Into the Light (6 page)

The guilt hit him again, as he stepped into the yellow-and-white kitchen and felt the tension in the air. Everybody knew what Quentin was capable of. Even little Sofia had been exposed to his violent side, because Quentin was an attention whore, and he knew well that if he ensured his pack feared him, they would not betray him.

Except Tanner, his own son. And now, by default, Freddy and Lisa.

“You shouldn’t have helped us escape,” he said yet again as he strode across the room and stared broodingly at the window framed by blue-and-yellow-checked curtains. For the moment, they were relatively safe, but he knew that would not last long. Quentin no doubt had every decent tracker in the pack searching for them. He only hoped no one had seen him jump into Freddy’s SUV when they’d escaped from the manor house.

He recalled seeing Finn step around the corner, pause, and then turn away again. Someone had seen them. But he turned away, instead of toward them. Tanner hoped that meant he had wanted them to escape.

“Get over it already,” Lisa replied. Her personality hadn’t changed much in ten years, Tanner reflected.

“We’re your friends. If you think we were going to stand by and watch you kill yourself over some stupid lightbearer, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”

Tanner’s lips quirked into a reluctant smile. “You thought I was an idiot before all this?”

“Yes,” Lisa replied. “Because you left us behind ten years ago. You should have taken us with you. We could have survived.”

Tanner thought about the conversation he’d had with his mother, ten years ago, shortly before he left the pack.

“He’ll let you go,”
she said
. “But he’ll kill anyone else who tries to go with you. Three shifters make a pack, Tanner. He would see it as a challenge to his authority. You going on your own is nothing more than sowing your wild oats, and that, he would be willing to overlook. But only that.”

He certainly wouldn’t be able to overlook Tanner stealing a lightbearer right from under his nose. If Tanner hadn’t been excommunicated before, he sure as hell would be now. What would Quentin do, without a legitimate heir to take over the pack?

“What’s the plan now?” Freddy wanted to know.

“I need a vehicle. Does your cousin still run that garage in town?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you get me a car?” Tanner glanced at his watch. “Today? Preferably sooner rather than later.”

Freddy pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Probably, but he won’t bring it up here.”

“That’s okay. We’ll meet him. Is that old industrial park still there? Out heading toward the highway? Is it still abandoned?”

“Of course it’s still abandoned. Quentin won’t let humans live this close to his pack, no matter what they intend to do with the land.”

“Good. Tell him we’ll meet him there. We need probably half an hour to get out of here, and another hour and a half to get out there.”

Freddy made the call. When he disconnected, he said, “Done. What’s next?”

“Thanks,” Tanner said, feeling grateful and guilty all at the same time. “As soon as the lightbearer is out of the shower, we’re leaving.”

“Olivia,” Sofia piped up.

Tanner blinked at the young shifter.

“Her name is Olivia,” Sofia explained.

“Right,” Tanner said. “Olivia.”

He would rather continue to refer to her as
the
lightbearer
. It didn’t have quite the same affect on his body as saying her name out loud did, and Tanner didn’t much care for the way his body reacted to the damned magical creature.

She’s a frigging lightbearer
, he reminded himself. Shifters weren’t supposed to be attracted to lightbearers. Besides that, the woman was refined and elegant and bossy as hell, all traits that Tanner did not normally associate with women to whom he was attracted.

“When you say
we
, who are you talking about?” Lisa wanted to know.

Tanner scowled. “Don’t start, Lisa. You know damn well you can’t go with me. Christ, you’re about to whelp a pup.” He waved at her protruding belly.

“I’m fine,” Lisa insisted. “It’s better than staying in this pack. What if he finds out we helped you?”

It was a very real fear, Tanner knew. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, thinking about the consequences to his friends, if Quentin
did
figure it out.

Three shifters make a pack. My creating my own pack would be even more of a slap in the face to Quentin. He wouldn’t rest until he killed us all
.

“No,” he said firmly. He heard the squeak of the faucet being twisted and turned his head toward the hall. She was just twenty feet away, naked, her body glistening and wet. He grimaced as his body went hard.

