Into the Light (15 page)

Olivia watched the angry female shifter for a few seconds before turning back to Tanner. “Would the ones you met yesterday have told them?”

Tanner shook his head, but said, “Maybe. Although I didn’t get that sense from them. I really thought they were allies, not enemies. My senses aren’t usually this off.”

“What are we going to do?” Dane asked. He turned to Olivia for guidance, and inwardly, she cringed, as Tanner gave her a curious look. If Dane should be looking to anyone for guidance, it wasn’t Olivia. Yet, she understood why he did. She also knew she had no intention of explaining his actions to Tanner.

“How do we get out?” she asked, directing her question to Tanner. “That door and the window are the only exits.”

Tanner turned back to the window. “I don’t think they can see the room, which means your wards are working. But they can obviously tell something is going on. Look at how they keep putting up their hands, like they’re trying to reach for the door.”

Olivia walked across the room and obediently stood next to him and looked out the window. It was difficult to be so close to him, especially after what almost happened in the bedroom just a short while ago. Despite the very dire situation, she wanted nothing more than to drag him back to the bedroom and finish what they started.

Tanner gave her a sharp look and then shook his head, almost as if he were reading her thoughts. He wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled her away from the window. “Get back, in case they figure out a way to get through the wards.”

While Tanner and Dane continued to monitor the situation, Olivia instructed the women to gather their luggage and be prepared to leave on a moment’s notice. And then they settled in to wait.

“What are we waiting for?” Dane wanted to know.

“Are you prepared to battle so many shifters—and win?” Tanner snapped.

Dane gave him a sheepish look and did not reply.

For two hours they huddled in the hotel room, eating granola bars and drinking water. Tanner never left his post, watching out the window. Olivia took him a handful of granola bars and a bottle of water.

“Any ideas yet?” she whispered.

Tanner shook his head. “I keep hoping they’ll just give up and leave, even though I know they won’t. Not if they think you’re in here, which we have to believe is the case. Normally, when my father hunts me down, he only sends one or two trackers, not a dozen. If I ever see that Andy Pantera again, I’m going to kick his goddamn ass.”

“You don’t know he’s the one who gave us up.”

The look he gave her spoke volumes. He didn’t bother to add words.

“We need a distraction,” Olivia suggested.

“Like what?”

“Like you or your mother or Lisa shifting into a bird or something and flying out of the room, pulling them away.”

“It might pull some of them, but not all. Unfortunately for us, shifters aren’t stupid, and I know most of those shifters out there. They were trained by the best—my father.”

“Maybe we can gain the upper hand if they are divided.”

Tanner gave her a thoughtful look. “You know, a few days ago, I wondered if you weren’t a general in your lightbearer army. Now I’m thinking I might have been right.”

Olivia chuckled. “We don’t even have an army, and I am certainly not a general. I’m just determined not to die, at least not right now.”

I want to sleep with you before that happens
.

“I don’t like it, but I don’t know if we can come up with any other ideas.”

Taking that as a yes, Olivia summoned the rest of the group closer so they could hash out a plan. Tanner, who was still watching out the window, suddenly swore.

“There’s a human housekeeper out there,” he said very quickly. “She can see the door.”

Olivia’s head jerked around to look at her cousin. “You did not ward the room against humans?”

Cecilia looked abashed. “I didn’t think it was necessary, and I didn’t want to cause undue attention when the housekeepers came along to clean the room. I never warded against humans when we were in Vegas, either,” she defended herself.

Olivia opened her mouth to berate her cousin for such foolishness, but Tanner interrupted. “Well do it now,” he demanded.

“It’s not that easy,” Cecilia protested. “And I—”

Tanner swore again. “They’re convincing her to open the door. Change of plans,” he snapped, and then he commanded the women and children to barricade themselves in one of the bedrooms.

Lisa shoved her newborn into Cecilia’s arms. “I’m fighting.”

“You just whelped your pup,” Tanner replied.

“And Dane fixed me up, good as new.”

Tanner turned to Dane. He shrugged. “She’s fine.”

“Besides,” Lisa said as she dropped into a battle stance. “Those bastards killed my mate. I want as many pieces of them as I can get.”

