by Arthur, Keri
“And here I was thinking you considered them a frightful anomaly and an affront to the Marlowe name.”
There was another of those long pauses. “It was never my intention to make you feel so unwanted, Elizabeth. You’re my daughter, and no matter what you think, I do love you.”
An apology of any sort was something I’d never expected, but I couldn’t help asking, “Then why did you never try to find me?”
“Because I was told you didn’t want to be found.”
“Who by?” But I knew, even as I asked the question. There was only one person who knew why we’d fled—Belle’s mom.
“Ava Sarr,” she confirmed. “And at least now I understand her comment to me when she was interviewed about your disappearance.”
“Which was?”
“Any mother who stands by and allows such abuse deserves to lose her daughter.” She hesitated. “I really am sorry, Elizabeth.”
“Apology accepted.” There was no point in harboring resentment. No point in holding on to bitterness and anger. I’d already wasted years of my life to it. It was well past time to move on. I glanced at my watch and saw it was close to six. Aiden would be here soon. He was my future, not the woman who gave birth to me. “I need to go. We’ll talk again soon.”
“I’d like that.”
With that, she hung up. I stared down at the phone and wondered if I’d ever hear from her again… and realized in that moment that I didn’t care either way.
Aiden had been right. Talking to her really had been the best thing I could have done.
* * *
“That,” I said with a sigh as I pushed my plate away, “was divine. Thank you.”
Aiden had suggested we go back to his place rather than a restaurant when he’d picked me up, and I’d readily agreed. After everything that had happened over the last few days, I really wanted some alone time with him. Especially given it might be the only chance we had for a little while. Clayton would be here soon—I felt that within every psychic inch of me—and we simply couldn’t afford to be caught alone. I might have the wild magic on my side, and Clayton might not be aware how deeply ingrained it was within me, but he did at least know I could weave it through spells. He’d find a means of countering it before he came here, of that I was sure.
“You cook for me often enough. It’s only fair that I return the favor.” A smile tugged at Aiden’s lips as he collected the plates and took them over to the sink. “Luckily for us both, I’m very good at making steak and chips.”
“Does that mean there’s no dessert?”
A wicked light flared in his eyes. “That depends on your definition of dessert.”
I raised my eyebrows even as desire began to unfurl. “I was talking about a sweet that is usually eaten after a main course.”
“Oh, so was I.”
Anticipation stirred. “Are we talking before coffee? Or after?”
“Lady’s choice.”
I pursed my lips, pretended to think about it. “Perhaps I need to sample said dessert, just to see if it’s worth my time.”
“More than happy to provide said sample.”
He moved around the long counter that separated us but didn’t claim his seat next to me as I’d half expected. Instead, he brushed my hair from the nape of my neck and then kissed my bare shoulder, his lips so warm against my skin. Delight skidded through me, and I closed my eyes, savoring the sensations that tumbled through me as his kisses trailed from my shoulder to my neck and then on to my ear.
“Enough? Or shall I go on?”
“Oh, please,” I murmured huskily, “do go on.”
He chuckled softly. “As my lady wishes.”
His lips left my skin, but only long enough to turn my barstool around. He dropped tender kisses on my forehead and my cheeks before finally claiming my mouth. But this kiss was no tease; it was searing hot, filled with desire and demand. It left me breathless. Left me wanting. Badly.
“Does the sample please my lady?” His heated breath brushed my kiss-swollen lips, and his blue eyes gleamed with heat and hunger.
“It does.” It was little more than a breathless whisper.
“Shall I continue?”
“Please do.”
“With pleasure.” He slipped his fingers under the dress’s straps and slid them down my shoulders. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and his gaze devoured me, leaving me hot and breathless and wishing he’d eat me in truth.
When he did, I could only groan in complete and utter bliss.
I was right on the edge of coming when the phone rang sharply. Aiden stopped, and my groan became one of frustration.
“I have to take that.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” I lifted his face to mine and kissed him softly. He tasted of heat and desire and me. “Go.”
With a low growl, he pushed to his feet and strode across the room. “This had better be—”
He stopped. Though my hearing had sharpened over the last few months, I could still only hear one side of the conversation. But that was enough to know there’d been another murder. I slipped off my stool and quickly redressed.
“Be there in twenty.” He hung up and thrust a hand through his thick hair. “We’ve got another death.”
“The Manananggal?”
“At this point, unknown.” He frowned at me. “Why are you dressing?”
“Because you’ve still got her spell tangled around your fingers and this might be another trap.”
“Tala’s called Monty in—”
“Yes, but that spell could be activated at any—”
“Then disconnect it.”
“I don’t know—” I stopped the instinctive denial. It was a simple enough tracker and inactive at that. Detaching the thing really shouldn’t be that hard. “Raise your hand.”
