A Shift in the Air Page 13

  “Okay.”

  “You can use him to center your water element. You’re mated; let him calm you. Now, focus on his heartbeat, the steady rhythm. I’m going to breathe with you, listen and match me.” Caitlin took deep, rhythmic breaths directly into the speaker, watching the bedside clock. One minute, then two, and Mara’s breathing steadied.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I feel better.”

  “Now boarding, Aer Lingus Flight 603 to Dublin.”

  “Mara, put Cade back on,” Liam said.

  “We’ll land a little after five tonight. Where will you be? Mara’s going to need Caitlin.” Cade lowered his voice. “Please, Liam.”

  “Give us a moment, yeah?”

  The pain in Cade’s voice worried her. Mara had to be in bad shape. How could she help? Giving Mara some of her air steadied her before. Perhaps that was the answer. Liam held his hand over the phone’s microphone. “Luv, can ya hide us at all if Fergus heads for Dublin?”

  She nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I think so. For a short time.”

  Liam blinked hard, and a muscle in his jaw ticked for a moment before he adjusted his grip on the phone. “We’ll be at Clontarf Castle Hotel. Get here as quick as ya can, and we’ll leave for Farren’s as soon as ya arrive and Caitlin has a chance to help Mara.”

  “Okay. We’re walking down the jetway. Call the pack and let them know we’re all right?

  “I will.” Liam hung up and dropped his head into his hands. “I hope to all that’s holy that we haven’t sealed Farren’s fate.”

  “Send Peter? You said he knows the area. Send him to Farren’s pack, and we’ll stay here. Fergus knows us, but he can’t know Peter, can he?”

  Liam’s brows knit, and Caitlin couldn’t help taking his hand. Fergus’s words echoed in her mind. His blood will bring us closer. Once ya see the error of yer ways, and we destroy him, we can be happy. She forced the thought away. Liam needed her. Mara needed her. She squeezed his fingers tightly.

  “Ye’re right. I’ll go talk to him.”

  ***

  After washing away hours of travel, Caitlin dressed quickly. She needed air, and more than anything, needed to get away from Liam. Every time he touched her, she remembered Fergus’s voice alongside Liam’s kiss. She wanted to love Liam, wanted to melt into his arms and have him reassure her, but between his fear for Farren and her own discomfort, they tiptoed around one another. Peter had calmed, at least, and set off for Farren’s with a promise to call as soon as he arrived.

  Liam paced the suite’s main room, his prowling gait doing nothing for her nerves. When she emerged buttoning her jacket, he turned and narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Where do ya think ye’re going?”

  “I need to get quartz and sage for Mara.”

  Liam reached for her arm, but she jerked away.

  “Don’t touch me, please,” she whispered. “I can’t…not right now. Not after Fergus. He’s still far away. I’m not in any danger. I’ll be back. I promise.”

  “Caitlin. Please. At least let me go with you.” The pain in his voice shattered her control, and a breeze lifted locks of his hair and drove him back a step. “Don’t do this.”

  “I have to.” Caitlin clutched her cross-body bag to her chest, retreating slowly. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” She turned and fled, trying to ignore Liam calling after her. Reaching for her element, she flew down the stairs, the wind at her back, and burst out of the hotel like a drowning woman clawing her way onto land.

  Whatever god or goddess shaped her life smiled on her—for once—and a taxi pulled up less than a minute later as she sucked in a lungful of air to calm her turbulent emotions. “Grafton Street, please,” she said, huddled in the back of the cab, clutching her phone.

  Caitlin, please come back. Or at least tell me where you are.

  A moment later, another message.

  I need you.

  Finally, as the taxi turned onto a side street and swerved to the curb, the final message brought a tear to her eye.

  I love you. Be safe.

  She threw some money at the driver and fled into the crowds. As she lost herself in tourists and locals alike, she tapped out a reply.

  I will. I promise.

  ***

  Grafton Street housed hundreds of shops: jewelry stores, mobile phone kiosks, upscale boutiques, bookstores, and banks. She hoped the area’s seedier end hadn’t changed much in the eleven years she’d been gone. Wandering among hundreds of shoppers, she could almost pretend she lived here again—a recent graduate, looking for her first “adult” job.

  Caitlin bought a coffee at Baker’s and a scone at Nola’s, and window-shopped at some of the city’s more expensive clothing meccas. She’d lived a free life here for three years, and she couldn’t let Fergus take this from her again.

  “He can’t have my life.” She fingered the amber tucked in the leather cuff at her wrist. The ancient resin warmed under her touch, and the memory of Liam’s lips on her neck brought a shiver and a smile. No, Fergus had no place in her relationship with Liam.

  Caitlin wandered into an alley, praying she’d locate the occult shop quickly. She’d found the store online, though their website had appeared woefully out-of-date. The sun disappeared behind the tall, gray, stone buildings, leaving only a thin slice of sky visible above her. A chill worked into her bones, and she pulled her jacket tighter.

  Cloch Anam. The sign swung on creaky hinges in the Dublin breeze. Whispering a quick protection charm, she slipped through the door. A wall of incense threatened to knock her back, but she sucked in a breath through her teeth and pressed forward.

  Floor-to-ceiling shelves bore every manner of glass jar filled with herbs, spices, and dried animal parts, weathered tomes of all sizes and thicknesses, and ornamental athames, Celtic crosses, and engraved ceremonial bowls.

  Making her way to the back of the shop, Caitlin called out for help. “Hello? Blessings be.”

  After a few tense breaths, a withered response no louder than a whisper came from behind her. “Blessings be, child. What can I do for you?”

