by Anne Manning
And yet, he had asked her. He clearly remembered that. He'd asked her twice. She had bid him stay.
Bridget! What was wrong with him?
Where would he end up this time? His brain was starting to clear and he began putting on the brakes before he ended up freezing his ass off on Jupiter again.
He slowed enough to swing around Mars and head home. Even a fairy at top speed needed time to make a hundred million mile trip, so he had time to think.
It had been wonderful. Even though he'd touched her only in the Dream Realm, he could still feel the softness of her skin, the crispness of the curls guarding her womanhood rasping against him, smell the musk of her response
He could see the warmth of her smile and the gentleness in her shining brown eyes.
His heart clenched. He was falling in love.
The clench morphed to shock. Love. With a human woman.
Fear moved in. He'd put her in danger. Just like Lucas had done to her sister.
"Stupid, Gaelen. Stupid."
Did Dream Realm sex count? Maybe he hadn't yet crossed the line. She didn't know what he was.
Did she?
Maybe she'd pass it off as a dream, just a dream. She probably would be embarrassed when next they met, but she wouldn't believe they had actually made love.
Love.
No, it was sex. That was all it was.
Even as he thought it, he knew it was a lie.
And now he knew he had to get Lucas and Erin to the council and get away from Annabelle before he lost control of himself again. He wouldn't put her in danger.
He wouldn't.
With that resolution made, he sped up, eager to get this business behind him.
She would never be punished on his account. And if that meant he would never see her again, he would do that for her.
Chapter Ten
Gaelen fully intended to keep his resolution, but met Annabelle the next evening as she left the hospital. He frowned. Her eyes were red-rimmed. And she seemed a little cool toward him.
"How is she this morning?" he asked.
"The same."
"Dr. Duncan hasn't released her?"
Annabelle stared at him as though he was crazy. "Release her? They won't even let me see her." She sighed. "Now Mom is in a frenzy. Dr. Duncan finally gave her a sedative, too, and admitted her for the night."
What was the pixie up to? If she so blatantly disregarded him, she must have a plan and a reasonable chance for succeeding.
"I still haven't found Lucas."
Mention of Lucas's name seemed to make Annabelle uncomfortable. Gaelen decided to push.
"Annabelle, I know you're worried about Erin. You must know how I feel about Lucas. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since before this sorry mess started." He took her hand and made her face him. "If you know where he is, you have to tell me." She glanced away. "At least tell me if he's all right."
With her eyes averted from him, Gaelen couldn't see which way she was leaning. With a sudden feeling that their time was growing short, he almost went into her head.
Annabelle jerked up, her brown eyes questioning.
Clumsy lout! She'd felt him probing.
"I have to go, Gaelen." She broke away.
He slipped behind a column and squooshed. Risky, but he hadn't time to find a better hiding place.
He flew after her as she drove the streets of Chapel Hill until she turned into the driveway of her mother's house. Lucas was here. He could sense his brother's presence.
Slipping in behind her before she could close the door, he kept to the upper corners and searched the house. A door stood ajar just off the kitchen.
The basement.
He went down and found a long figure draped on the sofa.
He unsquooshed and stood quietly until the dizziness passed.
"I might have known I'd find you here," he said.
Lucas jerked his eyes open, a wry smile spreading over his face. "Gaelen. I might have known I couldn't hide forever."
"You did a pretty good job, boyo. I had to follow Annabelle to find you."
"All you had to do was scan her. She's known where I was for two days." Lucas cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, studying.
Gaelen had to struggle to keep from squirming under his brother's gaze.
"Why didn't you probe her mind, Gaelen?"
Why indeed? Of course, he knew why.
He wouldn't violate her. Again, he added with no small measure of guilt.
He turned his attention to present matters and drew a small bag from his coat pocket. Stretching open the drawstrings, he stuck two fingers inside and extracted a small crystal bottle.
Lucas wasn't giving up, though.
"Why not, Gaelen?"
