by Lynsay Sands
“The doggy door,” he said at once.
“It’s a locking doggy door,” she said with a frown, recalling what Julius had said. “It only opens to their dog’s collar.”
“It a magnetic lock,” he said dryly. “I recognized that while walking around the house when you went there after the fire . . . and I recognized it because I worked in a pet shop during my brief stint in university. We sold a lot of those. Of course, we didn’t tell the customers that all you need is another collar with the magnetic collar key in it to open them.” She could hear the smile in his voice as he added, “I hit the pet store the minute it opened. I had to buy a door to get the collar, but it got me in.”
She had to tell Marguerite and Julius that, Elspeth thought. They believed they were secure, but they weren’t. Wanting to keep him talking until she could get her hands free, she said, “You studied to be a pharmacist. You made the poison yourself?”
“Yes, back in Alberta. I had it with me when I came. It was for Nina, but I can make more.”
“Nina wanted poison?” Elspeth asked with dismay. Had she planned to murder Meredith and manufacture a fake will leaving everything to her or something like that? Elspeth wondered and wished again that she could see him to read him.
“No,” Paul said. “She didn’t want it. I planned to slip it into her coffee.”
The words shocked her into blinking her eyes open again, but the light made her quickly close them once more. “You planned to kill your mother?”
“Yes,” he said easily, completely unashamed.
“Well then, why the heck have you been trying to kill me?” she asked with exasperation. “Dead or in jail, she’s out of your life,” she pointed out, and thought she’d done Nina a huge favor by getting her to confess. If she hadn’t, the woman would be dead now.
“Because so long as she’s in jail I can’t kill her and get the insurance,” he growled furiously. “With her record and all she’s confessed to, she could be in there until she dies. She’s only forty-seven. That could be another damned thirty years. Forty, even.”
“Oh, for cripes sake,” Elspeth said, dropping back in her chair with disgust, and realizing only then that she’d been sitting up tensely. Relaxing eased the rope somewhat, and she set back to work almost feverishly at it.
“Which made me think,” he continued suddenly. “If I can’t kill you, maybe I can use you.”
Elspeth stiffened at the words. “Use me?”
“Well, you got her in there. Now you can just control the police, or the judge, or whoever you have to, to get her out,” he said with cold satisfaction.
Elspeth raised her eyebrows, but remembered to keep her eyes closed this time. “So that you can kill her.”
“Exactly,” he said on a happy sigh.
“And you think I would do that because . . . ?” she asked dryly.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll kill the old lady, the twins, that fella who was going down on you in your bathroom before I threw the Molotov cocktails in, and everyone else in that house.”
Elspeth’s mouth tightened. He’d been watching them that night. How long had he stood out there before finally throwing the firebombs in? Had he watched until they passed out? Beyond that even? Just standing there looking at them naked and vulnerable? Well, she’d been naked. Wyatt had still had his pants on.
“Chemistry isn’t my only skill,” he added, sounding much closer. “I took that to learn how to make drugs I could sell. But I also know how to make some pretty nifty bombs. In fact, I was making one when it suddenly occurred to me to use you instead of kill you.”
Elspeth jerked as a finger ran down her cheek. His face was so close to hers, she could feel his breath on her nose and mouth. It smelled like blood to her.
His finger drifted down her neck, and to one breast. “I could just finish the bomb, though, and kill every last person you care about.”
Furious, Elspeth stopped trying to untie the rope, grabbed one strand, and tugged viciously. Much to her surprise, it snapped like licorice. She really needed to take the time to find out just how strong she was once this was over, Elspeth thought grimly. As well as find out what she could and couldn’t do as an immortal. She’d never thought it was necessary before this, but was learning differently, because if she’d known she could break the damned rope, she—
“So, what do you say?” Paul Albrecht asked, interrupting her thoughts and squeezing the breast he’d just been touching. “Death or friends?”
Elspeth didn’t have to open her eyes. She could still feel his breath on her face and knew exactly where his head was. Whipping her hand around, she grabbed just below it, her fingers closing around his throat and lifting as she jerked to her feet, growling, “Death.”
