“Like hell I will. Dani’s my daughter, too.”
“You’re a danger to her.”
He would have found her statement laughable, if she hadn’t sounded so serious.
“You’re a fool if you think that.”
She hissed, then made a sound like a low growl. “Think well before you defy me.”
“I would never hurt my daughter.” He let his certainty ring in his voice. Then he remembered something Marika had said earlier. “You told her I would, didn’t you? You told Marika I was a danger to Dani.”
Brigid spat her reply. “You’re an idiot.”
“Maybe.” He took small satisfaction knowing he’d succeeded in rattling her. Getting the truth was far more important. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Shifter, I do not need to tell you that this is of utmost importance. Let me speak to Marika.”
“She’s gone,” he said, without bothering to look and see if that was indeed the truth.
“She’s standing right behind you.” Brigid’s voice was silky smooth laced with steel. “Put her on.”
A strong compulsion settled over him, urging him to immediately turn and do as she ordered. While he fought this, Marika snatched the phone out of his hands.
Furious, he let her. A cloud of foreboding settled over him. He recognized strong magic when he felt it. Did all vampires possess such magic, or was this because Brigid was High Priestess?
He made a mental note to ask Marika later. That is, if she stuck around long enough for him to ask anything. At least now he understood why she’d kept their daughter hidden from him and why she was so eager to ditch him now.
Turning, he eyed her. Since taking the phone from him, she’d barely uttered more than two syllables. Even now she stared blankly at nothing with narrowed eyes.
He wondered what vitriolic nonsense the old lady was spewing at her.
After a few minutes had passed, she murmured something that sounded like assent and closed the phone. Her expression told him nothing as she passed it back to him.
“What did she say?”
“More woo-woo bullshit. I’m tired of this.”
“Why does she hate me?”
“She doesn’t.” Her automatic reply contained no conviction.
He stared, he couldn’t help it. “What the hell do you mean? She actually believes I’d harm my daughter.”
“She has visions. They usually come true.”
“And she claims to have seen me harming Dani?”
“Not you specifically. A shifter.”
“Of which there are millions. I don’t believe this. Two years of my daughter’s life, gone. All because of some old lady and her generic prophecy.”
She bit her lip. “I couldn’t take a chance. I had to protect my child.”
“Our child.”
“You’ve got to understand. Brigid can supposedly tell the future.”
“Supposedly.” He pounced on the word. “Do you doubt her?”
“Maybe I do, now. I don’t know.” Anger colored her voice. “If she can really see the future, why didn’t she know they’d capture me and take Dani? If she has true visions, she should have already known. She could have prevented this.”
The agony in her voice mirrored his own, amplifying it. Again, despite what she’d done, he ached to take her into his arms. Instead, he forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. “Does she know where Dani is now?”
“No. That’s the thing. All my life, I’ve looked up to her. Her prophecies come true, always. She’s the Vampire Seer, for plasma’s sake. But if she’s so damn powerful, why doesn’t she know where they’ve taken Dani? I’m beginning to doubt her all-fired abilities.”
“She has something,” he felt compelled to point out. “I felt her magic.”
“Really?” Shoving her hand through her hair, Marika’s anger radiated from her. “I didn’t. She’s a powerful vampire witch. She’s one of the oldest of my kind, reputedly ancient, a thousand years old or more.”
He filed this information away for future reference. “What did she want?”
“To give me orders.” Her voice dropped into a growl, eerily wolflike.
“She tried to give me orders, too. Are you going to follow them?”
Her frown deepened. “No vampire, Huntress or not, is allowed to refuse her orders.”
“Answer the question.” He felt a glimmer of hope. “Are you going to do what she asked?”
Finally, she met his gaze, her own remarkably clear and direct. “Some of it. Probably not all. She wanted me to ditch you.”
Careful not to show any emotion, he nodded. “I’m not surprised.”
“Yes, well, I’m beginning to think things aren’t as black and white as she makes them sound.”
He caught his breath, but said nothing.
“However,” she continued, “if I ignore her completely, she’ll probably send others to hunt me down and kill me.”
“We’ll deal with that when and if it happens. What do you want to do, Marika?”
She answered without hesitation. “Find Dani. And hunt and destroy the ones who took her. Brigid claims she can help me do that. After all, she has a stake in this, too.”
This last comment surprised him. “What do you mean?”
“Brigid was supposed to begin training Dani, once she turned five. This is a great honor among my people. I myself trained with her.”
He felt a moment of grief. Had she been raised among his people, Dani would already have begun instruction in Pack heritage. He said nothing, aware that Marika wasn’t ready to hear such a thing.
She squared her shoulders, lifting her chin and effectively wiping all emotion from her face. “Brigid told me something about herself. She says she’s like Dani. Mixed. She claims she herself is the product of a union between an elf and a vampire.”
Shocked despite himself, Beck scratched his head. “An elf? They can’t have children, either. How would such a thing be possible?”
“Who knows?” She began to pace, agitated. “A few years ago I wouldn’t have thought a shifter could impregnate me.”
