“Do demons have…” She paused, searching for the right words. “I’m not sure of 277
the words…..genetic memories? Maybe that’s it…..”
“As….do I know what demons have done through history?” He asked, finding her fascinating despite himself. “No.”
“I’m not sure how it works, but most of my life they didn’t tell me what I was,” Brea saw the surprise on his face and shrugged. “Yeah, it’s true. I only just found out a bit ago. But the point is…..where my parents lived in North Carolina…..did you know the place was destroyed? Before I was born. And it was destroyed because of me.” Sullivan leaned back in the chair, his features flat and emotionless. “I’d heard rumors…..stories. I don’t believe it had anything to do with me, though.”
“All I have is what others tell me. I can see it….I could see it when….when the shield around me failed, but I don’t know the motives of the demons who did it.” She said with a sigh.
“You’re positive it was demons?”
“I saw the flames. I heard the screaming.” Brea reached across the table and gripped his wrist. “I saw….one that looked like you did. That first time in the forest. I know you can look. I know you can see inside. Look.” Sullivan stared into the determined wide eyes, almost daring him to run from her. He peered inside. It wasn’t anything new, but this time, she was controlling his path, and the corner of his mouth lifted. Just a little bit. He could feel her power, feel what his grandchild could do if she ever felt the urge.
“You weren’t there.” Brea didn’t move when she felt the surge of anger shooting from him, his back stiff. He’d pulled out and sat staring at her.
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“Of course I wasn’t there! Do you believe me capable of destroying innocents?”
“I don’t know you. I’m asking. People believe you were responsible for it.” She watched a wall slide over his gaze, over his emotions.
“I’m not responsible for what people believe.”
“You’d rather they think badly of you than tell them the truth?” She sighed heavily.
“I don’t care.”
“Would people do something in your name without telling you?” She watched the interest flash in his gaze and knew her questions were making him think of things long since past.
“Why did you call for me, child?”
“How can I do that? I’m not sure how it works…..if you don’t like me, aren’t you supposed to ignore me? Kind of like a cell phone, just send me directly to voice mail,” she grinned at him cheekily.
“Who said I didn’t like you?” He met the single arched brow.
“Did you know someone tried to kill me?” Brea stopped breathing. His reaction was not what she expected, the air around them suddenly filled with a fury and a wild heat he didn’t try and contain. She watched eyes the same shade as her father’s suddenly burn blood red. “I’m guessing that’s a no…..they hit me on the head outside my shop……I blend coffees and teas and sell them with pastries. I should bring you some. I’m quite good.”
“Evidently they didn’t succeed.” He wasn’t ready to admit it to her, but he was 279
glad. He thought of his mate and almost smiled. The child would have been no end of delight to her.
“They put me in a car and took me to the beach, slit my wrists and left me there,” Brea shrugged, looking out over the water and missing the momentary shock in his eyes. “Jase and Nick found me before a big storm hit and took me to their house.
Evidently there’s this fairy healing thing in me that closed the wounds and kept me alive. Tired, but alive.”
“Did your pets seek retribution?”
“I know they would and never look back.” She faced him with a curious frown.
“But they don’t know who did it or why. They don’t want me to know, but I know they have friends trying to find out who was responsible.” She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “You haven’t been searching for me, have you?” Dark eyes didn’t waver from hers. “I’ve known where you were since the day you were born, child. You aren’t a secret.” Yes, he’d had people watching them. If he’d been a slightly spiritual man, he’d swear Regana had been nagging at him his entire life to stop being so stubbornly stupid and reconcile with his son, but especially to get to know his grand-daughter.
“You didn’t want to know me.”
Yes, his Regana would have adored this child. Sullivan pushed away from the table and paced the length of the stone patio.
“I don’t think she would want you to hurt,” Brea said very, very softly. “I think she would have wanted you to live and laugh. But I understand. I’m not sure how I’d 280
recover if anything happened to…..to either of them. I never knew I could….that it was inside me to love someone so strongly it hurt. I don’t know how someone gets under your skin and grips your heart so much the thought of it makes you hurt so bad inside…” she broke her, her words breaking at the same time her eyes filled with tears she tried to rub away. “I’m sorry. I guess ‘cause my grandmother was human, I’m a little human and the emotions can make a girl nuts.”
“She would have liked you,” he said after a long minute, unable to look at her, his hands clenching the wide stone rail tensely. “She would have spoiled you…..and our son….if she had lived.”
Brea swallowed hard and went to his side, her arms around him from behind.
“I’m sorry she didn’t get the chance. But I’m sure it’s saved your sanity,” she teased.
“You’re an impertinent child,” he told her gruffly, ignoring the catch in his voice.
“I know,” she sighed, her head against his back. “Someone is showing my picture around town. They said you would pay big money to get me,” Brea almost lost her balance when he straightened and spun to face her, his hands on her shoulders.
“What did you say?” He ground out coldly, clearly.
“Someone is using your name. Demons came after me in the alley behind my shop the other day,” she blinked up at him, his anger registering and sending a justified thrill through her. “Three of them….they said there was a reward. They even said you wouldn’t mind if I was damaged when they brought me to you.”
