Prince of Power (House of Terriot Book 2)

by Nancy Gideon

  She couldn’t be. Colin had told her . . .

  They’d bonded.

  All those championship swimmers that had been building up endurance doing practice laps for years were finally released to compete for real gold. And they’d had ample opportunities to grab it.

  “No,” she repeated, numb and growing light headed again. “I can’t be. I’m not.” She stated that strongly, more to convince herself than the other woman.

  “He’s not the kind who’d abandon his responsibilities.”

  Nica might have meant that as a kindness. It was hard to tell with the steely-eyed woman. Whatever her motive, she was wrong. He’d already abandoned her, and she’d be no one’s burden.

  Mia straightened, sucking a shaky breath and expelling it fiercely. “It doesn’t matter. Because I’m not. I’ve just been worried and not eating.” When Nica said nothing, Mia’s tone sharpened. “So, there’s no reason to mention it.”

  The jewel-like blue eyes hardened. “I’m not a gossip, and I don’t repeat things that don’t concern me.”

  Realizing she’d offended an ally, Mia touched her arm briefly and murmured, “Thank you.”

  They returned to the table, Nica silently sliding in next to her man. Unable to do the same, Mia invented a plausible excuse for a hurried exit and reached for Colin’s right hand. Before he could react, she pushed his ring down onto the third finger, saying, “You don’t need me to hold onto that for you anymore.”

  He stared up at her, expression immobile, his voice even as he stated, “No, I don’t.”

  She walked away, steps determined and unfaltering, from everything she’d ever wanted.

  And he didn’t stop her.

  “Is he dead?”

  Thorne’s bored comment did little to endear him to her atop her irritation at finding him in her room. The damn man moved about like a ghost! “No. He seems to have overcome the effects of whatever poison your Northern friends infected him with.”

  Thorne sat up, his pose of nonchalance dropping away. “What do you mean?”

  “He’s completely recovered. Almost. His hand is still scarred, but functional again. I guess you’ll have to send them back to the drawing board.”

  Pale eyes glittered. “You saw him for yourself?”

  “Saw him, spoke to him. He looks . . . great.”

  “How could that have happened?”

  Mia answered even though his utterance wasn’t directed her way. “I have no idea. He wasn’t in the mood to share.”

  Her tart tone cut through his musings, bringing his attention to her. “Meaning?”

  “I’m no longer in his inner circle, so to speak. For some reason, he doesn’t trust me anymore.”

  “Why? What changed?”

  “I don’t know. He’s shut me out.” The pain of that threatened to shiver through her voice, but she swallowed hard to contain it.

  “Then he’s not much use to us, is he?”

  Mia didn’t ask for him to explain what that would mean. “I can find out. Knowing who tipped him off about who his friends aren’t might be important, don’t you think?”

  He studied her thoughtfully then nodded. “I suppose. If it even matters any more. There might be a more expedient way to handle things at this point.” He shrugged.

  Alarmed, she asked, “Like what?”

  “We cut our losses.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Meaning no survivors. We take what we want over the bodies of those who’d stop us.”

  “Are we ready for that?” Mia struggled to keep the horror from her voice. Her former enemies had faces now. They had families.

  “We could be.”

  “Give me a few days.”

  “To what?” Those cold, reptilian eyes narrowed. “What can you do in two days that you haven’t managed in two months?”

  Her voice was impressively cold. “Tidy up loose ends.”

  "Colin. Colin, please open the door. We need to talk."

  "We have nothing to say to each other, Mia." He leaned against that portal as if to keep her out, but in truth it was to keep himself from letting her in.

  "I need you to talk to me. I have to know why you've put this wall between us."

  "That's all that's between us. Just go away."

  "Colin, tell me what's wrong? Please!"

