A Curse Unbroken (17 page)

“What?” the rest of us muttered.

“That next time the
mission
involved anything in his pants, to find a new Bond girl to take care of it.”

This caught Taran’s attention. “Did you really say that?”

“Well, no,” Shayna admitted. “Mostly I just called the girl he was dancing with a tramp and walked away.”

“Oh,” the rest of us said.

I glanced out the window as the plane swept over the tall trees. “Do you want to talk about it?” Emme asked me quietly.

Not really. But I did anyway. “Something’s not right with Aric.” It pained me to say it out loud. “I’ve noticed a shift in his behavior since he asked me to marry him. He’s so irritable toward everyone and we rarely make love anymore.”

It was my last comment that struck a chord. You could say everyone knew Aric and I used to do it like wererabbits. Taran quirked her brow. “You and he don’t have sex anymore?”

“Not like we used to,” I admitted. “He’s exhausted all the time and pretty much loses consciousness once he crawls into bed. We only made love once last week. It was nice, real nice, but I was the one who instigated it and he fell asleep immediately after.”

Shayna turned around in her seat and leaned her chin against her palm. “Ceel, I’m not saying this to upset you, but even when Koda is worn out, his beast always gives him an extra boost of energy. I don’t remember him ever being too tired. If anything Puppy gets his second wind when he sees me, you know?”

“Aric used to be the same way.” I glanced out the window again. “Now he’s questioning whether he’s truly my mate.”

“You’re kidding,” Taran said.

That awful sense of abandonment I felt at his words reclaimed me. My sisters didn’t move, waiting for me to respond. “That’s what he said. And apparently what he believes. He felt he owed it to me to tell me.”

“Shit,” Taran said.

“Yeah,” I added quietly. “Pretty much.”

I rubbed at the center of my chest. The ache there was starting to get worse. I must have sprained something during my encounter with Dilip. If it didn’t improve, I’d ask Emme to heal me. I sighed. Then again, it could’ve just been the hurt Aric caused.

Shayna tried to smile. “Aric loves you, Ceel,” she said. “That I’m absolutely sure of. You didn’t see him the whole time you were separated. Koda and I did. Your wolf was positively miserable without his little kitty.”

“I believe you,” I told her. “What I can’t understand is why he doesn’t believe that I love him, too. Or how lost I was without him.” I rubbed my chest again. “I can’t help thinking all his anger stems from his deepest insecurities….”

Taran shook me hard. “Celia. Celia, what’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

My sisters exchanged glances, but it was Taran who spoke up. “You were talking and then it was like you checked out. You okay?”

A strange haze seemed to dull my senses and dim my thoughts. I shook my head, trying to clear it. “I’m fine…just tired, I guess.” For the life of me, I couldn’t even remember what we were talking about. But I didn’t want to admit it, especially seeing how worried my sisters suddenly seemed.

“I’m fine,” I repeated, trying to put more force behind my words. “Really. We just need to focus on finding Shah.” That much I meant. We were anything but focused.

My hand reached to rub the center of my chest again, but then I caught myself and stopped. The pain I’d felt was suddenly gone.

Taran frowned, looking past me to Emme. “Em…is that a hickey on your neck?”

Emme slapped her hand over her neck. “No. It’s just a bruise. I fell. Last night.”

“On your neck?” Taran asked, smiling.

Shayna whirled around, pointing to her other side. “Oh! She’s got one right there, too.”

“No shit?” Taran laughed. “Tell me you hooked up with some hot Malaysian guy.”

Emme’s cheeks flushed and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before any words came out. “I can honestly say I didn’t hook up with a hot Malaysian guy.”

“Then who did you hook up with?” Taran demanded.

Emme shut her mouth abruptly when she caught mine hanging open. The only males I’d seen her with who weren’t trying to kill her had been Bren and Tye. And she wouldn’t—I mean, they couldn’t possibly. He and she—
Did
he and she…Come to think of it,
which
he and she?

The radio crackled and Agnes’s voice blasted over the speaker. “Listen up, freaks. We have three potential spots where Shah might be. One’s a hotel on the east side of town close to the club we hit last night. A team is searching it now. One vamp’s been blown to bits, but it was kind of an accident so we think it’s a dead end. I’m with the team searching the underground lair beneath Dilip’s compound. We think Shah might be here, given how many have been eaten.”

