Tribes of Man: The Beginning [Tribes of Man] (Siren Publishing Classic) (21 page)

For a moment Gideon stiffened then he relaxed. “The more people looking out to protect her, the better I’ll feel.”

Kristano also touched her arm. For a moment the four of them were connected through Raina. She felt a surge of power, of connection, of family. Their circle wasn’t complete, but it was strong.

“I’m starved,” she said. “Let’s go get some pizza.”

* * * *

Jensen was looking out the window of the house across the street from Raina’s home. The men trailing Kallan lost them for a short time, but were able to reacquire the target. The three had returned to the house with a doggy bag from Sorentino’s Restaurant. There was another man with them. His agents were trying to get an ID on him. Jensen was no longer convinced that Kallan was a terrorist. As a matter of fact, he felt fairly certain that she was trying to stop Director Cascaval, whatever he was.

He hoped she succeeded but knew he would do everything in his power to stop her. He was going to have to try to kill her, both because of the compulsion Cascaval planted in him and because of self-preservation. At this point, it was survival of the fittest, and he was determined to survive.

Jensen stepped back from the window and began to assemble his sniper rifle. Within the next twenty-four hours, Raina Kallan would be dead.

* * * *

“I can’t believe how much I ate,” Raina groused as she opened the door to the house and reset the alarm.

“I hear ya,” Gideon said as he rubbed his full, but flat, stomach.

“I think we need a plan,” Kristano said. He was all business. That bit about the gunshot worried him.

“I agree,” Eric said, looking around the house as they walked toward the living area.

“Maybe we should work in the kitchen,” Kristano commented. He felt an unusual sense of urgency.

“I want to relax,” Raina said, heading for the couch. She and Gideon sat down, and Gideon grabbed the notebook off the coffee table. “Let’s start in here, all right? If we need to, we’ll move to the kitchen.”

Eric and Kristano took the chairs opposite the couch. “We need to make a list.”

“I agree,” Raina said on a yawn. “I love lists.”

Gideon kissed the tip of her nose. “OK, start with the basics. We should each have a to-do list.”

Gideon made a large cross on the page, separating it into four sections. He put their name at the top of each section.

“I think Raina should keep working on the prophecy. I think it will give us a better idea of what exactly will happen when we find the child of Earth,” Kristano said.

Gideon grunted. “That’s fine, but I don’t like the idea of her working with the water to see the future anymore. I’m afraid she’s going to get sucked in again.”

“Sucked in?” Eric asked.

“Yes. Not that long ago, she merged with a man who had been tortured by Adder. She was sharing his pain. We were able to soften it for her, but she couldn’t break free.”

Raina shuddered and buried her face in Gideon’s chest.

Eric looked slightly sick. “She had to experience torture?” He turned to Kristano. “Isn’t there a way to get her out of this?”

Kristano was impressed with how Eric bonded to Raina in such a short time. There was nothing romantic or sexual about it. It was almost as though Eric could feel Raina’s vulnerability and responded to it.

“Regardless of the circumstances, you four are the ones that are going to have to win this battle.” When he said “circumstances,” Kristano was referring to Raina’s pregnancy, but he knew she and Gideon would assume he was talking about her blindness. “We can’t keep her out of it.”

“Don’t let my lack of sight fool you,” she said sleepily. “I’m a tough chick.”

Eric laughed. “You look it.”

She threw a pillow at him.

“OK, children,” Gideon interrupted. “That brings up one important thing. There aren’t four of us yet.”

“We need to find Earth.”

“How did you find me?” Eric asked.

“I’m a private investigator,” Gideon reminded him. “I used the information Kristano had on who the last Air keeper was that he knew about and found you genealogically. I was down to one of two possibilities, and when I gave the names to Kristano he checked them out and knew who the keeper was.”

“How did you know it was me rather than the other guy?” Eric asked.

Kristano didn’t want to tell Eric that the other possibility was his distant cousin who was currently serving time in Sing Sing, so he just said, “I knew it was you when I saw you.”

“OK. So we find Earth the same way, right? Did you find him yet?”

