Forbidden (32 page)

He shrugged and when he finished chewing, said, “I just play around with cooking. I don't have the sort of time management skills it takes to be a chef.”

Claire was taking a drink of water when she let out an abrupt laugh; she almost sprayed everyone at the table with the liquid. “Are you
kidding
me? I can't imagine how you do all you do!” She turned to Amber. “You should have been there for the earlier part of today. They've set up the Omega position in town so they do all the stuff nobody wants to do—clean the city bathrooms, do home health care for the elderly, pick up trash on the roadsides. It's actually not a bad system. But every single place I stopped after I dropped him off at his apartment, someone was trying to pull more out of Alek: ‘Don't forget to tell Alek he promised to work on my computer,' ‘Oh, I'm so glad you're here. I thought Alek would be over last night to help me chop wood for winter,' ‘I've been looking all over for Alek to help with the next Ascension route.' Every single house! You may not have ever been the Omega, but you might as well be. Do you ever
sleep
?”

He didn't really have an answer for her. “I just help out where I can.”

Claire just rolled her eyes. “For the record, I think you have excellent time management skills.”

Amber was sitting, staring into space, tapping one manicured finger on the edge of the table. “Time management … that just gave me an idea. The problem with time management is that too many things of equal importance can make the mind muddied. That's what we need to do.”

He looked at Claire. She was wearing the same confused expression that was probably on his face. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

When Amber's eyes finally focused again, she smiled. “Your town is about to get a Dennis the Menace. Or, more precisely, three of them.” He was still confused and Amber noticed. “Wow. I can understand Claire not getting my comment, but you should know precisely what I mean. They must have really gone low-key.” Still not getting whatever reaction she was looking for, she continued. “If there was ever a real-life model for the character of Dennis the Menace, it was Claude Kragan. His brother Egan was no better. The great fire of San Francisco? Claude Kragan's handiwork. He was powerful enough to cause lightning in a clear sky.

“The
Hindenburg
? Egan Kragan. Not as powerful, but he loved to play with exploding things. He thought it would be funny to play with skyrockets and see if he could let the air out. He didn't realize hydrogen burned. Nobody could ever pin anything on them, though. Those boys were clever, and only Charles could keep them in check.

“Bitty was just as bad. They were never malicious, just mischievous to insane levels.”

Claire gave Amber a sideways smile. “She was a card when she was talking about the 1800s in New Orleans.”

Amber smiled freely. “Oh, that
was
fun. I was there. It was quite a time.” Then she sobered, looked more concerned. “But they're older than me. Did they seem like they really needed help when you visited? Or worse, have they been compromised?”

Claire waggled one hand in the air. “I was in Bitty's house for a while and all she did was sit on the couch and talk. Rachel Washington told me that she has a bad leg and doesn't want anyone to look at it. But I'm not really sure that's true. She seemed more competent than she tried to make me believe. And the men are downright spunky. I'm pretty sure they're not under any control but their own.”

“Hmm. Okay. Maybe this won't work, but we're going to try it. I'm going to put a partial block on your mating, so that you don't get yourselves killed.” Claire didn't react the way Alek had. She just nodded. “Once we have enough to prosecute your Second—and I agree that's probably who's behind this, I can take it off. You'll still feel the mating during the block, but it'll be like a watercolor versus an oil painting.”

Amber stood up and picked up her plate, flatware, and glass and started toward the kitchen. “You need to visit the Kragans again. If they don't shoot you first, give them your phone so I can talk to one of them.” Her smile turned to a grin. “I don't think I'll have to work hard to convince them.”

Alek knew she wasn't going to tell them any details, in case the chief got hold of them, but he wished he knew what she had in mind.

Claire cleared her own place, then reached for Alek's, seemingly out of habit. He grasped her hand, letting the tingles flow over him, arouse him for possibly the last time for the foreseeable future. She didn't pull back, but the look in her eyes told him she wasn't feeling what he was.

