She-yeah, right.
What was she going to do about him?
She was going to do what she always did. Be strong. Be smart. Be someone who was confident and in control and wasn’t going to let something said in the heat of the moment make her believe that it could be anything more than that—the heat of the moment.
With that clear in her mind, she dried her hair with her magic and wrapped herself in her blue satin robe.
She wasn’t going to tell Keir what she’d just seen in her own eyes—he’d just become more possessive.
Squaring her shoulders and raising her chin, she walked out the bathroom into an empty bedroom. The door was closed.
She dressed slowly, slipping into bright green silk underwear and a matching green cotton skirt that flared at her thighs. Something really bright was in order for the day, so she chose a satiny yellow bra, a sunshine-yellow blouse, and yellow sandals. As usual she wore her gold-and-onyx pentagram ring and the matching gold-and-onyx pentagrams at her ears and at her throat.
Okay. Now she could face anything.
But could she really? Was she ready for Ceithlenn? How would she get the goddess out of her head?
She wiped her palms on her skirt, prepared to go downstairs and face whatever else she would meet today. She flung open her bedroom door and came to a complete stop.
Keir was setting her small dining table with her mix-and-match blue and red plates and the forks with the red handles. The smell of eggs, potatoes, and toast made her stomach growl, and the sight of the pitcher of orange juice caused her mouth to water.
His hair was wet. It looked like he’d taken a quick shower, changed into fresh clothing, and gathered breakfast for her while she’d taken her sweet time showering and getting dressed.
While freaking out over Ceithlenn and obsessing over Keir.
His dark gaze met hers. “You said you were hungry, so I went to the store’s kitchen.”
You woman, me man. I provide food, you give me sex.
She shook her head at the images in her mind, pushed her hair from her forehead, and offered him a smile as she walked toward the dining table and near him. “I’m starving.”
Something close to a smile flickered across his features, making her feel good again. She was doing this to him. And she had the feeling that smiling was a rare thing for him indeed.
She glanced in the kitchen to see Spirit eating tuna from his bowl. The familiar glanced up, licked his mouth, and went back to eating. Keir had even thought of Spirit.
The orange juice, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast were so good, and she was so hungry, that she was tempted to take thirds of everything, but she stopped herself at two servings.
She concentrated wholly on her food and hardly glanced at Keir during their breakfast. When she finally finished and wiped her mouth with a vivid green napkin, she looked up and met Keir’s gaze.
He was sitting back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest and his look as intense and brooding as usual. The bad boy.
“Tell me what is wrong,” he said in that demanding voice that had always pissed her off in the past. The past being only a day ago.
This time it did something altogether different. It caused her heart to melt a little because she knew he sometimes got demanding when he was concerned.
The bravado she’d coached herself on slipped, but then she sucked it up again. “Last night.” She cleared her throat. “You said something you shouldn’t have and I think you didn’t really mean it, anyway.”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak.
Rhiannon swallowed. “We had a really wonderful night, but it was just one night. That doesn’t make me yours.”
He slowly shook his head and remained unsmiling. “You are mine.”
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, then shut it, then opened it again. “It was sex. That’s all it was. Sex.”
He didn’t change his expression. “You know you belong to me.” His features almost seemed to soften as he said in a quieter voice, “As I belong to you.”
Rhiannon blinked. Something in her heart shifted and she didn’t know what to say.
Keir felt such a need to possess Rhiannon heart, body, mind, and soul that it bordered on pain. What had made him decide that she was meant to be his mate?
Perhaps it was the moment he recognized her from the face in the wood. Destiny had spoken to him that night, and had continued to drive him toward her. He needed her more than he had ever needed anyone in his existence.
He admired her spirit, her strength of will, her desire to protect others, and her love for her Coven sisters.
His heart nearly stopped beating when he realized that he wanted her love. It was more than possessing her, it was needing her.
The thought was almost dizzying and he had to focus on the here and now.
