The Spirit Tree (12 page)

“Tessa?”

“What?”

“You may not want me, but your spirit animal does. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have allowed you to do the mating dance with me.” He chuckled.

I wasn’t amused. I snapped my mouth closed and walked into the house, slamming the screen door behind me.

The nerve of that man. Since when did bodyguards try to pick fights with the people they guarded? My phone rang, distracting me. “Yeah?”

“Hello, Tessa?” A male voice came across the line.

“Speaking.”

“This is Dr. Hicks. I need to see you.”

“Are you serious?” I frowned as Bryson walked through the door. “Why?”

“I have some things that belong to you.”

“Yeah, I guess you do.” I turned my back to Bryson. “When?”

“I can be there in half an hour.”

“Sure, fine, whatever.”

The call disconnected. Determined to ignore Bryson, I walked into my bedroom and closed the door. I was acting like a child, but I didn’t care. Screw him and his mating dance.

“Tessa, open the door,” Bryson called from the kitchen.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the spigot. Water poured into the tub as I sat on the toilet lid. A bath sounded great, but I didn’t have time. Nor did I want to be naked and alone in the house with that jerk.

Bryson knocked on the bathroom door. “Tessa?”

“I’m in the tub.”

“Bullshit.” He opened the door and folded his arms across his chest. “Look, I’m sorry if I offended you, but I need to know what’s going on. Who called?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Dammit, Tessa, listen to me.” He turned the water off and knelt in front of me. “Like it or not, we may be stuck together for a long time. Not because I’m guarding you, but because we may be the last of our kind.”

“Are you seriously giving me the ‘We’re the last people on earth,’ argument?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

I hung my head. “Fine.”

“Fine what?” He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned my face toward his.

I wanted to yell or slap his hand away. Whatever anger I had melted away and left nothing except an empty hole in my chest. He must have seen it in my eyes, because he pulled me against his chest.

“Tell me what’s going on.” He brushed my hair back. I exhaled the tension from my shoulders and closed my eyes.

“Everything is changing, and I don’t like it.”

“Let me help you.”

“Help me what? You
are
part of the changes, remember?”

He slid his arms around me, pressing my head to his chest. I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t find the strength. When I relaxed against him, he ran his hand over my back. For the first time in days, my brain slowed and I relaxed.

“I’m so tired,” I said.

“Grief will do that to you.”

“I haven’t had time to grieve.”

“Maybe not outright, but your spirit grieves, Tessa.” He pulled back and looked at me.

I turned my face toward his and held my breath. Would he kiss me? Did I want him to? My heart raced as my eyes closed, just as Bryson released me and moved toward the door. His apparent rejection stung, and I didn’t want him to leave me—not yet.

“Marvin Hicks is on his way over,” I called after him.

He stiffened, drew a breath, and nodded. “I’ll answer the door when he arrives.” Bryson gave me a dirty look and left me alone in the bathroom.

I sat on the toilet lid, trying to decipher my emotions. I must have been more tangled up than I realized, because I came out of my skin when someone knocked on the front door. Two males exchanged words in the front room; from the sound of it, neither was happy.

I splashed water on my face and walked into the kitchen to find Marvin. Bryson stood, resting against the counter. His cold, impassive expression made me nervous.

“Thanks for seeing me.” Marvin smiled as I took a seat across from him.

“Do you have Charlie’s book?”

Marvin nodded and reached down into his case. Bryson unfolded his arms and took a step forward, ready to disarm the man if he did anything unfortunate. Marvin’s eyes went wide as he pulled the book from the case and set it on the table. “I didn’t know you and Bryson were friends?”

I handed the book to Bryson, ignoring Marvin’s question. “You can go now.”

“Tessa, we need to talk.” He pulled my amulet over his head and set it on the table.

“Where did you get that?” I snatched it up and handed it to Bryson.

“I found it in the yard after you shifted. I hoped it would protect me. It did for a while, but stopped.” He glanced between me and Bryson.

“Protect you from what? Yourself?” I sat back.

“I’m in serious trouble. I owe a debt to a conjurer. If it isn’t paid, he’ll kill me.” Dr. Hicks ran his hand through his hair. “I was hoping I could use the book to find a way to break the deal, but I can’t read the pages.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Bryson moved closer to the table. His energy ratcheted up several notches.

