“I did?”
But he saw the honest surprise on her face. Nick was right. She was just thinking.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking of the weekend coming up and trying to remember to check the weather and some really good marinade for ribs…” her smile brightened and her lips moved to his again. “Thank you for reminding me.”
“And your father and grandfather?” Jase saw cold calculation enter his mate’s eyes and, yeah, Nick was right, scary.
“I have coffee to sort and bag,” she said with only a little pout.
“Hmm….want me to tote these somewhere for you?”
“Oh, no, thank you. I just needed them where I could label and empty them later,” Brea did a little jig of happiness, twirling on her sneakers. “Two weeks!” 315
Jase laughed and was still laughing when he went back to his office, after casting a warning snarl over his shoulder at the workmen.
“You’re right. She’s plotting and distracted,” Jase sunk into his chair and looked over the list they had for appointments and the applicants due in.
“The shop?”
“The shop and she’s pissed at her father. Not sure about the grandfather yet, though. We can pry information from her at lunch,” Jase said with a nod, the sound of someone in the outer office sending them into professional mode.
Brea had the table all set up when she heard them coming over from the other office. She’d half watched candidates coming and going from their office all morning, some looking happy at the end, some looking less so.
The two men looked at one another when they heard the stern voice.
“If you don’t behave, I will not feed you,” she said clearly, a low snarl making Jase grin until he rounded the corner.
The sweet scent of the seafood soup she’d made seemed to suddenly vanish.
“Gentlemen,” Sullivan Moore greeted them with the finesse he’d garnered through the years, his palm extended to Nick. “My granddaughter tells me we share an avid interest in the stock market. Sullivan Moore.”
“Nick Gaines,” Nick said slowly.
“And since we all wish to keep her safe and unharmed, we share that, as well,” he offered his hand to Jase.
“Jase Bishop.”
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“Now…..that wasn’t so difficult. Sit down while I slice the bread and you can go ahead and start. I know you have appointments late,” Brea bustled from the dining room and into the kitchen.
She relaxed a little, conversation about stocks and companies filling the room as they served themselves. She spread the fresh, crusty bread on the table and added the butter before scowling and going back for the pitcher of iced water.
“Are you joining us, child?”
“Hazards of being a hostess,” she smiled and took the seat between Jase and Nick, ladling the soup into her bowl and inhaling deeply.
“It’s delicious, Brea,” Nick told her. “You plan on spoiling us until the shop opens?”
“I hope she plans on spoiling us longer than that,” Jase said with a chuckle.
She answered questions from her grandfather about the shop and the things she would be selling there.
“Since the spot is so much larger, I’m going to make it a daytime meal place.
Certain items, not generally random. Changing each week. But I’ll close by four, so I can spend the evenings at home,” she explained her plan, talking about the licenses she had applied for and the people she had returning that had worked for her before.
She shouldn’t have been surprised when Jase asked about the threats, but it made her stomach clench.
“I have people searching out answers for me,” Sullivan said carefully, his head shaking. “I have to admit to being less than involved with my own community for too 317
long a time. It seems there are organizations now in existence that believe we can be cured. Repaired, as it were,” he said, the seething, quiet anger unmistakable.
“And they want her blood for that?”
“What I’ve been able to uncover so far, is there are two different factions at work. One that tried to eliminate your parents,” Sullivan forced his hand to release the glass he held, his fingers had tightened and he felt the glass almost shatter. “The other to bring you to some other location, to be used at their discretion.”
“Used?” Brea looked from one to the other. “Me?”
“Then why leave her on the beach?” Nick listened intently. Two different groups made more sense. He couldn’t find a pattern to the lumping them all together.
“I haven’t got all the answers yet, wolf,” he snarled. “I could start ripping out throats, but it wouldn’t end this and it wouldn’t provide answers,” he looked over at the abruptly quiet, wide eyes and sighed, his head shaking. “Like her grandmother,” he was up and around the table, his lips brushing her forehead. “Thank you for lunch. I must return. I’ll be in touch, child. Gentlemen,” he nodded and was gone before they could respond.
“That was interesting,” Nick said in the quiet, watching Brea swallow and nod before getting to her feet and beginning to clean up. He knew from listening to her that she intended to thoroughly test all the new equipment in her kitchen and both him and Jase felt the pure happiness in her when she’d continued talking to them about her menus.
“I can identify with wanting to rip throats out,” Jase said after Brea dismissed 318
them, giving them each a kiss before going back to work. They told her what time to be ready to head home and she nodded absently.
“I’m not so sure our mate understands the need, though,” Nick sighed.
“Hell, you might be surprised. There’s a hellion inside that delectable fairy, trust me,” Jase laughed and pulled applications out to review for the next interviews.
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Chapter 36
Later that evening, Brea lay comfortably on the sofa, her head on Nick’s lap and legs over Jase’s. They’d agreed on a movie but just couldn’t wrap her brain around it so she snuggled down on her side and closed her eyes. She was comfortable and they were enjoying the movie, so all was well.