"Let's just say I was being a gentleman." Anxious to get back the upper hand, he ordered, "Get 'em out, now. Let's have a look at the damage."
"Not here! What if Annabelle or her mother comes down here and sees me?"
"Annabelle is too worried about her sister to come down here. Her mother is sedated at the hospital."
"What?" His eyes flashed. "What's happened?"
"First things first." When Lucas didn't move quickly enough to suit him, Gaelen growled, "Come on, Lucas, we don't have all day."
With a grimace, Lucas shucked off his shirt. "It's been a while, and they're sore, so don't rush me."
Biting his lower lip, Lucas closed his eyes and unfolded his wings.
"Oh, Bridget," he moaned.
"Atta-boy, come on. Just a little more now." Gaelen made his voice soft and comforting. "I know it hurts, boyo, but come on. I've got some ointment to take the sting out."
Lucas groaned. "I hope Annabelle doesn't come down here."
"You and me both, brother. The last thing I want is to have to explain why I'm tending my brother's privates."
"T'would be a shocker for the poor girl for certain."
"I don't know, Luke," Gaelen said with a chuckle. "Somehow, I don't think that one would be as shocked as you might think."
"It certainly tore a scream from my Erin when these things popped out."
"You should have thought about that before you took up with a mortal woman." He poked a dab of ointment on the tear in Lucas's wing.
"Hey, watch it. That hurts. And what's wrong with a mortal woman?"
"You know the law. Our kind can't consort with mortals." Gaelen punctuated his sentence with a dab of ointment. He admitted to himself some of his pique was self-directed. "Don't you realize what you've done? And there was no need. Three hundred fairy women on this campus I know of--"
"And you've been with every one."
"Not even half," Gaelen shot back. "How did you get involved with a human girl anyway? You know better."
"It was a blind date. I couldn't get out of it without raising a lot of suspicion. I knew it could come to nothing, so I didn't worry about it. I just figured I wouldn't call her back." He shrugged, then winced. "But Erin wouldn't give up. I enjoyed talking to her. We became friends. Then I fell in love."
"Oh, boy." Gaelen rolled his eyes.
"I forgot the rules." Lucas showed his palms in a helpless gesture. "Haven't you ever wanted to wake up with the same woman for the rest of your life?"
"Bridget, no!" He was terrified by the thought, all the more so because suddenly, he could imagine waking up with the same woman, and the picture was an appealing one. As long as the woman had warm brown eyes and long, sable-soft hair and full curves...and her name was Annabelle.
Lucas's speculative gaze warned him he was about to give too much away, so he forced himself to lower his voice, determined to reason with his brother.
"We're fairies. We're born to be superficial, for Pete's sake. My books and my studies are what I live for, and you would do well to get your mind on your work and keep it off women. You can't have Erin, and that's the long and short of it."
"Work! There's more to living than work--"
Gaelen cut Lucas's
outburst off with a raised hand.
"The rules are there to keep everybody from getting hurt, Luke. Do you want to watch the woman you love get old and die? Your children? You'll still be hale enough to start all over again when your great-grandchildren are dust."
"Don't, Gaelen. I know it was wrong."
"It didn't stop you." Gaelen held Lucas's gaze.
Lucas didn't try to look away. "No," he answered, but his voice was low.
"You understand the penalty."
"I'm going to fight it."
"You're nuts. There is no fighting it. You'll go to Tir-Nan-Og for a century or two and Erin will be--" Gaelen stopped, the horror of the words chilling him. "She'll be dealt with."
"No!" Lucas jumped from his seat and whirled on Gaelen. "I won't allow it. It's my fault. I should be the one to bear the brunt of the Council's wrath."
"It's not wrath, Lucas. It's survival. All we need is one human, just one, to speak the words."
Lucas waved dismissively. "That's an old fairy's story. Words can't destroy us."
"Well, I'll tell you, boyo, I don't want to be the one who finds out. Whether it kills us or not, it won't be pleasant. That much I do know." Gaelen wished the whole subject hadn't come up. "Sit back down and raise your arm."