Keir uncrossed his arms, stood, and held out his hand to Rhiannon. She took it and let him draw her to her feet in front of him. He slipped his hand from hers, placed his palm on her hip, and brought her so close that her body was flush with his. With his other hand he cupped the back of her head and lowered his face to hers at the same time he drew her up to meet him.
“Mine,” he said before taking her lips with his.
He gently explored her mouth with his tongue and she sighed. She tasted of orange juice and her own flavor that made him crazy for her every time they kissed.
It pleased him that she let him take control, let him draw her tongue into his mouth. She softly moved her lips with his, at his pace.
She slid her hands up his chest and threaded her fingers beneath his damp hair. Clean scents of soap and citrus filled his nostrils.
He pinned her hip tight to him and his cock was hard against her belly. Her body was so warm against his, so warm and soft and female.
When he broke the kiss he could barely breathe, much less speak. He could not fathom how one woman could steal his breath away and make him lose his words so easily. She looked into his eyes and he was unable to tear his gaze from hers.
“You are mine,” he finally said. He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “And I am yours.”
Chapter 14
Rhiannon walked down the hallway side by side with Keir. Her body was still flushed and her heart wouldn’t stop pounding so hard. This was crazy.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon heard nothing short of an uproar coming from the common room.
“What’s going on?” she said as she hurried ahead of Keir into the room.
“There you are.” Sydney rushed up to Rhiannon and grabbed her hand. “Hurry. Jake and the other PSF officers have already left. We’ve got to make some plans.”
A chill raked Rhiannon’s spine as she ran alongside Sydney and came to a stop at one of the tables. A huge map of the Bay Area was spread out on it and Hannah was giving the D’Danann directions.
Rhiannon felt Keir behind her as she tried to listen in and hear what was going on.
“Since you’ll be flying, you’ll reach it before we possibly could,” Hannah was saying as she glanced up at the warriors. She looked back to the map. “Head over the Golden Gate Bridge.” She drew a line from San Francisco across the bridge using a trail of green magic from her finger. “You’ll find the bus here, in Sausalito.” She proceeded to give detailed instructions on where they needed to go.
“What happened?” Keir said in his authoritative voice.
Hannah looked up at him from the map. “The Sausalito Police just found a tourist bus filled with shriveled corpses. HAZMAT is there now, checking to see if it was caused by some kind of disease or chemical weapon.” She paused and shook her head. “I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with.”
“Blessed Anu.” Rhiannon held her hand to her belly. “Are you thinking it’s Ceithlenn?”
The moment Rhiannon said the evil goddess’s name, a white-hot rod of pain jammed into her skull and her knees almost gave out. Her vision blurred. Her ears felt
as if tissue paper had been jammed into them. Keir placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, as if knowing she needed to be steadied.
“We think it was.” Silver sounded distant as Rhiannon’s mind spun. “There are two bodies mostly eaten.” Silver spoke as though the words were distasteful on her tongue. “The rest are just withered according to the police.”
“As if their lives had been sucked out of them,” Hannah added.
Rhiannon rubbed her temples, trying to ease the pain in her head. “Or their souls.”
“That’s what we think,” Sydney said from beside Rhiannon.
“An entire busload of people?” Rhiannon asked to make sure she’d heard right.
The witches surrounding the table nodded. “It’s off in an isolated area, but the cops are all over it. The PSF has been called in because no one’s ever seen anything like it.”
“We should go, too.” Rhiannon’s head was foggy, her mouth dry. “We can get readings off whatever energy traces might have been left behind.”
“No.” Keir rested his hand on her shoulder. “You all need to stay.”
“As if.” Rhiannon looked up at him. She blinked. She saw two of Keir. Her vision was doubling. Great, that was all she needed—two Keirs.
She swayed and Keir steadied her again with his arms on her shoulders.
“A stór, are you all right?” he murmured in her ear.
