by Claudy Conn
Oh, thank goodness. A flat-screen TV. Yes, oh yes, some TV to lose myself in.
I angled the screen toward the bed, took up the remote, climbed into my huge bed, and flicked it on to find one of my favorite programs.
The next thing I knew, I heard knocking from far off. I blinked and saw static on the TV while the knocking, bang, bang, bang, wouldn’t stop.
What the hell?
I opened my eyes wide, and because I hadn’t drawn the drapes I saw that the night had turned into day. Not quite sunny but daylight, and I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was seven a.m. Only seven.
Bang, bang, bang at my bedroom door.
“Go away,” I said, assuming it was Mr. Immortal.
“Och aye, lass, then is it ye don’t drink coffee?” he said and opened the door, and I blinked to see him standing there, larger than life, pulsating with sexuality and power.
But more than that, he had coffee and, oh, pastries!
I moaned. He chuckled and stepped into the room. “Are ye decent under yer covers, lass? I’m thinking not.”
Even still groggy with sleep I saw the tease in his oh so blue eyes. “Leave the coffee and go,” I told him.
“Nae, coffee … me, a package that can’t be split up,” he answered and walked right inside to set the tray by my nightstand. As it happened, I wasn’t decent. Sometime during the night, I had flung off my T-shirt.
I pulled the quilt up to my chin.
He set up a small round table and chair by my bed. Then he moved the tray to the table, poured me a mug of coffee, and handed it to me.
I reached for it, and my quilt gave way. Hurriedly I grabbed hold of it before my breasts were totally exposed, and he smirked.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot and sipped.
I reached for a pastry with one hand while holding the coffee and quilt in place with my other. Somehow I managed to eat, sip, and hold.
He said as he sat and stretched his long legs, “Now, then, ye look like there is something else ye might be needing.”
I gave him what I hoped was a haughty eye. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said, thinking he was being flirtatious.
He wasn’t. He grinned and explained, “I already put a stash of containers for ye in the little fridge in the cabinet.”
He had even prepared for my vamp needs. Blood—he had put containers of blood for me in the fridge. I was astounded. I sipped my coffee without looking at him and said, “Thank you. I don’t need that quite yet … but the pastries … yup, need them.”
“Ye don’t like being beholden, do ye, lass?” he said speculatively.
“No,” I answered.
“Well, just because I have opened up m’house, offered m’protection, and provided nourishment, ye don’t have to think yerself in my debt.”
I saw the tease and gave it right back. “I don’t. After all, you nearly forced me to come here. Don’t think for a moment I couldn’t have managed on my own.”
He laughed. “I don’t doubt it, but even so, does it not win me, what do ye Americans call it, och aye, I know … kudos, that I thought of your needs?”
I laughed. “Okay, how many do you think it gets you … one, two?”
“One for free room and board, two for me vigilant protection, and three … for being willing to serve ye in … bed.”
I laughed again. “I’ll give you two. One for your home … room and board, that is, and another for seemingly wanting to protect me.”
“Why seemingly?” he asked on a frown.
“Because I think you want to use me … to get what you need, and only because of that do you want to protect me.”
He eyed me, downed his coffee, took time out to eat an entire pastry in two bites, and finally said, “Ye be in the wrong of it. I don’t want to use ye at all. Just the opposite. I want to keep ye out of m’way so ye don’t mess up m’plans.”
“Mess up your plans? You have plans?”
“Aye,” he said and got up. “Now I’ll leave ye to get dressed, and, Harley love, I like yer flaming locks any way ye want to wear them, but loose, lass … loose and wild like it is, well now, there ain’t nothing like it.”
On that note he left the room and … me? He left me trembling on his words. It is important to note I had never reacted to a man like that before. Well, so he likes my hair loose and long? I should put it up just to show him I don’t care what he likes.
I left it long and loose.
~ Five ~
BY THE TIME I found my way around the place, which was a completely modernized but Tudor-styled home, I was thoroughly impressed.
I found a back door and tried to use it. Ha, he had spelled it closed.
I controlled my irritation. After all, I was a witch.
Thankfully the spell he had used to keep me indoors was a simple one, and I was able to override it with a blink and one arcane Gaelic chant.
The door opened, and I stepped outside. What met my gaze was, honestly, oh-my breathtaking.
I had already decided he had deep pockets; now I was sure he owned the entire Bank of Ireland.
The grounds stretched out as far as the eye could see, and at the moment a team of gardeners was scattered about maintaining it in the pristine state it presented to anyone lucky enough to gaze at its loveliness. I was seriously awed.
I meandered around the grounds and the exquisitely designed Tudor house and ended up at the front door some thirty minutes later. I felt the chill skim through my Gap jeans and black knit top and thought I should have worn a jacket. I shivered as I reached for the latch.
The front door opened wide, and Kian the Immortal stepped aside to usher me inside. “Where the devil have you been?” he demanded.
Oh, not a good way to greet me. Miss Independent here doesn’t like orders or rudeness, and his tone was most definitely rude.
My parents had been alphas. I had been groomed as an alpha. That says it all right there. “Excuse me?” I purposely arched a brow at him.