“True.” He sensed there was more she wanted to tell him, only she couldn’t find the words.
Blazing past him, she spun and went in the other direction, her long hair flying behind her. “But in Brigid’s case, that would explain why she has such powerful magic. She got it from her elfin father.”
“Is she actually a vampire then, or elf?”
“Both, I guess.” She shrugged. “Like Dani.”
“But you said Dani is alive.”
“She is. Her heart beats, her lungs breathe. She’s not dead like me.”
“So it follows if Brigid was born of a vampire and is part elf, wouldn’t she, too, be alive?”
“She’s not.” She spoke with certainty. “Like I said, she’s over a thousand years old.”
“Aren’t elves immortal?”
An expression of surprise crossed her face. “I never thought of that.”
“Or maybe she was born an elf and then was turned.”
“Again, entirely possible. I know Brigid married another vampire, one even older than her. A vamp from ancient Egyptian times. Maybe he’s the one who turned her.”
He swore. “You guys have an even more messed-up history than we shifters do.”
“We’ve been around longer.” Abruptly reversing direction, she started for the door. “Are you ready?” she asked, her eyes blazing amber sparks at him.
Again, he felt a tug of attraction. Somehow, he kept his voice calm. “Are you saying you trust me now?”
“I’m going to do part of what Brigid asked. I’m ready to hit the road,” she said. “With you.”
Inhaling deeply, he managed a nonchalant nod. “Not enough of an answer. I need to know if you trust me.”
“Look, Beck—”
“Answer the question.”
“I barely know you anymore. It’s been three years.”
“You’re still trying to avoid answering. If Brigid hadn’t said a shifter would harm Dani, would you trust me?”
“I don’t know. Dani was conceived the night Juliet was murdered.”
Heart thumping steadily in his chest, he stared at her cold, exquisite face and waited for more.
She stared back, expression unreadable.
Finally, he nodded. “And?”
“Do you blame her for your sister’s death?”
He saw from her tortured expression how much the admission cost her. Still, that she could even ask such a thing felt like a slap in the face. “How could you think that? She had nothing to do with what happened to Jules.”
“No, but we did. She was waiting for us in the bar when the fight broke out. If we hadn’t been making love, conceiving Dani, we would have been there, kept her from getting hurt.”
How many times had he wondered the same thing himself? “You just said yourself, there are no guarantees. We could have been sitting right next to her and she might have still died.”
Her chin came up. “I heard you thought the silver bullet was meant for you.”
“Addie told you that?”
She nodded. “Yes. Yet earlier, when I mentioned the possibility that Jules was murdered, you didn’t say anything.”
“There didn’t seem to be a point.” He sighed. No mercy for the wicked. “Think about it. Those men had more reason to want me dead. I was a Protector. Or, alternatively, they could have killed her deliberately to hurt me. I might have eliminated one of their relatives. But I don’t know. I’ll never know now.”
“Life’s like that,” she said sadly. “Sometimes we don’t ever get answers.”
“Back to your question. If anyone was responsible for Juliet’s death, I was. And even then, I don’t know that for a fact. Sometimes I think that’s how I’m able to go on. Our daughter’s conception was a gift in the face of a horrible tragedy. I only wish I’d been there to share it.”
“From what I hear, you were in no condition to share anything.”
Swallowing, he nodded. “Brutally honest, aren’t you?”
“Yes. And if we’re going to do this together, I expect the same from you.”
Their gazes locked, held. Finally, he nodded. “Fine. Then you must have decided to trust me, at least a little.”
“A little.” Her concession came with a smile that vanished like a ghost. “You’ll have to prove yourself to me.”
“I can do that.”
“Good. And, Beck? The second I feel even the slightest threat toward Dani, I’ll kill you myself. Consider this fair warning.”
At least she always spoke her mind; he’d give her that. Despite everything, despite her taking their daughter and vanishing from his life, despite her threat, every time he glanced at her, he felt attraction like a punch to the gut.
He’d always known Marika was resilient, but he’d never realized how strong she was. She’d kept their daughter safe, at great personal cost to herself. Her strength matched her extraordinary beauty.
He’d accept her challenge. “Heard and acknowledged. Are you going to tell me what Brigid asked?”
“Yes, eventually.” She considered him for a moment. “There’s something else you need to know as well, but I’ll tell you once we get going.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Where Brigid told me to.” Tossing her hair across her shoulder, she yanked open the door. “I don’t know why, but for some reason, I’m not entirely sure I should trust her.”
“Then why go where she tells you to?”
“Well, if we’re moving, at least I feel like we’re doing something.”
He nodded. “What’s she going to do once she finds out I’m with you?”
“I have no idea. I’m not going to worry about that now. We’ll figure out the rest once we’re in the truck.”
And she disappeared outside, leaving him no choice but to follow.
Chapter 5
Striding toward the truck, Marika wondered if Beck realized how much her decision to trust him cost her. It had been so long since she’d trusted anyone except Addie. Opening herself up, even a small crack, made her feel naked and exposed.
