Authors: Crystal Jordan
Embrace the Night (22 page)
“Okay.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth, came back for another quick taste, and then pulled away with a rueful smile and a shake of his head. “Be back in a minute.”
“Thanks.”
The last thing Merek wanted was to go rooting around in Chloe's bespelled bottomless suitcase looking for clothes. He'd rather keep her naked, wrapped in his arms, while he got the only few hours of sleep he was likely to get for some time. His eyes burned with fatigue, and he shut his mind off from the fact that she'd tried to pull away from him in the shower.
Why it pissed him off so badly that she would want to put any distance between them, he didn't want to contemplate. He was too fucking tired to contemplate anything right now. He just wanted a bed and Chloe to share it with him. Shucking his towel and leaving it wherever it happened to fall, he jerked on a pair of sweats and a shirt from his duffle.
“Damn it, Ophelia, I don't want to hurt you. Get out of the way.”
A deep snarl that he wasn't sure was from Alex or the cat sounded clearly through the door joining the two rooms. Merek eased it open to see a fully dressed and alert Alex facing down a pissed off cat who stood, back arched and hair on end, directly in front of the exit.
Bloody scratches were already healing themselves on Alex's hands and arms, so he'd been tangling with the familiar for at least a few minutes, if not longer.
“Going somewhere?” Merek kept his voice mild, his arms crossed over his chest.
The teen inhaled sharply, surprise flaring in his pale eyes as he whipped around. Then his jaw flexed, and he pulled his backpack over his shoulders. “Yes.”
Merek shook his head. “You can't do that.”
“What the hell do you care?” Frustrated rage flashed across the teen's normally impassive face. “This way you can keep Chloe safe. I'm a liability.”
Merek pushed away from the doorjamb and crossed to plant himself directly in front of the wolf. “We all have things about us that make us liabilities. We learn to work with our limitations.”
Shaking his head hard, Alex sent a fulminating glare toward Ophelia. “I won't be responsible for anotherâ”
“It wasn't your fault your mother died, any more than it would be your fault if Smith's men killed Chloe.” No, that was a responsibility that would fall squarely on Merek's shoulders if he failed to keep her safe.
“If you guys had spent a few more minutes in the shower, I'd have been history.” A huff of breath that sounded close to a sob emerged. “Damn cat.”
He closed his hand tightly over Alex's shoulder. “You can't do that to Chloe. She would never forgive herself. Ever.” Merek knew enough about her now to know how true that was. “She'd tear off and go searching for you herself, and Smith's men would catch up to her in under a day.”
Alex shut his eyes, but not before a sheen of moisture showed. “I can't stay.”
“Can you honestly do that to her? Just walk away and never look back?” For a moment, the young man's future wavered before Merek's eyes, superimposing over the boy before him. A tall man, smiling down at a woman holding a wolf cub in her arms. Then another flash of the same man, sitting alone in a darkened room, bitterness poisoning his expression. Different possibilities? Different events in the same time line? The images disintegrated before Merek could tell.
Those green eyes locked on his face. “Can
you?
Isn't that what you're going to do if Luca ever closes the case and we get out of this?”
you?
Isn't that what you're going to do if Luca ever closes the case and we get out of this?”
“I'm not the kind of guy who's into hit it and quit it with his women. That's not my style. I don't play those kinds of games.” But that wasn't the whole story. He'd gone into each of his relationships since his wife's death knowing when it would end and how. His heart had never been involved, and though he'd cared for the women, he'd known there would be no deeper demand on his time or emotions than he'd already foreseen.
With Chloe, everything was different.
Merek sighed and dropped his hand from the kid's shoulder. What the hell did you say to a kid who'd been dragged away from his life, had a bullet dug out of him, didn't trust men for shit because his dad was an asshole, and said asshole dad had disappeared without a backward glance? Merek had no fucking clue. He didn't even think there
was
a right thing to say. “Look, I know your dad bailed on you in every possible way after your mom died, butâ”
was
a right thing to say. “Look, I know your dad bailed on you in every possible way after your mom died, butâ”
Alex cut him off with a snort.
“
But
if I was really looking to dick someone around or to score an easy lay, this isn't how I'd do it.”
But
if I was really looking to dick someone around or to score an easy lay, this isn't how I'd do it.”
“Yeah, I guess not.” Alex shoved a hand through his dark hair and looked away.
Merek sighed and waited for those green eyes to meet his again, too damn exhausted to care if he put his foot in this one. “I get why you don't want to trust me, but I'm not your father. I'm in this until the end. I'm not going to bail on you when the brown stuff splatters. I haven't yet, and I won't.”
