A Shift in the Water (40 page)

The air elemental materialized out of the darkness moments later. “I went to Mara’s. Katerina had been there, along with air and earth.”

“And Mara?” Cade balled his hands into fists to keep from grabbing and shaking the older woman.

“Yes. Mara too. She has little time. The scents I gleaned from her were sickly and weak. There is a fire charm on her and it will kill her quickly if we cannot find her and break it.”

Cade saw red and dropped to his knees. Liam was at his side, grabbing his arm. “Get it together. She needs you.”

“Why do you even care?” Cade asked, his voice a hoarse growl. “She wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t for you and your goddamn lack of control. All of you. And if she hadn’t left, she’d be safe. With me. She wouldn’t be near death. You don’t want to touch me, Liam. If I didn’t think I needed you to help rescue her, I’d kick you out of the pack right now.”

Cade’s words registered on Liam like a slap to the face. “I know. I fucked up. When this is over, when we’ve—you’ve—got her back, I’ll leave. But for now, let me help. Please.”

Cade nodded tersely and looked back up at Eleanor. “How do we find her?”

The air elemental shook her head. “I don’t know that we can. They have a car and they’ve got an air elemental with them. They can mask their scent.”

His hand shook more than he wanted when he pulled the phone out of his pocket again. “Ollie? Do you have any contacts in the Sheriff’s department down here?”

The older wolf whined and lay down. His whole body trembled as the shift back to his human form overtook him. He wheezed for a few breaths. “Maybe. They all think I’m dead.” Ollie rummaged through the duffel and withdrew a pair of pants and a cell phone. “I’ll make some calls.”

Cade looked down at the phone in his hand. “And I’ll make one of my own.”

“Dog. I had a feeling you’d call.”

“Is she alive?”

“I have no desire to see her otherwise. Not as long as you’re willing to do what I say,” Katerina replied, her voice smooth with a sing-song quality.

“Put her on.” He gripped the phone so tightly he feared he’d break it, but he had to hear her voice.

“Manners.”

Cade growled. “Please.”

Quiet shuffling and a tiny moan followed. “Say hello, sister.”

“Cade?” Her voice was so quiet he wouldn’t have heard it with normal human hearing. The tremble in it, the weakness, it stabbed him in the heart.

“Oh God, Mara. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I promise—”

Her moan cut him off. “Don’t come,” she whispered. “I won’t live.”

“I am
not
abandoning you,” he growled. “Hold on. Please. Fight for me.”

Another moan, this one strangled, was followed by a dull thud and a rustle of fabric. Katerina came back on the line, her breathing calm unlike Mara’s strained wheezes. The tightness in Cade’s chest threatened to strangle him.  “What did you do to her?”

“It is merely a fire charm. One that suppresses her water. It will not seriously harm her, but it will keep her uncomfortable and powerless. Now—”

The wolf pulsing under his skin emitted a low growl, cutting her off. “She’s dying, bitch. Too much fire in her blood nearly killed her last week. Can’t you see it? You’re killing her. Right this second. Even you can’t be so heartless that you’d want your own blood dead.”

“Of course not. But I want her to see your death and I’m not above a little pain to make that happen.” Another thud, this one accompanied by Mara’s muffled sob. “Now, let’s talk about your death. You will come to a location of my choosing alone. My sweet sister will watch me take your life and then I will release the charm on her.”

“Where? When?”

“Dawn.”

“She won’t live that long,” Cade said. “Tell me where you are. I’ll meet you right now.”

“Not a chance. I know you have your dogs with you and I need time to ensure they will not be a problem. You will follow my instructions or you will never see Mara again. I have no qualms about keeping the charm on her permanently and taking her back to Arizona with me. She can live out her days in the desert.”

“That’s torture!” He hated this woman with everything he was. “How can you be so cruel to your own sister?”

“Oh I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because I grew up
without a mother
. No more talking now. I will call you at seven and tell you where to go. Not a moment sooner. If your pack of mongrels come anywhere near me, I won’t hesitate to kill them too.”

The line went dead.

Cade barely resisted the urge to throw the phone with all of his strength. It was his only connection to his mate and he needed it. “Four hours,” he said, his voice low and guttural.

“She may have four hours,” Eleanor said. “If she fights.”

“She’ll fight.” His mate wasn’t a woman who gave up. He had to believe that—even if he wasn’t certain they’d ever be together again.

Cade surveyed his wolves. Ollie ended his phone call. Liam stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Livie, Shawn, Christine, and Peter sat in wolf form, watching him. Eleanor leaned against a tree a few feet away. He’d give up his family, his very life, if Mara could live.

“I’m to come alone.”

“Like hell,” Liam growled.

Cade held up his hand. “She’s got air. She’ll smell you. And if she does, she’ll hurt Mara. She’s insane. She says she doesn’t want to kill Mara, but if she doesn’t release the fire charm, Mara’s dead. Katerina doesn’t believe me that Mara’s sick. So I’m going. And you’re not going with me. I can die. As long as Mara lives.”

“We can counteract her air,” Eleanor said with a smile. “I am quite old, Cade. I know a few tricks.”

