The Curse Keepers Collection (28 page)

Feeling vindictive, I decided to make Collin sorry he’d passed this opportunity by. I put more care into my makeup than usual and took down the braid I’d worn since yesterday morning. My long hair rippled with waves and I fluffed it with my fingers.

When I walked out of the bathroom carrying my cosmetics bag, Claire gave a low whistle. “You sure look like a woman who doesn’t care what he thinks.” She took the bag from my hand and tucked it in the suitcase.

“Shut up.”

“I’m not complaining.”

I took a deep breath. I was about to spend more alone time with a man who was pissed at me. But then again, half the time we’d spent together had involved him being pissed at me so what was new?

I called Myra and told her I wouldn’t be in for a few days. I expected her to ask questions, but the only thing she asked was if I was okay. Unfortunately, Marlena wasn’t as understanding.

“What do you mean you won’t be in for a few days?”

“I’ve got something to take care of.”

“I’ve got something for you to take care of too. Your shift.”

“Marlena, please. You know I don’t ever ask for special favors. I always pull my weight. This is important.”

“This is the worst possible time, Ellie,” she sighed. “The number of tourists grows every day.”

“I’ll be back soon. I promise.” And hopefully, everything would be right again.

“You better or I can’t guarantee you’ll have a job.”

Great.

I grabbed my bag, none too eager to see Collin, but Claire held onto it, searching my eyes.

“He’s angry because he’s jealous.”

I released a wry laugh. “Collin Dailey? Jealous over me?”

She nodded.

“You’re crazy.”

“Look, you two are going away together, and who knows what will happen. I’m just saying if you want to play with a little fire, the kindling is already smoldering.”

“You suck at this metaphor stuff.”

“Shut up.” Claire pulled me into a hug. “Just be careful. With your heart. And everything else.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a squeeze. “I love you too.”

I broke away and walked out into the living room. Collin and Drew were locked in some manly display of cold stares. When the bedroom door opened, both men turned their attention toward me.

Collin stood, his mouth parted as he watched me walk out with my bag. I grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter and checked my wallet to make sure I still had nine hundred dollars. I spun around and gave him a grim smile. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Claire leaned into my ear. “That smoking kindling? It’s blazing.”

“Shut up,” I said, but damned if I didn’t hope that Claire was right.

C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN

Collin followed me to the truck and reached for my suitcase when I got to my door. To my surprise, he opened it for me. I stood in silence and shock.

“What?” he asked, irritated, but his earlier anger seemed to have eased.

“Opening doors, Collin? One would think I wasn’t a slut.”

He sighed, guilt straining his face. “I was out of line. What you do is your business.”

“That’s right. Just like what you do is yours. Now let’s go.”

He set my suitcase in the truck bed and climbed in, driving out of town, heading for the bridge to the mainland.

I should have been prepared for the dead animals, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be prepared for such a sight. Especially since twice the day before I’d felt the Manitou and the loss from the animals’ presence.

Collin must have felt it too. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

“What happens if we don’t close the gate?” I tried not to look at the side of the road. The sight of all the carcasses made me ill. “Will the spirits kill every living thing?”

He sighed. “No. They coexisted for thousands of years with animals and people. I think it’s because they’ve been locked away for so long. Like I told you, they need the energy. But I have to wonder if part of it is for show. To let the world know they are back.”

“That’s not scary at all.”

He shrugged. “If the gate doesn’t close, I think they would eventually settle down.”

“After they killed half the population of every living species.”

“You have to look at it from their perspective. They were jailed for hundreds of years for no reason. I’m not surprised they’re pissed.”

My mouth dropped open. “Are you seriously defending them?”

He sucked in a deep breath and stared at me for several seconds before turning back to the road. “No. But I am saying that everything and everyone has a reason for what they do. If someone hurts you, and you understand why they did it, hopefully that understanding makes the hurt easier to accept.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass why a wind god wants my Manitou. I’m still going to be cursing him when I’m stuck in hell for eternity.”

He cleared his throat. “They found a body in the botanical gardens this morning.”

I sat up, the blood rushing from my head. “What?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily think anything of it, but it was propped against the statue of Queen Elizabeth. A man, no visible signs of trauma. The police said he was from out of town.”

“Maybe it was a coincidence. A drunk who got locked in the gardens and died of a heart attack.”

“Ellie, he was frozen solid. In June.”

I took a deep breath, worried I would pass out.

“I think this was a sign. To you.”

“Why do you say that? Why me?”

“To scare you.” He cast a worried glance in my direction.

My heart thudded against my chest. I needed to tell Collin about the visits from the spirit messengers. Yesterday I didn’t trust Collin, and while he wasn’t completely forthcoming, now I had no reason not to trust him with this. Especially after the ceremony and the mark of protection he’d given me.

“Collin—”

His phone rang, and he scowled as he pulled it out of his pocket. He answered and listened for several seconds before responding. “Why do you think I have the map? Are you saying it’s gone?” He was silent, anger furrowing his brow. His free hand tightened on the steering wheel. “If he wants the Ricardo deal taken care of, he needs to back the fuck off and let me do it.” Another pause. “Ellie’s not any part of this. That was all a coincidence.” He shot a glance in my direction. “I don’t give a shit what Marino wants.”

