The Curse Keepers Collection (81 page)

Fury blazing inside me, I shoved Collin’s chest, and he stumbled backward.

“
Excuse me?
Do you think he
owns
me, Collin Dailey? Do you think I’m some witless girl who needs a man to boss her around?
No one
tells me what to do. I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

His face darkened. “He’s going to get you killed, Ellie. He doesn’t know a goddamned thing.”

“Well, at least he’s trying, which is a hell of a lot more than you’re doing.”

Collin’s gaze dropped. “What happened to your leg?”

“A gift from Ukinim or his friend.”

He stiffened. “You’re bleeding.”

Blood was seeping through the gauze. “Gashes from claws will do that,” I said with a snotty tone.

Before I knew what he was doing, he grasped my right hand with his, pressing our marks together.

The sensation of every living creature in the vicinity filled me. I felt the heartbeats of the seventy-two humans by the sound. The flutter of mosquito wings in the parking lot below. Grass in the park, stretching upward.

Collin stared into my eyes and I felt the yearning in his heart. The ache that soaked every cell of his body.

A burning sensation engulfed my calf, and the gashes on my leg closed, the cells repairing and knitting together.

Collin pulled his hand from mine and dizziness swamped my head.

“What did you just do?” I gasped.

He looked down at my leg. “Testing a theory. It looks like it worked.” His jaw clenched. “But I might not be around to help you next time.” He pointed to David, getting angrier by the second. “And that fool sure as hell can’t do anything.”

Collin stormed down the stairs, and my mouth gaped open as I watched him go.

“What just happened?” David asked.

“He healed my leg.”

I opened the apartment door and went inside, David following behind me. I bent down and ripped the gauze off my leg, still amazed. There was no sign of the injury. Not even a scar.

“He’s right, you know.”

My anger rekindled and I spun around. “About what?”

“I might get you killed.”

I shook my head and sat down. “I don’t expect you to know everything, David. Any information is better than none.”

“I have something new on Ukinim.”

I froze. “
You do?
”

David sat on the sofa beside me. “I found a text that lists him by name. It says he was a warrior turned into a badger.”

“Yes! That’s what he told me.” I stood up and went into the kitchen.

He turned to watch me. “You had a
conversation
with a demon?”

“Once I realized it was a trap, I figured I might as well get something out of it.” I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge, handing one to David as I sunk back into the sofa cushions.

He twisted the cap off his bottle. “What else did you find out?”

I looked up. “Well, there are two of them. That caught me by surprise.”

“The text said the second one’s his wife. They were cursed together.”

“His wife? How did that happen?”

“I copied the text into an e-mail. Hold on a second.” David grabbed his phone out of his pocket, pulled up the e-mail, and scowled, enlarging the text. “The story says that Ukinim was the greatest warrior in all the tribes. He was boastful and claimed he could beat Okeus in a wrestling match. One evening at twilight, Okeus walked into the camp and accepted Ukinim’s challenge, but Okeus insisted on setting the rules. If Ukinim won, he could have everything he wanted—power and wealth. But if Okeus won, Ukinim would be banished; he would spend the rest of his life ostracized from his people. Ukinim accepted. If neither of them won, they would walk away with nothing. Their match would be the next night.

“Word spread far and wide, and many people arrived to see the great Okeus take on the warrior Ukinim. They brought offerings to the god of war, piling them so high they rose into the heavens, attracting the attention of Ahone himself.

“At twilight, Okeus walked into camp. Ukinim’s wife, Ilena, heard the cheers of the
nuppin
and became furious that her people wanted the god to beat her husband. The contest lasted for hours. The people grew weary, but Ukinim’s strength never wavered and neither did Okeus’s. The sun had begun to rise, and yet the warrior and the god still fought.

“Ilena believed her husband deserved to win. What other
nuppin
had dared to challenge Okeus? What other
nuppin
could stand against him for so long? So she approached the edge of the circle where the warrior and the god were fighting and tossed a handful of dirt into the face of the god, temporarily blinding him. Ukinim took his chance and pinned the god, winning the challenge. Ukinim strutted around the circle, boasting that he was better than the gods.

“Okeus was furious that Ukinim had dared to claim he was his better and that the man had won by cheating. The ground shook and the
nuppin
screamed in terror. Ukinim swore he didn’t know his wife had cheated, but Okeus didn’t care. He banned them both from the
nuppin
and changed them into badgers, forced to live underground except for one day out of the year.”

I rested my head against the cushions of the couch, completely exhausted. “Does it say how we can defeat them?”

“From what I’ve read, a god can kill them.”

“Oh, good. I’ll just ask my good friend Okeus to get rid of them for me. When he springs his surprise.”

He grimaced. “Don’t be so cheeky.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes.” He hesitated. “But it’s vague.”

“What is it?”

“It says that a conjurer with strong power can defeat them and send them to Popogusso.”

I sat up. “A conjurer?”

“Conjurers were real members of the Algonquian tribes and were said to have magical powers. They had a connection to the spiritual world that the
nuppin
and the priests, the other spiritual leaders, lacked.”

My chest tingled with excitement. “So where do we find a conjurer?”

A hint of a smile appeared as he leaned closer, his face inches from mine. “Ellie,
you’re
the conjurer,” he whispered.

