What if she had that kind of surprise? Or more than two babies? Panthers could have litters of up to four cubs. She took a big breath. While Shade could have been mistaken at believing she was having one baby girl, surely Dr. Botis would have been able to tell if she was having more. Besides, she sensed only Maeve, no other little being in her. Even so, reading a few books didn’t mean she would know how to take care of even one baby. She couldn’t go to her mother for help, and Skye didn’t have any children, so how was she going to learn?
Suddenly the day-to-day responsibility of raising a child overwhelmed her… as if she didn’t have enough to worry her after that talk with her brother.
The vehicle slowed down as it exited Lake Shore Drive and turned in the direction of her neighborhood.
The taxi driver cleared his throat. “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you or nothing.” He was using his rearview mirror to look at her again. “Having kids is the best thing in the world. You gotta dive right in and believe it’s gonna work out… and you gotta learn to relax.”
Right. Relax after he’d just stirred her up into escalating panic.
Making sure Maeve had a good entry to a life Nuala didn’t fully understand warred with her determination to save her brother from harm.
She didn’t know how she was going to do either, but she only hoped it was possible to do both.
*
Ethan wondered how long Nuala was going to be gone. He’d driven back to the Lakeview two-flat after bidding his mother a good night. She hadn’t been home, so he’d gotten into his car parked directly across the street from her place. When Nuala popped back in the same way she’d left, surely she would turn on the lights and alert him. He probably should have gone home and crashed so he would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to work with Isabeau in the morning, but he wanted to know if Nuala had gotten Nik to talk.
And even though Nuala acted like she barely tolerated him, he had to admit he wanted to see her anyway. Somehow, when he was with her, he managed to go beyond any negativity. Despite her prickly behavior with him, she was becoming irresistible. Well, except when she was blinking herself out of his company.
Lights flickering around him warned him a vehicle was approaching. It stopped next to him and he got a glimpse of Nuala as she exited the cab on the other side. Now she was using human transportation?
Irritated, he got out and caught up to her on the porch before she could get inside. “About time. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.”
Nuala flipped around to face him with a gasp. “How long have you been waiting here?”
“Long enough.” He opened the outside door for her.
She gave him a searing glare that made his mouth go dry. What thoughts were running through her head behind those deep blue eyes that reminded him of the lake on a stormy day? Her expression suddenly morphed into something hollow and disturbing, and she quickly averted his eyes.
When she finally stepped inside the vestibule, with him right behind her, Nuala’s spine was straight and stiff like steel, but he had the feeling that all wasn’t right with her. She unlocked the door and left it open, crossing the darkened room to turn on a light.
“It’s late and I need my rest.”
“I’ll go as soon as you share whatever it is Nik told you.”
Turning, Nuala couldn’t conceal her worry from him. “I never got to ask him whether Booker was invited to the cloaked deck. He’s hiding something from me and I don’t like it.”
“Can you be more specific?”
Shrugging, she said, “He knows something but he warned me off, warned me to leave it alone or I could put myself at risk. Obviously, he knows something dangerous is going on.”
Wrapping her arms around her middle, she suddenly appeared to be trying to hold herself together. Ethan realized she was upset for her brother. He got that big-time.
“Did he give you any clues about where this risk would come from?”
She shook her head. “No, nothing. He wouldn’t be this worried about a human threat. One of the Kindred must have something to do with it, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what.”
“I got the idea he was nearly as powerful as your father.”
“He is normally, but I have no idea of who—or of how many—are involved. Some of our kind have lived several lifetimes. The longer we live, the stronger our powers.”
He hadn’t thought about that. About how old any of them were. About how old she might be. “So how many lifetimes has Nik lived?” That would give him a clue about her age.
“Just this one. So far.”
She made a little noise deep in her throat and started to tremble. Without thinking, Ethan drew her into his arms to comfort her, just the way he thought someone should be there for his mother. She met his gaze. Her eyes were pools of dark water and she was biting her lip as if trying to keep herself from crying.
“What if this time, Nik’s not strong enough to take care of whatever it is by himself?” She blinked and bit down on her lip even harder.
He’d never seen Nuala like this. Normally she was sure of everything. Sure and angry, especially with him. He felt a thump against his stomach. The baby kicking. Of course. No doubt hormones from the pregnancy were affecting her, stirring up her emotions.
“Don’t.” He cupped the side of her face. The blood pooled on her swollen lower lip where she’d bit into it mesmerized him. He wanted to touch it. Taste it. “We’ll get to the bottom of whatever is going on. You know Luc and Skye will work with us to find the truth. We’ll figure it out, I promise. You’re not going to lose your brother.” Not if he could help it. Enough brothers had been lost, starting with his own.
Then he did something unthinkable. He claimed her mouth. Her… a Kindred. He didn’t like Kindred, which meant he shouldn’t like her. Or want to kiss her.
The taste of her blood shocked him. He felt immediately on edge, and his heart raced double time, but he couldn’t stop. He brushed her mouth with his and gently sucked her lower lip. Something akin to an electric current swept through him as if imbuing him with some kind of unnatural power. He ignored it. With her blood on his tongue, he invaded her mouth.