He did so. I studied the spell, trying to ignore the vein of darkness that ran through its threads and the responding goose bumps that fled across my skin. After several minutes of looking for weak points and possible traps, I began to spell, wrapping my magic around the anchoring thread, ensuring it was kept whole and alive before disconnecting it from Aiden’s skin. There was no change in the spell’s makeup as I pulled it free; it hung from my fingers by a single thread, an inert ball of twisted evil.
“Okay, it’s removed.”
His gaze dropped to my fingers, even though he couldn’t see the spell. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Nothing.”
His gaze jumped back to mine. “Why not?”
“Because it still presents our best means of trapping her.”
“Not if this death is the Manananggal’s doing. It means she’s given up on her quest to kill grooms.”
“Not necessarily. She’d be down on strength and probably had to kill to replenish. This”—I lifted my fingers, then remembered he couldn’t see the tracker—“is an easy means of quenching her need for revenge.”
“What if it activates while you’re here alone?”
“If it does, I’ll deal with it.”
“But—”
I placed a finger against his lips. “I’ll be fine. Promise.”
He made a low sound deep in his throat, then wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, holding me still as he kissed me soundly.
“I promise to be back as quickly as possible to finish what I started.”
“You’d better, Ranger, or I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.”
He laughed softly, kissed me again, and then gathered his things and left. I glanced down at the spell still hanging from my fingers. I didn’t want it in the house; if it activated when I was asleep, then I could be in all sorts of trouble.
I studied the darkness beyond the glass. I could attach it to a tree or something… but that might only send her rampaging through the nearby houses. I couldn’t risk anyone else getting hurt.
I sighed. My best bet was to wrap a sensor spell aroun
d it. That way, if it was activated, I’d at least have time to prepare for her arrival.
I carefully placed it on the coffee table, then took a deep breath and began the spell. It didn’t take long, as it wasn’t a particularly hard spell. I added an audible warning as well as the usual light flash, given I wouldn’t see the latter if I was upstairs.
With that done, I did the dishes, then watched a few hours of crap on TV before heading to bed. I wasn’t sure what time Aiden came home, as I didn’t feel him crawl into bed.
He did, however, keep his promise. It was a glorious way to start the day.
* * *
“So, what happened last night? Was it the Manananggal, or something else?”
We were eating a leisurely lunch in front of the open fire. He’d given himself the day off, though he’d spent most of the morning writing up reports.
“Something else, though it was nevertheless pretty traumatic. A kid got hold of a rifle his father had stupidly left loaded and shot his younger brother.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yeah.” Aiden scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen—it’s a tragic situation that won’t be made any better by the father being charged. It’s the council’s decision, thankfully, not mine.”
I twined my fingers through his. “Why is it the council’s? Aren’t there laws regarding the safe storage of guns?”
“Those laws—or rather, the penalties—are somewhat more flexible within the reservation.”
“Even with a kid dead?”
“Even with.” He was silent for a moment, his expression briefly haunted. Then, with a visible effort, he smiled and said, “Let’s talk about something a whole lot happier—like setting a date for you moving in.”
“Not without setting a few ground rules first.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Like what?”
“Splitting costs, for a start.”
My phone rang, the sound slightly muffled thanks to the fact it was buried deep in my purse. I leaned over, dug it out, and looked at the screen; the number wasn’t one I knew.
“Ignore it,” Aiden said, interpreting my expression correctly. “It’s probably a telemarketer of some kind.”
“Probably.”
I hit ignore and tossed the phone back onto the sofa. “So, splitting—”
“No,” he cut in. “Absolutely not.”
“Aiden, I won’t live with you if you won’t let me pay my way. It’s not fair and it’s not right—”
I cut off the rest as my phone rang again. A quick look said it was the same number. I hit decline again.
“You moving in will hardly add much to current costs, given the solar power and water tanks.”
“That’s not the point—”
He cut me off with a kiss. A long, slow burn of a kiss.
“As good as your kisses are,” I said when I could, “they won’t change my mind.”
“Maybe I just needed to kiss you.”
“And maybe you just wanted to distract me.”
Amusement danced in his eyes. “That might also be true.”
“Distract me all you want after we’ve laid down the ground rules.”
He sighed. It was a somewhat frustrated sound. “Fine. We’ll split the cooking, the cleaning, and the washing. We’ll even split the driving when practical. But I will not take your money.”
“And I’m not taking your charity.”
“It’s hardly charity.”
“I’m not going to set up any sort of life with you on such an unequal financial footing. I pay my way or I’ll stay where I am.”
He rolled his eyes. “You really are a stubborn wench. Just as well I adore you.”
It might not be an admission of love, but it was as close as I was ever likely to get. I leaned into him and kissed him, long and slow.
“I adore you, too,” I murmured eventually. “But when it comes to stubborn, werewolves hold all the patents.”
He laughed softly and tapped my nose. “Fine. We’ll split all the costs. How about we start shifting your things in today?”
