The Guardian (17 page)

F
ala was already running down the hall, strapping on her Colt. She reached the living room as Akando and Aden left. Meikoda held Mayhala in her arms, while Chogan clung to Nina's leg. The children looked confused and upset as if they knew something wasn't right but didn't know what it was.

Fala's gaze went straight to Stephen, who was already opening the door. She wanted to tell him to stay at home, but he probably wouldn't listen to her. And in a crisis situation she couldn't think of anyone she'd rather have with her.

Meikoda touched Fala's arm. “Bring your sister home, and be careful.”

Fala ran. Despite Stephen's injuries he kept up with her. The night had turned icy, the dampness like a knife cutting through her lungs. Thick, scudding clouds drifted over the moon, revealing veinlike shadowy edges, but
never allowing it the freedom to fully shine. The eeriness of the sight made her shiver.

The headlights of Akando's old Plymouth Fury bobbed on the main road. The night swallowed the other car's headlights. Fala and Stephen jumped in her car at the same time, then she zoomed the Beetle backward down the drive.

“Who do you think has her?” Stephen asked.

“She's a private detective and has probably pissed off a lot of people.”

“She enjoys that part of the job, huh?”

“Too much.”

The road had turned slushy, and Fala fought the steering wheel. The Fury's taillights looked like demon eyes in the night, hovering, bobbing, jerking above the gravel road.

Stephen narrowed his eyes at the road ahead. “Put the pedal to the metal, sweetheart, or we're going to lose them.”

Fala liked the way his silken deep voice stressed
sweetheart
too much to protest his critique of her driving skills. She knew she should have called him on it, but she couldn't.

As they reached the end of the main road, the car ahead of Akando spun right, skidded, and fishtailed as it sped out onto Route 30. Akando followed, hot on the car's bumper.

Fala gave chase, wishing her car had more horses under the hood. The Bug slid, but its small wheelbase hugged the road and she instantly straightened and pressed her foot to the floor. The paved surface made for
better steering, and the Bug instantly climbed in speed. Fifty. Sixty. Seventy.

“How does this thing handle past eighty?” Stephen looked over at the speedometer glowing blue on the dash.

“Myrtle's never gone that fast.”

“Myrtle?”

“Yeah, I name all my cars. Seems like a Myrtle, doesn't she?” Fala kept her hands locked on the wheel, her eyes on the Fury.

“Now that you mention it, yep, she kinda does feel like a Myrtle. Changing the subject,” he said, his Maine accent prevalent. “You're really lucky to have your sisters and grandmother. They care for you very much.”

“I don't know what I'd do without them.” The mundane conversation helped break the tension of the chase. And for a moment, it had worked. But she felt the fear for Takala shock-waving through her.

Their conversation lapsed into edgy silence, the kind Fala had faced through her whole career as a cop: that hush that came when you lost control of your world and the outcome was totally in the hands of the Book of Life. You're stuck in limbo, hanging there, seconds ticking off in your chest, time aging you, the wait, the pressure suffocating tiny pieces of you.

In that moment Fala recalled every provoking word she had thrown at Takala. Okay, maybe Takala had deserved some of them, but Fala had said them in a fit of anger. One thing Meikoda had always told her three granddaughters, “You can never take back words, or spells.” Fala wished she could get her words back. She
wanted to let Takala know how much she loved her.
Please, please, let Takala be okay!

Then Fala's worst fear happened, unfolding like a horrible stage play in slow motion, the future peeling away, warped as it was, right before her eyes. She sucked in her breath, drawing in fear with it.

The car ahead of Akando's Fury sped out across the road, hit an embankment and flipped. The taillights rotated over and over and over like tumbling Bingo balls. The car finally slammed into a telephone pole and jerked to a halt.

Akando's brakes screeched, and the Fury skidded a good twenty feet before it stopped.

“Look out!” Stephen yelled.

Fala jammed on the brakes, skimming, tires squealing, but not as loudly as her insides.
Let her be all right. Please!
The Bug tapped the back of Akando's bumper before it thudded to a complete stop.

Fala and Stephen leaped out at the same time. She felt as if she were wading through iron; her feet couldn't go fast enough, slipping on small patches of ice, finding little traction with her tennis shoes.

Stephen grabbed her hand and held it as they jumped the ditch, then climbed the embankment. He bulldozed his way through winter-hardened briars and brush, clearing a way for Fala and tugging her up behind him.

Fala concentrated and heard only one heartbeat. One!
Let it be Takala's.
Fala pushed the fear aside and focused on the beat, the gushing rush of blood through the heart's chambers. Takala's heart. Thready, but still pumping life into her body.

Fala and Stephen reached the car before Akando and Aden. It hardly looked like a car now, its black sides crushed and mangled.

The smell of seeping gas almost gagged Fala.

“Fala, get back,” Stephen ordered. “This thing could explode any minute.”

“Got to find her.”

“Hold her,” Stephen ordered Akando and Aden.

Fala felt their arms wrap around her and yank her back. “She's alive! Let me go!”

