But a year had made all the difference.
“He shot them. And he was there for me. I don’t know why. He babbled about magic and the chosen one. Crazy stuff I didn’t understand.” Dane cleared his throat and I felt his finger brush the burn on my neck. I reached up, our fingers grazing as he pulled away, and my eyes closed at the loss of his touch.
I cursed my weakness, the incessant desire I felt for his touch, his presence, his words. I craved everything about him and had since the moment we’d met. It should have gotten better, eased, disappeared with his leaving, with the hurtful words we’d thrown at one another in our grief.
It hadn’t.
Instead, I felt more at peace now than I had in months and it terrified me. My parents had been brutally murdered and all I could manage to focus on was the comfort of his presence on the bed next to me. It was as if we called to one another, a bond so strong time and space didn’t matter, pain and hurt had no place when we were together. There was only the two of us.
“The burn?” He prodded, his hand dropping to my arm where I noticed another handprint burned into my skin, the same place the man had touched me.
“I don’t know. The man…he grabbed me. My skin burned where he touched me. Maybe he had acid on his hands?” I attempted to speculate, but even the idea was ludicrous to me. I hadn’t forgotten his manicured nails, his calmness, or how my skin burned when he came near. Coolness flowed against my skin as Dane placed his hand over the burned area. When he lifted his hand the skin still showed signs of being burned but like it was a few days old, the pain gone already. I realized my neck didn’t hurt either, hadn’t since he’d touched it the first time.
I glanced at him wonderingly, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes, looking everywhere else. He was tense and uncomfortable, the pulse at his neck thrumming. He exhaled heavily, asking the one question I had no answer to.
“How did you get away?”
I shrugged helplessly, trying to piece together the crazy jumble my thoughts had become. How to explain the tingle that had went through my body as I faced death? The women in the blue room with the brilliant blue eyes? Appearing inside of a locked bathroom miles from my home with no memory of arriving there. It didn’t make sense. None of it did.
Except Dane. He was the only part of all of this that did make sense. He would always be the first person I turned to when I was lost or afraid. A knowledge that did nothing to ease my inner turmoil.
“You’re a witch.”
The words were so low I couldn’t be sure I heard him correctly, but as he turned and met my eyes I jerked back, the hurt unbelievable.
“I know we parted on bad terms, but is now really the time to call me names?”
He blinked at me in stunned surprise. His mouth parted as if he was going to say something, but I jumped up. The need to move, to hit, to fight propelled me around the room and to the door, but I was forced to a stop when he gripped my arm.
“You’re a witch.” His voice was urgent now, trying to convey something I desperately didn’t want to acknowledge. I shook my head, unable to turn around and face him, to look at him as spoke something so crazy I couldn’t comprehend it. “Yes. You can deny it, but it’s the truth.”
“Quinn.”
“No!” The word should have been a shout, but the thunderous drumming of my heart drowned out sound as I shook my head violently.
No.
He was wrong, mistaken. There was no such thing as witches. He tugged at me and I resisted, futilely of course, and we came to a stop in front of his dresser. He pressed against my back, his warm strength my only anchor in a world gone mad.
“Open your eyes.” His breath brushed against my ear, sending a shudder through me, but I shook my head firmly. I wasn’t going to open them. I didn’t want to see what I suspected. Then I would have to accept this and I wasn’t ready for that. “Open your eyes, Quinn.” My head barely jerked the shake was so slight, and I kept my eyes clamped shut. “Darling, you are the strongest woman I’ve ever known and that is saying something. Be brave for me.”
I swallowed, his slow drawl reassuring me, but I still couldn’t force myself to look.
“Everything will change.” I whispered, barely hearing myself over the blood rushing in my veins.
“Everything already has.” He whispered back and I opened my eyes.
