A Shift in the Air Read online

  Before the message ended, Mara moaned. A car engine revved, and the line went dead.

  “End of message.”

  Peter looked on from across the aisle while Liam and Caitlin played the second message, this one from Shawn.

  “Have you heard from Cade and Mara? They were supposed to call when they got to the airport, but we haven’t heard anything. Call me as soon as you land.”

  “Shite,” Liam said. He texted Cade, then Shawn. No one had heard a damn thing after Cade’s first, tense messages, and by the time they made their way into the terminal, Liam’s eyes glowed. Barely hanging onto his wolf, he ushered the three of them through immigration and out into baggage claim.

  “Why would anyone try to kill Mara?” Peter yanked his duffel bag free from a tangle of two other bags and tossed it onto a luggage cart.

  “Not here.” With a grunt, Liam wrestled Caitlin’s suitcase from the carousel, followed by his own. “We’re going to get a room for a few hours, regroup, and try to piece together what happened. But until we’re in the car, alone, away from humans, shut the fuck up about killin’.”

  Peter nodded, steering the luggage cart towards the rental car shuttles. Liam draped his arm around Caitlin’s shoulders. “Are ya all right, luv?”

  No, she’d left “all right” back in Seattle. But she forced a grim smile. “I’m terrified, but he’s not calling to me yet. Though he’s probably still asleep. I doubt we have long. I can hide us for a short time once we’re at the hotel. At least slow him down.”

  “How?”

  “Not here, remember?”

  The scent of Dublin in the pre-dawn stillness brought memories of college. Late nights studying, discovering the best coffee shops around the university, running on rain-slicked streets, unfettered and almost able to pretend the missing piece of her being didn’t matter. Freedom, though temporary, allowed her to find Caitlin—the woman who loved to play fiddle in session bands, read romance novels, and speak for hours defending an idea on the debate team. Caitlin lived here, and dammit, Fergus couldn’t take her life away from her again.

  Peter huddled in the back seat of the rental car with his eyes closed, and Caitlin dialed the pack, putting the call on speaker while Liam maneuvered the small sedan through roundabouts with ease.

  “Liam?” Livie answered, with Serena wailing close by. “The airline won’t tell us whether he and Mara made the flight. Fuc—dging privacy laws or some…stuff like that. Take her,” she said, presumably to someone else in the room, and the wailing faded away. “If they’re on their way to New York, they’ll land in an hour. Tierney’s still at Farren’s, and he’s holding strong. Little runt of the pack is getting his alpha on. But they haven’t heard from her, Colin, or Brian.”

  “Farren lives four hours from Dublin. We’ll stay here until we know about Cade and Mara. They didn’t tell ya anything about what happened with the elementals?” Liam turned down a narrow, tree-lined street.

  “Nothing more than he told you. But if the elders are after Mara, I’m worried they’re going to come here. Shawn and I are taking the baby and going to Vancouver for a while. We know the beta up there. Christine and Ollie are staying here, and I hate leaving them, but I can’t risk Serena.”

  “Go,” Liam said. “We’re almost to the hotel. Take care of yourself.”

  No one spoke until Liam booked them into a two-room suite. The moment the door shut, Peter exploded. “What the fuck have you dragged me into? Elementals turning on their own? Our alpha…maybe dead?”

  Caitlin stifled a yelp. Peter hated her—she’d accepted that—but his eyes glowed with his wolf, and his hands shook with rage. Fear sank like a stone in her gut. Liam said Peter had been bitten years ago. He didn’t have as much control over his wolf as a pureblood did, and right now, he looked like he could lose his tenuous hold at any moment.

  “If ya shift, Peter, don’t expect me to forgive ya.”

  Peter yanked at the top two buttons on his shirt, and a feral growl rumbled through his chest. The skin of his cheeks rippled, and pops and cracks pinged off the walls as his fingers broke. His baritone howl turned into a human groan, and the shift halted with one last ominous crack.

  “Get the fuck out of here, now.” Liam kept his voice low, stepping in front of Caitlin with his arms out, tension rolling off of him in waves. “This hotel backs up to a preserve. Go run. Ye’re no help to anyone if ya can’t keep yourself together, and I’ll not have ya threatening my m—Caitlin. Be back in an hour, calmer, and ready to help. Or don’t come back at all.”