  Her voice peaked with a frantic urgency, but what tore him apart were the sensations of pain and loss shaking through him, raw, wild, desperate. And not his. They were Mia's reactions. He could feel them, feel her as if her emotions had sprung to life and were twisting up inside him through their bond. The confusion and panic. And her need just to see him, to be near him so overwhelming he could barely breathe. He recognized those despairing pangs. He’d felt them himself when she’d shoved that ring back into his hand as if she no longer wanted any part of it or him. Could Sylvia be right? Was all of it real? Did she care for him? Or could that link deceive as seductively as her lips? Supposedly with the bond he could see through any lie. Time to find out.

  He jerked the door open, and Mia nearly fell into him. She looked up through huge wells of distress, her fingers clutching at his shirt, hanging on for dear life. But he couldn't allow himself to be fooled again.

  "So, talk. What do you want from me, Mia? No games. Just the truth for once."

  "I want you. I've always wanted you." Tears welled along her lower lashes, plump, shimmering and convincing. "Right from the first."

  "So you said. But that didn't stop you from using me, lying to me, betraying me. I’m supposed to just forget all that? The sex wasn't that good." Now who was lying?

  "From the first time I saw you, I haven't been able look away. That attraction was so intense, so . . ."

  "Yeah, I got that," he drawled. "Ditto."

  She forged ahead, not letting his blasé tone discourage her. "I was so in lust with you I couldn't see through it. And then you showed up at the door of my hotel room in Tahoe.”

  Her words peppered like buckshot, the sting almost shaking him from his firm stance. Almost. His reply twisted bitterly as he pulled her grip from his shirt and held her at arm’s length. “That must have given you and my brother a good laugh. What a fool I made of myself.”

  “That’s when I knew I'd fallen in love with you.”

  His heart skipped a beat, but anger got it pumping again. “Right. So in love with me, you came to Tahoe to fuck my brother.”

  Her glossy dark eyes sparked with denial. She wrenched from his hold, absently rubbing at her wrists. “No. Nothing happened between us. We hadn’t been together since before you moved in here. I went to Tahoe to spy on your family, not sleep with Rico. It was a business trip. And then there you were with that sweet, dopey look on your face.”

  “And you were in looooove.” He drawled that out cynically.

  “I didn't want to be,” she hurried on, angry and teary and fierce with her glistening eyes and delicious lips thinned tight to keep them from quivering. “Love is the most damned inconvenient thing. But there it was, and there you were, dying to tell me something I wasn't ready to hear. It broke my heart to shut that door in your face, but I had to. I couldn't see any way we could make it work."

  "You should have listened to yourself."

  "No. I was wrong, just like you're wrong now." She broke off abruptly and switched gears. "You're wearing your diamonds. How did you get them back?"

  Her expression, her voice, both so convincing. The surprise, the questions, the delight. And then her touch, the light flirtation of her fingertips down the whorl of his ear to one of those raw, newly made holes. Desire he'd sworn he wouldn't surrender to streaked through him like a brush fire. He shook it, and her, off.

  "Shouldn't you be asking who had them? But then, why would you? It's not like you don't already know."

  Mia went totally still. He caught her wrist, jerking her hand down, pushing her away from him. Before she could act, he spoke three words that crushed her hopes.

>   "I know, Mia."

  Knew what? What could he have found out? From who?

  "I know everything."

  She tried to speak in answer to his claim, but words wouldn’t form.

  Everything . . . Her head went light. The room began to swirl in a low, slow loop, and everything went black.

  Awareness seeped back, cold and foggy. Mia found herself lying on the couch, tellingly not in the bed, with a wet cloth over her eyes. Moaning softly, she reached up unsteadily, moving the hand towel to survey her situation. Not good. Colin sat a room away, regarding her through an unblinking stare, as if waiting for a more convincing encore.

  She sucked in a breath and tightened her belly so it wouldn't further disgrace her as she pushed into a seated position. Dizziness threatened, but she rode it out with small, shallow breaths.

  "Sorry," she murmured, voice as thick as the blanket over her senses. "I skipped one too many meals. I didn't mean to go all dramatic on you."

  He made no comment, forcing her to continue. Time to go all in, sink or swim.

