Her heart gave a helpless little thud. It hadn’t been fair to him at the time, she couldn’t stand lying to him and she couldn’t commit to him. So she’d let him go, yet still he’d come back again…and again…
It was as if cruel fate had kept throwing them together time after time, just to taunt her with the one thing she wanted most desperately and equally the one thing she couldn’t have. She’d fought it, she’d denied it, but she’d wanted him too. She’d wanted that ring on her finger and his child growing inside her.
She sighed so loudly the cat looked up at her, blinking her huge green eyes. It was too late for that now, there would be no children for them, but…there would be a niece and nephew for them to dote on, the same little voice cajoled.
She shook her head, silently arguing with herself. It was too late for them, it wouldn’t work, too much time had passed, too much water under the bridge…so why then, she asked herself, did she still get butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her? Why did her heart beat a little faster when he brushed against her? Why then did she desperately want what he was still offering her?
Why did she fight so hard against him?
She looked up as she heard the apartment door unlock. Shoving her steamy romance novel under the nearest cushion, she turned to the doorway as Mac stepped through.
Something was wrong, she could tell by his hunched shoulders and his tired posture. He didn’t say anything; he just walked into the living room, shedding his coat and boots before dropping down heavily on the couch next to her. Blowing out a deep exhausted breath he let his head fall back against the cushions.
Leaning forward Tammy picked up her glass, refilled it and wordlessly handed it to him, watching as he took it gently from her fingers and drank deeply.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ she asked softly.
Mac stared up at the ceiling for a moment as if trying to organize his thoughts, before turning his blue eyes on her. Usually light and filled with mischief, they’d deepened to a tired, sorrow filled indigo.
‘We found another body today,’ his deep voice rumbled.
Tammy drew in a sharp breath, ‘another woman?’
He shook his head slowly.
‘It was Cameron Walker.’
‘Cameron Walker?’ her eyes widened, ‘Brody Walker’s brother?’
‘Was yeah,’ Mac frowned, ‘until Isabel West murdered Brody.’
‘What happened to him?’ she asked gently.
‘We don’t know yet,’ he replied taking a smaller sip of wine. ‘We found him in a motel room at the Black Cat, his neck had been snapped.’
‘The Black Cat?’ she repeated, ‘the motel you were staying at?’
‘Yeah,’ he answered, ‘it gets worse. The room was rented out to a Clinton Barry and, according to the desk clerk, guy always paid on time, every week in cash. Said he was bit weird but kept to himself.’
‘Have you found him yet?’
‘Oh we found him alright,’ Mac replied darkly, ‘he was in the tub wrapped up in a shower curtain. Been dead for weeks.’
‘What?’ she gasped.
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this Tammy,’ he took another drink. ‘What we’ve got here is an unidentified male, paying for a motel room under the name of a dead guy. Then an ex deputy turns up dead in the same room; not only that, but he’s the brother of one of Isabel West’s murder victims. You’ve also got the murder victim we found the other week, the young woman in the alley. We know that she stayed at the motel the night before she was killed because she was having an affair with her boss. She left from there that morning, which means her killer probably followed her from there.’
‘But Nathaniel was the one who killed her,’ Tammy frowned in confusion.
‘Exactly,’ Mac replied.
‘You think that Nathaniel was the one in the motel room?’ Tammy asked slowly.
‘I think he’s been holed up hiding somewhere.’
‘So where is he now?’ she asked.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Mac replied quietly, as he stared at the half filled glass. ‘You want to know the worst part?’
She watched him silently.
‘Going to see Cameron’s mom and telling her that her other son was dead,’ he rubbed his hand over his face painfully. ‘Jesus Tammy, her face…the look on her face when she realized she’d lost both her children. It tore me apart.’
‘Layton,’ she ran her fingers through his dark, grey shot hair, ‘I wish there was something I could do for you.’
‘It’s just the job,’ he sighed quietly, ‘I don’t want to think about it anymore,’ he shook his head. ‘Tell me about your day.’
‘It’s been long and busy. Amongst other things I’ve been trying to help Roni with a little side research project she’s got going on.’
‘Roni’s always got research projects going on,’ he smiled fondly. ‘What’s she working on this time?’
‘It’s something from mine and Theo’s past, a kind of club…society, which our brother Logan co-founded with one of Jake’s ancestors.’
‘A society?’ Mac repeated.
Tammy nodded.
‘It’s called the Veritas,’ she frowned, ‘we’re not sure if they’re still active today. Apparently it’s a bit of a conspiracy theorists wet dream, but there’s no solid evidence they still exist.’
‘What is the Veritas?’ he asked.
‘Like I said it’s some sort of secret society, like the Freemasons I guess, although I must admit I don’t know what they do either. Do they still exist?’
‘I have no idea,’ he replied.
‘Anyway, from what I understand, the society was founded to protect people of magical descent. Logan and his friend Justin were smuggling witches out of Salem during the trials, they saved dozens of lives. After Logan was killed and I was pulled forward to the present, apparently our biological father James Wilkins took his place. The society was supposed to find the demon Zachary, who’d escaped after killing Logan, although I don’t know if they ever did. In addition they were tasked with making sure the two West girls were safely hidden and protected until they founded the town of Mercy. They were also supposed to defend the innocents against evil. That was their original purpose, but of the limited information Roni and I have been able to uncover I don’t think they’re sticking to their original mandate.’
