by I. T. Lucas
But joking aside, what had actually happened in that clinic?
Ana grinned. “At least one good thing came out from that damn infection. I finally lost those stubborn pounds on my hips and ass that I couldn’t get rid of.”
“If you say so.”
“Or was it two things?” Ana lifted a brow. “You were different when I came back. I have a feeling that things were getting serious between you and Bowen.” She smiled. “It’s adorable the way he looks at you.”
“What do you mean?”
“He follows you with his eyes like a lovesick puppy.”
To compare that mountain of a man to a puppy was an insult. Besides, Margaret wouldn’t call his fond glances lovesick.
“He does not.” She lifted her glass of water and took a sip. “We are just friends.”
Liar.
Ana pursed her lips. “Right. Tell it to someone who doesn’t know you. Yesterday, when Leon and I returned from our hike, your cheeks were flushed, and you looked like you were floating on a cloud of happiness.”
Ana was just fishing. Margaret didn’t blush. Or did she?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She felt heat creep up her cheeks.
Damn.
Ana smirked. “Did you two do something naughty when Leon and I were gone?”
“Not what you’re imagining, that’s for sure.”
“Then tell me what you did, and it better not be nothing.”
“We kissed. That’s all. Just one kiss.” Actually, there were two or three kisses, and a lot of caresses.
She’d lost her mind yesterday, allowing herself to indulge in the fantasy for just a little bit.
Those few precious moments would have to sustain her for a very long time. Now that Emmett was gone, Margaret was going to insist on some changes, mainly no more shunning members for abstinence. She had no intentions of inviting anyone into her bed.
“Just one kiss?” Ana glanced out the window. “With that hunk of a man? What’s wrong with you?”
“This.” Margaret lifted her cast. “What could we possibly do with that?”
She had a few ideas, but she wasn’t going to share them with Ana or Bowen. If she made love to the man, leaving him would destroy her.
“A lot,” Ana said. “You just need to be creative.”
“I’m not that imaginative.”
Liar.
Margaret had spent half the night thinking about all the naughty things she could do with Bowen despite the cast, and she had fallen asleep only after giving herself a release while imagining those were his fingers between her legs and not her own.
“I think Bowen is in love with you.”
“Think again. Why on earth would he love me? What’s there to love?”
Ana looked as if she’d slapped her. “Margaret! I don’t want to hear you say such nonsense. You are a wonderful woman, beautiful and compassionate. What’s not to love?”
If she only knew.
“Forget I said that. I’m in a mood today.” She rubbed her thigh above the cast. “I’m itchy, and I want this thing off already.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.
Her mood had little to do with the cast and a lot to do with the man she had to leave behind.
Ana’s eyes softened. “You poor thing. Is there anything I can do to make it better for you?”
“I’m fine. As long as I’m busy, I don’t think about it, and it doesn’t bother me as much.”
“I’ll let you work then.” Ana pushed to her feet. “I’m going to chop some veggies for a salad.”
Margaret waited until Ana was in the kitchen before letting out a breath.
Why couldn’t she just let herself enjoy Bowen?
If she could regard him in the same way she had the Safe Haven male members that she’d been with over the years, everything would be fine. Thoughts about the future would be irrelevant, and she could enjoy the days she had left with him, accepting the gift of him without feeling guilty about indulging in what she shouldn’t.
49
Eleanor
“Ready?” Peter put a hand on Eleanor’s shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m just wondering if we should go in together. The idea is for me to get close to Emmett, which is not going to happen with you smirking from the sidelines. Maybe you should stay with Arwel and watch us through the feed.”
“How is that different from me being in there with you? You will know that I’m watching, and so will Emmett.”
She turned to look at Arwel, who was sitting on the couch with earphones on, learning Chinese.
At least he wouldn’t listen in.
Maybe that was the solution. “Can you watch without the sound on? Arwel is busy, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“He’s still the boss. We need to ask him if that’s okay.”
Arwel waved a hand. “Go ahead. The Clan Mother compelled Emmett to behave. Just watch your neck. She didn’t tell him not to suck blood.”
“Very funny.” If Eleanor wasn’t holding a tray, she would have flipped him off. “By the way, do I want to know what’s in here?”
“Just hamburger patties,” Arwel said. “I didn’t want to gross you out on your first visit, but you’ll have to get used to the blood.”
She grimaced. “I’ll live.”
“Come on.” Peter walked out into the hallway. “I’ll open the door for you, but I won’t come in.”
“Thank you.”
When the door to Emmett’s cell swung open, Eleanor took a deep breath, plastered a bored expression on her face and sauntered in.
Emmett rose to his feet and dipped his head. “It’s a pleasure to see you, Eleanor. Can I relieve you of the tray?”
He looked different without the beard and the long, majestic hair. Gone was the charismatic cult leader, and in his place was just a very handsome, attractive man, who was still pretty damn charismatic even without the props.
“So gallant all of a sudden.” Eleanor put the tray on the coffee table.
