Released Souls (24 page)

I shrugged my shoulders. “So you don’t think your father will have a use for you any longer… what are your plans
? Can I count on you not to fight against us? I don’t expect you to fight for us, but I’m hopeful you’ll leave our work alone.”

“Babe,
I’m coming up behind you,”
Logan channeled.

He’s here already! Oh no!

“Oh, the perfect pupil who got away,” my father laughed. “It’s nice of you to show up, Logan. I’m glad I can count on you to always come to my daughter’s aid.”

“I took down your sister
, and I’ll have no problem destroying you,” Logan shouted from behind me. “Leave us alone.”

Shoot!
So much for my ruse.

My father shot me a glance and a half-smirk.

“You took out my sister?” he asked Logan. “I was under the impression my daughter did. Interesting fabrication, Triss. Makes what I told you less burdensome on me. Maybe you aren’t as cold and calculating as I thought. Does explain why Logan’s eyes are no longer blue. You must’ve really dug deep, Logan.”

“What did he tell you?” Logan asked, glancing at me quickly. He was now standing between my father and me.

“Nothing important,” I replied.

“Keeping secrets, are we?” my father chuckled. “Oh, young love
…the complexities of everything.”

“To answer your question, I will not fight you or your cause in any manner. I know what the handwriting is for me already. There’s no telling when or where my father will instruct the
Praedivinus
order to strike me down. But I can tell you that I’ll be doing my best to stay out of their way and your way. I don’t plan on being found and that includes me staying out of everything. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.”

I watched as my father tipped his head at
us and turned around, walking into the woods. He never looked back.

“What were you thinking?” Logan’s voice thundered around me. He pressed me against the wall in our bedroom. We had decided that no matter where we hid, we’d be found so we were back at my real house. I just couldn’t handle the hiding any longer.

He softly grabbed my chin and lifted his brow, waiting for my response.

“I needed answers,” I whispered, feeling his firmness push into me.

“I’m
not letting this moment escape,” he whispered hotly. Shivers paraded down my spine as he teased me softly with his fingertips, running them up and down my side.

“What moment?” I asked, breathless from his
touch.

“Makeup
sex. We can see if it’s all it’s cracked up to be.” Leave it to him to wonder. He dominated the air space between us as I melted into the wall from his words. Judging by the look in his silver eyes, I had a lot to look forward to.

Logan slowly
guided his fingers along my shirt, careful to trace every curve of my body until he reached the cotton’s edge. He slid the shirt over my head, tossing it on the floor. With my skin exposed, I wrapped my arms around him to feel him against me, but he didn’t move toward me. A smirk spread across his lips as he carefully pinned my wrists above my head. I attempted to squirm, but he stopped me quickly as he trailed his mouth along my jaw.

“If I could stop
everything from happening I would,” his voice deepened as he now towered over me, taking every part of me in with his eyes. “You don’t deserve the burden you’re carrying.”

“Don’t say that. I’ll be able to handle it,” I whispered, shifting slightly against the wall.

“I don’t doubt that.” His grin was intoxicating and his lips looked wonderfully soft. “I just wish I could fix it all — end it all.”

Still not releasing my wrists with his one hand, he coiled my hair with his finger
s, pulling it on top of my head. He began softly kissing my throat, still not allowing me to grasp him. His mouth traveled slowly and deliberately along my exposed skin, as my body began to shudder with anticipation. I gasped as he reached my stomach, the softness of his kisses turning to light nibbles as he released my wrists.

His smile was wicked as his strong hands slid around my
bare waist, bringing me against him. His fingers slipped between my skin and waistband as he quickly unfastened the button and shoved down the zipper. He left me quivering as he stepped back from me, pulling off his shirt and tossing it with the collection.

His hard abs flexed as he reached for me
, and my world completely exploded.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we never lose this,” he whispered.
“My world would cease to exist if you weren’t in it.”

“I love you, babe,” I whispered, feeling the
devotion we shared between us.

Logan’s lips slowly parted
and connected with mine. The warmth that pooled deep inside of me began spreading at a rapid rate as he carried me to our bed. A moan escaped from my mouth as his fingers trailed down my back. My body collapsed under him as he laid me on our bed.

“Now where were we?” he whispered, trailing his kisses lower and lower
along my stomach.

***

“What are you doing?” I asked, thumping him playfully.

“You’re not going to like it,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Okaaay?”

“I think like you said, we need to get Ebe
n out of the way to see how far-reaching the
Praedivinus
order really is.” He sighed. “And I think the only way he’ll fall for it is if I go in as bait.”

I shook my head. “No way.”

“Babe, I know it sounds bad, but I think we can make it work.”

“Hearing
but I think we can make it work
isn’t exactly selling me on the idea.” I scowled at him, and he patted his knee.

I sat down on his lap
, and he interlocked his hands around me.

The silver in his eyes began to fade a little since last night and so now what I was lookin
g at was a cross between an ice-blue and a grey. It was beautiful, but I didn’t want him to know that.

“Thank you, by the way,” I muttered, turning to face the table.

“For what? Last night?” he asked. I could feel him grinning behind me

“That. But I was thinking more of stepping in with Lara.
I understand why you did it now, and I wanted to say thank you.”

“Anything for you, babe. Back to my idea.”

