“Which is it?”
She was stunning. He knew he was saying all the wrong things and making her angrier by the second but déithe, angry looked good on her. How was a man supposed to think in the face of that and talk himself out of the well his tongue was digging? “No, of course I don’t think that…it’s just…going back to Sheppard…he’ll…I don’t want you hurt, all right?”
Her features softened and Alexander’s heart melted, lost in the vibrant changing expressions scrolling across her features. He’d fallen over the cliff for sure.
Jewel’s lips puckered while she chose what words would best placate him. He could see the wheels churning in her intelligent little head. “Sheppard doesn’t’ suspect me. I can go in, find out what has happened with your men, and contact you. How is that not better than rushing in half-cocked and blind?”
It wasn’t better. He just…bluidy hell. She wasn’t trying to do anything that he wouldn’t let anyone else do. It was a good sensible plan, but dammit, she wasn’t anybody else.
How the hell did she burrow under his skin so quickly? This was why he didn’t let himself get close to any of the women in this time.
But wasn’t that what he was fighting for? So humanity could have a chance at life again? At relationships? At love? And family? At normal?
Didn’t he want that for himself?
Some day.
Well some day had waltz in beneath an ugly cap and the fragrance of cherries and punched him in the gut. Something was happening between them. Something rare and wonderful. They’d become connection somehow, upstairs while he held her hands…something else had happened between them, between their magic…something he wasn’t about to let fade away. He wanted it. Wanted her.
He sighed, knowing he had to let her go back to Sheppard. She was right and this was her choice to make, her sense of responsibility. If he was in her shoes and any one tried to stop him from doing what he had to, he’d be furious.
He shook his head, not liking it. “You go in. You find them, and you get out. We’ll do the rest.”
“Yes sir,” she drawled.
He grabbed her arm and a low current of magical electricity streaked between them. “I mean it, Jewel.”
She tilted her head, loose strands of hair falling out from beneath her ridiculous cap, and studied him. “C’mere.” Taking his hand in hers, she pulled him out of the barn through the wide doors and around the side of the building near an ancient fence of an old corral. She stopped and turned to face him, their hands still entwined.
Sunlight pooled down on them, streaking across her perk little nose and warming his skin.
“Listen…” Her tongue peeked out between her lips and Alexander’s gaze riveted on them. “I…I get it. You kind of like me and it’s twisting your stomach all up into knots. I appreciate that you care…”
Oh, he cared…
“But I can do this. You don’t need to worry…”
The hell he didn’t. He’d show her just how much he’d worry.
His hands shot to her waist, pulling her body snug against his. Heat flared between them.
She gasped. Those lips parted in surprise and the irises of her green forest eyes darkened, drawing him in.
Déithe, he was lost.
His mouth was on hers before he took his next breath. She was cherries and silk and heat and softness. Feminine. A million sensations to explore. A lifetime to explore them.
Her back arched beneath his hands, her curves molding into him as she pressed closer, matching his kiss with a hunger of her own. Her fingers slid into his hair, pulling his head harder down to hers.
Her desire filled him, flowing into his magical essence, pushing within every hollow and crease, truly becoming a part of him. It was frightening and intoxicating.
His body was on fire, every muscle was rigid, each nerve ending alert and searing.
She pulled away, breathing hard, her soft breasts lifting and falling against his chest.
He groaned. “If this is supposed to convince me to let you go…it’s having the opposite effect.”
Her chuckle was a warm breath in the hollow of his neck. “It’s a promise that I’ll be fine, and when I get back…”
She lifted her face to his and gave him a look that was both wicked and innocent and fried every working brain cell he possessed to ash. Every muscle locked tight as she ducked out of his arms and slipped away, leaving him blowing out a ragged breath and wondering how she had gotten her way so effortlessly.
He grinned after her in admiration. Yeah, she’d be fine. Gods help anyone who stood against her.
Besides, he and Lance and the others would be right behind her.
Chapter Nine
“Where the hell have you been?” Sheppard was on her the moment she walked into the courtyard. Miles must have run ahead and told him she’d arrived.
She plunked down the canvas bag of food stores she’d stopped to retrieve. She had a large stash, taken from some farmer’s emergency stores that she’d never told anyone about. It made her story of going scavenging more credible each time she went out to visit her brother instead.
“I could ask you the same question,” she hurled at Sheppard. “I looked for you all over. You can’t just go off without telling me.”
A gray brow rose in amusement. “I can’t?”
Jewel sucked in a deep breath, her anger real though not for the reasons she was trying to sell. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Sheppard took her wrist within his large hand. “It goes both ways.” He tugged down the tip of her cap. She could almost believe that he did care. “I was with Hank and Trevor. While you went out alone.”
She shrugged. “You know I’m much quicker on my own.”
“And more vulnerable. I can’t—“ He swallowed. “I won’t lose you too.”
Jewel’s heart stumbled, feeling the flinch she didn’t dare show down deep. He sounded so sincere.
Her pulse was racing. He was a monster. He had no feelings, no remorse. She didn’t know how he could so skillfully play the part of a grieving father. If she didn’t know the truth, she’d buy it hook, line, and sinker.
