Remembered by Moonlight (20 page)

“There.”

Following the point of his finger, Cee Cee guided the car to the edge of the road and let it sit at an idle when Max told her to wait. He got out to test the breeze and shadows for hints of friend or foe. Finally, he called, “Are you injured?”

“No. We’re good,” Cale reassured as they appeared abruptly from out of the darkness. Brigit leaned against him, and both were wet and stumbling. “Thanks for showing up so quick,” he murmured as he helped his cousin into the Camaro’s narrow backseat.

“She doesn’t know how to drive any other way.”

Cale spared him a faint smile. He looked like bloody hell but still trailed along behind Max as he walked the accident scene. No sign of the vehicle that had forced them into the swamp. All that remained of the Escalade was rooftop. Max guessed the plan had been to bury driver and passenger inside.

Cale studied the marks on the pavement, hiding his own concern. “Sorry about the car.”

“I’ve got others. It’s insured. How 'bout you?”

“What?”

“You insured? You’d better be the way you put hands all over my mate.”

Cale put them up in a harmless fashion. “Hey, I asked permission. Just playing along like I was told.”

“Don’t enjoy the part too much. Get in and sit down before you fall down.”

From the safety of the back seat with Brigit wrapped in his embrace, Cale calmly answered their questions starting with, “Never saw the driver or got a look at the plates. Could have just been an accident, and he got scared and left the scene.”

“Do you think that’s likely?” Cee Cee asked, glancing back in the rearview.

“No. But if they’d wanted us dead, why didn’t they stick around to see to it while they had the chance?”

“Just glad they didn’t.” After Cale’s agreeing grunt, Cee Cee asked, “Any guesses on who?”

“My brother, the folks you’re after, that psycho at the club pissed off because he didn’t get a date. It’s Savoie’s car. Maybe someone’s after him. I don’t know. I’m just the new guy.”

“Or maybe someone doesn’t want this baby born,” Brigit submitted softly.

Cale frowned. “Who’s the father, Bree?”

“Daniel Guedry.”

“Oh, hell!” At the sound of her shivery breath, his voice grew soothing. “It’s okay. I’m sorry. No one’s going to hurt you or that baby. First, they’d have to go through me, your brother, and that big guy knitting booties. And that’s not gonna happen.”

Her head on his shoulder, Brigit didn’t see his features tighten. Wondering, Cee Cee surmised with a quick backward glance, what the hell he’d walked into.

“Thoughts?”

They lay together beneath the covers of the big plantation bed listening to Cale’s restless prowling along the balcony. Max’s hand moved lazily over the curve of Cee Cee’s hip as he considered her question.

“Could be any of the things he suggested. A warning or maybe just some drunk’s carelessness.”

“But you’d bet it’s a warning.”

“Yeah. What pots are you stirring, Detective?”

“Blutifino, Terriot rivalry, Chosen influence.”

“Ah. Just those?”

A chuckle. “That’s enough for now apparently.”

“Do you trust this new Terriot king?”

Cee Cee reflected for a moment then replied carefully. “He cares deeply for his clan and fiercely about his family, and as long as our goals don’t endanger those things, I think he’ll be a strong ally. He’s Oscar’s uncle.”

“Another one? He said he was family. That explains it. Would he turn on us in favor of this rogue brother?”

“The brother who stabbed him? I doubt it. Even though he says he doesn’t, I think he took that betrayal very personally.”

“Once a viper, always a viper regardless of kinship.”

Cee Cee caught the heaviness in Max’s voice. Was he remembering his father’s duplicity? She snuggled closer into his side to continue her reflection. “Do you think your aunt’s arrival is a coincidence?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry.” She rubbed his chest gently. “How did your visit with her go this afternoon?”

“She spoke about family, grandparents, aunts and uncles.”

“All who died at the hands of the Terriots.”

“Yes. She told me about my mother, about my father and how their running away together nearly destroyed our entire line.”

“And she’s still carrying a grudge?”

“I don’t know. She’s lived among them in the North for a long time. To become as successful as she is, she’s had to learn to adapt and protect her motives.”

“Much like you had to.”

He answered without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Max, do you think she presents a danger to us?”

A long silence then a quiet, “I don’t know. I’m her only family. She says that’s important to her. She’s says she can become a strong ally against our enemies, too.”

“Did she happen to mention those enemies by name?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“How do you feel about her being here, Max?”

Hearing the concern in her voice, he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Besides the fact that she holds the key to my past? I feel a connection. It’s powerful. It calls for me to believe her, to believe in her. But I don’t know if I can trust that voice.”