“What?” I leaned back. “Does it say how I can defeat them?”

“No.”

“So we’re no closer than we were.”

“Not true. Collin told you it took both of you to banish them. This is singular. I think you can do it on your own.”

A huge weight fell off my shoulders. “David . . . this changes everything. How?”

“I don’t know. But if it’s out there, we’ll find it. I promise you that.”

I reached around his neck and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you.”

David pulled back and stared into my eyes, his smile fading. “But next time, don’t run out there on your own. If something happens to you, we’ll all be lost. We’re partners now, remember?”

That was still going to take some getting used to.

C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN

When David and I showed up at the inn the next morning, Myra gave me a long hug and told me not to scare her like that again. While I hoped I wouldn’t, I also didn’t offer any promises.

After I helped with breakfast, I told Becky I wouldn’t be able to work with her today.

“Don’t worry about it.” A wicked smile lit up her face as she leaned to the side to watch David talk to his colleagues. “Myra already made arrangements for someone else to help me today.”

“She did?”

The side door opened and Becky laughed. “Talk about perfect timing.”

I turned to see who was walking through the door. “
Claire?
”

She laughed. “Don’t sound so happy to see me.”

“Why aren’t you working at the Tranquil Inn today?”

“It’s my day off. Isn’t that weird? I never get Thursdays off, but my boss called me last night and told me I could take the day off to get ready for my wedding. With pay, even. How weird that Myra asked for my help on the same day.”

Another eerie coincidence. “If you got the day off to work on your wedding, what are you doing here?”

She shrugged, looking over my shoulder. “That’s really him.”

“Him, who?”

Her eyes widened in exasperation. “Hot British Professor him. Who else?”

“I already told you he was here.”

“I wanted to meet him up close and personal for myself.” She pushed past me and walked up to David, extending her hand. “Hello, I’m Claire, Ellie’s best friend. I saw you in Chapel Hill, but we weren’t introduced, Dr. Preston.”

He looked down at her, amusement dancing in his eyes, and shook her hand. “David, please. And we weren’t introduced because I was about to call campus security on Ellie.”

Steven was sitting at the dining room table eating his breakfast, but he glanced up at us. “Ellie came to see you in Chapel Hill?”

“Yes,” David said. “It’s a long story that I’ll share with you later.”

Claire couldn’t stop grinning. “So you’re taking her to see the Lost Colony.”

He winked. “It’s not lost anymore.”

Claire turned toward me. “I like him. You can keep him.”

I groaned and grabbed her arm, dragging her toward the kitchen. “Thank you. I feel so much better to have your blessing.”

“It was nice to officially meet you, Claire, Ellie’s best friend,” David called after us.

“I’m serious,” Claire said when we reached the butler’s pantry. “I like this guy.”

“You like his accent and his build.”

“Well . . . that too.”

I laughed and put a dirty plate into the dishwasher. “This is a working relationship. No flirting. No fooling around.”

“But fooling around is the best part of a relationship.”

My eyes widened in frustration. “There is no relationship. There is no us. This is a professional partnership.”

“Uh-huh.”

I shook my head and stared out the window over the sink. “I don’t want to royally screw this up. If we keep it professional, it will be easier for us to work together.”

“Uh-huh.” She sounded far from convinced.

“Stop trying to force something that isn’t there.”

“Hello, Ellie! He’s hot! And that accent!”

“Collin was hot too.”

“Collin doesn’t count.”

“He most certainly does. I don’t trust my judgment when it comes to men.”

“Then trust mine. Do not let Dr. David Preston get away. This man is perfect for you.”

I scowled. “You don’t even know him.”

“I see the way he lights up when he talks about you. And the way you get flustered when I bring up the idea of him getting in your panties.”

“Umm . . . ” David was standing in the doorway, his face flushing. “Ellie, I’m ready to go when you are.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “‘I’ll be ready in a minute.” I waited a moment. “Is he gone?” I asked in a whisper.

Claire laughed. “Yep.”

I opened my eyes and smacked her arm. “Thanks a lot! You knew he was there, didn’t you.”

A wicked smile lit up her eyes. “It should be an interesting day now.”

I dried off my hands. “Just for that, you can clean up the kitchen on your own.”

David was waiting in the dining room, and he didn’t say a word as we got into his car. The silence was awkward, so I tried to break the tension. “I meant to tell you that the dream catcher worked.”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

“Not a single dream. I didn’t even see the animals this time. I woke up when I heard the woman’s screams.”

“That’s fantastic news. You’ll have to sleep with it every night. And tonight, I insist on sleeping on your sofa.”

“David—”

He parked his car in the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site lot and held up his hand. “Nope. You agreed to listen to my suggestions and concerns. I’m not trying to hover over you, although I have to admit that I’m protective of the people I care about. But if we’re going to be partners, we need to watch out for each other. I want to keep an eye on you . . . and at the risk of emasculating myself, I’d feel better if you were there to protect me if I need it too.”

There was no way I could refuse him if he truly felt safer with me. And besides, his argument made sense. If Collin had a problem with us working together, it stood to reason that the spirits and gods wouldn’t like it either. I couldn’t count on the marks protecting David at the inn. I suspected he was a lot like me. If he heard someone screaming for help in the middle of the night, he would be the first person out the door. “Okay.”