Until sleep gripped her and suddenly she wasn’t on the sofa any longer.
Amber eyes flew wide, her feet shoving against the ground and gaze swinging around her.
She didn’t know why this felt different. Only that it did.
The summoning was different, almost violent. Hard and angry. Filled with hatred that seethed through every pore of the once calm forest she’d first seen only days ago.
She looked down, grateful she had her normal jeans on, her feet bare but she didn’t take a step. Something felt wrong and she remained in one place.
She tried calling out inside her head for her grandfather. She tried forcing herself awake, forcing herself back to the safety of Jase and Nick. She was breathing too quickly. It wasn’t working. She couldn’t go back. Was it because someone else had brought her here?
Against the voice in her head she moved forward, turning now and then to look behind her, spinning completely to see behind her and then in front of her again. She could feel things watching her and it made her skin crawl.
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Tiny voices. Harsh whispers all around her kept her head jerking front to back.
She tried pulling Jase and Nick to her, but they were awake. They were watching their movie and didn’t know she’d been taken away.
She didn’t like this. The forest was too open, too wide. It had become a broad, flat plain, the tree line in the distance.
She needed a place where she could put her back to it and watch, a place where nothing could come at her from at least one side. She tried envisioning her grandfather’s house, focused and precise. She was stronger than they were, she growled in her mind.
Bare feet stumbled on the tiles suddenly beneath her feet, her breathing raggedly seconds before the scream was ripped from her chest.
Sullivan Moore went running up the walkway from the beach, the sound sh
attering an otherwise pleasant dawn. He found Brea in the center of the main area, on her knees and curled into a tight bundle.
For a moment. A long moment, he froze. He’d had a son. He’d spent little time with him because of his anger at the universe. He didn’t know how to deal with a crying female. But the love of his life did and somehow she was whispering to him, urging him forward until he had the delicate child cradled in his arms.
“Child….what happened?” He listened to her trying to catch her breath. “Are you alright?”
Her head shook.
“What happened?”
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“I….” she gulped in air. “I fell asleep on the sofa. They’re watching a movie.
And…and then I was in the forest…no, not the forest….a big open space of grasses….but I didn’t go there, grandfather and something…I could feel them watching me, stalking me….all around….and I tried to go! I tried to go back to the living room but I couldn’t! And I called for you….and there were whispers getting closer and closer.
Then….then I remembered you telling me I had to focus as if I believed I had the most power in the world,” she dragged in a shuddering breath. “Then I was here.” Sullivan picked her up against him, setting her on her feet and ready to help her return when she suddenly vanished. Before his eyes. In his spell protected house! His grand-daughter was taken from him!
The bellow that left his lips rattled the quiet neighborhood and the next instant, he was standing in the living room glaring down at two very surprised wolves.
“We have a problem and I hate to admit it, but your physical halves may be needed because magic isn’t working,” Sullivan announced flatly.
Jase immediately tried to wake Brea, his growl growing louder.
“Where is she?”
“Close your eyes and sleep and I’ll take us there. She was taken from here, she didn’t go of her own volition,” he said flatly. He waved a hand over them and promptly vanished, appearing in the forest with them standing at his side, confused and pissed.
“Brea!” Nick took a step forward, his head tilted and nostrils twitching. “She’s here.”
“I believe we’ll find your other halves more beneficial,” Sullivan had assumed the 322
visage of the black leather clad demon, tall and dangerous looking. “Lead us to her,” he ordered, his voice low and gruff. Hands with long, lethal looking claws flexed repeatedly as he followed the pair of them, muscled and snarling along the path.
Jase found Brea standing in the middle of an open field, immobile and staring around her as quickly as she could. She saw him and ran toward them, instantly falling to her knees and hugging him and the Nick.
“Why can’t I go back?” She screamed out, facing her grandfather with all the fury held inside the clenched palms.
“I don’t know,” he pushed the words between his teeth. “I don’t know the magic being used to keep you from going, child. I know it isn’t demon magic,” he added carefully. He could feel the same things she was, tension and anticipation. A frenzied kind of excitement beasts would have before a battle. Or before being set free from their leashes to do battle.
“I want to go home,” she whispered angrily, heat radiating through her as she stood there, feet parted and hands hanging at her sides. “If you’re going to attack me, do it already!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, leaves on the trees in the distance rattling and shaking. At first she thought it was whatever brought her there. But still, nothing moved.
Then slowly things began to form. Beings no taller than four feet, she guessed.
With pig tusks and hands edged in claws. They carried no weapons and Sullivan sensed no magic.
“They aren’t magical,” he said quietly. “And they aren’t mine.” 323
“Mercenaries?” Jase had shifted back. “Brea….can you pull some weapons for us? Think Warcraft, babe.” He stared down at his hand, nodding in satisfaction. At least his jeans and shirt were back and he wasn’t standing there with nothing but a damned big sword. He groaned at the analogy.
“You would do better as your wolf,” Sullivan said darkly.
