wrath of the Sea Queen (217 page)

Vin
mistakenly
thought C
a
eli
was
teasing him because of his comment earlier in the week.

"
Ok, I get it.  You let me sleep in for once. 
You get
bonus points for that.  However, I think you are about to squeeze all of the
air
out of me.  Mind easing up a bit?
"
 
Vin laughed
.

C
a
eli did
n
o
t let go.
 
She wasn't laughing.  Vin managed to loosen her arms and lift her chin so that he could see her face.  C
a
eli looked frightened and her blue eyes
told him something was
seriously
wrong. 
Vin
noticed
some
thing
else as he looked at her.  He saw a disturbing determination in her eyes along with their new hue.  He sat up in the bed, and
C
a
eli
sat up beside him.

C
a
eli, on the other hand, did not hear a word Vin said.  Her mind was
focused
else
where
by then
. 

"
C
a
eli, what is it?
"

It
wasn't C
a
eli who
se voice sounded in Vin's mind
.

"
I
was right.  P
ulling your strings w
as great
fun
.  Nearly
irresistible
, wouldn't you
agree? 
I
suppose I should
t
hank you for giving me the opening I needed.
"
  A mocking voice let Vin know exactly what happened, and he
immediately understood
.

Before he acted on them,
Vin
knew
that there
was
something unusual about his recent
ly
overwhelming feelings. 
Belatedly,
Vin
understood
what
Rika
did
to him in the cave. 
She
had
used him
, but not in the manner
Vin
had been
expect
ing
. 
Rika's unsuccessful attempts to manipulate C
a
eli kept Vin distracted from her real goal.

Rika
needed more than a casual hand in a fish pond or a brief soak in the tub to break through C
a
eli's defenses. 
C
a
eli
had
apparently
been
giving Rika more of a
fight
than Vin
acknowledged
,
opposing
Rika
every step of the way.  Rika needed something
more
substantial
in order
to gain an advantage
.  Therefore
, Rika
used
Vin's
love for C
a
eli to
get her to drop her defenses and
weaken her
at the same time
.  And
Vin
had
allowed himself to be her unwitting pawn
.  C
a
eli
had completely set aside her vigilance when she surrendered herself to Vin
'
s desire.  Her
resultant
exhaustion
wiped away
the
last bit of
C
a
eli's
resistance
.  Vin was beside himself with guilt, knowing he should have
maintained
better control over his emotions.

"
I won't let you have her.  C
a
eli, you have to fight her
!
"
Vin insisted, trying to reach C
a
eli.

"
Why fight the inevitable?  Tomorrow, when the moon is full, this
arrangement
will become permanent.  I'm sure we
wi
ll have
much
fun together.  After all,
that was
the
proper
way to
start
a family.
"

C
a
eli smiled mockingly at Vin for a minute, reaching up to run a finger down his cheek.  Vin pulled back from her, knowing it was not his wife's caress and that
he was in jeopardy of losing
C
a
eli.   

"
I already have a family.  You are not a p
art of it, nor will you ever be,
"
Vin insisted.
 
Then
bile rose in his throat and it was all he could do not to
be sick. 
Saying those words to C
a
eli's face, even though it wasn't really her, was
extremely
difficult. 
It was
as if
he was denouncing
the one woman who meant everything to him.

She got up suddenly and made a dash for the back porch. 
Vin caught
up with
her halfway across the room and
carefully
held onto her as she struggled to
escape
.  After several minutes, she stopped fighting and stood s
till
.  As soon as Vin began to loosen his grip, she darted forward again. 
Expecting such a ploy,
Vin did not let her
escape
.  Instead, he grabbed C
a
eli more firmly and pulled her into the shower.  His only thought was that perhaps the water would help C
a
eli more than it would help
Rika
.  It was the only
solution that came to mind
.  No matter what, Vin was not going to let her
leave
.
  He
knew
that losing
sight of
C
a
eli now would be the worst thing that could happen to her.  After last night's poor judgment, Vin was not
going to
fail
C
a
eli
again.

"
Splendid!  You
help
me further.  I didn't realize you liked me so much already.
"
 
Rika's
words with C
a
eli's
voice laughed and taunted Vin
. 
Vin
focused on the
small amount of hesitation
he
thought he
heard
in
those
words.

"
This is for C
a
eli.  She is stronger than you.  You
took
an underhanded and cowardly approach to
sneak in and steal what you could not
g
ain
openly
.  You can
no
t beat her directly.  I know C
a
eli.  She
will
find a way to
put a stop to this
.  Whoever you
really
are, you won't be staying long
, and
I
a
m done talking to you.  C
a
eli,
H
oney,
you
have to fight her.  You
can do this. 
Please c
ome back to me. 
Please, C
a
eli
, f
ight her.
"
  Vin kept encouraging her, praying that C
a
eli could still hear him.  All the while, he fought to hold her under the cold water of the shower
as
Rika
repeatedly tried to escape. 

Once, she did manage to slip Vin's hold and race out to the beach before he caught up with her, blocking her path
to the sea
. 
They stood facing each other in the rain. 
Vin
did not want to tackle C
a
eli
for fear of hurting her or the baby.  A
s he grabbed hold of her
again
, they both tumbled onto the sand.