“All right,” she answered slowly.
He dipped his head. “You two have a good night.”
“Thank you, Robert,” Mark said.
Robert smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Then he was gone.
“What’s that about?” Mark asked.
She shook her head, putting her hands up. “First you talk. You promised.”
He pushed out a breath. “Shower. While we’re in there, I’ll tell you what I can, but you’re covered in blood.”
She looked down and lifted a shoulder. “I don’t remember where that came from.”
Mark lifted Gina off her feet and carried her upstairs, to the bathroom. “I told you I was born a witch, right?”
She nodded. “You mentioned it, but never explained.”
His face scrunched up, then he sighed. “I was married when I was seventeen, to a girl the same age. Kindra was everything to me. I fell for her when were just kids. We went through the binding rituals some coven members perform.” He blew out a breath. “She wasn’t happy in the end. Kindra let something called a doppelganger come in, drain me of my magic, my essence, my life force.” He gulped, then backed away. “She tried to drug me in the end. When that didn’t work, I used the rest of my magic to block her from forcing it on me. I was weak by then. I turned and found the creature who looked more like me than I did. I used the last of my magic to fend him off. Kindra stabbed me, and I stabbed her…” His eyes closed as he slumped against the wall.
“What happened?”
“She was pregnant. I don’t know if the baby was mine or that thing’s, but I know she was with that thing the whole damned time.”
“Oh my,” she whispered.
“It was self-defense,” he answered weakly.
She nodded slowly. “Mark, I know you. You wouldn’t have harmed her if she hadn’t harmed you first.” She dragged his gaze back to hers. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“I thought I’d killed her.” The pain in his eyes tore her apart. He continued, “I wish I had.”
“She deserved death.”
His voice broke. “What if I killed my child? Hell, any child. They were innocent.”
“You wouldn’t have if you had any other choice.” She touched his face. “You were dying, you got away.”
“I stumbled out the door. Tremaine was there. God, I wish they’d gotten there sooner, but as it turned out, I didn’t kill her. I don’t know what happened to the doppelganger, what happened to her, or the baby. I thought she was dead. I assumed that thing would die without me there to finish off.”
“We need to find out what happened,” she answered.
“We do, but I’m scared. What if I did kill the child? Mine or not, it wasn’t the kid’s fault.”
“Mark, you can’t think like that. You had no choice.”
“I really didn’t,” he admitted. “The worst part is, if that thing is still alive, then the coven is still around, thinking that thing is me.”
“Who cares what they think?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t, but if those things are still there, what happened to them?”
“Would you want to go back to them?”
“Never. They aren’t my people now. They refused to believe that something was trying to take my place. They told me I was crazy. They threw me away.”
He shook his head and reached in to turn on the shower before turning back. “Last I heard, the coven wasn’t there. I don’t know anything more than that.”
She framed his face with her hands and kissed him. “Shh, it’s okay. I understand. I’ll never choose anyone over you.”
“I’m not that dumb idiot anymore. I know you’re mine. She wasn’t mine. I just thought she was.”
“She’s a fool,” Gina whispered. Then she pulled the shirt over his head before trailing her fingertips over his chest. “Now, talk to me. Tell me what put all this guilt in your head.”
He leaned against the counter and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “She was there, at the Silver Council Headquarters. I saw another witch I knew. Before any of you were brought back. Then I felt Kindra sometime after Robert brought you to me. I saw her, Gina. She’s alive.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe she’s changed? I mean, Clint used to be cute.” She winked.
He snorted. “I remember when he came here. He didn’t look all that different.”
She shrugged. “He’s not you.”
He smiled as he rid her of the tank top. “I know that. All I’m saying is he hasn’t changed much. I know you don’t want him now. I haven’t worried about that since the moment we locked eyes and I knew what you were.”
“But you were afraid to make me yours.”
“You’d been hurt for years, traumatized. And even if you can’t remember, the thought of that worried me. I didn’t want you to ever think poorly of me.”
“You may frustrate me occasionally, like when you think you need to protect me. I don’t want that. I just want you to be honest.”
One corner of his mouth twitched before he sighed. “That’s why I’m telling you all of this. I just didn’t want to go there surrounded by people I don’t know.”
“I get it.” She leaned up and kissed him.
Mark pressed a kiss to her lips and hooked his fingers in her waistband before dragging the rest of her clothes down her long legs.
* * * *
Gina trailed her fingers over his abdomen. She wanted to forget everything and just be with him, but it was her turn to tell him what she knew. “Something happened in there. I’m not sure I understand it. But something helped me get rid of the evil.”
Mark kicked off the rest of his clothes and carried her into the shower. “What evil?”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. Ancient.” She pushed him back. “Only, there’s still something inside me. Something good. There to prevent that from happening again, but I don’t understand it all.”
Mark’s face hardened with concern. “Something inside you?”
“I don’t hear her now. I don’t even feel her. She’s watching over me, though.”
