“Of course.” Suha helped her across the hall to the bathroom. “Get her a T-shirt,” she mouthed at Adric, and then closed the door.
Adric had to dig to find something clean—laundry was not one of his favorite chores—but he managed to unearth an old shirt that was too small for him. He gave it to Suha and then helped Luc make the bed.
Meanwhile Zuri went into the kitchen, returning with two glasses, one water, one orange juice. “So she has a choice,” he said as he set the two glasses on the nightstand.
“Good,” Adric said. “A choice is good.”
“Yeah,” chimed in Luc.
As one, they looked toward the bathroom. The door was still closed and the shower was running, but they could hear Marjani crying, softly, hopelessly.
Adric’s fists clenched.
Beside him, he heard Zuri’s low growl. His lip curled to reveal his wolf’s fangs.
Luc’s eyes were a pure, animal gold. “It was a Rock Run fada?”
Adric turned to him, glad for something to take his mind off his sister. “Four renegades, possibly feral. Two originally from Rock Run and two Greek sea fada. One of the Rock Run shifters is dead, killed by Tiago do Rio.” Adric brought the two lieutenants up to date on what he’d learned at the hotel.
“So we owe do Rio,” Luc said.
“Yeah.”
They all scowled. None of them liked owing a Rock Run shifter—and the alpha’s brother to boot.
Luc blew out a breath. “Well, I’m just thankful he was there.”
Adric nodded as the bathroom door opened and the two women emerged.
Marjani appeared calmer, but to Adric it looked like the flat affect of someone who’s been deeply traumatized, a state he was all too familiar with from the Darktime. She plodded into the bedroom ahead of Suha, the gray T-shirt hanging loosely around her slim body.
His whole body went rigid as he saw the bruises high on her thighs. Beside him, Luc and Zuri’s breath hitched and he knew they’d noticed as well.
Adric growled. His animal rose up, so agitated it tried to force him to shift. Usually he and the cat were so in sync that he didn’t feel it as a separate entity, but now it was furious, mainly at Marjani’s attackers, but also at Adric. The cat hadn’t wanted Marjani to move away; she was family and should stay close, under Adric’s protection.
Now it tried to force the shift so it could go hunting—with the water fada—any water fada—as prey. His claws slid out.
Blood.
Kill.
Adric drew a slow breath and ordered it to stand down. But it was difficult, especially since the part of him that wasn’t an alpha but a brother wanted to go hunting, too. The cat snarled but retracted its claws.
Luc was nudging Suha aside to help Marjani to the bed. “Are you thirsty? Would you like something to drink?”
“Juice, please.”
While she drank the orange juice, Zuri turned back the covers as Suha looked on with a slight smile. It was funny seeing his hard-faced lieutenants cluck over Marjani like a pair of broody hens, but Adric just thanked the gods they were his friends.
Marjani finished drinking and handed the glass back to Luc.
“Get into bed now,” he told her.
She nodded and lay down. Adric found her ready submission almost harder to take than the bruises. His sister’s spirit might be housed in a slight body, but she was as tough and battle-hardened as the rest of them. She’d had to be, to survive the Darktime.
Luc pulled the covers up to her chin, his hard face inscrutable, but Adric could scent the fury coming off him in hot, pungent waves. His hands, though, were gentle, tucking her in and then briefly stroking her shoulders through the blankets. Luc had been in love with Marjani for years, although no one but Adric knew. Unfortunately, Marjani looked on him as more of a brother than anything else.
“I’m waiting for her to grow up,” Luc had told Adric the one time they’d talked about it. “She’s my mate. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Adric had shaken his head. Mates usually recognized each other on some level, but Marjani showed no interest in Luc whatsoever. Adric just hoped that Luc wouldn’t cause problems when she finally found her mate.
“Comfortable?” Luc asked Marjani now.
She nodded and he stepped back so that Suha could pull up a chair next to the bed.