Chapter Three
The blue that stared back at me was familiar, if only because I’d seen it a few minutes before peering at me from the two women in my dream…alternative universe? I didn’t even know what to call it but there was no mistaking it was the same color. The blue might not have been so shocking if it didn’t make my eyes appear to glow. One hand reached up, hovering next to my eye as if to touch it. Dane curled his hand around mine, drawing it back down.
“How?” I asked, staring at the seeming impossible.
“Now, that I don’t know.” He drawled with a rueful shake of his head. “I can tell you it’s magic, but you’d be the first witch I knew that had magic eyes.” A flash of white showed as he gave me a slow grin. “Not that they aren’t beautiful.” My head thumped back against his shoulder as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked exactly the same as I had before I’d arrived here, the only exception my now bright blue eyes. It was only one more thing on an already long list of strange stuff that had happened to me in a very short amount of time.
But only one thing truly mattered to me in that moment.
“How do you know I’m a witch?”
And there was the question, the one he’d wanted to avoid when he’d told me the truth. A truth I wasn’t sure I completely believed, at least so long as I didn’t look in a mirror. Then I couldn’t deny it. People didn’t have muddy brown eyes one minute and glowing blue ones the next. They also didn’t appear miles from home with no memory of getting there, a voice whispered, one I chose to ignore.
He shifted, his body moving away from mine. I took one last look in the mirror and followed him back to the bed. He rubbed his hands over his face. I wasn’t sure if he was stalling or just had no idea what to say. I was leaning toward the latter since I’d never know him to avoid talking about something just because it was uncomfortable. He had been the one to give me the safe sex talk at fourteen after all. I disregarded the fact that he did it only because we were having sex at the time.
“Well, my family,” he paused then clarified. “My mother, grandmother, and sister specifically are witches. I don’t have any magical talent myself, but I grew up around it. I recognize it.”
“And me? You didn’t recognize me?” I heard the accusation in my voice, but I couldn’t stop it. If he’d known, why hadn’t he told me? Betrayal sliced open wounds that had never fully healed, the rejection I’d felt when he’d left me, when he’d said we should see other people even when I knew he didn’t want that any more than I did.
“No.” The simple word pulled me from my thoughts before they consumed me. He met my eyes with a one shoulder shrug. “I didn’t have a clue. Neither did my family. I guarantee you that. We would never allow a witch to just wander around without knowing. It’s dangerous.” He waved toward the bathroom. “As you can see, you obviously came into your power and here you are. Which I still have no idea how.” I shrugged, if he didn’t know then I really didn’t know. He nodded, accepting my lack of knowledge.
“What now?” My words were barely a whisper as exhaustion overwhelmed me. Too much had happened too quickly. My mind and body couldn’t absorb anymore. A glance at the clock revealed it was 2AM. Had it really only been two hours since my life changed forever? It seemed like so much longer.
A distinct divide had been created in my mind.
Before and after.
Before the man killed my family and after my eyes turned blue.
Dane scooted over on the bed, lying sideways and tugging me down with him.
“We sleep. In the morning we’ll find answers.”
I didn’t protest, incapable of fighti
ng him over the sleeping arrangements, and unwilling to admit I didn’t want to. Exhaustion tugged me into a deep sleep the second my eyes closed.
Bright light woke me, but it was the warm arm draped over my side that made me question where I was. It didn’t take long before the memory of the night before flooded in though. I choked back tears as the memory of my parents pierced me once again. I wondered if the pain would ever lessen or if it would always be this sharp?
“I don’t know if it lessens or you just get stronger. But eventually it does dull.” Dane answered, in response to my internal question. “When my Dad died…it’s not something you can truly prepare for and when it happens suddenly,” I heard him swallow. “You can’t ever be ready for that.”
I was almost positive I hadn’t spoken aloud, but that would mean…I immediately squelched the idea that he’d somehow read my thoughts because that wasn’t possible. At least I hoped it wasn’t. I pushed the thought from my mind because I couldn’t handle another weird mystical thing at the moment. I had the feeling I would be ignoring quite a bit in the days to come as I learned about things I’d believed belonged in the realm of fairy tales.