Lucas obeyed, but he wasn't ready to concede the debate. "Have you wondered about that law? Fairies have been dealing with humans for millennia. Old Finnvarra has been stealing human women since before we went underground. Why was such a law passed?"
Gaelen applied more ointment as he considered the question. Why indeed? Maybe instead of thousand-year-old documents, he should be studying documents of a more recent vintage and closer to home.
Lucas was still offering his opinions. "You remember Dad blamed Eochy for cutting us off from humans."
There was nothing to be gained by this.
"I don't know why," Gaelen said impatiently. "I don't care why. All I know or care about is fixin' this mess you've made and gettin' back to my work."
"Yee-ouch! Your work. That's all you worry about. Day and night, night and day. Gaelen, what can be so important in translating thousand-year-old Irish documents?"
"Old Gaelic, if you please. And they're not a day under twelve hundred years, I'll have you know. Giving us a new understanding of the syntax of liturgical language--"
"I don't care, Gaelen. All I want is Erin."
"Erin is the Council's business now."
"Be damned! They'll not get their hands on her."
Gaelen stood, ointment slick on his fingers. "You'd better hope we get her to the Council, boyo. That's another reason I had to find you tonight. Have you been over to the hospital?"
"Not since this morning. Why?"
"Didn't Annabelle tell you?"
"That Linette is drugging Erin?" Lucas winced as Gaelen applied more ointment.
"Do you know why?"
"No. Why?" Lucas's voice held a tension that was half fear, half protectiveness.
"Linette has been ordered to capture you and Erin."
"What business do the pixies have getting mixed up in our affairs?"
"Linette claims you've put all of Faerie in danger, including the pixies. So she got the Confederacy to give her the authority to handle it." Gaelen shrugged. "I think she's using this to get back at me."
"I told you!"
"I know, Lucas, you warned me about her. And for once you were right. But now you can see why it's even more important for us to get Erin to the North American Council so they can deal with her."
"Shhh," Lucas hissed. "Listen."
Gaelen reflexively did as he was bid, his gaze following Lucas's to the ceiling. In the nighttime silence, the sound of footsteps grew louder.
"Lucas? Who are you talking to?"
"It's Annabelle. Fold your wings down."
"Lucas?" Her whispered call floated down the stairs.
Gaelen made a motion for Lucas to answer her.
"Yes, Annabelle. I'm right here." He pulled his shirt back on and stepped to the foot of the stairs just as she appeared.
"You decent?" she asked, much too late for it to matter.
"Sure. What's the matter?"
Gaelen stepped back into the shadows of the stairway and waited for his chance to sneak out.
"I heard voices. Were you talking?" Her eyes darted around the big room, then back to Lucas's face. "Is somebody else down here?"
"No. Who would be?" Lucas glanced at his wrist "Look at that, almost midnight. You should be in bed."
Annabelle ignored his hint and stepped past him and into the room.
Squoosh! Gaelen took flying form just as she came into view. He hovered near the corner of the room.
"Annabelle, I really need some sleep." Lucas leaned against the stairs, looking as tired as he claimed.
Annabelle just looked confused. "I know I heard voices down here, not just yours but--" She frowned, putting absurdly attractive wrinkles across her pretty forehead.
"But what?" Lucas prompted.
The frown deepened. "Never mind. I must have been dreaming. Sorry for bothering you."
"No bother."
"Good night," she said and headed back for the stairs. But instead of starting up, she stopped and turned to Lucas. "You're going to think I'm so weird," she started.
Lucas smiled. Gaelen would have, too. She was in overly large sweats and her long chocolate brown hair hung in sleepy disarray around her shoulders. She looked delightfully tousled.
He pushed the idea of the sleep-mussed Annabelle out of his head, and the memory of how she looked when well-loved. For certain he didn't need to be getting all distracted now. The fact she was human loomed like a brick wall around her.
Not likely he could forget that. Much as he wanted to.
