“Willow Coven was never a democracy,” Ryce shot back. “I ask for opinions and perspectives because I respect all of you. In the end you know this is my decision. Someone has to make hard choices, Hunter. Normally you would be right beside me as I did this. This time, your heart is on the line and you can’t see clearly. Neither one of you can.” Ryce took a breath. “Annali isn’t staying behind either. Kaia will tend to Asher and Grace. I need Annali. We are shorthanded enough as it is.”
“No!”
“Absolutely not!” Hunter spat over Dimitre’s protest. “You can’t bring her.”
“Kaia has no offensive power unless she lays hands on an attacker. Annali is one of my most powerful offensive witches. I need her, and that is final. Not unless you can give me a damn good reason why you two keep trying to hold her back here:”
“She’s pregnant!”
Hunter’s bellow echoed around the basement. Dimitre went lax, his mouth dropping open in shock. Ryce dropped back against the door he’d been about to open, his grip on the knob turning his knuckles white.
“She’s what?” Dimitre asked. “No, she isn’t! She would have told me!”
“She may not realize it yet,” Hunter said with a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Damn it, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be the one to tell you. I know she will want to when she figures it out.”
“Which begs the question, how do you know about it?” Ryce asked.
“Because I had a visit from Amber and she told me. She also told me that Annali will lose her baby if she joins this fight and might lose her life as well. Asher wouldn’t have risked what little strength he has to act as a conduit for Amber if he didn’t believe it was imperative we know.”
“Hunter, help him!”
Hunter reacted from instinct, grabbing Dimitre’s arm as the other man’s knees went out from under him. He fell weakly to a kneeling position and looked as pale as chalk dust. Ryce had the temerity to chuckle.
“Breathe, Dimitre,” he instructed dryly. “Hunter, smack him. Make him breathe.”
“Fuck you,” Dimitre gasped.
“He’s breathing,” Hunter noted with a chuckle.
“Right. So Annali stays here then,” Ryce acknowledged with a shrug. “You could have just said as much from the start, but I see why you didn’t. Tell Annie we’re sorry to ruin any surprises. You’ll have to tell her, you know. She won’t stay behind otherwise.”
“Yeah, I know,” Dimitre said with a nod as he sat back on his heels and braced his hands on his thighs. He gave his head a shake. “Oh man, this is so ... messed up. Damn it, I haven’t even asked her to marry me yet!”
“Well, you’re in the position. Want me to go get her?” Hunter teased him.
“You be quiet,” Dimitre barked. He took a breath and pushed up to his feet. “Ryce, I need to talk to you alone. You go check on my sister, would you?” he requested of Hunter.
“On my way.” Hunter moved past Ryce, giving him a dark look as he passed him. “Can we at least agree that if Kaia says Tatyana’s in too much danger we can try to come up with something else?”
“If that is how she feels, then have her come talk to me about it. I’ll consider everything she says.”
Hunter wasn’t pleased with the concession, but at least it was a concession. He hurried from the room in search of his goal. Once he was gone, Dimitre turned to the High Priest with a noisy swallow that betrayed his tried nerves.
“What can I do for you, Dimitre?”
Ryce knew Dimitre would continue to argue about his sister, and of course Ryce didn’t blame him. However, he hadn’t made this choice lightly. He never did. What the Priest would prefer was the opportunity to celebrate this key step in achieving his lifelong dream of cultivating a coven where a new generation of witches could be born. He could only wish that Dimitre would realize just how much that meant to him.
“Ryce.” Dimitre cleared his throat. “Annali considers you her closest family. You’ve raised her through the most harrowing times in her life and you helped to create the beautiful being that ... that I love. I wanted to wait because I wanted to have more to offer her when I approached you. More control of myself. More power to protect her. And while I haven’t completed those goals, I have every intention of doing so. I swear that to you. So ... I would like your permission to marry her. She wouldn’t consider saying yes unless she was assured of your approval.”
