Theo groaned and sat up. "That was like the worst migraine I've ever had."
She nodded. "I can imagine."
"So are we done here? Are you going to send us back so we can do what you want?"
"Don't disappoint us."
Swirls of color surrounded them but this time Faith prepared for it. She didn't try to struggle the sensation away and rather than flail around when she fell through space she stayed still. They hit the ground at the same time, each one flat on their back staring at the ceiling.
After a moment of silence, Faith sat up. "We'd better find Tristan."
"Oh boy, is he going to love this."
Chapter Nine
Theo tapped his foot impatiently. They'd gone over their story about twenty times. Each member of the pack seemed to have a different question so he suspected they'd have to tell it again at least ten more times to satisfy just the men. The women hadn't even gotten started yet and his brother would probably dig into it at least one more time. Hell if he'd repeat it twenty more times.
On the outside, Faith seemed a deacon of patience. But he knew better. He owned half of her soul now and he knew the fire within. She only played at being political; inside she was feistier than even he was. Sooner or later she would get tired of this inquisition too.
So what if they had demons temporarily inside of them? That did not automatically make them traitors or untrustworthy. He'd had one inside of him for over year and the fact he hadn't told them was, at the moment, neither here nor there. He hoped. It had been hard enough staying vague and trying not to act completely mad to gain his freedom to the woods.
Cullen stepped forward and Theo raised his finger to stop him from speaking. "Before you say what I think you're going to say, Cullen, I'd like to point out you knew about the existence of these creatures for centuries and didn't make the pack aware. Also, you were probably with my father when he figured out how to summon them in the first place."
"Cullen's loyalty is unwavering." Summer's voice was like nails, her eyes completely wolf. The woman only looked dainty and petite, she was as natural-born a fighter as any of them, and he couldn't blame her for her near snarl. He had just yelled at her mate. He would rip the head off anyone who dared to question Faith's loyalty.
"I am not accusing him of anything, as I would expect not to be accused." He hoped that would be enough said.
Faith touched his arm. He loved when she did that, even knowing it was her polite way of telling him to shut up. It was just such a familiar gesture and clearly an indication that her feelings grew more secure as his did.
"Does anyone have a question or a statement that would in some way change the fact that we basically have no choice but to go in Kendrick's lair, find some piece of paper with the spell written on it and destroy it, then set the demons free so they bother no one anymore, let alone us?" Faith's tone was light but he could hear the steel in the background that begged someone to argue with her.
He wouldn't be stupid enough to take on that job.
Cullen cleared his throat and Theo rolled his eyes. Somehow, he had known the man often considered the scariest member of the pack wouldn't be able to keep quiet.
"I'd like to remind everyone, as the only member of the pack who was around the first time these demons were released, that they wreaked havoc on everything they touched for three days. They didn't just go back to their home dimension."
Damn. Theo hadn't known that or Faith could have made them swear they'd return immediately to where they were from.
"They were angry. I would do the same thing. Drag me from my home without my consent and then make me do horrendous things? I'd want to punish the people who did it too. " Azriel's voice rang out into the room. He was usually quiet during group meetings so Theo knew his younger brother must feel very strongly on this point. Not to mention that it made sense to Theo too. He'd like to think he'd be more mature--and probably would be now that he had Faith--but maybe not before then. He might want to feel he laid out retribution to those who had harmed him or those he loved.
"Since we'll be the ones freeing them perhaps this time they'll leave us alone." Ashlee spoke up from her position next to Tristan, who was remarkably quiet. Her pregnancy was starting to show but as wolves they all would have known for days now since she smelled different. Theo hadn't seen her in a while so this was the first glimpse he was getting of his new niece or nephew.
"Are we really going to rely on the good graces and understanding of one of these things that did this to Theo?" Gabriel pointed at his cheek and Theo forced himself not to flinch or look away. Yes, he was scarred and would always be, even if the demons took their essence out of him, but someone, through the good fortune of whoever decided these things, an extraordinary woman still loved him and found him attractive. He wasn't going to hide from his face, his pain, or his experience anymore. Not now when he had Faith, and he had the chance to fix part of the problem and remove the demons both from inside of him and as a tool their father used to attack them.
"The demons explained their reasoning to us for what happened to me. In their minds, it was justified. Not that it makes it okay what happened to me. I'm not going to pretend that it does. Hell, I spent almost a year of my life running as a wolf to try to escape it but the demons see things differently than we do. It didn't seem to react at all to my face. In fact, it looked at what its colleague did as a sacrifice. It's something like a bee. Once it 'stings' you, it dies. I don't believe it wanted me dead."
Michael stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. "Are you seriously defending this thing's actions? How much damage has it done to you inside?"
Theo shook his head. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I enjoy it, carrying the demon inside me. I don't." Silently, he shuddered thinking of his trips to visit with the demon inside of him. If he never had to that again, it wouldn't be too soon. "And I want it out of my mate instantly if not sooner." Faith touched his back and he smiled gently at her. "But that doesn't change the fact that helping the so-called enemy this time helps us too. What is that expression?" He looked at Faith, hoping she'd followed his train of thought.
