Betrayed (Keeper of the Flame Book 3)

by Lila Kane

  I laugh, trying to pull myself out of my funk. “No, what you did to me last night definitely wasn’t painful.”

  He smiles and leans in, his lips brushing the curve of my shoulder. “We could do something not painful right now.”

  I let the sheet drop between us. He exhales and it sends a thrill through me.

  Then my cell phone rings. For a moment, I almost regret getting it replaced. But then I sigh. “It might be Ryan. Or maybe the hospital calling about my mom.”

  Logan digs into the pocket of my jeans and passes the phone over before dropping his lips to my shoulder again.

  I don’t recognize the number, but I’m still smiling when I answer.

  No one says anything for a minute. “Hello?” I ask again.

  “Willow,” a low voice says.

  I freeze. Logan straightens on the bed and narrows his eyes at me.

  “Who is this?” I ask, though I already know.

  “Kane, of course. You don’t recognize my voice?”

  Logan shakes his head, reaching for the phone. Anger blazes in his eyes, laced with fear and fierce protectiveness. With his enhanced hearing, he knows exactly who’s on the other end.

  I hold up my hand, stopping him. “I know who you are,” I say into the phone. “What do you want?”

  “I want to talk.”

  Logan frowns and mouths the word, “No.”

  “We don’t have anything to talk about,” I say.

  “I think you might disagree if you just gave me a chance. Hear me out, Willow.”

  Logan shakes his head again, reaching for the phone once more. I clutch the sheet to my chest and climb from the bed, out of his reach. Maybe if I reason with Kane or at the very least, make things clear, we can come to some kind of understanding. He needs to think we’re cooperating.

  “I already know what you want,” I say.

  “Isn’t it the same thing everyone wants?” Kane asks. “Life? Eternity? Everything at our fingertips?”

  “Why?” I whisper.

  “It’s power, Willow. I know you understand that.”

  I do understand power. I understand the rush of it, but I also understand the danger of it.

  Logan advances on me, eyes dark. “Hang up the phone, Willow.”

  “Is that my brother?” Kane asks, amusement in his voice. “He doesn’t sound happy.”

  “If you could be reasonable about this,” I begin.

  “I am. I called you like a civilized person. And I’d like to talk in person.”

  Logan stops in front of me where I lean against the wall in the corner of the room. “Hang up,” he says again.

  “I’ll think about it,” I tell Kane.

  Logan takes the phone and speaks into it, voice angry and dangerous. “You leave her alone, you understand?”

  He ends the call and tosses the phone on the bed, not waiting for an answer from his brother. I clench the sheet around me.

  “You’ll think about it?” Logan asks, incredulous. “You’ll think about talking with him? Willow, that’s the most‒”

  “It makes sense,” I shoot back. “If you’d just listen‒”

  “I did listen and I heard you trying to be reasonable with my brother. He’s not reasonable, Willow. He’s crazy. He’s only out for himself and he’ll hurt you if he has to.”

  “I believe you, but‒”

  “He’s going to hold you to it. If you say you’ll think about it, he won’t leave you alone. He‒”

  “Stop.” I push away from the wall, feeling fire burning through my veins. “If you’re not going to listen to me, then at least let me get dressed.”

  I push past him, stumbling on the long sheet. It twists around my legs, but Logan is there before I can fall. His arms tighten around me and he pulls me so close, my breath leaves me in a rush.

  “I’m listening,” he murmurs. He swallows, but nods and tries to assure me again. “You can talk to me. I’m sorry.”

  “It makes sense,” I say quietly. “To make him think I’m going to cooperate.”

  Logan slowly loosens his hold, and then gathers the bottom of the sheet for me as I go for my clothes again.

  He runs a hand through his hair as I shove my legs into my jeans. “Okay, I said I’d listen. I’m trying to do this the right way, Willow, but I don’t see how cooperating with him is going to help.”

  “It’s going to help because we know how to put the spell back in place.”

