The Three Fates of Ryan Love (23 page)

She was right. He heard them. He felt responsible for them. Reece's death had left an open wound in their fractured family that would never heal. He'd tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that at least Reece was finally at peace.

But on late nights when the quiet was thick and his mood dark, he couldn't escape the screams or the certainty that he
had
failed his brother somehow.

He swallowed hard and shook his head. “Jesus, you're good.”

An impish smile flashed so quickly, he almost missed it.

“I'm not playing a game, Ryan. I'm not lying. I can free Reece. I can make sure Ruby comes home safely from her trip to Las Vegas and Roxanne leaves her reaper behind. All those things you want.”

For the low, low price of one soft, scented woman who slept so trustingly in his bed.

Aisa didn't make him say it. She didn't pretend it was something else. Instead she waited with motherly patience for him to cave. Ryan had made a lot of mistakes in his life. Maybe he was making one now.

“Sabelle belongs to me,” Aisa pressed. “I'm her mother.”

“You're her slaver.”

“What young girl doesn't think her mother is trying to control her? If your mother had lived long enough, Ruby and Roxanne would have felt the same. Parents hold on. It's what we do.”

Everything she said sounded so reasonable. But she'd played him before, with his father. He understood how cunning she could be.

“Sabelle makes her own choices.”

“Between you and me?”

“About what she wants.”

“And you, Ryan? Are you making those choices, too? I'm offering you your family. Not just Reece, but Ruby. Roxanne. Your dog. Dogs get run over all the time.”

“You can't see what's going to happen without Sabelle.”

“Not quite the truth and not quite relevant. I don't have to
see
to know you'll have to go home eventually. All of you. Ruby from Vegas. Roxanne for the funerals.

She paused to let that sink in. It took everything he had not to blurt,
What funerals?

“You won't be around to watch over your little seer, because the grief and guilt will be the end of you. Give Sabelle back, problem avoided.”

“Veto.”

Aisa let out a frustrated breath. “There's no reasoning with you, is there?”

“If you're so all-powerful, why can't you just take her?” Ryan asked. “Why are you wasting your breath talking to me?”

“As a show of trust, I'll answer that question.”

Yeah. He could tell she was all about the trust. She might look like she was teed up to drive the carpool, but he'd seen her scare the piss out of a kid with scorpions. There was nothing benign about Aisa.

“I'm listening.”

“Sabelle has to agree to come back.”

“Come again?”

“She must consent.”

Ryan blinked.
She had to consent?
The significance of that washed through him, making him smile with relief. She had to
consent
. “I'll tell you right now, that's not happening. Not now, not later. She's not going back.”

“Are you her new master?”

“I'm her new muscle.”

Aisa ran her gaze over him again, a slow, insolent trail that he matched with an insulting look of his own.

“Impressive,” she said, unimpressed. “It will do her no good, though. I'll kill her before I let you keep her.”

“I don't see it that way.”

“You're known for your insight?”

“The way I hear it, seers aren't so easy to kill.”

Aisa tilted her head, amused. “She'll
beg
to come back, Ryan.”

She said it so simply and with such firm confidence that Ryan almost faltered. “You don't know her as well as you think,” he said.

“Clearly, one of us is misinformed. Maybe I'm not speaking plainly enough. Once I start killing your loved ones, Ryan, Sabelle will come running home. She won't be able to stand it. She's sensitive that way. But by then you'll have lost everyone, including the one you're trying to save.”

“Get the fuck out of my sight.”

“Get the fuck away from my seer and open your eyes.
I
am not your enemy, Ryan. I didn't come bearing lies. I've told you the truth as best I could. It may not be the truth you want, but Sabelle belongs to me.”

“Sabelle belongs to Sabelle.”

She shook her head.

“Why did you send her here in the first place?” he demanded.

“Send her? Why would I do that?”

“Because you both knew I'd help her and you wanted her to lead you to Joel.”

“Joel is male,” she said scornfully.

“I'm sure he'll be touched you noticed.”

“I have no use for males. They're as inept at divination as they are at following orders. If I wanted him, I would have taken him years ago.”

“Someone I know would call that a big fat lie.”

Aisa scowled.

“Joel tells a slightly different version. You couldn't kill him and you sure as hell won't get his consent. Until Sabelle found him, you didn't even know where he was.”

Aisa laughed that tinkling, jarring laugh. Living proof that humor couldn't be faked by someone who didn't understand what it meant.