Stephen reached the driver's side of the mangled heap and was already on his knees, elbowing chunks of glass through the window. “I've found her,” he said, crawling in through the crushed window as far as he could. “I see two guys in here, one in the backseat with Takala. She must have fought her attackers, because there's a gun in her hand. I've got her arms and I'm pulling her out now. Stay back, Fala.”

Fala couldn't stand back and watch, knowing Stephen and Takala could die if the car exploded. She had to do something. With one angry shove, she broke Aden's and Akando's hold and knocked them backward. They hit the ground hard.

Fala saw Stephen had Takala halfway through the window and she ran to help him.

“I told you stay back!” he yelled, the smooth silken control in his voice gone. Fear for her shown in his dark expression as she held Takala's head and shoulders, while he guided her hips through the broken window.

Fala saw him grimacing from the pain in his side, then she looked down at Takala. Her hair had come loose, one braid covered in blood and falling over her ashen face.
She had a gash over one eye and several bullet wounds in her stomach.

Akando and Aden were up and behind them. Akando shoved Fala aside to get to Takala. “Here, let me have her.”

“Get her as far away from here as possible, and take Fala with you.”

Akando hurried down the ravine, Takala's limp body swaying in his arms.

Aden put his hand on Fala's arm. “Come on, Fala. It's not safe.”

“No, I can't leave him. You go.”

Aden appeared uncertain for a moment, then he followed in Akando's wake.

“I mean it, Fala.” Stephen headed back to the car. “Get away while I pull the other bodies out.”

The smell of gas overwhelmed Fala now, and she sensed the hot manifold spark even as it struck the air. “Run, Stephen! It's gonna blow!” she screamed.

S
tephen wasn't moving fast enough, the strain on his wounds slowing him down. Fala centered her strength and forced her shamanic power down into her legs and arms, then she was grabbing his hand and pulling him so fast his feet barely skimmed the ground.

The car exploded. Fala didn't turn Stephen's hand loose as they were jettisoned through the air by the impact, a wall of fire at their backs.

They both hit the bottom of the ravine at the same time.

Fala landed on top of Stephen and covered his head with her chest.

Fire seared the air over their heads and lashed the back of her body, but she and Stephen held tight to each other.

Then only the sound of flames cracking and twisting metal broke the night air.

Fala grew aware of Stephen's lips against her neck, his hot breath keeping time with her own, and his powerful hardness pressing the length of her. Magic still streamed through her and it intensified every nerve ending where they touched. With all of her being, she wanted to stay on top of him. But she knew she couldn't, not now, not ever.

“Fala, are you okay?” he asked, in a deep, ragged whisper.

“Yes. Are you?” She couldn't control the tremor in her voice.

“Not with you near me.” His arms tightened around her waist.

“Don't…we can't. You promised. Remember?”

“I take it back,” he said, his voice a velvet growl as he released her.

“You can't. I'm going to marry Akando.” Fala forced herself to roll off him, her body still throbbing for him.

She gritted her teeth as she stood, seeing for the first time emotional pain thawing the ice in his eyes. Their gazes held until she couldn't fake it any longer, and she hurried to where Akando had laid Takala on the ground. His brow was knitted, and Fala saw him looking at Takala as if seeing her for the first time. Was that attraction or regret in his expression? Akando was wiping away the blood on Takala's forehead with a handkerchief, murmuring, “You'll be okay.”

“Please move,” Fala said, not at all envious of the caring Akando expressed for Takala. It made sense that he was attracted to her sister and she to him. They fit.

Fala curled up next to Takala, built the power inside
her, then she touched her lips to her sister's and blew her healing spirit inside Takala. It melded with Takala's body, shocked it, shifting her skin, sealing her wounds, then Fala felt her energy whip back inside her.

She pulled Takala close, panting, weak from the energy drain. She lay there, holding Takala, the icy wet ground seeping through her shirt and pants. She felt totally drained, mentally and physically. Exhaustion yanked at her. She knew the recent contact with Stephen had more to do with her fatigue than anything that came after it.

Takala moaned, then her differently colored eyes fluttered open. She squeezed Fala's hand and uttered, “You're always there for me.”

“You're my sister. I'll always be here for you.”

“Sisters forever.” Takala's eyes teared up as she smiled and hooked her pinky around Fala's. “I'm sorry I've been such a jerk lately.”

“Lately?” Fala arched a brow, teasing her.

“Okay, for a while.”

“Better.”

“Can you forgive me?” Takala squeezed Fala's hand and looked as apologetic as her proud face would allow.

“Already done.” Fala saw Stephen walk up to them, his gaze piercing her, and she said, “But I didn't pull you out of the car. He did.” She pointed at Stephen. “You should thank him.”

“Thanks, G-man,” Takala said, sitting up, ashen, and still a little shaky. “I guess you're not so bad to have around.”

“My pleasure.” Stephen's lips thinned in a ghost of a smile. “What happened inside the car?”

