“Um…”
“Does it help to know that I am in love with you?”
“You are?”
“Yes.”
I tucked my head under his chin. “Yes, it helps. I love you,” I mumbled into his chest.
“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”
“Yes, Ian MacBeaghne, I am in love with you. I think I always have been. I lost my heart to you the day we met… maybe even before we met. There, I said it. Happy?”
“Yes.” He pulled me closer and kissed my forehead. “I appreciate you saying my past does not matter to you, but there are still some things you should know.”
“So, tell me. I can’t imagine it will change my mind.” I kissed his neck and smiled against it when he moaned.
“I will tell you everything, but Bryce should be a part of the conversation.”
“He said the same thing when I asked how you guys knew each other. I mean from before we moved in with the clan.”
“How could you have known that?”
“Because I’m not stupid. I could tell that night there was something between the two of you. Besides, Bryce wouldn’t have just moved me in with a stranger so easily.”
“That is part of what I need to tell you, but I think it best if Bryce joins us.”
“Why? Whatever it was between you two it was not friendship.” I got out of bed to dress. The mood was so ruined.
He made a noise like, “Hmph” and shrugged. “No, we were not friends, but I like to think we are now. Part of my past includes him, and he should be there when we discuss it.”
“Then let’s go get him. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
“Please remember the reasons you fell in love with me.”
“Okay, let’s go find Bryce, you’re starting to worry me.” I took his hand as we left the room.
We found Bryce in his room with his nose in a thick book that looked older than time itself. It was one of his Fey spell and potion cookbooks. We stood quietly for a few moments, giving him time to acknowledge us, but of course he had no clue we’d entered.
“Brycson,” Ian said, “we would like to speak with you.”
Without looking up from the book, Bryce mumbled something that sounded like, “About?”
Ian cleared his throat. Bryce finally looked up and focused on Ian’s face. Whatever he saw there made him frown.
“Oh,” he muttered as he gingerly placed the book onto a podium and covered it with a piece of cloth. “I had hoped to wait a little longer.”
“No. No more waiting,” I said.
“Okay,” Bryce said with a sigh. “Well, let’s have a seat, shall we?” He motioned to the window seat and the chairs in front of it. I sat on the window seat facing the two men. “Now, where to begin…” He drifted off in thought.
I snapped my fingers in front of his face to bring him back to the present. “How about at the beginning? How do you guys know each other? I assume from all those years ago on the Fey lands.”
He gave me a smile and gave Ian a sidelong glance. Ian just nodded for him to begin.
“Yes, that is how we knew each other.”
“Why the animosity?”
“I… Well, Ian, you wanted to do this, so do it.”
“Go on, Ian. It’s okay,” I said.
“You say that now,” he muttered under his breath before standing to pace the room as he spoke. “During the war I lost my family and my… wife. I’m sorry I never told you that I have been married.”
“Ian, you’ve been alive for a long time. I am not surprised because you once had a wife. I’d be more surprised if you’d never had one.”
He nodded. “All I had left was Rufus, but because his wife had also been killed, he left without a word. As you know, banshee do not like being alone. So, I joined a clan. I had not been familiar with the head of the clan and quickly discovered he was… extreme.”
“Well, that’s putting it lightly,” Bryce interjected.
“Yes, well, he was extreme in the treatment of his subordinates. Worse with the mortals from whom we fed. In some ways, he makes Gabriel look like a pussycat.”
Well, wasn’t that just delightfully peachy news?
“He ordered us to do unspeakable things. Especially me.”
“Why especially you?”
“He believed I was weaker than the others. I refused to follow his savage commands.”
“Ah, because you are compassionate, that made you nice.”
‘Nice’ was always a dirty word to the evil-minded.
“Correct. The more I refused him, the more I suffered at his hands. The things he’d ask of me… Anyway, after I escaped the clan, I reluctantly agreed to work for the Elders in return for their protection. I bided my time secretly training and building my own clan. Then they ordered me to execute a half-breed child, an infant. I could not kill an infant. Instead, I told the family with what I had been tasked. I pleaded with them to hide the child. I returned to the Elders and lied, saying I had slain the babe.”
“I don’t see what you have to be ashamed of here.”
“The master of my former clan somehow discovered I had lied to the Elders. He blackmailed me into a meeting. When I arrived, he restrained me and locked me in a chamber. I was tortured as punishment for leaving his clan.”
“Oh, Ian.” When I rose to go to him, he held up a hand telling me to let him finish.
He paced the room a few times before he turned to face me. “It was almost two months before Rufus found me and assisted in my escape. He stayed behind while I ran, again.”
“Why didn’t he come with you? Stay with you?” I asked.
“That is Rufus’ story and he can tell you if he so chooses,” Ian responded.
Damn banshees and their secrecy.
Bryce cleared his throat bringing my attention to him. “What Ian has left out is that the child they had ordered him to kill was you. Because of Ian your parents were able to hide you with me.”
“This is why you came for me five years ago?” I asked Ian.
“Yes. I had thought of you quite often over the years. I could no longer stop myself from checking on you. Then there you were. This feisty little half-fairy so concerned with the life of a mortal that she attacked a man nearly twice her size. I knew you would make a superb Hunter. I was right.”
