Stone Cold Seduction (22 page)

“Six months since you’ve been to see us. Six long months. Princess and I were lonely.”

I knew the length of time that had passed. I’d counted the days until my visit. With dread and growing horror.

Luke pressed the blade between my shoulders. Not hard enough to draw blood, but I could feel the prick of the tip against my flesh. I flinched. He laughed, and I silently cursed myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He loved it when I showed fear.

“You need to learn your place. Your behavior tonight was not befitting your station.”

I shook with fear, but my mind rebelled. I hadn’t done anything wrong! Cian was our dinner guest. He and my father were discussing business. Imports and other boring things. I had asked Cian about MacLean. That’s it. My awful “transgression,” as my father called it.

The instant after I’d asked, I’d known it was the wrong thing to do. My father’s eyes had flicked to me, icy and full of disgust. Cian had smiled and answered with a pat on my hand. I could sense my father’s growing fury. I was to be seen, not heard. And now, I’d pay the price.

“Behind your heart,” Luke murmured, lost in thought, but drawing me back to the present. “I’ll put it behind your heart.”

Inside, I screamed. Before I felt the prick of the blade. Before he began to whisper in a high, excited tone. I screamed inside the dark recesses of my mind. I didn’t hear Luke’s words. I didn’t want to. His heavy breath burned the back of my neck. His blade dug into the skin above my left shoulder blade.

And pretty soon, I screamed out loud. Blood trickled down my back, hot and sticky as he carved.

When Luke stopped to admire his handiwork, I choked back sobs. I didn’t bother to strain against the rope he’d tied me with. I couldn’t escape. We both knew it.

“Ah, Princess. It’s beautiful.” Luke’s voice came out as a low, breathy whisper.

Freak. He was a goddamned freak of nature. Rage, loathing, and fear made my tears flow faster, but I stopped screaming.

“Now you carry my family symbol.” He laughed, like it was a joke.

I couldn’t speak. The words burning in my throat would only cause me more agony. I bit them back and stared at the floor. I would burn the damn thing off first chance I got.

“We’re forever linked. Just you and me.”

My mind cracked, and I tried to speak. “No, I…”

He hit me so hard, the chair rocked to one side and fell over. I crashed down, hitting my head against the stone floor. His laughter chased me into oblivion.

I dropped back into reality with a jarring thud. I blinked and stared at Teryl, who knelt before me.

“Elle? Oh, thank God, you’re back. What in the hell happened?”

“Memory,” I spit out, between my chattering teeth. When did it get so cold in here? I brought a hand to my face and felt tears. I quickly wiped them away. I wanted no reminder of that memory.

MacLean picked up his jacket from the back of a chair and draped it around my shoulders. I clutched it tightly, because I was so damned cold.

“Teryl,” I managed to mumble. “What is a ward thief?”

“It means when you encounter a ward, not only can you get through, you can also absorb them.”

“Like e. coli?” My skin crawled, which was a wholly unpleasant sensation, considering how freaked out I already was.

“Gross. No. You absorb the magic. The ward becomes a part of you, so you can use it later.”

I looked down at the small mark on my wrist, trying to decipher the tiny pattern. “What is it?”

“That one is a simple cloaking spell. If anyone but my family tried to read that book, the words would be missing. Cloaked.” He pointed at the mark. “You can now use that. If you need to hide yourself, use the ward. If you need to hide something, like words in a book, a room, a car, you can use the ward. Think of it like an invisibility cloak for whatever you need.”

“How is that different than shadowing?”

Teryl thought about it for a second. “It is and it isn’t. It’s more difficult for you to shadow in the daytime. So the cloaking ward would come in handy. Also, if we find out you can only shadow for five minutes, the ward would work when your shadowing magic ran out. The nice thing about wards is they have their own magic, so it won’t drain yours. This particular ward is just a bonus to the shadowing. Think of it as a backup.”

I shivered and pulled MacLean’s coat tight around me. His scent wrapped around me, too. It combated the chill, which surprised me.

“What’s the catch? Why wouldn’t I want to use the ward?”

A hint of a smile played at the corners of Teryl’s mouth. “No catch. It’s perfect, because now you can shadow and cloak yourself.”

“But, how does that help me with the Library of Shadows?”

Teryl pursed his lips, as if searching for patience.

MacLean snapped his fingers. “I see where he’s going with it. If you use a ward to cloak, you should be able to get through the wards at the Library of Shadows. The magic of the ward will hide you, whereas shadowing won’t, not completely.”

My brain was too fuzzy. The mark looked fairly unremarkable, considering what it was supposed to do. “How do I know it will work?”

“You can try it. Later. Right now, you need a little more rest.”

I wasn’t going to argue. My stomach had food, now my body craved sleep. That memory had left a nasty taste in my mouth, and I wanted to curl up and sleep.

I stood. “Okay, wake me in four hours.”

Jax followed me into our room. “When you wake, we’ll talk.”

I nodded. The conversation about his past and our future was long overdue.

Chapter Sixteen

Jax gently shook me awake. “It’s time. We can speak while we get ready to move. The hunters will be here any time. Altair might have bought us some time with a few of them, but we still don’t know where your father is, and we need to go.”

