by Abby Blake
“Thank you,” she said, glancing around the room at all of the people. Her gaze settled on Xavier. “I’m sorry I crashed your party.”
“Not a problem,” Xavier said with a friendly smile. “I’m glad we’ve been able to help.”
“And if I know my sister,” Skye said with a warm smile, “she’ll be really annoyed that she slept through it all.”
“Okay,” Benjamin said, slipping suddenly into commanding officer mode, “let me make a few phone calls, and we’ll get you set up in a safe house. In the meantime, I want you—” He cut off his words, half laughed, and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m about to give this order, but Jed, Devlin, I want one of you to always be holding Lilly’s hand. I’ll organize for some backup, but for now I’m assigning you both to protect Lilly.”
Devlin didn’t look particularly happy that they were assigned to protect the woman together, but it was probably the wisest choice. Lilly knew both of them. She’d known Jed for several years and was comfortable with him even in his new unwrinkled skin, and despite whatever had gone on between her and Devlin, they still seemed to have a genuine affection for one another.
“Okay. Jed, you and Lilly head back to the party,” Benjamin said in a voice that made it feel like a request even though it wasn’t. “Devlin, call Ronan, ask him if he’s got a secure safe house available.”
* * * *
Devlin nodded, reached for his cell phone, and began to dial as he watched Jed and Lilly walk hand in hand from the room. Jealousy flared again, but he swallowed it down and determinedly focused on doing what Benjamin had asked. Xavier closed the door when it was just him, Benjamin, and Devlin still in the room.
“Where does the Ruling Body stand?” he asked.
Benjamin glanced at Devlin and gave him an apologetic look before answering Xavier’s question. “That unfortunately isn’t as clear as we might hope. We’ve been ordered to protect the Oracle’s receptacles, but no one is trying to call off the assassins.” He shook his head slightly. “I suspect that the Judiciaries are divided in their opinions and we’re the political football in the middle. They’re essentially letting the chips fall where they may.”
Xavier nodded and waited for him to continue.
“We recently learned that the first pixie assassin was working under the influence of fireweed and being controlled by a woman named Victoria when she killed the original Oracle twenty-seven years ago. It seems to have been a PLA-ordered and Ruling Body–sanctioned hit, but the assassination was anything but standard.”
“We don’t want to go into details,” Devlin said, as he tried to forget the gruesome facts of one of the most disturbing murders he’d ever read about. Assassinations were usually quick, efficient, and essentially painless. The target literally never knew what hit them. But the murder of the Oracle twenty-seven years ago had been long, sadistically drawn out, and for the fire demon female who’d died, extremely painful. “We believe that a woman we know only as Victoria is a witch and an Oracle herself, and she’s the one who set up the whole thing in an attempt to steal the murdered Oracle’s information.”
Xavier nodded his understanding. They hadn’t been able to come up with a solid theory on why the Oracle known only as Victoria would want the history of her own people, but it had been the reason Connistanterina had given them. The video recording of her “explanation” for the murder had been chilling. Watching the miniature pixie suffer severe symptoms of fireweed withdrawal hadn’t made it any easier. Essentially they only had the Pixie League of Assassins’s word for it, but until about thirty years ago Connistanterina had been the model employee, taking her assignments very seriously and never straying from the company policy of fast, professional hits. Her psych profile hadn’t suggested she was even capable of doing what she’d done. And the fact that she was having an emotional breakdown now as she came off the fireweed and finally understood everything that had happened certainly suggested that she was as shocked as everyone else was.
“We’re still working our way through the diary Bethany Childes left behind. It’s written in an ancient warlock dialect, so it’s taking time, but it does seem to confirm the theory that the Oracle’s receptacles are the fail-safe. When Bethany was murdered it somehow triggered the skills and knowledge that the others seem to have. But far from being a passive knowledge of history, the Oracle’s receptacles seem to have skills beyond our understanding for the human species. Until Bethany’s diary confirmed it, we didn’t even think it was possible for the human brain to contain so much information.”
“If I have learned one thing from my wife,” Xavier said with a smile, “it’s that humans have a way of surprising us. Maybe believing they were somehow inferior will be the paranormal community’s biggest mistake.”
Chapter Three
Jed lay on the bed and tried not to press his hard cock against Lilly’s gorgeous ass.
For three days now, he and Devlin had lived in a safe house protecting Lilly. He’d had some tough assignments before, but without a doubt having to touch this beautiful human all the time was the toughest. It didn’t help that he’d finally noticed Lillian was all grown up. It didn’t matter that he was nearly three hundred years old and she only twenty-seven. In relative terms they were roughly the same age.
He sighed and snuggled closer.
His attraction to Lilly still didn’t change the fact that she had maybe seventy years left of her maximum human life expectancy and he had seven hundred. Getting involved was asking for heartache.
“Jed,” she asked in a quiet voice, “why haven’t I traveled since finding you and Dev?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. “Maybe it’s because you found what you were looking for.”
“Meaning you?” she asked with a soft laugh.
“Exactly, sweet thing,” he said, trying to keep the conversation light. “You bounced all over the world looking for the greatest magician you’ve ever known.”