Adric crouched down on the bed’s other side and took his sister’s hand. She clutched his fingers. When she spoke, her voice was so soft that he could barely make out the words. “I’m fine, Ric. Really.”
“Sure, kitten. And Suha’s going to make you even better. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said in that same almost-soundless voice. “But—can it just be Suha and you?”
“Of course.” Adric jerked his head at Zuri and Luc, who had taken a stance at the foot of the bed, both of their faces dark with the same impotent rage that he was feeling. “Wait in the living room—I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
He shut the door behind them and returned to the bed. Taking Marjani’s hand again, he eyed her bruised cheek and silently vowed that if it turned out more than a couple of Rock Run renegades had been involved, he wouldn’t rest until the river clan was on its knees. The hell with the agreement he’d made with Dion—and to hell with the quartz. This was personal now.
Suha sent him a sharp look. “Calm yourself, my lord.”
She was young and pretty, not unlike Marjani in looks, although taller and with darker skin. Adric had known her since they were both children. They’d even had a hot hook-up or two a couple of years ago. The formal “my lord” was to remind him what was at stake.
“Don’t worry about me,” he snapped back. “Just make her better.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know.” He passed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Suha. I—”
But she had turned her attention to his sister. “All right, sweetheart,” she said as she placed her hands on either side of Marjani’s face. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Let yourself relax.”
Marjani closed her eyes. Her face softened so that she looked like a teenager, especially with her cropped hair. But then she was young, not even out of her twenties.
Too young to be an alpha’s second, just as Suha at twenty-six was too young to be a clan’s chief healer. This was what had come of their elders’ vicious jockeying for power. Even his parents hadn’t been immune. Not for the first time, he wished his uncle and his cronies a hot, merry time in whatever hell they inhabited.
“That’s it,” Suha murmured. She glanced at him. “You too, Ric. Breathe. She needs your energy.”
Marjani touched the quartz he’d lent her. “You need this—”
“No. Keep it.” He wouldn’t—in fact, couldn’t—have shared his quartz with just anyone, but Marjani was a close relative. It wouldn’t be as attuned to her as it was with him, but it would still boost her healing. “You can give it back to me when Suha is done. And then we’ll see about getting you a temporary one until you feel up to finding one of your own.”
“All right.” She shut her eyes again.
“Breathe,” the healer said.
Marjani’s breath whooshed out and Adric realized that she’d been holding it.
“That’s it,” Suha said. “In and out. Picture yourself in a safe, warm place. You too, Ric.”
Adric nodded and entwined his fingers with Marjani’s. He kept his eyes open, because when he closed them, all he could think about was what she’d undergone last night, and that just fed his fury, which was bad. He was barely maintaining control of both himself and his cat as it was.
“Breathe, Adric,” Suha prompted.
He obediently inhaled.
“You’re warm and comfortable,” the healer told Marjani. “Your body is already beginning to heal itself.”
The tension eased out of Marjani. His own breathing slowed. Picturing himself in a safe place was out of the question, but he was one of the mos
t powerful earth fada alive. He could add his strength to Suha’s, help heal his sister.
Keeping her hand in his, with the other he cupped the crystal resting on her upper chest. It responded instantly to his touch. Energy swirled through him. He directed it toward Marjani, felt the current join with the warm golden light that was Suha’s healing energy.
“That’s it,” muttered Suha. “Keep it up—just like that.”
He closed his eyes and poured his heart and soul into visualizing his sister healthy and whole again.
He felt her body absorb the energy, begin to heal. He only prayed that her spirit would heal as well.
* * *
Long minutes later, Suha heaved a sigh and sat back. Marjani was in a deep sleep, the bruises on her face and arms already fading.
Suha turned her soft brown eyes on Adric. “I’ve done what I could. Her body’s well on its way to being healed, but—” She moved a shoulder.
He released Marjani and came to standing. His legs were cramped, and when he consulted his internal clock he was surprised to realize more than thirty minutes had passed. He took a moment to stretch before coming around the bed and drawing Suha to her feet.
