As I ate, my mind wandered back to the two occasions when Sebastian and I took a risk and skipped birth control. It was only twice. But even so, it was the last thing I’d ever normally do. Somehow, all my good sense went out of the window when it came to Sebastian.
But in all honesty… I’d enjoyed every second of our risky bareback encounters. There. I admitted it to myself. It had been incredible both times, because it was us.
We knew we were fated mates. It had been irresponsible, and yet I still wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Getting pregnant wasn’t in our life plan, that’s for sure. But this was a miracle. A tiny, impossibly perfect miracle.
How I hoped Sebastian would feel the same. If he lived long enough to find out.
Shutting my eyes, I allowed myself to remember how it had felt. The stunning sight of Sebastian’s naked chest looming over me. The look of his gorgeous face glowing with sweat, eyes heavily lidded. His hefty weight pressing me into the sand at the beach. The delicious, manly scent of his skin as I moaned in his ear. His massive hardness surging inside me…
I sighed. It had only been a few hours since he was taken from me, but already I felt empty away from him. Sebastian was my other half. It felt so wrong to be apart.
I vowed right then that I’d do anything to get him back. Whatever I had to do.
Rufus chomped carefully on a square of wholegrain toast, looking like he really wasn’t enjoying it. “So how far have you been with your family calls, Isabel? Can any of your white tiger relatives make it over here at top speed for a Grand Trine?”
Isabel sat in an armchair and rested her head on the back. “Oh, Rufus. It’s like herding cats. Literally like that. My family is hopeless. Actually, both our families, the Prowses and the Chases. Totally hopeless. I can’t get a single one of them over here. Even the ones who would usually do anything I ask are too far away to reach us quickly. And I’m not sure how long we have.”
Rufus nodded. “I very much doubt we have even twenty-four hours from the time Sebastian was taken. It’s eleven o’clock in the morning right now. How long has it been, Finola?”
I thought about it. “I guess it was about five-fifteen or five-thirty in the morning when Lavery took him away in the trunk.”
“Okay. He can’t have got very far with a magical ritual since then. These things take time to set up. We don’t know how far he planned to take Sebastian, but I very much doubt he prepared a ritual area in central Dublin. So he must be traveling out of the city, at least to some extent. We’ll need to research this.”
“I’ll call some magical contacts and see if anyone has any ideas about where they could be headed,” Isabel said, leaping up from her chair. “Locals will know more about the magical landscape. Finola, you just sit and let your breakfast digest for a little while. If you think of anything useful, just shout. But it’s important you rest for now. You’ve had a horrible shock and it’s not good for you or the baby.”
I felt miserable and useless, but did as Isabel said. It wasn’t like I even knew how to go about helping find Sebastian. Or how to rescue him.
At this point, we seemed to be backed up against a brick wall, no matter what we did.
Rufus patted my back reassuringly. “The best thing you can do is to protect yourself and Sebastian’s heir. That’s what he’d want you to do. You know I’m right, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
As I sat back and rested my legs, a wry thought occurred to me.
“What a shame Lavery didn’t wait another day for the baby to implant. We’d have had our three bloodline-related white tigers in the room after all. Sebastian, Isabel and baby makes three.” I laughed a small bitter laugh. “But now it’s all messed up. Just as the third tiger appears, away goes the first. It’s like a bad joke.”
The room fell silent so suddenly, it sounded like my hearing had cut out.
I looked up and saw Rufus and Isabel staring at me like I’d just sprouted wings.
“What, you guys? What?”
“Incredible!” said Rufus, a smile creeping across his face. “How did we miss this?”
“That’s it!” screamed Isabel, jumping up and down on the spot. “Baby makes three! Oh my god, Finola! The baby! Yes! We have three white tigers!”
33
Rufus high-fived me, looking triumphant.
Isabel danced a little skippy dance round in a circle, then hugged me forcefully.
I was taken aback. “What in hell are you so excited about?”
