Entwined

by Elisabeth Naughton

  The truth closed in around her, splintering the fantasy she’d been building. Their son was still missing. They’d wasted precious time here, making love, when they should have been searching for him. And to top it off, Isadora—Callia’s half-sister and Zander’s fiancée—was downstairs right this minute, probably wondering what the hell was going on in this very room.

  She pushed gently against his shoulders. “I have to get up, Zander. I need to take a shower.”

  Slowly, he moved up onto his hands. When he lifted his head, his eyes were sleepy, his hair mussed. And though it made no sense, something about him looked…different. Calmer. More at peace than she’d ever seen him. “Trying to wash me off already?”

  She stared at him, tried to pinpoint what it was that had changed in the last few minutes, but couldn’t. They’d made love numerous times before, and yeah, sex relaxed him. But not like this. This was…something else.

  When his brow furrowed, she gave herself a mental shake, refocused and slipped out from beneath him. “No, I’m just remembering why I came to the human realm in the first place.”

  He rolled to his side to watch her, perched his elbow on the bed and his head on his hand. “How did you get here, anyway?”

  She turned a slow circle as she lifted her camisole straps back into place. “I came with Casey and Isadora.”

  “All three of you are here? How?”

  “We came through a secret portal Isadora knew about.”

  “Where?”

  “In the mountains.”

  His lips turned down. “There are witches in those mountains.”

  She caught the disapproval in his voice but somehow knew he wasn’t going to lecture her about her actions. Which didn’t fit. Because Zander always told everyone what he wanted them to do.

  Weird.

  She glanced around, again wondered what had changed in him and why, but was distracted when she spotted her clothes. She stooped to pick them up. “The others are probably wondering where we are. I don’t think it would be a good idea to go back downstairs smelling like sex after they knew I was coming up to tear into you. And I especially don’t want to smell like your sex in front of Isadora.”

  She spotted the bathroom and headed that way. “I’ll be quick,” she said over her shoulder.

  She closed the bathroom door and took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking, her nerves a hot coil beneath her skin. Quickly she flipped on the shower, stripped the camisole over her head and stepped beneath the hot spray.

  The heat immediately relaxed her. She closed her eyes, tipped her head back so the water hit at her chest. Tried not to let her brain wander, but even she knew it was inevitable. The pain at what her father had revealed stole her breath. She ducked her face under the water. The memory morphed into her conversation with Casey and Isadora, then coming here to find Zander, and her taking out all her anger and frustration over everything on him.

  She wasn’t going to do this again. Wasn’t going to fall into the same mistakes she’d made before. He’d loved her? Did it even matter anymore? The only thing that mattered now was finding their son. The rest of it—her heart pinched—the rest was not important.

  Cool air washed over her, and too late she realized the shower door had opened and closed while she’d been caught in her musings. She whipped around to see Zander moving under the spray toward her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I decided your shower was a good idea.”

  Panic pushed at her chest. She stepped backward in an attempt to get away, but he seemed to eat up all the space in the small stall. “Okay, then wait outside. I’ll be done in a minute.”

  Amusement crossed his handsome face. “Why are you all of a sudden shy? I’ve seen you naked before, thea.”

  “I’m not shy,” she said, stepping back again. Her spine hit the tile wall. “I just like my privacy, that’s all. I said I’d be done in a minute. Then the shower’s all yours.”

  “I like sharing with you.” He reached for her arm.

  She rolled her shoulder to avoid his grasp. “Zander, please.” That panic clawed its way up her throat. She shifted her back more solidly against the wall. “Just wait outside.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  His fingers moved to her upper arm. “Callia, turn around.”

  She dug her heels in. Stared at his broad chest and the water running down his tanned skin in rivulets. “No.”

  He tugged on her am, and even though she knew it was useless, she resisted. He pulled her around easily, though, until her back was plastered to his front and his arms were around her, locking her in. “That’s better, isn’t it?” he whispered in her ear.

