.Chapter Seventeen .

Tessa was surprised by the ease of his confession. He'd avoided the topic for so long but now it seemed to come much easier to him. She was about to reply with her own, but his expression darkened. A glance out the window confirmed they were nearing the right area and the storm had gotten much worse.

She squeezed his hand and then released it so he could put both hands on the wheel. They were already on 358 and getting close to the causeway bridge.

Glancing down at her notes, she double checked the address and the printed map. "Wait, I think the house we're looking for is on the other side of the causeway. The water is a lot higher than I expected. I don"t know if we can make it across safely."

He didn"t reply but looked worried. Seemed like he was going to trust her as the navigator.

"There is a turnaround before the bridge. If we can make it that far we should be able to make the decision at that point." She checked the map again. Then squinted at the road when she could see it between swipes of the wipers. "I can"t see it very clearly. I think it should be right up here."

They were barely going ten miles an hour and it still felt far too fast.

"There! we can park here and maybe the wind will let up."

He pulled off the road slowly.

It was probably good that visibility was terrible. They were surrounded by the storm-tossed bay water. Even as high as the causeway was, it still splashed over the edges.

She looked all around the car. "If we can"t get across, then surely he can"t either, right?"

Even though she was hoping he would confirm with confidence he only replied with, "Probably not."

She sighed and sagged back into the seat. "But it"s not a sure thing. Are we at least sure that he"s behind us?"

"That will only matter if this is the only route onto the island."

She looked at the map again. "Shit, yeah. He could come in on Ocean Drive." She studied his face. He was pale but didn"t seem to be having a panic attack or anything. "Do you think we should cross it or not?"

Even though they were parked his hands were still locked on the steering wheel. "I"m not sure I can make an unbiased decision. It"s your call."

Damn, so this was going to be her call. Good, bad or other, she'd have to live with the results. "If he gets to his family before us, they are going to die, aren"t they?"

"Probably. Most vampires in his position attempt to turn their families and fail resulting in more victims."

"Most but not all?"

He closed his eyes. "Right. This one is more unpredictable. But if he"s smart, he might wait out the storm somewhere safe."

"We could be completely wrong. Father Time might still have him. Even if he gets away, he might not even come here. With the way the weather is and this close to the ocean… Any other vamp would probably shy off or lure the wife to a better place." All of that was true and yet, her instincts wouldn't let her consider the skinny odds.

"This is our best chance to catch him."

And if they missed him here, he'd be in the wind. "Shit." The responsibility sucked. It wasn"t fair. She didn"t want to make Deven face something scary or dangerous. But to say that out loud would be painful and unkind.

If it was just her, would she risk the bridge? Yeah, she probably would. But honestly, she probably wouldn"t be able to take the vampire down on her own.

"Tessa, I trust you completely."

She smiled up into his clear gold eyes. "You suck." She smacked his chest. "Maybe after we get through this mess, I"ll get even."

"Oh?"

"And show you that I can suck too."

He let out his breath in a long slow whoosh. And then shook his head with a chuckle.

"Not good enough." She twisted across the seat until she was half on his lap. With a hand on each side of his face she kissed him long enough to make the world and all its stupid storm disappear. After they broke apart, she snuggled in his arms for just a moment.

He petted his hand down her back. "Are you good at driving in bad weather?"

"I can manage but probably have less experience than you do."

"Okay then. Put your seatbelt on. This might get a bit rough."

In her mind she wondered if being seat belted in would be safer if they were swept off the bridge, but she didn"t say it out loud. Instead, she did a quick check to make sure her dagger was secured just in case she needed to cut them free.

"Let"s do this." He started up the car again and pulled back onto the road. As they started out across the open water the wind hit the side of the car over and over. The rain made visibility almost nonexistent. Still, he kept moving them forward. Making careful corrections with each crash of wind. She felt when he started to tense up. The longer they went the faster he pushed the car.

At times it was rocked so badly that it only caught traction with two wheels. Still faster and faster. And she couldn"t fault him at all. It was impossible to tell how long they"d been going or how far they had yet to go. When the wind shifted direction, his correction came a moment too late and the car"s passenger side scraped along the jersey barrier.

"Shit. Sorry. Are you okay?"

"I"m fine. Keep going. I think we"re almost there."

His cheek twitched with his gritted teeth. But he put his foot back into the gas and they sped forward. If you could call thirty miles an hour speeding... It certainly felt like it to her.

She caught sight of the road sign for Flour Bluff. "There! Keep going but stay right. Take that exit."

He barely made the ramp but then he slowed down again. "I need to pull over for a second."

"Just pull off here. I"ll take over now that the wind isn"t quite as bad."

Obediently he pulled over onto the roadside berm. The moment he had the car in park, he sagged back against the seat. "I want you to do me a favor."

"Anything at all. You name it."

"Forget all of this. Pretend I did that drive with nerves of steel."

She laughed. "I think you have the wrong idea, my darling husband. I think you were beyond amazing. I"m so impressed that I can"t wait to get you in the tub again and show you just how fucking proud I am of you."

He scooted to the middle of the bench seat.

She climbed up into his lap and laid another soul-shattering kiss on him, doing everything in her power to show him just how happy she was that he was who he was and that he was all hers. After only just a couple seconds he caught up to her and was kissing her back pretty passionately. She indulged for a while and then pulled back slowly.

"Tessa, I"m no match for you."

She met his glowing golden eyes and fluttered her lashes at him innocently. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Say it again. Call me your husband."

Ducking her head against his chest, she felt the blush creeping into her cheeks. Now, he was choosing now, to finally accept her. She bit back her wild emotions. This wasn't the right time to show him how she really felt. She needed to be cool about it. "Oh... Did you finally give up and accept that we got hitched?"

