“Nan.” Rachel pocketed her cell as she strode over to her grandmother.
Katie paced past the tables and chairs on Calisto’s front porch. Her fingers twisted the ever-present diamond stud in her ear. When light had exploded in all directions down in the valley, the vampires had taken off. The others had hurried down the trail, but Katie and Rachel agreed to stay behind, just in case.
Rachel’s heart tripped in her chest. Her hands shook, so she tucked them into her jean pockets, her fingers running over the glass of her touchscreen in little circles. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a nightmare.
Katie stopped cold, a mix of relief and worry in her eyes. “What is it?”
Rachel stood still staring at Katie’s short haircut fluttering in the warm breeze. It made her look vulnerable. Or was that Rachel’s fears coloring the world? Painting her Nanny in dismal shades?
“Rachel, please.” Katie crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.
“That was Eva Magruder.”
Katie nodded and continued walking up and down the porch. “I thought it might be.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes. “Why won’t you carry your own phone?” A childish irritation ground her teeth. If Nan could take her own calls, then Rachel wouldn’t have to be the messenger. Messengers got shot.
Katie sighed, lifting her hands in surrender. “What did she say, my dear?” She slid one of the café chairs silently out and settled herself in the seat. Tucking her sweater around her shoulders, she turned expectant eyes on Rachel. Rachel stared at her toes while she talked.
“The council has made its decision.” She waited for a reaction, still staring at the pink toenail polish in various stages of rubbing off. She slipped her foot out of the leather sandal and scraped it forward and back on the deck.
“And?” Katie sounded like she was prompting a child to finish her confession.
Rachel glanced up as she fumbled with sliding the sandal back on. “They found enough evidence to implicate you in Patrick’s misconduct.”
She spit the words out as if they tasted bad and stalked over to the railing. She leaned both hands on it and bent at the waist, trying not to be sick as her stomach heaved. When she straightened, she wiped her mouth, and wrapped both arms around herself.
“This makes absolutely no sense.” Rachel stared up at the night sky, then glanced over her shoulder at Katie, who sat in the same position, but with her eyes closed, a small smile tugging at her mouth.
Rachel’s jaw dropped. “What are you smiling about?”
Katie’s eyes opened, and she slid her arms into the sleeves of her sweater. “When are we reconvening?” She rose from her seat and buttoned up the cardigan. She smoothed the pink cashmere with a firmness and resolve.
Rachel stared, dropping her arms as she turned to sit on the rail. “Tomorrow.” She glanced at her phone and registered what time it was. “Today,” she corrected. “The council is reconvening this morning at nine o’clock.”
Katie pressed her lips together. “So soon?” She walked slowly across the deck to the north side. “They must have been up all night,” she mumbled under her breath.
Glancing at the silver wrist-watch her late husband, Joe, had given her for her birthday just before he passed, she raised her eyebrows. The little hand was half way between the three and the diamond chip. The big hand was hovering around half past.
“We’ve been up all night.” She tucked her hands inside her elbows and surveyed the night sky.
They were silent for a long time. Rachel was surprised to find that she felt numb. After the initial sizzle of adrenalin, her body had shut down and she found it difficult to move. Katie’s gaze traveled the small clearing to the edge of the forest and back up to the fading stars.
Rachel somehow made her arms and hands obey her commands, and she gripped the railing to steady herself on her perch. “What are you thinking, Nan?” Her throat tightened around the words so they came out breathy and high-pitched.
Katie smiled first, then looked at her striking granddaughter: tall, gorgeous, and right now, full of apprehension. And so sure she was right—so sure that a great wrong was being committed. “I’m thinking we’re almost to the finish line.”
Rachel didn’t know what to say to that. She looked over her shoulder and jumped up at the sight of vampires streaking towards them. They landed quietly on the deck—Margarite, Fiamette and Guided with them. “What happened?” Rachel touched Keane’s arm.