Elspeth never saw the gun. She hadn’t realized he had one. But she certainly heard it go off . . . and felt the impact as it tore through her heart.
“Elspeth!”
Paul’s voice sounded a lot like Wyatt’s, she thought as she began to fall.
“Sometimes, Marguerite, I feel like you’re older than me, rather than younger. You must have an old soul.”
Merry, Elspeth thought as she swam toward consciousness. That was Merry talking. She also recognized her aunt’s laugh as she responded, “A very old soul indeed, Merry.”
Pushing her eyes open, Elspeth stared at the ceiling overhead, and then it was suddenly displaced by Wyatt’s anxious face.
“You’re awake.”
Elspeth blinked, and smiled faintly. “Yes. Shouldn’t I be?” she asked, and frowned as her voice came out a rough, dry whisper.
“Oh, Ellie, dear! You had us all so worried!”
When Wyatt turned his head to the right, she did the same and watched Meredith rush across the room with Aunt Marguerite on her heels.
“I can’t believe the bad luck we’ve been having. First the fire, and then the doughnuts, and now a car accident!” Merry shook her head with dismay as she reached Elspeth and took her hand in both of hers. “I nearly fainted when G.G. carried you in all covered with blood. Thank goodness it was mostly show and you just suffered a knock on the head. But you did take your time waking up.”
Elspeth turned her head back to Wyatt, who grimaced so that only she could see it.
“G.G. had to carry you because of my feet, of course,” he said in a growl that showed his displeasure at not being able to carry her in himself. Wyatt probably also wasn’t pleased because then G.G. would have had to carry him in to keep up the pretense that his feet were still recovering from the burns he received in the fire.
“G.G.’s okay, then?” she asked in a whisper to avoid the pain she’d suffered the first time she’d spoken.
“Yes, I am,” a voice as deep as Wyatt’s announced, and Elspeth looked to the left side of the bed to find the giant man seated in a chair. He smiled at her solemnly, and added, “Thanks to you.”
“Yes, G.G. told us how he forgot to do up his seat belt and you reminded him to buckle up just before the accident,” Meredith announced with a sigh. “He was so lucky you were there to remind him. He could have died.”
Elspeth supposed they couldn’t have told the woman that she’d jumped on him and played human airbag for the man during the crash.
“Thank you,” G.G. said sincerely. “I got knocked out, and had a small bump after the accident, but that’s all.”
Elspeth nodded, relieved to find the action didn’t cause pain to scream through her head as it had when she’d last woken up. Her eyes widened abruptly, and she turned her head back to Wyatt. “Paul?”
“Yes, we managed to get him the boxes after the accident,” he said reassuringly, his eyes darting to his grandmother and back, and then he added meaningfully, “He’s all taken care of. Three of Mortimer’s men helped him in one little exercise.”
Elspeth frowned slightly, wondering if he was saying what she thought he was. Had they performed a three-on-one on the man? Wiping his mind clean and leaving him a blank
slate? Or possibly a drooling idiot? It could go either way with mortals. But no one deserved it more than Paul Albrecht, the homicidal psycho . . . wanting to kill his mother, kill her, kill everyone in the house. Honestly, she should have taken a bite out of his neck, a big one.
“I’m very glad you are all right, Elspeth,” Aunt Marguerite said, drawing her gaze. “We’ve all been very worried.”
Elspeth smiled faintly.
“But now I think I’m going to drag Meredith downstairs and ply her with dinner. It must be ready by now, Merry, and you did say you were hungry just a moment ago,” she added.
“Oh yes.” Meredith frowned, looking torn. She obviously didn’t want to leave Elspeth so soon after her waking, but then her stomach growled, and loudly.
Smiling, Elspeth squeezed Meredith’s hands. “Go on and eat. I’ll still be here when you’re done.”
Smiling, Meredith bent and kissed her cheek affectionately. “Very well, then. But I’ll be quick . . . and I’ll bring you something when I return. Do you think you could manage to keep down food?”