Her stomach curdled.
Sheppard’s hand slipped onto her cheek. “You look tired. Rest up. Supper will be in a few hours.”
She nodded, but didn’t immediately turn to go. “Aren’t you going to tell me?”
His brows pushed together.
“About the canister? Did it work the way the strangers said? That’s what you went out there for, right?”
“Ah, the canisters.” The creases above his nose deepened with his frown. “No, they did not. I don’t know what game they were trying to play.” He lied so smoothly, her father.
“Oh.” Jewel frowned as well. “Maybe I can talk to them, get them to tell me what it really is.” She lied smoothly as well. She was her father’s daughter after all.
“I’m afraid not. We sent them on their way.”
Which meant finding Alexander’s friends was going to be more difficult, if they weren’t… She tamped down that direction of thought, knowing how their deaths would hurt Alexander. Her too. They were good men. They didn’t deserve what they’d stumbled into here. She feigned confusion. “You didn’t try to recruit them?”
Sheppard’s hand dropped. He shook his head. “Men like that are too unpredictable. We need people we can trust. People like us.”
“People like us,” she echoed.
Sheppard nodded, eyeing her as though he wasn’t sure she was buying it.
She smiled and gave him a quick hug. “I’m sure you’re right. I just hoped…” She shrugged.
“I’m glad you see it that way.” He hugged her back. “Now on with you before you fall asleep on your feet.”
“Yes, sir.” She chuckled, giving him a mock salute, then let her features turn serious. “I’m glad you’re back safe.”
“You too, sweetheart.”
She quickly turned away, movin
g toward the stairwell before he could see the tears spring to her eyes. This was so hard. He was her dad and she did love him. But he was a killer. Even if he believed he was doing what was right. That he was only killing monsters. He had tried to kill her brother, believed he had succeeded…and hadn’t lost a night of sleep over it.
She ran up the steps, pain flaring in her chest as the fragmented bits and fragments of her heart dropped, leaving a trail of heartache on the worn stairwell landing to splatter softly behind her.
~~~
She couldn’t find Dez and Ethan anywhere, though she’d scoured the motel, looking any place Sheppard might have stashed them. But she wasn’t ready to give up. She would do this for Alexander. Her skin heated just bringing him to mind. She’d never been held like that, kissed like that as through everything that made her who she was melted into him and found her true home.
Unconsciously she lifted her hand to her lips and kept going.
The entire back half of the eastern wing was not in use, off limits, too unstable in the foundation of the old building. Part of the second floor had caved in—which made it a good place to resume her search.
She walked silently through the darkened hallway, picking her way carefully over hunks of the fallen ceiling, slowing when she heard voices.
She pressed back against the wall, recognizing Hank’s deep tenor coming from inside the bathroom facilities. “They couldn’t have gotten past us.”
“Well they did!” Sheppard spat, fury seething from his tone.
“I don’t see how.” The door started opening. “You think maybe they went up, shimmied over the roof?”
Jewel reached for her magic, pausing, and searched deep inside her belly like Alexander taught her to do, her nerves tingling with magic. She couldn’t find her essence again, not without Alexander near, bringing it to burn within her so easily. She didn’t have the time to keep looking for it, so wildly, she pulled her magic about her and cloaked illusion around her. It was sloppy and as usual felt slippery enough to pull through her hold on it, but she’d been using her magic this way for the past year since she discovered what she could do, so it would have to be good enough. She was the wall. They’d see nothing but the wall.
Hank stormed through the door first, his features a tight snarl.
Jewel held her breath, praying her illusion held. Hank and Sheppard were inches away from her. One step the wrong way and they’d feel her. She averted her gaze from them, knowing too well the sensation of being watched could give her away.
“Who was on the roof last night?” Sheppard’s fist twitched down by his side within Jewel’s peripheral vision.
“Jimmy and Trevor.”
“Have you seen either of them today?”
A shard of the ceiling crunched beneath Hank’s boot. “No. No, I haven’t.”
They started toward the outer stairwell, shoulders thrust forward.
She hadn’t seen either Trevor or Jimmy either. Nor apparently had the guys up there who had replaced their shift. If Dez and Ethan had gotten to them, they must be trust up and hidden somewhere. Maybe dumped over the roof?
Jewell waited until Sheppard’s and Hank’s footfalls faded away on the steps before she dared move to push her magic back down. She felt liquid beneath her nose and used her sleeve to wipe it away, pulling back a faint spot of red. Not so bad this time. Then again, she wasn’t creating an illusion complete with sound and smell for a handful of monsters. She’d only had to deceive two monsters this time and only for a few short minutes.
Pushing open the bathroom door, the evidence of frayed rope and blood on the dirt smudged tile condemned her father’s brutality.
But at least she knew Alexander’s friends had escaped. She only hoped they’d gotten far away enough.
Chapter Ten
“Latrine duty?” Miles wrinkled his nose.
Her gloved hands curled around the handles of the two plastic buckets she carried that were full of, well, crap. Jewel shrugged. “Lucky me.”
Miles stepped back, not wanting any of the contents slopped on him as he opened the fence line between a gutted bus and an overturned truck that made up part of the protection wall of the front parking lot. “Want me to go with and cover you?”