  "No more secrets. My name is Mia Guedry. My grandfather and mother died mysteriously when I was young, putting my father in power. I put away all things appropriate for a female of my rank to train, push, and learn, so I could find out who took them from me. I wanted no part of the scheming, motivated Guedry males looking for a step up in status. They were certainly surprised by my refusal of their advances . . . once they woke up, that is. A girl should be able to hold her own, don’t you think?”

  He almost smiled at that, thinking of how she’d stunned him in that elevator when he’d confronted her with his knowledge of who she was, leaving him bloodied. And head over heels.

  “I wanted to be strong,” she continued. “I wanted to be a warrior, to defend my family, but my father saw me only as a daughter. Rueben’s father, Donald took his place after your step-father killed mine. Then Uncle Donald was killed by your father, just after your step-family died, and my brother Daniel assumed his place at the head of our clan. Max Savoie killed Danny over MacCreedy's sister, and Rueben took control of what should have, by right, been mine. I was pushed aside like I was nothing, working for him, like I was a nobody.”

  She paused, but Colin asked no questions and betrayed no surprise at what she was telling him. She continued, determined to lay everything out.

  "No one in our clan would support a young, arrogant female, no matter how skilled or determined, so I set out to prove myself to my people and to our enemies. I wanted two things only̶to avenge my father and brother, and to earn back what Rueben had taken from me. I had no battle experience, no war stories to tell. Who would trust a girl with no hair of our enemies' hanging on her belt."

  "So, you came here to take ours."

  Mia didn't shy away from his grim statement. "I wanted to decorate my world with the red scalps of Terriots. I saw your kind as brutal beasts deserving of no mercy. When I couldn’t get close to your king, I'd planned to lure you to my room to torture and kill you, whether you gave me information or not. It wouldn't have mattered to me."

  That got a reaction. His jaw flexed, allowing a jerky swallow. "Why didn't you?"

  She laughed, the sound hard and sharp-edged even to her ears. "You wouldn't believe me."

  "Try me."

  Her wry smile mocked her reasoning. "Those damned freckles. I couldn't murder someone who looked like an angel and kissed like the devil. You ruined everything, Colin. All my plans, all my dreams. I couldn't follow through on them. You proved I didn't have the strength required to lead my people."

  "You want me to apologize for not making it easier?"

  A self-deprecating laugh. "No. Since I couldn't kill you, I had to find some other weakness to make you and yours vulnerable. I couldn't find any in Tahoe."

  "You were looking under the wrong covers." That growl held more emotion than he obviously intended. Mia let it go unchallenged.

  "By then, apparently Rueben had ideas of his own about joining with the North to lay everyone else to waste. Me, included, because I was a threat to his rule."

  That was a surprise. "So, you saw me as cheap protection."

  "No. I saw you as my future. I started playing the game and ended up believing the role. Working with you and Silas, I found a better way than bloodshed. I had to, because there was no way I could see myself harming you. I had my chance that night at Amber’s when you were helpless and couldn’t take it.” She saw a flicker of shock then understanding in his eyes. “And then I couldn't see myself living without you."

  He took his time processing her claim, as distant and skeptical as he'd been at the first meeting with Silas. No dewy eyes or moistened lips could distract him, so she sat still and straight, waiting for his response.

  "So," he said at last, "you had no clue that I was in your clan's crosshairs that night on my patio?"

  At a point where honesty could cripple her, she went with it anyway. "The plan was to get you into a position where I could save your life and earn your trust."

  A slow, one-sided smile. "That kinda backfired, didn't it?"

  Instead of trying to convince him of her innocence, she agreed with a quiet, "Yes. It was unnecessarily violent. You were only supposed to be roughed up a bit, not . . . not—"

  "Disfigured?" he suggested mildly.

  "Destroyed," she corrected. "I never would've approved doing something that brutal to anyone."

  "Not even your most hated enemy?"

  "No. You were worth more to me alive."