“I’m sure I could,” Elspeth told her solemnly.
“Good. You just rest, then, and I’ll return soon,” Meredith said, setting her hand down and patting it before turning to start making her way to the door.
Marguerite bent then to kiss her forehead and whispered, “I’m glad you’re recovered and awake. I love you.”
“I love you too, Aunt Marguerite,” Elspeth murmured as the woman straightened.
Nodding, Marguerite turned and quickly caught up to Meredith. The two walked out of the room together.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you too,” G.G. announced, standing up and smiling at her when Elspeth turned to him. “I have to get to The Night Club and prep for opening. I just wanted to make sure you were good before I did.”
“Thank you, G.G.,” Elspeth murmured. “I’m very glad you’re okay. I was worried about the head knock on the roof as we rolled over. I hadn’t thought to cover the top of your head.”
“It’s all good. I’m hardheaded, as my mother would tell you,” he assured her.
Elspeth snorted at the claim. “Your mother would tell me no such thing. She thinks you’re an angel.”
“Yeah, she does,” he agreed with a chuckle. “I’ve got her fooled, huh?”
Elspeth just shook her head with amusement.
“I’ll come see you again tomorrow,” he said, walking around the bed. “Or you could come see me at The Night Club, even. Your drinks are on the house there for life. At least, my life.”
He was out the door before she could reply.
“How do you feel?”
Elspeth turned to peer at Wyatt and smiled. “Good. My throat’s a little sore, and my mouth dry, but I’m much better than I felt the last time I woke up.”
Wyatt was off the bed at once and pouring her a glass of water from a pitcher on the bedside table. There were two glasses, she noted, and he poured himself some water too, but left it there for now. Settling on the bed next to her, he slid an arm under her shoulders and urged her up as he placed the rim of the glass against her lip.
Elspeth wanted to tell him she could do this herself, but the moment she opened her mouth, he tipped water in. She gulped it down, and closed her eyes with relief as it soothed her mouth and throat.
“I love you.”
Elspeth blinked her eyes open and peered at him wide-eyed. “I—”
“I nearly died when I came through the door and saw that bastard shoot you through the heart.”
That made her frown, and she asked, “Where was I? How did you find me? What happened after he shot me? No, wait,” she said suddenly. “First tell me if everyone was all right after the accident. What happened there?”
Wyatt hesitated, and then said, “Sam woke up before the rest of us and used Rachel’s phone to call Mortimer. I was the second to wake, and when I saw you were missing, and the blood trail through the grass . . .” He shook his head, his mouth tightening, but then took a deep breath and continued, “We were all awake by the time Mortimer’s men reached us. G.G. had the bump on the head and a headache, but seemed all right otherwise. Sam and I had a few bruises and banged our heads a bit in the roll, but were fine too.” He paused then before finishing, “Rachel was in a bad way though.”
Elspeth stiffened. Rachel had been in the front passenger seat, right in front of G.G. She’d been on the side that took the impact too. “How bad?”
“Her arm was nearly severed at the shoulder, and her right leg crushed. Mortimer’s men had to cut her out of the car.” He shook his head. “They were surprisingly quick at it.”
Elspeth nodded, not surprised. “Is she all right now?”
“Yes. She woke up this morning,” he assured her. “She’s already up and about and went home with Etienne, who made her promise never to work for Mortimer again in any other capacity except as a doctor.”
Elspeth smiled faintly at that.
“Two of Mortimer’s men brought Rachel straight back here. Fortunately, Grandmother was apparently in the kitchen and didn’t see. The rest of us went to the Enforcer House. I thought Mortimer would still have to track Paul’s phone, but then Sam remembered that you had her phone. They were able to pull up your exact location on a map on the computer.”
Elspeth nodded. “I know the program. I’ve seen him use it for other hunters. It’s awesome.”
“Yeah,” Wyatt agreed, and then grimaced and said, “You were in an abandoned building on the edge of the city. Albrecht had rigged up some kind of battery and a desk lamp for light.”