  No. Water sprayed onto her chest and shoulders again. She closed her eyes. Wanted so badly just to forget the last ten years ever existed. But she couldn’t. “Zander, please—”

  “I saw the scars when you were injured,” he said softly. “You don’t have to be afraid for me to see them.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  She squeezed her eyes, wished she could have avoided this conversation altogether. “They’re…they’re not something I like people to see. They’re ugly.”

  He dropped his lips to her shoulder. Kissed her gently. “Nothing about you could ever be ugly.” As he lifted his head, he loosed his grasp, eased back, and she knew by the way her skin tingled that he was looking at her scars. Even though they’d faded to nothing more than thin white lines, she still felt them. Every day. And she knew what they looked like. “When I think about what they did to you—”

  “They didn’t do anything I didn’t ask for. It was my choice.”

  His silence confirmed what she knew he was feeling. And okay, yeah. This was why she didn’t want to be having this conversation. That pain she lived with every day, the pain she pushed down so she could get by, came thundering back.

  “I—No one forced me, Zander.” This, at least, she wanted to make sure he understood. “I volunteered for the cleansing ritual.”

  “Why?” he asked in a shocked voice.

  It made so much more sense in her head than it ever would in words. “Because it seemed like the right thing to do. Because—I thought—I owed my father for risking his position to take care of me. Because…” She shrugged, looked down at the strong arms still wrapped around her. “I wanted to forget.”

  He was silent so long, she thought he hadn’t heard her. Then he dropped his forehead against the side of her head and whispered, “Thea.”

  Thea. The word twisted the knife in her heart. Why couldn’t she let him go? After all this time? Even now, when she was smart enough to know they had absolutely no future together and that this—them—was destructive, why wasn’t she letting him go like she should?

  “This,” he said, letting go of her waist with one arm and drawing his hand to her back. “This is mine now.” He laid his palm over her scars, and warmth gathered beneath his skin, spreading into hers as he spoke. “I can’t make you forget, but I can take away the burden. It’s mine, thea. Not yours.”

  His heat warmed the coldest space inside her, but she shook her head. “You don’t understand. I didn’t want to forget what happened, Zander. I wanted to forget you. I wanted to forget how I felt about you.”

  Silence fell between them. Tension turned the air thick.

  “Is this your way of telling me you finally did?” he whispered.

  “No. I didn’t. I never have. That’s the problem. It didn’t work.” Tears—hot tears she’d tried to keep back—burned her eyes. “Pain isn’t freeing. It’s just one more reminder of what you’ve lost. And now all I have are these ugly scars. That’s what I’ll have when this is all over. Whether we find our son or not. After you bind yourself to—”

  She closed her mouth when she realized how bitter she sounded. Wished like hell she’d just kept her mouth shut. Or kept her camisole firmly in p
lace.

  He turned her in his arms until the water hit at her spine and his fingers ran through her wet hair, tipping her face up to his. “Thea, open your eyes.”

  She did, and saw all the same emotions she felt reflected back in his eyes. His silver eyes, no longer stormy and gray but shimmering and surrounded by a halo of clear blue.

  “Zander, your eyes…”

  “I’m not binding myself to Isadora. When this is over you’ll have me. I’m yours, for as long as you want me. Even if you don’t want me anymore, I’m still yours. I only volunteered to marry Isadora because I thought I’d lost you. If I’d known there was a chance we would end up here, do you think I would have made that agreement?”

  He took her hand before she could answer, placed it over his chest until she felt the rhythmic thump of his heart beneath her palm. Then he took her other hand and placed it over her own heart. “Do you feel that?” he asked. “We’re linked together, you and me. This goes deeper than the fact that I love you. It’s more than just you being my soul mate. This is about us and the reason I’ve never been able to let go of you either.” He moved in closer, and warmth closed around her as she felt her heart beating in time with his. “There’s more, thea. No matter what happens today, tomorrow, there’s more ahead for us. You are my life. This story doesn’t end here. Not unless we let it.”