Ollie cleared his throat. “I have help. Two officers. They don’t know about weres or elementals, but I have them looking for the van. There’s an APB out for Katerina and I gave them a description of Mara. Not her name. Too risky. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”

No one else dared to speak or even move. Cade teetered on the edge of control. Mara’s scent, still clinging him, was his only shred of sanity. His family. His mate. His own life. Of everything, he valued his life the least. There was no question he would die. But his family would help ensure Mara would live.

He cleared his throat, hoping his voice wouldn’t fail him. “What can we do?”

Mara was on her side, bound, gagged, and unable to move in a tiny motel bathtub. She couldn’t remember much about the van ride, or seeing the outside of the motel, but traffic whizzed by outside the room. They might be on Aurora, but it was such a long street, with so many seedy motels that they could be anywhere. And even if she knew, she didn’t have enough strength to escape. The plexiglass had been cool when she’d been shoved in here, a blessed relief for a few moments, but the heat from her feverish body had turned it into a sauna. She’d tried to kick at the faucet, only to have Katerina come in and melt the metal handle until it was unusable.

Bella came to check on her a few times, once even moistening a washcloth and holding it against Mara’s forehead. The air elemental didn’t speak, but something in her eyes was almost kind.

Mara’s thoughts turned to Cade. If only she’d had more time. She wished she’d told him that she was falling in love with him. It didn’t matter now. She felt worse than ever. Worse than that last terrible night before she’d freed him. She didn’t think she could speak even without the scarf tied between her teeth. Her tongue was plastered to the floor of her mouth, stuck. Her lips had cracked and bled. She was certain her eyelids were made of sandpaper for all the pain each blink brought her.

Hours had passed. Katerina, Jeremy, and Bella murmured quietly in the next room behind the closed door. They were probably plotting Cade’s death. She thought someone might have left the room once or twice, but she couldn’t be sure.

The opening of the door made her flinch. “How are you doing, sister?” Katerina asked. A warm hand touched her face, pulling open her eyelids. Everything was a blur. Black hair, hazel eyes, red lips.

Mara tried to moan, but all that came out was a croak. The gag was pulled down and she strained to loosen her tongue. “Aaahhh-errrr, aah-eerr,” she begged.
Water. Water.

Those black brows narrowed. “You do not look well.”

Mara could only manage the barest shake of her head and tried to ask for water again. Her sister stood, held a glass under the faucet, and the blessed sound of water reached Mara’s ears. But when she got a look at the glass, she wanted to cry. Two tablespoons at the most. The disappointed whimper that escaped her throat had Katerina chuckling.

“Do not think me stupid, sister. Did you expect me to give you a whole glass?” Water dribbled over Mara’s lips and tongue. She was so dehydrated that she couldn’t swallow. At least her tongue managed to lift slightly.

“More. Please,” she managed. “Dying.”

“I don’t disagree that you look terrible, but this will all be over in two hours. Listen to me. When we get to the park, you will sit quietly. If you try to run—not that I think you could manage it—I will torture your dog before I kill him.”

“You’ll . . . torture him . . . anyway,” Mara said hoarsely.

Katerina shook her head and her long black hair floated around her shoulders. Her voice was almost sad. “I miss Phoenix. I hate this fucking city. The rain, the constant cold. I’ve lost business, even lost friends. I want to end this. Now. I promise you, Mara. If you help me, I will make his death quick. When the sun comes up, I’ll have enough strength to incinerate him instantly. He’ll barely feel a thing.”

Her gentle hand stroked Mara’s hair. She was in so much pain that the comforting gesture shattered her. She leaned into the touch and dry sobs wracked her body. Cade was going to die and it was all Mara’s fault. Why had she left? Why hadn’t she put aside her fear of Liam and the pack and stayed?

“Shh, baby girl. It’ll all be okay. The dog will die, our mother will be avenged, and we can heal. You see that now, don’t you? We can heal together. When it’s done, I’ll take the charm off of you. Maybe you’ll forgive me enough to see that I did all of this for both of us. Everything.” Katerina rubbed Mara’s neck, working away the knots that had formed from lying on her side in a tiny tub for hours. “Will you help me, Mara?”

She glared up at her sister, the kind words and gentle massage not fooling her for a second. “Go to hell.”

The boy, Jeremy, came to haul her out of the bathtub. He threw her back into the black van and it bumped around along the road for so long that Mara was lulled to sleep—or perhaps unconsciousness—by the motion. When she woke, they had stopped and Katerina sat next to her with a cell phone to her ear.

“Dog, listen to me. Gas Works Park. Come alone and come now.”

“Let me talk to Mara.”

The phone was pressed to Mara’s ear. “Don’t come,” she whispered.

“Has she hurt you? Besides the charm?”

Mara’s cheek burned where Jeremy had slapped her. Her back ached. The blood that trickled from her split and cracked lips was a sour, coppery tang in her mouth. But Cade had to stay calm if there was any hope of him surviving. “No.”

“I’m on my way, honey. All I want is to see you one more time. To make sure you’re going to be okay. Hold on for me.”