“That was a desk lamp?” she asked with disbelief. “I thought it was going to burn my eyeballs out.”
“It looked like a desk lamp, but I think he had a spotlight bulb in it. Not sure how he rigged it up though. It was actually pretty impressive. The guy was brilliant I think. It’s just too bad he . . .”
“. . . was a homicidal psycho with matricide on the mind?” she suggested.
“Yeah,” Wyatt said with a grin, and then sighed and continued, “Anyway, I wanted to charge in, but Mortimer insisted on a plan. Surrounding the place, yada yada,” he said with disgust. “If we’d just rushed in we would have got to you before he shot you,” he added sharply, and then cleared his throat and said, “Fair warning. I might have said some pretty choice words to Mortimer about that and . . . stuff, after I got you safely back here.”
“Stuff?” she asked with interest.
“I might have maybe punched him . . . a time or two,” he admitted with a grimace. “I was a bit upset.”
Elspeth bit her lip to keep from grinning at the words. Wyatt had always seemed so in control of himself since she’d met him. He’d seemed steady and commanding to her as he’d acted as bodyguard. And the way he’d pushed them both to the limit over and over while making love, and then pulled back, just to do it over again . . . She really didn’t think most new life mates could have maintained the control to do that. But while he seemed in control of himself and the situation, he never tried to control her, or make her do anything she didn’t want. That was part of the reason she loved him, Elspeth thought, and then blinked as she realized what she was thinking.
Loved him? Did she? Elspeth bit her lip. Yes, she did. He was polite, kind, gentle, yet strong and commanding, and she suspected would handle any situation thrown at him with calm reason . . . well, everything except Mortimer making him wait long enough for her to get shot, she thought with a smile.
“I’ll have to apologize to him, I suppose,” Wyatt muttered now. “Planning was the smart move. We had no idea what kind of situation we were running in to.” Sighing, he nodded. “Yeah, I’ll apologize.”
Elspeth liked that about him too. He apologized when he thought he was wrong. And she’d also been impressed when he’d had no problem acknowledging that she, Alex, and Sam, as immortals, were stronger than him. He hadn’t even seemed to mind. Most men would have been uncomfortable with that
, she was sure, but Wyatt was confident enough to accept it without issue. He was a man well worth loving.
“Anyway, we rushed in just as he shot you. Mortimer and some hunter named Rickart got to Paul first, and I rushed to you.”
“And they performed a three-on-one on Paul?” she asked.
“You did understand what I was trying to tell you,” he said with amusement. “Anyway, Mortimer had the men take him back to the cells behind the Enforcer House. The Council was called in last night, and apparently ordered a three-on-one done on him. Of course, I didn’t know what that was until Marguerite explained.”
Elspeth nodded and they both fell silent for a moment, and then Wyatt lifted her glass and asked, “More water?”
She nodded, but took it from him this time and handled the glass on her own, so Wyatt took the other glass, walked around the bed and slid in next to her.
“You’re lucky it was me and not Meredith who walked in and caught you on your feet, Wyatt.”
Elspeth glanced over at that comment and smiled at Lissianna as she entered the room.
“Mom wanted me to ask if you two are interested in food now, or . . .”
“I can wait for Merry to come back,” Elspeth assured her when her voice trailed off.
“Me too,” Wyatt agreed.
Lissianna nodded, but didn’t leave right away. Instead, she dithered briefly, and then heaved a sigh and said, “And I’m to ask you if you feel up to speaking to your father?”
Elspeth stiffened in the bed. “Dad?”
Lissianna nodded. “Uncle Aloysius arrived just before they brought you back after you were shot. He was quite upset when he saw the shape you were in when G.G. carried you into the house,” she added gently. “He wants to see you, but if you don’t feel up to it . . .”
Elspeth delayed answering by drinking her water. She was worrying about why he was there. Was he going to try to guilt her into returning to England to please her mother? Her father had always done what he could to make her mother happy, and had almost always been on her mother’s side. Would he be this time too? The only way to find out was to speak to him, she supposed, and finished her water before saying, “I’ll see him.”