Takala glanced at the flames still engulfing the car. They twisted fifteen feet into the air, gnawing the metal to cinder and rust. “They held me at gunpoint. I found my chance, turned the gun on the guy holding me in the backseat. Then I fought with the driver. The car sped off the road…that's all I remember.”

Akando stepped over to Takala, his expression anxious. “I'm glad you're okay. I didn't mean what I said.”

“Liar. You meant it.” Takala gave him her best feline grin, then looked at the blood in her braid and made a face.

“Okay, at the time I meant it,” Akando conceded.

“Thank you. For a moment I thought you were going soft on me and I was going to lose all my respect for you.” Takala held out her hand to Akando. He took it and pulled her up. “I'm dying for fries, a milk shake and a hamburger.”

Akando said, “We just ate.”

“Our dinner was kinda interrupted. Stop moaning, will yah?” She locked elbows with Aden and Akando and literally pulled them toward the car. “You guys don't mind giving me a lift to the Mickey D's in Mechanicsville, do you?”

“But who'll stay for the fire department and the police?”

“Oh, Fala and the G-man can handle it. They enjoy that kind of stuff.” She turned and spoke to Fala. “Tell Reese I'll swing by the station in the morning and give him a statement.”

“What if he wants to talk to you tonight?” Fala asked.

“He knows I run into trouble in my line of work.”

Reese McMurray was the sheriff of King William County. He and Takala had graduated high school together, and Takala had the good sheriff wrapped around her finger. Fala always believed Reese had a thing for Takala, though her sister wouldn't admit it, just like she couldn't admit she loved Akando.

Akando glanced back at Fala to get her approval, uncertainty swimming in his expression.

Yes, go.
Fala nodded and shooed him forward with her hand.

Takala nudged them toward the Fury, where it still sat in the middle of the country road, door open, headlights glaring. Before Takala let Akando help her in, she glanced over his shoulder and gave Fala an audacious wink.

What was that wink about? Was Takala leaving her alone with Stephen on purpose? Talk about a one-eighty. Maybe Takala had decided they needed some time alone together to say goodbye. But that was dangerous. Being by herself with Stephen could lead only to more heartache. Good grief! Takala's timing had always been disastrous when it came to emotions and relationships, and she'd proved this time was no different. Fala didn't know if she wanted to thank her sister or wring her neck.

Stephen caught the wink and said, “Yep, I don't mind cleaning up your sister's messes.”

“And she can make some,” Fala said, her tone as flat as the icy road.

“But this was beyond her control.”

“Okay, but leaving me here isn't.”

“You're not alone. You have me.” His eyes thawed, the heat in them messing with her insides.

“Right.” That was the trouble. She had him. But for how long? What was she thinking? She didn't even want him. Did she?

She felt her resolve to stay away from him slipping by the second. She cursed Takala, then Stephen, then her own lack of willpower. She groaned inwardly, sure this was going to be the longest few hours of her life.

 

An hour later Fala glanced over at Stephen. He had insisted she let him drive her back home. It had taken the fire department twenty minutes to put out the fire, and another fifteen minutes of Reese's questions and some mumbled curses at Takala, before they were allowed to go home.

They reached the main road to the reservation, and Stephen whipped the Bug onto the gravel surface. He'd been the perfect gentleman, not making advances or flirting with her or anything. He hadn't even spoken to her. She was starting to get mad at him.

Her eyes drank in the forbidden sensuality of his profile. His chiseled features glowed in the dash lights, dim light flicking through his collar-length raven hair, over his aquiline nose, along the dark stubble on his face. He was sinfully handsome. She longed to reach out and touch him, and she forced her fingers into fists and stuffed them into her pants pockets.

Suddenly Stephen turned off the road.

Fala sat up, stretching the seat belt. “Where are you going?”

“Isn't this the way to the sweat cave?”

“Yeah, but how do you know?”

“I vaguely remember being carried there.”

“Why are you doing this? We'll be expected back.”

“I need to make love to you.” The longing in his voice held a pleading urgency. At hearing him utter the word
love,
a shiver went through her. His deep voice had embraced it and held it and stroked it as if his whole being rested on what she was about to say. “We can't,” she cried. “I'm supposed to marry Akando in two days.”

“A marriage that is being forced on you. You're not married yet. Give me just a few hours. He'll have a lifetime with you.”

“But—”

“Tell me you don't want me to touch you, and I'll take you home.” His eyes glistened and turned into sharp silver blades.

Fala couldn't form the words; they lodged in the growing lump in her throat. Tears stung her eyes. Oh, God! She wanted him to touch her, more than touch her.

His expression hardened again as he concentrated on the road. It narrowed then dead-ended. He cut the engine and got out. In two strides, Fala was beside him, and they were walking down the path.

The air felt charged between them, humming with their unspoken need. She could hear his ragged breaths twining with her own. When his shoulder brushed hers, a tingle zipped up her arm and settled in her breasts.
Her anticipation grew until it physically tugged at her insides.

She grabbed his hand and they both ran toward the cave.