He wasn’t the only one swept away.
Nuala kissed him in return, seeming to lose herself to the moment. She moaned and clutched at his shirt. The flesh beneath sizzled with sudden heat that spread like wildfire, leaving him hard and wanting more. His hands swept her body with a thoroughness that set him on edge. She was like a drug he should resist, but he couldn’t help himself. She reached up to thread her fingers in his hair, the motion lifting her breasts that were full and so tempting. One touch and his determination to keep from wanting her was lost.
He’d been trying to deny his feelings for months. Before Shade had been killed. But she’d been Shade’s woman. She was Shade’s woman. The thought made him move his hands from her breasts, but when they made contact with her swollen belly, it hit him. She was about to have Shade’s baby. So what the hell was he doing with her?
Breathing heavily, he broke the kiss and stared down into her face. She blinked and pulled her hands away from his chest.
Her eyes widening, she gasped and stepped back. “How dare you!”
“Me?” Tamping down the guilt that threatened to choke him, he said, “I wasn’t alone in that little tongue tango. I think we both got carried away by the moment is all.”
He should have been prepared, but he wasn’t. When Nuala smacked him in the jaw leading with her knuckles, Ethan’s head torqued to the side. No doubt she’d given him a good case of whiplash.
She was trembling again, but this time with anger. “Leave. Now. Before I make you disappear!”
Part of him wanted to know exactly how she planned to do that, but if he challenged her, he might not like the results.
“I’ll leave. For now.” He backed off further in hopes he could regain control of himself. His body was not cooperating. If she dropped her gaze bel
ow his waist… He cleared his throat and tried to be all business again. “I’ll talk to Skye tomorrow. You need to talk to your father, ask him about Booker, see if you can get him to tell you anything that would help.”
And if I did, what makes you think I would tell you now?
Ethan started. Nuala hadn’t said a word but he’d heard her thoughts. And she hadn’t been trying to influence him. So what was that about?
“Better yet,” he said, “maybe we should pay Cezar a visit together.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Not at all.”
“You want to interrogate Pop?” Her vulnerable expression turned steely. Her flat tone warned him. She was angry. “All right.” Sounding like she was intent on teaching him some kind of lesson.
When she reached for his arm, he didn’t pull away fast enough. She grabbed onto him and for a moment his head whirled and his gut clenched as he got lost in some dark pathway…
Chapter Ten
Only to blink and find himself on the cloaked deck of The Ark.
Ethan’s heart pounded. His skin crawled. He was ready to puke. The room moved around him, and it took a moment to center himself. They’d landed between a couple of unoccupied slot machines. He looked around to make certain no one had seen their arrival. At least he didn’t think anyone had.
Then he turned his ire on the woman who had a way of getting under his skin. “What the hell, Nuala!”
“I’m just giving you what you asked for.” Then maybe I’ll be rid of you.
There it was again! Her thoughts. How? The sea glass?
The vulnerable mother-to-be he’d just kissed had vanished. In her place was the steel-spined Kindred who was used to running things her way.
“All right then,” he said. “Let’s go find your father. On foot,” he added. As far as he was concerned, sifting once was enough for a lifetime.
Nuala flicked an eyebrow at him. “Follow me.”
Leaving the slot machine bay, she whipped through the crowd in the aisle with such speed that Ethan had to work to keep up with her all the way to the corridor that led to the offices. She went straight for a door that was partially open.
A woman’s scream had Ethan lunging for the door, but Nuala threw out an arm and easily blocked him as a strange green glow lit up the opening.
“Not now,” she said in a low voice.
“What’s going on?”
She put a finger to her lips, then gently pushed the door open wider so he could see for himself. Cezar was facing down a woman wearing an elegant evening outfit and jewels that looked like the real thing. His hand was pushing at her chest!
“No, please,” the woman cried. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. You can’t take my soul!”
Ethan’s eyes widened and he exchanged a questioning look with Nuala, who pulled a neutral expression before turning away as Cezar buried a hand in the woman’s chest.
“You shouldn’t have insisted on going to the high-roller room thinking you would double your wealth.” Cezar lifted his arm, and her body rose with it. “Release the soul you lost in your greed.”
Her body glowed and pulsated. Green mucus leaked from the chest wound and dripped on the floor. Suddenly she seemed to be electrified. When her arms and legs danced frantically, Ethan’s gorge rose. He wanted to run in to rescue the woman, but Nuala would never let him get past her. And if he did, he’d be stopped by the guards. Another scream pierced his ears as the glow transferred from the woman’s body to Cezar’s arm before enveloping him. When he freed his hand, the woman fell to the floor. Two guards picked her up as he turned to his glass desk.
Was it sea glass? It had a color similar to the pendant in Ethan’s pocket.
Cezar placed the hand that had been in her chest on the top surface. The glow zapped into the glass, then whipped through the desk, setting off blinking green lights throughout before all went quiet.
What the hell! Some kind of soul vault? Who knew how many it contained? Every time he came to this place, he learned something he would rather not know.
