Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (33 page)

“Yeah?”

“If I were you,” Gideon told him, all traces of humor
erased from his deep voice as the vampire settled his gray gaze on Kierland’s
blood-soaked shoulder, “I’d find it fast.”

Missouri

Monday night

IT WAS EVENING when they finally stopped for the night
at a hotel on the outskirts of St. Louis. Though it’d been a long, confusing
day, Olivia’s body still thrummed with pleasure from the breathtaking things
that Aiden had done to her the night before. She only wished the blissful
sensation would bleed past the physical and into her emotions. But they were
too edgy. Too raw.

And the day had been nothing short of bizarre.

At dawn she’d been pulled out of bed for an emergency
meeting. The details had been confusing, but Olivia had finally succeeded in
wrapping her sleep-fogged mind around the situation, understanding that
Kierland Scott had gotten a lead in his search for information about the
creatures attacking Watchmen all over the world. They were called
Death-Walkers, and they were bad news—not that she hadn’t been able to see that
for herself. According to Kierland’s source, the Death-Walkers were actually
the condemned souls of clansmen and women who had been sent to hell for their
crimes, and with each Casus death, at least one of these fiends was able to
crawl its way up out of the pit.

The revelation sparked a spirited conversation, the
topics including speculation as to how the Markers had been made and theories
about why the Death-Walkers sought to create such chaos, though they all agreed
that it sounded as if the creatures’ minds had been warped by their time in
hell. They also agreed that the Death-Walkers knew the Markers were responsible
for their release, which would explain why the one that had attacked Aiden had
been so fascinated by Jamie’s cross. Then Kellan had told them that his brother
believed there was a good chance they would need to move their base of
operations, for safety purposes. Kierland hadn’t given any specifics on the new
location, claiming he needed to make some more enquiries first—but the idea had
caused a whole new round of debate among the others.

All in all, it had been a chilling way to start the
day.

Then, at around three in the afternoon, another call
had come in, this one from Aiden’s friends in Colorado. The security at
Ravenswing had been breached and two Death-Walkers had infiltrated the
compound. Thankfully, everyone had made it out okay due largely to their
practiced evacuation drills, but the incident had only served to set Aiden and
the others further on edge. Now the group from the compound was headed their
way, and though there’d been a lot of grumbling after they’d talked to
Kierland, it had been decided that everyone would head to England. Kierland and
Kellan had grown up there, raised by their grandfather at a remote estate in
the Lake District that Kierland believed would be perfect for their new
headquarters, since it met the two requirements the Lycan had been told they
needed for protection—requirements that none of the Watchmen compounds in
either North or South America currently met.

It was surrounded by water.

And it was made of stone.

Though the inside of the house had been modernized,
its exterior walls belonged to the original stone structure that had stood
there for over eight hundred years…and it was surrounded by a moat. While the
estate was apparently in dire need of renovation after years of neglect since their
grandfather’s death, it had been agreed that the location just might offer the
group the protection they needed—an idea that Molly claimed had been backed by
Monica. Kierland had already made the necessary arrangements not only to have
the moat water blessed, but for copious amounts of salt to be added. According
to the Lycan’s source, the Death-Walkers wouldn’t be able to cross the salted
holy water. Kierland had also told them that the combination of salt and holy
water could actually be used to drive the Death-Walkers away, scorching their
flesh. But it wouldn’t kill them…and they still didn’t know what would.

And on a personal note, Olivia didn’t know what she
was going to do about one gorgeous, impossibly complicated shape-shifter.

Though she and Jamie had ridden with Aiden throughout
the long day’s drive, the conversation between them had been…strained. For a
while she’d managed to keep him talking with questions about the things
Kierland had learned and how the information would be passed on to the other
Watchmen units around the world. She’d also touched on the admission Aiden had
made during the dawn meeting, when she’d learned that he’d already started
working to get his hands on the medication that Jamie would need in order to
fly, since he’d wanted to be prepared for any eventuality.