“Except that I knew where you were the first time I bounced.” She was quiet for a while, but then said softly, “I went to Afghanistan that first time.” She sat up, careful to make certain she was still touching him. They’d set up a series of protection wards around the safe house they were staying in, but she’d already proved that she could bounce through at least some variations of wards by crashing Jennifer’s claiming party in the middle of a heavily fortified werewolf community. “I think I was looking for Devlin at first, but…” Her words trailed off, and she seemed to be having trouble verbalizing what was on her mind.
“But you missed my grumpy-old-man charm?” he asked, forcing a jovial tone into his voice.
“That’s just it,” Lilly said as a blush crept up her neck. “Even though you looked eighty years old, I never thought of you as an old man. I…um…always had a sort of crush on you. Do you think maybe it’s possible that I could sense you weren’t really what you seemed?”
He answered her before her meaning actually sank in. “Hannah and the others all have knowledge that they can’t explain, so it’s likely you do as well.” It wasn’t until Lilly blushed and looked away that he finally realized what she’d confessed. “You had a crush on me?”
She gave him a half smile, and despite the glowing red face looked him in the eye and admitted, “I used to wish you were fifty years younger.”
If he were honest, he’d confess to staying in that small town far longer than he’d intended simply because of the human waitress who’d intrigued him like no other. But right now, he was also hyperaware of Devlin sitting in the living room taking the first night-watch shift. It was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that the man loved Lilly with every breath. Jed even understood why Devlin had walked away from her. It seemed a cruel twist of nature that the woman they would both fall for was from a species so short-lived. But understanding how short-lived their lives together would be didn’t help him drag the emotions back under control.
“Lil,” he said, choosing his words very carefully, “you know Devlin loves you, right?”
“I thought he did, but then he gave me some line about me not being able to handle life with a Navy SEAL and walked away.” Her eyes were glassy as a shiver ran through the length of her body. “It hurt so badly to think he didn’t have any faith in me. Even knowing the real reason now doesn’t erase the feeling of not measuring up.”
“Lil,” Devlin said from the doorway, his voice thick with emotion, “I never meant to hurt you like that.”
“You could hear us?” she asked in a shocked whisper. And then in a strained voice she added, “Hell, is nothing private?” She looked down and away, seeming ashamed of what she planned to say next. “I suppose you heard me confessing that I would have had a hard time choosing between you if I’d known Jed wasn’t as old as he looked?”
Devlin smiled, his reaction the exact opposite of what Jed had been expecting. “Yes, I heard that, too, and you know what? I’m glad that you found Jed. He can be a horse’s ass at times, but he’s one of the good guys. He—” Devlin’s words cut off abruptly, and he seemed to be trying to drag his ragged emotions back under tight control. He took a deep breath. “He won’t hurt you the way I did.”
He turned and left the room quickly.
Lilly called his name softly, her heart obviously breaking again.
Jed wasn’t the least bit surprised at what happened next.
* * * *
Lilly felt the familiar pull of the vortex, but this time instead of fear she felt only peace. Somehow she’d found the two men she’d been unconsciously seeking, and it had calmed something inside her. She even knew exactly where this vortex was taking her.
Devlin looked beyond shocked when she and Jed appeared in the living room in front of him.
“How?” he asked, shaking his head.
“I think ‘why’ is probably the more important question,” Jed said, squeezing her encouragingly.
“Why?” Devlin asked, looking even more confused now.
Jed laughed softly. “I never would have pegged you for being so damn blind. The woman loves you. She even managed to control her travel tunnel—or vortex jump or bounce spiral or whatever you want to call the human equivalent of a bounce tunnel—to open in front of you.”
“But she brought you with her.”
“Of course,” Jed said dismissively. “I was wrapped around the woman at the time.”
She tried to hide her wince, but ever the observant warrior, Devlin saw it.
“No,” Devlin said, his gaze somehow seeing more than she wanted to show. “She brought you with her deliberately. If she wanted to, she could have left you behind.”
“Is that true, sweet thing?” Jed asked. He still had an arm wrapped around her middle, so the question was far more intimate than was probably wise under the circumstances. Her heart raced a million miles an hour as she tried to find the courage to tell them both what was in her heart.
It seemed so strange to want to be with two men at the same time, but there was no way she could ever choose between them.
“It’s true,” she whispered, watching Devlin’s face closely. Yes, he’d hurt her when he’d walked away, but she had no wish to hurt him back. God help her if he thought she was just using Jed to try and even the score. Over the past few days she’d asked herself enough of those type of questions to realize she wasn’t an awful enough person to do something like that.
But Devlin surprised her. He leaned in, pressed his lips against hers, and kissed her so passionately she would have fallen to her knees if Jed hadn’t been there to hold her up. Finally, Devlin broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against her own as they both gasped for air.
“I love you, Lilly. I always have.” He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and moved back so that she could see his face. “I’m sorry I hurt you. Please forgive me.”
“Of course,” she said quickly. “Even when I hated you, I still loved you.”