  His words touched her more than his earlier admission that he’d once loved her. Tears spilled out over her eyelashes, tracked down her cheeks before she could stop them. Gently, he lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. Once. Twice. As softly as if he were touching the most fragile glass. “Thea,” he whispered against her mouth. “Don’t let this end here.”

  Oh, gods. She’d always been powerless against him. He was right; the connection he spoke of was deeper than even she understood. And she was so tired of fighting it. Of fighting this. Them. What she’d always wanted.

  Her lips moved under his as she kissed him back. And even though a small voice in the back of her head warned this was wrong, that eventually she’d get hurt again, that things never worked out for her, she couldn’t help herself. She twined her arms around his neck, tipped her head, rose on her toes as she tasted him and he tugged her close so they were locked tight together, chest to hip. He groaned into her mouth, changed the angle of the kiss, nudged her back toward the shower wall. Water sprayed up around them as his hand ran down her backside to draw her closer still.

  “Thea. I can’t get enough of you.”

  She couldn’t get enough of him either. She rose up, kissed his nose, his cheek, his mouth all over again. And though she knew the others were downstairs, that they were probably talking strategy, that she and Zander needed to be there, right now she just needed him.

  She lifted her leg, slid her thigh up his to hook around his hip so he could settle between her legs. “Zander…”

  The low growl in his throat told her he needed the same thing. He nipped at her earlobe as he pushed his hips playfully against hers. “Thea…”

  The door to the bathroom opened with a slap of wood against wall. Zander stiffened, dropped her leg and moved his body in front of hers so whoever came through couldn’t see her.

  “Shit, Z. There you are.”

  Callia recognized Titus’s voice even though she couldn’t see around Zander’s broad shoulders.

  “Get the hell out of here, Titus,” Zander growled.

  “Oh, crap.” Shoes squeaked on the tile floor, and then Titus’s voice came out muffled, as if he’d turned away. “I didn’t expect you to be so, ah, dirty that you’d need more than one shower.” Humor filled Titus’s voice. “Hey, Callia.”

  Zander’s scowl deepened as he looked down at her, and for some reason, the absurdity of the situation lightened Callia’s mood. “Hey, Titus.”

  Zander rolled his eyes. “Okay, you’ve had your fun, Titus. Now get the fuck out.”

  Callia studied Zander, who still hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Though he was clearly irritated with Titus’s interruption, there was no heat behind the words. And that temper that seemed to come and go with him was nowhere to be seen.

  She focused on his newly silver irises.

  “I will,” Titus said, sobering. “But I thought you both might want to know. Nick’s scouts brought in a human. A trucker they found up in the northern country. Daemon attack. He’s badly injured, but he’s mumbling something about a boy who helped him get away. One he picked up hitchhiking in British Columbia.”

  Callia’s smile faded, and a strange sense of foreboding raced through her chest. She knew Zander felt it as well, by the way his expression hardened.

  Zander turned to look through the frosted glass toward Titus, careful to keep his body between hers and Titus’s. And when he did, Callia spotted the scars on his upper back. Thin, faded white lines. Ones she was sure hadn’t been there when she’d operated on him. Ones that were eerily familiar.

  Wait a minute. What the heck is going on here?

  “How old?” Zander asked.

  “About ten.”

  Titus’s answer was all she heard. Callia’s eyes darted from the scars on Zander’s back to his face when he turned. It couldn’t be…

  “And Z,” Titus added, “get ready for this. The guy…the human? He says the kid had markings on his arms. Markings that look just like ours.”

  Urgency pushed at Zander as he and Callia headed down the long corridor. After Titus left, they’d quickly dressed. Callia hadn’t spoken, but her nerves showed on her face, and he felt her anxiety all the way to his bones.