“We should talk to Tremaine, or someone. Figure that out.”
“Amelia and Brent said not to worry.” She lifted a shoulder. “That thing, the evil one wanted to take me over. She stopped it.”
“Okay, but we really should talk to Tremaine, or someone who knows more about that stuff. I’m not afraid of you, or it, but I want to make sure it’s not going to be a problem later.”
A smile graced those plump lips. “Okay then.”
“I’ll take on anything with you, Gina.”
She wrapped her hand around his hard length. “I have no doubts. I love you, Mark.”
“I love you too.” He pushed her hand away. “Now, let me make sure you’re whole and healthy before I make love to you.”
She smiled up at him and dropped her hands. “Can’t you tell just by looking at me?”
He smoothed his hands down her neck, her shoulders and arms, then moved his hands under her arms, on her sides to run his palms down her body, all the way to her ankles. He guided one of her thighs over his shoulder, then the other as he knelt before her, making sure her back was against the wall of the shower as he licked her core.
She whimpered under the erotic assault of his tongue. She loved the way he did that. Her fingers speared into his hair and gripped tight as he drove her crazy.
“I’m there, I’m there,” she chanted.
Mark didn’t stop until she came, then shifted her until his hard length was at her core, gliding in. Their mouths collided as she held his face to hers, devouring him.
He thrust into her with earnest, gripping her ass, holding her in place as he worked in and out of her body. Mark kissed down her throat, sucking here and there.
She cried out his name and felt him all the way through her soul as they came together. Something sparked between them, magic rushi
ng loose. Not from just the presence within her, but something from him as well.
“Did you feel that?” he whispered, sliding down until she sat on his thighs while he sat on his knees.
She nodded, a smile on her lips.
“Why do you look so happy?”
“I don’t know. But I’m not worried about it.”
He frowned. “Gina, we might need to be. I felt magic stir inside me. That’s not supposed to happen to a witch who becomes a werewolf. And that means those damned Fae may want me all over again.” He rubbed at his face and sighed. “I’m sorry. I can’t help worrying.”
She caught his face, staring into his eyes. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
He kissed her lips softly. “We will.”
Chapter 5
Cora glanced over. “Really think that was Anders back there?” She drove Kindra back to Brightwater Bay on the west coast of Washington.
“Does it matter?” she asked, wishing it didn’t. They were still bound. She could feel the bond vibrating in her bones. And yet, he was a werewolf now, and clearly mated to the blond woman who had been kept separate from everyone. She hadn’t imagined his essence on her.
“It is him.” Cora side-eyed her and pushed out a breath. “How can you not feel some guilt over what you caused?”
“He clearly didn’t love me if he moved on with a damned werewolf.”
“He is a werewolf now,” Cora pointed out. “And you cheated on him with the thing that took his place.”
“Like you haven’t had sex with Anthony.” Kindra shot her a dirty look.
“I won’t let him touch me,” Cora hissed. “I’ve tried to leave. I should have listened to Anders and gone to the Silver Council with him. They helped him.”
“They changed him,” Kindra snapped.
“He’s alive, isn’t he? You were sure he would die. I think you wanted him to.”
Kindra’s mouth fell open. “I-I…” Did she even know what she wanted?
Cora pulled up to Kindra’s home. “Valen and Gerard will be happy you’re back.”
Kindra climbed out of the car and headed inside.
There was a familiar sickly scent. Sweet, bitter, almost rotten. Just like when she first saw Gerard. And later, while Anders withered away as Gerard grew stronger.
For a brief moment grief flashed through her. But he had tried to kill her. A tiny voice reminded her she was the one who stabbed him at Gerard’s request, that Gerard coerced her into poisoning her husband.
Shaking off that notion, she went in search of Gerard. “Where are you, honey?”
“Here?” His voice was slipping back into how she first heard him. Her skin chilled. Who would she have to watch die while and get used to now?
Wait, there might be another answer.
Kindra rushed up the stairs and found Gerard on his side. His once strong back was smaller. His ribs stood out. His shoulders seemed shrunken. She moved around the bed and sat beside him. “You need a new face, don’t you?”
The blue eyes of Anders had faded toward the gray of Gerard’s. “Are you well?” he asked.
She nodded, fear flitting through her. Would he want to take her body? The other doppelgangers stuck to their own sex when choosing a new face.
“The vampires bit a few times. Other than that, I’m fine.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“And you? You’re regressing.”
“So is our son.”
“What?” she whispered. Did that confirm that Valen was Gerard’s? Or did that mean Gerard had tainted Anders’ baby? No, Valen was Anders. She found out she was pregnant before meeting Gerard.
“Why do you look concerned?”
“I saw Anders. He was at the headquarters when the mages brought us there, waiting on a woman who’d been captured. How is that possible?”
“I feared that possibility, though that gives us an interesting solution.”
“Solution?” Kindra asked.