She felt Jed’s arm tighten momentarily before he slid his hand up her arm and lifted her hand into Devlin’s. “Why don’t you two go get reacquainted. I’ll take first watch tonight.”
* * * *
Devlin could see the panic in Lilly’s eyes. It was obvious that Jed was stepping back and giving Devlin a chance to reclaim the woman who owned his heart. But it was also obvious that Lilly and Jed had a special bond.
Their affection for each other had transcended the age gap even when Lilly had thought Jed an old man. True that it had been very unlikely to turn into a physical relationship under those circumstances, but Devlin was beginning to suspect that Jed had even considered undergoing the warlock regeneration process so that he could court the woman after the old man’s supposed death.
A quick look at the man’s face confirmed the loss Jed was feeling right now.
“No,” Devlin said, managing to surprise them both. “It’s my watch. Jed, why don’t you take our girl to bed. You two have a few things to sort out.” Lilly gave him a concerned look. He gave her a wry smile in return. “It’s okay, Lil. I love you. Nothing’s going to change that.”
“Not even if I…um…we…I mean if Jed and me…”
“Not even then,” Devlin said, touching her face with the tips of his fingers. She smiled, seeming to relax slightly. Devlin could see the confusion in Jed’s eyes and almost laughed out loud. It was true that neither his species nor Jed’s were known for their multiple-partner relationships—most were one-man-with-one-woman type of deals—but it didn’t mean they couldn’t find a way to get along. It was obviously what Lilly wanted. And to be completely honest, the thought of watching his beautiful Lilly fuck another man was one of his most secret fantasies. The fact that she loved Jed just made the whole thing more perfect.
Lilly grabbed Devlin’s arm and held it over her shoulder as she turned. It put his palm over her left breast and he couldn’t resist the urge to caress the soft globe as she reached for Jed and lifted her face to his. Jed seemed to assess Devlin for a full three seconds before he dipped his head and tasted the woman they both wanted. Lilly moaned, the soft sound sending heat straight to Devlin’s groin.
Damn, if he didn’t step back now, he was liable to forget they were supposed to be protecting her, and then do something truly stupid like pushing her to the ground and fucking her like a wild thing. He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, flicked his fingers over the hard peak of her nipple one more time, and then let the woman go.
“Go to bed, you two,” he said in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. “And Jed, try and get at least a little bit of sleep. I’m waking you in six hours regardless of what you’ve been up to.”
Jed smiled, dipped his head in acknowledgement, and then grabbed Lilly’s hand to lead her back to the bedroom. She turned back to Devlin, mouthed the words “thank you,” and then went with Jed.
* * * *
Jed’s heart was thumping so hard he wondered if it were possible for it to break his rib cage. He’d longed for this woman and had mourned her disappearance five weeks ago. If Hannah hadn’t come into his life and needed his help, he would probably still be sitting in that out-of-the-way diner waiting for Lilly to come home. Of course, if he’d had any idea of what was happening to her, he would have tracked her to the ends of the Earth. How ironic that in the end it was exactly what he’d done without knowing it.
He hadn’t even considered that Lilly Wicks, missing Oracle’s receptacle, might have been related to Lillian Connelly, missing waitress and woman who held his heart. Even with the dates they’d gone missing seeming to coincide, it would have been a huge leap to link the two.
But now that he had a chance to show his sweet Lilly how deeply he felt, suddenly he was tongue-tied and awkward. His palms were even sweating like a teenager on his first date. Fuck. He’d never been this nervous about anything in his life.
He went to say something, give Lilly some sort of reassurance that everything would work out, b
ut every word he thought to say sounded glib and insincere. He’d fantasized about the woman but had never truly imagined finding himself here and now with Lilly in his arms.
“Jed,” Lilly said, obviously picking up on his internal turmoil, “we can just get some rest if you’d like. I know this has to be a weird situation for you. It’s okay if you want to walk away.” She lifted onto her toes, placed a warm hand against the side of his face, and pressed her lips to his own briefly. “I know what I’m asking for isn’t exactly normal.”
A soft laugh escaped him, breaking the tension and bringing back the sense of peace he’d felt only minutes earlier. “Actually, sweet Lilly, in my current line of work it’s becoming quite common.”
“You’re pulling my leg,” Lilly said with a smile. It was so similar to the way that she’d smiled at him when he’d teased her at the diner that vivid memories swept through his mind, washing away the unease he’d felt upon entering this room.
“No, I’m not, but can we leave the explanation for later? Right now I have a burning need to see you completely naked.”
She smiled and stepped away. Panic streaked through him at the loss of contact. For days now either he or Devlin had been physically attached to the woman in some way or other. She’d even held their hands as she’d showered. She always had the GPS tracker with her, but it seemed that unexpectedly bouncing away from them had been the thing she’d feared most.
But not so now. Now she stood two feet away and peeled the clothes from her delicious body.
The travel vortex that she’d opened into the living room had seemed as controlled as his own bounce tunnels—an extraordinary achievement considering he’d grown into his skills and had almost three hundred years of practice. To master such a talent so quickly was surely the sign of an amazing mind.