For a moment, Nuala glared after Ethan. Then she gripped Skye’s arm. “I want to see him. I don’t care if Shade remembers me or not. I have to see him one last time before he’s gone forever. Please.”
If Nuala had been devoid of emotion over Connelly’s demise, that certainly wasn’t the case now. Pain was clear in her eyes. In her heart, Skye knew Nuala deserved the chance to say good-bye, whether Shade remembered what they’d meant to each other or not.
“All right. Let’s go tell Shade everything.”
And then Skye would have to let him go.
Chapter Forty-Three
Shade couldn’t help but worry about Skye who’d left hours ago. Where the hell was his sister? Was she all right? Why didn’t she call?
Oh, right, she could call, but he couldn’t answer.
Boomer following at his heels, he wandered through the apartment, unable to stop imagining bad things happening to her. Eventually the dog grew tired of pacing with him and curled up on a living room chair.
When Shade finally heard footsteps in the foyer and the key unlocking the front door, relief filled him. Boomer’s tail thumped against the arm of the chair, but he didn’t stir. Skye entered the apartment and flipped the light switch, her smile sad when her gaze met his.
“Thank God you’re all right.”
“It’s over, Shade. We did it.”
He looked past her to see the woman he never should have forgotten. “Nuala.”
If he still had a heart, it would have stopped right then just seeing her again. He drank her in. Her exotic beauty had first drawn his attention. Her lush dark hair had felt like silk on his bare skin. Her dark eyes had enticed him. Now those eyes were filled with tears. For him?
“Shade, you remember?” she asked softly.
“I do now. Everything.”
Nuala rushed to him and reached out as if to touch him. “I wanted to see you one last time.” Her hand went straight through the spot where his heart would have been if he still had a corporeal body.
Body or not, Shade swore he felt her, and memories of their time together whirled through his thoughts. “Who says I’m going anywhere?”
“You must.” Nuala pulled herself together. “No matter how much I want you here, it’s not your destiny.” She gazed at him, and her love filled him. “Once you have your soul, you’ll be gone.”
No, not yet. He’d just found her again. “Not until the case is closed.”
“It’ll be closed now,” Skye said, a strange hitch in her voice.
Shade started. He’d almost forgotten he and Nuala weren’t alone. His sister looked ready to break. “What happened tonight?”
Skye filled him in. “Doyle was running the fights. He’s dead. So is his former human partner. Your lieutenant.”
“Connelly?” Shade frowned. “I knew he was more than a paying customer.”
Nuala blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Connelly killed you to protect himself, but Pop took care of him.”
Shade realized this was it, then. The case was resolved. His essence stirred as if summoned from beyond. As soon as his soul was returned to him, he would leave this earth and the people he loved. Perhaps the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. But it was his destiny, and he couldn’t keep fighting it.
He reached out as if he could touch Nuala’s cheek. “I will always love you, Nuala, but you need to find a good man who will make you happy.”
“I could never love anyone the way I do you.” A sob caught in her throat. “When you leave, part of you will still be with me.” She put her hand to her stomach. “Your child.”
His heart hammering at the emotions assaulting him, Shade looked for a baby bump, but Nuala wasn’t showing yet. “I won’t be here to see our baby born.” Devastated that he would never see his child in person, he placed his open hands on either side of her. “Is it okay if I meet my child now?”
She nodded, and he moved his hands closer. He concentrated the same way he did when entering Boomer. His hands began to shimmer, and he gently moved them until the presence inside filled him with an otherworldly joy.
Chapter Forty-Four
Shade’s expression of wonder and happiness brought tears to Skye’s eyes. It was so obvious he and Nuala were in love and should have had a life together. Thinking about what might have been between Luc and her gave her another reason for tears. She slashed her hand across her eyes and looked to her brother as he removed his hands from Nuala’s belly.
He was smiling. “She told me her name is Maeve.”
“Maeve.” Nuala smiled through her tears. “A good name.”
Skye realized it was the name of an ancient Protectress, one of the first who’d signed The Book of Powers. An inheritance for a descendant of the Nephilim? Maeve would also be part Powers through Shade. She didn’t miss the irony. Something she needed to keep to herself. For now.
“I wish more than anything that I could be here for you and our daughter,” Shade told Nuala.
“I’ll always be there for both of them.” Wondering how she was going to restore her brother’s soul to him, Skye removed the pendant he’d put around her neck at the shifter fight. “You knew I had your soul all along, didn’t you?”
“It was the first thing I remembered. I feared for you when I realized you were at that shifter fight. I gave it to you because I wanted to keep you safe.”
Tears welled in her eyes again. “It helped me to do what Mom asked of us. We made a difference, our two souls together.” She stared at the sea glass in her hand. “Now I have to figure out how to return yours.”
“Cup the sea glass in your palm and concentrate,” Nuala said. “Visualize it leaving its resting place. It will—”
“You do it, Nuala.” As much as she wanted to be the last one to say good-bye to Shade, she knew how much it would mean to Nuala. She held out the pendant to the woman her brother so obviously loved. “You stole it back for Shade. You should be the one to return it to him.”