“You heard me, lass.” He allowed by way of apology, “I was worried.”
“Worried about me, or worried that I had decided to take off on my own?”
“Both, brat, both,” he answered, and now his blues were twinkling, which softened my mood. I saw relief there as well as amusement. “And, aye, just like that,” he added.
“Just like what?”
“Yer flaming locks loose like I suggested … suits ye well,” he said on a low and husky note.
I ignored the compliment and told him, “You told me your place was protected with wards, so I’m safe on the grounds—no need to worry, right?” I eyed him questioningly.
“Aye, but it isn’t Banks I’m worried about. It is Tara. I don’t want her to know ye are here,” he said and frowned.
That irked me. Kissing me one moment and worried about his Tara’s feelings the next. “Yeah, right, can’t have her jealous.”
“Jealous? What makes ye think she would be jealous?” He shook his head.
I didn’t know what to make of that so I dropped it. “Well, what have you planned, because I need to get cracking. I’ve rested, and now I want to find out where Banks holes up—go there and get it done, get it all done.”
He eyed me but said, “As a hybrid he isn’t bothered by the sun, can come and go as he pleases, so let’s focus on what he can’t do.”
That was smart, but I had one better. “What about Tara? What would make her uncomfortable?’
“Iron. Not much else,” he said.
Huh, I thought. Fae, but especially Dark Fae could be hurt by iron. Well, immortals might have the same problem? “That sure narrows down their location.”
He grinned. “We need to draw him out and then follow him undetected.”
“How?”
“Banks hasn’t told Tara what he plans for the future.”
“How do you know that?”
“She wouldn’t go along wit
h anything that would hurt the Human Realm.”
“Again, how do you know that?”
“I know her.” He grimaced. “He is using her for protection, nothing more. What he needs is the Hallow, and she can’t help him with that … and even if she could, I’m thinking she wouldn’t.”
“Why?” Opinions didn’t matter to me. Facts were what I needed.
“Fae Hallows are sacred Relics. She wouldn’t put something like a Seelie sacred Hallow in the hands of a hybrid, even if she is infatuated.” He waved this thought off as though it were impossible to contemplate. “I know it just as I know she isn’t in love with him. After all, it wasn’t so very long ago she fancied herself in love with …” He didn’t finish the sentence but sighed and looked away from me.
So my brain finished it for him. Right, she fancied herself in love with you. Sounded fickle to me, so I asked, “How old is Tara, anyway?”
“Oh, as to that, she is just about yer age.”
I didn’t say anything to that and asked, “So what is your plan?”
Instead of answering me he asked, “What do ye know about Banks? How did ye and the beast manage to cross paths?”
I looked at Kian then, long and hard. I wanted to be careful with my answer, so I hesitated.
He frowned at me and prompted, “Come on then, Harley … what do ye know about him?”
“I know he is about one hundred years old and does not like to lose,” I answered quietly, evasively.
He grimaced at me. “Aye, and what else?”
“What do you know?” I snapped back at him. “Did you know that much?”
“Aye, I knew that much and more. Now it is time to pool what we each know. My turn, ye say, okay then, lass. What do I know? He is a hybrid, a vampire and shifter wolf hybrid, but his ego makes him think he is something greater. He isn’t. Even with all the dark magic he has been playing with, he isn’t much more than he appears … not without Tara.” He looked away from me then and took a moment before he continued. “He met Tara by chance and charmed her into his life, but she doesn’t know that he is evil-hearted. She’s excited by him. She thinks he’s merely a ‘rule-breaker’, she told me. She doesn’t know that he wants to rule all the earth, all the supernaturals … all the humans.” He snapped, “That is what I know.”
I didn’t like that he snapped at me and told him, “Yeah, well, he is also a ruthless, murdering son-of-a-bitch whose ego won’t let him see that he is going to die at the hands of this girl.” I pounded my chest with my open hand as emotion got the better of me. “The girl he killed.” I eyed him sharply then. “What else you got?”
He frowned darkly and took my shoulders. “Are ye playing games with me, lass? What are ye saying?”
“Not playing games, but my personal encounter with Banks is just that—personal—and won’t help you know more about him. I told you what I know. He is a ruthless killer. Take it from there.” I realized I was snarling and calmed myself down because I could actually see the sparks flying off the aura around my body.
He clearly saw them as well, and his brows went up. “Steady, lass,” he said and sighed. “Ye are going to have to trust me. I will tell ye then one more thing I know. Banks came to Ireland to find a sacred Hallow. It is one that is one more powerful than all the rest.”
“Yup, I know.” I couldn’t, wouldn’t tell him about Mike and Tanya. That would put them in danger. I couldn’t tell him about their Fae Orb.
“Ye know, do ye? Do ye know about the Fari Hallow, and what it can do?”
“I only er … suspected.” It was time to be truthful to some extent with him. I cocked a look at him. “So, what does this Fari thing do?”
He studied me. “What does it do?” He shrugged. “I wish I knew, but legend has it as one of the most powerful Fae Relics in the Human Realm. To have it, to control it, is an ultimate power, a power that belonged to the Dark King.” He shrugged. “I’m not even certain it will respond to any but the Dark King.”