And that was all it took to bring me awake in a painful jolt. Four hours had come too soon. I rubbed a hand across my face. “Jax,” I groaned. “Why can’t any of this be easy? Why can’t we have met under different circumstances?”

Well, hell. Might as well jump right in and blurt it all out. “And how did we start the bond?”

Jax sat on the bed next to me and smoothed my hair back. “Life is never easy. If it was, we’d all take it for granted. Death and destruction are meant to make us appreciate life and beauty.” He cupped my cheek and offered his slow smile.

My heart warmed against my better judgment. He still hadn’t answered my burning question about the bond, and I wasn’t going to let him seduce me out of an answer. This time. I didn’t pull away from the hand on my cheek, but I didn’t smile back at him, either.

He got the hint.

“We met before, but you don’t remember all of it. We are together now, and that’s all that matters. I won’t let your history with MacLean or the lack of memories affect us any more than it already has. The bond was created when you opened your mind to the possibility of us.”

Okay, that was hokey. “Opened my mind?”

“At my apartment. That night, you let yourself believe we were meant to be. You acknowledged you were mine. And you believed it.”

He was right; I remembered every word. But it seemed really too simple. Teenagers with hormones would be initiating bonds all the way through high school. “Isn’t there more to it than that?”

“Yes. That was only the start. The bond hasn’t been…completed.”

I noticed his slight hesitation. “Explain, please.”

“There is a ceremony. In order for us to complete the bond, we must exchange tokens—”

“What’s with the tokens?” I grumbled.

Jax smiled and continued, “We must exchange tokens and vows.”

Relief and trepidation flooded me. It was an odd combination. Relief, because I hadn’t taken the final step without knowing. Trepidation, because the thought of a serious commitment on top of everything else scared the hell out of me. “Like a wedding?”

“Yes.”

I wasn’t ready for that. There was too much standing between us. “Why didn’t you tell me you worked for my father when I was a teenager?”

He shifted on the bed as I got up and started scrounging for my boots.

“I work for you,” he said. “You are my mate.”

“And that’s an evasive answer.” I stamped my foot into my boot for emphasis. I wasn’t going to let him off the hook.

“There are things I can’t discuss. Not yet. Not now.”

Unease slithered through me. I grabbed my hairbrush and started a quick once-through. “What does that mean? You can’t or won’t discuss it?”

Jax didn’t answer.

“Aren’t mates supposed to know each other’s secrets?”

He remained silent.

I smacked the hairbrush down on the hotel dresser, ignoring the pain in my chest. I refused to call it heartache. “I guess we’ll talk about it later, then.”

Or maybe we wouldn’t. I left the room as I pushed it firmly from my mind.

I had a library to break into before the hunters caught up to us. Because I was a glutton for punishment.

I knocked on Teryl’s door. He opened it a split second later. “I think we figured it out. Are you packed and ready to go? The Library of Shadows is located outside of Edinburgh. We’ve got to get going.”

“We’re packed.” Jax stood behind me, both of our suitcases in hand. He must have packed them earlier, while I’d had my four hours of oblivion.

I turned back to Teryl. “Guess we’re set. How long of a drive to get to Edinburgh?”

“About three hours. Long enough to plan.” Teryl grinned at me.

I suspected he was having fun. More fun than the rest of us, at least.

“Guess we’d better get going.” I couldn’t drum up any enthusiasm. I could feel the chasm between Jax and me growing wider by the minute. Might as well add a little breaking and entering to the mix. I refrained from asking, “Are we having fun yet?” Barely.

MacLean was waiting with the car. Teryl and I loaded up as Jax checked us out.

Continuing my glutton for punishment theme, I asked Teryl, “How close are the hunters?”

“Falon is only a couple hours away. I would guess he’s flying.”

From the tone of his voice, I guessed Falon was the hunter we really wanted to avoid. “Is Falon worse than the others?”

The frown line on his forehead appeared. I was going to start using that as a warning sign. “It depends on what you mean by worse.”

“Don’t play games, Teryl. I’m not in the mood.”

He sighed. “Falon makes Luke seem sweet.”

I froze. My heart pounded out a painful rhythm. My voice came out a harsh whisper. “I doubt that very much.”

“He’s not sadistic. He’s completely psychotic. And he’s the most dedicated hunter the Council has. He takes every assignment personally. The others can be assholes, but Falon is crazy. And stubborn. He won’t give up until the Council calls him off. Or he finds you.”

Well, bully for me.

Jax emerged, and we loaded into the car. Jax and I in the back, and Teryl in the front, with MacLean driving. Road trips had never seemed so unappealing. Here I was, with three attractive men, and I wanted to jump out and run down the street in the opposite direction.

I leaned my head against the window instead.
Breath in, breath out
.

Teryl launched right into his idea. “Here’s a layout of the Library.” He turned and handed me a printout, tapping the paper. “You’re going to enter here. The fates are kept in different rooms according to the lines, and also your family. The shadow elf rooms are located in the lower levels.” He pointed to another spot on the sheet. “I’m guessing your family line will be located in one of three rooms on the second lower level. Possibly the first level, but I’d start with the second and you could work your way back up. I’ve highlighted them.”