Gerard sat up. The blanket fell, and she winced. He was all sinew and bones, and fading to gray, though he wasn’t nearly as small as he’d once been.
“Until he dies, I cannot take another form, yet, if he’s thriving, he’s become something else. If he’s living, I can take his new form.”
She gulped. “He’s a werewolf.”
“Then I’ll have more strength.”
“I don’t have any idea where he is.”
“Matters little. There are only so many places in Washington you’ll find werewolves, unless he’s a lone wolf, but he always preferred groups. Why do you think he called the Silver Council to stop us?”
“What do we do?” she asked.
“Find him and where he’s located. Once we do that, we find the proper targets for the rest of us.”
“Us?” she asked.
“You too.” His smile turned sinister. “You’re fading too. More slowly than the rest of us, as this is your first time.”
Her eyes widened.
“Our son is fading too. Faster than you, but he was born to this.”
Her eyes closed.
“The only solution is finding new people for you and Valen to become. I need Anders. He’s my only option.”
She nodded slowly, unable to think.
He touched her arm and brought her chin up. “Kindra, talk to me. Would you rather your chosen family dies with you? Or become something more?”
She shook her head. “His mate is a werewolf, which means they likely don’t have a child.”
“Doesn’t matter. Our children rarely choose to be the children of the ones we choose. We need strong bodies.”
“Right.” She stood and blew out a breath. “I may have a way to find them.” Though she didn’t know how she would deal with that just yet.
Warn Anders? Or accept her fate?
Unsure, Kindra hurried downstairs. She jumped when she found Cora sitting on the couch. Cora stood and motioned toward the door before walking outside and away from the house.
Kindra followed until they made it to the edge of the water. “What is it?”
Cora faced her. “Daniel is fading away. Maybe we should contact the Silver Council. Have them step in, take the doppelgangers before they can ruin more lives.”
“Is that what you truly think? They ruined our lives? We were barely surviving out here before they came. They brought us back from near ruin. And you would just throw away all we’ve accomplished?” And part of her heart broke with the defensive words. But it was true. The coven was in a better place since then.
Cora held up her hands, backing away. “If that was really Anders back at the Silver Council, do you realize what Gerard would do to him a second time?”
“Gerard is the father of my son. You realize that, don’t you?”
“How the hell can you assume that? April says Mavis blows blanks. He doesn’t come. Think about it, has Gerard?”
She immediately nodded. “Of course he does!”
Cora’s eyebrows shot up. “Honestly, think about it.”
“He does.” He didn’t. There was never anything but her own juices after sex. Not even pre-cum. He got off, but there was nothing when he hit climax. Not even when she went down on him.
“I don’t believe you,” Cora said.
“He’s Valen’s father. Anders wouldn’t have killed his son.”
“He was trying to stop you from killing him. He stabbed you because you stabbed him, and he barely got away.”
“He-he…”
“Do you really want to sign his death warrant a second time? Because Anthony once told me that if Daniel had managed to survive, he would have to find him and complete killing him in order to eventually take another body. Otherwise, he would continue to fade until his death.”
Kindra had no words.
“You would help kill him a second time?” Cora balked, throwing her hands up.
“Of course I would, to
keep my family.”
Cora let out a bitter laugh. “Anders was a fool to ever love you. You jumped at the chance to rid our coven of a good man who would have done anything for the love of his life.”
“He called the Council on us. He singlehandedly destroyed our coven.”
“No, don’t. He was protecting lives. His own, my husband’s, Germaine, Liliana, and Mavis. You didn’t give him a chance to make this coven better. And have you noticed how much is falling apart as your lover and all his people wither?”
She shook her head and looked around. Everything was graying. Could it be the little people’s fault?
Cora touched her shoulder. “Those creatures have tied themselves to this land. They’re sucking the life from it as they wither. If they get desperate before finding someone else, they’ll do the same to us. Why do you think so few came here, to take over? And they did take over.”
Kindra rubbed at her face. “Everything fades, Cora. Everything.”
“Not like this. This is unnatural. Look around you. The color is fading out of everything, like they’re dragging it with them as they fade. It’s not right. We should contact the Council and let them sort it out. Maybe there’s a place for them where they don’t have to kill anyone?”
“What? You want them to wither and die? My son included?”
“Maybe they have a way to stop it. And honestly, with the way April is fading, it’s only a matter of time before you do too. But maybe because you were away, you haven’t been affected yet. Maybe we just need to leave.” April had fallen for the Mavis, who had taken Lester’s place.
Kindra shook her head. “You want me to break my family apart? I can’t leave Valen or Gerard.” She turned, walking away.
“I was wrong to come to you,” Cora hissed.
“Cora,” Kindra warned in a low voice, “if you go to the Council, I will slaughter you myself.”
“And you’ll only tell Anthony. As always, I’m stuck. I wish I’d listened to Anders all those years ago.”
“You’re a fool.”
“And you’re different now. I remember the old you. I miss her.” Cora walked away.
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