He wouldn’t look at me, so I moved closer to him until he did.
“This is what you were afraid to tell me? I’m alive because of you. How the hell can you think I would be upset about that?”
“That is only the beginning of the story.” He took a step away from me.
“Oh… What’s the rest?”
He backed away from me until there were a few feet between us.
“Later, the Elders had ordered the execution of your parents. I did not go to them right away. When I did go to warn them… I was too late.” Ian looked to Bryce. The pain in his eyes was heart-wrenching. “I tried.”
“I know you did, mo chara,” Bryce said and the expression on Ian’s face changed. His eyes brightened and his features softened.
“When I arrived at their home, I was ambushed and shot with multiple faeritonium arrows. I was too weak to do anything but watch them murder your parents.”
“Thankfully you were with me, or you may have been killed as well,” Bryce added. “Mating between Fey and the mortals had never before happened. That your parents had succeeded frightened the Elders.”
“Okay, who killed them? Who’d the Elders hire? You must have seen them.”
Ian stiffened and looked to Bryce again. Bryce nodded his encouragement and Ian sighed.
“Gabriel.”
I turned on Bryce.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Why am I just now finding out about this? You should have been the one to tell me this!”
“My pip, please understand it’s not something I wanted to keep from you, but I thought it best to do so. Look at how upset you are. If I had t
old you, you may have tried to find Gabriel on your own. You were so young and inexperienced. He would have killed you. That was not something I was willing to risk.”
Bryce had his own way of thinking, and while I may not always agree with him it’s a huge part of why I love him. He hadn’t told me because he truly thought he was protecting me. He was right about my possible reaction, too. I more than likely would have tried to hunt Gabriel alone.
“I get it. You believed you were protecting me. For that, I can’t blame you.” I turned back to Ian. “This was what you were dreading?”
“Yes. I could not save them. I tried, I really did, but in the end, I could not do it. Brycson has blamed me for years. I assumed you would as well.”
“I blamed you out of sorrow and it was wrong. I have forgiven you, mo chara,” Bryce said.
Ian looked relieved, but still stiff. “Do you?” he asked looking to me.
“I do not,” I said. His hands clenched into fists, and he turned to leave the room. “I do not forgive you, Ian MacBeaghne, because there is nothing to forgive.”
He stopped walking but kept his back to me. I placed a hand on his arm and turned him to face me. His grey eyes were almost black, and bright with emotion. His lips pressed into a tight line. He was like a cornered animal ready to spring into action any second.
Vaguely aware of Bryce slipping out of the room, my attention stayed on the man in front of me. I slid my hand over his heart and felt him take a deep breath, then another.
“You did what you could. You did more than most would. It was not your fault.” He tensed again and gave his head a little shake dismissing my words. “Oh Ian, how long have you been blaming yourself? There was nothing you could do.”
He stepped back out of my reach. “I could have, should have brought others with me. I should never have gone alone.”
This is why he always got so upset when I went on a hunt on my own.
“It was not your fault,” I repeated.
When my words didn’t penetrate the blame in which he’d encased himself, I wrapped my arms around him, looking up at him.
“I love you, and no matter how much you blame yourself, I will not. They were my parents and if I don’t blame you, you can’t either.”
His lips twitched, but the frown stayed in place. He stared at me for a while before he finally slipped his arms around me.
“You really do not blame me, do you? Not at all?”
“Not one bit,” I said rising to my toes to kiss him.
“Ian,” Peder called as he came storming through the door. “You were right, it’s a vacant mall. We have to go.”
Ian’s eyes never left mine. “We have to go,” he repeated.
“Mall?” I asked.
“The room Juliana described. I figured it had to be in a large building. I had everyone available search for large deserted buildings. Where?” he asked Peder.
“A few hours north of here. Right off 95.” Peder hesitated to look from Ian to me then back again. “He has a small army.” Peder looked at me again.
“I’m going,” I said.
“Goldie, I do not think that is a good idea.”
“I am going. Just because we have a relationship now does not mean you can keep me from the dangers of our work. I am still a Hunter. This is my job, Ian.”
I gasped as Ian threw me over his shoulder and strode out of the room. I struggled, but he refused to put me down, bellowing for Seth as he strode into our room.
“Tell her she is not coming with us.”
“First, explain what you’re talking about,” Seth said, sitting beside me on the bed where Ian had unceremoniously tossed me.
“They think they found the auction site. From what we know, Gabriel has an army there. Ian thinks I should stay here. He is mistaken. I am going.” Ian and I glared at each other.
Seth looked from me to Ian and back again. “Oh, hell no. I’m so not getting involved in this.”
“She listens to you.”
“Sorry, bro. I can see it in her eyes. While I agree with you and I want to keep her safe, I have to side with her. He’s a sick bastard, and she’s seen what he is capable of firsthand. She needs this.”
“Leave,” Ian hissed. When Seth left, Ian crouched in front of me to take my hands. “Goldie be reasonable. We do not even know if he is there. You could walk into a trap.”