Emme gasped.
“Eaten?”

Agnes huffed. “Yeah. Can you believe it? So far we’ve lost two vamps and a rogue witch to something with tentacles—”

A shrill scream cut Agnes off.

“Make that three vamps,” she continued. “So if you see any tentacles when you get to your location, run like hell. I don’t know what this thing is, but
damn,
it’s hungry.”

None of us moved, but Taran had plenty to say. “That’s your advice to us? Run like hell?”

“Unless you prefer to be eaten,” Agnes sang.

Yeah. So not a fan of Agnes.

Emme leaned forward and wiped her paling face. “Good Lord,” she muttered.

The pilot tilted the plane down, beginning our descent. I caught sight of an old cinder block house with a tin roof surrounded by what appeared to be tall white grass. That must be the place. I hadn’t seen anything else for miles.

The pilot veered the plane, angling it toward a clearing on the opposite side of a small patch of jungle. We’d have to cross through the dense stand of trees. But from what I could make out, it didn’t appear to be rough terrain.

Shayna adjusted her ponytail just when Emme groaned again. “Don’t worry, Emme,” she told her. “The way I figure, if anything ever needed tentacles to guard it, it’s Shah. If so, sounds like the vamps have the right place. Let’s just check this lead out, give it the all clear, and go home.” She grinned my way. “Celia and I have some wolves to make up with.”

She was starting to feel better about her and Koda. I didn’t share the same hope for Aric and me. What was wrong with my wolf?

The pilot landed in the field near an old farm. The scent of manure made me gag when the pilot opened the door for us. The moment we climbed out, he tried to climb back in. I grabbed his arm. “You’re not coming with us?”

He smirked, allowing his fangs to lengthen past his lips. “Nope. Like it or not, you need me to fly your asses out of here. Can’t do that if I’m eaten.”

Most beings couldn’t argue with that logic, but I wasn’t like most. “Fine. But just so you’re aware, if you leave us behind, Misha will know.” I smiled. “We’re besties. You’re not. He’ll find you, rip off your arms, then feed you to something scarier than that creature with tentacles.” I released him when his fangs retracted. “Toodles.”

I headed in the direction of the jungle. Shayna skipped to catch up, twirling the machete she carried to loosen her wrists. “Want me to take up the rear?”

I thought about how volatile Taran’s magic had been lately. “Sure. Taran, stay behind me. Emme, you’re in front of Shayna.”

“Yee-ha,” Taran mumbled.

She tucked her arm beneath her shirt, trying to shield it from the sun, but when we stepped into the jungle it fired up like a glow stick. She shook it hard, as if trying to rid it of its eerie glow. “Son of bitch. Great. That’s just fucking great.”

She waved her arm. Good heavens, it looked like a plastic light saber. My steps slowed. It reminded me of something that she’d done last night but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what. “Maybe your arm is capable of more than you’re giving it credit for,” I reasoned as I pushed forward. “I’m wondering if you just need to figure out how to use it.”

Despite the darkness of the jungle, I caught her eyes glistening with tears. “The only thing this thing is good for is grossing out big bad beasts and chasing them away.”

The hurt in her voice made me want to cry for her. “Taran…” was all I could say.

“Don’t sweat it, Ceel. Some things aren’t meant to be. No matter how bad you want them.”

She needed a moment, so I let her walk ahead of me. As I watched her hug her body, I thought about what she’d said. Her words, while disturbing, fueled my need to make things right with Aric. We’d been through too much. I wasn’t ready to let him go. I needed him.

And he needed me, too.

A jaguar cut along the path, growling and licking its chops. I yanked Taran back and growled louder. It lifted its paw and rushed away in the opposite direction.

That’s right, kitty. In a cat fight, this tigress is going to win.

Snakes slithered around us. I could hear them sliding over the drying leaves and through the thick vegetation. Their colors made them almost invisible, but I could smell their leathery skin. Knowing where they lurked would help keep us safe.

My sisters nodded when I pointed them out, and we gave them a wide berth. Considering our walk was short, we encountered several snakes and a few frogs I was very leery of.

Taran motioned ahead with her glowing arm to where the trees thinned. When she caught herself, she tried to tuck her arm under her shirt again. “Shit,” she muttered.