“Power,” I said quietly, “is what Banks needs to go forward—if he had it, if he found a way to control it …” I let my sentence trail off, as this thought was horrifying.
“Och aye.” He shook his handsome head in agreement with the words I hadn’t said.
“So you have no idea what it can do?”
“Legend has it that it could create worlds for the Dark King.” He sighed heavily. “What I do know is that Banks is an Earth-bound being and, even with his dark magic, wouldn’t be able to harness the Fari’s enormous power. Perhaps he thinks Tara might be able to, but she is young and inexperienced. Only the Queen of the Fae would be able to control the Fari in the absence of the Dark King.”
The thought of a powerful immortal helping Banks made me shudder. How could she have left Kian for Banks? It boggled my mind. I said, “Dark King? Hmm. My mom, who was an accomplished white witch, told me all the legends about the Dark King, the wars, and the recent war against his own sons right here in Dublin.”
“Aye, and when the Dark King banished his sons, he scattered some of his Hallows—the Fari in particular—throughout Ireland, or so we were told,” Kian said.
“Why?”
“Who knows what the Dark King sees. All we know is that he took his beloved mate and went off. We haven’t heard from him since then.”
I studied his face for a moment. Damn, he was such a hunk. I cleared my throat and asked, “How do you know that much?”
He grinned and moved in close, so close I wanted to melt against him. “Another tale for another time.”
I cleared my throat. “How did you get a name like Kian O’Hara? It doesn’t sound like an immortal’s name. How long have you been here—in Ireland? What brought you here?”
He laughed. “Whoa … which question first?”
“Any will do.” I hadn’t moved away from him yet, though I told myself I had to.
“Right. Okay, when you give me more background, maybe I’ll do the same,” he answered.
I laughed and said, “Not happening.”
He smirked. Oh, his smirk took my body and promised to please. He said, “Ye are a handful, Harlow McDagus, and will take a man on a merry dance one day … that is, if he has a mind to allow it.”
I eyed him and moved away because all his testosterone floating around me was making my belly clench. No clenching, no crushing, no, no none of that. “So, how do we go about finding him?” I had to stay on track.
“I have tried to find him with my Orb,” he said softly.
“Orb? Everyone it seems has an Orb,” I said without thinking.
“Do they now? And who would ye be speaking about that has an Orb?”
“No one …” I looked away from him.
He said quietly, “So as I was saying, can’t find him with m’Orb yet because Tara has shielded their location with dark magic.” He shrugged. “Some matters, however, are a bit out of her league. My magic is too arcane for her total understanding. A few more hours, and I think I will have broken through the shield she has erected.”
“And this Fari Hallow … are we going to try and find it before they do?”
“Aye, that is the plan.” He frowned. “My intent is to make a spectacle of looking for it myself. They don’t know about ye yet, so ye can go undetected to the more likely shops where it might be.”
“What makes you think it’s in a shop and not off in the earth somewhere?”
“A hunch, only that,” he answered. “Banks has been looking for it a long time, and I’m thinking he has reason to believe it made its way to Dublin.”
“So, you want him to follow you—think you might know where it is.”
“Aye.”
“And Tara … will she help him find this Hallow?”
“No, even if she could, which I don’t believe she can, I’m thinking it isn’t something she would do.”
“So … you are doing all this just to get Tara back?” He must really love her, I thought, and the idea made my heart crac
kle.
“No, not sure what it would take to make her leave him.” He shook his head. “There is more at stake here. We need to stop him from collecting his werewolves and making them an invincible army against the humans.”
I had to wonder what lengths this Tara would go to if she were so charmed by Banks. After all, the creep had actually managed to steal her from Kian, which I already found incredible. What would she do to please her new mate? Especially if she didn’t know he was evil? But there was no sense in arguing with him, so I let it drop.
“What if we find it?”
“I don’t think we stand a chance in hell of finding it, but he doesn’t need to know that. I want him to follow us so we can turn it around and track him back to his lair.”
I started for the door.
“Where do ye think ye are going?”
“To Dublin,” I answered. “Are you coming?”
He smirked, and that smirk of his did things to my blood that made me fidgety. I felt, I mean actually felt, my body lean towards him, and dangerous desires started to swell in my brain. Hell, brain matter in my head was swollen and nearly bursting out of my skull.
Also, a new hunger had entered my blood, and the longer I looked at my immortal, the worse that hunger got.
“Well, don’t ye need me for that, lass?”
“What?” I was lost in a place where his arms were around me and his lips—
“Lass?”
I saw his puzzled expression and snapped myself out of my dream. What was I doing? He was in love with his Tara.
“I’m guessing you have a car somewhere out there that I can hot-wire,” I told him and challenged him with a smile.
“Hot-wire, is it? Now how would ye be knowing how to do that?”
“I had a friend … William …” I said and felt my throat constrict. I hadn’t been in love with William, but I had loved him. “He taught me …”
I looked away, and when I looked back Kian was frowning darkly. “And what happened to this William, because I wouldn’t be believing any man would leave ye.”
“He was slaughtered by Banks,” I said and started off again. I knew it wasn’t fair to give him bits and pieces, but it was all I could manage.