, she knew the only danger from Racine would be a sound tongue-lashing. She also did not want to see two very good friends come to blows over her stupid mistake.
“Kiernan, it’s fine.” She softly placed her hands on his chest.
“It’s just Racine. He’s not going to hurt her.” Hyde looked confused by Kiernan’s hostile attitude. “What’s with you anyway?”
She turned to face their fellow Enforcer. Recognition, then amazement, filled his face as the Enforcer finally focused on the pair’s silver-rimmed eyes.
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, that’s about what I thought, too,” she muttered. “Keep him from barging in there when the walls come down, okay?”
Hyde nodded as she started toward Racine’s office and a thorough ass-chewing.
She tapped lightly on the door.
“Come in.”
Oh man, he sounded calm and composed. That meant he was beyond mad and into a whole new realm of anger. Tabitha entered, keeping her head down and her gaze on the floor. She wanted the yelling over before she threw more flame to the fire. And she would have to tell Racine about her being mated to Kiernan. The Enforcers were a chatty bunch. Tabitha wouldn’t be surprised if half the council knew by now. Plus, it was really hard to hide the silver-rimmed eyes unless you wore sunglasses all the time. Contrary to Corey Hart, Tabitha did not wear sunglasses at night.
“I know you are not a stupid woman, Tabitha Culver,” Racine said in his calm tone. He used her full name, never good. “I told you to wait for a reason. We needed more bodies, more strength. Now Stryden knows we’re after him.”
He stood, slamming the book he had been reading against the desk. The loud noise in contrast to his soft voice made her jump. His voice rose, as did his temper. “What the hell were you thinking, Tabitha? You could have been killed! According to Hyde, you almost were.”
“I’m sorry. I know it was a stupid move. I just wanted to stop them so much.”
Racine sighed heavily. Leather creaked as she heard him drop back into his chair, the fire going out of him. “I know. We all do, but you can’t go rogue. I don’t know what you were thinking, but even the strongest Enforcer can’t take down four Kakos by themselves.”
“I know. And I know it doesn’t help, but I am sorry.”
“Well, at least some good came out of this.”
Something good? Hell, she would take something mildly bad at this point.
“According to Hyde, Shanna is dead, so that leaves us only three Kakos. And now their den has been discovered, they’ll go into hiding. They can’t take any more human souls for a while for fear of us finding them.”
Good news indeed. At least she had scared them into hiding. Now they just had to find them before the Kakos got brave enough to venture out again. Two steps forward, one step back.
“You’re a good Enforcer, Tabitha,” Racine continued. “One of the best, but disobey me again and you’re out. I’ll have Celia wipe your memory and drop you back into human life so fast it will make your head spin. Got it?”
Tabitha nodded. “Yes.”
A Witch wipe was something no one wanted. It cleared memories of specific events or years. A spell they used for humans who saw things they shouldn’t have, handy if you got caught killing a supernatural and didn’t want to explain. A simple wipe was easy, but a wipe of years—like Racine threatened—was hard. When removing that much memory, brain injury was always a possibility and left the person with a hole, a feeling of something missing.
“Good. Bucky left some dinner for you in the kitchen. Go eat. We have a meeting to discuss our next step in an hour.”
When she did not make a move to leave, Racine spoke again. “Was there something else?”
“Yes.” She had to show him sooner or later. Better sooner, before the meeting. Gathering what was left of her remaining courage, she lifted her head for the first time since entering Racine’s office.
Except for the slight tick of his jaw, her mentor’s face revealed nothing as he stared at her eyes.
“Kiernan?”
“Yes.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” she muttered weakly.
Racine sat back in his chair, studying her. “You’re not pleased by this?”
She paused for a moment. Was she? Kiernan had annoyed her to no end for years, he was arrogant and insufferable, but he was also sweet, caring, and sexy. She had long denied her feelings for him because they scared her. She didn’t do relationships. There were enough bad ones in her childhood to steer her clear of them forever. All she needed was herself. Then Kiernan came along. To be honest, she had not been thinking straight since the day she met him, but being with her was dangerous.
If anyone even found out what she was—and now some very bad Kakos knew—they could use her loved ones to get to her. The reason she never let anyone close after what happened to Krista. Though she could not prove the Kako attack was because of her Tele powers, she blamed herself anyway. It was too dangerous for Kiernan to be with her, no matter how she felt about him.
