Saol Mates (Primani Book Six)

by Laurie Olerich

  Aisling tapped her arm with a frown. “So, are we good now? You’ve got that scowl between your eyes again. Now what?”

  “Just a strange feeling—that’s all.” Leaning closer to Ais, she lowered her voice to ask, “Are we positive this place is still demon proofed?”

  “What?” Aisling started in surprise and swung her head around to scope out the patio. Her expression turned grim as she rose gracefully, saying, “I’m sure it is, but I’ll check it out.”

  After ducking into the apartment, she reappeared a few minutes later with her Primani blade in her fist. “I’ll take a look around. Sean Michael? Baby, come away from the wall for a minute. Why don’t you come and sit with your Aunt Rori and keep her company?”

  “Sure, Mom. I’ll keep her safe.” Sean Michael cast one last backwards glance into the sky and strode over to the couch.

  Patting the cushion beside her, Rori smiled at his serious little face. Just like his daddy . . .

  She held her breath while Aisling walked around the patio walls. When nothing leapt out at her with claws and fangs, Rori relaxed. She was really twitchy, but there wasn’t anything to point a finger at so she tried to fill the nervous silence with conversation. “So since you’re so full of wisdom today, I want to run something by you. Tell me what you think about this. It’s not a crisis or anything, but things keep getting more complicated and it’s making me crazy.”

  Aisling finished her walk around and came back to the seating area. “Everything seems okay to me. I didn’t sense any dark energy other than Af’s. I think we’re fine. So go ahead and ask.”

  “Is it possible for me to suddenly start getting new psychic abilities? I understand the retrocognition. I do. It makes sense to me now and I’ve learned to use those visions to help Dec and Sean. But I’ve been having other dreams that don’t seem like past events. Sometimes they’re almost like snatches of someone else’s life like the massacre in that jungle I told you about last week. It meant nothing to Dec. No one has said anything to me about it being true. Was it just a random dream? If not, is this some kind of new ability I’m developing? Maybe I’m not doing it right or maybe I’m not strong enough to process it. I just don’t know what to think.”

  Aisling considered Rori’s words as she gazed at Sean Michael. The boy’s back was ramrod straight, his head lifted, still watching the sky, still watching over them. After a few seconds, she explained, “Today’s your lucky day because I think I know the answer to that. Psychic abilities are not finite. Just because you have one power today, doesn’t mean you won’t have others manifest over the course of your lifetime. Each psychic is different. Some people only discover a single ability while others continually discover more and more. It’s not surprising that you’re changing. It’s called evolution, love. Or maybe enlightenment is a better word here. You’ve been practicing and stretching your limits over the past couple of years; all that work fires up your pretty little neurons, right?”

  She nodded with a half a smile at the pretty little neurons description.

  Aisling slipped fully into teaching mode with a grin. “You told me you and Dec have been playing those dream games and you’ve been delving more and more deeply each time. Connecting your subconscious to his is a major big deal and not done easily even by our kind. It takes a lot of juice from both of you and a saol bond that amplifies everything. Have you forgotten that Dec’s not simply Primani now? Michael changed him. He’s got more celestial mojo than the rest of us. When his gorgeous brain’s connected to yours, how farfetched would it be for him to unlock more of your abilities?”

  “Like an antenna?”

  Wrinkling her nose at the description, Aisling disagreed. “I was thinking more along the lines of a jump start to your underdeveloped neurons. Sort of like a zap of electrical current that wakes them up and gets them firing.” She shrugged and said, “That’s how I see your changes. I think you’ll be evolving more if you keep connecting with him that way. And as an interesting bonus, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t see some changes too. If you can evolve, so can he. You’ll have to ask him if he’s had any weird visions or anything odd.”

  “Mom! He’s coming! Check it out!” Sean Michael’s face lit up before he launched himself from the couch to land just in front of Sean’s filthy boots while they were in the middle of rematerializing. Springing forward, he tackled Sean around the waist, yelling, “Dad!”

  Sean wrapped him in a huge hug while Sean Michael yelled, “I stuck the landing! Did you see that?”

  Sean’s tired smile was full of pride as he bumped fists with Sean Michael. “You damn sure did! Very impressive. Have you been keeping an eye on the ladies? Everything . . . okay?”