  He flinched at her remark, not expecting such a frank and eviscerating assessment. Colin had wanted honesty, and hers slashed to the bone. "So, are your people bad at taking directions or busy with their own agendas?"

  "I'm not sure," she said carefully. "That has me worried."

  "You should be. It's hard enough to survive when you recognize your enemies for who they are."

  "I'm not your enemy, Colin."

  "Oh? How would you describe yourself? As my partner, my lover, my mate?" That last, he drew out bitterly.

  In a remarkably calm voice, she told him, "If this mark you gave me no longer has meaning, consider me a colleague. We don’t know who our friends are at this point, and we need to find out. We need to meet with MacCreedy to discuss how to handle things."

  "I've been handled enough. You meet with him. He can fill me in. I have a hard time considering you as anything except the obvious."

  "And that is?" she pressed, needing to know where he stood bracketed behind his stoic front. A front that failed to hold against the hammering fierceness of his answer.

  "I can respect an opponent who honestly tries to carve out my liver, but the one who sneaks into my bed to slit my throat after we make love, not so much. Lock up on your way out. Forgive me for not standing."

  "I'd forgive you for anything."

  With that quiet vow, she crossed to where he was sitting and, as he stiffened, curled her arms about his shoulders, her cheek pressing to his. Her lips touched to one of his diamonds.

  "I'm glad you're well.” A pause. “How did that happen? How are you here like this?"

  His big hands gripped her upper arms to hold her still as he whispered, “If we’re still being all honest here, tell me who’s working with you here in the Quarter?”

  Her kiss was as quick and unexpected as her words.

  “I love you, Colin Terriot. Believe that or don’t. There is nothing I won’t do to protect you. Even let you hate me.”

  Before he could make a move to accept or deny her, she pushed away and was out the door.

  Alain Babineau stared up in unabashed surprise. “You look pretty frisky for a supposed dead guy!”

  Colin didn’t waste time. “You need to leave.”

  The detective never flinched. “What can I do?”

  “Get the hell out of Dodge. This city could go up at any minute. I don’t want my sister and that boy in the crossfire.”

  No unnecessary questions. “I’ll s
end them to Savoie’s. What can I do to help?”

  “This isn’t your fight.”

  “The hell it isn’t! This is my city.” A pause then a strong, “You and yours are my family. What can I do?”

  One corner of Colin’s mouth lifted. “We’ll discuss that while they pack.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “How did your talk go?”

  Mia didn’t like the way Thorne made himself at home on her sofa with that announcement, or the way he stared at her with those cold, dead eyes while she was a shivery mess after confronting Colin. When she hesitated, he continued.

  “That good. It doesn’t matter. Things have changed.”

  “How so?”

  “New Orleans is no longer our problem. Our business is at home. Start packing. We leave tomorrow.”

  “What do you mean?” Panic leapt, but she pushed it down, fighting to keep Thorne from sensing her alarm. “I’ll have information from Colin soon and—”

  “And nothing. The Terriots aren’t our concern. They’re being dealt with. It’s time for us to secure the throne.”

  “We’re making a move on Rueben? Where he has a home advantage? That’s suicide!”

  “That’s why we’re bringing him here to meet his end. And we’ll be home to stake our claim.”

  Surprisingly, the fate of her clan barely made an impression. “What have you done, Isaac?”

  “Just put things in motion so they can resolve themselves without our hands getting dirty. Once these animals here rip themselves to pieces, we’ll step in to offer a sanctuary to the locals under our protection. Our family will be avenged and our future set upon the bodies of those who destroyed them. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Isn’t that what we’ve planned for since we heard the news of Daniel’s death at their hands?”

  Danny, who alone was innocent of all but making the wrong choice. Rather like his sister.

  Colin . . . his family. They were all going to die, either here, at Thorne’s direction, or on their mountaintop. She couldn’t save them. But perhaps she could save him, whether he’d want to be saved or not.

  “I want Colin Terriot. I want him spared from your plans. He’s mine. You won’t touch him.”