Are you okay?
He spoke to her mind, but she didn't seem to “hear” him. Yet, hadn't she been first to contact
him,
on the park bench? He didn't understand. Could a mating unravel?

“Is this okay with you?” he asked aloud.

She gave him a tired smile. “I'll do whatever I have to do to bring the kids home. That's what I'm here to do.”

He felt a stabbing in his chest. It was
all
she was here to do.

 

CHAPTER 23

Ice and snow were things to be avoided in Texas. Where she lived, the county didn't even own a plow. Alek not only seemed comfortable driving in conditions that scared her half to death, he was also almost
speeding
in the thin, predawn light. Claire kept a firm grip on the door handle and checked—again—that her seat belt was cinched tight. She'd been in one wreck already this week.

There needed to be so much going on in Luna Lake that the chief of police and mayor couldn't keep up. Claude and Egan, along with Claire and Alek, would be responsible for causing a lot of the trouble they were planning—and likely would bear the brunt of the chief's response. She wanted to tell the former Omegas what was going on, but she was pretty certain they were being controlled. Amber had explained that Claire and Alek were probably the only two, plus the Kragans, who were too powerful to be mind controlled.

Amber continued laying out her plan on the phone. “You need to keep him so busy that he doesn't notice that things are going wrong. Make lots of little, obvious mistakes. He's going to be more interested in beating you down than anything else.”

It was hard to ignore the sting in her ribs each time she took a breath. She'd been too aroused during sex to notice the pain, but once that was done, and especially out here in the cold, it came roaring back. “No problem there. He's been having a great time beating on me. Missing the curfew by five minutes got me a couple of cracked ribs.”

Alek turned his head so quickly that his hands on the wheel followed. She let out a little screech as the tires left the pavement to bump through the pile of ice left by a plow. He righted the car quickly, with a few fishtails. “What do you mean, cracked ribs?”

She shrugged. “He kicked me in the chest while you were dealing with Paula, so hard it lifted me off the floor and bounced me off the wall. Still hurts like hell.”

Amber sighed. “I wish you would have told me that while you were still here. I'd have fixed it.” She paused and Claire could almost hear her shake her head over the speaker. “But he'd spot that immediately. Better for you to have some bumps and bruises, like nothing happened, when you get back. You'll want to shower too. You both smell like sex … and each other. Although, that's not the end of the world. Like you said earlier, being in lust would explain a lot. Keep in mind,” she said in a rueful tone, “that'll probably get you a beating too. Sounds like most anything will.”

“Breathing is probably enough,” Claire commented, rubbing her left side again.

“How did I not feel that … Amber?” He seemed uncomfortable to be calling her by her first name. Claire understood. It took time to think of the Sazi hierarchy as
equals,
or at least coworkers. “Aren't mates supposed to feel their other half in danger? Shouldn't I have known she was getting her ribs broken?” Alek sounded confused. Claire didn't really understand either. Her Alphas were double mated and the whole pack was joined. She felt more of the daily aches, pains, and joys of her adopted family than she did with Alek.

Amber let out a little snort. “You've been hearing too many fairy tales. Mating is different for everyone. For some, I admit, there is that level of attachment. You know everything about the other person—their wants, needs, heart, mind, body. For others, it's more of a longing … a sense of missing something you know you can't have. Sort of like being told you can never again eat red meat or drink alcohol or have a peanut butter sandwich because you're allergic. You miss the taste, the texture, the experience. Tofu and near-beer will never be as good, but you can get by. And occasionally, if you give in and play with fire, you'll pay a price. It can be worth the price, but there's usually pain involved.”

“How do you get over the guilt?”

“By realizing that people aren't just the animals we become. We're more complex. A single mate can happily love someone else. Double mates can fall in love with two different people, even though they'll never have the same level of intensity as if they were together. For example, I'm not mated to my husband. I'm mated to someone who is mated to someone else. I
want
him every time I think about him, but I don't love him anymore, so I don't think about him very often. I love my husband, who's not mated to anyone to my knowledge. We have to work it out as best we can. Look, I need to make some calls. You guys let me know when you get there. Okay? Bye.”

