“Is he mad at me?” she finally asked.
I frowned. “Is who mad at you?”
“That guy. The one who lived at the house with Marcus.” Her eyes flashed yellow when she said Marcus’ name before morphing back to blue.
“Oh.” Understanding dawned on me. “Um, I don’t know.”
“I don’t regret killing him. I’d do it again.”
I guessed that answered my question about whether or not she remembered things. “I don’t regret it either.”
She looked up sharply, hope filling her wide eyes. “You don’t?”
“No. He needed to die. It was the only way. We’d never be safe as long as he was alive.”
She licked her lips. Her tongue looked incredibly dry. “So nobody’s mad at me? None of you?”
I shook my head. “I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we’re glad it’s over. Marcus can’t hurt us again.”
“And that guy?”
“Raven?”
“So he’s not mad at me either?”
“I’m not sure about him, but I don’t think he blames you.”
A bit of color returned to her cheeks, and a small smile emerged. “So I can still stay here? When I’m not flying?”
“Of course you can.” It hit me that Susannah thought she may no longer be welcome. “You’ll always be part of our family, Susannah. Nothing will change that.”
“I won’t be punished?”
My heart sank at her surprised tone. Her entire life she’d been punished for acting violently toward the one man who’d caused her more harm and pain than any other. Even now, miles away from Marcus’ remains, she still thought there’d be repercussions. “No, Susannah. You won’t be punished for what you did. Just don’t hurt anyone else now that Marcus is dead.”
Her eyes widened. She frantically shook her head. “I would never hurt anyone else. Only him.” Her lips thinned, her eyes flashing yellow again. “I’ve only ever wanted to hurt him.”
Ultimately, I didn’t regret his death either. Marcus had hurt and killed so many people over the years. The world was truly a better place without him. And I knew now that thinking that didn’t make me a bad person. I would have never sought Marcus out to kill him, but I agreed with Flint. Defending my family came first. I knew that now.
“You must be hungry.”
She nodded.
“Come on, let’s get you some clothes and then go downstairs and see what Edgar and Luke made for you.”
She stood and we walked to the door. As I reached for the handle, I felt cool fingers brush against my free hand. I looked down. Her small hand clasped mine. My chest tightened with emotion.
I looked up and met her gaze. A questioning uncertainty swirled in her blue irises. Smiling, I gripped her hand tightly, and together we walked from the room.
THE NEXT DAY we all slept in and lounged around the house. Now that the ordeal with Marcus was finally over, the energy levels in the house grew subdued. It helped that it was Boxing Day. With the crazy shopping that went on during this day, none of us wanted to venture out. It made spending all day on the couch even easier.
The huge wall of windows in the main living area made it feel as if we were living in a snow globe. It was hard to not stop and stare. The snow falling outside pulled at my soul, begging me to relax. I spent most of the day on the couch.
Father called early afternoon to let us know he was back in Chicago and okay. Apparently, he and Albert were in “negotiations.” Whatever that meant. I tried not to think about it since Albert was the last person who could make our lives a living hell. One thing I did know was that nothing had sprouted up on the news about what we’d done to Marcus and his security team. I could only hope it stayed that way.
Flint lounged on the couch beside me as we gazed outside. The sun was hidden under a dense cloud cover as snow swirled in the air. I laid my head against his shoulder and smiled. The dark stubble and tired look in his eyes were gone. A long night of holding each other close had made both of us sleep well.
“Do you know where Susannah is?” He stretched.
“She went out flying again.”
“But she’s coming back?”
“Yeah. I think she’s going to be fine.” I summed up what she’d told me last night. “She’s still going to need help from Father, or me, or Luke or Edgar, or someone, but she’s doing better. I think the biggest thing she was afraid of was whether or not we’d still accept her after what she did.”
Flint grunted. “Accept her? Hell, I want to thank her.”
“I know. I’m glad he’s dead too.”
“We all are.”
We sat together quietly on the couch, the fire crackling in the hearth. Noise came from the second floor. A few of the others were watching a movie in the upstairs living area.
“Did Susannah talk to you again this morning?” Flint threaded his hand through my hair.
“Yeah. She let me know she was going out to fly before she left.”
“That’s an improvement since she normally just disappears.”
“I think she’s starting to trust me.”
He chuckled. “She obviously has good sense.”
We were sitting like that, just aimlessly chatting and watching the snow when Raven walked in the room. I sensed the shift in energy. Both men’s clouds doubled in size.
“Hi.” Raven shoved his hands in his pockets.
I smiled warmly. “Hey, how are you? Come sit with us.” I sat up straighter to make room.
Flint tensed. I knew his jury was still out on Raven. The fact that his younger brother hadn’t helped me escape from Marcus’ home, and that Raven had allowed me to remain captive, wasn’t leaving Flint’s memory anytime soon.
Raven sat stiffly beside me. He hovered on the edge of the couch, looking as if he’d jump up and disappear at any second.
“Did you get settled in?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Raven spoke hesitantly. “Only having two bags to unpack doesn’t take long.”