Nuala smiled through her tears. Taking the pendant from her, she cradled the sea glass in the palm of her hand and went quiet.
As if the dog knew this was it, Boomer jumped off the chair and sat in front of Shade, who stooped to give him an air kiss. “Bye, buddy. Take care of Skye for me.”
Boomer barked once in agreement.
“Good-bye, Shade,” she whispered, unable to stop the tears any longer. “I love you. I’ll think of you every day.” she sniffled. “Oh, I almost forgot. Ethan said to tell you he’ll meet you for a beer when he gets to the next life, and that he’ll see to Nuala and the baby for you.”
“Tell him I’m counting on it.”
Nuala objected. “I don’t want anything to do with the man who could have kept you from dying that night!”
“Ethan is a good man, Nuala. He had no part in what happened to me.” Then he gave Skye a sad grin. “And if you ever get the chance to tell Dad... well, everything, I guess... tell him I love him.”
She would have to find a way to tell their father about the supernatural underworld, because she couldn’t cheat him of a granddaughter, no matter her birthright.
“I’ll tell him.”
“Love you, sis.”
A dazzling green light filled Nuala’s hand and slowly spread up her arm and throughout her body. She wept as she placed her hand over Shade’s chest. The dazzling light worked its way into him until they were both lit and glowing green together.
“I love you!” Nuala cried as the light transferred completely from her to him.
Shade began to shimmer and fade. “Find happiness with someone you can love here on earth, someone who would make a good father to our daughter... someone like Ethan...”
The light flickered out.
He was gone.
Nuala dropped the pendant and wailed.
Boomer whined and ran away, disappearing into the darkened rear of the apartment.
Before Skye could try to comfort Nuala, she vanished.
&n
bsp; Apparently the Lazares seemed to think that was the way to end a conversation.
Deeply touched by her and Shade’s love for each other, she gave in to her tears. At least some people knew how to love despite all odds, she thought, remembering how Luc had walked away from her without so much as a word. If Shade had lived, no way would her brother have given up on his relationship with Nuala. He would have fought for her against all odds. At least Nuala would have his child to keep him close to her.
While she was alone for the foreseeable future.
Boomer whined and barked once at something behind her.
Her pulse thudded and her mouth went dry when she sensed Luc’s presence. Wiping her hand across her eyes to dry them, she turned to see him standing in the bay window, staring at her.
“Am I too late?” he asked.
Somehow, she found her voice. “Shade already moved on, and Nuala blinked out.” She hated that she sounded breathless. Vulnerable. Anger put her on the defensive. “Maybe you should have gotten here faster if you wanted to see the show.”
His brow furrowed into a puzzled frown. “I got here as soon as I could. Pop wanted to talk to her about Connelly.”
The manner of the man’s death would always haunt her. “Did Cezar have some regrets?”
“None. He simply wanted to make sure no one was blamed for Connelly’s disappearance.”
Of course not. Heaven forbid that Cezar Lazare be blamed for any of his actions. “So he what? Cast a spell on the police so they’ll forget Connelly even existed?”
“That’s a little beyond what even Pop can manage. He suggested that Connelly’s wallet should wash up on the beach north of The Ark, and that a witness will claim he stole a motorboat to make his getaway. The boat will be found near one of the water cribs.”
The water cribs providing drinking water for the city were two miles out in the lake. “Then the authorities will assume Connelly drowned.”
Luc nodded. “Since no body will ever be found, they’ll assume he’s resting at the bottom of the lake.”
Luc had intruded on her grief just to tell her about his father’s clever plan.
She snapped at him. “I’ll let Ethan know in the morning. Now if you don’t mind, you can do one of your vanishing acts. I’m exhausted.”
Her spine so straight she felt stiff, she started down the hallway toward the kitchen door and whistled for Boomer, who trotted after her.
Luc’s words stopped her in her tracks. “When I asked if I was too late, I meant for us.”
What was this? Another of his word games?
Turning, she found him directly behind her. Too close. She licked her lips. “I don’t get it. What exactly are you saying?”
“That I love you and want a future with you.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Her pulse thrummed and her head went light, but she couldn’t open herself up to more heartbreak.
When Luc came closer, hand reaching for her, she cried, “Don’t touch me.”
He didn’t stop and she reacted on instinct. Furious, she hit him in the chest with the flat of both hands to make him stop. What felt like an electrical charge jolted up her arms to her shoulders, but Luc lit up like a Christmas tree, then flew back down the hallway and landed on his butt square in the middle of the dining room.
He looked as shocked as she was feeling. She hadn’t thought to do him any harm, but apparently her anger had gone out of control even more than it had with Doyle’s wild dog. She could thank her ancestors and The Book of Powers for protecting her.
“Are you going to do that to me every time I touch you?” Luc asked.
“Which will be never.”
He got to his feet. Despite his getting tossed, his lips quivered as if he were trying not to smile. “Remember how much you like me touching you?”
He was putting out that seductive beacon again. As much as she tried to shut it out, a wave of familiar, knee-weakening sensation washed through her.
“Luc, don’t.”