Gideon looked down and saw that Raina was sleeping. He lowered his voice. “Not yet, I was concentrating on finding you. We wanted Air because we were hoping you’d be able to do a locator spell to find him or her.”

“I’ve always considered myself Wiccan, like I said, so I’m going to have to do some research on locator spells. I’ve been practicing with my magic for a month, but I haven’t even begun thinking about spells.” Eric stretched. “So we’re each all set. Kristano, what’s your job?” Eric asked.

“My job is to keep you all alive.”

* * * *

Light shone through the curtains and made a streak across Raina and Gideon as they lay in the canopied bed. Gideon had been watching Raina sleep. Her features were relaxed in their beauty. Unable to resist, Gideon slid the sheet down to expose her breasts. The nipples were plump and light rose. Gideon licked the closest nipple and watched as the air made it pucker. He did the same to the other. The sight of her tight nipples made him want to feast. So he did.

Gideon knew Raina woke up when she grabbed his head and pulled him tight against her. Unable to resist, he lightly bit the tight nub.

Raina bowed with pleasure, pushing her breast further into his mouth. He pinched the other nipple and then switched sides. He lost track of the time as he went back and forth between the two pale globes.

When Raina started shifting her legs restlessly, Gideon moved on, rubbing his beard-roughened cheeks on her pale stomach. He enjoyed seeing the slight abrasion on her skin. He knew it made him primitive to see the mark of his possession on her body.

When he finally reached the juncture of her thighs, he breathed in her excitement. He lay between her thighs and pushed them wide. Then he used his fingers to spread her labia and look at her slick, pink pussy. Unable to resist, he licked her from the opening of her body to her clit. Then he began to feast.

Gideon ate Raina’s pussy like a man possessed. He nibbled, sucked, licked, and tongue-fucked her until she shattered. He used his nose to stimulate her clit while her body convulsed around his tongue.

When she was done, Gideon shifted her onto her side, moved behind her and slid into her wet, swollen body.

Gideon felt no urgency to get off. The sheets were pushed to the bottom and the couple lay spooned. Gideon draped Raina’s leg over his thigh and lightly pinched her nipple while he rocked slowly inside her. There was a sense of sweetness in the joining.

Gideon felt the familiar tightening in his balls that indicated that he was going to need to pick up the pace. He skimmed his hand down to touch between her legs. He found the nub and rubbed lightly.

Raina groaned and her body responded by squeezing him. Gideon suddenly slid his arm under her leg to lift it higher and change the angle of his thrusts, throwing them both over the edge of completion in moments.

Gideon lowered her leg, but remained buried deep within her, making them both sigh. Their habit of early morning lovemaking was established at the beginning of their relationship. In the last week or so, though, Raina hadn’t felt up to it.

Gideon was starting to get truly concerned for her health.

“Take a nap today if you need it,” Gideon said as he nuzzled her neck.

“Mm-hmm. I will. Is Joanie working out all right as an investigator?”

“She’s working out terrific. I think she’s getting her license. I bet she’s going to push for partner status, and right now, I’m inclined to give it to her.” Gideon gently withdrew and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“Are you sure you’re feeling OK this morning?” he asked as he headed toward the shower.

“I’m better. I must have just needed some rest. I didn’t want to go to the doctor because I don’t know how much of it is related to trying to use my new powers. Days like today, I wondered why I ever thought I should.”

“I’m glad you feel better.” The band of worry that had been tightening around Gideon’s chest loosened.

He wasn’t surprised to find that Raina wasn’t in the bedroom when he came out. When she felt up to it, she liked to make him breakfast before sending him off to work. He told her she didn’t need to, but she said she liked to.

He was surprised, however, to find that she made enough breakfast to feed an army. Although there was only enough bacon and eggs for the two, she defrosted a huge batch of muffins in the oven. He took a huge plate and so did she. “What’s with all this food?”

“Eric’s stopping by this morning, and so is Bryce. Eric’s shop is closed today, so he said he’d bring some books over and do research here. I figure that if he and Bryce run into each other, I’ll just tell Bryce that Eric is a visiting scholar doing research.” Raina spoke between bites of eggs.

Gideon laughed. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Sounds like a full house this morning. What time does Kristano get here?”