She gave a nod even though she wasn’t okay. It was the goddess’s name. Every time she spoke it or thought about it she got sick. And it was getting worse every time.
“This time they’re right,” Silver was saying as Rhiannon fought to clear her mind. “We’d never be able to drive there in time. The D’Danann can fly over and search the area. Jake can let them in if they can manage to land and shift without being seen.”
Sydney squeezed Rhiannon’s arm as she said, “We need to use our divination talents to see what we can learn.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Rhiannon braced her hands on the table and Keir’s grip from behind her kept her steady. “This time.”
The rest of the warriors had their long coats on over their T-shirts and jeans to conceal their weapons.
Just as Keir was about to run upstairs to grab his own, it floated into the room.
Floated.
“What in Anu’s name?” Shock filled Silver’s voice.
Keir knew and he ground his teeth as he reached for it. “Thank you, Galia,” he managed to get out without snapping at the Faerie. He had promised she did not have to hide anymore, and he always kept his promises. Always.
But now was not the time to explain a six-inch, lilacscented, pink-winged, naked blond Faerie to a roomful of witches and warriors.
The moment he took the coat, Galia darted out. He heard the witches gasp and a rumbling among the D’Danann.
“A Faerie?” Sheridan said with amusement in her voice.
“We do not have time to discuss this.” Keir jerked on his coat. He strode out the door.
Galia followed just to the left side of his head, her pink dust scattering over his shoulders. “I want to come!”
Keir held back a growl. “Stay with the witches this time, Galia.” The Faerie gave a pout when he glanced at her. “Now.”
Galia whirled around with her tiny chin in the air and headed back into the common room.
When they were outside the apartment building, Hawk began assigning the D’Danann their duties. He ordered several of the warriors to stay and guard the witches, another group to search the skies, and five of them to go to the place called Sausalito.
Keir, Tiernan, Hawk, Kirra, and Sheridan took to the skies at once and headed across the bay to seek out the tragic scene of the crime.
The city passed below in a blur as Keir’s thoughts switched alternately from their mission to Rhiannon, but as he flew over the Golden Gate Bridge, he tried to concentrate on the job ahead. The mission was of utmost importance, yet at the same time his worry for Rhiannon grew.
Wind blew past his face and ruffled his wings as it occurred to him that he was beginning to understand Hawk’s and Tiernan’s emotions toward their mates. Having something in common with his half-brother, Hawk, was not something he had expected.
Keir gave a great pump of his wings. He had never thought he would want one woman. To be with her. To stay with her. To keep her. To make her his.
When they located the bus, police and PSF officers were everywhere. Men and women in full white bodysuits with HAZMAT stenciled on the back stood off to the side with their helmets off, talking with several other police officers. The witch Hannah had explained that HAZMAT meant “hazardous materials.” There were other suited and masked men and women, but they had no identification on their protective clothing.
Yellow tape surrounded the big white bus with its dark tinted windows. A crowd had gathered along the other side of the yellow tape, which fluttered in a breeze from off the bay. Officers were stationed around the circumference, ensuring no one could get through. Keir saw people with objects he knew to be cameras, while others held black things up to their mouths—microphones, he thought he had heard them called.
Officers moved in hurried but methodical movements as they went in and out of the bus, searched around it, and emptied the contents of storage compartments beneath the bus. They all wore full protective clothing and masks.
The five warriors hovered above the crowd, invisible to human eyes as long as they remained in their winged forms.
“Jake is expecting us.” Hawk looked as frustrated as Keir felt at that moment.
“There.” Keir pointed to a copse of large trees.
The warriors flew to the trees, climbed into the branches and shifted. One by one they eased down to the ground. When they were ready, they strode from around the trees and worked their way through the crowd to the yellow tape.
“Captain Macgregor is expecting us,” Hawk said to one of the policemen guarding the area.