  When I look up, he’s staring at me. I can’t read the expression there.

  “What?” I pull my shirt over my head and venture a step in his direction. “What are you thinking?”

  “This is…okay.” He drops his chin and tosses the sheet back on the bed. “It’s fine.”

  I step in front of him before he can go for the door. “No way. You’re not getting by until you explain what’s going through your head. Together, remember?”

  I set my hand on his cheek and he leans it against my palm before pulling my hand away and keeping it in his own.

  “I’m worried. If we put the spell back in place, Kane will be angry. And how does that even work? Once we do the spell, one of us has to leave? If Kane will even let that happen?”

  “We’ll figure it out. We’ll make a plan.”

  His jaw flexes and his gaze leaves mine.

  “What else?” I ask.

  He blows out a breath but still won’t look at me. “If you put the spell back in place, everything goes back to normal, right? I mean, our powers go away and we’re almost human again?”

  “I think so. Just like it was before.”

  He lifts his gaze, and it connects with mine. “What about Myra?”

  I shake my head. “What do you mean? It’ll be the same with her, too, I think.”

  “This morning, I called an old friend. A witch. That’s what I was doing when I left your house.”

  I frown, trying to follow his train of thought. “Wait, you know another witch?”

  “I talked to her when I was—”

  “Her?”

  “Yes, her. I wanted to see if I could get more insight into what putting this spell back into place might mean.”

  “Did she know?”

  “Not any more than we do, but she thinks things will go back to how they were, too. Everything. Even with Myra.”

  He lowers his gaze again and it hits me hard, realization smacking into me.

  “Logan,” I whisper, squeezing his hand. “You think if we put the spell into place, Myra will go back to feeling how she did before.”

  He nods. “She might get sick again.”

  Chapter 11

  “I think you’re getting worried for nothing,” Myra says, keeping her place at the oven. She dawns mitts and opens the door to pull out a pan of baked French toast that smells like heaven.

  “Can you stop for a minute?” Logan asks.

  Cheyenne sits at the kitchen table across from me. “Let’s look at this objectively, shall we?”

  “I can’t stand back and pretend this isn’t personal,” Logan says.

  Myra scoops breakfast onto plates. “Logan, don’t be mean to her.”

  “He’s not being mean,” Cheyenne says, giving him a rare smile. “He’s worried about you. And he’s right, we need to look at all sides of this. In two more nights, we’ll have a full moon. We can do the spell. Willow can do the spell. But that only puts a stop to this temporarily.”

  Myra adds fruit to the plates, as calm as Cheyenne. “Who wants orange juice?”

  I stand. “Please sit, Myra. I’ll get the juice.”

  I hear the front door and turn automatically, afraid for a ridiculous moment that Kane is walking into the house. But he can’t. He wasn’t invited in. And even if he was, the amethyst is outside the front door. It would be too painful for him to make it that far.

  When Ryan comes around the corner, my shoulders relax.

  “Hey,” he says, dropping his jacket on the back of a chair. “Sorry I’m
late.”

  I walk to the refrigerator as the others start talking again. Ryan joins me.

  “Want some juice?” I ask him.

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “We found the spell in the Book of Shadows. The one we need to put everything back into place.”

  His eyes widen. He takes the juice I hand him. “So why is everyone so tense?”

  I glance back at Myra. She passes out plates and arranges the syrup and butter on the table.

  “We have to do it on the full moon, which is in two days.”

  His eyebrows furrow. “And?”

  “And it’s only a temporary solution.”

  “And?”

  I grab the milk too, just for a distraction. “And we’re not sure if it’s going to take away what I did for Myra.”

  A muscle works in his jaw. He’s trying to hide how concerned he is, but I can tell. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, Logan thinks it might make her sick again.”

  Ryan turns to the table. “Then we can’t do it.”

  Everyone looks up at him. Logan frowns. Cheyenne smiles and Myra nearly knocks her plate off the table.