“Let me guess,” she said. “The
vortexes
have kept him hidden while I've search high and low for him. Even you don't believe that. While I applaud your sense of intrigue, you're wrong. I want Sabelle and only Sabelle. I didn't send her here. You've spent enough time in her company to see how helpless she can be. She'd walk into oncoming traffic before she realized she could be hit.”

“She's smarter than you think.”

“And naïve, not to mention a wee bit unbalanced. It's a side effect of seeing. It's why my sisters and I had to give it up.”

“It's like you believe your own bullshit.”

Aisa's features hardened. “I've played nicely up until now, but I need my seer. Give her back.”

“She's not mine to give.”

“That's not what she thinks. She imagines herself in love with you. She thinks you're going to save her. Make her a mommy.
Love
her. That's really not your game, is it? Love. Permanence.” Aisa gave him the once-over again. Slow and hungry. “She has good taste, I'll give her that. Now it's time for her adventure to be over. Send her home while you still can.”

He shook his head.

“Are you willing to sacrifice everything you love to keep her safe? You know the officer who drove you home the other night? The one who tried to shoot Sabelle in the parking lot? I think I'll send him to pick up Ruby when it's time to identify the bodies. I think he has a thing for her. Perhaps not a good thing. He struck me as a little passive-aggressive. Do you think he looks like Ted Bundy?”

“Fuck off.”

“Think about it, Ryan. How much is Sabelle worth? You hardly know her.”

From outside, the sound of two car doors slamming one after another broke the morning hush. A moment later heavy footsteps climbed the porch stairs. Ryan glanced past Aisa to the front door and saw Joel through the small cutout window centered there. Brandy jumped to her feet and barked sharply and Sabelle sat straight up in bed with a frightened cry.

“Ask her to come home. She'll do it for you.”

Aisa stepped into the shadow between the door and the wall and was gone in a blink.

B
randy's bark pulled Sabelle from a horrible nightmare. It had been vivid, like a vision. Aisa was there, of course. Ryan, too. The terrible dream had unfolded in choppy sequences. There'd been gushing rain, freezing cold . . . a moment of decision and a choice Sabelle never wanted to make . . . Ryan's life for her freedom. She'd been poised on the cusp of the decision when she'd awakened.

Ryan was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes, and she cried in relief, scrambling across the bed and throwing herself into his arms as someone pounded on the front door. Ryan called, “Just a minute,” and held her close, murmuring “Shhhhh” in her ear, rubbing her back as she trembled. She cried, big hot tears that streamed down her face and onto his bare chest.

“You had a nightmare, honey,” he told her. “It's okay, you're safe.”

For now, maybe. But Aisa wouldn't give up.

Brandy whined and circled at Ryan's feet. Leaning away, Ryan took Sabelle's face in his hands. “You okay?”

Another knock and Brandy raced from the room to the door, barking loudly. “Put some clothes on,” Ryan said, giving her one last kiss before releasing her. “Joel and Elijah are here.”

She dressed quickly, finger-combed her hair into a pony­tail, and made it to the kitchen just as Joel and Elijah took seats around the table. The three were quiet when she entered, but it was obvious from the tension that they all had a lot to say.

Elijah led with “The woods are full of ravens. They've been gathering all morning.”

Ryan shot Sabelle a look. “Sabelle told me the ravens used to be on the demons' payroll. Now they work for Aisa.”

“It's true,” she said when all eyes turned her way. “They spy for whoever will feed their twisted hungers. Aisa is more than happy to do that.”

“Well, ain't that dandy,” Joel said with a sound of disgust. “Looks like we need a plan.”

Sabelle agreed. She wondered how long the birds had been out there. What had they seen and heard? What could they do? Sabelle had no idea, but the black birds were universally feared in the Beyond. It was rumored they could slip into a person's thoughts and compel them. That made them the perfect accomplices for the master of illusion.

“I dreamed last night,” Elijah said softly.

“So did I,” Sabelle admitted.

“What was your dream?” Joel asked gruffly. “He won't tell me his.”

Sabelle lifted a shoulder. She didn't want to speak of it either. “Mine was filled with Aisa's threats. It was just a nightmare.”

“Except Aisa can back up her threats,” Elijah said.

“I know.”

Joel looked like he might press for more information, but the sound of a car's engine and the hard spray of grit peppering the wheel wells of a vehicle cut through the thick silence.

Ryan strode to the kitchen window and looked out. “Anyone you know drive a black SUV?” he asked, glancing back at Joel.

