Opal (Rare Gems Series Book 4) (17 page)

“
Yes.” Blair glanced at his dad, who had stepped in front of him. “I’d never tell anyone. If you wanted anyone to know, I suppose you would have said something.”

Sloan nodded and looked around the room. Blair waited
, knowing that there was more to his statement than this. When he turned back to him, Blair could see that he really was afraid, and his next words confirmed it.

“
You can also tell what my powers are, can’t you?” Again Blair nodded. “People would kill you for that, or more likely, they’d take you as a prisoner and make you do things that would…it would kill a lesser man. Do you understand what I’m telling you? They’d more than kill you, Blair. They’d convert you to what they are, regardless of what you are now.”

Blair nodded.
“They can also try, but I’m not exactly a weakling. I’m also smart enough to know that someone would use me to hurt others. It’s why I don’t tell anyone what I can do. I’ve never even told Sapphire or her family. Dad only knows because…well, we’ve used it before. When he was pack alpha. It saved our lives a great many times.”

“
Fleming knows.” Blair felt his skin crawl. “Maybe not that you can tell powers of every living being in this world, but that you can date him. Having him know that, if he tells someone, then you’re as good as dead.”

Blair hadn
’t thought of that. But now that…he had to tell Sloan something else. Something he’d only just discovered when he’d seen him today. It might not go over as well as it might have when he’d discovered it. Then it had made him laugh, but now…well, not so much.

“
You’re wolf. Did you know that?” Sloan nodded slowly. “Good. I thought…the day we were all hurt you shifted then, didn’t you? That’s how you were able to get us all out of harm’s way that day. I don’t suppose you’ve mentioned it to Opal, have you?”

“
No. I wasn’t…things have been a little crazy since that day. I have wanted to, but when we’re together, I get distracted a little.” Blair winced. He didn’t want to know what sort of distraction his sister-in-law was to him. Sloan must have realized it and changed the subject. “I’m not sure if it was just a one-time thing. I’m sure that’s all it was, and I won’t be able to do it again.”

Blair shook his head and decided to make him realize that things like this just didn
’t happen once. He glanced around the room and let his own wolf go just a little. His dad moved back but was still within touching distance of them both if Sloan did something stupid. Nothing happened, but Blair had a feeling that Sloan was just a little too overwhelmed right now to do more than just breathe. But their time was running out if this Fletcher person was coming for him and his family.

“
I’m just a vampire. Like I said, it was a one-time thing.” Blair shook his head and reached for Sloan’s wolf. He stirred along his skin and had Sloan moan. “What the hell was that?”

“
I’m an alpha; your alpha, as a matter of fact. I can pull him for you if you want, make you shift, but it’ll hurt like a mother fucker. I would suggest that you wait until you’re alone or with Opal to do it.” Blair backed up a step when he felt Sloan’s wolf pull him. “Sloan, you’re going to regret this.”

He took him.
The shift from man to wolf was quick, and Blair would bet painful. As he lay there panting, Blair reached for Opal and had her come to him. She was nearly on top of them before he could tell her what had happened.

“
Christ.” Blair thought that was a good term. “Who is…Sloan? This is Sloan? What did you do?”

“
I didn’t do this at all. You did.” She looked at him, then back at Sloan, who was growling low in the back of his throat. “I’m thinking that you’re a mite too close to us. Back up, but please keep him under control. He’s not taking this well.”

I hurt.
Blair nodded at Sloan when he touched his mind.
Will it fucking hurt like this all the time? It certainly didn’t when I did this before. Christ, never in all my years have I…how old am I, Blair?

It won
’t hurt if you let it come to you easy. And you’re nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-three years old. You were made not in this world, but created in another. Your birth date is January first.
Blair went to his knees in front of his friend.
I would never, not ever, tell a soul what you are. You can trust me on this.

Sloan looked at him
, and Blair stared at him, unflinching. He knew, as surely as he was sitting there, that Sloan could kill him, alpha or not. His vast powers, his unimaginable magic, could end his race with just a thought. Sloan wasn’t just a vampire; he was everything.

I won
’t harm you.
Blair nodded, relieved.
I will protect you as you have me. Opal…you know that she is what I am as well?

“
Yes.” Blair stood up and looked at his sister-in-law. “You’re going to have to get him some clothing, and then take him somewhere he can rest. His wolf has hurt him and he needs to heal.”

Opal nodded and moved toward Sloan. Blair could feel her wolf as well
, along with whatever powers Sloan had given her. He wondered briefly if he should be just a little afraid. Then he looked at the big wolf.

I owe you my life.
Blair started to tell him he didn’t when something moved over him, a calmness that he knew Sloan had given him.
Her name is Ursula and she is Jinn. She will protect you like no one can. And Blair? Please do not touch her unless she invites you to. Her family is more protective than you are when it comes to those she loves.

The being…a misty being appeared before them all as Opal and Sloan moved back into the darkness of the warehouse. As Ursula seemed to become more solid, he could see her wings and her magic. She bowed before him.

“Do you know what I am?” He nodded. “You will do well not to say my species title until someone allows it, Master Henson. I have been sent to protect you and all that is yours.”

“
From Fleming?” She shook her head. “Then who? No one but Sloan, and I’m assuming you, knows what I can do. What is there to protect me from?”

“
All.” She put out her hand while he was still trying to figure out what she meant. “You will allow me to touch what is yours? I swear to you no harm will come from my touch, but only things that you are to need.”

“
You’re going to protect us all?” She nodded but said nothing. “My mate. You’ll keep her safe before me?”