She cleared her throat. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"That is true." Tristan's voice rang out clear and silenced the crowd. "Cullen? Can you tell us anything about where dear old dad might keep such a thing?"
Nodding, Cullen smiled which surprised Theo. What did the man have to be happy about? "In this case I can actually shed light on the subject, which is nice for a change. The paper you speak of, well this should come as no surprise to me I suppose, Kendrick and I once agreed to destroy it so the demons could no longer walk the earth. This was, of course, after he stupidly summoned them here in the first place. When the demons reappeared that day to try and take Braden, that was the first time I realized that they were still on this plane."
"There were lots of things about that day that changed things." Tristan spoke vaguely but Theo had witnessed enough of the conversation between Ashlee and his brother in the past to know he referred to the mating between Cullen and Ashlee's sister. He didn't know if he also referred to Faith's healing. Had Ashlee shared that with him? They might never know.
"As I was saying..."
Cullen shot Tristan a look that said he didn't like to be interrupted and Tristan rolled his eyes. As the oldest member of the pack and Tristan's closest advisor it always amazed Theo how much leeway Tristan gave Cullen to be rude. Even his own brothers were not allotted that much antagonizing of their Alpha--especially when he was in front of the pack.
"The book where the spell is stored has a gold cover and binding, made of woven gold threads. Your mother," he glanced at the Kane sons, "made that cover. I saw Kendrick grab it before he took off after killing all the mated pairs. Everything was chaos and I was trying, unsuccessfully, to get to him while I fought off three cursed mated males. I noticed it because it struck me as odd that he would have any interest in your mother's book, after killing her."
Tristan shook his head. "Why would our mother make a cover for a book that contained dark power incantations? Doesn't sound like her. She was more likely to shriek and scream that she wanted it out of the house."
"When your parents met, your mother was quite different." Cullen looked down at the floor and Theo actually felt sorry for him. It always seemed to fall to Cullen to deliver bad news to the Kane brothers about their parents. They virtually worshiped their mother's memory. If Cullen was about tell them something terrible about it he knew there would be an eruption, probably led by Michael and Gabriel, but they would all participate.
But not you. After what's happened to you, somehow, you have more of an ability to recognize that people are complicated and nobody is all good or all bad.
Thanks, I think. Theo appreciated his wolf's effort but what did it say about him that he was so quick to believe his mother--who had snuck the unmated shifter women from their beds at night to hide them from her mate and performed the most sophisticated magic ever done on Westervelt to keep them hidden and safe--had a dark side?
Let's face it. That was a pretty devious act. She snuck around for two days arranging that and betrayed her mate to do it. Even if it was the right thing to do--and it was--in no way was it the act of someone pure of soul and without sophistication.
Theo transferred his gaze to Faith. She stood silently and watched the situation unfolding in front of her. It wouldn't shock or offend her sensibilities to hear his mother had been less than a saint. He knew her inside and out and he knew that some of the qualities she considered her finest were those that allowed her to survive, no matter what the situation. If what he believed about his mother was true, then she and Faith were probably a lot alike, in the best possible ways.
"In the beginning, before she had Michael and through the time of Gabriel's birth, she really liked the power. No one was a bigger supporter of your father issuing Alpha-challenges to his older brother than your mother. I think they both knew Kendrick was the true Alpha of the pack. Even with less group support than his older brother, your father easily defeated your uncle and took the position. Your mother stepped into the Alpha mate roll as if she'd been born to do so."
Michael shrugged. "So did Ashlee when Tristan took it. Our females are highly capable and brilliant. Why shouldn't they rise to a challenge?"
"While I appreciate the compliment, Michael," Ashlee's voice filled with laughter, "I would be just as satisfied being nothing more than Tristan's mate and a member of the pack. Given that he is our Alpha I am thrilled to be the Alpha's mate but if I had a choice, I never would have sought the job."
"I will simply say that your father could never have been as successful in his early days if Mary Jo hadn't been there to help him. She was pivotal to his coming into the amount of power he achieved and the swiftness with which it occurred." Cullen stared at Michael as if this was nothing more than a typical conversation but Theo guessed the older man, who granted looked the same age as the rest of them, wished he'd never said anything.
Deciding to help him out, Theo broke in. "Let's get back to the point. The book that our mother covered that either does or does not indicate her initial love of power and strength, contains the incantation we need to free the demons and send them away for all time. We need a plan. Faith and I felt it was better to include the whole pack or we would have just gone off and done this by ourselves. In retrospect, perhaps that's what we should have done."
"No." Tristan's voice sounded firm and his wolf eyes flared. "This is pack business. You were correct to bring it to the pack's attention."
Nodding and silently pleased with Tristan's answer, Theo finished the rest of his thought. "That is just what I hoped, my Alpha, but I am afraid we cannot continue this conversation. Not while we still have a traitor in our midst. Someone reporting directly to Kendrick."