Both Joel and Elijah shook their heads but came to stand beside him and look, too. Anxiously, Sabelle approached, but she couldn't see past them. Without a word, Ryan tugged her over so she could stand in front of him. The feel of his strong chest at her back brought instant comfort. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and for a moment, she could almost believe there was a way out of this. Then memories of her nightmare and Aisa's threats quickly chased her well-being away.

Outside, the sky rode low to the treetops. Thick clouds churned, sooty black and ashy gray. It hadn't started raining yet, but the smell of damp cold hung in the air and frost crackled the edges of the window.

The approaching vehicle winked through the trees as it followed the switchback road to the cabin, the rumble of its engine big in the silvery quiet, the spray of gravel rattling loudly. As the SUV drew closer, an endless burst of black wings exploded from the surrounding forest.

Startled, Sabelle gasped and Ryan's hands gripped her shoulders as hundreds of ravens darkened the already glowering sky, circled overhead, and then soared into the distance with raucous, angry cries.

The SUV stopped behind the dusty white truck Joel and Elijah must have driven and the doors opened. A woman with shoulder-length hair and a slender body stepped out, speaking across the hood to the man who climbed out on the other side. She had her face turned away, but behind her, Sabelle felt Ryan stiffen with recognition. She looked closer and guessed who the woman must be.

Surprised, she shifted her gaze to the man with her. Like Ryan, he was tall and built for strength. He had light brown skin and endlessly black eyes she could see even from the distance. He met Sabelle's gaze through the window. Her mouth went dry.

She wouldn't need to be introduced to him, either.

Roxanne Love and her reaper had arrived.

Ryan was already out the door by the time Sabelle put it together, Brandy charging at his feet with a big doggy smile and waving tail. The dog skirted the reaper but leapt up to put her paws on Roxanne's chest and lick at her face.

Ryan pulled the adoring dog back and in the next second Roxanne caught him in a hug. He kissed his sister's forehead and held her, completely ignoring the man at her side. His rudeness startled Sabelle—treating a reaper poorly was never wise—but the tall, dark-haired man seemed to find Ryan's insolence amusing. He stood a step behind, gaze alert and scanning while Brandy raced around their feet, determined to knock someone over in her enthusiastic efforts to welcome Roxanne.

Sabelle looked to the sky warily. Ravens didn't just
go away.
But not even a black feather floated down from the trees.

“Where did the birds go?” Sabelle asked.

It was the reaper who surprised her by answering, “They're afraid of Roxanne.”

Afraid of Roxanne?
Sabelle looked at Ryan's sister with new respect.

“Why?”

“You'd have to ask them.”

That mystifying answer left her speechless.

“What are you doing here?” Ryan asked his sister.

Roxanne pulled away and glared at him. “I saw the damn news, Ryan. You couldn't call and tell me what had happened? What the hell is that?”

“I lost my phone and—”

“You lost your
phone
, not your head. Ruby has my number—who I
did
talk to because she remembered to call. What are you doing up here anyway?”

“What are
you
doing here?”

“We live here. You'd know that if you ever called.”

“I meant
here.
This morning.”

Hands on her hips, Roxanne glared at him. “Oh, so you do remember that I live in this town. But it never occurred to you to get in touch? Come over and say hi?”

“Are you going to keep yelling at me?”

Roxanne sniffed. “Maybe. I'm mad at you.”

“Well, get in line. I've got worse things than you pissed off at me.”

That seemed to take some of the stiffness from her posture. She gave the trees a baleful glare. “Who else have you been pissing off?”

He smiled grimly. “Some bitch who doesn't like to share. How'd you find me?”

“The birds,” she said.

“You follow them around?”

“Only when they come in hundreds. In my experience, that's always bad.” With no further explanation, Roxanne turned to Sabelle. “Hi. I'm Ryan's sister, Roxanne.”

“I'm Sabelle. Hi.”

Roxanne waited for her to say more, but Sabelle wasn't sure who she was to Ryan. She wasn't quite certain who she was to herself.

Like Ruby, Roxanne had a direct stare and a friendly smile. There was no judgment in it, but she was brimming with curiosity, especially when Ryan touched the small of Sabelle's back and pulled her closer. Roxanne gave Ryan a look that made him blush.

“This is Joel and Elijah,” Ryan said, indicating the other two, who'd been watching the reunion with interest. “They own this place. This is my sister Roxanne and her—”

“Santo,” the reaper interrupted, shaking hands with both men. He turned to Ryan and said in a deep voice, “Good to see you, too.”