  “What?” she says.

  He’s in deep. He really has imprinted on her. And it’s totally against everything shapeshifters stand for. Vampires aren’t exactly fond of shapeshifters either.

  “We’re not sure it’s a good idea to go ahead with the spell,” I say, covering for him.

  His shoulders relax just slightly and he casts me a look of thanks. It’s just as much for everyone else as it is for him, though. I don’t know how Logan will take the news. And Myra doesn’t seem to know what to think of Ryan.

  “It’s no big deal,” Myra says.

  Logan reaches out, stopping her from opening the syrup. “Can you hold on a minute? We need to talk about this.”

  Myra sighs. “This is serious, Logan.”

  “Damn right it is‒will someone please explain to her just how serious this is?”

  Myra pulls away from him and turns her attention to Ryan and Cheyenne. “You guys know what I mean. I’m talking about the bigger picture here.”

  Ryan’s hands clench under the table. I nudge him with my elbow. He’s being too obvious. If he doesn’t want anyone to know he has feelings for Myra, he’s going to have to tone down his reactions some.

  “I agree,” Cheyenne says. “The bigger picture is that we need to get the spell back into place or stop Kane and the rest of his group some other way.”

  “Not the way that involves putting Myra’s life at risk, though,” I say.

  Cheyenne gives me a patient look. “I know, which is why I suggested we talk about this and figure out where to go from here. You healed Myra with fire. It seems to me whether the spell is back in place or not, she’ll still be fine. The fire was a separate issue than the spell.”

  Myra nods. “It makes sense. Me coming here didn’t really help that much, even though my powers got stronger. But the fire‒that healed me completely.”

  “But maybe that was because your powers were stronger. Or maybe…” I slide a glance at Ryan out of the corner of my eye. This isn’t helping. And Ryan doesn’t look happy about any of what we’re saying.

  “Eat your French toast before it gets cold,” Myra says.

  Logan ignores her, staring into his cup of coffee. But the rest of us start eating.

  “This is really good,” Ryan says.

  Myra smiles. “Thank you. At least someone appreciates my cooking.”

  I roll my eyes. “I appreciate your cooking, but I don’t appreciate how you’re brushing this off.”

  “Bigger picture,” she mumbles. When no one else says anything, she sighs. “So we’ll do the spell, and if I get sick again, Willow can heal me again and then I’ll be fine.”

  Logan looks at me, lifting his eyebrows.

  “I don’t…I don’t know if I can. Once the spell is done, our powers are going to go away.”

  “But you could do fire before this. Before you even came to Shadow Hill,” Ryan says. He knows about the boy I hurt in college. And that wasn’t the only time I’d used the fire. But that was different.

  “I couldn’t control it then,” I say.

  “But you can now.” Myra nods. “I’ve seen you.”

  I shake my head. “Still, I don’t know if it will be as strong. And what if I can’t control it? What if I hurt someone?”

  “What if you don’t?”

  Logan cuts in before I can answer. “What if you do the spell and then Kane gets so angry, he won’t let anyone leave town? Then someone will get hurt.”

  “I’m done with this conversation,” Myra says. “We all have things to do. Let’s just take a vote. All in favor of doing the spell?”

  She and Cheyenne raise their hands.

  Myra looks at Logan. “All opposed?”

  “I am,” Logan says.

  Ryan nods. “Me too.”

  Everyone looks at me.

  “You didn’t vote,” Myra points out.

  Logan takes my hand. It’s just for support, I know, but it feels like pressure. Like I’m the one who’s supposed to know what to do, but I don’t. That’s Cheyenne’s territory.

  “I can’t,” I say.

  “The bigger picture,” Myra reminds me. Ryan shoots her a look I don’t think she sees. “If you found this spell, I know you can find one to end this altogether.”

