“I know.” He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out together. This is a learning curve for us, too, you know.”
“How so?”
“Because we were programmed all our lives that, if we were even lucky enough, when we found our mate we’d spend the rest of our lives making her happy, spoiling her rotten, taking care of her, and protecting her.”
He gently caught her chin and tipped her face so he could look into her eyes. He wore a bemused smile. “If you haven’t noticed, babe, you’re fiercely independent and not exactly a ‘sit at home and be spoiled rotten’ kind of gal. You have no idea how hard it is for us to stand back and not jump in and try to fix things for you, or kick ass for you, or whatever for you. You’re not the only one trying to learn a new role. We’ve got all the relationship stuff, yeah. I mean everything else besides that.”
He traced her jawline with the pad of her thumb. “So cut us a little slack, please? Throw us a bone every once in a while. Let us be us for you. Point someone out to us and say, ‘Sic ’em.’ Otherwise, we feel like we’re kind of useless. Like we’re just sitting around with our thumbs up our asses and standing in your way.”
She’d never really thought about it like that before.
Ever.
* * * *
Brodey worried about Elain. He didn’t know if it was the stress over Mom’s long delivery, or Seer stuff, or preemptive worrying about her own pregnancy, but she seemed to be barely hanging on to her last nerve.
It was something he’d noticed about her ever since her return from her trip alone to Maine a few months earlier.
Whatever had happened on that trip, he wouldn’t play dirty. He wouldn’t ask, wouldn’t pry. But something had happened, way more than she’d let on. More than just seeing visions at the cockatrice graves.
Something fundamental had changed inside her, like she was blocking a part of her psyche from them. As if there was a wall up inside her, a part of her they no longer had access to.
And he’d never mentioned to either of his brothers the luggage claim tag he’d spotted in the bathroom garbage can soon after her return, listing a flight from Maine to Dallas, and then on to Bolivia. He hadn’t been picking through the trash, but he’d accidentally dropped the garbage can when grabbing it to empty it and it had spilled.
It’d been tucked down at the bottom, like someone had been hiding it.
Someone that could only be Elain.
But he wouldn’t ask. He had to let her have that part of her life. He only hoped that she would lean on them and not shut them out when she needed them the most because she was afraid of what her powers could do.
* * * *
Once Elain got herself under control, she let Brodey lead her back to the birthing room. Her mom held the baby, her dad positively beaming.
Elain needed sleep, stat. But she needed to do this or succumb to the all-too-strong temptation to hide from who she was.
“Meet your little brother,” her dad said. “James Oswald Pardie.”
Her mom gently placed him in Elain’s arms. “Here’s your big sister, sweetie.”
Elain stroked his cheek, her fear transforming to relief. Yes, she could see who he’d been in a past life. But none of the names running through her brain as she stared at him rang any bells.
In terms of their whacky little gene pool, he was just a normal wolf shifter baby.
She offered him a smile. “Hi, James.” She glanced at her parents. “Jim?”
“Ozzie,” her dad said, proudly beaming.
Elain didn’t miss how her mom rolled her eyes and gave a little shake of her head.
* * * *
When her men got Elain home that evening, she collapsed in bed and didn’t awake until nearly ten the next morning, when the urge to pee was so great she didn’t think she’d be able to make it to the bathroom in time.
Fortunately, she did.
When she emerged and went in search of coffee, she was a little weirded out to realize she had the house completely to herself for the first time in…
Well, longer than she could remember. It was spooky in a way. She’d gotten so used to being surrounded by family that utter solitude was strange.
Before she reached the kitchen, she was waylaid by her phone ringing.
“It’s contagious,” Callie said by way of greeting.
“Huh?”
“My water just broke. Elise is on her way.” Callie and Blackie, unlike Elain, had long ago and easily settled on their baby’s name, a memorial to Blackie and Kitty’s mother.
Now Elain felt bad. “I doubt we’ll make it up to Maine in time.”
“We’re not in Maine, silly. We’re at the hotel in Tampa. We got in late last night.”
“Cutting it awfully close aren’t you? I didn’t think you were due for another week yet.”
Callie started to answer, but Blackie took the phone from her. “Sorry, Elain. I’m getting her over to the hospital. I already called Dr. Alberto. Could you please spread the word?”
“Yeah. I will.”
Blackie hung up on her.
She stared at the phone, trying to dislodge the remaining sleep from her system.
Yeah, I’ll spread the word. She turned and finally made it to the kitchen.
After I’ve had my fricking coffee.
* * * *
This time, it was Micah who drove Elain and Mai back up to Tampa just an hour later. Jim stayed behind in Arcadia with BettLynn, and Elain’s men would be up as soon as they tended to things on the ranch. Down a man since Liam stayed in Tampa with Carla, they were a little short-handed.
Lacey, staying in the same hotel as Blackie and Callie, was already there. As was Lina, since she’d spent the night in the house just north of Tampa that her and her men still owned.
Dr. Alberto was examining Callie when Lina, Elain, and Mai got there. “No offense, Callie, but I hope we don’t have a repeat of Carla’s labor,” she joked. “I really need some sleep.