Ryan's handshake was no more reserved than Santo's, but Roxanne watched them both with narrowed eyes, obviously just waiting for one to slight the other. The reaper didn't seem bothered by the tension, but Ryan did. Neither man seemed to care if the other approved of or liked him, but neither one of them wanted to upset Roxanne.

“Let's go inside,” Ryan said with another glance at the sky.

They moved toward the steps, Ryan and Joel bringing up the rear. As Joel drew even to Ryan, Sabelle heard him mumble, “You sure about that guy?”

“Not even a little bit,” Ryan answered.

Sabelle didn't blame Ryan. Santo was cloaked in an air of menace that was hard to miss. It seemed incongruous that the reaper held hands with Roxanne as they walked. As boyfriends went, Santo was unique in every way.

Six adults and one excited German shepherd made the cabin feel packed, but they shuffled around until they all fit in the tiny kitchen. Santo took the seat next to Roxanne, but he eyed Sabelle and Joel with distrust.

“You've been busy,” he said to Ryan in that deep, dark voice. “Entertaining seers in your kitchen and ravens in your yard. I'm surprised.”

Roxanne's head snapped up. “What are you talking about?” She looked from Sabelle to Joel to Elijah. “What's a seer?” Her head swiveled to Ryan and back to Santo as understanding widened her eyes. “They're from the Beyond?”

“
I'm
from the Beyond,” Sabelle said before Santo answered for her. “Joel is from—”

“Denver.”

“Seriously?” Roxanne said.

Roxanne turned that stare on Sabelle again. “And who are you to Ryan? His girlfriend?” She faced her brother before Sabelle could respond, even if she'd known how. “Your girlfriend's from the Beyond and you're giving me shit about Santo?”

“I'm not giving you shit.”

“What do you call it, then? I'm in love with him, Ryan, and I don't care who knows it.”

“You've made that known.”

“So you're going to punish me for it while you diddle around with her?”

“I'm not diddling and I'm not punishing you. It's just taking some getting used to. You may not have noticed, but it's been a little chaotic lately.”

Roxanne snapped her mouth shut and looked away. “What do you want?” she asked Sabelle.

“She's here for me,” Ryan answered.

The reaper cast Roxanne a sideways glance. “That sounds familiar.”

Before the conversation derailed completely, Ryan explained that Sabelle had warned him about Love's and convinced him to bring her here, where she hoped Joel and Elijah would have answers about how to stop Aisa from destroying life as they knew it. Joel interjected when he could until they'd pieced together the shell of the story. Roxanne and Santo listened quietly.

It sounded unbelievable, even to Sabelle, but the pair took it all in stride.

“We aren't safe here anymore,” Ryan told them. “If we ever were. We need to move on.”

He held Sabelle's gaze for a moment and she balked at what she saw there. “Aisa was here?” she breathed.

“This morning.”

“Here?” Roxanne repeated, mystified. “Why didn't she just take Sabelle, then?”

“Aisa needs consent,” Santo said, meeting Sabelle's eyes across the table.

Shocked, Sabelle's stared back.

“You didn't know?” Ryan asked. Sabelle shook her head, wondering how
he
knew, but the conversation moved on before she could gather her wits and ask.

“Aisa can't take her unless she agrees?” Roxanne said. “Well, that makes it easy, doesn't it?”

“Aisa doesn't care if it's
willing
consent or coerced,” Santo clarified. “She doesn't care how she gets it.”

Suddenly Sabelle understood what she'd felt in Ryan's taut silence. “What did Aisa tell you?” she whispered.

Ryan's jaw clenched. “Nothing I believed.”

“She threatened your sisters, didn't she?” Joel asked.

“Among other things.”

Ryan was watching her again. She was afraid to look up. She didn't know what he'd see in her eyes. She didn't know what she'd see in his.

Santo leaned forward. “She threated Roxanne?”

A chill went through Sabelle at the reaper's tone. Ryan locked gazes with him.

“Does it matter?” Ryan asked. “If she could do more than threaten, we wouldn't be talking about it.”

“We're missing something,” Elijah murmured. “Aisa is after more than getting Sabelle back.”

“I still think she's after you,” Ryan said to Joel.

“What good would I do her? She left me for dead when I was born and then tried to make me dead when I dared to survive.”

He had a point, yet Sabelle agreed that Aisa wanted something more than just Sabelle's willing return. She thought back over the time since she'd broken free from the Beyond. Before that, when Nadia—who might not even exist, according to Joel—had shown her how to escape.