Shocked silence filled the room. After Tristan's near death experience, Cullen, Gabriel, and Theo worked tirelessly to weed out who betrayed them. Now they had bigger problems than they'd had even then. "I realize my mate has not had time to report to the group what the circumstances of our meeting were but let's just say that I was in the process of trying to figure out what to do about catching one traitor when a second appeared with a shotgun."
"Theo's abilities--and I guess probably mine now--allow him to see things we cannot and experience sensations the rest of the pack is unaware of. Someone took several shots at Theo's head. Although, at the time, I could not see or feel the bullet fired at us had it connected with my head I would be dead as was evidenced by the log that exploded where I had been sitting." Faith's eyes were clear and proud, she was sure of what she spoke and confident in him. The combination reminded him that he was the luckiest shifter in the universe for having found her.
Tristan stalked to the window and pounded his fists on the wall next to it. "Are we never to have any peace here? There are entities on this island plotting against us that we cannot see, hear, or scent?"
Theo walked to his brother and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Yes, my Alpha, but the blame is not yours. It is mine. I abandoned you for my own issues just when you needed me to act as your security chief. Perhaps if I had embraced the demon inside of me earlier we would have already handled these things."
Don't blame yourself. Faith's voice was soothing but he would not hide from fault when it was his to claim.
"They may be able to disguise their scent from me, Tristan, when they are running away on a boat or pursuing me in the woods. But someone is giving our father his information about our plans. It has always bothered me--and I know it drives Cullen crazy too--that Kendrick knew he, Gabriel, and Summer were going to Mexico to infiltrate his Institute. I'm not going to let another plan go astray because we are not cautious."
Raising an eyebrow, Tristan smiled. "What do you intend to do Theo?"
Privately, Tristan sent him a telepathic message. It's nice to have you back, brother.
"I don't know if the people who are invisible to others are related to the demon or some other kind of magic that only I can see because of the demon, so I will have to leave them alone until we get a hold of that book. But, I can still sniff out a traitor and I assure you, between Faith and me, we will find them, eliminate them, and then we will proceed with a plan unknown to Kendrick that will allow us to infiltrate him and take that book."
Tristan nodded. "Do it."
And make them pay.
* * * *
"So how do you intend to handle this?" Faith had her hands clasped behind her back and she stood ramrod straight. He hoped he could alleviate whatever was wrong with her mood in a short enough period of time that they could get moving to discover the traitor.
"I have some ideas but I'd like to see what you think. Why is your back up?" Direct questions seemed to work best with Faith, which he appreciated because he was never any good at playing games.
"Oh, because you just took over my job."
He shook his head. "What?"
"Ah." She stomped over to him, holding eye contact, her pupils huge. He could hear that her pulse increased and the scent of her anger had his wolf pacing in panic. Neither one of them liked her angry with them.
"Before you go off the deep end here, try explaining it to me." Maybe not as gentle as he could be but truth was he wasn't a gentle man. She knew that about him now. He suspected she could handle him, regardless.
"I am the security chief of the pack since you ran away to play wolf-man in the woods. You just stepped back into that role like it was your given right without a by-your-leave to me." She didn't utter the words 'you insensitive jerk' but they were there loud and clear. He swallowed. It hadn't even occurred to him that she would have a problem with it.
But it should have. He dug deep inside of himself to the warm, loving place where Faith's soul was stored. Taking care of her responsibilities was part of the way she defined herself. The traitor was part of her domain.
"I didn't think you
'd mind."
Faith threw her hands in the air. "Theo, we communicate telepathically. Did you think for one second that you should ask me before doing that? Just hey, Faith how would you feel if?"
"No."
Say you are sorry. His wolf didn't like anything about this fight and had started to pant in desperation.
I don't know that it will help anything.
"Well that's honesty. No. Okay." She nodded and he had no idea if she communicated with her wolf or if she talked to herself. Either way it didn't bode well for him.
"I'm sorry. I can try to do better next time. It was my first time back with the pack and I just stepped into my old role. I shouldn't have. I was wrong."
Faith blew out a breath. "It's okay." She shook her head. "I don't know why I'm making such a big deal out of this."
"Because I stepped on your toes and it bothered you. I would have felt the same way. It is your job. Would you like me to tell Tristan that I won't be pursuing the traitor?"
She laughed. "No, of course not. That has to be priority number one. We can't move on to getting that book until we find the traitor. I'm sorry Cullen even mentioned the book in front of whoever it might be."
"Actually, that's going to work to our advantage." He grinned and he knew his wolf was in his eyes. This had always been his forte. He could plot out scenarios and watch them come to fruition. It felt good to be back.
In the corner of his mind, he felt the demon stir and he pushed it down. The creatures would have to be content a little while longer. Nothing could be done until this was done.
Faith smiled, an open-mouthed grin that showed she enjoyed his enthusiasm for his course of action. "Tell me."
"Dad will believe he's above all of this. He thinks he's got us right where he wants us. Even when he was somewhat normal, he thought he was untouchable. He'll leave that book right out in the open now with that gold book cover exactly as Cullen described just to prove he's not the least bit concerned."