“But you’re feeling more comfortable? With everyone else?” I knew his childhood had been the exact opposite of ours. Whereas we’d grown up in the clutter of a constantly crowded household, he’d grown up wandering around a mansion with only himself for company.
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. His eyes glowed.
I knew he was dealing with a lot right now: leaving his home, his father dying, him being the one who killed twenty-five men, and now being thrust into a strange country in the middle of nowhere while living with a group of people he barely knew. It couldn’t be easy.
“Do you want to go for a walk outside?” I asked.
A look a huge relief crossed his face. “Yes.”
I nudged Flint. “Do you want to join us?”
Flint tensed and eyed Raven. A moment of silence passed. I could practically cut the tension. “Okay,” he finally said.
The three of us pulled on winter coats and boots. Since I once again was without a jacket, I borrowed Amber’s. I made a mental note to go into town the next day to buy another one.
“Ready?” I pulled on Jacinda’s mittens.
We closed the door behind us and tramped through the snow. Cool mountain air enveloped us. I closed my eyes, savoring it. The quietness and feel reminded me so much of our home in the Forbidden Hills that a sense of peace settled in my chest.
“Which way should we go?” Raven tugged at his hat nervously.
“There’s a stream down that way.” Flint pointed downhill. “It’s easy walking beside it. The snow isn’t as deep.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “And you know this how?”
“The twins. They explored the area the first few days after they got here, when you were still imprisoned.”
We set off down the hill with Flint in the lead. Every now and then, he’d glance over his shoulder to make sure we kept up. I knew he was always conscious of keeping his speed in check, but at times like this, when nobody was watching an
d there were no prying eyes, he’d sometimes forget and before I knew it, I was practically running to keep up.
Raven breathed heavily from behind me. The mountainous region was much higher in altitude than where he’d grown up outside Chicago. He kept up with the firm pace Flint set, however, not once complaining when we traversed through deep snow.
The sound of trickling water reached my ears. A small stream, no more than a few feet in width, greeted us at the bottom on an incline.
Frozen sections lined the water’s edge, icicles dripping from the banks. “How pretty.” I spotted a few boulders a little ways up the stream. “Do you guys want to sit over there?”
Raven shrugged. “Sure.”
Flint just eyed Raven again, the wary look still there, before he turned and walked toward the boulders.
Once we were all seated, a moment of awkward silence passed. Flint was in his “ignore” state, which I knew all too well from our summertime meeting at Hideaway Hills, before we’d known who we were. Raven, on the other hand, looked about as comfortable as someone being told the IRS would be auditing their taxes.
I plucked my hands under my thighs and tried to warm them. It was ridiculously cold sitting on the frigid rock but neither guy seemed to mind. Raven, however, noticed my shivering.
“Cold?”
I nodded.
Before I could say anything else, a huge fire appeared in front of us. I jumped and then smiled sheepishly. Once again, his fire didn’t burn anything but it still poured out heat. I took off my mittens before holding my hands up.
“Thanks.”
Flint’s energy lessened a bit. I knew my smiling at Raven and not feeling any angst toward him helped. It was my hope that if Flint saw that I didn’t hold Raven responsible for my capture and imprisonment, then hopefully he wouldn’t either.
“So what was it like, growing up in Chicago?” I rubbed my hands a few times. My fingertips warmed.
Raven shrugged. His eyes glowed again. “I didn’t go into the city very much. I never had contact lenses, so I always had to wear sunglasses. At nighttime that looks a little weird, and my dad, um, I mean Marcus, didn’t like when I left the house.”
Flint shifted in his seat. His eyes stayed on the fire. “You didn’t go to school?”
Raven shook his head. “I was home schooled.”
I grinned. “So were we.”
“By Conroy?” Raven’s breath puffed in a cloud.
I nodded and explained our schooling system, how it involved actual courses and Real Life classes.
“So you spent your entire childhood in that cabin in Colorado?” His eyes widened.
“Yep.”
“I can’t imagine what that’d be like.” Raven shook his head. “And I thought my upbringing was isolated.”
“See, we’re not that different.” If I’d been closer, I would have nudged him.
A slow smile spread across Raven’s face.
We all kept talking, and I asked Raven more and more questions. He slowly seemed more comfortable and began to open up. When Flint also seemed curious and initiated a few questions of his own, I got up and told them I was going back to the house to use the bathroom. I knew Flint was getting more curious about his brother when he didn’t insist on accompanying me.
I followed our tracks back to the house. I had no intention of returning to the stream, but neither Flint nor Raven knew that.
“Hey.” Jacinda glanced up when I walked into the living room. She and Luke sat on the couch. It didn’t escape my notice that Jacinda was practically sitting in his lap. She inched off Luke’s thighs when I walked to the kitchen counter to make a late lunch.
Luke glanced in my direction. “Where have you been?”
“Flint, Raven and I went for a walk.”
Luke looked down the hall. “Didn’t they come back with you?”
I tucked a long strand of red hair behind my ear. “They’re still at the stream, talking.”
Jacinda raised an eyebrow. “Flint’s talking to Raven?”