“I have not paid anyone…..do you hear me, child? Anyone….to ever harm you or 281
find you,” he told her firmly, his hands opening slowly. “I might not have agreed with your father’s choices, but I’d never harm my own child. Or his child.”
“Why did you let the fairies think you’d come to hurt me?” She tsked, rebuking him softly, her smile teasing. “You enjoyed frightening them.”
“I came because I wanted to see how you’d progressed,” he admitted slowly. “I felt…..the sudden surge of your power. We don’t have genetic memories, but you’re of my blood. I felt your power suddenly break into the spectrum. And I knew they would open a portal to the forest and pull you inside. I could have come to you anytime during your life if I had chosen to.”
“Why didn’t you?” Brea stared at him, her mind busily working out things. “You weren’t angry because he loved my mother,” she did as he had done. She’d felt the soft touch of him inside her thoughts and repeated the practice. “You were frightened,” she whispered sadly, one hand up and fingers touching her mouth. “You were afraid he’d hurt like you had if….if my mother hadn’t lived because of me.” Abruptly, Brea felt like her stomach was being pulled from the inside out.
One minute she was on the coast of Greece, bright sunshine and blue waters and the next she was jolted upright in her seat, shaken. Hard.
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Chapter 31
“Hey!” Pale amber eyes blinked and blinked again, peering into a set of grey eyes edged in hard silver. “Jase? What are you…..” the office slowly came into focus, Nick perched on her desk and Jase hauled her from her chair. She wasn’t quite sure what happened to the floor, but it wasn’t beneath her feet. “Umm…..down. Could you…”
“Where w
ere you, Brea?” Jase lifted her another foot off the ground, the edge of his fangs peeking out of his mouth.
“I…just fell asleep….I was thinking about recipes and my computer and….”
“We’ve been trying to wake you for ten minutes,” Nick said from behind her, his voice hard and barely hiding his fear. “Were you out looking for that monster again?”
“He’s not a monster!” She shoved both palms flat against his chest, hard and fell to the floor, the vehemence in her voice making them both take a step back. She straightened her shirt and glared at them both. “He is not a monster and do not ever call him that again,” she reached for her tote and shoved Jase aside. “I’m going home.” They looked at each other and sighed.
“Brea, you rode in with us.”
“Damn it, woman, slow down!” Jase ordered with a growl.
“I’ll walk. It’s only a mile or so and I want to be alone,” she threw over her shoulder, not looking back and not stopping.
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Jase surged forward only to crash face first into a sheer wall of nothing. Her palm flung up behind her as she walked.
“What – the – fuck!”
“I think she’s serious. And we won’t get her to talk later unless we let her go,” Nick pulled the keys from his cargo pants. “You meet the next applicant, I’ll follow and make sure she gets there and be right back.” Brea could hear both of them and they were far from happy. She dropped the shield and kept walking, the fury in her pace beating itself into the loose sand with each footstep.
Damn it, she was just getting answers that made sense.
And he was not a monster!
She heard the SUV come along the highway and wasn’t surprised that Nick was behind the wheel, pacing her. She tried ignoring him.
Yeah, there’s a funny joke.
Neither of them was easy to ignore. She saw him wave a car past him out of the corner of her eye and sighed.
She turned to him. Damn that sexy smile and that shaft of dark hair that fell over one eye when he didn’t have it raked back. She walked toward the SUV and pulled the door open, sliding onto the seat and sitting stiffly once her belt was in place.
“You know we worry about you. We can’t give up that right,” Nick drove slowly along the coastal road. “If you don’t answer, it means you know I’m right.”
“He’s not a monster,” she said after a long minute, shifting resolutely and facing 284
him. “He didn’t know about the reward, Nick. He didn’t know demons had come after me,” she told him firmly, meeting the dark eyes and seeing all humor fade from them.
“He didn’t know someone was hunting me.”
“You asked him?”
“I told him, I asked him and I could see the truth in his eyes,” she said without doubt. “I could feel the truth in him and I….I told him to see what I knew about the town in North Carolina. He wasn’t the one responsible!”
“So you think someone is using his name to cause trouble,” Nick said slowly. “Or using his name because it throws clout behind whatever they’re trying to do,” he corrected thoughtfully.
“I have to talk to my parents,” she told him, quickly jumping out at the house.
“I’ll see you at dinner.”
Brea continued into the house, not watching Nick head back to the office. She went straight through the house to the kitchen and outside, calling out to her mother and father loudly. She smiled when she saw her mother on the deck at the side and her father down by the SUV.
“I need information. I want to know who lived from the attack in North Carolina,” Brea said instantly, not wanting lead in time or cushioning. She wanted truth.
“Brea, what’s wrong?” Hannah started down the steps, stopping when her daughter flung up a palm.
“Sullivan Moore has known where you are our entire lives. Whoever is doing this isn’t him but is using him. And I think they’ve been using you, too,” she stared from one 285
to the other, her father walking up behind her mother, his hands wiping on the rag he’d been using on the SUV. “What did he tell you about your mother? About my grandmother.”
