Chapter 38

One of the best things about me is that I learn from my mistakes. Time to seize the day – or night – for all it was worth. I pressed my lips to Connor’s and let my tongue caress his. He met me passion for passion, and I melted into him. The warmth was followed by a fire that whipped through my veins. I wove my hands into his hair and his hands slid under the waist of my T-shirt. No doubt we’d have moved on to more horizontal manoeuvres if Lee hadn’t cleared his throat and Fluffy hadn’t barked.

I didn’t speak Dog, but I was pretty sure Fluffy’s tone translated to ‘Get a room!’. I’d love to buddy, I thought. I’d love to.

Connor drew back reluctantly. ‘Where’s your vest?’ he asked, his fingers pointedly caressing the bare skin of my midriff.

‘Um, I forgot it.’ I shrugged; Connor sighed; Fluffy barked; Lee was grinning. My skin warmed and I tried to change the subject. ‘Right, what about that witch?’ I asked as I smoothed down my clothing. ‘Has he perished?’

‘Nope. He’s still alive,’ Lee confirmed.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I guessed it was good, but Jayden was a powerful witch and if he held a grudge then tomorrow Bunny would be keeping one eye open when she slept. And Bunny really needed a good sleep.

Connor’s hand rested on the small of my back as we walked carefully out of the stacks of lumber and back to where the witch lay. Jayden Donaldson was sprawled out, a big pool of blood spreading deliciously from his shoulder. My stomach growled – I should have grabbed a cup of blood for me, too. I could see his chest rising and falling so I knew he wasn’t dead, but he had to be in bad shape.

In the end, my conscience wouldn’t let me do anything other than call the ambulance. Besides, I still needed questions answered and Donaldson was my last resort. Why had he said Aoife wasn’t his daughter? Was it because Aoife had snitched on him, or was he really not her biological father?

Connor sent Lee for my emergency kit from the SUV. I had first-aid supplies in there as well as the magic-cancelling cuffs. We needed both.

When Lee returned, he passed the bag to me and I pulled out the cuffs. By cuffing Jayden on one arm, I stopped him using his magic but didn’t hurt him more. Connor applied pressure to the gunshot wound, which was high on the witch’s shoulder. It didn’t look like I’d hit anything vital, but no doubt the bullet had broken some bone – I had bear rounds in my gun, for God’s sake. The back of the wound was ugly where the bullet had expanded, and I shuddered and felt vaguely ill. I’d never thought I’d have to shoot someone; the main reason I carried the gun was because of the beast.

I watched Connor saving the life of a man who might have killed him. How had I ever doubted him? Fated mates or not, he’d never force me into anything I didn’t want.

I started to shiver. The cold that had seeped into my bones since Aoife had flown into me was really starting to get to me. I examined my fingers and felt a surge of panic when I saw that my fingertips had turned blue. ‘Umm, Connor?’ I called. He looked up. ‘A banshee flew through me and I feel kind of cold.’

He blanched, shot up from Donaldson and moved to me in a blink. ‘How long ago?’ he asked urgently.

‘Um, a few hours, I guess.’

Connor’s eyes flicked to the bleeding man on the floor before he gave a minute shake of his head. ‘Margrave!’ he barked.

‘I’m on it!’ Margrave replied.

I expected him to run to the break room as I had, but instead he ran out of the warehouse and into the woods. ‘You’re scaring me,’ I admitted in a small voice.

‘It’s okay,’ Connor said soothingly but his eyes told me he was lying. ‘We need to get some blood in you. Now.’

It felt like hours before Lee returned, though it must have only been a minute or two. He was carrying a deer. It was alive and calm; he must have entranced it somehow.

‘You need to drink from something living,’ Connor explained.

I recoiled. I’d only done that once and I’d nearly lost myself in the process.

‘I’ll be here,’ he promised, ‘but you have to do it. That your lips and fingers are only turning blue now is a blessing. I think your … uniqueness has saved you again. You don’t need to kill the deer but you do need to drink from something with hot blood. Now.’ I hesitated. ‘Now!’ he snapped.

I moved to the deer before I could talk myself out of it. For once, my fangs had turned up when they were needed. ‘I’m so sorry, Bambi,’ I said then sank my fangs into her docile neck and drank. The blood tasted rather like mouldy cheese – and I despise mouldy cheese – but I battled through and took a bunch of good slurps.

Connor was holding my hand, looking at my fingers. ‘A little more,’ he instructed when I paused. Grimacing, I obeyed. ‘You can stop now,’ he said finally, sounding relieved.

I stepped hastily away from the deer. Margrave set it down and it bolted away. ‘She’ll be okay, right?’ I asked anxiously.

‘Unless another hunter gets her,’ Lee said casually and I glared at him.

‘How do you feel?’ Connor asked.

‘Fine. Normal.’ I paused. ‘Warm.’

‘Thank God. We got it in time.’

Lee was looking at me with new respect. ‘Surviving hours after a banshee possession is hardcore.’

‘She didn’t possess me, she … floated through me.’

‘One and the same,’ he grunted.

I looked between the men. ‘So banshees can kill vamps?’