I grimaced and my body slouched in response.

“If we do this in the woods and can call on our coven members and their friends, along with any creatures of the wild that you
manage to wrangle, I think we can make it happen painlessly.”

“If we somehow get the
communication to him that you’ve developed two talents his curiosity will get the better of him. I’m not sure which ones we should reveal, or if we even should choose two that you actually have, but I think that’s the carrot we’ll dangle.”

“What about the posse I’m sure he’ll bring with him?” I questioned.

“I think if we set it up as a meeting to explore the options he keeps suggesting, we might be greeted with less. That’s why I should come and be part of it. I’ve already been to that side once before, it wouldn’t be that odd if he thought I talked you into joining him.”

I bit my lip and stared at the tabl
e. I could see where Eben might fall for it, but if he didn’t I couldn’t even imagine what the consequences would be.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Trevor called from the entry as he made his way toward us in the kitchen.

“Please tell me you have a latte for me.” I smiled, sliding off Logan’s lap.

“
I swear I can never surprise you lately.” Trevor laughed, placing the drink carrier on the table. “Who brings Starbucks at night? As long as you don’t guess what’s in this, I’ll feel okay about it.” He held a brown sack and waved it around.

“The
other thing you stole from the Witch Avenue Covenstead,” I replied flippantly.

“Are you serious?” Trevor’s eyes were huge.

“No. Are you serious?” I countered, just as shocked. I glanced nervously at Logan who quickly stood up from the table and grabbed the sack from Trevor.

“Dude, that’s not what you have in here, right?” Logan asked, setting the bag on the table.

“Open it up,” I said impatiently, reaching for the top of the sack.

“That’s exactly what it is.”
Trevor narrowed his eyes at me. “Bakula and Dace sent me in there to retrieve it.”

“I can’t b
elieve this.” I shook my head. I wished I hadn’t announced my guess to Trevor. All that did was make him suspicious. I hoped he’d brush it off as coincidence. I’d have to start ensuring that I didn’t do any guessing games with people going forward.

I reached in the sack and found a
cold, slippery box. It must be metal of some sort; I wrapped my fingers around it and lifted it out of the sack.

It looked like a
silver jewelry box with beautifully scrolled lettering. I ran my fingers along the engraving. Logan moved behind me and wrapped his arms around me.His finger met mine and traced the larg
e
Q along with me.

“
Q
uaere Peti Non Potest”

“Is your Latin there yet?” he whispered.

“I recognize the word Seek,” I offered.

“Never seek what can’t be sought,” he translated, stepping back.
“Interesting.”

“I’m going to open it.” My hand unhooked the clip an
d slid along the top, opening the lid to reveal a purple satin interior with what looked like two oversized buttons. They were silver and engraved with the letters T an
dL
, matching the same scroll as the box…Triss and Logan.

I picked up the first one and flipped it over
, revealing a flat surface.

“Buttons?”
I stared at the object carefully and a word was revealed.

No

It thought I was asking it a question.

The word
vanished. I quickly flipped it over so Trevor wouldn’t catch what happened in case I asked any other questions.

I looked at Logan, and he seemed as perplexed as I was. Trevor took a seat next to
me and reached for the other silver button that apparently wasn’t a button.

“I wonder if it does anything
?” he asked, flipping it over. I waited for the answer to his question to be revealed, but it wasn’t. He handed it to me and stood up. I’m gonna head out. If you need anything you know how to reach me.”

Trevor
and everyone had managed to lease a house a few doors down. I was thankful I wasn’t sharing the house with that many guys.

“Thanks, Trev,” I replied, smiling.

“Once you figure out why I had to risk life and limb for those let me know,” he said, walking down the hallway. “I’m out.”

Once I heard the click of the door
I stared at Logan and then back at the silver pieces.

“Definitely aren’t buttons. What are you?” I asked, directing my question at the piece of silver.
Nothing appeared. “Can you help me with my gifts?”

Yes

“It only likes yes and no questions.”

“Will Triss marry me one day?” Logan was grinning.

“Where’d that come from?” I asked startled but completely infatuated.

I quickly looked to
the silver to reveal the answer but it didn’t. Besides I already knew what my answer would be!

“I think it only works with you. Makes sense.”

“Yeah. Makes complete sense.” I rolled my eyes but got serious when I thought about a couple yes or no questions that I wanted answered.

“Will my mom be okay?” I asked.

Yes

“Will my father fight against us?
”

No

“Can we take down the
Praedivinus
Order?”

Nothing was returned.

“Well that’s weird,” I responded. “I wonder if I phrased it incorrectly.”

“I think we should ask Bakula,” Logan offered. “They’ll be here for dinner.”

“You invited them for dinner?” I asked bewildered.

“They’re bringing their own food, but they wanted to discuss some stuff with you, and I think they knew Trevor would be dropping
those off today.”

“I hope they get here soon
. I’m dying to know what these are.” I placed the token-button-fortune cookie object back in the box and shut the lid.

“Spaghetti okay?” Logan asked, walking to the stove.

“Yeah. That would actually be really nice. I think this is like the first time food sounds appealing. That’s a positive, right?” I laughed.

“Take what we can get,
I guess.” He shrugged, smiling, and I wrapped my arms around his hips.