  His boots echoed as they descended the stairs to the main level and turned to the back stairs that ran down to the medical clinic deep beneath the lodge itself. As the colony was built into large caverns hidden deep in the Cascade Mountains, the air was cool. Candles every ten feet lit the space to save power, and the rock absorbed all sound, making it seem deserted.

  At the bottom of the stairs, Callia turned left toward the conference rooms where Nick plotted war strategy with his soldiers, but Zander tugged on her hand, still tucked tightly into his. “They’re this way.”

  “How do you know? I left them down here.”

  “Because the medical facility is this direction.”

  Her expression was easy to read. The crease between her eyebrows said she didn’t understand how he would know that. And when her face softened, he knew she’d figured out he’d been here when she was injured. And that he hadn’t left her side.

  Which was weird because she’d been a closed book the whole time they were together. He’d never known what she was thinking. What she was feeling. But now she was finally letting him in.

  “I think,” she said softly, “I never thanked you for saving my life.”

  He moved forward to brush the hair back from her face and press a kiss to her forehead. “I will make this right, thea.” He tipped her chin with his finger. “No matter what happens, believe that.”

  Resolve settled in her eyes. She breathed deep. Nodded.

  He squeezed her hand and led her to the medical rooms. Mumbled voices echoed their way as they turned a corner. Ahead a doorway to the left was open, fluorescent light spilling into the dark corridor. Theron’s broad shoulders filled the space just inside the door.

  The leader of the Argonauts turned when he heard their footsteps. “Z.” His questioning dark eyes flicked briefly to Callia as Zander pulled her into the room after him, but Zander didn’t let go of her hand. “We were just about to send a search party out for you.”

  “Where is he?” Zander asked, ignoring Theron’s sarcasm. He looked toward another open door on the right wall. The sounds of machinery whirring and beeping met his ears.

  “In the other room,” Titus said. “The colony’s healer is with him.”

  “I want to see him,” Callia said. “Maybe I can help.”

  Zander glanced her way, then back at Titus. “Is he conscious?”

  Theron nodded. “He was earlier.”<
br />
  Callia let go of Zander’s hand and headed across the room. Zander followed through a doorway that led into a high-tech hospital room.

  Wires and tubes ran from the man’s arms to machines behind his bed. An oxygen mask covered his face, and bandages were wrapped around just about every exposed piece of skin on his body. Judging from the amount of damage, the guy was lucky to be alive.

  Callia moved closer to the bed. Nick stood on one side looking down at the human while Lena checked the machines on the other side.

  “How’s he doing?”

  Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “How would you be doing after being someone’s lunch?”

  Lena flicked Nick a withering look. Then glanced at Callia. “He’s stable. For now. But I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to talk to him. He just dropped off, and the drugs have hit him hard. Even if he could talk, nothing he has to say would be any help to you now.”

  Frustration washed over Callia’s features. “What did he say happened? What about the boy?”

  Pity crept into Nick’s amber eyes. “He picked the kid up somewhere in British Columbia. They parked it at a truck stop just over the summit of Mount Hood.” He glanced Zander’s way. “There’s a small Misos settlement there, so we patrol the region. Somehow it looks like they walked in on an attack.”

  “What happened to the boy?” Callia asked. “Was the boy with him?”

  The panic in her voice clawed at Zander. He stepped up behind her, placed his hands on her upper arms.

  “From what my soldiers got out of him,” Nick said, “the kid told him the monsters were there for him.”

  Callia turned and shot Zander a look, and in her eyes he saw the same thing he felt. Fear. Urgency. The last threads of hope. Except he had a dark feeling he knew where this was going.

  “So he got away,” Callia said, twisting back to Nick. “The boy got free?”

  “No,” Zander answered before Nick could, his heart dropping. The feeling that Nick was more closely linked to the Argonauts than anyone understood washed through Zander as he read the truth on the scarred half-breed’s face.