"I"m not willing to risk you trying to escape now that you"ve seen how flawed I am."

"Who do you think I am?" She trembled, waiting for his answer.

"My wife."

Yeah, she was lost. There was no way to play it cool with this man of hers. "You know it." She brushed her lips over his again. "Your wife, for now, forever because I fell in love with you. Not some hunky guy from a distance. I fell for the real you."

"The real me, huh?"

"Yeah. The first day I saw you in that stupid little convenience store. You and Quinn. But it was you who stayed behind and helped the old guy clean up his busted-up store. You didn"t need to do that. You"d already caught the bad guy and done your job. But you talked to him and really saw him and helped with something that needed done."

"Isn"t that a stretch?"

"That was before Quinn caught me and invited me to come to Division Eight. But I would have joined the devil himself if it meant I could be by your side." She pulled back a little while he was looking at her with a shocked expression. "I should probably confess something else too."

"Oh?"

"About the wedding chapel mission. I saw us in a vision before we went. I knew what was going to happen. Not all of it but enough that I could have stopped it and didn"t. I hope you"ll forgive me."

He grinned and dipped his face toward her until their foreheads rested together. "Seems like I"ve been caught by a scheming woman, haven't I?"

"Afraid so." She kissed him again, but just a brief burst of heat and then she pulled back and slipped over into the driver"s seat. "Let"s get this job done so we can go home and meet our new nieces."

"Sounds like a good plan. Maybe we can even start working toward giving them some cousins."

She put the car back in gear and pulled out. "I do like your ambitious nature. Who knows, maybe we"ve already got that started."

* * *

Deven forgot about the storm completely for at least a full minute. She was suggesting that she might be pregnant with his child. That he would be a father. His imagination failed him at trying to picture such an amazingly unlikely blessing.

Even watching Harley grow bigger with each day couldn"t force that image on Tessa"s lean sexy body.

Then there was the worry about how their magic would combine. Or if it was even possible. He didn"t know anything about angels. They might be considering a future they had no chance of claiming.

"You"re steaming up the car with your heavy thinking."

"Sorry."

"Don"t be. I"ve got some pretty important thoughts running around my head too. But for now, let"s just focus on the mission. Then maybe we can talk about where you plan to take your wife for our first date."

He was being ridiculous. The mission in front of them wasn"t something that they could face going into it halfhearted. He needed to get his shit together.

"We"re here."

He looked along the row of houses that were close enough to the street to be visible even through the heavy rain. It should still be too light for a young vampire to handle, but this one didn"t seem to think like others. Between the approaching dusk, the raging storm and the vamp"s ingenuity... They should assume he was here already or soon would be.

"We should go in and make sure the wife is safe."

He caught her hand before she could open her door. "Wait Tess, she"s good bait to catch him before he can kill anyone else."

She slowly turned her gaze to meet his. "I know what you"re saying makes sense, but we can"t forget that she is one of those anyone else people you"re talking about saving."

Of course, she was right. He didn"t let go of her hand. Maybe his hesitation had nothing to do with a reasonable strategy. And everything to do with the risk they"d be walking into.

"Deven..."

"I"m scared." He took a breath and continued. "Of the storm yes, but even more than that, I"m afraid of losing you. And I know you"re strong, probably even stronger than either of us can imagine."

She held his gaze for a long moment. Which gave him time to notice that her fingers were trembling within his grip. Then her other hand came up to cup his jaw. Her thumb traced down over the scar on his cheek.

"Tessa, I love you. I don"t think I can live without you so don"t even consider putting yourself in more danger than you can handle. I"m serious."

"Serious? No, you"re just an idiot." She brushed a quick kiss over his lips and then pulled back. "I"m going to stop you before you suggest something stupid like sacrificing you to save myself or if it gets scary, just run. I might be new to field work, but we are going in there as partners. I trust you and I know you trust me. So, let"s just get the job done." Another quick kiss. And then a third. "That one was a promise and a reminder of where we"ll be picking up after we finish the mission."

Her door opened and she slipped from his grasp and out into the storm. Just like that he was alone in the car. "Shit." He rushed to catch up to her and she crossed the street and walked straight up to the house"s front door.

They should have talked about strategy. Or had some kind of plan. Instead, he barely caught up to her as she was knocking on the door. He bit back his words and stood a little behind her and to the side. Slipping his hand under his jacket to grip his pistol... he waited.

She knocked again, louder.

The wind shifted and the rain pelted them with large heavy drops. Loud as the wind was, maybe they couldn"t even hear the knocking inside.

Another round of knocking. Then Tess grabbed the doorknob and turned the knob enough to crack the door open. "Hello! Is anyone home?"

"Announce that we"re FBI." He said this low enough to not carry inside. There was a benefit to having a woman do the announcing if it was to a woman alone inside. A man yelling it might have the wrong effect.

"Mrs. Bishop, I"m with the FBI. I"m coming inside." Tess took a step to the left to make room for him.

As he moved to close the door and shut out the wind, his hand caught on a rough patch of wood. Ah, hell... A glance confirmed his suspicion. The wood around the deadbolt was smashed. He snagged Tessa"s arm. When she glanced back, he pointed to the damage.

She sucked in a quiet gasp. Her back straightened. "Mrs. Bishop, are you home?"

Seconds ticked by on a cheap plastic wall clock. There was a subtle scent of blood. Not much. Not a murder scene, or even a vamp"s meal. More like an accidental scrape. And then an almost silent whimper.

And a woman, presumably Mrs. Bishop stepped partially into view from what seemed to be the kitchen doorway.

Tessa hesitated so he stepped up beside her. "Ma"am, we"re here to help. Are you alone in the house?"

Her head shook slightly, but she shifted the toddler in her arms before whispering, "It"s just us here."