Callie clamped down on Blackie’s hand, moaning as a contraction hit her. When she finished breathing her way through it, she glared up at him. “You’d better hide the sharp things when we get home.”
He smiled and reached out to stroke her hair. “Yes, pet.”
When the next contraction hit her, she closed her eyes and clamped down on his hand again.
Elain had to hand it to Blackie. The Alpha wolf winced, but didn’t let out a cry of pain of his own.
Callie gritted her teeth. “I am not doing this all day. Dr. Alberto, get ready.”
“What?”
Elain felt the magick being raised and didn’t have time to react. “This…baby…is…coming…now!” Callie’s words dissolved into a scream of pain and relief as the magick bubbled and burst, a blinding light flashing and disappearing.
Dr. Alberto and her nurse had to scramble to get into position to catch the baby. Seconds later, the healthy cry of Callie and Blackie’s newborn daughter filled the birthing room.
Except for the baby and Callie’s relieved sobs, everyone fell silent.
Lina snorted. “Well, guess you don’t need us, princess,” she teased. She grabbed Elain by the shoulders and turned her around, giving her a gentle nudge toward the doorway. She caught Mai’s hand on the way. “Let’s give the parents a few minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, Blackie emerged from the birthing suite, a smile on his face. “Sorry to drag you up here for nothing,” he joked.
Lina stood with a smile on her face and hugged him. “Hey, we’re glad we could be here.”
Elain remained off to the side, deep in thought. She claimed exhaustion, which wasn’t half-wrong, but she’d felt something during Callie’s magick raising.
She’d glimpsed something. Not bad, but she didn’t know what it meant and didn’t want to spend the mental energy on it. Not right then.
Getting out her cell phone, she started making calls to update everyone, giving her something to do and a
n excuse to stay out in the waiting room.
An excuse to avoid the inevitable.
* * * *
Later that afternoon, Elain rode home with her guys, who barely spent a few minutes congratulating the new parents before Ain noticed how tired Elain was and bade their leave.
She snuggled with Brodey in the backseat this time, thankfully not puking her guts up, but still not in a romantic mood.
“We’re going to have an even better Christmas this year,” Brodey said. “BettLynn and the Beasts, and now two more babies.”
“Yeah,” Cail said from the front. “All we need is Gigi and Kitty to get pregnant.”
“I wouldn’t say anything around Blackie about Kitty making him an uncle,” Ain warned. “He’s still trying to get used to his little sister having Wally as a mate.”
The men laughed.
Elain listened, but didn’t speak up.
“You all right, babe?” Brodey asked.
“Just really, really tired.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. We’ll get you home, tuck you into bed, and bring you your dinner. How does that sound?”
“Like the best idea ever.”
* * * *
Aliah spent her winter carefully preparing. During Christmas, when she suspected the old Seer wouldn’t be home, she snuck back onto the Maine wolves’ compound and into the backyard of Lacey Fraser’s house.
Nothing remained of the scents from before, of course. Right now, icy slush and mud comprised most of the yard, a recent snowfall having melted and turning the terrain treacherous in some areas. Another snowfall was moving in that afternoon, and would, hopefully, conceal her tracks and scent, erasing all clues that she’d ever been there.
Consulting the Grimoire Lilitu, she recited a magick revealing spell she’d been working on.
As she did, the ground underneath the sundial in the backyard began to glow briefly before fading again.
“Gotcha,” she muttered.
She didn’t know exactly what was under that sundial besides the body of the hybrid bitch, but it was important. Magick had been used to conceal its presence.
And now she had the leverage she needed. She’d been keeping Carl on the hook, mostly to use him for information, by sending him scanned pages now and then.
Of course she wouldn’t send him the entire thing. That’d be stupid. She only sent him enough to keep him upping his offers. Besides, she didn’t have the whole thing scanned in anyway. She was lucky if she could get one page successfully scanned every night. She kept a backup copy of her progress to date hidden on the Inglesons’ hard drive, and hadn’t got all the scanned pages transferred over to her laptop yet.
Trying to contain her excitement, she hurried back to where she’d left the SUV parked. She had plans to make. Nothing could happen until the March Yellowstone Gathering, though. By then, her baby would be born, and she’d have everything in place that she’d need to get her vengeance and secure her and her son’s futures once and for all.
She knew this with all certainty. Every night when she slept, with the book safely tucked beneath her under the mattress, she dreamed about her son’s future as if it were already true.
It spoke to her, the book did. More every day, it seemed.
She was meant to be the rightful holder of the book.
And it agreed it would help her with her vengeance.
Chapter Fifteen
Mary and Tom Ingleson had sweetly insisted that Aliah would not leave them once her baby was born. Which was a good thing, because the winter had been icy and snowy.
She’d considered killing them and taking their money, knowing they had no close relatives to miss them in the short term, but that would be inconvenient. They had local friends, and Tom was so active online that no doubt his buddies would soon figure out a way to check on them.
No, it was easier just to lie low.
And plan.
One of the things she’d discovered in the book had set her mind whirling. The Tablet of Trammel, something she’d always thought was just legend.
She was practically convinced that was what lay beneath the Seer’s sundial.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to go digging around for it. No, she had a better plan. And she had, via information she obtained from Carl, found just the people willing to help her out…for the right price.