“We found Wolf and Loti already in the clearing. They escaped with Heather.” But, he looked distracted, worried even.
“What is it?” How many times would that question be asked today? “What’s wrong?” And that one too.
“But Christian was left behind.”
“We told the rest of the tribe to go home.” Margarite twisted a lock of hair around her fingers and shook her head. “We have to get some rest before we can do anything else.”
Rachel rubbed her face with both hands. “Will someone please tell me what happened? And where’s Heather? She must be beside herself.”
Keane glanced at the other vampires who stared at him with blank faces. “Come inside and we’ll explain.”
Katie and Rachel looked at each other. “We can’t stay much longer,” Katie said.
He nodded in a distracted way, and Rachel got the impression he hadn’t really heard her. “You can sleep here, if you like, rather than try to drive home right now.”
Katie shook her head as she took his elbow and he escorted both she and Margarite into the house. “We have to get going. We have to drive up to D.C. in a few hours.”
Margarite scowled and stopped short. “They’ve made a decision?”
“Yes.” Katie twisted her earring as they all drifted into the living room. “Now it’s a matter of what they plan to do with me.”
Margarite sighed. “When Calisto gets back, he will take you home. He can explain what happened on the way.”
* * *
Katie ran her fingers over the shoulders of sweaters and suit jackets, down the seams of linen blouses and pleated skirts. She settled on a navy blue A-line skirt and a shell pink sweater set. She had a lot of those, she mused. She took her time getting dressed, marveling at the wear and tear on her body: the wrinkles, the stretch marks, the liver spots.
She traced the jagged white scar on her inner thigh. When had her skin become so thin? The capillaries, blue veins, and red arteries scribbled across her shin in bold colors. She sighed and stepped into the skirt, buttoning it and then twisting it to the side. And when had she lost so much weight?
When she was satisfied with her appearance in the full-length mirror, she studied the intimate space: the pile carpet, the summer coverlet sprinkled with tiny pink rosebuds, the long, white shears that puddled on the floor under the double-wide picture window. She stood with one hand on the door knob, looking back, and then she shut the door with a gentle click.
Rachel paced in the living room as Katie entered. She stopped when she noticed her grandmother passing through on her way to her study.
“Nan—” But Katie held up a palm to her.
Rachel blinked and her forehead bunched. Katie watched her lick her lips and sit down on the green couch. She ran a hand over the words, “As it Harm None” cross-stitched in all the colors of the rainbow on the white lumbar pillow as she stared back at her grandmother.
Katie thought for the last time how much Rachel reminded her of herself at that age, then slipped into the study, the door snicking shut behind her. Katie sat in her leather desk chair and leaned her elbows on the ink blotter. Interlacing her fingers, she rested her chin on them. The faded photo of her late husband, Joseph Brown, stared back at her.
“Oh, Joe.” She reached out and brushed a finger down his nose. “This is what I’ve become,” she paused, “an old lady with a heavy heart.”
She picked up the photo. “Would it have been better if you had left me to figure my own way back?” She force
d the tears back. “I won’t cry anymore, Joe. I won’t torture myself anymore, either. We did what we did and I hope you found a way to forgive yourself …us.”
She smiled a bright, hopeful smile, not a sad one. “However this all ends, I am looking forward to your come-backs.” And she laughed. Despite the circumstances, maybe even because of them, the smile felt right. It matched the one in his picture, as if they were smiling together in that moment, not forty-five years apart.
Setting the picture aside, she opened her side drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. After penning a note, she shuffled the contents of the same drawer until she found what she was looking for. She held up the toile bag tied shut with a satin ribbon. Inside, two silver rings were tied together with matching white ribbon.
“At least I can make this right.” She tucked it in her sweater pocket and left her study.
Rachel wasn’t in the living room when she emerged. Katie heard the refrigerator door open and close and went to find her granddaughter.
“I was about to call Wolf and Loti. They’d want to be there.” Rachel set her coffee mug down and picked up her smartphone.