  Sean Michael snapped to attention with a crisp salute and a ferocious scowl that couldn’t hide the twinkle in his eyes. “Yes, sir! All women are present and accounted for, but you look rough. Did your op go south?”

  “Long story, kiddo. I’ll have to—” The cough started with a throat clearing and then escalated to a fit that left him wheezing and hunched over.

  Aisling caught him around the middle and steadied him. “Baby, are you all right? Just breathe for a minute.”

  Sean looked horrible. He was filthy dirty and reeked of smoke. Every inch of bared skin was lobster red and swollen under the layers of soot that were glued to him by gallons of sweat. His t-shirt was soaked and torn in three places; his boots were caked with so much mud she didn’t know how he could walk. He had a long, nasty scrape across one cheek and vicious-looking scratches all over his hands and arms. That had to hurt like crazy.

  As the brutal coughing tapered off to a tense silence, Rori asked cautiously, “Where’s Dec?”

  “Rori.” The light in Sean’s eyes dimmed with pain as he took a step towards her, hand outstretched and shaking. “He’s not coming—”

  She cut him off. “What happened? Where is he? Is he okay?”

  Shaking his head from side to side, he reached for her hand again and this time she let him hold it. Clutching it to his chest, he opened his mouth and snapped it closed again. His face twisted in a pained grimace as he tried to control the urge to cough again, but that wasn’t working. His next breath turned into a hacking, retching, coughing attack that left his eyes streaming with tears.

  “Shit!” he managed to gasp out before bending at the waist and lurching towards the wall where he threw up all over the potted jasmine. Leaning weakly against the trellis, he sneezed violently before reeling away from the flowers, gasping for air.

  “Good God, baby! What on earth happened? Where is the rest of the team? Dec? Killian?” Aisling draped her arm around him and led him to a stone bench where Sean Michael immediately perched. “Come on, Sean. Sit down before you fall down. You could really use an oxygen mask. It would help you breathe.”

  Sean Michael said, “I’m on it,” and vanished.

  Poof!

  She blinked. Blinked again. Nope. Still no Sean Michael. “What the hel—”

  A second later, he was back.

  In his hot little hands? A portable oxygen tank on wheels, of course.

  Aisling’s expression was so comical that Rori couldn’t stop the burst of laughter. She looked like she’d swallowed a bug. If it wasn’t freaky enough that the kid just teleported and retrieved medical supplies from God only knew where, he knew how to set it up and was quickly and efficiently putting it all together while they gaped in shock. Except for Sean, who was too busy gasping for air to actually gape in shock.

  “Here you go, Dad. You breathe into it like normal.” He slipped the strap around the back of Sean’s head and adjusted it before announcing he was turning on the gas.

  Aisling finally recovered her wits enough to remember she was his mother. With hands on her hips, eyes narrowed to slits, she used her best mom voice. “Sean Michael O’Cahan! Would you like to explain what just happened here, young man?”

  With completely guileless baby blues, he considered her gravely for
a moment and said, “It was a gift from the big angel.”

  “Grandpa Raphael?”

  He shook his head and said, “Not Grandpa. It was the cool one named Af. He came to me in my dream. He told me I would need to do this to help Dad. He also said that he was wrong about Aunt Rori.”

  Rori didn’t like the sound of that. “Did he say what he meant?”

  Meeting her serious gaze, he covered his mouth with the back of his curled hand, but finally couldn’t hold back a huge, glorious smile that filled his eyes with mischief. “He said you wouldn’t be so dirty if you let Uncle Dec scrub you. Uncle Dec has the key to your lock. And then he said, “Yin and Yang,” but I don’t know what that meant either.”

  “What? That makes no sense at all!” The double meaning may or may not have been lost on Sean Michael, but she blushed anyway. Typical Af! Still acting like a jerk even when he’s gone. If it was a million years before she saw him again, it would be too soon.

  While they were talking, Sean had gone very still. Was he sleeping? Oh, no, he isn’t! “Sean! Wake up! Where is Dec?”

  Aisling nudged him awake none too gently. “Sorry, baby, you’ll have to sleep later. What’s going on? Is everything okay now? What have you guys been doing?”