“Name?” the officer asked as he observed their attire—long black coats over black jeans, T-shirts, and boots.
Hawk paused and Keir said, “D’Danann.”
The officer’s expression was skeptical, but he turned his head and called out, “Kells, get Macgregor.”
An officer in a HAZMAT suit gave a sharp nod and climbed into the bus. A moment later a suited man walked out of the bus, got closer to the D’Danann, and raised the mask he had been wearing. Jake Macgregor.
“They’re part of my team,” Jake said. “Let’em through.”
To keep up pretenses, Keir and his team were forced to wear full suits and what Jake called “gas masks” to avoid breathing in any foreign substance that might cause the same damage to them. The mask and clothing felt strange and uncomfortable and Keir wanted to rip it off. Not to mention he felt naked without his weapons. They’d had to change in one of Jake’s big black vehicles, and leave their weapons and coats.
After following protocol, the D’Danann team was in. Hawk, Kirra, and Sheridan took the outside while Tiernan and Keir went into the bus. Even before he entered the vehicle, and despite the mask, the stench of burnt sugar hit Keir. It grew worse as he climbed in. Only Jake and one other PSF officer were inside at this moment.
“No goddamn clues.” Jake’s voice sounded as if it came from beneath water as he met up with Tiernan and Keir. “Two bodies look like most of their flesh was eaten right off their bones. They’re in the back.” He gestured as if to encompass the interior of the bus. “The rest of these look like they’re mummies straight out of a sarcophagus.”
Keir’s face tightened as he pushed past Jake and began walking toward the back of the bus. The burnt sugar smell got worse the farther he walked.
Shriveled corpses were in various positions, most with what may have been terrified expressions. It was difficult to tell. Rhiannon had said that in her vision of the goddess, Ceithlenn had delighted in taunting her first victim, wanting him to know he was about to die. Keir would not be surprised i
f she had done the same to these innocents.
When he reached the back row he saw the human bones with some meat still hanging from them. The stench of the flesh and other sickening smells were enough to make him long for clean air to ease the churning in his gut.
Keir returned to the front of the bus to join Tiernan and Jake.
“Ceithlenn?” Jake asked, looking from Tiernan to Keir.
“The evidence and Rhiannon’s vision tell me yes,” Tiernan said.
“She sucked the souls from these bodies and ate the last two,” Keir said. “I have no doubt.”
“Shit.” Jake braced his hands on two of the seats. “If this super-bitch isn’t stopped, no telling what she’ll do.” His gaze roved the bus again then stopped on the driver’s seat, which also held a withered corpse. “What the hell is this?”
Keir narrowed his eyes.
It looked like a black fingernail had snapped off in between the metal bar and backing of the driver’s seat.
Jake dug into the pocket of his suit and pulled out a small plastic bag and a pair of tweezers. “Can’t see how we missed this on first inspection,” he said as he carefully pulled at the fingernail. It held for a moment as if stuck, then gave. Jake dropped it into the plastic bag.
“Ceithlenn’s?” he said as he looked from Keir to Tiernan.
“We can take it to the witches.” Tiernan glanced at Keir. “They might be able to divine what it is.”
In an underhand movement, Jake handed the bagged fingernail to Tiernan. “Stow this. I want it back as soon as possible after the witches check it out. Don’t get any fingerprints on it.”
Tiernan nodded, and Keir looked back at the shrunken bodies before returning his gaze to Jake’s.
Keir let out a low growl. “I am certain we are running out of time before she strikes again.”
“A Faerie?” Sydney said as she and her Coven sisters studied the diminutive blond whose wings sprinkled glittering pink dust as she stared after the departing D’Danann.
“I do not see why I could not join them,” Galia grumbled.
Alyssa approached the Faerie. “Where exactly did you come from? You should be in the forest or somewhere else in nature. Not here in the middle of the Haight-Ashbury district. Did you stray from Golden Gate Park?”
Wicked Magic Page 12