“
Nah. I will protect you all. It is within my powers to do so. As for Fleming? We have taken care that he will not harm what is now considered ours.” He looked at the woman, then his dad. “He will be included as well. Your family is now ours. Once I have touched you, as leader, any and all that come now and after you will be held in the highest regard and protected forever.”

The touch of her hand to his nearly had him drop to the floor.
There was no pain, none at all, but there was something that felt like a sexual release and a good long nap at the same time. When she smiled, a beautiful veil seemed to have been lifted from her face, and he knew he was seeing the real her. As she faded out, Blair started to stand but stayed where he was just a little while longer, staring at his dad. Standing suddenly didn’t seem all that important right at the moment.

“
You okay, son?” He nodded, then shook his head. “Yeah, you sort of look like that too. Did she hurt you or give you something?”

“
Give.” His dad nodded. “About Annabelle. I need you to fix this now, Dad. I can’t have you both at odds when there is so much danger about. It’s not safe.”

“
I’ll fix it. Today. I swear.” His dad looked around the warehouse. “Man has a lot of stuff in here. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“
I hope not. I want to find my mate and make love to her.” His dad laughed. “What were you thinking? And if the words ‘pelvis’ and ‘Annabelle’ come out of your mouth in the same sentence, I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”

“
No. I was nervous about asking her out and I might have said the wrong thing. It wasn’t good of me to hurt her the way that I did. But I see something here….You think Sloan will give me a break on this stuff? The man is worth more than six of us. And he’s not going to ever need the millions he’s gonna make off this stuff. I heard him tell them girls to sell it, all but the bedroom set. I’m gonna buy me a nice couple of things for Miss Annabelle. I’m thinking she’d love that fainting couch over there.”

“
Dad, I’m not so sure a couch is going to get you anywhere.” About the time he stood up and started to direct him in another direction, Sapphire came toward him. She was kissing his cheek when his dad pointed the couch out to her and asked her what her grandmother would think of it.

“
Oh, Allen. She’ll love this. Do you know that Dad had gotten her one right before he died? She sold it when we moved. I think it broke her heart more than anything. I tried to make her keep it, but she had it in her head that we needed the money more than anything. Which we did, but it had meant so much to her.” His dad winked at him. “And this will go a long way to you making up for that crude comment you made to her the other day. What the hell were you thinking saying something like that to her? I’m surprised that she didn’t take your dick off and make you eat it. I’ve never….”

As they moved away
, he heard his dad telling Sapphire how sorry he was and that he wanted to make it up to her, but his wife wasn’t hearing him. She was still berating him as they got into the truck loaded with the couch. Blair laughed all the way back to the house. His father was getting his just desserts and he loved it.

Chapter
10

“I can let you rent if for a little while. Just until I find someone who can take it for real. I’ve only just listed it.” Fletcher nodded to the real estate agent as he went on and on about rentals and filling them up.

Fletcher knew that the house had been empty for some time. He
’d been by it enough times in the last six months to know that people, mostly homeless people, had been using it without paying a red cent. Before he’d called the agency, Fletcher had taken care to have them moved out. The place needed a good cleaning and a few coats of paint. Fletcher figured after that, it would be only slightly above the condemned status.

“
I understand.” The agent nodded again and smiled. “You said that you’d give me thirty days’ notice if you need to have me move out.”

He hadn
’t. He said forty-eight hours, but Fletcher was giving the man enough compulsion that he knew he’d have all the time he wanted no matter what. But the man shook his head.

“
No. I told you before, just two days. If I have a renter, I need you out.” He tried again, this time nearly zapping his waning strength in the light of the day. “I can’t be doing that. If you want to rent this, then that’s the way it has to be. Or you can just not rent it at all.”

This was the third time that someone had blown him off
in as many hours. And the second time he’d tried to get them to do what he wanted by nearly draining himself. Fletcher was starving and tried to tell himself that was it, but he had a feeling it was something, or in this case, someone else that was fucking with him. He knew that the faerie was after his ass too. She’d already taken out his friend, his only friend it seemed.

“
I’ll take it.” The man nodded as Fletcher handed him the cash. That was another thing that he’d been stooped to. He had to find means of getting real money. “And you said that I could move in right away?”

“
Yeah. I can have it cleaned up for you this afternoon. Company is new, so if there are any problems, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know. If they don’t work out, I’ll be moving to someone else.” Fletcher felt his skin tighten, knowing without a doubt who had cleaned his home. “Ever hear of Pristine Cleaning?”

He had. It was the same firm he
’d used to get rid of his bodies. When he nodded at the man, he started in on how they’d contacted him just yesterday and offered him a deal of a lifetime. Fletcher wondered if he would be able to get someone else to come in and sweep the place. But that wasn’t going to happen. Whatever the company had done to the place—and he was sure that something had been done—he would just have to live with it. He’d used the last of any cash he’d been able to dig up as it was. He looked around the house that had come furnished and shivered.

“
Home sweet home.” He moved to the stairs. It was the only reason he’d taken the place, because of the space beneath the nasty rooms above ground. The basement was going to serve as his home until he could get everything back the way it was before. And as soon as he had it set up the way he wanted it, Opal Crane was going to be first on his menu.

Going as deep into the
darkness as he could go, Fletcher thought about what had happened to him since he’d ended up at his parents’ old place. He’d spent a great deal of time, time he could not spare, looking into the records to see if any of the lies the old woman had told him were true. He’d seen the headstones, yes, but those could be faked as well as anything. But what he’d found still depressed him.