“Don’t.” Katie poured her coffee and added a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of cream.
Rachel paused with her hand and phone halfway to her ear. “But Heather’s with them and she needs to be there, anyway.”
Katie waved the teaspoon at her and shook her head. “No. Let them be. They have enough to worry about.”
Rachel tapped the touchscreen and pocketed the phone. “And you think Wolf is going to be okay with not being told about this? No way. He’ll bite my head off for not calling.” Rachel’s head bobbed adamantly side to side. “No way are you putting me in that position.”
Katie patted her shoulder. “You have to learn to not let his moods get to you.” Katie sipped her coffee. “He’s a broody bastard.”
“Nan!” Rachel’s mouth hung open.
Katie laughed. “Well, it’s true. Go on. Try to deny it.”
The corner of Rachel’s mouth cocked up. She put the cell phone down. “But they really would want to be there.” Her voice lilted at the end and she arched one eyebrow.
They both burst out laughing, Katie sloshing coffee on the floor. For whatever reason, she found that even funnier, and clutched her stomach as she cracked up. She managed to set the shaking cup on the table and half bent over to grab a tea towel. What was so funny? All of it. Every last bit of it.
She chuckled as she wiped at the spilled coffee. Tears ran in rivulets along the crevices of her face and she laughed harder. Life was quite a joke some days. Some years. She sucked in a breath and tried to calm herself, only to be overcome by hissing chortles. Rachel was laughing, too, having caught the bug from Katie.
“Oh, my face is ruined,” Katie gasped as she caught sight of her reflection in Rachel’s cell phone. “OH, oh, take my picture dear.”
Rachel stretched her eyebrows high. “What?”
“We never get the pictures I really want to see later. Take a picture of me now.”
Katie wiped at her eyes, but didn’t bother to fix her hair or straighten her clothes. She wanted this picture to be real. No posing, no forced smile.
“Here, let’s take it together.” And Rachel put one arm around Katie and pressed her cheek to hers. They glanced at each other and broke out in fresh peals of laughter.
“My hand’s shaking too much, hold on.” She pressed the five second timer and held the camera up and at a downward angle. They laughed harder waiting for the timer to go off.
Clinging to Rachel in that moment was pure joy. She thought, This is what I’ve become. This. And the picture snapped at the same time the doorbell rang. They hurried to gather their things and meet Richard at the front door. Rachel stuffed her cell phone in her pants pocket and forgot about it until later that morning.
Chapter Thirty-Two
By the time the trio landed in front of Wolf and Loti’s place, the sky was shifting to a pre-dawn blue. All three of them rubbed at the back of their necks.
“Come on. Let’s get some rest and figure out what we need to do next.”
“But by then—”
Wolf clasped Heather’s shoulder. “Whatever else is going on, both Modore and Christian will have to sleep, too.”
Heather opened her mouth, then closed it. She nodded. Loti led the way into the dark house, not bothering to flip the light switch. Was Christian alive? Guiding Heather by the hand past the kitchen, she stumbled as a fresh stab of nauseating dread pierced her stomach. How could she have been so selfish?
When they stepped into the bathroom, Loti turned on the light. They both squinted at the painful light. She handed Heather a guest toothbrush and they got ready for bed in silence. What could they say? What was there to say?
Loti dug through one of her dresser drawers, pulling out a pair of grey PJ bottoms and a white tank top and handed it to Heather, who stared at the wad of clothing like she wasn’t sure what they were for. When she looked up with glistening eyes, Loti swallowed. Enough of the heartache, she wanted to scream. How much could one’s heart break, anyway?
She left the room, looking over her shoulder a couple times before quietly closing the door. She glanced around their new house, wondering at the way it felt like home already. They had barely slept in their own bed since moving in, yet it was home.
Wolf stood outside the glass door, a glowing red ember in his right hand. He took a drag off the cigarette and blew the smoke out his nose. Loti opened the door and he glanced back at her and then went back to studying the tree tops.