My stomach tightened. Somehow with everything that happened yesterday afternoon and last night, I’d forgotten about Marino. How could I forget about Marino?

Collin ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket.

I took a deep breath and released it. “Marino still wants me.”

His face taut, Collin kept his eyes on the road. “He’s convinced you have some inside information and he wants it.
Shit
.” He ran a hand over his head.

“Is there any way to convince him that I don’t?”

“No.”

This was bad, very bad. “And if he finds me?”

“He won’t.” He shifted in his seat, staring straight ahead. “We need to talk about last night.”

More horror rushed through me, as if that were possible. Which part of last night was he referring to? I didn’t want to talk about any part of last night, but especially one particular part of last night. I was stuck in a moving truck with this man, and I was pretty sure he wanted to rehash my humiliation. “No, we don’t.”

“Ellie. I want to talk about your mark and how I strengthened it.”

“Oh.”
Is this better or worse than talking about how he rejected me?
I wasn’t sure.

“I meant to check it this morning.” He paused. “Did it get smeared or smudged?”

Something inside me coiled tight. Before he sounded angry about the fact I might have slept with Drew; now he sounded like he was asking me about the weather. “Not to worry, Collin,” I said in a snotty tone. “I told you I like it on top.”

His jawed tightened and he swallowed. “Ellie.”

“Too much information for you, Collin? Maybe this is my way of sharing so you’ll share more information with me. Lord knows you keep most of it to yourself.”

He looked as though he were counting to ten in his head. Finally, he said, “I simply want to know if your symbol is intact. If it’s not, I want to fix it before tonight.”

Weary of fighting, I rested my elbow on the window, placing my forehead in my hand. “When I checked it this morning, it looked fine.”

His hands twisted on the steering wheel, barely enough to notice. “I realized that I never told you how to care for it. That’s why I was there so early.”

“I looked it up on the Internet. I saw you could remove the dried stain after five to six hours with olive oil.”

“How did you reach it?”

I laughed, short and ugly. “You have to ask? I had help. And I was shirtless.”

“Ellie, I was out of line—”

“Shut up, Collin.” God, this was going to be a long couple of hours.

He was silent for several miles, before he started again. “When I was marked at eighteen, I had a ceremony, but it was only to cleanse my soul to receive the symbol. I had the actual tattoo done by a tattoo artist.”

“Is that what you did last night? Cleanse my soul?” What we’d done last night had sullied my soul more than cleansed it. I hoped the stupid mark took.

“Some, but not most of it. We have a power now, individually and together. I hoped using that power would increase the strength of the protection symbol.”

It did more than that. The entire ceremony had stirred some ancient power in my blood, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to confess that to Collin yet, especially when lusting after him seemed to go hand in hand with it. “So how will we know if it worked or not?”

“I guess if you get attacked and a spirit or god tries to take your Manitou.”

“Yay,” I mumbled. “I can’t wait.”

Collin turned toward me, his face serious. “I’ll be with you, Ellie.”

Something about his expression and the huskiness in his voice set my stomach aflutter. Damn him. “What? Are you going to be with me every minute of the day until this thing is done? And then what about Marino?”

“Marino won’t care about you after the Ricardo deal is done.”

“And how long will that take?”

“A few weeks. Maybe a month.”

“What the hell
is
the Ricardo deal?”

He shot me a glance. “The less you know about it the better.”

“Easy for you to say. If I’m being hunted by some criminal, I’d at least like to know what it is that I’m supposed to know.”

“Seriously, Ellie. In case Marino does find you somehow, the less you know the better. If he thinks you know
anything
, he’ll assume you’re lying about the rest.”

My anger exploded and I clenched my fists to keep from hitting him. “Why the hell didn’t you take me to Oscar? Why did you take me to Marino?”

“I told you to stay in the car!”

Tears burned my eyes, but I’d be damned if I’d cry over this.

Collin released a sigh. “Marino doesn’t know
anything
about you. You live a quiet life in Manteo. There’s no chance he’ll find you. You’ll be fine. I promise.”

There was no way he could guarantee that, and we both knew it. “Be careful what you promise, Collin. I don’t tolerate broken promises very well.”

Marino was a situation that couldn’t be fixed at this moment, so I decided to focus on a situation where I had some control, even if it was very little. I had to feel like I was in control of
something
. “When you placed your palm on my back, just before you drew my henna tattoo, you were infusing me with your power?”

“Yeah.”

“What about when you put my hand over your tattoo?”

“It was the same thing. You have power, Ellie, whether you realize it or not.”

I realized it now, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was more to the power infusions. Collin had said he thought I could send lesser spirits back to the spirit realm without his help. Where and how would I learn how to do that? Would the ability just come to me like the words of protection had last night? Did I really want to chance it to find out?

“And our power together?” I asked. What I’d felt with our palms touching, with our marks connected—it had been unlike anything I’d ever experienced.