She’d even talked to him about her father’s marriage
to Monica and Chloe’s mother, which had been when she’d first learned about the
secretive, mysterious world of the clans. Then they’d talked more about Jamie’s
father, who’d claimed not only that he couldn’t handle the responsibility of a
child, but also that he didn’t like the way he always felt so “out of control”
around Monica. He hadn’t known about her dormant Merrick blood or the fact that
she was half witch, but he’d obviously been affected by the Mallory curse.

That conversation had led to one about the ongoing
search for her stepsister Chloe, but eventually Olivia’s questions had dried
up, since she hadn’t been able to bring herself to broach the subject of
Jamie’s Mallory powers and how it related to the Casus’s hunt for her niece,
her terror and fear over that particular topic still too fresh. Aiden had
fallen back into another heavy silence, leaving her to keep Jamie entertained.
For a while they’d sung songs and played games, and then Jamie had asked for
some paper and her crayons, keeping herself busy with her artwork for the rest
of the drive.

Now, as Olivia stared at her reflection in the steamed
surface of the hotel bathroom mirror, she could only marvel at the dazed,
lovesick expression on her flushed face. She was too turned on, and not just in
a sexual sense, though the guy had certainly blown her circuits. But there was
an electric energy buzzing beneath her skin that made everything seem different.
Sounds were clearer. Colors brighter. God only knew that she needed to shut
down, pulling back into her calm, emotionless shell, but her old fail-safes had
abandoned her, leaving her high and dry without any protection. Any armor.

As she finished pulling on some clean jeans and a
T-shirt, she opened the bathroom door onto the small living room that joined
their rooms together and found Aiden sitting on the floor talking to Jamie as
she colored another picture from one of her coloring books. Kellan and Noah
were out running patrol, all of them on edge, worried about what might happen
next. Morgan had gone to bed to get some rest before her turn at running the
perimeter with Aiden came up in a few hours, and though Aiden needed to get
some sleep as well, he’d offered to watch Jamie so that Olivia could grab a
quick shower.

Leaning against the doorjamb, she listened as he said,
“You have weapons, Jamie. Ones you can use if you’re ever scared or in danger.”

“But I’m too tiny,” her niece argued, her small face
scrunched in concentration as she struggled to color within the lines.

“That’s not a bad thing, sweetheart. You might be
tiny, but you’re still tough. Just remember that you’re small and fast enough
to get somewhere that an adult can’t reach you. Use that against them. And
whatever you do, don’t ever give up. You’re smart and you’re strong, and don’t
ever let any jerk tell you otherwise, you understand?”

Jamie nodded, then set down her crayon, moved to her
feet and threw her arms around Aiden’s neck, giving him a fierce hug that made
Olivia’s eyes water. Forcing herself to move before she started blubbering like
a baby, she walked into the room and grabbed Jamie’s backpack, stowing her
things away. “Come on, sweetie pie. It’s time for bed.”

“I don’t want to go,” Jamie protested, sticking out
her bottom lip. “I wanna stay with Aiden.”

Olivia reached down and affectionately ruffled her
niece’s silky curls. “You’ll be able to spend all day tomorrow with Aiden while
we’re driving. But right now you need to get your beauty sleep.”

Jamie gave in with a long, dramatic sigh, then took
the backpack from Olivia and rooted around inside until she found what she was
looking for. Taking out one of the pictures she’d drawn that afternoon, the
little girl turned and handed the paper to Aiden. “I made this for you.”

Olivia could see the shock of surprise in his hazel
eyes, the warmth of his easy grin as he thanked Jamie for the “beautiful
picture,” making her feel as if something had reached inside her and taken hold
of her heart, grasping it in a firm, unbreakable grip. Needing a moment to
collect herself, she took a smiling Jamie into the room where Morgan was
sleeping, and tucked her up in the second queen-size bed. Whispering one of the
little girl’s favorite bedtime stories to her, Olivia waited for Jamie to fall
into a sound sleep, then tucked the covers up under her pointed little chin.
When she walked back into the living room, she found Aiden still sitting on the
floor, staring at Jamie’s drawing. Color burned along the sharp crests of his
cheekbones when he sensed her presence, as if he were embarrassed that she’d
caught him still sitting there, and he moved to his feet, heading toward the
other bedroom.

