The Third Fate (24 page)

Paige’s cheeks bore the tracks of her tears.

“
I never considered it that way,” she admitted, new understanding burgeoning in her heart.

“
Then why do you cry?”

“
Because I’m not a child. I lost someone I love very much because of my power.”

“
Have faith, my child. All will be as it should.”

Paige opened her eyes, the voices around her growing less distant as she escaped the daze of her visitation. The divan’s plush velvet caressed her skin, heightening her ache for Cael’s touch upon her flesh. Hunger consumed her grip on reality, and she whimpered, garnering the scrutiny of those caring for her.

“
Rest your mind, Malcolm of Clan Gaunson,” Raven assured. “Your daughter will feed before midnight. Angus is most persuasive.”

Malcolm let out a rush of breath.

“
Very well.”

“
There is one more thing,” Raven added, pausing over the ancient’s daughter. “I want representation on the Council.”

Malcolm’s jaw pulsed.

“
It will be as you say.”

“
Then let us tend to your daughter.” Leading the way upstairs, Raven glanced over her shoulder. “Bring her. Time grows short.”

*

Anna Kinnell sipped her coffee alone at the Garrow brothers’ breakfast bar. Brooke and Lara slept upstairs. The vampire brothers brought them here after the confrontation, now three days past. Anna understood she was free to go.

Claiming the need for further protection, Ewan and Eagen insisted that Brooke and Lara remain. It was her worst nightmare come true. The look in both vampires’ eyes told Anna the truth. They wanted her daughters.

What could she do? She’d lost Paige. Would she now be forced to endure the loss of Brooke and Lara as well? She sighed heavily, feeling beyond her fifty-eight years. Neither of the girls had spoken much since the other night, and Anna feared the vampires had already begun to alter her daughters’ perceptions of their kind. Anna confessed the truth to her girls, all of it this time, her burden becoming theirs as well. Their shock and disappointment she understood, expected. Now, she could only hope they’d find it in their hearts to forgive her.

*

Angus entered the chamber, the petite woman on the bed clearly in need of blood. What circumstances led to her condition he didn’t know, didn’t want to know. Attachments were dangerous.

Damn, this one is in a bad way.

“
Och! My wee loove,” Angus soothed, “everything is gonna be all right soon.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Angus rested his palms on the lass’ flushed skin and sought her torment. He closed his eyes, finding what he needed, extracting Paige’s pain and taking into into his soul. It was never easy, but he’d grown accustomed, the stories the same. Abandonment, betrayal, loss – they blurred into one. Angus had a gift – or a curse - depending on perspective. He was a pain eater.

An hour later, Angus purged himself of the heavy burden he’d drawn from the female. She rested quietly on the bed, settled for the moment. She would feed now, lulled with the peacefulness his withdrawal afforded. He’d feed as well. It was the one beauty of his job.

Once he seduced her, once she succumbed to the thirst, Angus would cloud her memory of him, speak the enchantments that would remove his memory of her as well, and be gone. He didn’t want to be remembered – nor to remember.

“
Waken, wee loove. Sate yer terrible thirst.” Angus bent, brushing his lips across the silken skin of the tiny blond’s forehead. “No more pain tonight – fer either of us,” he whispered, joining her on the bed.

Paige drifted into awareness, the resonant timbre of the man’s voice drawing her further awake.

“
Cael? Have you come back to me?” she asked, confused by the presence next to her.

“
I’ll be whoever ye want me to be, loove,” Angus cooed.

“
Ye be the man leavin’ this place,” Cael growled grabbing Angus from the bed roughly.

“
Who do ye think ye are, man?” Angus returned, standing firm over the woman he had agreed to help.

“
I’m her bonded mate,” Cael ground out, trying unsuccessfully to temper his anger.

“
It’s ye that left her so, then, Highlander?” Angus challenged.

“
That’s nay yer concern. I’m here now.”

“
Where were ye when the lass was sufferin’? Do ye ken
how fragile her condition is?”

“
Bluidy hell, man! I ken. And the sooner ye leave – the sooner I can tend to her.”

Angus made to argue on, but the door opened revealing Malcolm, anger evident on the ancient’s face.

“
Maccinnis, you have returned?”

Malcolm gave no indication that he was pleased.

“
Aye.”

“
And when will you abandon her next? Leave others to deal with the wounds you cause?”

Cael had no defense.

“
Ye have no reason to believe me, Malcolm. If it makes a difference, I thought she’d be better off without me, and I still believe it so. It be me that canna live without her, me that needs her…If she’ll still have me.” Cael shook inside, his admission humbling. “I love her, Malcolm.”

Malcolm’s lip curled in the hint of a smile. He was satisfied with Cael’s confession. Clapping Angus on the back, he led the pain eater toward the door.

“
Angus, let us seek Raven and find ease for you, boy. The Maccinnis has finally come to his senses.”

The door latched, Cael at last alone with Paige. Climbing into the bed, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She stirred, eyes fluttering open.

“
I was dreaming of you,” she said weakly. Her green eyes were dull and drowsy. “Why did you leave me?”

Pain evident in her voice, Paige lowered her eyes, afraid of what he’d answer.

“
I was a fool, Paige. I let ye down, put ye in danger,” his voice broke with emotion. “I couldna face my failure, was convinced I wasna good enough for ye. I’m still unsure. But when I thought of ye with another, I couldna bear it, lass.”

Tears shimmered in Paige’s eyes, and she reached to cup his face.

“
I thought you hated me for what I did to Conrad and Gwendolyn.”

“
Nay, Paige. I hated myself. Can ye forgive me?”

“
Cael, I love you. All of you. You asked me to give myself completely. I’m asking you to do the same.”

Cael claimed her lips, grasping her tightly, the fullness of his love made plain in the ferocity of his kiss.

“
Aye, lass,” he hummed against her cheek.

Paige looked up at him, hunger awakening in the depths of her eyes.

“
Ye need to drink,” he encouraged, the words dying out as Paige sank her teeth into his flesh.

His rough groan reverberated in the room, unity and pleasure negating the need for further speech. Cael willed their clothes gone, craving the touch of her flesh against his heated skin. Rolling Paige beneath him, Cael joined with her, savoring the pleasures of bonded mates, fully surrendered, fully committed. The Fates had known what they were doing all along, he realized. They’d gifted him with love.

The stroke of midnight, Samhain, Paige’s birthday, passed quietly, the lovers entwined, thirst sated and desire spent. After years of living a borrowed, bartered life, Paige rested against Cael’s chest, for the first time confident that her Fate - the Third Fate – truly was her own.

The End…

Nadja Notariani lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her published works include
Claiming The Prize
and
Her Dark Baron
, both released in 2011. Her next project, a historical novella is due out in late summer, 2012.