* * * *

Lisa continued to argue, even taking it so far as to point out that it was her parents’ vacation home they were using as a hideout. While she argued and Tanner steadily refused to agree to take her and Freddy and little Sofia with him when he snuck the lightbearer away, Sofia slipped from the kitchen. She returned a few moments later, the lightbearer walking behind her.

Her blonde hair was still damp, but she’d combed out the tangles and it draped over her shoulder in a gentle wave. Her face was freshly scrubbed, those bright blue eyes looked overlarge and tired, thanks to the deep circles underneath. Her dress was still wrinkled and torn.

She shouldn’t look beautiful
.

But she did.

Lisa abruptly stopped arguing and pushed out of her seat. “Let’s go back to my bedroom,” she suggested to the lightbearer. “I’m taller and bigger than you, even when I’m not pregnant, but I’m sure I can find something that’s better than that dress.” Tanner watched as all three females headed back down the hall.

Freddy pulled a beer out of the fridge, offered one to Tanner. He shook his head. As he twisted off the top, Freddy said, “You really aren’t taking us, are you?”

Tanner would not meet his eye. “You know I can’t, Freddy.”

“Yeah, I know. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. After she whelps this pup, when she’s healed enough to travel. We want out, Tanner. I don’t want to raise my pups in this environment. Sofia is already obsessed with lightbearers and magic, and she’s only four. Meeting one in person is only going to make it worse.”

Not to mention the very real possibility that Sofia would say as much to one of her school chums. Tanner did not speak this thought out loud. He suspected if he did, he would not be able to convince Lisa and Freddy to stay.

“I don’t even know where I’m going, what I’m going to do once I return her to wherever she came from. It’s going to be hard enough for just the two of us to slip away.”

Freddy took a long pull from his beer before responding. “I know,” he finally said. “I get it, Tanner. I do. And don’t worry, I’ll rein in Lisa. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. Promise me.” His voice became fierce.

Tanner turned away from the window to face his friend. He looked Freddy squarely in the eye. “I will,” he vowed. “I swear it.”

Olivia walked into the room and Tanner turned automatically, as if he sensed her without actually seeing her. He decided to assume it was the scent of lavender shampoo, which should have reminded him of Lisa, since it was her shampoo the lightbearer used. But Lisa had never stirred his senses like this, not in all the years they’d known one another.

Freddy’s eyes widened as he took in the freshly showered lightbearer, wearing one of his mate’s dresses. It was red, with thin straps over the shoulders and a skirt that should have skimmed her ankles but instead pooled on the ground so much that she had to clutch a bunch of the fabric in her hand in order to walk.

“She didn’t have something that fit you better?” Tanner asked gruffly. He knew he sounded like a dick, but the other option was to say, “Can we go back to Sofia’s room so I can take that dress off you please?” Yeah, he was even willing to say please. Christ, how was his father so determined to kill these beings, when they were so damn hot that just looking at them made Tanner hard?

Olivia looked down at herself, and Tanner watched as her cheeks blushed to match the color of the dress. “I like this one,” she said with a thrust of her chin. “Once I have enough magic restored, I’ll be able to alter it appropriately.”

Huh
. Tanner almost opened his mouth to suggest she alter it to cover more skin along her shoulders and over the top swell of her breasts, but he liked looking at all that smooth, lightly tanned skin, even if he knew he shouldn’t.

“Fine,” he said instead. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.”

Lisa thrust a plate containing a sandwich and potato chips into his gut. “Are you still hungry? You should eat before we leave.”

Tanner pushed the plate away. He
was
hungry, but it wasn’t food his body craved at the moment. Which was damned irritating because he would soon be stuck alone in a car with the lightbearer for who knows how long. Hell, he wasn’t even sure where they were going nor how long they would be stuck together.

“Something wrong?”

Tanner blinked and pulled the world into focus. Olivia gave him a politely inquiring look, while she stood in the hall entry. He was saved from coming up with an answer by Lisa, who made a noise of pain and clutched her stomach with one hand while grasping the counter with the other. The plate she’d offered Tanner fell and shattered on the tile floor.

Freddy was at her side in an instant. So was the lightbearer.