‘Not something we advertise,’ Connor said drily.

As I mimed zipping my lips, the scent of smoke drifted in on the air. ‘Um, Connor? There’s something else I should bring up. Your truck is on fire. I forgot to mention it in the middle of everything else.’

‘What?’

‘I think Jayden torched it. It was burning in the car park when I arrived.’

Connor narrowed his eyes at the unconscious man before sighing. ‘Guess it’s time for a new truck.’

‘Well, that one is certainly done for. I’ll have to give you a ride home for once.’

He laughed. ‘Yeah.’

We could hear sirens in the distance. ‘Lee, prop open that door so they can find us,’ Connor ordered.

His second leapt up, grabbed a board and wedged open the main warehouse door. The fire from Connor’s truck was enough to send eerie flickering shadows inside. The paramedics arrived shortly after that with a stretcher and soon had the unconscious witch on the way to the hospital with strict instructions to cuff him to his bed.

Now that things were calm, I sent a message to Gunnar to let him know what had happened. Connor and Lee locked down the site; Lee was staying until a fire engine came to put out the truck fire. It was not a good idea to leave it unattended in the woods.

I packed Connor into the Nomo SUV. ‘Where to?’ I asked.

‘I’ll direct you.’

We drove mostly in silence, bar Connor’s occasional direction. I’d assumed that he’d want to go home, but it quickly transpired that we were going back to the Nomo’s office. ‘Smart arse,’ I muttered when I figured it out.

He reached out and laced his fingers through mine, resting them on the gear stick. ‘I don’t want to leave you now,’ he admitted softly. I didn’t ask if that was for him or for me; maybe it was for both of us.

I parked up and we went inside. Gunnar was pacing up and down the reception area. ‘Bunny!’ He pulled me into his arms before pushing me back so he could inspect me for damage.

‘I’m okay,’ I reassured him.

‘You should have called me!’ he barked.

I swallowed hard. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

That took the wind right out of his sails. ‘Okay, well, don’t let it happen again,’ he said gruffly before pulling me in for an extra hug, squeezing me with his not-insignificant strength. ‘Gunnar,’ I wheezed. ‘I need to breathe!’

He laughed. ‘No, you don’t. You’re a vampire!’

Uh-huh. One day soon I would have to come clean about my oddities, but not today. I was emotionally drained and, to be honest, I was worried that if Gunnar knew that I might not be quite as undead as we’d thought, he might not be so willing to let me barrel head first into danger.

‘Let’s get you a hot drink.’ He bustled in the backroom to make a cup of tea for me and coffee for him and Connor.

Finally we settled into the chairs in Gunnar’s office. ‘Talk me through it,’ he ordered softly, so I did. I said that I’d set Donaldson on fire but omitted the ‘how’ because I hadn’t yet found the right time to confess to Connor about my internal flames.

At one point, Connor reached for my hand again; it was comforting but my tummy squirmed with guilt that I was still hiding something from him. I’d had the perfect opportunity to confess but I hadn’t – and I knew why. Connor seemed to really like me but I was scared that if he knew what I could do he’d think I was a freak. I’d put up with being thought of as a freak my whole life; Portlock was the first place where I was normal – but even here I had to go and be different.

Gunnar rubbed his beard. ‘Do you think Jayden Donaldson is our guy? Did he kill Aoife?’ I shook my head. ‘He did try to kill the three of you,’ he pointed out.

‘Yeah.’ Connor’s jaw was working. ‘I want him prosecuted for that.’

‘He is guilty of assault, attempted kidnapping and the attempted murder of a police officer,’ I agreed. ‘But I don’t think he’s got anything to do with the barrier gems, and I’m pretty sure he’s clean of his daughter’s murder. He was totally shocked when I told him Aoife was dead. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t put her up to the fire-gem theft, but I can’t see any motive for killing her. He was angry with her and he said she’d stolen something from him. He also said she wasn’t his daughter, which will be easy to corroborate with DNA. He left plenty of it behind, and we have Aoife’s already.’

‘It should be easy enough to check for the gems where Donaldson is living. We need to find out the address and we can clear that one quick,’ Gunnar said.

‘I have it. He was working under the table for us, but he still had to give us an address,’ Connor said. ‘I’ll get someone to co-sign the warrant with me and you can search it.’

Gunnar looked satisfied. ‘Sounds good to me, councillor.’

Connor scrolled through his phone and texted someone. It rang a few seconds later and I followed him over to my desk. When I let Shadow out of his crate he yelled at me with tiny kitty squeaks, but he quickly forgave me, pressing against my legs and purring when I picked him up.

‘Sorry, little fellow. You’re too little to go on the big jobs.’ I remembered his fierce bravery when he’d faced the beast and sent it packing. ‘Especially as I’m not quite sure what you are,’ I muttered.

He was a freak like me; no wonder I loved the little dude. I lay my cheek against his silky fur and set him back on the floor as Connor finished his call.

‘Patkotak said he’d meet us at the council chambers in ten.’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘I’ll run the animals home, feed them and meet you there,’

He nodded then, with a lingering gaze full of promise, he walked out.