“It's not just
you
or my dad or anyone else, it's . . . shit.” The wolf sniffed and scrubbed at his bloodshot eyes, grief and guilt ripping through the façade of indifference. “I was completely useless back there. I couldn't help either of you, even if I hadn't been shot. Not against a full-grown vampire or Fae or . . . hell, not even against another wolf.” His hands lifted, flexed until the muscles in his forearms stood out. “Some of it is instinct, you know? Just being a wolf. But I
know
computers, electronics. Aside from the instincts, I don't know shit about guns or spells or fighting.”
you
or my dad or anyone else, it's . . . shit.” The wolf sniffed and scrubbed at his bloodshot eyes, grief and guilt ripping through the façade of indifference. “I was completely useless back there. I couldn't help either of you, even if I hadn't been shot. Not against a full-grown vampire or Fae or . . . hell, not even against another wolf.” His hands lifted, flexed until the muscles in his forearms stood out. “Some of it is instinct, you know? Just being a wolf. But I
know
computers, electronics. Aside from the instincts, I don't know shit about guns or spells or fighting.”
“I can teach you to defend yourself. Even against spells, even though you can't cast them like I can.” He gestured to the door. “If
you
don't bail on
us,
that is. I can help you hone those wolf instincts even more.”
you
don't bail on
us,
that is. I can help you hone those wolf instincts even more.”
Wariness and old pain flashed in the boy's eyes, but it wrestled with the desire to believe. “Why would you do that?”
Nothing but sheer honesty was going to keep this from turning into a total clusterfuck that Chloe would never forgive him for, so Merek laid it out there. “Because I can. Because I'll take any edge I can with protecting your godmother. Because I like you, and you need to know how to save yourself when the time comes. And, yeah, you might have been someone who was just along for the ride because I wanted to keep an eye on Chloe and she wasn't going anywhere without you, but you're a good person. There aren't a lot of those in the world.”
“Don't I know it.” Alex rubbed his side where the bullet had struck, his ancient, weary eyes meeting Merek's. They searched his face for a long time, looking for gods knew what, but Merek met his gaze without flinching.
Finally, his face guarded by his usual inscrutable mask, Alex nodded. “I'll stay.”
10
M
erek kept them hopping from one plane to another for three days straight, bouncing from one coast to the other, sleeping in airport hotels, only to drag them out of bed to do it all over again. The pace he set for them was grueling, but he had to make sure Gregor wasn't behind them. Or any of Smith's other operatives. Merek wanted to be as sure as he could that they could drop off the map again, so he pushed them all to the breaking point. Neither Chloe nor Alex said a word of complaint, but their expressions took on a perpetual look of bleak exhaustion. When Merek glanced in the mirror, he saw the haggard strain on his own face.
erek kept them hopping from one plane to another for three days straight, bouncing from one coast to the other, sleeping in airport hotels, only to drag them out of bed to do it all over again. The pace he set for them was grueling, but he had to make sure Gregor wasn't behind them. Or any of Smith's other operatives. Merek wanted to be as sure as he could that they could drop off the map again, so he pushed them all to the breaking point. Neither Chloe nor Alex said a word of complaint, but their expressions took on a perpetual look of bleak exhaustion. When Merek glanced in the mirror, he saw the haggard strain on his own face.
Even Ophelia went where she was told, which was a first. They'd had to abandon the cat carrier the day they left Seattle because she just wasn't having it. He'd even put some hexes on the thing to try to keep her temporarily contained, but Millie was rightâthe cat was a little Houdini. The spells he'd used had worked at locking down hardened Magickal criminals, but not Chloe's familiar.
Traveling with an animal on an airplane would have been a dead giveaway, but the cat had sniffed at him and gone transparent as soon as he'd voiced the thought. Not even a ripple in the air around her showed where she passed. The damn familiar was better at invisibility spells than he was. He couldn't even sense her with his magic, nor could Alex sniff her out. How she got through or around airport security and stayed clear of the thousands of feet ready to step on her, he never knew. He didn't want to know how she managed without a litter box.
He kept a sharp eye on Alex to make sure the boy didn't try to give them the slip during their travels, but he spent most of their flights unconscious. Part of his exhaustion might be the lingering effects of the silver penetrating his system. Merek suspected Ophelia literally sat on the kid to make sure he stayed where she wanted him, but couldn't be certain.
Chloe staggered a little as they left the airport in Phoenix and the wave of desert heat slapped them in the faces. Both Merek and Alex reached out hands to steady her, and she managed a ghost of a smile for them. “Where to next?”
“Not far. An apartment building across town.” He steered her toward the shuttle to the rental car lot, Alex falling into step behind them.
“You mean, we're staying here for longer than a layover? We can sleep in a bed for eight whole hours?” The look she gave him was so hopeful he had to grin. That her hazel eyes were bloodshot and bleary made him want to pull her into his arms, but he nudged her along and kept an eye out for anything or anyone out of place.