“Take her away.” Cezar waved his hand at the guards. “Make sure she’s all right before you let her leave the premises. We don’t need any lawsuits.”
The guards carried the half-conscious woman past them.
Nuala looked away, as if the woman’s plight upset her. Then why didn’t she do something about it? Because she was one of them, Ethan reminded himself, fighting the sick feeling enveloping him. Kindred seemed to have no conscience when it came to humans.
As if he could hear Ethan’s thoughts, Cezar turned to him, his visage darkening, his features freezing in a scowl.
Though he didn’t take his eyes off Ethan, he asked Nuala, “Why bring this human here?”
“We need to talk to you, Pop.”
Ethan could see Cezar wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries, so he added, “Police business.”
“So, what kind of police business, Grainger?”
Nuala grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside the office. She gave him one of her warning looks. He pulled his arm free, and refusing to sit, stood right at the desk opposite her father.
“Alderman DeAndre Booker was here on this deck not too long before he was murdered.”
Cezar shrugged. “If so, his death has nothing to do with me. As I understand it, he was killed by a wolf hybrid.”
Ethan wasn’t about to let it go so easily. “Are you saying you don’t know him?”
Cezar sat in his chair and leaned back. “What makes you think I know every human who enters this deck?”
Ethan placed his hands on the desk and, ignoring the pulsing feeling under his palms, leaned forward. “Maybe because it’s you who invites them.”
“Not Booker.” Cezar shrugged. “Maybe someone he knew gave up an invitation. Maybe he stole one.”
“Stealing an invitation? To what end?” Ethan asked. “I’m having trouble figuring out why he was here in the first place.”
“If he was here,” Cezar said. “Curiosity?”
“Yeah, yeah, curiosity killed a cat.”
When Cezar lunged forward, his face nearly touching Ethan’s, Nuala poked Ethan. Hard. “Relax, Pop. Ethan has a way of getting on your nerves.”
Now Cezar focused on his daughter. “What are you doing with him?”
“I’m trying to help him with his investigation because he was Shade’s partner. And I don’t like the idea of a murder bringing hell down on us. And Booker was here, all right. I saw him with Nik.”
“Then why aren’t you talking to your brother about this?”
“I tried but he popped out of the conversation before we were finished. Something’s going on, Pop, and it’s connected to that murder. Nik wanted me to keep out of it because he believes there’s some kind of danger involved.”
“Then listen to your brother.”
“He’s at risk taking this on alone.”
“I’ll talk to Nik myself,” Cezar promised. Then he looked directly at Ethan. “Now are we done here?”
Ethan backed off. “For now.”
He needed some space away from Cezar himself.
He needed time to process what he’d seen here.
He needed to talk to Nuala alone.
*
Taking a taxi back to her place for the second time in one night, Nuala waited for Ethan to start questioning her. To her surprise, nothing. Or maybe not so surprising. He no doubt was still shocked by what he’d seen in Pop’s office. Exhausted herself, she gave him some space, thinking he’d demand explanations of some kind after they returned to her apartment and she would need the energy to deal with him.
Or maybe if she was really lucky, he would see her to the door, then leave.
Nice fantasy.
The moment she unlocked her door, he said, “We need to talk.”
“Can’t this wait until tomorrow.” Or never?
The look he gave her seemed to indicate he knew exactly what she was thinking—th
at she wanted to be rid of him.
“Fine. Come in, but keep it short. It’s been a long, tiring day.”
She moved to the chair in the living area that had been Shade’s and leaned against it. Ethan followed, stopping too close for her comfort.
“We never quite finished our conversation earlier.” When she gave him a puzzled frown, he added, “About you being at risk.”
This was what he wanted to talk about? Not the soul removal?
“Pop said he would talk to Nik.”
“But you’re my responsibility.”
“I’m your what?” She couldn’t help the high note on the last.
“Before Shade left this earth for good, I vowed to take care of you and Maeve.”
He’d said something similar when he’d found her at the casino the day before, but she hadn’t taken him seriously. After all, he hadn’t been around to check on her in three months.
“Nice thought. Now forget about it.” If she wanted, she could make him forget…
“I can’t forget about it. Not if some Kindred is after you.”
“First, no one is after me. Nik was just trying to keep me out of it. But if a Kindred did show up to threaten me, who do you think has the power to better handle the situation—you or me?”
She could see he didn’t like that thought. So he just ignored it.
“I’m sure Luc could provide you with a guard,” he said, “but it’s late. Maybe I should stay here for the night.”
For a moment Nuala was speechless. Did he really think she would let him get closer to her?
“Just because I had a weak moment earlier doesn’t mean anything else will happen between us!” she snapped.
Ethan seemed confused for a moment, then said, “Oh, the kiss. That can’t happen again, so don’t worry about it. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
He sounded as if he’d actually forgotten about the kiss. As if it had meant nothing to him.
“You can sleep wherever you want as long as it’s not here.”
“But Nuala—”
She was already shoving him toward the door. She could make him leave if she had to.
“All right. I’ll go. Just promise me you’ll talk to Luc to get a guard.”
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