"Lucas," she finally asked. "You said Gaelen's promise was good as gold. Did you mean that, or were you being sarcastic?"
Gaelen listened intently.
"Gaelen is the most honorable man I know. He'll not give his word lightly. If he promised, he'll move heaven and earth to keep his word."
Lucas's trust wasn't something Gaelen had consciously tried to earn. To hear it so firmly pledged surprised him and made him ridiculously proud. But more surprising was his desire to know he had Annabelle Tinker's trust, too.
But he wouldn't hear it tonight. For now, she simply nodded at Lucas and went up the stairs.
Gaelen hovered, realizing her trust must be earned. And there was only one way to do that. He'd promised her Erin would be all right. Now it was time to make sure he kept that promise.
He dashed down to the basement window and tapped on it to be let out.
Come on, Lucas, open up.
"Okay, okay. I'm comin'," Lucas said as he came over. "Keep your wings on."
Lucas slid the window open and Gaelen was on his way, through the screen and out into the dark. He didn't even wait to see if Lucas followed him.
Chapter Eleven
Linette Duncan prepared another syringe of phenobarbital and laid it on the table by Erin's bed.
Erin's eyes opened, her head shook once, twice, then her eyes closed again.
"Poor dear," Linette whispered to the groggy girl. "'Tis really too bad, isn't it? But you'll be very happy where you're going, I promise you." She turned to the two fairy mercenary orderlies.
Allowing herself a moment of appreciation, Linette enjoyed the way their muscular forearms bulged the seams of the polyester uniform shirts. Their sinewy thighs strained the material of the cheap slacks.
"Such lovely lads," she whispered. Louder she asked, "Did you get the stock?"
"Aye, Doc. We found a grand hunk of beechwood in the forest by the lake. Just about the right size. A wee bit o' glamour, and nobody will be able to tell the difference."
"We've got to hurry before Gaelen comes around. Can you do it?"
One fairy merc frowned, obviously insulted. "Madame, we are fairies, after all. We know our business."
"Saints p
rotect me from sensitive mercenaries." Linette rolled her eyes and stepped aside, waving at the bed. "Get to it, then."
The two fairies lay the post of beechwood on the bed beside Erin, arranging the bedclothes around it, just so.
"Hurry up, hurry up!"
"Look, Doc, if you think you can do better, we'll step aside."
Linette was really getting irritated. These stupid fairies didn't know about Gaelen's warning to release Erin. For all that he was a philandering, womanizing rake, Gaelen was also a member of the Council of One Hundred, and one of the most powerful fairy males on this continent. It was unlikely these two, even from the "old sod" as they were, would get in the way of her fight with Gaelen.
"The Council wants this girl in Ireland, and we've got to get her there today. Now..." She waved her hands wildly. "Do whatever it is you fairies do!"
With a superior sneer, the taller fairy winked at his comrade and they resumed their business.
"Dr. Duncan," the tinny voice called over the intercom, "Dr. Duncan. Please come to Room 1115. Dr. Duncan to Room 1115."
"What now?"
"Isn't 1115 the paranoid-schizo laddie?" one of the mercs asked, frowning as usual. "We'd better come with you, Doc."
Linette sighed. "Yes, I suppose you'd better. You," she said to the other, "you stay here and get that stock ready to replace her."
"By myself?"
"Of course. You said it would only take a 'wee bit o' glamour.' Take care of it, and come down to 1115 when you're done. When we're finished there, we'll come get Miss Tinker and take her to Ireland. Lucas will follow, and so will Gaelen. This business has taken too long already."
"Aye, Doc," he said to her back as she left the room, followed by his fellow merc. To Erin's sleeping face, he said, "She's a real pip, ain't she, darlin'?"
The merc was actually glad she was gone. It was not respectable to do magic in front of outsiders.
He raised his hands over the wood, passing them once, twice, three times, finally deciding on a version of the changeling chant, and whispered to the wood:
"This lass's form shall be your own,
to mortal eyes no change be seen.