“He never talked about her,” Jeffrey said with a sigh. “What I heard was from people who used to know them before I was born. But even that was selective, guarded.”
“She died giving birth to you. He blames himself. He believes he should have shoved her aside because she was human. That’s why he was against you and mother.
He didn’t want you to hurt like he did. He still loves her,” Brea felt her lips quiver, heard her words filled with tears and fell against her father when he urged her closer. “Oh, dad! He hurts so much inside! I saw it….felt it…”
“Brea…..you….you went to him again?” Hannah felt the fear in her chest.
“Yes!” The word exploded from her lips, defiance in her eyes. “He didn’t know.
He doesn’t know someone was hunting me. He didn’t offer a reward. It’s all lies!
Someone is lying to us,” Brea swiped a palm over her face. “He didn’t send people to hurt everyone in North Carolina. I saw his face when I asked him. I felt his emotions.
He….he says he’s been watching me grow up,” she laid her head back against her father’s chest. “I think he’s lonely.”
“I know,” Hannah whispered softly. “I know.”
“Hannah?” Jeffrey looked at his wife, felt the sorrow from her.
“I could feel him, Rey,” she said quietly. “But it was never anger or….or revulsion I felt from him, so I didn’t say anything.” 286
“Then who….”
“Who knew?” Brea pushed away and paced the concrete, two hands up and sweeping the annoying tears from her cheeks. “It has to be someone from North Carolina. Only they know the why part, but it has to be something that happened before North Carolina. What were they actually after when they came there?”
“There are only half a dozen people who…..who left North Carolina,” Hannah blinked back the tears, staring at her husband and busily turning over names in her mind. “They’re our friends! They’ve protected us, Brea.”
“They wanted you,” Rey said slowly, an expression on his face that made Brea think of Nick. He stared at his daughter thoughtfully, frowning.
“Protected you from what? It’s not grandfather. Why would someone hate you so much they want us dead?” Brea pleaded with them both. “You’ve done a good job as my parents. But you’ve been afraid of the wrong thing all this time,” she shook her head. “Nick saw two people, a man and a woman, carry me to the beach the day they found me out there. But if they knew who I was, if they knew what I was, they knew what they’d done wouldn’t kill me.”
“Your blood,” Rey said abruptly, his brows arched and eyes focused. “They took your blood and slit your wrists to cover it. They made sure we were out of the picture on purpose so we wouldn’t feel….wouldn’t know what they’d done to you.”
“Why? Is there something special about it?” Brea asked excitedly. Finally.
“Chemistry, Brea. Demon chemistry. They would use it in their spells. They would make a fortune from it,” Jeffrey began pacing, one palm up and stroking over his neck.
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“I need to go ask some questions. And no, before you even ask, you are not going with me, either of you,” he informed them sternly, running up the stairs and kissing Hannah soundly. “I’ll be back in an hour. Stay here, both of you.”
“I hate when he does that!” Hannah stomped her foot and caught the surprised giggle from her daughter.
“Do you know where he’d go?” Brea sunk to the bottom step, her chin resting on the two upturned palms.
“I have a guess. I don’t know as much about demon spells as he does,” she came slowly down the stairs and took one above Brea. “Are you alright?”
“Confused,” Brea sighed. “Did you and dad…..”
“Relationship problems?”
“I…no…..no….not rea
lly…..” She sighed again. “They own the building I’m putting the new shop in. That’s why I got such a good deal.”
“Okay. Good.”
“They didn’t tell me.”
“You would have fought it, Brea,” she laughed lightly when she got that familiar pout as an answer. “Now you’ve signed the agreement, so it’s a done deal. Why is it important?”
“Did you and dad talk about finance stuff?”
“When we met, our finance stuff consisted of both of us emptying pockets and wallets onto a table to see what we could afford for the month,” Hannah recalled with a happy laugh. “You’re lucky. Your mates are established and doing well. Now your 288
profits will go for supporting all of you the way you want.”
“It feels like I’m taking advantage of them.”
“You’re worried what people will think about your shop but not your personal life?” Hannah arched a brow at her daughter. “Breanna, you’ve taken two men into your life, into your bed. If you can weather that, what people believe about your business arrangement should be a moot point.”
“Gee, make me sound wacked….” She shook her head and laughed, turning slightly to the side and laying her head on her mother’s lap. She closed her eyes, something she’d done since she was little and her mother began gently stroking along her head.
“Those two boys would do anything for you, baby girl. I’ve watched the three of you and…..you’re happy. You’re at ease…..with yourself. The only other place I saw that confidence in you was inside your shop,” Hannah wrapped her arms around Brea’s shoulders and hugged. “If you had the chance to do something they needed, you’d jump on it. It’s not so different for them.”
“I think grandfather scares them.”
“Your grandfather scares a lot of people, Breanna,” she said with a dry laugh. “I think he revels in it, honestly. Leave it to you to break through the walls he’s built.”
“He’s sad. He must have loved her very much,” Brea whispered sadly. “He listens for me to call him. I don’t think he’s inside my head….” She laughed. “He says my mouth would drive him insane. But he listens for me.”
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