“I’ve walked into traps before and survived,” I said instantly feeling guilty when he stiffened. “I’m sorry, that was low. But I have to go. If you try to prevent me from going, you know I’ll just follow on my own. I’d rather be by your side.”
“You cannot follow me if I lock you in the bathroom.” He grabbed me by the waist to hold me in place when I tried to get off the bed.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“No, but I am damn tempted. Your irrationality must be rubbing off on me. If anything happens to you, it will kill me.”
“I feel the same, Ian, so we might as well stick together.”
His hold on me tightened. “I am not letting you out of my sight. Do not think about going anywhere without me, or I will carry you out of there and take your stubborn ass back here. I can find plenty of ways to keep you occupied.” He rose to wrap my legs around his waist and lay me back on the bed kissing my neck.
“Mmm, as lovely as this is… Let’s go get these bastards. Then we can lock ourselves in this room for as long as we want.” When his lips reached my ear lobe, I tilted my head to the side and slipped my fingers into his hair. “Stop that, or we will never get out of here.”
“That is fine with me.”
“You would never leave your clan to fight without you. That’s not who you are.”
With a groan he took my hand and pulled me to my feet. We met our group in the living room. We had our own army going, and there were still more headed to the site.
As we walked in everyone quieted and turned their attention to Ian. He went over what information he had and reiterated that there would be more of Gabriel’s men than usual. He assigned a few of the newer clan members to stay behind with Juliana to help the remaining mortals in the makeshift hospital. Finally, we grabbed our gear and headed out to the vehicles.
Chapter Fifteen
“Dammit!” Ian yelled as he slammed on the brakes, and I was thankful I wore a seatbelt. If I hadn’t, my face would have gone right into the dashboard.
“What the hell?”
“Flip’s bike just… well, flipped.” He spun the car around and stopped where Flip was just standing up, his wounds already healing.
I opened the door and scooted up so Flip could squeeze into the backseat.
“Hop in,” I said as we stopped beside him. Once he was in, I sat back and slammed the door just as Ian began driving again. “You okay?” I asked Flip.
“Pissed as hell, but otherwise I’m fine.” He straightened his jacket. “Gabriel must have his men watching the roads. They shot out my tires. I loved that bike, man!”
“This is worse than I thought. He is waiting for us,” Ian said.
Using the side-view mirror, I saw the rest of our clan was still behind us. Gabriel’s guys were on motorcycles, as were a lot of our men. They had their swords drawn, and our guys took the Angels out in what looked like a modern-day jousting match.
“Do you think we have a mole?” I asked.
“No, these are his decoys. He wants us to come for him. He will be prepared.” He glanced at me, his knuckles turning white as he clenched the gearshift.
“I’ll be fine, Ian.” I covered his hand with mine, stroking it to soothe him. If he got too worried about me, he’d call it off and wait until we could catch Gabriel by surprise. I did not want that to happen, this needed to end.
“I know you will.” His voice was getting deeper reminding me of the last time we’d met with Gabriel. “Be aware. If something appears to be out of the ordinary, or too good to be true, it is. Stay alert, keep your eyes open.”
“Got
it.”
Memories of Gabriel’s torture ran through my mind. Then I thought of Flip’s story about his sister. There had to be other clan members personally affected by Gabriel’s evil.
When we pulled up to the gas station where we’d agreed to meet everyone I let Flip out and turned to Ian, “I never thought of why so many of these guys are here.”
“Banshees excel at hiding their emotions, so it is easy to forget that we get hurt. It probably does not help that over the years, I have told you we do not have emotions.”
“True, but I know differently now. Let’s do this.”
As we made our way to the rest of the clan, I scanned the sea of faces for Seth and Bryce and silently greeted them. After the jousting match, I had to make sure they had arrived safely.
Ian addressed the group and decided we walk the rest of the way. We knew Gabriel was prepared, but still we hoped to surprise him. When the mall was within sight Ian held up a hand to tell everyone to stop walking and be quiet and turned to face everyone. He did a series of hand gestures and everyone dispersed and headed separate ways in smaller clans. Ian, Seth, Triza, Bryce, Peder, and I stayed with each other. Sheryl and Slash went with Leo and Flip.
I caught Seth’s eye and smiled. I released a breath when he returned the smile.
“Hey, be careful tonight,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me for a bone-crushing hug.
“Same to you.” I sighed and buried my head in his chest. I wanted to hold on to him as long as I could. “You know how important you are to me, right?”
“I know, beautiful.” He kissed my nose before finishing our trek to the building.
We had studied the layout of the mall beforehand, so we knew the food court was the biggest room, and possibly the staging site for the auctions. We agreed to enter through the back doors leading to the security offices.
They had left the door unlocked. The hallway was dark, only the emergency exit signs lighting the way, and Ian took the lead. We didn’t have to go far before we saw the windows of the security offices. The monitors were the only light in the rooms. There were three Angels in each of the offices.
We split up, and being that we had sneaked up on them, took out those six Angels easily, before continuing. My group moved toward the food court, while the rest of our clan went to check the rest of the mall.
Becoming Banshee Page 14