I was distracted when the tips of his fingers grazed my stomach. Instinctively, my stomach clenched. Whether it was anticipation or surprise I wasn’t sure, but it caused Dane to draw his hand away, shifting away from me. I swallowed the desire to scoot back toward him, knowing it would be a mixed signal. I hadn’t forgotten he was the one who had demanded the separation and now I’d literally fallen out of the sky into his lap or, more accurately, shower.
“Did you sleep well?”
The completely mundane question caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected him to say, but it wasn’t an inquiry about my sleep. Maybe, “Hey I can read your mind now, how cool is that?” Or even, “Man, that wasn’t a crazy dream I had last night.”
“I…” I paused as I realized I had slept well. No dreams or waking up because I was restless. In fact it was the first time in months that I’d slept without waking up at least a dozen times. I told myself it was pure exhaustion and not the fact I was sleeping next to Dane. “I slept fine.”
“Good. Gotta long drive ahead of us.” The bed dipped as he stood up and stretched. I couldn’t help staring. He’d changed over the past year, filled out and beefed up. He’d never been a slouch in the muscle department, but this level of definition was new. He looked like he lived at the gym and the only thing I could think was that he was trying to impress someone. A college girl, maybe. Someone more experienced or just different. Someone who wasn’t me. I tore my eyes away and focused on what he’d said.
“Where are we going?”
“Home. We’re going home, darling.” The glance he gave me was compassionate but it didn’t help the tremors I felt.
Home.
Such an innocuous word. Only I didn’t have a home anymore. Most might consider home a house, but I’d always seen it as people. Once, without hesitation, I would have said home was Dane, but that was before he’d left. My rage at his suggestion of seeing other people had ruined any chance of an easy reconciliation. My parents had been my first home, their love and affection a cocoon I’d surrounded myself in. When Dane came along that had changed. I wasn’t sure how or even why, but the moment I’d met him…he’d become home for me.
Now, I was essentially homeless.
There was no safety net, no other person or people that could be my home for me. A brief remembrance of the women who shared my eyes flickered through me, but was gone just as quickly. I didn’t know them. I didn’t even know if they were real. They weren’t family.
“They’ll be happy to see you.”
His quiet words broke through my thoughts and I knew he thought I was panicked at the idea of seeing his mom and sister again. We hadn’t parted on the best of terms because I’d felt betrayed when they supported him. Which was foolish. Of course they would support him. They were his family. And yours, a quiet voice whispered. I shook the thought away. They weren’t my family anymore.
My own family had been enough, even though they had agreed distance from Dane was a good idea. They’d always been uncomfortable with my attachment to him. With our attachment to each other. “It was unhealthy,” they’d said. His leaving had driven a wedge between us, nothing truly noticeable at the time, but now they were gone and I regretted….I regretted a lot of things.
“I’ll be happy to see them.” I replied after clearing my throat. He gave me a surprised look but didn’t comment. I was telling the truth. Brushes with death tended to do that to a girl. I wanted to see them. To somehow make up for the anger and bitterness I’d sent their way when he’d left. I’d blamed them as much if not more than Dane. I’d been friends with his sister, bought his mom birthday presents every year. They had been my family until everything shattered.
“What do you mean a long drive though?” I glanced around the sparse dorm room and started to wonder why he was still here. Classes had let out a few weeks earlier. He should have been at home. “It should only be about an hour to your house from the UT campus.”
He cleared his throat.
“I decided to take a job as a guide for the summer. Room and board provided. Escorting hikers, fisherman, guiding rafting trips, stuff like that. Figured it would be easier.” Easier than coming home for the summer and chancing a run in with me was what he meant. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or pissed that he’d worked so hard to make sure we never even had a chance to glimpse one another. I’d demanded it, screamed it actually, when he’d left. I’d hated the thought of what I’d do if I saw him. He didn’t want me, and I was terrified if I saw him unexpectedly I would throw myself at him.