“You’ve a council meeting tonight, and I refuse to spend my first night here mostly alone. That’d hardly be an auspicious start to things.” I scooped up the last bit of the chocolate cake we were sharing. “Why the hurry?”
“Trying to counter against a change of mind.”
I smiled. “I won’t change my mind.”
“What about Belle?”
“She’s not included in this deal, Ranger.”
He laughed. “Won’t she miss you?”
“Hell, no. She’ll absolutely love having the full run of the apartment.”
“So you have lived apart on occasions?”
“Of course we have. We’re not joined at the hip, despite appearances to the contrary.”
A smile tugged at his lips. “I take it the ‘no men’ rule goes out the window when you’re not living in the same house?”
“It’d be kinda cruel if it didn’t.”
“And when one or both of you marry? How will that affect your relationship?”
“It won’t. Not really.”
“Won’t her loyalties always be split in two, though?”
I hesitated. “We can’t change our relationship, and whoever we marry will have to understand that.” I studied him for a second. “Why the sudden bout of questions?”
“You’re currently the most important person in my life, and Belle’s the most important person in yours.” He shrugged. “I was just curious as to how it might affect things.”
His use of ‘currently’ was a knife to the heart—and a reminder that he still didn’t see us as permanent, despite his insistence we twine our lives into one.
“Then in all honesty, neither of us really knows how one or both of us getting married and having a family will affect things. As far as we’re aware, this is the first time a witch has become the familiar of another. We didn’t come with an instruction manual—we’re making things up as we go along.”
“Does that mean regular type witch–familiar relationships do come with instructions?”
“Volumes of them.”
“Huh.” He pushed to his feet. “Want a coffee? Or shall we do something more substantial to celebrate your impending relocation?”
A smile tugged my lips. “Coffee will do for now. I’ve been drinking so much lately, I’m in danger of becoming a lush.”
“Your lushness is the reason I adore you.”
My heart did another of those bittersweet twists. “I think we’re talking about two definitions—”
My phone rang again. I reached for it and saw it was the same damn number; obviously, they weren’t going to quit until I took their damn call.
I hit the answer button and said, “Who the hell is this, and what do you want?”
There was a long pause, then a cultured, all too familiar voice said, “It’s your father. I’m ringing to inform you the annulment has been approved.”
Chapter Twelve
My heart skipped several beats and then raced so hard it ached. I licked my lips and said, almost in disbelief, “That was a little quick, wasn’t it?”
“Clayton is eager to be done with this whole business and get on with his life.”
Eager to get out from under my father’s watchful eye and get on with his revenge, more likely. “How can it be finalized without my signature?”
“You will of course need to sign the final documents in front of a judge and a witness for it to be official, but that is a mere formality. When that is done, Belle can remove her spell, and everyone can be free of this whole mess.”
“A mess that was yours in the making.”
“And one I regret. I cannot change the past, however. I can only change the future.”
“Not my future.”
“Part of our deal was you undergoing another audit, remember. Depending on what the results are, it will probably change your status here in Canbe
rra.”
“I don’t give a fuck about my status, and neither should you.”
“Like it or not, Elizabeth, you are a Marlowe. That comes with certain responsibilities—”
“Actually, my legal name is Grace. I left the Marlowe name and all the shit it entails behind long ago. Once the annulment is signed, I want nothing more to do with you or that damn name.”
There was a long pause. “I understand.”
A smile twisted my lips. I knew that tone. Knew it meant that while he did indeed understand, he had no intention of letting the point—or me—go.
“Where and when do we meet?” I said. “I refuse to fly to Canberra, but I’m willing to meet you halfway.”
“Not alone, you won’t be,” Aiden murmured.
I flashed him a quick, tense smile as my father said, “There is a café in Albury called Whitefin. We shall meet there tomorrow at two, if that’s convenient.”
“A café is hardly the ideal spot to sign legal documents. Besides, I have a business to run.”
“I’m sure you could close—”
“I’m sure I can’t.”
“I see.” His annoyance echoed, and it was an incredibly satisfying sensation. “What do you suggest, then?”
“I’m sure you know a magistrate or two in the Albury–Wodonga area. Get one of them to hold a late evening session in his court or office or whatever.”
“Fine.” His tone suggested it was anything but. “Would six tomorrow evening be suitable?”
“Perfectly.” I paused. “What guarantee do I have that Clayton won’t retaliate against us the minute Belle removes her spell?”
“He won’t. That I promise.”
My father might be the ultimate politician, but when he gave his word, he kept it. The vague sense of foreboding I’d gotten when I’d been talking to Mom stirred again. I might well want to be rid of my father, but I didn’t actually want him dead.
“Just be wary of him. He’s not in a good frame of mind, and he might well take his anger out on you—”
“Hardly.” His tone was contemptuous. “Aside from the fact he hasn’t the power, he’s well aware such an attack would harm his social standing.”