“Yes, and to explain.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t know you were Nunnehi until I read Charlie’s letter. Though, I’m not surprised.”

I didn’t care what he had to say. I’d liked this guy, trusted him, and he betrayed me. “What deal did you make?”

He frowned and shook his head. “It was made a long time ago.”

“Does this have anything to do with a guy in a white cowboy hat, trimmed in wolf fur?” I knew the answer before he spoke. I could see the fear in his eyes and feel the emotions rolling off him.

“How?” He shifted in his chair. “Did you have a vision?”

“No. He visited me in the hospital. Did he kill Charlie?”

Bryson set his hand on my shoulder.

“Maybe. I don’t know for sure.” Marvin glanced over my shoulder to Bryson. “Yes. He is responsible for Charlie’s death.”

I breathed deeply to control my emotions. “Why?”

“He wanted to take his power and gain influence over the tribe.” Marvin’s eyes darted around the kitchen. “He thought Charlie’s power would flow to him when he died, but the spell didn’t work. The power went someplace else.”

I eased my chair back. “Wouldn’t the power die with him?”

“Unless someone was able to steal it, or if Charlie had an heir.” Marvin met my eyes. “I didn’t know you were his granddaughter. As soon as I found out, I tried to break the deal.”

Bryson asked, “What deal?”

“I agreed to get the spell book in exchange for a position among the elders—Charlie’s position.”

I stood. “You sold my grandfather’s life in exchange for power?”

Marvin glanced around the room again. “No. No, you don’t understand. My wife was dying. I went to Charlie to help her, and he refused. I had no choice.”

“What do you want?” Bryson tucked me behind him.

“I want her to break the hold the conjurer has on me.” Marvin tried to see around Bryson. “When he finds me, he’ll kill me.”

“Because you returned the book?” I tried to step from behind Bryson, but he held me in place.

“I’ll break the bond, for a price.” Bryson reached behind him and pressed his hand to my side. The message was clear: stay behind him, out of sight.

“Anything. Name it.” Marvin’s chair scratched across the floor, as if he was going to rise. Bryson shook his head, and Marvin stilled.

Marvin tried to crane his neck to me. The longer I was out of his view, the more agitated he became. He fidgeted, and the chair scraped against the floor again. I pressed closer to Bryson and held as still as I could.

“Tell me his true name, his spirit name,” Bryson commanded.

Marvin made a strange noise, and I peeked at him. Bryson tightened his grip on me. Marvin pounded on the table and laughed. The sound that came from his mouth wasn’t his voice.

“Outside—now!” Bryson edged me toward the hall. I grabbed Charlie’s book and held it tightly against my chest.

“I want to see the girl.” Marvin’s voice sent a chill down my spine.

As soon as Bryson stepped in front of the hall, I turned and ran into Mae’s bedroom. I locked the door and pulled a pistol from under my great-grandmother’s pillow. I put my back against the wall and listened.

Sounds of a struggle drifted down the hall. I would put my money on Bryson winning the fight. Marvin cried out in pain in his own voice, not the strange one from moments before. The front door creaked on its hinges, followed by the screen door smacking against the side of the house. The doors slammed shut. I sank into a crouch below the window.

Time passed and everything remained quiet. I held my position and waited for Bryson. I needed to know what had happened before I dared leave the room. A flash of headlights shone through the window, and a car moved up the drive, bottoming out a few times. Tires squealed and the front door opened again.

Bryson called out, “Tessa?”

“Yeah?” I lowered the gun.

“Are you armed?” His voice sounded strange, but I couldn’t tell if pain or something else was the cause.

“Yeah.”

“Good girl. I’m going to take a bath and use some of those pretty little soaps of yours. You need to stay put until I tell you to come out. Understand?”

“Yes.” I didn’t need to understand to do as I was told.

“If I do anything unusual, shoot me.” The spigot came on and water poured into the tub.

“Bryson, what is going on?” I quieted and listened. He didn’t reply. A few minutes passed. I sat on the floor and removed the rubber bands from Charlie’s book, said a small prayer, and flipped through the pages.