“What are you doing?” Lisa asked in alarm, as she stared down at the woman who crouched before her, with both hands on Lisa’s stomach. Freddy wrapped his arm protectively around his mate as he too stared at the lightbearer.

“I am a healer,” Olivia said without looking up. She appeared wholly focused on Lisa’s stomach. “Well, I haven’t been officially trained, because my father would not allow it, but I have a natural healing ability.”

“That’s reassuring,” Lisa muttered sarcastically.

“You are near to giving birth.”

“Obviously,” Lisa said drily. Freddy admonished her for being rude, but she did not take it back.

“You need rest. You are having contractions. This babe is just about ready to make his appearance.”

“You know it’s a boy?” Lisa blinked rapidly, clearly taken by surprise.

“You did not?” Olivia glanced up into Lisa’s face. “I apologize, I did not realize…”

Lisa shook her head and gave her mate a bemused look. “No, no, it’s…okay. We didn’t—we can’t—”

“Shifter midwives don’t have the ability to tell the pup’s gender until it’s born,” Tanner finished for her. He stepped up behind the lightbearer and helped her to her feet. “Your glow is dimming. Unless she’s in immediate need of medical attention, you should stop before you pass out again.”

Olivia brushed at invisible dust on her skirt and kept her eyes downcast and then exhaled slowly when Tanner released his hold on her arm. He wondered if her reaction was because he repulsed her. He wouldn’t be surprised if it did, considering he was a shifter, but it sucked nonetheless.

Freddy insisted Lisa follow Olivia’s advice, and despite her protests, she was soon tucked away in one of the bedrooms with Sofia curled by her side, watching a Disney movie.

“Let’s go,” he said brusquely when he returned to the kitchen. “I don’t want to leave her alone for any longer than I have to.”

Tanner produced a multihued scarf and gruffly commanded the lightbearer to cover her blonde hair. He handed her a pair of sunglasses, then shoved a straw baseball hat onto his own head and added a pair of aviator sunglasses. Freddy snickered.

“You look like a country singer.”

Tanner scowled. “Good. So long as we don’t look like a shifter and a lightbearer, in case we happen to come into contact with anyone from my father’s pack.”

“It’s your pack too.”

Tanner turned his back on Freddy. “No, it isn’t.”

She wanted to go to Vegas.

Tanner thought that was a lousy idea.

“That’s exactly where they’ll start their search once they’ve determined we’ve left the territory,” he pointed out, hoping he sounded diplomatic enough. What he really wanted to do was shout, “Are you fucking crazy? Do you
want
to die?” He didn’t particularly want to die, and somehow along the way, he’d decided he didn’t want the lightbearer to die either.

She’s too damn pretty to kill
. He’d thought those words shortly after he met her for the first time. Now, he thought,
She’s too damn sexy to kill
.

Which was laughable, actually, because compared to the human women with whom he normally spent time, she wasn’t sexy, not really. Enticing was a good word. Something about her sent his blood to boiling and made his body so hard he continually shifted in his seat, because his shorts were too damn tight in the crotch area.

She’s just another female
, he reminded himself.
And not the type I’m attracted to
.

Except Tanner wasn’t sure he’d ever been so attracted to a woman before in his life.

“My cousin is there,” she said in a determined voice.

Despite his annoyance, he liked her determination. He liked that she wasn’t a wimpy female who cowered away from him, who obeyed his every command without question. If he had to describe her personality, he would say she was a leader, too. The way she held her head high when she was essentially heading toward the gallows. The way she’d commanded him to open the shade at Lisa’s parents’ vacation home. The way she informed him that they had to go to Vegas.

Wait—all of those things should annoy him, not impress him. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Cici,” he guessed, recalling what she’d said just before she passed out the day before.

“Yes. Her name is Cecilia, actually. We have to go back for her.”

“What makes you think she’s still in Vegas?”

Her hesitation told him she wasn’t sure. But then she thrust out her chin and said, “She wouldn’t leave until she knew I was safe.”

Procuring a vehicle from Freddy’s cousin had been surprisingly easy. It was an ancient maroon sedan, but under the hood it was in impeccable condition.