It was rare for Ryce to be taken off guard completely, but it did happen on occasion. Here he had been hoping for just a thread of understanding from his new coven mate, only to have Dimitre astonish him by clearly comprehending how he saw himself as a father to the witches he loved and protected in this house. While he had no right to give or refuse permission for anything concerning Annali because she was a woman of full age and free will, a woman not even of his blood, he probably would have been insulted had she married without some consideration of his feelings for her.
Now, despite his surprise and the emotional impact of Dimitre’s words, he managed to find his voice.
“I couldn’t think of anyone better for our Annie.”
Hunter brushed his hand over Tatyana’s hair, waking her from her dozing. She smiled at him, but didn’t sit up or move. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were still aglow from her use of intensive magic, but she looked like herself again, including the damage to her eye.
“Hey. How are you feeling, angel?”
“Tired. But I’m happy. I’m so glad this worked. Kaia says Asher is so much better already from the blood transfusion. And I never thought we’d get someone like Odessa today. She is really close to Braen.”
“I know. Ryce told me,” he said, leaning forward in the chair next to the bed she was using in the clinic while waiting for Kaia’s assessment. The Healer was presently occupied with Asher. “Angel, are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you want to get that close to Braen again?”
“Want? Not really. Need? Oh yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”
Hunter grabbed up her hand and squeezed hard. “Honey, do you even see yourself? You are pale as hell. You’re exhausted. Every time you come across strong emotion you start to bleed.”
“I know. And I know you and Dimitre are worried. But it’s a good idea, Hunter. Just ... let’s do this. Let’s get it over with. I want it over with so Gracie can start to heal and this coven can relax. I want to go outside. There’s no freedom here while we live in fear of attack. Hunter, this was your idea. Yours and Dimitre’s. It’s a good idea, and I can do it. I just need some rest and a little time cuddled up next to a certain Sentinel I know. Can we do that, please? I don’t want to worry about all the things that can go wrong. I’m scared enough as it is.”
“Okay,” he said softly, moving to sit beside her and drawing her up into his arms. “Okay, angel. I’m sorry.” Hunter closed his eyes as he hugged her tight, and with a deep breath he exhaled the tense fear pent up inside of him. He knew holding it inside would be just as bad for her as for him. She was too tired to struggle with keeping herself walled in properly, and it was obvious her mind was open and a little raw.
Kaia came into the room shortly after that to find him holding her and petting her along the length of her hair. The image made her smile, but she hid it under a professional façade very quickly.
“Okay, let’s see what kind of damage you’ve done,” she said briskly. She shooed Hunter back away from the bed, so he stood with his arms folded tensely over his chest and hovered worriedly at the foot of it. Kaia did a quick neuro exam conventionally, saving her already overtaxed magic. All of Tatyana’s reflexes were acceptable, except Kaia didn’t care for the sluggish response of the pupil in Tatyana’s damaged eye. “Hunter?”
“Yes?”
“I am going to heal her. Tonight I’d like you to cast a dampening spell around her bedroom. This way she can sleep in perfect silence and get the rest she needs. Actually, the sooner the better, if she has nothing else to do.
” She turned to Tatyana. “Eat in bed. Relax. Read. Do whatever you like, but remain inside the room. It will seal you off from all the random emotion in this house. I believe if we do this, tomorrow will go much easier for you.”
“But...”
“No. No ‘but.’ Just do it,” Kaia said sternly.
“But, is Hunter allowed with me or no?”
Kaia seemed to think about that for a moment. “Yes. He can stay with you if he controls his emotions. I really want you to stop using magic for a while.”
“If I make any mistakes I’ll banish myself,” Hunter promised seriously.
“All right then, just give me a few minutes and you can take her up.”
Dimitre found Annali in the conservatory bent over her lab sink.
“Babe?”
She jolted upright with a loud sniff and quickly scrubbed tears from her cheek, as if that would keep him from realizing she’d been crying.