Behind her, the door started to swing closed, and she had a moment of panic thinking about being locked in with Emmett in the small room.
“I’m always gallant.” He motioned for her to take a seat on the couch. “Are you going to join me for lunch?”
She snorted. “I’m not going to be your lunch, that’s for sure.”
He laughed. “Touché. I promise to never bite you without your permission again.” He sat next to her, unfurled a paper napkin as if it was a fancy fabric one, and draped it over his pants.
“From what I understand, you couldn’t bite me even if you wanted to. The goddess compelled you to behave.”
“Ah, Eleanor.” He lifted the lid off the container. “As a compeller, you should know that the wording needs to be very precise. Otherwise, it’s possible to find loopholes.”
“Where is the loophole here?”
“The Clan Mother commanded me not to harm any members of her clan, but I don’t consider a bite that delivers pleasure harmful, nor the little nibbling I do. I took very little from you.” His dark eyes flashed turquoise for a moment. “Your taste was exquisite.”
Remembering how it had felt, a shiver ran down Eleanor’s spine. And if she cared to be frank with herself, the momentary terror she’d felt when she couldn’t dislodge his hands had only added to the fuel of her arousal. Or was it something else?
That’s why she was here, to find out what caused that strange, unwanted desire she felt for Emmett.
She still missed freaking Greggory, and if he hadn’t been such a jerk, she would have wanted him back. But that chapter was closed, and all she could do was to look forward.
Emmett speared a hamburger patty with a fork and transferred it to a paper plate. “Can I offer you at least one? They are not bad.”
She looked at the nearly raw meat and shook her head. “I’ll have lunch later. Go ahead, eat. Don’t mind me.”
Next time, she was going to bring a meal for
herself as well. If she was to seduce him into trusting her, she needed to spend time with him. The trick was not to make herself too obvious.
That shouldn’t be a problem.
Eleanor wasn’t the flirtatious type, and Emmett was a hunter to the core. If she showed no interest, he would try to seduce her, and after a while, she could pretend to succumb to his charm and charisma.
Again, that wouldn’t be difficult.
She looked around the small room and noted the pile of books stacked on top of the dresser. “I see you’ve been busy reading.”
“There isn’t much else to do here.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What do you do to pass the time?”
“I train.”
“How about that partner you’ve talked about and Peter has mentioned? Do you spend time with her?”
She laughed. “That was a made-up story. Kri, my friend and trainer, was supposed to come with me to Safe Haven, and we pretended to be a couple. Kri is happily mated to a fellow Guardian in training.”
“What about you?”
Her smile faltered. “I had a boyfriend, but things didn’t work out between us. We ended it a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He didn’t look sorry at all. In fact, he looked like the cat who was about to abscond with the cream. “Did it have anything to do with what happened between us?”
She shrugged. “If he couldn’t handle what I needed to do on the job, he wasn’t the right guy for me.”
“I agree a hundred percent.”
50
Bowen
“Tea?” Bowen clicked the electric kettle’s switch on.
Margaret nodded. “I would love some, thank you.”
As usual, Ana and Leon had gone on a hike right after lunch to give him and Margaret some alone time.
The kiss had changed things between them, but he wasn’t sure if it was for the better. They could no longer pretend that their relationship was just friendship, which was what he’d wanted, but Margaret seemed to cling to the pretense as if her life depended on it.
She hadn’t said a word about the kiss they’d shared the day before, and her smiles had been guarded, polite. She had, however, put a little more effort into her appearance, which gave him hope. Her hair was no longer hanging limply down her shoulders and was instead styled in soft waves that shone thanks to Anastasia’s curling iron. It wasn’t much, but combined with the healthier-looking skin color and the little weight she’d gained, her beauty shone through.
If he only had more time, he would peel away her layers despite her resistance and uncover the diamond buried underneath. But even after all the time they’d spent together, he didn’t even know what those layers were about.
What was she trying to protect?
Her heart?
What was she afraid of?
He was running out of time, and accommodating Margaret’s avoidance was not an option. He had to confront her, to get her talking, and he wished he was better equipped for the task. Margaret needed someone with Vanessa’s skill set and experience, not a Guardian of a few words.
When the water boiled, Bowen poured it into the two cups, added teabags, and put a few chocolates on each saucer.
Margaret glanced at the chocolates and smiled. “Are you still trying to fatten me up?”
“Not trying. Succeeding.” He sat next to her. “But my work is not done.” He dipped the teabag in the hot water. “If you insist on going back to Safe Haven on Sunday, I need to come with you to make sure you are not forgetting to eat.”
She lifted her phone. “I’m not going to give this up, and Ana showed me how to set up timers with reminders. I will not forget to eat.”
The phone was clan issue, and Kian would not want it falling into enemy hands. The device had restricted access, but someone could realize that it wasn’t an iPhone or any other known brand and try to reverse engineer it.
“I’ll have to get you a new one. This device belongs to the organization I work for.”