We walked up the incline, staying quiet, and stepped onto a field of what I still believed was waist-high white grass. The long thick stalks swayed majestically around the perimeter of the building, despite the subtle breeze.

Shayna lifted her machete, ready to clear a path. I snatched her wrist before she could bring it down. “What’s the matter? The grass is too thick to walk through, Ceel.”

I tried to keep my voice steady as I realized what was in front of us. FYI, I failed miserably. “That’s not grass.”

Taran swore and jumped back with Emme, who bit back a scream. Long white arms with sharp black fingernails sprouted through the ground, waving to us, and beckoning us closer.

Taran withdrew further. “Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

Shayna swallowed hard. “Well, at least they’re not tentacles,” she offered.

I just looked at her. Even when faced with freakish arms protruding through the jungle floor, Shayna’s glass remained half full. I didn’t have it in me. Neither did Taran.

“This is all sorts of fucked up,” she said.

“Yup,” I added.

“Maybe we should go?” Emme suggested. “The vampires are semi-reasonable beings. They would understand if we left, given the circumstances. Don’t you think?”

“No,” the rest of us answered.

Agnes would toss us into the ocean of arms, no questions asked.

I glanced to the closest hand that waved my way and pointed toward the building. “I think Shah’s inside.”

“And what if he’s not?” Emme’s voice cracked. “Celia, death by creepy hands isn’t the way I want to go.”

She jumped when another arm sprouted from the ground and smacked her in the ass.

I didn’t appreciate the gesture. “You be nice,” I reprimanded.

Emme pointed to herself from where she hid beside Taran. “Me?”

“No. Shah.”

My sisters gaped at me. “Do you see him or scent him, Ceel?” Shayna asked.

“No. But I recognize his personality.” My eyes homed in on the building. “He’s in there. I’m sure of it.”

The sea of hands applauded all at once. Maybe Shah meant to be funny, but it only raised the Freak-O-Meter that much higher.

“Aw, hell,” Taran muttered. “If we live through this, I swear I’m going to need some serious therapy.”

Yeah. What she said.

Another hand punched through the ground and tugged at my shorts, pointing in the direction of the old building. “You want me to come for you, don’t you?”

The hand didn’t have a face, but it seemed to consider me before pointing again.

Taran clasped my wrist. “You’re not seriously going to do this—listen to an arm, are you?”

I sighed. “I don’t think we have a choice. For whatever reason, Shah wants me in there.”

“How do you know he doesn’t want to kill you?”

I shrugged. “He’s not mean.” I thought about Dilip and his lip-syncing belly. “Well, at least not to me. I think he didn’t like Dilip. He felt used.”

Again, the hands applauded.

“Will you stop that!” Taran yelled at them.

That only made them clap louder.

“Be nice, Shah,” I said again.

The applause subsided, but I couldn’t help thinking the arms and hands were laughing at us. A hand reached out to me. My tigress chuffed. She was freaked out, too. But I took it, allowing it to pull me forward and on to the next. The hands were surprisingly warm and gentle.

“How is it, dude?”

I glanced over my shoulder at Shayna. I hadn’t realized how far I’d walked until then. “Odd, even for us, but okay. Like I said, I don’t think he means any harm.” I smiled at the hand that patted my hand next. “Do you, Shah?”

Shayna stepped forward. “Mind if I go through?” she asked. “Celia’s my sister. I have to watch out for her.” She yipped when the arms hauled her forward.

Taran and Emme stayed put. “Come on, peeps,” Shayna called to them. “They’re not so bad.” She laughed nervously. “Not so bad at all.”

Taran glared at the hands and pointed at them. “Let’s get one thing straight. You will not grope me, you will not fondle me, you will not touch me. Got it?”

The hands leaned away from her, giving her space. Shah seemed to welcome us, but then something changed. I felt Shah reaching out to me with his power. It gathered around me like an invisible mist. He seemed sad, lonely. It made me sad, too.

“Do you feel that?” Shayna whispered. “I think the hands are crying.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s the hands. I think it’s Shah.” I met her eyes. “Shayna, I think he knows his time on earth is almost over.”

My eyes stung, and Shayna’s reddened. I was overcome with emotion—for Shah, for Aric and me, for everyone around me who hurt. For as powerful as Shah was, he wasn’t invulnerable to death, and apparently pain.