‘What makes you say that?’ he frowned.
‘There have been rumors for years that the society is responsible for kidnapping people of magical descent, for what purpose I don’t know. There’s also been talk of them stealing priceless objects of power, such as the Cintamani stone, which is said to have belonged to Buddha himself and was supposed to have disappeared in South-east Asia. There is also the book of Thoth, the Egyptian God of Scribes, which is said to be full of magic and incantations of the priesthood and most famously of all, some theorists speculate that the Veritas have in their possession the spear of destiny, which is the roman spear which pierced Christ’s side. Even Hitler himself was obsessed with finding the spear.’
‘It seems a little fanciful,’ Mac took another sip of the wine.
‘Anyway, Roni thinks she’s close to actually finding proof that the Veritas still exist,’ Tammy took the glass from him and took a sip herself.
‘Why this sudden need to chase conspiracies?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘It was just something Theo saw in one of his dreams,’ Tammy replied, ‘which piqued our curiosity.’
‘Do you know how unlikely it is that it’s survived the last three hundred years?’ Mac replied. ‘It’s more likely it’s just an urban legend.’
‘Well, we’ll know soon enough,’ Tammy shrugged, taking another sip of her wine.
‘I don’t like it,’ he frowned, ‘they sound dangerous.’
‘I thought they were just an urban legend?’ she smiled.
‘Well, given the shitty nature of
our luck lately I’m not taking any chances with you.’
Her fingers tangled in his hair, as his heated gaze raked over her flushed skin, then over the exposed skin of her shoulder, where her oversized sweater had slid down.
‘What am I going to do with you Layton?’ she laughed softly.
‘I can think of a few things,’ he murmured, leaning closer. He paused suddenly, his brow creasing as he dug around under the cushion between them and came up with a book. Glancing at the title and the picture of the muscled, half naked guy on the front, he turned his gaze back to Tammy, one brow cocked questioningly.
Tammy flushed bright pink, laughing nervously as she shrugged.
‘It’s been a while.’
‘How long’s a while?’ he inched closer.
‘Since the last time… you and I…’
His eyes flashed hungrily, his gaze dropping to her lips.
‘There hasn’t been anyone else for me either Tam,’ he breathed against her mouth. ‘How long are you going to keep fighting it, when you know it’s what we both want?’
‘Done fighting,’ she whispered, sinking her fingers into his hair and dragging his mouth against hers.
The book tumbled from his fingers, hitting the floor with a muted thud. He reached for her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her onto his lap.
He tasted rich and dark like the wine and beneath that, the unique taste that was all him, something she’d missed terribly. Everything in her ached and yearned toward him. She rocked her hips into him, deepening the kiss, feeling his fingers dig into her. It was like drowning in warmth and familiarity. She’d missed him, missed this closeness between them. Although she’d had other brief lovers in the past, she’d never felt for them the way she felt about Mac. It had always been him, always.
Mac dragged his fingers up her spine, feeling her shiver beneath his touch. When he reached the neck of her sweater he grasped it firmly, dragging it down her arm, exposing more of her silky smooth shoulder. His other hand tangled in her shiny, bob length hair tugging gently so that she broke the contact with his mouth, drawing in a ragged breath as she tilted her head back exposing the line of her throat. His lips traced down her throat breathing in the beloved scent of her.
‘Layton,’ she breathed desperately.
Unable to help herself she rocked against him, as he gripped her hips and moved back to her mouth. Lifting her easily he hauled them both off the sofa. He headed toward the bedroom as she wrapped her legs around him. He didn’t even bother with the light switch; just headed straight for the bed. Soft light spilled in through the open bedroom door as he lowered her to the bed, following her down.
She ground her hips against him impatiently, breaking contact with his mouth only long enough for him to drag her sweater up and over her head. Discarding it carelessly he filled his hands with her soft breasts, smiling against her lips as she moaned against his mouth.
She tugged his shirt from the waistband of his pants, her fingers fumbling with the buttons of his shirt as they exposed the hard planes and ridges of his chest. Pulling his shirt over his broad shoulders and down his back she tossed it toward the floor. Reaching for his belt she watched with heavy eyes as he drew back.
Removing his belt and his gun, he dropped them carefully on her nightstand, before unzipping his pants, dropping them and his boxers in one swift economical move.
His mouth curved into a cocky smile as her eyes darkened, as she made a thorough and heated perusal of his tight body. He kept in shape and he damn well knew she liked what she saw. Crawling across the bed and slowly up her body with the sinuous grace of a feline he unzipped her pants, drawing them down her long smooth legs, taking her delicate silken panties with them, until she was as naked as him.
‘Layton please…’ she whispered into the stillness of the room.
Neither of them were in the mood for teasing, it had been too long since they were last together and they were both greedy and impatient. He crawled back up her body, taking her mouth even as he plunged into her. She arched and let out a gasp at the sudden possession of her body.