“Then we’ll both proceed with caution, me with Cale, you with Genevieve.”

“A wise suggestion,
cher.”
He turned his head to look at her, his eyes luminous and filled with heat. “And how should we proceed, you and I?”

Her hand fit to his rough cheek. “I think we should pick up where we left off.”

His smile spread wide, his stare gleamed. “An excellent idea.”

Max rolled up onto his side, settling a kiss upon her parted lips, drinking slowly, deeply. As his fingers threaded back through her hair, he asked gruffly, “And do you trust me,
sha?
”

A day ago, her answer would have been different. But on this night, her vow came steady and strong.

“With all I love and all I am.”

“I won’t fail you, Charlotte, though those before me have.”

Those? Her brow crowded briefly. Who did he mean? Furness? Who else?

But then his mouth claimed hers once more, and soon coherent thought grew impossible. The joys of having Max Savoie back in her bed left no room for anything else.

Until hours later, when he slumbered beside her and Cale Terriot’s light step continued to travel the length of the house outside.

Who else had betrayed her?

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

“He’s still here.”

Catching the relief in Silas’s voice, Cee Cee passed him a cup of coffee and some advice. “And beating the crap out of everything within reach so I’d stay up here if I were you.”

Cale had hung a weighted bag from one of the live oaks and punished it mercilessly with punches, elbows and kicks. No graceful poetic moves this morning, just raw motion.

“Think he’s drawn my face on that bag?”

“Probably in his mind. He’s going to tear them up in the ring.” When her partner made an agreeing noise, Cee Cee added, “You should be nicer to him, so he’ll continue to help us.”

“Nicer? I’ve been nothing but nice.”

She smiled at his indignation. “You’ve been a coldly disapproving, sanctimonious ass and you know it.”

He tried to argue but couldn’t, settling for a mild, “That’s just my personality. If I embraced him and offered the start of a warm, fuzzy bromance, he’d have spit in my face. I know how to handle Cale. I’ve done it all my life. He’ll use the anger to our advantage.”

“And it’s all about our advantage.”

Her sarcasm wasn’t missed. Silas met her chiding gaze without a blink and drawled, “Of course. You think he’s worried about our troubles? He’s here to take care of his own.”

“The only reason?”

“Why else? He’s helping us because his clan’s at risk. He wouldn’t walk across a room to put us out if we were on fire.”

“And yet you make a call without mentioning that risk, and he rides straight through how many states to get here?”

“He would have been here faster if he’d flown,” Silas grumbled. “But that’s Cale. Always doing things his own way.”

“You’re doing it again.”

Silas glanced at her in surprise. “What?”

She lifted his left hand, turning it palm up. “Rubbing at your wrist.” Her thumb traced over the scars of a long ago burn. “What does this mean?”

He stared at the brand dispassionately. “It’s a mark of ownership. A sign that I sold my soul to the Terriots to save my sister and cousin after our families were butchered. I’d have been grateful for a little of his spit then.”

Cee Cee gasped. “Cale did this to you?”

“Without blinking an eye.”

“Because you’d nearly blinded the other one?”

Silas pulled away and tugged his shirtsleeve over the mark. “Before. Don’t ask me to forgive him anything. He didn’t bathe in your parents’ blood.”

“But your cousin forgave him.”

Obviously that fact seared like the Terriot mark. “She’s trusting and sweet. She saw something in him I never could.”

“Because it wasn’t there or you didn’t want to see it?”

Without a response, he stepped off the porch and strode down to where Cale brutalized the bag. He moved up behind it to hold it steady against the savage tattoo.

“You should save some of that for tonight.”

Cale turned away, snatching up a towel and mopping the sweat from his face. “Don’t worry. I have plenty left. I wouldn’t dare disappoint you.” He glanced toward the house, frowning slightly as he worked up to something that had been eating away at him. “You didn’t tell him.”

“Tell who what?”

“The boy. You didn’t give him my old iPod, the one I gave you in Tahoe, or tell him who I was. Why? You know I’d never do anything to hurt them.”

“Do I? Maybe I didn’t want you to disappoint him.”

That measured answer hit Cale harder than an unexpected blow. His features grew as unyielding as his knuckles. He flung the damp towel into Silas’s face and went up to the house, nodding to Cee Cee on his way into the dining room. He’d meant to head straight upstairs and then, perhaps out the front door. Until he saw Brigit and Giles having breakfast together.