“Oh.” She cradled it in her palms. “That’s a shame. I’ve gotten attached to this marvelous thing. Now that I know what it can do, I can’t imagine life without it.”
He was so damn jealous of that piece of technology. She couldn’t imagine life without it, but she had no problem imagining life without him?
“I wish you thought that way about me,” he murmured.
Her smile wilted and a tear slid down her cheek. “Oh, Bowen. I will miss you terribly, but it’s for the best.”
“How can you say that? You can stay with me. We can explore our feelings for each other, let them grow. It’s not like either of us is leaving someone so we can be together. There is no upside to you going back there without me, nothing worthy of the sacrifice, it’s just your stubbornness that’s in the way of our potential happiness. Why don’t you want to give us a chance?”
She looked down, her wavy brown hair cascading and creating a curtain to shield her face from him. “Safe Haven is not the right place for you, Bowen. Eventually, you will need to get back to work, and saying goodbye will be even more difficult. That’s why I said it was best if we parted now.”
“I don’t intend to leave Safe Haven without you.” He reached for her hand and clasped it. “My plan is to make you fall in love with me and leave together.”
She chuckled sadly, but still didn’t look at him. “Falling in love with you is easy, Bowen. You are handsome, and wholesome, and everything that is good. I’m not worthy of you, and sooner or later you are going to realize that and leave.”
“If you think that your opioid problem makes me think any less of you, you are wrong. It’s in the past, and I will never hold it against you. On the contrary, you overcame the addiction and have stayed clean ever since. It shows a remarkable strength of character, and you should be proud of yourself for achieving something that many fail to do.”
She shook her head. “The shame is not about the addiction itself. It’s about how I got addicted in the first place, and what I did to support it.”
His gut clenched as he thought about the trafficking victims he rescued. Most of them were addicted to drugs not because they chose them but because their captors forced them to use, so they would later do anything for a fix without giving them any trouble.
Had Margaret sold her body to support her addiction?
“Whatever you did, it’s in the past. You’ve spent your years in Safe Haven helping countless people deal with their demons. It’s time you forgave yourself.”
“I can’t.”
When he opened his mouth to argue, she lifted her hand. “Please, Bowen, let it go. It’s difficult enough for me as it is.” She looked at her phone and sighed. “I need to get back to work. Immersing myself in it is my way to cope. If I give it up, this one thing that makes me feel good about myself, I will have nothing left.”
51
Cassandra
Cassandra closed the garage door and took a deep breath before opening the door to the laundry room.
This morning she’d managed to dodge her mother’s barrage of questions about her date with Onegus, but there was no escaping it now.
She could have stayed late at work, hoping that Geraldine wouldn’t be home by the time she got there, but she was tired, and finishing up what she needed to do while sleep-deprived was easier done in her pajamas.
“I’m home.” She dropped her overstuffed satchel on the kitchen counter and walked over into the family room, where one of her mother’s soaps was playing.
“You’re home early, Cassy.” Geraldine grinned. “We can have dinner together for a change.” Her smile turned into a frown as she glanced at the bloated satchel. “I see that you brought work home.”
“I always do.” Cassandra leaned to kiss her cheek.
“You should have called. I would have prepared something.”
“That’s okay, Mom. We can order takeout.” She headed for the stairs.
“You promised to tell me about
your date with Onegus.” Geraldine pushed to her feet. “You can do it while I make us something to tide us over.”
Letting out a sigh, Cassandra turned around. With all the things her mother was forgetting, couldn’t she have forgotten about that?
She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a soda. “He took me to a really fancy restaurant, we ate, we talked, we even danced a little, and then he took me to his place.”
Geraldine grinned. “And how did that go?”
“I got angry and shattered a vase.” Cassandra popped the lid and took a sip.
Her mother paled. “Oh, dear. I hope it wasn’t irreplaceable.”
“Is that what worries you? It was a crystal vase, and it exploded. The shards flew at us, and if not for Onegus’s lightning-fast reflexes, both of us would have gotten hurt.” She sighed. “I’m seriously contemplating taking relaxants again.”
Pulling out a pack of frozen ravioli from the freezer, Geraldine shook her head. “You can’t. They make you sleepy and dull your creativity. You should take up meditation, or yoga, or just learn how not to get angry over things you can’t control.”
“I don’t have the patience for meditation or yoga, and I’m doing my best not to get angry.” Cassandra took out her earrings and stuffed them in her pocket.
They’d had that same conversation many times. Geraldine might have forgotten she’d already given Cassandra that advice, but it didn’t make it any less valid.
“Did Onegus suspect that you had something to do with it?” Her mother filled a pot with water from the filter and put it on the stove.
“He was very gracious about it. I took the blame, saying that I accidentally knocked it over. But he said there must have been a flaw in the crystal, and some frequency of our voices resonated with it. He also said that it was cheap Chinese crap, so at least I didn’t feel guilty about ruining something valuable.”
“What did you get angry about?”
“He lied to me. You know how much I hate that.”