“Bye.” Silence dropped over the car, broken only by the crunching of snow under the car. Claire closed her eyes so she didn't have to watch the ice and snow rushing past. Should she tell him it wasn't double? Amber had said it would be bad for his psyche, and she needed him logical. Yet … she was sure he suspected, and wouldn't that be worse? They drove in that silence for a time. She opened her eyes again to see the snow blowing right at them, tiny bullets of white that stuck to the window almost as fast as the wipers pushed them away. It was easy to lose herself in the mesmerizing pattern of snow against the windshield, tapping a staccato beat on the glass.

When they reached Republic, the streets were bare of cars; the main street had just a few tracks in the snow. Alek pointed to a church steeple set high on the hillside. “We'll leave the car up there. Amber said it's where she picked it up when she got here. It belongs to a friend of hers. We'll shift and go into Luna Lake by different routes. If you're okay with people knowing we've been together, then make it obvious. Find people almost immediately but don't say a word. The scent will tell everything. Remember that the goal is to keep them busy. Make errors that people complain about. Do the best you can as far as withstanding pain. I'm going to poke my nose where it doesn't belong but not enough to get killed. Just keep them off balance.”

Claire snorted. “The pain part is nearly guaranteed. Remember that I also jumped through a window at the jail and it's probably been snowing on someone's desk. That'll cost me a strip of hide.”

“I'm sorry.” Alek sounded miserable. She had to look at him then, for the first time in half an hour. There was a haunted look in his eyes and the wave of cool wet scent—sorrow, depression that hit her was strong enough that she had to immediately raise shields against it. But she couldn't avoid it.

She remembered Amber reaching into the car just before Alek had come out of the cabin to get in the driver's seat, putting a hand on her shoulder. “He'll start to feel the separation from his mate soon. Pining is normal. It's temporary, like an energy crash after an adrenaline rush. Try to keep his spirits up. Be bright and cheerful. Smile at him. Just do your best and remember the mission. Stay focused and he won't notice it so much.”

When he'd stopped the car in the parking lot and turned off the engine, Claire reached out and put a hand over his. His skin was cool to the touch, yet gave her the slightest tingle. Just the barest pulsing, as though it was hidden behind a thick curtain. He flicked his attention to her, gave a small smile. “I'll be okay. We'll get through this.” The words didn't sound cheerful. They were sad, and the guilt stung her again. A part of her was glad she wasn't out of her mind in lust with someone she barely knew, but the other part of her wished she was. Even jealous, like Paula, might be better.

The phone rang again and Claire punched the button quickly, just as she was opening the car door. The rush of cold wind made her breath turn white. “Before I forget, get those pictures, Claire. Take them to Bitty's house and hide them somewhere. Bitty will know how to get them to me.” She disconnected the call, this time without saying good-bye.

They were alone. Again. She couldn't stand the sadness next to her. She shut the door again and looked at Alek.

“I'm sorry, but you need to know. It's not a double mating. You're mated to me. But I'm not mated to you.” She felt horrible about everything. He had every right to hate her.

There was a pause and then he nodded, his face a blank slate. “Not your fault.” But the words were stiff, tense. “Just tell me one thing.”

She looked at him. His eyes were cautious, so her response was as well. “Okay.”

“Was the sex out of guilt? Did you feel anything at all?”

She couldn't read the expression in his eyes but it might have been pain. He was guarding his emotions so tightly she couldn't sense them. She had to tell the truth. “It wasn't out of guilt. I wanted to at that moment. But I don't honestly know what I felt.”

He nodded, a tiny movement of his head. “Okay. That's fair.” He paused, but it was obvious he wanted to say something else. She waited until he continued. “Paula thought we were dating and I'm not positive we weren't. I enjoy spending time with her. We're friends. And the more I think about how she responded to you, I wonder now if she's mated to me. At the very least, she wants me.”