  He sat up, blinked, and scrubbed his hand over his scruffy jaw before yawning hugely. “Sorry. I’m dead on my feet. It was all I could do to travel here. The smoke’s from the fire. We had to do a controlled burn to fix Af’s disaster. He lost his shit and blew up a chunk of the Catskills. Looked like a friggin’ meteor landed there. There was no way to explain what happened to the trees, so we set a fire to burn all of the evidence. It took all morning to keep the fire on target without the locals getting involved. We wound up finding the ruins of a house and had to wade through the debris to search for bodies. I swear my lungs are full of ash.” Coughing some more, he pushed himself upright to go spit over the side of the roof. “Shit, that’s nasty.”

  She was about to slap the crap out of Sean in another five seconds. “I take it Dec isn’t dead or you would’ve mentioned that?”

  Chapter 23: Saol Mates

  Two weeks later.

  THE STARS AND PLANETS WERE finally in alignment. The universe, Mother Nature, and maybe even God, had finally gotten on the same sheet of music. Gramercy Park was hushed but for the optimistic birds that chirped and cooed from their rooftop perches. The sweet perfume of jasmine and roses drifted in the air as a gentle breeze cooled the twilight. A thousand delicate white twinkle lights floated over the brick and wrought iron walls, surrounding the garden with a sense of ethereal magic. Squat, round candles were scattered over the patio tables while a cheerful fire flickered in the pit. Chopin tinkled in the background.

  There was only one thing missing to make this fairy tale scene complete.

  “Dec, you probably don’t need me to point this out, but you seem to be missing your bride.” Killian didn’t even try to hide the amusement in his voice.

  “Shut up. You’re not helping.”

  Killian’s smile broadened as he readjusted the black silk bowtie at Dec’s throat. “Stop screwing with this. You’re ruining your look.”

  Per orders from his fiancé, all of them were rocking black tuxes with crisp white shirts and black bowties. He would have worn anything Rori wanted. Hell, he’d have shown up naked if that’s what she wanted. He would have given her the most extravagant wedding known to man, but her lovely heart only yearned for an intimate, classy ceremony filled with their family. She didn’t want to make a big fuss, but he wanted to make it as special as possible, so they were dressed to the nines in their tuxes with cufflinks and everything. They’d even shaved—twice—just in case.

  For the third time in as many minutes, he smoothed his sweaty palms over his thighs and fingered the guitar pick in his pocket. She’d be here. He knew that, but deep inside, he was still shaking with nerves. They’d been through the wringer already and they’d made it out the other side stronger than ever. He missed her so much his chest ached. He felt broken without her beside him; incomplete, a little lost. She was his everything. She’d be here. She had to be. He couldn’t stand the alternative.

  Ambling up with Keil at his side, Sean handed him a shot glass and raised his in a toast. “To happily ever after; may it actually start tonight . . . Otherwise, we’re going to have to buy more candles and pay a late charge on these monkey suits.”

  Clinking glasses automatically, they swallowed the bourbon and lapsed into a comfortable dude silence, each lost in their own thoughts as the clock ticked. If it weren’t for the stress making him mental, he would have had to admit this was a pretty amazing scene. Everyone was dressed up and beautiful for the first time he could remember. Even better, all the kids were together and not squabbling over anything. The four boys were content playing a game of who can levitate the dogs the highest. Poor Loki and Winchester weren’t happy with floating and cried for help. Next to the couch, Princess Domino held court with Rambo hiding behind her back; his eyes trained on the boys’ every move. Dressed like a fairy princess herself, pretty baby Teagan sat in a playpen near the dogs, happily chattering away. Domino listened politely and wagged her tail every now and then.

  His godkids were awesome. He wanted a passel of his own kids someday. Maybe he was selfish, but he wasn’t in a huge hurry for babies. There was so much of the world that he wanted to show Rori; so many things he wanted to do with her before they had to settle down and raise a family. When that day finally came, Rori was going to be an amazing mother—assuming she showed up for the wedding and they had sex again! Damn it! Where were the women? Resisting the urge to growl in frustration, Dec threw up his hands and demanded, “Is this payback, do you think? Is she making me worry on purpose?”