“We have our three tigers! You’re absolutely right!” shouted Rufus. “All we need to do is find Sebastian and we can do the Grand Trine. Isabel, Sebastian and the baby are all from the same bloodline. This is it! We can save him!”
Isabel was still hugging me with great enthusiasm. I was confused.
“This doesn’t make any sense. How is the baby going to join in the Grand Trine? It’s the size of a pinhead. That’s what you said, Isabel. It can’t say any magic words, can it?”
Isabel held my hands, her eyes shining with excitement. “You’ll say the words on the baby’s behalf. You’ll be the channel. It’s joined to you in utero, so you can act as its mouthpiece. I’ll teach you what to do and say, don’t worry. You, me and Sebastian. Three tigers from one bloodline. We can do this, Finola. I really think we can.”
“We haven’t found him yet,” Rufus reminded us. “But it should be possible if we get on to our magical contacts right now. There can’t be too many places in Ireland that are suitable for dark magic rituals. And if they’re going further afield… well, it’s more difficult, but someone will have seen them traveling. I have contacts at airports, both private and commercial. Either way, we’ve got a good shot here, Finola. Take heart.”
I wanted so badly for it to be true. I let them hug me and squeeze my shoulders. I even smiled.
But deep in my heart, I was terrified.
It wasn’t just that I feared for Sebastian’s life. Of course I was worried he might not last until we found him. But there was something else too.
My migraine visions had foretold my own death. That’s what Sebastian, Isabel and Lucas had known all along.
I wasn’t scared to die, on my own behalf. But now I had a baby inside me. Sebastian’s baby. Our baby.
If I died, the baby would die with me.
That alone broke my heart into tiny pieces.
But that wasn’t all. If the baby died, there could be no Grand Trine. Sebastian would be at Lavery’s mercy completely. We’d all perish, one way or the other.
So while I was thrilled to see Rufus and Isabel’s renewed sense of hope, I wasn’t so excited. A black cloud of worry hung over me.
But I didn’t want to spoil the air of positivity surrounding us. We were going to need that can-do attitude if we were going to find Sebastian. So I kept my fear to myself.
“Finola! You’re looking mighty glum. Are you picking up a sense of increased danger?” Isabel leaned over me with her hand on my forehead.
“No, not right now,” I said, truthfully. “I’m, uh, a little worried about this magic though. I have no experience at all. And it’s pretty important I get this right. Right?”
“Right,” said Rufus. “But Isabel can write down the exact wording and teach you how to perform it.”
Isabel nodded. “Totally. We’ll start right now.”
“I see you haven’t touched your coffee,” Rufus interrupted. “Would you like me to run downstairs for some decaf?”
I smiled. “That sounds great. Thank you. I mustn’t touch the real stuff now I’m…” I could hardly bring myself to say the word ‘pregnant’ yet. “It’s not good for the… for my baby. But I’d love a decaf latte.”
Rufus winked at me. “You’re mom of the year already. Isabel, I’ll fetch our blooming girl a latte fit for a tiger queen, and then I’ll hit the shower. By the time I get back, you’ll have mastered the spell. Right, Finola?”
I must have looked alarmed, because Isabel said “Don’t
pay any heed. You won’t master it instantly and that’s fine. We’ll take it at your pace.”
Once Rufus had gone, Isabel gestured to two armchairs facing a small coffee table. She held a pad of hotel notepaper and a pencil.
“I found this in the nightstand drawer. Let’s sit here. I’ll write down what you need to say and we’ll go through it line by line.”
Being on the spot like this reminded me why I never auditioned for school plays. I wasn’t too good at learning lines, or walking and talking exactly in pre-planned ways. It all felt like too big a mountain to climb.
As well as that, Isabel’s handwriting looked like a dragonfly had fallen into a pot of ink and danced across the page.
“I’m not sure I can read this,” I said, screwing up my eyes.
“Oh god, sorry. Typical doctor. My writing is dreadful. Okay, look. Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll say the words to you out loud and you write them down in your own handwriting.”