‘Breathe Tammy,’ his deep sexy voice growled in her ear.
She could do nothing but obey; his hands grasped hers as he drew her arms above her head, locking her hands around the spindles of the headboard.
‘You might want to hold on,’ he growled, his breath hot against the side of her neck.
Boy, did she ever. With her legs wrapped tightly around his hips and the light dusting of hair across his chest scraping across her nipples with sensitive friction, he played her body like a finely tuned instrument. It was like they’d never been apart; the delicious and familiar weight of him pressing her into the mattress and the sinful things he did to her body. It was devastating in its intensity as he drove her up to the very peak, pushing her headlong into one orgasm and not stopping until she crested the second.
She felt his heart pounding against hers, breathed him in as they devoured each other with single minded intensity. The whole world faded away, the past did not exist, in that moment it was only them, and the promise of the future they would build together.
His hands slid underneath her, tilting her hips and pulling her impossibly close, so he could plunge deeper inside her. She cried out, wrapping her arms around him tightly, her mouth once again seeking his in the darkness and as she fell, he finally shattered with her.
They slept like the dead, sated and deeply satisfied, limbs wrapped around each other tightly as if they feared to lose one another in the darkness, hearts beating in sync and their breaths slow and deep.
When Tammy’s alarm went off with the dawn, Mac didn’t even stir. With an indulgent smile she slipped from the warm bed. As much as she had wanted to stay wrapped up in his embrace, she needed to get to work. Knowing that he still had hours until his shift started, she reset the alarm and let him sleep.
She showered and dressed, then ate breakfast and drank two cups of coffee and he still hadn’t stirred. Standing in the doorway to her bedroom she watched him with an amused smile, as he sprawled naked across her bed and tangled in her sheets. She tiptoed quietly across the room and sat down on the bed. Drawing a lock of hair back from his face she traced the tiny crease in his stubbled chin.
‘How did you end up back in my bed again?’ she murmured as she studied his handsome face.
She was done fighting it. She supposed she could thank her ‘daddy’ issues for her inability to commit to him, but the truth was she no longer had any excuses to hide behind. He knew the truth about her; there were no longer any secrets between them.
She loved him. There she’d admitted it. She’d loved him from the first moment he’d smiled at her and she’d only fallen deeper and harder with each passing year. It was a miracle he’d waited this long for her, but he had and didn’t that prove the depth of his love for her? Maybe it was time to grow up and take that leap of faith.
A small smile tugged at her mouth as her gaze fell to his exposed forearm; she hadn’t realized she was absently tracing the intricate designs of his tattoo as she mulled things over in her mind. It was funny she though randomly, she’d never really looked at his tattoo before. She’d known it was there but had never really taken in the details. It was a casual collection of designs, part of a sleeve he’d never had completed. She almost dismissed it as random until her eyes fell on the small symbol hidden within the design and her blood ran cold.
An ankh, with a serpent wound around its hook…the mark of the Veritas.
His blue eyes opened slowly, his mouth curved into a sleepy satisfied smile as they locked on her.
‘Hey,’ his gravelly voice rumbled.
Her eyes widened as she rose slowly from the bed.
‘Tammy?’ he frowned, ‘what’s wrong?’
She began to back away from the bed.
‘Why…’ her voice was a broken whisper, ‘why do you have the mark of the Veritas?’
‘You’re one of them?’ the words choked in her throat.
‘Tammy it’s not what you think…’ he sat up abruptly, his eyes following her as she inched toward the door.
‘Not what I think?’ she laughed, a cold humorless sound so unlike her, filled with bitterness. ‘You were so angry that I never told you the truth about me. So pissed I’d been keeping my identity a secret and now I find you’ve been lying to me all along.’
‘It’s not like that Tammy,’ he grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around himself.
‘Stay away from me,’ she backed away, shaking her head. ‘I don’t know who you are anymore.’
‘Tammy would you just listen…’ he climbed out of her bed and headed toward her.
She bolted through the door and made it to the living room before he caught up with her, grabbing her arm and swinging her around to face him.
‘Tammy…please just let me explain…’
‘NO!’ tears filled her eyes and she ripped herself from his grip, jerking open the apartment door and disappearing.
Cursing, he started after her only to realize he was still naked. Cursing again, he headed back to the bedroom to yank his clothes on, hoping he could still catch her. He had to find her…had to explain…because he just couldn’t stomach the thought of losing her again.
Tammy headed for the elevator but bypassed it at the last moment. She needed to keep moving, because as long as she was moving she wasn’t thinking. The tears burned in her eyes, tracking down her cheeks; her heart thundered in her chest and her breath came in short wheezing, pain filled gasps. The utter devastation and betrayal was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. She didn’t know how to process it, didn’t know how to deal with it, so she did the only thing she could, she ran… down the stairs and out of her apartment building, and round the corner where no one would see her.
Intending to cut through the back alley into the next street, she suddenly felt a tight grip on her arm. She turned to yank her arm back thinking it was Mac, only to have a hand clamped over her mouth, her tear filled eyes widening in horror as she stared into the face of Nathaniel.
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 188