Hoping that he might open up and talk to her now that
they were alone—and ready to demand that he do it, if he tried to avoid
her—Olivia followed him. “You’re good with her,” she told him, standing just
inside the open doorway.

“You think?” he asked, grabbing his duffel bag and
setting it on the foot of the nearest bed.

She rubbed the slow ache in her wounded arm, reminding
herself that if she could stand up to a psychopathic Casus, she could stand up
to Aiden. “I do,” she told him. “And in case you didn’t notice, she adores
you.”

Aiden made a low sound in his throat that could have
passed for a laugh, if it hadn’t been quite so gruff with emotion. “She adores
all men. Just look at her with Noah and Kell.”

“She likes them, but you’re different.” He grunted in response,
carefully sliding Jamie’s drawing into his bag as she went on to say, “And
speaking of Noah, we didn’t get a chance to talk about it yet, but Kellan told
me about…what’s going on. About how Noah’s trying to save his family. I feel
like such a jerk for the way I reacted yesterday. I’ve apologized to Noah, but
I still feel awful.”

“He’s a big boy,” he drawled, knowing his jealousy was
ridiculous. But he couldn’t stop its slow burn through his body. “He can take
it.”

“Still, it was wrong of me to react that way.”

He slid her a narrow, curious look. “Most humans
wouldn’t trust him, even knowing that he’s trying to do the right thing.”

“And I’m not like most,” she said gently, holding him
with that smoky, luminous gaze. “Or haven’t you realized that yet?”

It wasn’t easy, but Aiden forced himself to look away
from her. “You’re complicated,” he muttered, rummaging in his bag for a fresh pair
of boxers to put on after his shower. “I’ll give you that. Hell, I’m still
trying to figure you out.”

She met the words with a blast of silence and he
locked his jaw, his emotions so on edge, he felt like a high-tension wire. He
hated the way things were coming down. The threat of the Death-Walkers thrown
on top of their war against the Casus. The attack on Ravenswing. All of it. He
wasn’t crazy about going to England, but he wanted everyone in one place, where
they could watch each others’ backs. True, it was cold and wet there a lot of
the time, but he’d suck it up and deal, if it meant it was best for everyone.
But he hated the idea of getting on a plane, where they’d be pathetically
vulnerable if those vaporous assholes decided to attack.

Christ, he hated the whole screwed-up situation.

From the corner of his eye he watched as Liv moved a
little farther into the room…then shut the door behind her. “What’s going on,
Aiden?”

He took a deep breath. Slowly let it out. Then turned
his head to look at her. “With what?”

“With us. Is this it?” she asked, the soft words
vibrating with emotion. “We have sex and then you dump me? Was I that bad?
Boring? What? If you’re trying to spare my feelings, I wish you wouldn’t. Just
get it over with and spit it out already.”

Hah! As if there was anything boring about Olivia
Harcourt. The woman was like a force of nature crashing over him, ripping
through him. She was electric. Hypnotic. And completely addictive.

Quietly she said, “I know you don’t owe me anything. I
mean, I knew exactly what I was getting into last night. But…I need to know
where we are now. I need to know what’s going on inside your head.”

Oh, hell no, he thought, inwardly cringing. That was
the last thing she needed to know.

Aiden figured the smartest thing he could do at the
moment was turn his back and tell her to get the hell out of his room, but he
couldn’t even turn away from her. Couldn’t take his eyes off her. Not when she
was looking at him like that, her violet eyes smoldering with desire…burning
with something deeper. Something powerful and strong and bright that rocked him
to the core. Made him wish that he could be something he wasn’t.