“You know them by heart?”
“Of course.”
“Do kid tiger shifters go to tiger school on a Saturday morning or something? I mean, is that how you learn about all this stuff?”
Isabel grinned. “I’ll let Sebastian tell you all about the proper rearing of tiger shifter cubs. After all, you’ll need to do that together soon.”
There was a short pause while we both pretended there wasn’t a very real chance of Sebastian not making it out to see his child.
“Okay. Here goes. You ready?”
“Yep.” I held the pen just over the paper. “Not too fast. You know, I could type it faster.”
“Hm, but we’re a little light on electronic devices right now. Lucas brought his laptop, but he took it with him to pick up Dahlia. I’m sure Sebastian’s work computer is in his room, but we wouldn’t know the password. Unless it’s ‘Finola’, which wouldn’t surprise me. I expect the hotel could rustle us up a spare laptop if we ask nicely?”
“I’ll just hand-write it. It’s fine.”
Rufus dropped back in with my decaf latte. Then he went back to his room to shower and change, while Isabel and I settled down for the transcription.
Isabel recited the incantation as slowly and carefully as she could. I wrote everything down, stopping her occasionally to get the spelling of a weird old word or two.
“Do I need to know what all this means? Some of this language is strange.”
“Yes, you’ll need to understand the meaning too. It’s important that the full force of the words comes through when you say them. Once we have a full written copy, we’ll go over it. After we’re finished, you’ll be right up to speed.”
I didn’t share her certainty. But I vowed to myself that I would give it my best shot.
Sebastian needed me. That was incentive enough.
It took forty minutes to get down the whole spell. It sounded ancient and magical, that was for sure. I had no idea what half of it even meant.
What the hell was “vainglorious” supposed to mean? Why was “blackguards” pronounced “blaggards”?
“Who even wrote all this in the first place?”
“It’s an ancient spell. Probably prehistoric. So the short answer is: I have no idea. Spells and incantations are passed down in speech form. They aren’t written down. So the language changes over time. This version of the Grand Trine is stuck in the nineteenth century, admittedly. If they were written down routinely, I could’ve just given you a printed copy. But we have no shifter spell books or anything.”
“So the Grand Trine spell works for all shifters?”
“Yeah, it works as long as the three casting the spell are from the same bloodline. Sebastian and I are extremely distant relatives, but it counts. We both have white tiger DNA and no other shifter blood. That seems to be enough for any magic requiring a bloodline connection.”
For the first time since Sebastian’s abduction, I allowed myself to feel hopeful for his return.
I wasn’t sure how I could ever learn this spell. And it seemed impossible to narrow down exactly where he could be.
But we were on our way forward. The page of text in front of me proved that. It lifted a small part of the crushing woe I’d been feeling.
By the time Rufus was back, groomed and fresh, we’d been through the whole thing a couple of times. My positive feelings had already started to droop. The latte hadn’t perked me up much. I missed caffeine already.
“How are we doing, ladies?”
“She’s making great progress,” Isabel said firmly.
“I’m not,” I wailed. “I’m horrible at it. Seriously, Isabel, what if I keep getting the words wrong? The spell won’t work, will it?”
Isabel shook her head slowly. “You’re not going to get the words wrong. You’ll tap into whatever magical heritage you possess and we’ll be fine.”
“But if I do jumble up all the words, like I keep doing? That’d be that? It wouldn’t work?”
She probably didn’t want to admit it, in case it spooked me. But eventually she had to.
“Yeah. The words have to be exact. The delivery tone has to be precise. Or it won’t work.”
“Delivery tone?” I was aghast. “I have to hit an exact tone of voice?”
“Try not to worry.”
“Try not to worry? Are you kidding me?”
Rufus called out “Sshhh” and held up a finger. He was taking a phone call. We fell silent.
He looked out of the window intently while the other person spoke. Pacing up and down, he started nodding.