“He does well as a wolf. I do better damage as human,” Jase promised, taking a stance and watching their approach.
“This isn’t right. It doesn’t feel right,” Brea watched the pig things approach from all sides. She sent out mental fingers, touching, feeling for the barrier that kept them there. That kept her there. Sullivan said it wasn’t his magic. It wasn’t his people making the attack. That meant it had to be Fae magic.
“If they die here…” Jase asked gruffly, watching their slow, plodding approach.
“They die. Just as we would,” Sullivan warned flatly.
“Nick, watch Brea,” Jase ordered with a growl through human lips that sounded more like his wolf. “Something is holding her here?”
“It’s magic,” Brea answered, taking little steps, her gaze aimed toward the incoming creatures. “They don’t belong to the demon world. I can feel them. Someone has given them Fae magic as protection.”
“Your magic? Then the someone trapping us here is Fae?” Jase felt more than a growl deep in his gut.
“Not you. Sullivan brought you here. Me,” she said curious, thoughtful.
“There are demons who want her blood for their spells,” Sullivan continued the 324
thread. “But why the Fae would want her dead….” His head snapped up with a snarl, his palm out and sending spears of lightening toward the creatures now racing toward them.
Brea heard the voice in her head, calm, quiet, directing her.
“I know you can hear me,” she watched the creatures continue the slow lumber toward them. “I’m giving you a chance. Stop!” She yelled loudly, eyes narrowed when the thundering feet abruptly halted. “You don’t have to fight. You can refuse.”
“They’ve probably been very well compensated,” Sullivan said in a low, snarling growl. “They won’t heed you, child.”
As if hearing his words, the creatures began moving again as one, a circle slowly and cautiously coming forward.
She looked around, Nick was at her feet, fangs bared. Jase stood with his back to her and Sullivan on her side. They were close, safe. She pulled in a long, slow breath and pushed her palms toward the ground.
The males with her watched the very visible concentric circle began at Brea’s feet and wave outward.
“Brea…” Jase reached for her only to have Sullivan grip his wrist, their eyes locked.
“Not now, wolf,” his voice was low and filled with pride. “She’s unlocking her magic.”
“What the fuck does that….” But Jase’s snarl came to an end when the creatures coming toward them fell like slow, hard stones. “Shit. What was that?” 325
Brea felt her knees shaking, her eyes wide and palms covering her lips.
“Brea….don’t even feel sorry for them,” Jase grabbed her at the waist and held up on her feet. “Can you get us out of here?” Brea looked at her grandfather, her hands moving forward to take his.
“Yes,” was the soft, strangled whisper. “But someone will die.”
“They deserve it, child,” he took her hands, knowing what she wanted.
Brea twined their palms and closed her eyes.
Jase swore he saw the same concentric circle but aiming toward the sky, as if there was a dome it were shooting for. The forest around them gave off a great shudder when it struck, echoing and making the ground tremble beneath their feet. The next thing he knew, he was standing in front of the sofa with Nick and Sullivan and Brea folded toward the floor without a word.
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Chapter 37
Nick caught her before she hit the floor.
“Get blankets,” Nick ordered, holding her close. “Fuck, she’s like a block of ice.”
“She used all of her magic in those two strikes,” Sullivan took her palms in his, sending body heat through their link. “She used everything and some of min
e to break the barrier.”
Jase came out with a couple thick quilts, helping Nick wrap her in them before laying her on the sofa.
“She didn’t just break it,” Nick said quietly, looking at Sullivan for answers. “Did she?”
“She sent it back to its owner,” he declared with a nod of satisfaction. “My granddaughter is not weak, merely untrained. And slightly reckless. She was afraid of risking your health to keep her safe,” he looked them over grudgingly. “You must be worthy of her for her to believe that.”
“So the someone involved in that plot is finished?” Jase ground his teeth together, his wolf wanting to howl in victory.
All heads went up when the kitchen doors slammed open, Hannah dressed hurriedly in jeans and sweater, looked at them before rushing to Brea’s side.
“What happened? I felt….oh, Brea….” Hannah took her hands in hers before running her palms along her arms and onto her throat and neck. Slowly, she shared 327
some of her heat, some of her magic until she saw the familiar lashes fluttering.
“What did you feel, Hannah?” Jase asked tensely.
“Hannah, did you relinquish your throne?” Sullivan stood there as if they’re been friends for years, looking from her to the stunned expression on his son’s face. “Hello, Rey.”
“Father,” Rey’s face remained stoic. “Why are you here?”
“Someone….something…..had Brea trapped in her dream forest,” Nick said quickly, not wanting a fight between them at the moment. He met the looks from both her parents.
“They took her when she fell asleep,” Sullivan explained, looking down at the pale woman. “She….somehow garnered enough will to escape and I found her in the middle of my villa when I returned from my morning walk. Before I could return her here, she was taken again. From me. From my home,” his voice had slowly turned into a furious snarling growl.
“She didn’t bring us into the forest?” Jase asked.
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