  Peter didn’t bother to reply, and the slam of the door echoed like a shot.

  “Caitlin, luv. Come here.”

  She relaxed into his embrace, needing the steady, solid weight of his arms around her. During the ride to the hotel, she’d scanned the internet on her phone, expecting to find more horrors Fergus had unleashed on the poor people of Ireland. But other than confirming that all six missing people from the “earthquake” had died, nothing leapt out at her.

  Liam brought her to the bedroom, eased the jacket from her shoulders, and sat her down on the bed. “Ye’re exhausted, Caitlin. I could pack a week’s worth of clothes in those bags under your eyes. He’s not lookin’ for ya yet. Rest a bit. I’m goin’ to call Tierney and see if anyone’s heard from Farren, and then I’ll join ya.”

  If only a little rest could solve her problems. But Liam had a point. Once Fergus called to her, they’d have no choice but to fight. And without sleep, she’d be no good to anyone. Barely eight in the morning and she’d pissed off one of the wolves protecting her, and the other carried such hurt from that betrayal, and fear for his alpha, that his wolf threatened to break free. Liam’s eyes hadn’t returned to their calm moss green since they’d landed. She kicked off her shoes and then pulled back the blankets.

  His low voice rumbled from the other side of the bedroom door. Though she’d helped him sleep for a couple of hours on the flight across the Atlantic, he woke soon after her conversation with Peter, and they’d spent the rest of the flight talking—about their lives, his pack, and her time with Katerina. He had to be exhausted. And worried about Farren. She crept into the suite’s living room, finding him at the window, staring out over the back lawn of the old castle’s grounds.

  “And he’s said nothin’?”

  Caitlin smoothed her hands over his shoulders, massaging the tight muscles, working her fingers into his hair, and he tipped his head back to allow her better access. With a stifled groan, he dropped into a chair. She called a bit of her element to enhance the conversation on the other end of the line and continued to work out the tension gathered in his neck.

  “His wolf showed up beaten all to hell, Liam. Fell right over at the front door, unconscious. We got some water into him, and he shifted, but he passed out again. No sign of Farren, and he’s not spoken a word.”

  Liam rolled his head around. “Bloody hell. Call me as soon as he wakes, yeah?”

  “Be careful, mate,” Tierney said and hung up the phone.

  With a groan, Liam let Caitlin take the full weight of his head in her hands. She alternated light, soothing touches with firm pressure along the base of his skull, the sides of his neck, and behind his ears.

  “Relax,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Who came back? Brian or Colin?”

  “Colin. Lower.”

  She ground her knuckle into a particularly hard knot at the curve of his shoulder and held the pressure for a count of three, then smoothed the flat of her hand over his back. “Come to bed. I can do more if you lie down.”

  Leading him to the plush bed, she removed his vest, the travel-weary blue button-down shirt, and his belt. “On your stomach.”

  While he shed his pants and threw back the blankets, Caitlin shut the bedroom door. Liam wrapped his arms around one of the thick pillows and closed his eyes with a deep sigh. “I’m afraid Farren’s dead,” he said when Caitlin straddled him and started pressing the heels of her ha
nds into his back.

  “You don’t know that. Until Colin wakes up, we don’t know anything.” She spread the flats of her hands along his shoulder blades and whispered a quick, soothing charm.

  “Oh God,” he murmured into the pillow. “What are ya doin’ to me?”

  “I’m loosening your muscles so I can get to the stress points. If Cade calls, I can sever the charm in a few seconds.” She savored the feel of his sculpted body under her fingers, the coiled strength, the soft silk of his hair, and the low, appreciative rumbles and groans as she worked on his plane-cramped shoulders.

  “Farren’s strong, Liam. She’d have to be to lead a pack.” Caitlin forced confidence into her tone despite the number of times she’d seen Fergus break his victims. He’d gone after three different elementals with her under his charms. Stifling a shudder, she leaned forward to press a kiss to one of the knots in his back.

  “I can feel yer pain, luv. What just happened?” Liam turned under her, pulling her to his chest.