They made it to the rental office and drove to the apartment without incident. Chloe made him stop at a pizza parlor for takeout on the way, and he could hear Alex's stomach growling from the backseat.
Merek made them wait while he checked the place out, searched the furnished apartment for anything off, swept it with his magic to see if there were lingering vibrations from another Magickal. Nothing. When he loosed the reins on his precognition, the past of the building swept to him with stunning clarity. He saw them breaking ground on the site before it went up, and time swept forward until long after they'd left the place. The space of days they would be there was a gaping maw in his visions, but the time directly after showed no evidence of violence. No blood spatter, no bullet holes riddling the walls. Nothing.
He motioned Alex and Chloe forward, watched them trundle in, dump the pizza off in the kitchen, and separate into bedrooms to drop their stuff. Chloe paused to turn on every lamp and hit every light switch along the way. He'd seen them do the same thing many times before, and the normalcy of it felt good. He was swinging the door shut when Ophelia's yowl made him pause. He didn't bother looking around for her, just waited for her skinny body to begin stropping his ankles while she dropped her invisibility spell. Snapping the door shut, he secured the lock and set warding spells on the apartment. Then he stooped down to pick the familiar up and carry her into the kitchen to wait for Alex and Chloe.
They'd be under five minutes unloading everything, and he knew Chloe was currently managing to hog every inch of counter space in the bathroom. A smile twitched across his lips before it faded, and his gut twisted as something besides the need to outpace Gregor seeped into his consciousness. He was starting to like them too much, know them too well. The problem with forced proximity was it also forced intimacy. He hadn't let anyone this close for this long since . . . since his family. Since his wife. He sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Fuck.
No, the problem wasn't that he was stuck with them now that he'd agreed to keep them safe. The problem was he
liked
it. He liked
them,
liked knowing their routines. He liked being around Alex, who hated not having his gadgets, but had managed to find books on nanotechnology in airport stores.
liked
it. He liked
them,
liked knowing their routines. He liked being around Alex, who hated not having his gadgets, but had managed to find books on nanotechnology in airport stores.
Merek sensed a basic similarity between himself and the kid. They were both too watchful, too serious, too alone. And that was where Chloe came in, a mouthy, acerbic counterbalance to them both. Despite all her own baggage, she managed to remain optimistic that obstacles could be overcome. She was smart, brave, and when the chips were down, she fought. She survived. He admired that in anyone, let alone someone with a traumatized childhood. He just liked her.
Under other circumstances, he might have been able to convince himself it was just her body, just the chemistry they generated between the sheets, but the stolen moments they snatched for sex were buried under the time they spent just being together. He liked watching her tease Alex into laughing, liked flopping down in front of a television in whatever random hotel they happened to be in to watch some cheesy program, only to spend most of the time cracking up because not one of them could keep their sarcastic comments to themselves.
They were in danger; they were on the run.... At this point, they could all be wanted fugitives, and he wouldn't know. Nothing about it should have been comfortable. He was ready to fall over from exhaustion and strain, but he couldn't think of anywhere in the world he'd rather be than right here, or any other people he'd rather be with.
“This pizza is going to be cold before we eat it if you two don't get a move on.” He shook his head to clear his wayward thoughts, and jumped when Ophelia dug her claws into his leg. He detached her from his flesh with a grunt, and petted her until she sighed and purred.
“Coming!” Chloe called, and the way her voice echoed told him he was right and she was spreading her things out in the bathroom. His lips tugged in a reluctant grin.
Alex dragged in from his room, propping himself against the counter across from Merek. Cocking his head, he listened for something Merek couldn't hear. His eyes squinted into an almost-smile. “We could just eat without her.”
At that second, Chloe appeared in her doorway. “Thanks a lot, brat.”
Alex just snorted a little laugh, grabbed the stack of paper plates from the pizza place, and divvied them up. Ophelia gave an imperious mew, and Alex obediently went to retrieve a can of food from Chloe's suitcase. No doubt about it, the cat had them well trained.
A giggle drew Merek's attention to Chloe, who was shaking her head at her familiar. Her gaze met his, and they both grinned, then chuckled, then laughed until they were holding their sides. Alex came back, popped the top off the can, and set it in front of the cat. “What'd I miss?”
Chloe waved a hand helplessly in the air, and Merek had to grab it to keep her upright. “N-Nothing. It's not even really that funny.”
A fresh spate of laughter rolled out of him, and he grabbed a napkin to wipe his eyes. “No, it's just tension relief, and the fact that the cat has us at her beck and call.”
The strangest look entered Alex's eyes as his gaze went from the familiar, back to the bedroom door, and then down to stare at his hand as if it belonged to someone else. “Man, if the pack could see me now, a wolf playing fetch for a cat.”