  “But then won’t we be in the same position?” Cheyenne asks. She lifts a forkful of French toast and studies it. “If we put the spell back in place or take away everyone’s powers altogether, isn’t that going to cause the same problem with Myra?”

  Myra shakes her head. “It’s not going to cause a problem because I’m healed. You can put the spell back in place, take away our powers, whatever, it’s not going to change what happened with me. Now, eat. Willow needs to get to the hospital with the spell for the amethyst and I have somewhere to be at ten.”

  “Where?” Logan asks.

  Myra meets my gaze with a smile. “A store on Main Street. I’m going to open a business.”

  I catch up with Ryan on the way out of the house. He stops on the front porch, looking out over the damp street, hands propped on the porch rail.

  I tuck my sweater tighter around my body. The chill from yesterday’s rain still lingers in the air, and clouds obscure the mountains.

  “What was that?” I ask him.

  Ryan doesn’t look at me. “What was what?”

  “That. In there. With Myra.”

  He tenses, but still doesn’t look at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. I know you imprinted on Myra‒”

  He whips to face me, shaking his head. “Not here.”

  I lower my voice, realizing there are two vampires inside who have better hearing than normal humans. “Ryan, it’s getting obvious. You care about her.”

  “It’s magic, or‒or a product of our circumstances. It’s because our powers are changing.” He shoves a hand through his hair and turns away. “It’ll go away. It’ll‒”

  He breaks off and props his hands on the rail once more, bowing his head.

  “Ryan.” I set my hand on his arm. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Why? Because you have feelings for‒”

  “They’re not real feelings.”

  “What if they are?”

  A muscle works in his jaw, but he doesn’t say anything.

  “Would that be the worst thing ever?” I ask, still keeping my voice low. I stare at the street like him. “Maybe this is an opportunity.”

  He gives a short, humorless laugh. “An opportunity?”

  I cast him a smile. “Sure. Maybe you’re getting a chance to…consider a relationship with someone you might not have considered before.”

  “A relationship?” He rolls his eyes at me. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you? Have you ever thought th
at I don’t want a relationship? That I’m fine just how I am? That everything was working out pretty well for me before any of this ever started?”

  I ignore the sarcasm in his voice. He’s defensive. I get it. “Yeah, I thought of that. It doesn’t fit.”

  He crosses his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re that kind of guy. The one who’s responsible. The one who has a wife and kids and actually spends time with them and takes care of them. The kind of guy who settles down.”

  He doesn’t look amused with the assessment. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

  I reach out and give him a hug, feeling bad even at the same time I’m a little happy for him. I’m hoping he’ll give Myra a chance. I’m hoping he’ll find love, even if it is in an unconventional way.

  His arms close around me. “You’re in love,” he murmurs. “That’s why you’re doing this.”

  I close my eyes and laugh, relaxing in his arms for a minute. “Yes, I am. And no, that’s not why I’m doing this. Sometimes we work really hard to fight something we should just let be. Trust me, I know from experience.”

  He eases back and shakes his head, but a smile curves the corners of his lips. “You never thought you’d be stuck here with me when you came to Shadow Hill, did you?”

  “No, I never thought I’d be stuck here. But I kind of like it. Even though I am definitely not the settling type.”

  “How about we stop this conversation?”

  I laugh. “For now.”

  Cheyenne opens the front door and grabs the amethyst that’s still sitting on the wooden planks of the porch. “Okay, we’re ready to head out. Ride with Ryan or me, because the other two can’t be this close to the stone.”

  I nod and load myself into Ryan’s truck with the amethyst in my pocket. When we start to pull away, I glance back to find Logan, Myra, and Cheyenne getting ready to follow us.

  It makes me feel vulnerable to be this far away from them, even if the amethyst will keep me safe from Kane.

  My cell phone rings. “Hello?”

  “Hey.” Logan’s voice floats to me, smooth and warm, over the phone.

  I sigh. “Hey.”

  Ryan glances at me and rolls his eyes. Yeah. Love. It does strange things to people.