Panic made her back up. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want to be hurt again, either.
When he reached for her a second time, she batted away his arm. The mutual shock jarred her but sent him spinning into a wall, face first.
He righted himself and his smile widened into a grin. “You’re angry with me.”
“What was your first clue?”
He was doing it again, making her feel things she didn’t want to feel. He stood so close she had trouble breathing. He wasn’t even touching her this time, yet sensations she couldn’t banish spread throughout her body. She wanted to back up. To run from him. She couldn’t move. Instead, she imagined his touching her, his taking her, her giving over to him.
“Luc, don’t make me feel things for you when you don’t mean it.”
“What makes you think I don’t mean it?”
“You walked away from me twice tonight. Okay, vanished once, walked the second time.”
“Afraid for you once. Had to talk to Pop the second time.”
“We’ve already been through that.”
“Not all of it. Not the part when I told him I was coming for you.”
“You told him?”
“More like warned him. I told him I didn’t want any repercussions. That I was going to make sure you were safe no matter what.”
“And he agreed?”
“He didn’t disagree.”
“What changed in a matter of hours?” she asked.
“Nuala’s love for your brother made me rethink everything. She would have done anything to be with Shade, and she reminded me that she never abandoned me and that some people are worth fighting for.”
Her voice went up in pitch. “Now you think I’m worth fighting for?”
“I think you’re worth everything to me, Skye Cross. I especially love you for your courage, which has nothing to do with your birthright. It’s who you are. An extraordinary woman.”
He was so close, his breath whispered over her as he spoke. She wanted to sway straight into his arms and stay there forever. Instead, she glared at him.
“Um, I do hold The Book of Powers, remember. You realize that I’m going to work to save humanity from Kindred corruption.”
“That’ll be a challenging task, and I won’t try to stop you. I’ll even be there for you when you need me.” He grinned. “Besides, even if we’re not together, you’re bound to get into trouble anyway.”
“And you won’t try to stop me?”
“I have no reason to. I may continue to work for my father, but know that I will never pledge my soul to the Kindred.”
Skye gasped. Could she believe him? “When did that happen?”
“When I realized that’s who I was. No matter what you decide, I stand by you, because I love you. And when Pop gets to know you, he’ll give you his respect.” His expression intent on her face, he asked, “So what do you say? Can you see a future with me?”
His voice was as mesmerizing as his touch. As he had on the first night they’d met, he made her insides tremble and her breasts feel full and tight. Every fiber in her being longed to say yes, but she couldn’t speak.
Instead, she slipped her hands up his chest. Little sparks followed the trail made by her fingers, making her think any heightened emotion could transform her. Which would make the future even more interesting for them.
Winding her arms around Luc’s neck, she felt a current pass through them and bind them together. She kissed him until they were both breathless.
“Let’s go upstairs... um, the human way, so Boomer can come with us. If you’re serious about us, I have some cats who need to put their paws of approval on you.”
“No problem.”
Grinning, Luc kissed her again, picked her up, and carried her upstairs and into their supercharged future.
~*~
If you enjoyed Animal Instincts, you’ll love the next book in the Kindred Souls series...
Anima
l Attraction Excerpt
“Good Lord, what happened to him?”
Detective Ethan Grainger gave his new partner a disbelieving stare. Homicides were rarely easy to look at, but Isabeau DeClercq was showing her inexperience. Her face had paled and she’d pressed her lips together. Hard. Her first day in Violent Crimes. Lucky him. He’d been saddled with a wet-behind-the-ears detective, and that after losing the best partner he’d ever had, and one he’d thought of as a brother.
“If you’re going to be sick, move away from the victim.” A shocking sight, he had to admit, so he wouldn’t blame her, but he couldn’t let the scene be contaminated.
Isabeau straightened her spine and swiped a strand of thick blonde hair behind one ear. Standing at six feet in thick-heeled boots, she made him feel the glare of her luminous blue eyes and the irritation now tightening her angelic face. “I am not going to throw up.”
“Good.”
He hadn’t meant to be so gruff, but the familiarity of this guy’s death got him in the gut, leaving him with a really sick feeling, that it was happening again...
He focused on the positive. The area was controlled, the cops who’d taken the call having already made perimeters, containing the growing crowd east of the crime-scene tape. Early Sunday morning joggers and bikers who took the lake route had gathered to watch. The cops had called in reinforcements, including forensic personnel already on their way to process the crime scene. Ethan had been drinking his morning coffee when the call came in. He and Isabeau had arrived at the same time, he in his official vehicle, she on her Harley.
He crouched next to the body for a closer look at the guy’s face. The dead man’s caramel skin was definitely bloody and his features were distended a bit, but Ethan had the horrible feeling he recognized him. “DeAndre Booker, an alderman from the west side,” he said in a low tone, wondering what the politician had been doing so far from home. The man wasn’t dressed for a night out at one of the local clubs, nor for an early morning run along the lake. The front of his shirt was ripped in bloody streaks, but that hadn’t killed him. The gaping wound on his neck had bled out, forming a pool around his head and shoulders.
Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1) Page 23