“Just trying to…adjust to it.”
“Hmmmm.” Racine nodded.
He stood then and came around his desk. Placing a finger under her chin, he lifted her face, gazing at the eyes that marked her as mated.
“He’s a good man, Tabitha, and he cares for you deeply.”
The ball of emotion began to form in her throat again. “I know. I care about him, too.”
“Don’t worry about it too much, just go with the flow.”
Something she really sucked at.
She nodded, and Racine released her chin. He put his arms around her and hugged her like a father. He was more of a father to her than her own had ever been. Releasing her, he started back toward his desk.
“I’ll see you in an hour.”
She nodded, then turned and left his office, closing the door behind her.
Chapter 25
“Well, shit, man.”
Hyde had been saying the same thing since following Kiernan into the kitchen. The phrase had grown rather annoying. The Enforcers sat at the kitchen table eating sandwich leftovers Bucky made for lunch. Kiernan picked up a tomato slice that had fallen out of his sandwich and stuffed it back in.
“I know. I wasn’t expecting it either.”
“I didn’t even know you two were sleeping together,” Hyde said, the shock still clearly on his face.
“We weren’t…until today.”
“About time.”
Kiernan swung his head up at Hyde’s remark.
“Come on, man, everyone saw it. I’m surprised the sprinklers didn’t go off every time you two were in the same room, you guys sent off so much heat.”
“I know. It just took a while for Tabitha to figure it out. Humans.” He said that last bit as if to say go figure.
Hyde sat back in his chair. “Yeah, about that…”
Kiernan wondered the same thing ever since he saw their eyes rimmed with the Tira telling sign of silver. How did he get mated to a human? Humans were not supposed to be compatible with any other supernatural. It just did not make sense.
“Maybe she’s a Witch and hasn’t discovered her powers yet?” Hyde proposed, but his words were doubtful.
Every supernatural knew Witches came into their powers during puberty, and Tabitha had passed puberty a long time ago. If Tabitha were any form of supernatural, surely the council would have discovered it by now. Which only left one option, Tabitha was the first human mated to a Daemon.
“I’m not a Witch.”
Both Enforcers turned at the voice coming from the kitchen door.
“Though I have been called a similar name a few times.” She smiled at the men, taking a seat next to them at the table.
Well, at least she kept her sense of humor about it, which was a bit odd since the whole time he had known her Tabitha’s sense of humor had been nonexistent.
She reached across the table to grab a sandwich. As she re
ached, her hand brushed his. Their eyes met. Tabitha blushed, which he found adorable. She averted her gaze and quickly grabbed a sandwich, careful not to touch him again. Less adorable. She was freaked out about being his Tira. He didn’t blame her. As a human, she must wonder how it had happened. He only wished he knew if her sudden reluctance was due to being mated to a Daemon or being mated to him?
They sat in silence, the chewing of food the only sound. Tabitha refused to look at him; he did nothing but look at her. Hyde sat awkwardly across from the two. After the food was devoured Tabitha spoke, to Hyde.
“I want to thank you for coming after me.”
Hyde shifted a glance to him, then back to Tabitha. “Anytime, Tabitha. Always help a fellow Enforcer in need.”
An unofficial motto among the entire group.
“I know.” Tabitha sighed softly. “But it was a really stupid move on my part, and if I hadn’t had gone against Racine’s wishes, you never would have had to come after me.”
“Kiernan discovered you were missing. He had a hunch about where you had gone and decided to go after you.”
Finally, her gaze lifted to his. It wasn’t disappointment he saw in her eyes. If he had to venture a guess, he would say it looked like apprehension and guilt. What did she have to feel guilty about? Except her stupid little stunt, but he had a feeling the remorse in her eyes had nothing to do with her disregard of the rules to go kick some Kako butt.
“Thank you, Kiernan.”
It certainly didn’t sound like she wanted to thank him. It sounded like she wanted to run as far away from him as possible. He wished he could just say screw the meeting and haul her off somewhere private and force her to tell him what was on her mind. He couldn’t, though. This meeting was too important. They had to kill Stryden, and now they had lost all element of surprise. The Kako leader would have his guard up.
“We should get in there.” Her gaze dropped again. “Racine will start any minute.”
She rose from the table. He watched her as she walked out the door. A strong firm hand landed on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Hyde’s sympathetic gaze.
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