Guess I’d been right, I thought ruefully. The first thing I’d done when I saw him was throw myself into his arms. But that still didn’t answer the question of where we were or why it would be a long drive. He’d done guide work before in the Great Smokey Mountains. It still wasn’t more than an hour, maybe two, away from his home.
“I don’t understand.” I admitted. “Where are we?” A long exhale accompanied him rubbing the back of his neck before he finally met my eyes.
“We’re in Montana, Quinn. Over two thousand miles from home.”
I shook my head back and forth frantically. There was no way. Absolutely not. It wasn’t possible. I scrambled back until I hit the headboard, my eyes wide as I insisted he was wrong. People didn’t travel thousands of miles in a second, they didn’t instinctively find the one person that made them feel safe. I’d had no idea where he was so how could I be here with him? He opened his mouth and I pointed my finger at him.
“Don’t say magic.” I warned, my mind not ready for that to be the answer to every single thing, even as it seemed more and more likely. He nodded, accepting I needed time. He sat back down at the end of the bed and curled his hand around my foot. He just held it, letting me know he was there but not pushing or forcing me to talk. The weight of his hand anchored me and eventually my heart slowed.
“It’s like you’re Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.” He said, breaking our long silence.
“I hate that movie.” My immediate response garnered a smile from him.
“I’m well aware.” He drawled, his soft Southern accent reminding me of a million conversations we’d had. His family had moved from Alabama to Tennessee when he was eleven giving him a more distinctive drawl than most Tennesseans.
“Fucking monkeys.” I muttered with a disgusted shudder. A mirthless chuckle spilled out of me causing him to tilt his head inquiringly. “Witches. So, am I the good witch or the wicked witch?” I attempted the question as a joke, but the note of fear in my voice gave me away.
He leaned toward me, his face so close our noses bumped.
“Good witch. Always.” He drew back, almost reluctantly it seemed, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part. “We need to get going though. It’s a long drive and we need to get food in you. You’re too s
kinny.”
I glanced down at myself about to protest until I realized he was right. I had lost weight. I’d never really been what one would call thin. I was tall, but with curves. More than a handful was what Dane teased when talking about my breasts or my butt. It had never bothered me because I knew he loved it, but I’d lost my appetite when he’d left and with it any ounce of extra weight. I’d never even noticed the difference. The past year had been a fog, as I attempted to distract myself from his absence. An absence I’d believed permanent and mourned accordingly.
“Well, it doesn’t look like you’ve lost any weight.” I bit back, disgruntled at how good he looked and here I was practically a damn waif. A glance in the mirror revealed a tangle of red waves framing a too pale face. I jerked my gaze away before I got caught by my own eyes. I looked sick, not exactly how I wanted to appear the first time I saw Dane again. “Taking up being a gym rat? Is that how you meet all the cute coeds?” Ugh, I wanted to take the words back the second I said them, already knowing I sounded like a jilted and jealous ex-lover.
“More like a distraction.” He leaned down, forcing me to meet his eyes. “If I exhaust myself then maybe I can sleep. Spending years sleeping next to someone, you find it hard to sleep when they’re not there.” His words confused me as he spun away and walked into the bathroom. He’d demanded we take a break, but now it sounded like he regretted it? I shook the thought away before it could take root. He’d left me. You told him to never come back, the little voice whispered and I told it to shut the hell up.
He’d left the door to the bathroom open, giving me glimpses of corded muscles as he shaved off several days’ worth of stubble. I tore my eyes away from the sight, inhaling to calm the blood racing through me. Yes, he was sexy and once upon a time an open door was an invitation to join him, but now it was just to keep an eye on me. I didn’t miss the quick glances he sent me. I wasn’t sure if he thought I’d disappear as quickly as I had appeared, but he wasn’t taking chances.
The Trinity Sisters Page 34