He’d asked for her trust, but he’d said nothing about reciprocating. She couldn’t blame him for that. She certainly hadn’t given him reason to trust her. After all, she’d kept their daughter from him for the entire two years of Dani’s life.
His pain and sense of loss had been deep, she could tell. So had his shock and anger upon learning he had a two-year-old child he’d never met. He wouldn’t easily forgive what could only be regarded as a betrayal. Men like Beck, who lived by a code of honor set so much higher than others, would find it hard to understand her reasons for doing what she’d done.
Climbing in the truck beside her, Beck didn’t speak as he fitted the key in the ignition and fired up the engine. Carefully, she avoided looking at him, wondering if he knew how much she’d missed him. She’d spent many a sleepless night, tossing and turning, wondering if she’d done the right thing by keeping their child a secret from him. Despite Brigid’s warnings, a part of her had always doubted and wondered.
And now she wondered, too, how he’d react when he learned the rest of the truth about their daughter. He’d claimed to want to know Dani, to love her. Would this change once he learned what she was?
She sighed, wishing she could settle her jittery nerves. She needed to think clearly in this, the worst crisis she’d ever faced. Awful enough that her daughter—their daughter—was missing.
Worse that every time their gazes met, desire slammed into her, as strong as it had been three years ago. Even now, when she was crazy with worry over their daughter. Every time she looked at him, with his mussed spiked black hair, torn jeans and soulful amber eyes, she wanted him.
Losing her baby girl, knowing her own child was in danger, made her desire more than inappropriate. Her mouth twisted. She needed to focus on finding Dani rather than lusting over Dani’s father. Look what had happened last time she’d given in—her best friend, Juliet, Beck’s sister—had been murdered.
Sneaking a glance at his profile, she steeled herself against her belly-deep reaction. Though he was obviously concentrating intensely on the road, when he felt her gaze on him, he shot her a look cautiously laced with curiosity.
“Where to?” he asked. “Or are we planning to aimlessly drive the roads? We can head down to Presidio and the Border, or go west to El Paso. And there’s always Alpine and Marfa. Any idea where we should look?”
Instantly, she shook her head. “I don’t know. I have absolutely no idea where they’ve taken her. We need to head toward the mountains. There’s a house there. That’s all she said.” Brigid really should have given her more information.
She hated operating so blind. Especially when finding Dani was so important. Inside her head, Marika could hear an invisible clock ticking, reminding her that they were running out of time.
Dani was missing. Her disappearance was made worse by the fact that her mother felt completely and utterly helpless. She, a Master Huntress, with her fangs clipped. It took every ounce of self-control to keep from giving in to blind panic. Maybe this obsession with Beck was her subconscious’s way of distraction.
“We’ve got to find Dani.”
“I know,” he said, his voice calmly reassuring. “We will. Let’s start asking around in town. That’d be a good starting point. I promise you, we will find her.”
Whether he honestly believed that or not, she couldn’t tell. She couldn’t afford not to believe it. Without that hope to cling to, she’d simply go insane.
For a woman who’d spent the past hundred-odd years in action, this aimless wandering felt wrong. Asking around in town would be a start, but even that didn’t seem to be enough. She had to do something more. Anything. But what? Patience had never been her strong suit. Nor Beck’s, if she remembered right.
Shifters had D
ani, she just knew it.
The big question—could she trust Beck to help, even if doing so meant he had to go against his own kind? He’d been a Protector, a member of an elite Pack Society sworn to protect shape-shifters. How would that loyalty balance against whatever feelings he might have for her and the child they’d created together?
“There was more to Brigid’s warning,” she began.
“You mean the one where she warned you against me?” His tone held layers of mockery and pain.
“Yes.”
“Well?” he finally asked, hands on the steering wheel. “Are you going to tell me?”
Her stomach twisted. Ah, the moment of truth. She’d have to be very careful when she judged his response. Would she be able to tell if he lied?
She had to hope she would. She didn’t have the energy to play games with him. Not now, not in the midst of crisis. If she registered the slightest bit of hesitation on his part, then he would have to leave. Or she would have to escape him.
Glancing at her sideways, he frowned. “What’s up with you? From what I remember, you’ve never had a problem with speaking your mind before.”
“True.” But so much was riding on his reaction. She took one deep breath, trying to regain her equilibrium.
They’d reached the end of the rutted road, coasting to a gravelly stop at the highway. Beck watched her, waiting. “Left or right? Marfa or Alpine? Where do you want to search first?”
Taking another deep breath, she chose and pointed east, toward the rising sun. “That way.”
He gave one final glance in her direction. “Are you okay in sunlight?”
“Of course.”
“You sound so certain,” he mused. “Yet I’ve always heard most vamps have to hide in the darkness.”
“That’s fairy-tale stuff. Only the newly made have to hide in darkness.” She had the most absurd urge to chew her nails, a habit she’d kicked centuries ago. This was ridiculous. She barely recognized herself. For over a hundred years, right up until Dani’s birth, she’d been a Huntress, one of the fiercest of the fierce. Others of her kind respected and feared her. She’d been invincible. She needed to draw on that strength now.
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