“How is she?”
Loti let down her shields and almost choked on the sadness. Wolf winced.
“You can feel her, can’t you?”
He nodded and a chill swept through Loti. She shivered, rubbing her arms. “Then why’d you ask?”
He shrugged. Loti followed his gaze to the tree tops.
“I didn’t know.” She spoke below a whisper, but he heard her.
Wolf crushed the cigarette under the heel of his boot, like he always did. Loti watched him finish his routine and their eyes met. “I know,” was all he said.
They didn’t speak anymore as they watched the sky lighten until Loti thought Heather had been given enough time to herself. The shuddering grief emanating from the redhead was calming down. Heather had been crying.
Wolf slid his hand down Loti’s arm and pulled her hand to his mouth. She sobbed with relief as he kissed her palm in an extra gentle way, then kissed her lips the same. She sagged against him, and he was quiet until her own crying jag was spent.
“It was my decision,” he murmured. “I knew what I was doing.”
She clutched him close, then slid her palms up to his chest. She gathered his blue T-shirt in her hands, squeezing. She kissed his chest, then rubbed her cheek over the spot.
“I won’t let it happen. I promise you.”
The quiet power of her voice startled Wolf. He kissed the crown of her head and wrapped his leather-clad arms around her, staring off in the distance.
“I know.”
She lifted red-rimmed eyes to him and he laid healing kisses on each one. As they turned to go into the house, Wolf’s cell phone rang. He fished it out of the inside pocket of his jacket, but it had only rang once. Glancing at the caller ID, he opened his mouth to say something when Loti cut him off. .
“Did you see the vision of Aeval and Modore? Were you there?”
“Yes.” Wolf squeezed her hand, tucking the phone away. Rachel would call back if it was important. “Yes, I was with you.”
“Do you know what was happening?”
“That was your memory.”
Loti bit her lip as he held the front door open for her. “You think it was a memory, not a vision?”
“Let’s get some sleep and we’ll figure it out with fresh minds.”
Heather stood in the middle of their living room in the semi-dark, her arms limp by her side. �
��Where do I sleep?”
Loti and Wolf exchanged a glance. “I think with us,” Loti ventured.
Heather crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at the floor. She shook her head. “I can sleep here on the couch. Do you have an extra pillow and blanket?” She waved at the couch and collapsed on it.
Loti sat hesitantly next to her. “If that’s what you want, but I’m worried about you.”
“Why?”
She swallowed. “You’re weak. Sleeping with your bondmate strengthens your life force.”
Loti realized what she had said, and licked her lips. “Bond-mates,” she corrected herself.
Heather looked down at her hands in her lap.
“Don’t you feel it, Heather?” Wolf brushed Heather’s hair from her face.
She stared at her hands, not responding, but then nodded.
“We’re just going to sleep. It’s okay.” Loti rested her hand on Heather’s knee.
The redhead stiffened and Loti snatched it away, but Heather grabbed it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “This is so strange. Too strange.”
Loti closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “No need to apologize. It is strange, but it’s our reality. Let’s just get some sleep, okay? You can stay here if you want, but. . .”
They stood up together, holding hands. Wolf was already in the bedroom hanging up his leather jacket when they entered. Loti pulled back the covers and stood aside while Heather put a knee on the bed. Loti wasn’t as nervous as she thought she would be at this moment. In fact, she was eager to climb into the bed and curl up. She was utterly exhausted.
She required the comfort of being close to Wolf in their own bed— and, however illogical, she wanted Heather with them. She slipped into the bathroom and out of her clothes and into her nightgown. Magic, she thought. That’s what it was, and she had learned the hard way that it never did any good to fight it. Besides, she was too exhausted. Too much had happened in too short a time.
She climbed into bed with Heather and Wolf scooted in after Loti. She found herself in the middle, with Heather hanging off the far side of the king-size bed. She perched on the edge with her back to Loti and Wolf as she tugged the covers up.
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