  “Nothing.” Admitting how much her guilt weighed on her would do nothing but cause him more stress.

  Liam trailed a knuckle along her jaw. “Talk to me.”

  She couldn’t resist him. Where Fergus had relied on his stolen element to compel her, Liam needed only a gentle touch, and she ached to tell him everything.

  “Fergus bound me at sixteen, Liam. But he disappeared the next day. Left without a word. I couldn’t tell my mother what we’d done; she’d forbidden me from seeing him a few days before, but I snuck out of the house to work the charm with him. Life continued for two years, and though I hurt, every day, we had a good life. Mum made soaps, and I worked in the little woolen shop in Doolin. I’d enrolled in some part-time courses at a local school in Shannon, and I planned to apply for college. That all changed on my eighteenth birthday. Fergus came for me then, out of his mind, ranting, going on about an ancient book. The charm took me before I could fight back, and I followed him out of my mother’s home, all the way to Kerry. I begged him to release me, but he said he needed me.” A tear wound a lazy trail down her cheek, landing on Liam’s chest.

  “He brought me to an elderly woman’s home on the coast. A water elemental. Used my air against her until she melted into putty in his hands. Everything since that day—his entire insane plan—she gave to him. In the end, he killed her with my element. I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t fight him. We returned to Lahinch, and he informed me I belonged to him now, and I’d do well to remember that.”

  “So ya stayed?” He looked down at their joined hands, and Caitlin couldn’t stand the pain etched on his face.

  “Hell, no. As soon as he released the charm, I ran back to my mum’s and confessed everything. But he…” Grief drowned her next words, and she rolled off the bed and yanked open the window. Her heart pounded, and the drapes billowed as her emotions let loose a storm within her.

  Liam wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck and whispering her name. “Is breá liom tú.” If only love could erase the past.

  “He killed my mother. Suffocated her with my element, buried her with his.”

  “Shite.”

  “You shouldn’t love me, Liam. The water elemental, my mother…those are only two of the deaths I have on my conscience. How can you forgive me for what I’ve done?”

  Liam turned her to face him and cupped her cheeks. A gentle kiss brought a promise of everything she’d longed for: acceptance, respect, and protection. “Answer me this, luv. Did ya choose to kill?”

  “I…chose to trust Fergus enough to give him my element.”

  “At sixteen. We’re stupid at that age. All of us. Answer my question. Did ya choose to kill? Anyone?”

  “No. I fought him every minute. Even that final day when I threw myself off the cliffs. I ‘died’ fighting him.”

  “That’s how I can love ya.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Let me in,” he whispered, and a gentle hand skimmed over her hip, raising goose bumps along her spine. “I need ya.”

  Fingers danced lower, teasing towards her center, and a burst of warmth in her core turned into a tremble, then a cascading waterfall of emotion, churning and sending her flying over the edge to the whitewater below.

  The orgasm dashed her along rocks, slamming her body into his, and lips nibbled along her collarbone, up her neck; teeth nipped the spot behind her ear he loved so much.

  “Liam,” she moaned, arching her back, the thick cotton sheets rustling beneath her. Her mind protested, off-key notes floating in the air, but his mouth closed around a nipple, and the sound faded, rose, and faded again. Pinpricks of light burst behind her eyes, his teeth, tongue, and lips driving her higher once more.

  “Come to me, Catie. Ya belong to me, with me. He cannot give you what I can—we share power, you and I, and we’re so much more together than we are apart.”

  No. Caitlin tried to open her eyes; behind her shuttered lids, Fergus’s face hovered over her. Another kiss to her neck wrenched a scream from her throat, and she clawed at the hands that stroked down her arms, the chest pressed against hers. Wailing, pleading for her life, she begged him. “Please, no!”

  “Can’t ya feel the power of him, Catie? His blood will bring us closer. Once ya see the error of yer ways, and we destroy him, we can be happy. Ya want that, don’t ya? We’ll be together. Bound by blood and air for a lifetime.”

  “Caitlin!”