“Babe, what is it?” he asked with instant concern and sympathy, hurrying over to her. The moment he turned her into the warmth of his body, she burst into tears again.
“I don’t understand! Every time I try to work, the smell of something just suddenly makes me so nauseated and I can’t ... I can’t...” She exploded into sobs, frustration and, no doubt, hormones fueling her upset.
“Aww, babe,” he soothed her softly. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not! This coven is counting on me for tomorrow! I have to make these potions!”
“You have hundreds of potions already. It’s enough. Just relax.”
“Don’t you tell me to relax!” She shoved away from him, and then shoved at him again for good measure. “You who gets completely freaked out if one tiny thing is out of your control? Please!” she scoffed.
Dimitre wasn’t ready. In a moment of total panic he realized he wasn’t ready for this. For any of it. He was completely ill-equipped to deal with a pregnant witch, a new wife, a nascent witch for a sister, worrying about tomorrow’s offensive, and, oh yeah, still trying to figure out his own damn powers. Apparently, she was right. He did get freaked out when things were out of his control. But he must be getting better at it, because ever since he’d met Annali things had spiraled out of his control, and he had managed to find love and a whole hell of a lot of happiness in spite of it. Or because of it.
“Annali?”
“What?” she snapped.
“Babe, I love you more than I will ever be able to express, but if you are going to be like this for the rest of your pregnancy, I have to warn you there’s a chance I’m going to lose my temper right along with you every once in a while. I just thought it’d be good to get that out in the open. You need to know that, just because we argue, it doesn’t mean I’m not crazy in love with you. Okay?”
“Oh ... okay,” she said, blinking big lavender eyes at him. “Did you say ... ?”
“Yes, I did.”
“But I’m not...”
“Yes, you are,” he countered.
“But you can’t possibly know that...”
“Yes, babe, I can.”
“Dimitre!”
“Yes?” he asked, trying not to smirk, but not succeeding.
She looked like she wanted to smack him. Or possibly hug him. Maybe both.
Annali decided to grab for her sink again and give in to a fierce tide of morning sickness. Dimitre reached out to pull stray coils of her hair back out of her way, rubbing her back and soothing her with soft, reassuring words. He explained how he knew what he knew, and then he explained that, in spite of the shock of it all, he was ridiculously happy. He hoped that she was, too.
After a few minutes of retching, a few more of sobbing intermixed with some rather hysterical laughter, Dimitre eventually figured out that she was, indeed, very happy. And of great comfort was the fact that she was equally scared out of her mind. It was comforting to know he wasn’t alone in his bone-chilling terror over becoming a parent.
He would wait until after tomorrow before making plans to ask her to be his wife.
Braen paced the length of his house down its center hallway, then turned and came back again. Of all the things he hated about revenge, it was the waiting. He had been waiting for over a decade to get the better of Willow Coven, and he was on the very cusp of achieving his goal. Unlike Willow Coven, his house was not a commune of witches. His property housed his coven in various locations, but the house was his alone. Odessa lived there, of course. And her mother, Adaliah. He didn’t mind Adaliah’s presence. She was a quiet, reclusive woman who rarely left her rooms. It had made Odessa happy to bring her into his home and her gratitude had earned him much pleasure in her bed.
So, despite Adaliah upstairs, he was by himself. Something he rather enjoyed on most occasions. The only thing making it so unbearable was the anticipation of Odessa’s success and the prize she would be bringing to him. But, of course, he had to wait. Wait until Kaia’s need to tend her patients overrode her need to obey her Priest. Braen chuckled because he knew the Healer’s habits all too well, and it was only a matter of time. All he needed was just a little patience.
Braen reached the front of the house when he heard a strange sort of cry, the high-pitched cawing of a bird. He opened the front door, remaining within the warded borders of the house while checking to see if there was any danger around. After a moment he stepped out onto the porch. As soon as he did, two brightly plumed birds, their feathers an amazing display of yellows, scarlet, and oranges, swooped into his presence. They hovered in flight for a moment before suddenly bursting into flames, the creatures screaming their cries as they changed from those of a bird to those of dying men.