They all heard the telltale
snick
of the keycard slipping through the locking mechanism on the door. Tanner pointed at the bedrooms. “Get out of sight,” he commanded, looking directly at Olivia.

She herded the children and Cecilia into one of the bedrooms just as the door pushed open. Ariana also stayed behind to fight.

“Help me move this dresser,” Olivia told her cousin, and they combined use of their magic to move the dresser so that it blocked the closed door to the bedroom.

“I hate not being able to fight,” Olivia complained as she paced the length of the room.

“Me too.”

“I swear, we are going to train when we return to the coterie, no matter what my father says. Even if we have to do it secretly.”

“Absolutely,” Cecilia agreed, rather fiercely. Somehow, knowing her cousin was solidly on her side, made Olivia feel better about her decision.

A moment later, there was a pounding on the bedroom door. “Let me in,” Tanner commanded.

Olivia and Cecilia quickly used their combined magic to move the dresser. She pulled open the door and let out a small shriek when she saw a wall of shifters, all standing outside the open door to the hotel room.

“They still can’t see us, but they know we’re in here,” Tanner explained.

The group of shifters moved restlessly, pushing and pulling, yet unable to pass through the invisible barrier on the door.

“What happened to the human?”

“She bolted as soon as she opened the door. She’s probably summoning the human authorities, which is bad, because when they arrive, those shifters out there will scatter, and we’ll be left to explain what the hell is going on. I don’t particularly want to deal with the human authorities, so we’re going to try to get the hell out of here before they arrive.”

“Okay. So what do we do?”

“When I say the word, I want you to pull back on the wards. Make sure the parlor is unprotected, but that this room is. Can you do that?”

Olivia glanced at Cecilia, who nodded her assent. “Yes.”

“On my command,” Tanner reiterated, and then, before Olivia could react, he scooped her into his arms, kissed her fiercely, then released her and turned away. Cecilia grabbed her arm to keep her from crumpling to the floor, snickering as she did so.

“Ready?” Tanner called. He, Dane, Lisa, and Ariana were all in position. Dane and Tanner stood facing the door, Dane with a sword in his hand. Lisa and Ariana stood on either side of the door, presumably to catch the shifters from behind when they swarmed into the room. Olivia held her breath.

“You’re going to pull back on the ward and then close that door. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Now!”

Olivia and Cecilia both pulled on their magic, adjusting the wards per Tanner’s instruction. She saw the swarm of shifters suddenly fill the parlor, saw Tanner take down one, two, three. Dane sliced his sword through the air and dark blood splattered the walls and his person. Ariana’s hand shifted into that of an animal and she slashed her sharp claws across another shifter’s throat. Lisa shifted into a lion and attacked four at once.

The door slammed shut in her face.

“You do not need to see that,” Cecilia said.

“But I—”

“Sofia does not need to see it,” she added with a nod in the little girl’s direction. Sofia’s eyes had gone wide and she clung to her stuffed tiger with a childlike desperation.

Guilt slapped Olivia in the face. Cecilia was right. After all the child had been through in the last few days, watching her mother do battle with a bevy of evil shifters was the very last thing she needed to witness.

The unmistakable sounds of fighting filtered through the closed door. Shouts and cries of pain echoed. The room vibrated and a picture crashed to the floor when someone presumably was slammed into the wall. Olivia desperately hoped it was one of the bad guys.

The fighting continued, until there was a great, furious roar, and then it felt as if the brawl intensified tenfold, until finally, everything fell quiet.

“Olivia, let me in.” It was Tanner’s voice. He sounded exhausted but very much alive. Olivia’s shoulders slumped with relief and she used her magic to move the dresser out of the way again and then she released the ward that hid them even from Tanner’s eyes.

Those eyes swept over her person in a possessive way, as he carried his mother into the bedroom and deposited her on the bed.

“Put me down,” Ariana demanded. “I’m fine.”

“Heal her,” he commanded, stabbing his finger first at Olivia, then at Ariana.

Most of the group’s injuries were fairly superficial, but there was one gaping wound on Ariana’s left side, where it looked as if someone had taken a bite out of her waist.

Someone probably had.

Olivia swallowed back bile and forced herself to turn to Cecilia. “Cecilia, begin the cleanup,” she commanded. “I have no doubt the humans will be here any moment to investigate.”