“Actually, as soon as you leave, I come back in, and he’s in the house. So I don’t know, but I assume he can sense where we are and knows when you leave.”

Gideon frowned. He didn’t mind that Kristano knew where they were, but there were times when he wondered just how much privacy they all had in this situation. It wouldn’t be a big deal, except that he wanted to have a serious talk with Raina about their future, and he didn’t want an audience. He felt awkward enough as it was.

“Well, I better get going,” Gideon finished his coffee and put his plate in the dishwasher. He never wanted her to think she had to wait on him.

Raina walked him to the door. She shut off the alarm and leaned on the doorjamb as he started walking toward his car. He paused when a silver BMW pulled up in front of the house. Gideon looked back at Raina, who stood in the doorway. She shrugged. He was surprised to see Eric emerging from the car.

Eric headed toward him.

“Nice ride. Witches do pretty well in this town,” Gideon commented. He knew it was nosey and a little rude, but he couldn’t resist.

“Hey, mom never spent any time with me, but she was big on toys for birthdays.” He gestured back to the car with his head. “I guess she figured that a thirty-year-old with a Beemer is less likely to own an occult shop. Didn’t work.”

They shook hands.

“Gotta get to work,” Gideon said and turned to wave one more time at Raina before getting in his car.

There was a light popping sound, somewhat like the displacement of air when a balloon breaks.

Raina’s shoulder jerked, and she fell back against the doorjamb. The huge patch of blood spreading across Raina’s chest was the only clue to what had happened.

It took only a split second for everyone to act. Gideon and Eric both turned to run up the driveway to Raina. Because of Gideon’s unresponsive muscles, Eric got there first. Kristano materialized right in front of Gideon, blocking the way.

“Gideon, the house across the street. He’s still got the gun!” He then dematerialized again, but not before Gideon saw the blood all over Kristano’s chest. Not even bothering to try to figure it out, Gideon whirled. He immediately saw the barrel of a rifle sticking out of a window of the house across the street.

Gideon didn’t stop to think about the fact that he was on a public street and could be seen. He didn’t consider whether there were other people in the house. He just threw his arms toward the house. Long streams of fire were hurled toward the house. As soon as the first stream hit, the nozzle of the gun disappeared from the window.

Gideon was in a rage like nothing he’d ever felt before. He thought about razing the neighborhood so that the shooter couldn’t escape.

Gideon,
Kristano said,
Raina needs you.

Gideon howled like a wolf.
She’s not dead? Why can’t I feel her?

Eric is absorbing the pain. That must be blocking you. She needs an ambulance. He can take the pain on, but he can’t heal her.
Kristano’s voice was as urgent as Gideon had ever heard it.

Gideon turned abruptly back up the drive, reached for his cell phone, and called 911. He rapidly gave the information about the shooting and the house fire to the operator and hung up, even though the operator told him to stay on the line.

He reached Raina and saw her lying still and pale on the porch. Eric had one hand on her forehead and the other over her belly. He was sweaty and pale.

Kristano was nowhere to be seen.

Kristano, are you there?

No response.

“It’s OK, baby,” Gideon said over and over. He put pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. “It’s all right. The ambulance is on the way.”

“She’s going to be OK,” Eric gritted out. “It’s not that bad. I don’t think it hit anything serious. The baby’s fine, too.”

Gideon jerked his head. “She’s not pregnant. She can’t get pregnant.”

Eric was obviously absorbing all of Raina’s pain. He looked like he was going to pass out. “Put your hand over mine on her belly,” Eric instructed.

When Gideon hesitated, Eric shouted, “Do it!”

Gideon put his shaky hand on top of Eric’s. Their hands glowed then Gideon could feel the tiny life growing inside. He could feel the rapid heartbeat.

“How?” Gideon was stunned. He wanted to leave his hand there, but he became aware of the sound of sirens.

Eric gave a strained grin. “Magic, I guess.”

“The EMTs are here,” Gideon said. “I don’t want to let her go.”

“We’re both going to have to,” Eric said. “She’s unconscious anyhow. She shouldn’t feel anything.”

The EMTs ran up and nudged the men aside.