“You guess?”

“The wards work on my abilities, too, Elle,” he said quietly. “I’m doing the best I can, but those wards prevent me from locating a specific object in the building. I’ll get you as close as I can, but you need to understand, there’s no guarantee with this one.”

Chastised, but still frustrated, I nodded. “Okay, sorry. Keep going.”

“You’ll be cloaked from the wards, but still visible, so you’ll need to rely on your shadowing.”

“To avoid the guards?”

MacLean glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “The guards vary depending on the day and shift, but because we’ll hit it tonight, you’ll be dealing mostly with gargoyles and shadow elves. A few oracles are always on staff, but they hire other lines for protection.”

“If I get caught, what would a gargoyle or shadow elf be able to do?”

I saw a muscle under MacLean’s eye twitch. My last hope sank.

“Gargoyles will crush you. Literally crush you. Shadow elves will shadow, and the ones they’ll have guarding the library will have strong shadowing abilities. They’ll try to sneak up on you and use a weapon of some sort.”

“Dirty Harry? The Mighty Sword? Big Bang for a gun, maybe?” I hung on to my humor for dear life.

Teryl snickered. He was the only one who seemed to appreciate my sense of humor.

“Tell me more about being a ward thief. Am I going to break out in ward marks with this little visit?”

Teryl stared straight ahead. “Possibly.”

Oh goody. Somehow, I doubted they made an ointment for ward marks.

“But they’ll be as small as the one you have now.”

That didn’t make me feel better. “My ability of ward thief. Which line is that from? Shadow or light?”

All three men were silent. I waited them out.

“None,” Teryl finally replied. “It’s a trait of Laurre.”

“And she is…?”

“A goddess.”

“Is it common?” I had a bad feeling I knew the answer.

“Not at all,” Teryl said, turning to look at me. I hated the sympathy I saw in his brown eyes. “The last known ward thief died about seventy years ago after unsuccessful attempts to continue the line.”

“What, they had a breeding program?”

“No, he was married with no children. But if the Council knew the extent of your abilities, I don’t know what they’d attempt. You’d be valuable to them.” His voice was quiet, and ominous.

I appreciated and cringed at his honesty all at the same time. And I didn’t want to hear any more.

I dropped my head back onto the seat. No more talking. It was time to take on the Library of Shadows. I studied the map, letting the layout sear into my mind’s eye. Knowing every corner, every hallway, every room, would increase my chances of a quick entry and exit.

And time was of the essence. Falon was on his way.

§

We arrived in Edinburgh in just over three hours. I couldn’t wait to get out and stretch my legs. The rental car was tiny, and I was ready to scream from the testosterone overload.

MacLean drove us to a small hotel on the outskirts of town. The charming, three-story, stone building looked more like a bed and breakfast. Jax insisted on carrying my bag, and I insisted on my own room. I wanted space and privacy for this last hour before darkness fell. I always had jitters before a theft. There was more riding on this one trip than any I’d attempted previously. I refused to think about getting caught. I refused to think about failing.

I would find my fate. I would get some answers. Then life could return to normal. Whatever normal meant for me.

I knew it was ridiculous to assume my life would suddenly and miraculously right itself. But if I gave up hope, I’d lose my nerve. Toward everything. I couldn’t afford that now.

Jax compromised with adjoining rooms. I’d take what I could get.

After we checked in, I decided to freshen up. I washed my face and changed clothes. Black jeans and a dark gray top. It would make it easier to blend in—for humans, at least. My watch said it was already ten o’clock. Almost show time.

I answered a knock at the door, and found Teryl on the other side. He offered me a sandwich. “I know you don’t like to eat much before you do this, but you need it.”

I accepted with a nod of thanks. Roast beef on white bread had never tasted so good. Teryl sat beside me on the small, uncomfortable couch.

“Think I can pull this off?” I asked between bites.

“Yeah, I think you can. What do you think?”

I finished the last bite of sandwich and brushed my hands on my legs. “I hope so. The alternative doesn’t appeal much to me. When are we heading out?”

“Ten minutes. Ready?”

No. Not at all. But I nodded anyway. It was now or never. And if we waited more than ten minutes, I knew I’d opt for never. This situation was so unknown and fraught with potential disaster, I could easily talk myself out of it. That was the last thing I wanted.

“Let’s go.” I stood, ignored my shaking knees, and walked toward the door.

Jax and MacLean were waiting in the lobby, both looking pensive. I could relate. I didn’t say a word, and we made the fifteen-minute journey in silence.

We parked two blocks away. Pedestrians and moderate nighttime traffic would hopefully prevent suspicion.

“What else do you need?”

I tried to smile at Teryl. “I’m good. Let’s get this over with. How long do I have?”

“If you’re not out in forty-five minutes, we’ll come in,” MacLean replied.

I frowned. “That’s a lot of time.”

“The guards do a sweep every hour. Forty-five minutes gives you plenty of time to search a few rooms and avoid them. They’re big rooms with a lot of books.” This from Jax.