“Naw, I got my rifle.” She shrugged again, lifting the rifle higher where it hung across her back by the strap on her shoulder.
“You sure?” Miles frowned at the odorous contents.
Jewel grinned. “I got it. Better not leave your post. I won’t be long.” She’d gotten up at the crack of dawn to get to the buckets before anyone else could. Not that lavvy duty was a favored chore by any stretch of her imagination. That’s why she picked it.
Miles exhaled through his nose. “Do me a favor and take it far downwind.”
“Funny. Where’ve they dug the holes this week?” They’d taken to burying their human waste and covering it with salt peter to disguise if from the Sift’s keen sense of smell. So far it had worked.
“Head south to the old granary on Tenth. They’ve been using the rotten wheat to cover the smell. Less digging.”
Smart, but the ammonia fumes coming off the grain would have to be killer. An in-and-out-hold-your-breath job.
Hefting her disgusting burden, Jewel hurried along. She didn’t go as far as the granary, but instead headed to another closer previous dumping spot. She’d need the time.
After dumping the waste and smoothing it over with dirt—she’d come back after and do a better job of it—she stripped off the work gloves and left them there with the pails.
Swinging her rifle up in front of her, she ran, making her way behind buildings and ducking into allies where the sentries on the motel’s roof wouldn’t see her.
Tiny pinpricks skittered along her skin. The feeling of being watched anyway crept along her awareness. It couldn’t be from the motel. She’d spent countless hours on the roof and also looking out through the windows slots between the boards to know exactly what areas were hidden from view. Which areas were safe for her to sneak around in.
Yet…
She sped past the dark interiors of storefronts and hollow husks of long abandoned homes. She made a wide circuit to come up behind the motel through the wooded area and get to the edge of the parking lot where she and Lance had been leaving messages. It was dangerous leaving them so close to the motel, but sometimes she couldn’t get farther away.
There was only one spot from above that had a view of the curb and one glance at the roofline showed no one was there in that exact spot.
She edged out cautiously when a twig snapped behind her.
She froze, her pulse kicking up and she moved her finger along the trigger of her rifle.
Another twig snapped. Purposefully. Someone wanted to alert her to their presence.
Frowning, she looked slowly over her shoulder.
Dez stood about ten yards away in the shadows of the trees, his hands spread wide in a show of being unarmed.
Where was the other guy, Ethan?
With a flick of his head, Dez indicated for her to follow and eased back into the thicker part of the tangled brush.
Jewel nodded and turned to follow when a voice grated out from the other direction, closer to the back of the motel.
“Well, now, what do you suppose you’re doing out here all on your lonesome?”
Hank. Her hand clasped the barrel of her rifle tighter.
She plastered on a bland expression and turned to face him. “Nothing. Just wanted to be by myself for a few minutes. And now you’ve ruined that. Thanks.” She started walking toward him, back toward the motel. “What are you doing out here?”
“Nothing. Same as you.” Hank clucked his tongue when she moved passed him. “Don’t be like that.” He grabbed her arm, clamping his hand down on the barrel of her rifle. “What are you really doing out here, Jewel?”
She shoved at him, but his grip tightened around her arm. “I told you. Nothing. Now let go.”
; If anything, his grip only tightened.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She twisted her arm to get free. His fingers hurt.
He leaned in close, his lips brushing over her hairline. “What are you doing out here, Jewel? I think you’re leaving bread crumbs for naughty little escape artists.”
She arched her back to get as far as she could from him. “Get off. What are you talking about? You’re such a jerk.” She was all too aware of Dez out there watching. Please don’t let him play the hero and get himself caught. She could handle Hank.
Dropping her hold on the stock of her rifle, letting it swing in his hand, she hauled off and punched him. He staggered back, holding his jaw, shock and anger mixing in his glare.
Jewel snatched the rifle out of his loose grasp and turned to run into the motel. Hank’s chuckle made her go ice cold. “Welcome to the party, hero.”
All the warmth ran out of Jewel’s veins, leaving her numb.
She stopped, looked back. Crap. Dez stood at the edge of the parking lot, fury stamped in every line of his body.
That’s when the sound of several guns being cocked echoed behind her.
They came out of the back door. Trevor and Richards. And behind them, shoving between them in his angry stride, stormed Sheppard.
Her bravado in the face of Hank withered and died, a coal doused in snow.
They’d been onto her since she came back. Alexander had been right. She should never have come here. Sheppard had set her up to ferret out Dez and Ethan. And now they had them. She’d been played like an idiot. How did they guess the strangers would be waiting for her? She hadn’t even known.
“Dad…”
She dug down deep, trying for that essence she’d only felt when near Alexander. If she ever needed her magic to be focused, this was it. Illusion was her only chance. She reached inside for her magic, fast and hard. Whatever she did, it wasn’t going to be pretty. She couldn’t make Sheppard and his men unsee what they had seen, but she could camouflage herself, camouflage Dez, maybe conjure up an image of a Sift, give them enough of a diversion to run while the others didn’t know what they were looking at…
Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) Page 9