They fell into two distinct piles of ash at his feet.
It was Braen who ignited next, his fury exploding in a primal shout of rage. He stomped his foot into the messy ashes and screamed out the curse of his existence.
“HUNTER! Goddamn you!”
He wasn’t stupid. He knew a message when he saw one and he recognized the signature of his brother’s magic anywhere. The phoenixes were a snide touch, a reminder that his brother’s once-dead position in Willow Coven had been reborn.
“I thought they were rather poetic, actually.”
Braen jolted and whipped around to face Odessa. He had been so incensed that he hadn’t even felt his lover near him. The beautiful paleness of her skin was like backlighting for the darkly painted erotica of her lips. Her black cap of curls and the equally black head-to-toe latex rubber outfit she was wearing made her look like a predatory panther on the prowl. She stood with supreme confidence, her feet braced apart on high block heels, the shiny black boots zipped up tightly over her calves barely distinguishable from her latex catsuit.
“In a bad mood?” she asked. She waved a disgusted little hand at the ashes under his feet. “They served their purpose. Why get upset? I am safe and I was successful—isn’t that all that is important?”
“Of course it is,” Braen said, a whole new rush of excitement overriding his rage. “Where is she? Were you followed? They will come for her.”
“No, they won’t. They think she is dead. They think she’s ... ash” Odessa kicked a foot at the pile nearest her. “Oh, they’ll want revenge, but they won’t be in as much of a rush as they would have been if they thought we had her.”
Odessa stepped back and revealed the small bound and gagged form of the tiny Native American doctor who had been her target. He should have known she wouldn’t fail him, he thought as his heart pounded with glee. He grabbed Odessa by the wrist and jerked her against his body, his hand grabbing her ass with a smack and his mouth pushing over hers hotly.
Tatyana did everything in her power not to gag or react in any way that would give her away. Her heart was pounding with the realization that the trick had worked. Unfortunately, it was working far too well. She had tried to prepare herself for the possibility of Braen’s hands being on her again, but nothing could prepare her for the reality of her repulsion and disgu
st as she recalled his evil intentions toward her. Unlike him, however, she refused to give herself away so quickly. She had tasks she needed to accomplish, and she was going to succeed.
Braen released her quickly enough and stepped hurriedly over to the bound Kaia. He crouched down to meet her wide, fearful eyes, careful not to touch her.
“Well, well. My little Indian squaw. You know, Dess, I’ve never eaten Indian before,” he chuckled.
Tatyana laughed at the disgusting remark with as droll a wickedness as she could muster. She looked at Kaia and knew the little Healer was trying to tell herself she was in no real danger. But Kaia needed to believe that it was real. Braen had committed enough violence against women to know how they would react. If Kaia didn’t act that way, she could blow everything. At any time, Braen could decide to cast any number of spells that would allow him to see the truth, not the least of which was a mind-reading spell. As it was, Tatyana had had only a few moments of familiarity with Odessa’s mind in order to pull this charade off. She could make a crucial mistake at any time.
“I am curious as to how you’re going to manage this,” the fake Odessa mused. “You can’t touch her without her trying to give you a heart attack or something.”
“How did you get her here?” he countered.
“No skin-to-skin contact.” She smiled. “Bit hard to enjoy her without skin-to-skin contact, Braen.”
“Too true. But I have an excellent shield I can teach you. It’s like putting a condom all over your body, except we won’t even feel it.”
“Ooo, clever,” Tatyana cooed. She saw Braen reach out for Kaia and quickly moved forward to grab the Healer by her arm, jerking her up to her feet. “Let’s bring our toy inside. I need a drink and a shower before we can start playing.”
Braen stood up, a thunderous expression crowding his features. “I don’t need you to start playing. You think I want to wait any longer than I already have?”