And that just set them all off again.
“Oh, gods.” Chloe leaned weakly against Merek's side, and he let himself enjoy the feel of her. “Okay, really. We need to eat and get some sleep. We are way too giddy.”
“Even cold pizza and lukewarm lettuce sounds good to me right now.” Alex flipped open the first of four cardboard boxes, and handed Chloe the plastic container with the salad she'd insisted they get.
She forked a portion of greens onto everyone's plate while the wolf served up gooey slices of combination pizza. Merek's stomach rumbled like he hadn't eaten in a month, but this was the first meal they'd had without tension humming through their muscles in days. They didn't even bother sitting at the table, they just fell on their food like ravenous animals, and not even Chloe bothered to try to spark up a conversation.
When they'd cleaned their plates, and both Merek and Alex had gone back for thirds, the kid sighed with deep satisfaction.
“Exactly,” Merek said.
Chloe snorted and heaved herself away from his side. “All right, let's tidy up and hit the sack.”
Any other day, that would have been the most exciting thing she could say to him, but the exhaustion weighed down on his very bones now that his hunger had been satiated. Pushing to his feet, he grabbed the empty pizza and salad containers, while Chloe stuck the leftover slices in the fridge and Alex gathered the dirty plates and Ophelia's empty can of cat food. Then he went rummaging through the cabinets with Chloe to try to find a garbage bag. The apartment was furnished, but besides that, supplies were limited.
A deep sigh echoed from the cabinet Chloe had her head in. “Looks like cold pizza for breakfast, and then we need a grocery store.”
Alex hummed an agreement. “Yeah, less fast food would be nice for a while. I'm getting sick of it.”
Eyebrows arching, Merek blinked at the wolf for a moment. “That's got to be the first time in history a teenage boy has said that. You're a mutant, kid.”
“Gee, thanks.” Alex actually grinned at him.
Ignoring them both, Chloe continued rifling through the contents of the kitchen until she found what she was looking for. “Thank the gods there's coffee here. Instant coffee, so it'll taste like tar mixed with drain cleaner, but it'll be caffeinated, so I don't care.”
“What a trooper.” Alex gave her a one-armed hug, and she ruffled his hair, making Merek smile. Nice kid. He hoped the boy grew up to be a better man than his father. Narrowing his eyes, he focused on Alex. And saw nothing. He bit back a curse, his muscles going rigid. It wasn't the static-fuzzed picture he usually saw when he looked at the wolf, but a huge blankness.
What the hell did that mean?
Only that the kid would be important to him. He sighed. The kid was already important to him. So was Chloe.
As always, frustration clawed at him that his gift denied him the ability to protect those who mattered the most to him. The future was his to shape and command unless it really counted. Powerful and powerless at the same time. He fucking hated it. It was his job, his
duty,
to protect people using every weapon at his disposal. Bitterly ironic that what usually made him so valuable in just these situations was completely beyond his recall or control. He shoved a hand through his hair and turned away, moving to double-check the doors and windows as well as his magical shields.
duty,
to protect people using every weapon at his disposal. Bitterly ironic that what usually made him so valuable in just these situations was completely beyond his recall or control. He shoved a hand through his hair and turned away, moving to double-check the doors and windows as well as his magical shields.
Plastic rustled while Alex and Chloe stuffed the garbage in a bag, and then there was a long pause during which he could sense Alex speaking telepathically to Chloe. Then his voice filled Merek's mind.
I'm headed for bed. Need anything before I go?
I'm headed for bed. Need anything before I go?
“No, thanks. Sleep well.”
A chuckle rippled through his thoughts.
No worries on that one.
No worries on that one.
Merek glanced back at Chloe, seeing only the woman and nothing of her future or past. He didn't even have to try to harness his abilities with her. His muscles wound tighter as he faced her. “You should go, too.”
“Not just yet.” She leaned back against the counter, folded her arms, and met his eyes with her sharp hazel ones. “Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“Every now and then you stare at me, tense up, and get this awful
look
in your eyes.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Are you seeing something bad in my future? If so, I'd like to know. I can take it.”
look
in your eyes.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Are you seeing something bad in my future? If so, I'd like to know. I can take it.”
“No. I still can't see your future.” His hands flexed at his sides. “I just realized I can't see Alex's either.”
She nodded, but her gaze didn't waver. “Could you ever?”
“Yeah, although . . . it was fuzzy. Like a television screen on the blink. Sometimes the picture was clear; sometimes there was nothing but static.” He forked his fingers through his hair, hating the truth. There was a lot of shit he could handle, but this was one thing he'd never be able to accept. “It's like that with my partner Selina, too, but not with Alex anymore.”
“So now you can't see him either.” She shifted, settling more comfortably against the countertop.
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