  His brothers all laughed at him. They were shitty wingmen. Sean shrugged casually, saying, “They’re at a five star spa on the French Riviera, dude. They’ve been waxed, dipped, massaged, polished, and painted. From what Ais has told me, I’m lucky she’s pregnant or she might not come back at all! They’re having a good time and that’s a good thing. They deserve it. Mica and Aisling have it all under control. Stop worrying. They’re probably still getting ready. Nails, hair, makeup. All that crap that women do for big events. Chillax, bro. She’s coming.”

  Killian finally said in between chuckles, “Dude, Rori knows that you stayed behind because Raphael asked you to. She understands what we do; why we’re here and all that. She’s not late because you didn’t show up with Sean. Give her more credit than that.”

  Now he did growl with frustration and dragged his hands through his hair again. “I know that. I’m just totally wigging out over here. What could they possibly be doing? They’re an hour late!”

  It was almost time to leave. Rori swallowed the knot of emotion clogging her throat and fingered the tendrils of hair that framed her face. The woman with huge, luminous eyes might have been a stranger. She didn’t recognize the radiant beauty in the opal silk gown. Pinned at the top of each shoulder by diamond and gold angel wings, the dress’ bodice plunged to her navel and left most of her back bare. Floating softly away from her hips, the iridescent silk shimmered and refracted the light like a prism. Her hair was piled atop her head with artfully arranged tendrils left loose. Instead of a traditional veil, the stylist had woven delicate gold chain through her hair. The effect was striking and more lovely than she’d ever imagined.

  She felt like a fairy princess. Twirling to watch her dress move, she marveled at her misty eyes. She’d never been happier. She’d never felt so treasured. Flanked by her two best friends, she managed a tremulous smile as they admired their reflections in the massive gilded mirrors. Mica and Aisling had chosen similar flowing gowns, but Mica wore gold silk while Aisling wore silver. The metallic fabric brought out the vivid blue of their eyes and shone beautifully in the chandeliers’ glow. Both wore their hair upswept in elegant styles like Rori’s.

  After a week of pampering in the private spa
, Rori was as moisturized, detoxed, rejuvenated, and beautiful as possible. The three of them had soaked in healing mineral springs, nibbled exquisite cheeses and sipped perfectly aged wines. Massages in the warm sun, skin-freshening facials, and long, relaxing walks through fields of lavender rounded out their stay. This trip had been Mica’s idea, but she suspected Dec had encouraged it. With promises that he would take care of all of the wedding details, he insisted she go.

  Now a week later, it was time to leave this fantasy and begin an even better one with her soul mate.

  Mica smiled at her in the mirror and said, “You look stunning, Rori.” Her voice caught with a hitch and she wiped the corner of her eye and sniffed. “So beautiful. Dec’s not going to know what hit him.”

  Aisling squeezed her hand hard enough to grind her knuckles together, her eyes suspiciously bright too. “I swore I wasn’t going to cry, but damn. I’m going to ruin my makeup if we don’t get out of here. It’s all these baby hormones.” She brought Rori’s hand to her mouth and pressed a hard kiss on the back. “You’re perfect exactly as you are right now. Dec wouldn’t want you any other way and neither would we. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “Oh, stop being so sweet and supportive! You’re going to make me cry all over myself.” Tears threatened again and she sniffed them back to force a laugh through the tightness in her throat. She was so blessed; so loved. It was almost overwhelming. She was going to cry all the way through her wedding if she didn’t find a way to stem the tide.

  “You know I’m an empath, right? Your emotions are about to knock me over, sweetie. I’m going to be bawling my eyes out in another minute if you don’t ease up.” Mica’s dry tone didn’t match the twinkle in her eyes or the gentle smile she gave to Rori.

  “I’m a damn mess, aren’t I? I’m just so happy I can’t stand it. I love you guys so much. Thank you for doing all of this for me. This week has been more special than I could’ve imagined.” She marveled at the extravagant gown and lowered her voice with renewed awe. “And this gown . . . and the angel wings . . . it’s so much more than I wanted and yet . . . it’s perfect. I’m so glad I let you talk me into it.” Pulling her gaze away from the mirror, she drew a steadying breath, asking, “Is it time to go yet?”