  She crashed into the floor, the impact singing along her left shoulder, her hip, and the side of her head. Dazed, she blinked back the stars floating in her vision. Liam landed next to her in a crouch, his eyes wild with burning flames, and angry red trails oozing blood across his chest.

  “Caitlin, look at me.” He held up his hands, and deep furrows on his arms brought a fresh sob. What had she done? How had Fergus invaded her mind? Turned something so beautiful into such horror?

  “Liam?” She covered her mouth with her hand. The door slammed open, sending her scrambling back against the wall under the window, wrapping her arms around her knees, shaking.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Peter asked as he barged into the room.

  “Get the fuck out of here. Now. We’re fine. Or we will be.” Liam’s quiet words carried a physical weight, and the smaller werewolf slunk out of the room, closing the door with a quiet snick. “Luv, what happened? Can I touch ya?”

  She heard him somewhere in the back of her mind, but Fergus’s words overlaid his. The ominous warning, the threat of Liam’s death, the horrors of her past swamped her, and she rocked back and forth, trying to make sense of the past few minutes. “F-Fergus…in my h-head.” Pressing the heels of her hands to her temples, she tried to drive him out, close off her thoughts, protect herself from an invasion worse than any before. “H-he…knew…you.”

  “I’m goin’ to take your hand.” He tended to her like a wounded animal. Announcing his movements, easing her inch-by-inch into his embrace, and finally lifting her up and carrying her back to the bed. The tenderness clashed against Fergus’s threats, and when Liam held her close and stroked her hair, she let herself take a deep breath, trying to banish the last of Fergus from between them. “Tell me what happened. All of it.”

  “We were...” She shivered. “You woke me up with…” Caitlin buried further under the blankets and let him tighten his arm around her.

  “I felt you, wanted you, but then…he came for me. Fergus…knows where we are, that we’re here in Dublin. He g-got in my h-head and told me…he’s going to kill you. Or…m-make me do it.” The tears refused to fall, and her fear faded away, leaving resignation and a deep sadness burning a fresh hole in her heart.

  “In your head? How’s that even possible? And how the hell would he know me? I’ve never met the wanker. Is he here? Do we have to run?”

  “I don’t think so.” Caitlin closed her eyes and tried to sense the other half of her element. The location charm whispered from her, flowing outward, seeping through walls, o
ver the landscape, and landing on the farthest reaches of the continent. As the charm returned, bringing a hint of Fergus’s loamy scent to her nose, she shuddered. “He’s somewhere in the west. Far away. Probably not too far from the cliffs.” She stifled a grunt as Fergus sent out his own charm, using her element against her, and with a whimper, she buried her face against Liam’s chest.

  “I’ve got ya, luv. Ye’re okay.” He rubbed her back in slow, rhythmic circles, and she breathed in the scent of his aftershave, of clean sheets, of leather, and sex.

  No. Not okay in the least. Liam shifted and stifled a wince, and Caitlin raised her head.

  “I hurt you.”

  “I’m a werewolf, luv. I’ll shift in a few minutes, and I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you.”

  The ringing made them both jump, and Liam snagged the mobile phone and jabbed the screen, sending the call to the speaker. “Cade, thank God.”

  “We’re about to board the flight to Dublin. Mara lost her phone, and mine died right after I left you that message. We had to go buy a charger as soon as we landed. Listen, there’s not a lot of time. Eleanor’s dead. She tried to protect Mara when the elders turned against us, and shit, Liam.” His voice broke and he swore again before he continued. “They killed her. I don’t even think they cared.”

  “How’s Mara?” Caitlin asked, resting her head against Liam’s.

  “Sick. She needs you. Whatever you did for us at the house—the runes, the quartz—can you do it again? They took the stone you gave her.”

  “Yes. Put her on. Please.”

  Mara cleared her throat. “Are you and Liam all right?”

  Shit. She sounded so weak. Liam stiffened at her side, and Caitlin closed her eyes, drawing on her element and hoping that she could help, even a small amount, over such a distance. “Listen to my voice, Mara. Concentrate on it. Take a deep breath in and hold it. Four. Three. Two. One. Release. Again.” Caitlin talked Mara through half a dozen slow breaths. “If you can, lay your hand over Cade’s heart, skin to skin.”