She looked at Tanner. “Are they dead?”

He nodded.

“What do you do with your dead?”

“Burn them. That way, there is nothing for the humans to inspect, and potentially discover our existence.”

Olivia nodded, but before she could say anything, Cecilia handed the baby to Lisa, said, “On it,” and left the room.

Sofia rushed into her mother’s arms, oblivious to the blood and other matter splattered there.

“Sofia, no,” Olivia called. “At least wait until—”

“She is
my
pup,” Lisa said coldly, and then she deliberately hugged her daughter tightly.

“At least send the children into the other bedroom until I’ve healed everyone,” Olivia protested, with a wave at Ariana’s gaping wound.

Lisa gave her a cool look. “She is a shifter. She has seen much worse. We are, after all, from Quentin Lyons’ pack.”

Olivia blinked owlishly, unsure of how to react to the woman’s suddenly harsh demeanor. While Lisa was certainly not the most cheerful person, she had not exhibited such coldness up to this point.

“Lisa,” Tanner snapped. “Knock it off. You got your revenge for Freddy’s death. You don’t need to be a bitch to Olivia.”

“He’s still dead,” Lisa retorted. “It doesn’t matter how many of them I kill, it’ll never bring him back.” On those parting words, she deliberately turned her back and ushered Sofia out of the room.

“She’s upset,” Tanner defended her. “She hasn’t had time to mourn her mate’s death.”

“I understand,” Olivia murmured. She sat next to Ariana and focused on the wound in her side.

“No, you don’t,” Tanner qualified. “But I appreciate that you are not lashing out at her for her unnecessary cruelty.”

Olivia forced herself not to react to the warmth and approval in his voice. Now was not the time.

Would it ever be the right time? She was a lightbearer, he was a shifter; they were supposed to be mortal enemies. Yet here they were, combining forces to battle shifters that were determined to kill her and Dane and Cecilia. When she looked at it from that perspective, she supposed it was easy to tolerate Lisa’s anger and bitterness.

“Is Dane…?” she asked.

“Fine,” Tanner replied. “He took a few licks, but held his own surprisingly well.”

“He is one of the king’s guards.”

“I had the impression that didn’t mean very much, what with the wards and all,” Tanner commented as he watched her work to repair his mother’s wound.

“Dane believes in being prepared for anything,” Olivia murmured. She closed her eyes and pushed her healing magic into Ariana, focusing on the fresh injuries instead of the trace amount of poison still lingering in the woman’s body. She would have to deal with that another time. It wasn’t enough to harm her in the short term.

“You sure do know a lot about Dane,” Tanner remarked, far too casually. Olivia opened her eyes and gave him a sharp look.

“He is a lightbearer,” she said coolly. “And we have known one another practically since birth.” He wasn’t seriously developing a jealousy complex over Dane, was he? Now, of all moments? Olivia determined she would never understand men.

Tanner fell silent and Olivia focused on healing Ariana once more. As terrible as the injury looked, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to heal her as it had been pulling the poison from her system, although Olivia was certainly weakened when she was done.

Ariana slid off the bed and stretched. “It sure is handy to have you lightbearers around,” she declared, and then she hustled into the bathroom to take a quick shower and wash away the blood and residue of the fight.

Tanner and Olivia stood, facing one another, feeling awkward, as the bed loomed like a great white elephant next to them. It was neither the place nor the time, yet Olivia could not help feeling hopeful that he might…

“We need to go,” Cecilia declared a scant moment later, as she popped her head into the bedroom. “Lisa says I’ve triggered the fire alarm.”

Tanner gave Olivia one last longing look and then went to pound on the bathroom door, demanding his mother hurry so they could get the hell out of there.

It was time to get to safety. It was time to go to the coterie.

“When we reach the coterie, Dane will have to open the wards for us to get inside.”

They were seated around a large round table in a quiet, family-owned restaurant. They’d managed to slip away from the hotel without drawing attention to themselves. At the first truck stop they found, they pulled over and everyone filed inside to quickly shower and clean up. Olivia used her magic to pull bloodstains out of their clothing as best as she could, and then they were on their way again.