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up on Flint’s accusatory feelings toward our newest member. “Yep.” I unscrewed the mayo and put a huge dollop on a slice of bread before adding lunch meat and cheese.
Jacinda leaned back against the couch. “That’s good to hear.”
I grinned. “Yes, it is.”
FLINT AND RAVEN returned to the cabin three hours later. I watched them through the window. They walked side by side through the snow as the setting sun glowed against their backs.
I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. I simply watched them as they got closer. They walked slowly, almost reluctantly to the door. When they stepped inside and stomped their boots, I poked my head into the entryway.
“Have a nice time?”
Flint’s head shot up. His chestnut hair was ruffled from his hat. He looked incredibly sexy. “I thought you only had to go to the bathroom.”
I shrugged. “I got hungry and it was warm in here.”
Raven smiled. I was happy to see he looked relaxed. His eyes were a muted orange, no fiery blazes. “I could have cranked the heat up for you.”
“You can change the temps on your fires?”
He nodded.
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Black yoga pants came into view. Di was smiling when she bounded into the foyer. My eyes widened. Di was smiling and bounding. Each of those things was cause for question. Something was definitely up.
“Are you okay?”
She grinned. “Yes! I just had a vision. Everything’s going to be fine. We’re not hiding or running anymore! We’re just normal people, like everyone else!”
She turned to Flint and stopped short when she saw Raven. The three siblings, standing beside one another, looked like they could be triplets. I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought Di and Flint were dating when I first “met” them a few months ago. It was so obvious they were related.
“That’s good.” Raven stood between Di and Flint. He shuffled his feet, his head dipped.
Di glanced his way. “You and I were living together, Raven. Like a real family.”
I knew she meant blood family. My heart warmed when I watched Raven swallow, his fire-lit eyes misting over. “Together?”
She nodded.
I walked to Flint and put my arm around him. He squeezed me tightly. And in that moment, I knew everything was going to be okay.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I buried my toes in the sand. Waves from the ocean lapped the shore while the sun warmed my skin. I’d never seen water so clear. The tropical waters were warm and translucent aqua. Farther out, they morphed into dark blue. It was hard to believe it was only a week after Christmas. This was completely opposite to the snowy, cold Canadian province we’d left three days ago.
Flint and I went snorkeling yesterday. That was a first for both of us. We held hands, our bodies floating in the warm Caribbean water while we stared at the real life aquarium swimming beneath us. I’d never seen so many colorful fish and sea life in such a concentrated area.
Clinking from ice in a glass sounded as Flint sat down in the sand beside me. A long, tanned forearm reached out. “Here you go.”
I took the pink and yellow drink from him. It was in a tall glass with a skewer of oranges and cherries impaled by a turquoise umbrella.
I laughed. “Where’d you get the umbrella?”
Flint shrugged. “The bar in our bungalow has everything you could ever need.”
I sipped from the straw. The fruity sweet beverage tasted crisp and fresh. It was the perfect beach drink.
Flint leaned back in the sand on his elbows. His unbuttoned shirt spread open. Sand dotted his pectorals which were deeply tanned and incredibly sexy in the tropical sun. He caught me watching him. “Like what you see?”
I grinned. “You know it.”
Just before Greg flew us to the island, I got my period
. It was a bittersweet ending to all that had unfolded. Flint and I had both felt relieved that a pregnancy never happened. As much as we loved each other and planned to stay together for the rest of our lives, neither of us was ready to start a family. We were too young. We had too much we wanted to do. There was time for that in the future, but for right now, we both wanted many childless years to come.
He took the drink out of my hand and placed it on the small table at my side before crushing me beneath him. I spread my legs, allowing him better access.
The private beach and villa we’d rented sat on a small island in the Caribbean. We were only three days into our month long vacation, just the two of us. Finally, we were taking the trip we’d been talking about for weeks.
When he pulled back, I was breathless. “How long have we waited for this?”
“Too long,” he growled.
“I can’t believe I said only a month. I should have said a year.”
He chuckled and then in a lightning fast move he was walking back to the villa with me in his arms. He carried me from the beach up the walkway to the huge king sized bed. Fresh sea air whipped through the interior. The glass wall of accordion style windows, that made up one wall in the villa, was entirely open. Salty, fresh ocean air whipped through the bedroom. It felt as though the room was outside.
Flint splayed me across the bed before landing on top of me. I laughed when the mattress made us both bounce. His eyes darkened. Reaching a finger up, he pushed hair out of my face.
“I’ve waited for so long to have you like this.”
I thought of the months and years we’d dreamed of being normal, of not having to hide, of having a life of our own, of traveling. Now, we were finally living it.
His deep voice rumbled. “I love you. More than life itself.” His dark gaze filled with emotion.
My heart clenched. I tenderly ran a finger along his cheek. His eyes darkened even more. Heat filled my core. “I’ll love you forever,” I breathed. The bracelet he’d given me on my eighteenth birthday slid down my arm when I wrapped my hand around his neck.
The Complete Lost Children Series Page 77