“Thank you, love. You’re fucking amazing. Anything I can do for you—anything at all—just let me know.” He brushed his lips over hers in a grateful kiss.
She touched his face. “You don’t owe me anything, Ric. I’m a healer. This is my job. And you know I love Marjani like a sister.”
“Even so, I mean it. You’ll let me know if there’s anything you need. That’s an order.” He waited for her nod before continuing, “You’ll stay the night?”
“Of course. I brought my things.” She indicated a colorful cloth bag in the corner.
He left her watching over Marjani and went into the living room. Zuri had left but Luc was pacing impatiently, waiting to report.
“Zuri left to help Jace,” Luc said. “Jace called to say that Rock Run’s already taken care of the dead body. The other three men had split up, but Jace tracked the Rock Run man—Jorge—to the harbor. He must have gone into the water because Jace lost his scent. A couple of Rock Run’s trackers were already there so Jace laid low.”
“Rock Run went after him?”
“Yes. They had a boat, but the bastard had too much of a head start. And even if they shift to their animals they can’t track in the water much better than we can. That shark they have for a second might be able to—Rui do Mar—but he wasn’t there. So the S.O.B. is safe for now unless the river trackers can find him.” Luc growled. “But why aren’t we the ones hunting them down? Marjani’s ours.”
“But they’re river fada—and Lord Dion swore he’d take care of it.” Adric brought Luc up to date on his agreement with the Rock Run alpha. “They might not be able to use scent to track him in the water, but don’t forget, they can shift to dolphin and search for him through echolocation.”
“I know, I know,” Luc grumbled. “And they can follow him underwater where we have to stick to the surface.”
“If do Mar is around, he’ll go out looking as his shark. These were the same men who kidnapped his mate. He’d got as much skin in this game as we do.”
Luc nodded but Adric could tell he wasn’t happy. If he’d been in his wolf form, he would’ve been bristling with outrage. It wasn’t just that one of their own females had been attacked. It was that it was Marjani, the woman Luc thought of as his.
Well, he couldn’t be any more pissed off than Adric. He reached for his quartz, and when he didn’t find it, shoved his fingers through his hair instead. “How the fuck did this happen, anyway?”
“She was at the Full Moon last night, playing cards in the back room. I was there, keeping an eye on her.”
Adric nodded. Marjani might not return Luc’s interest, but to his sister’s irritation, Luc had appointed himself her bodyguard. When she’d complained, Adric had simply replied, “If it’s not him, it’s me,” and she’d subsided, although not without muttering that she was a lieutenant, not a five-year-old.
“And?”
“She slipped out the back when I was in the john. I traced her to that afterhours club up the street—the Wildcat—but after that, nothing.”
Adric scowled. He should’ve known Marjani would find a way to ditch Luc. She’d done it before, after all. But as she’d pointed out—multiple times—she was his second and a damn good fighter besides. He had to allow her a certain amount of freedom or her position in the clan would be undermined.
He jammed his hands into his pockets and stared into the fireplace he’d installed so he could curl up as his cougar, soaking up the heat. Not that he spent much time enjoying it. His clan was in much better shape than when he’d taken control five years ago, but getting the various factions to work together still took too damn much of his time and energy.
Right now, there was wood laid, but it wasn’t lit. He’d set a fae light to flicker at the back, though. Give the illusion of a warm, welcoming hearth.
Luc growled and Adric’s gaze snapped to him. His friend’s wolf-gold eyes bored into his. “She should’ve had a bodyguard assigned her.”
“That was your job,” he returned.
Luc shifted uneasily, but he didn’t back down. “Unofficially, yes. But she’s your second—and above me in the hierarchy. I have no authority over her.” And damn if that didn’t chafe the other man.
“If I assigned her an official guard, I might as well announce she’s no longer my second. You know that as well as I do.”