Most of the spells had to do with healings, but one drew my attention. “Sending one on its way.” Cryptic, but it sounded right. Then again, it could mean sending someone anywhere, maybe death? The only reason Bryson would tell me to shoot him was if he lost control of his body. Marvin had channeled something, or someone. If the conjurer were in Bryson . . .

I read the lines to myself until I knew the simple rhyme. I tiptoed down the hall with the spell book in one hand and the gun in the other. Rose-scented steam poured from the bathroom as I opened the door. In my panic, I nearly dropped the book. The rhyme flowed through my memory and out my mouth:
“Someone has to move, they have to go. They will go in the dark, they will hide in the day. I send someone away, back to where they were. Through paths not walked, with eyes not seeing. I send someone away. This is written. This will be.”
I repeated the spell three times.

Bryson’s sigh drew my attention. He wore nothing except a grin in the milky water. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

My fingers tensed around the gun. “No.”

“You sent him away.” Bryson looked at the gun, and his grin faded.

“How do I know it worked?”

He hesitated too long and I raised the gun.

“Hold up. Your spirit animal is going to be pretty pissed off if you shoot me after we danced together.”

I lowered the gun. “Was he really inside you?”

Bryson shuddered and nodded. “I’m stronger than he is, so he couldn’t get control. Though he sure as hell tried. The soap helped, but your spell sent him away.”

I sat on the toilet lid and set the gun in the sink. “The soap?”

“It’s charmed. You didn’t know?” He rested a wet hand on my thigh.

“I’ve never felt so ignorant. I don’t know anything.” I wiped my eyes.

Bryson stepped from the tub and embraced me. It struck me as humorous that we were back where we’d started, before Marvin knocked on the door. Of course, Bryson hadn’t been dripping wet the first time. I pulled away, but he held me tighter, and for one heart-stopping moment, I thought he might kiss me.

I froze in place. Part of me wanted him to kiss me until I forgot my pain and loss, but another part of me resisted him. Aaron and I had started something promising. But how could it go further with so many secrets between us? If I cared about Aaron, why did it feel so natural to stand here with Bryson?

He nuzzled against my cheek and buried his face in my hair. The intimacy of those few precious moments tore down a wall I’d built the night Charlie died. I struggled to hold in the parts of myself that were threatening to spill out.

“Baby, let it go,” Bryson whispered.

I pulled away. “I can’t.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line and turned his head. I brushed my fingers across his jaw. A need welled up inside me—a need to take away his sad expression, to make him smile. “Kiss me.”

Bryson shook his head. “I would love to, but not now, not like this.” His eyes followed his hand as he brushed my hair from my face. “There will be no sadness when I kiss you for the first time.”

“Tessa, are you decent?” Bryson knocked and turned the knob. He slipped inside, hurrying to the bathroom.

I burrowed deeper into layers of quilts, unwilling to move from my cocoon. Living with a man, even on a temporary basis, had its share of strange moments. Could he pee any louder? I had a hard time sleeping the night before; my brain refused to turn off. When I managed to fall asleep, I woke with nightmares.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Bryson plopped down beside me.

“God, please tell me you’re not a morning person.” I peeked out from under the pillow, and he smiled. I groaned and covered my head.

“Mae called and said they’re coming home. They’ll be here soon. You might want to get out of bed and get some coffee in you.” He pulled the pillow from my head.

“What? It’s not safe.”

“Mae sounded resolute.” Bryson shrugged. “It sounded like you had a rough night. Want to talk about it?”

I grabbed for the pillow. “Which part? Do you mean the part where some mystic bad guy tried to possess you, or the part when you sent me to bed like a child?”

“I didn’t send you to bed.” Bryson chuckled.

“Whatever.”

“Tessa, I—”

My cell phone rang. “Hi, Aaron.”

Bryson left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Can I drop by? I need to bring you that thing we talked about,” Aaron said.

“You’re bringing it here?”

“I thought it best to do it there, in case you freak out again.”

“Yep, I’m here. Come on over.” I frowned at the phone.

Aaron was all business. No niceties. Just the facts, ma’am. I missed straightforward, uncomplicated men. I’d never emotionally invested myself in a relationship before. I never saw the need, or perhaps I’d never met someone worth the trouble. Aaron, and now Bryson, presented a danger because I reacted to them on an emotional level—but they were worth it.