She’d told them she had discovered the identity of one of the keepers of the Tablet. And one afternoon she snuck away, struggling a little under the extra baby weight, and carried a backpack and duffel bag full of supplies to the cave she’d discovered when searching for the graves. It looked undisturbed except for a few animal tracks.
It would do nicely.
While she was there, she found Cameron’s gave. Too pregnant to easily get down on her knees, she stood over it. “Almost there, babe.” She stroked her belly. “I’m doing this for you.”
* * * *
Her only worry was the timing of her birth. She’d been careful not to meet ahead of time with the three guys who’d agreed to help her. She conducted everything over the phone or via e-mail.
She didn’t doubt they might double-cross her if they thought they could. But she had an ace in the hole. They didn’t know about the book. And they couldn’t get rid of her until they had the Tablet.
What they didn’t know was once she had the Tablet, she could use its powers.
Then there wouldn’t be shit they or anyone else could do to her.
Finally, two weeks before their scheduled go-time in March, she welcomed her son to the world. As the nurse placed him in her arms, she smiled down at him. He had his father’s earthy brown eyes.
And that was why she named him Cameron.
Yes, everyone’s going to see what you can do. How great you’ll be. We’ll show them.
* * * *
Lacey lay awake in bed. She’d had a dream, a vision. Tomorrow, she was supposed to travel to Yellowstone with everyone else for the March Gathering.
Now, she knew she couldn’t go. She’d had a vision, an incomplete one. But in it, Mai had almost died, Callie saving her life.
Lacey had been the one to suggest whatever it was Callie did that saved Mai.
She didn’t see all the details, but knew it had something to do with whoever Elain had buried in her garden last summer. Her, and that damned Ryan Ausar.
Although she never could stay too angry at that rascal for long. He was too charming.
Jasper jumped up next to her and laid his head on her chest, mournfully staring at her.
She smiled as she stroked his head. “I know. But I have to do this, whatever it is.”
The next morning, when Jocko arrived to pick her up to take her to the airport where they’d meet Blackie, she stopped him at the front door.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not going after all.”
“Whaddya mean ye ain’t goin’, lovely?”
She kissed him. “Seer stuff.”
He scrunched up his face at her. “Ye know, what kinda Clan are we, none o’ our Seers are comin’ to the Gathering?”
“Everyone will understand. Besides, most of the wolves from the Maine compound are going this year. It’ll be packed. It’s like a ghost town around here already as it is. I know a bunch of people have left to get there. And Arnost will be there with the dragons. He counts as a Seer, as part of the mega-Clan.”
Jocko snorted.
She wasn’t sure if Jocko was more upset about her not going, or the fact that now he wouldn’t have anyone to warm his bed while he was there.
“Ye sure?”
“I’m sure. Oh, do me a favor, please?” She grabbed Jasper’s leash and snapped it to the dog’s collar. “Drop him off by Kitty and Wally’s for me, please.” They had volunteered to stay behind to keep an eye on the Clan territory, along with Oscar and a few others.
Jocko’s gaze narrowed. “Where ye goin’, lovely? If yer not goin’ to the Gathering, why ye still need a dogsitter?”
/> “Seer stuff,” she replied, kissing the tip of his nose. Then she shooed him out. “Go on. Don’t keep Daniel waiting.”
She watched as Jocko led Jasper to his car, the dog staring at her as if betrayed before getting into the car.
Sorry, pup. I can’t risk your safety. She’d had him several months before realizing he was a sentient familiar. She hadn’t told anyone else about that, sure that Elain, Lina, and Mai might discover it during his brief stay in Arcadia, but apparently not.
She hadn’t yet worked out who he’d once belonged to, or if they were even still alive, but she knew he was far older than what her vet had thought.
Well over fifty, if her guess was correct, from the things she’d picked up from Jasper’s stray thoughts.
He was a very special dog, and she didn’t want to do anything to put him in harm’s way. Although she suspected his former owner was dead. From Jasper’s desperate hatred of cockatrice, it didn’t take much for her to suspect that as well.
She shut the door and headed back to the bedroom to use the bathroom and change clothes. When she emerged from the bathroom, two men were waiting for her. Cockatrice. Before she could so much as scream, they’d slapped duct tape over her mouth, bound her at the feet and wrists, and threw a pillowcase over her head. She was going to shift to try to escape when one of them locked a metal collar around her neck.
Silver. She knew it from the feel, and knew it was charmed to prevent her from shifting.
Then they were carting her out the front door.
Without any other recourse, she let out a desperate mental scream she hoped the new Triad could hear.
“Help me!”
* * * *
As time for the March Gathering drew closer, Elain knew she’d miss out on it. Not because she was worried about anything bad happening, but because it was just getting too uncomfortable for her to travel for any extended period.
In fact, Elain, Lina, and Mai had seen nothing about anything bad happening at the Gathering. But Elain insisted Ain, Brodey, and Cail go, along with Jan, Rick, Kael, and Micah. Her dad would stay behind to run the ranch in their absence, and Blackie, Jocko, and Lacey would meet the others out there.