Noticing how pale she looked, her eyes darkly circled, her cheeks drawn with fatigue as she offered a faint smile, he went to her first. Crouching down by her chair, he placed solicitous hands on her knee and shoulder, asking quietly, “How are you this morning?”

Having followed him inside, Silas paused in the open doorway, struck by the sight and by his sister’s response. She stroked their one time enemy’s bruised brow, her face gentling into an expression reserved only for those few she loved. For him. The tender concern in her eyes shook Silas deeply as she murmured, “Fine, and you?”

“Sweaty.” Cale smiled with an easy affection. More intolerable was the fact that Giles seemed to have no problem with it.

When Silas grabbed his upper arm to yank him to his feet, Cale didn’t resist, letting himself be pushed toward the hall.

“Silas!”

Cale smiled at Brigit and waved off her exasperation. “It’s all right, Bree. Like you said, it’s not his fault he’s a dick.”

“Get presentable,” Silas ordered. “We’ve things to discuss.”

Cale jerked free and snapped off a mock salute before heading for the stairs.

Silas turned to his sister with a frigid, “Don’t forget what he is.”

Her reply was equally frosty. “Why don’t
you
see what he is instead of what he was through no fault of his own? He’s our cousin’s mate, our family.”

But Silas didn’t relent. “Your new
family
has you forgetting the old.”

“I’ve forgotten nothing. I just refuse to let the past keep me from living for the future. Do you think all those who died would prefer that you let their corpses drag on you like chains? Let them go, Silas.”

His reply broke her heart.

“I can’t.”

“He saved me and my child from drowning in the dark after we were run off the road last night. I’d think after what you’d been through yourself, you’d be a little more grateful.”

“
What
?” Shocked, he noticed her less than perfect appearance. He looked to Cee Cee who’d joined them inside. “Why am I’m just hearing about this?”

His partner took his arm firmly and directed him across the hall into the parlor where she laid out the suspicious and potentially deadly happenings. He blanched, but didn’t ponder over which of their enemies was behind the attack. He had only one question.

“Why didn’t she call me?”

Cee Cee found that as impossible to answer as his earlier question. Instead, she asked, “Do you think we’ve been made? First the attack at the docks, now this. When collateral damage becomes family maybe it’s time to consider scaling back.”

“No,” He snapped, his response as unmovable as a highway T-rail. “We step it up. We consider everyone a potential leak and use that to our advantage. We push harder to get inside, to get beneath their defenses on every level. We have to find out who’s running the show.”

“And why do I get the unpleasant feeling that I’m going to be involved in this?” Cale’s drawl drew their attention to the doorway where their guest had heard that last bit of conversation. Freshly showered, he’d dressed comfortably down in jeans and his hooded jacket.

Silas smiled thinly. “We need to talk.” He gestured to the doors to Jimmy’s office. But as he moved past Cale and into the hall, he murmured, “Thank you.”

Now that hard stare grew suspicious. “For what?”

“My sister says you saved her life last night.”

A short laugh. “No big deal. Did you think I’d just walk away to save myself?”

Their eyes met and briefly held. Then Silas delivered a tightly controlled, “You have before,” and strode past him.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Strong hands settled upon her shoulders for a gentle press, giving Cee Cee a start. She’d been so involved in her brooding she hadn’t heard Max come up behind her in the parlor.

“As bad as all that?”

She blew out a breath. “Worse, if you can imagine. The outside threat is bad enough when those on the inside aren’t about to explode.”

“Our new friend from the West?”

“Umm. Unfortunately, he’s not the one I’m concerned with.”

Max didn’t push for more explanation, making her absurdly grateful. Instead, he touched a kiss to her brow. “Do you think I could steal you away this morning for a little field trip.”

“Business or pleasure?” Their gazes mingled, and the heat tendered by the brush of his lips began to spark and burn.

“Regrettably the former. Genevieve wants to see where I grew up. I’m afraid I don’t know quite where that is, but suspect you do. Would you mind?”

“Not at all.” It would give her a chance to vet her uneasiness regarding his long absent relative. And spending time with him was more than just a perk. But the destination required she give him warning. “We’ve been there together before, Max, when you were looking for the truth about your past.”

“And what did we find?”

“Terrible things. Things your mind had hidden from a terrorized child.”

He smiled grimly. “Then perhaps it’ll be willing to give them up again.” He pulled a ring of keys from his pocket, singling one out to rub between his fingers. “This is the only one I haven’t found a use for. Recognize it?”