Luc shook his head, but let it go. “There’s something else,” he said. “I saw Tiago do Rio at the Full Moon. I sat next to him at the bar to make sure he wasn’t up to anything.”
Adric’s brows shot up. “And?”
“And nothing. Oh, he tried to find out why we want to mine that quartz, but hell, in his place, I’d have done the same thing. To tell the truth, he seemed more interested in getting laid. He had his eye on Shania, but I told him to stay the hell away from our women.”
“What did he say to that?”
Luc moved a shoulder. “He didn’t like it, but he left. I went into the back room to keep an eye on Marjani.”
“Who else was there?”
Luc named several people, all of them men and women who’d fought with Adric from the start. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe that they were traitors.
“I sat in for a couple of hands,” Luc continued. “Everything seemed calm enough, so I went to the john. When I came back, she was gone.”
“Damn it.” Adric paced across the floor. “It all seems too neat—do Rio and Marjani at the bar the same night—but I suppose it could just be coincidence. Or someone saw an opportunity and went for it. I want you to talk to Shania. See if she knows anything.”
“All right.” Luc glanced toward the hall that led to the bedrooms. “Can I see her?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“I won’t bother her. I just want to see her.”
“Go ahead, then. But when you come out, I want you to find out exactly what happened at the Wildcat. Who was there, who saw Marjani last? Start with Shania, and then talk to your other roommates. Somebody knows something.”
“You think this wasn’t just some feral water fada?”
“Hell if I know. But it’s damn suspicious that the two people who got caught up in their games were my sister—and the brother of Rock Run’s alpha.”
Luc nodded. They both knew this incident could’ve easily provoked a war between their clan and Rock Run.
Adric paced around the room. The cat wanted out. It wasn’t as easy to shift without his crystal, but all he had to do was relax and let it come through. His body warmed, and there were a few lost seconds, and then he was a cougar.
He waited until Luc left and then settled down in front of the fireplace, his head on his paws. He hadn’t mentioned his deepest fear to Luc. That someone was trying to start a personal war between him and Dion. The other alpha was stron
g, but Adric had the power of his quartz. A duel between them could end with both of them dead, leaving a vacuum at the top.
His cousin Corban, for instance, would love to step into that vacuum.
And maybe there was someone at Rock Run who felt the same.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cleia watched from the couch as Dion paced back and forth across the stone floor of their sala.
After Tiago had left, she’d ’ported the two of them to the Rock Run motorboat stationed in the Inner Harbor. There, Dion had sent a message to Rui do Mar and the base, then put his third, Luis, in charge of the search for Jorge and the two Greek sea fada. Meanwhile, Dion and Cleia returned to Rock Run so that he and his second could work out a plan for dealing with the three rogue fada.
Rui had been waiting in their apartment. This time nothing, not even his mate’s pregnancy, could stop him from joining the search.
“It’s not just about Valeria,” he’d said, his face set in cold, hard lines. “This is a deliberate attempt to set Rock Run and Baltimore at each other’s throats.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Dion’s expression was equally grim. “If Tiago had raped Marjani under the influence of that damn drug, Adric would have been out for blood. He wouldn’t have given us a chance to explain. He’d have gone after Tiago—and then I’d have gone after him.”
“And if Adric harmed you or Tiago,” Cleia had said with dawning horror, “I’d have blasted him to kingdom come. All three of our clans would’ve been feuding.”
The two men glanced at each other. Cleia had the distinct feeling a question had been asked and answered.
“Jorge’s in the water?” Rui had asked.
Dion nodded. “We traced him to the Inner Harbor, but that was early this morning.”
Rui was already at the door. “Then he could already be up here. I’ll change to my shark. If he’s within a mile of Rock Run, I’ll know.”
“I’ll put a guard on Valeria and the girls at all times. Just in case.”
“She’ll be in our apartment along with Merry and Noela,” Rui said. Noela was Valeria and Rui’s toddler. “I’ll make sure of it before I leave.”
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