“Mm-hm. Mm. Okay. Yep. Mm.”
I looked at Isabel. Was this news?
“Okay, thanks,” he said. “I appreciate the call.” Then he hung up.
“Was it one of your contacts? Do they know where Sebastian is?”
I couldn’t wait for him to tell us. I was poised to tear the news out of him if it took even a second too long to pass on.
“Not exactly. That was Lucas.”
Lucas had gone to collect my roommate, Dahlia, from London. Piers Lavery’s people had been intimidating and terrorizing her in our home.
Once it appeared that Lavery was dead, we had assumed they’d have a safe journey back.
Now we knew Lavery was very much alive. I shuddered to think what sort of trouble they might have run into on their way to Ireland.
“Are they both okay?” I said.
“Also,” Isabel added, “do they need us to collect them from the airport, or anywhere else?”
“I doubt it,” Rufus said. “They’re in Dublin already. They traveled the last part of the journey from the coast by road. I understand Lucas obtained a… er, motorcycle.”
I tried to imagine funny, kind, extrovert Dahlia on the back of a motorcycle. She’d look pretty damn great, actually.
“So they’re okay?”
“Apparently they had a somewhat difficult trip. I’m sure they’ll share the details when they get here. But, yes. It looks like they’re both in one piece. They’ll be here very soon.”
Isabel tapped the paper in my hand with her forefinger.
“Keep reading. We need you to know this stuff backwards.”
“There’s always a chance that exposing yourself to this ancient magic will help your visionary skills,” Rufus said. “Don’t suppose you’re getting any flashes of awareness about where they are?”
“I only ever had premonitions of my own death.”
I’d been trying to keep my worries to myself, but it had forced its way out. It was too late to un-say it.
Isabel lay her hand over mine in solidarity.
Then it hit me: the horror of realizing I could be facing Sebastian’s death first, as the entree. Then mine, for dessert.
I needed to change the subject, and fast.
But another worry had just swum to the front of my mind.
“Isabel, will the spell be safe for my baby?”
“Absolutely it will. A Grand Trine can’t hurt any of the participants. Not even
if they’re unborn. The whole point of a Grand Trine is to cast a powerful protection net around all members of the bloodline.”
“I’m not in the bloodline though, so I could still be killed while it’s in force. Right?”
“In theory. But that’s not going to happen.”
I shrugged. “The migraines don’t lie, though. Right? We both know I’m not going to make it much further through this adventure.”
“No!”
Rufus frowned. “No, Finola. I don’t believe that’s true.”
They protested and shook their heads, but it didn’t change the facts.
The visions I’d had, on and off my whole life, were about my death. Sebastian had admitted it himself.
Now I knew that, I could never forget it.
Before anyone could say another word, there was a knock at the door.
Rufus opened the door. Behind it, looking crumpled and grimy, stood Lucas and Dahlia.
“Hello, matey,” said Lucas. “Have we missed much?”
34
“Dahlia!” I shrieked, rushing to hug her.
“Babe!” she yelled back.
It was so wonderful to see Dahlia again. Especially now. I needed her support more than ever.
Tears beaded my eyes and the room went blurry.
Then again, I’d been crying an awful lot lately. Now I knew my hormones were all out of whack from the pregnancy, it wasn’t surprising.
Lucas ambled in behind her and shook Rufus’ hand. Isabel threw her arms round him.
“Kiddo! You made it! Just in the nick of time too.”
“We had a heck of a journey, Izzy,” said Lucas, throwing himself onto the bed.
“There’s something we need to tell you,” Isabel said, shooting Rufus a knowing look. “You might want to sit down.”
So Rufus and Isabel told Lucas and Dahlia all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to add anything. The lump in my throat would’ve made talking pretty hard anyway.
Lucas was ashen by the end. Dahlia looked horrified.
Once they’d gotten used to the idea, they started asking questions about it. Isabel and Rufus gave more detail where they could.
Tiger Billionaire: The Whole Story (BBW Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 22