  Turning, Caitlin forced a nervous smile for the elderly woman in front of her.

  White hair fell in an angled bob around the woman’s haggard face, and she leaned heavily on a cane. A black shawl wrapped thin shoulders, and her long skirt brushed the wood floor planks as she shuffled forward.

  “I need five smoky quartz stones, cleansed if you have them; a quartz or jasper worry stone, with bag; a smudge stick of white sage; one of rosemary; and both essential oils.”

  “Ye have an eye for the craft, do ye?” The old woman reached around Caitlin and plucked a leather pouch from a high shelf, then sidestepped her with more speed and grace than should have been possible, to withdraw a small glass jar filled with gray stones.

  “No, but I had a good teacher in America.”

  Her scoffing laugh riled Caitlin’s anger. “There are no good practitioners in the States, lass. Ye’re mistaken, and ye’re goin’ to get yerself in a bad way.”

  Caitlin took the proffered smoky quartz and closed her eyes. “This stone hasn’t been cleansed. The negative energy contained here sickens me.”

  When she looked back at the shopkeeper, respect shone in the woman’s eyes. “Ye passed the first test. Can ye identify the sage?”

  With a snort, Caitlin snatched the white sage smudge stick from the shelf behind her. “You’ll have to try harder to trip me up.”

  Item by item, the elderly practitioner arranged Caitlin’s purchases on the counter, finally adding the red jasper worry stone. “Ye’ll know this, I’m certain, but red jasper is a talisman for warriors. Ye have a sadness to ye, lass, but also a resolve that tells me ye plan on fightin’ whatever comes for ya.”

  “None of these are for me,” she protested, and the woman’s watery hazel eyes narrowed.

  “Give me yer hands.”

  Bony fingers grasped Caitlin’s, and a subtle cu
rrent of energy flowed between them.

  “Air. Tainted by the earth, purified by…love, yeah?” A smile deepened the wrinkles around the woman’s mouth. “For ye, the red jasper will strengthen yer will and allow ye to escape whatever hunts ye.”

  Caitlin snatched her hands away. She needed to send all of her energy to Mara. She didn’t deserve any for herself. Not after what she’d done…all the deaths, all the pain. “No. Nothing is hunting me. I don’t—“

  “Ye do, lass. There’ll be no arguing with Shayla. And ye did nothin’ wrong. The guilt in ye weighs heavy. Release what ye’re holding onto so ye can be free.”

  She’d never be free. Not truly. Not enough to love Liam. No talisman or worry stone would fix that.

  Carefully, Shayla wrapped each item in paper, tucked them all in a large sack, and retrieved a second smaller leather pouch from under the counter. “This is for yer red jasper, and I’ll have no protestin’. Wear this around yer neck, and ye’ll find strength ye didn’t know ye had. No charge. I sense too much sadness in ye for such a pretty thing. Now go, before old Shayla changes her mind.”

  Caitlin tucked the sack under her arm, and draped the red jasper pouch around her neck, a slight measure of peace seeping through the leather. She didn’t have much faith the stone would do what Shayla intended—yes, stones and crystals carried power, and the quartz worked for Mara, but Caitlin carried too much guilt and pain for one stone—or even a hundred. Still, she nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Ye’re welcome, lass. Blessings be.”

  ***

  Caitlin stumbled steps from Grafton Street as the charm hit her in the chest. No.

  Unlike in the hotel room, she couldn’t hear Fergus, but his dark, oily charm still wormed through her, invading her muscles, stealing her body’s will.

  The urge to run, to head west, to find a bus, a taxi, any means possible to get to him pressed down on her. One foot, then the other, obeyed his command, and she fought desperately to break his hold on her. How the hell could he wield such power over her from a distance? Location charms didn’t require proximity, but compulsion charms did. She’d never managed one under half a mile. But…she sent out her own charm, weak, desperate, and when she found him, the horror washed over her, raw and grating against her skin.

  Distance still separated them, hours and hundreds of miles, but he’d strengthened beyond anything she’d ever felt before. Another step, two, and she turned, emerging from the side street and out into the sun. Her body strained, every muscle taut with horror. No. Fight!

  Crowds passed by, and though she begged one strong-looking young man, “Help me,” he only stared at her as if she spoke a foreign language and rushed away. A Garda? Trust no one. Cade’s words chilled her almost as much as Fergus’s charm. No, she had to do this herself.

  I’m stronger now. Repeating the words a second time, she fought him, and with every step closer to the bus station, cracks opened in his control. She grasped the leather pouch around her neck, tried to draw strength from the stone, but failed. Snapping the cord, she let the bag dangle from clenched fingers and sucked in deep breaths, trying to strengthen her own resolve. Another turn and she found herself at the banks of the River Liffey, with Ha’penny Bridge a block away. Liam.

  A bus rumbled by, the deep vibrations jarring her out of the fog of Fergus’s charm, and the feel of Liam’s arms around her, pulling her against him, warmed her.

  Fight him.

  Ha’penny Bridge stood watch, tall and proud over the river. Families, lovers, and college students wandered, rushed, and lingered, and the sunlight sparkled like hundreds of precious jewels over the water.

  Caitlin called upon her element and stilled the air. The constant Dublin breeze fell away, and she shook off the last vestiges of Fergus’s charm as she took her first step onto the bridge. Fergus’s anger and surprise punched her in the gut, and she doubled over with a hand on one of the bridge supports, but he couldn’t have her. Whoever she’d been before—weak, afraid, unable to fight—she’d found her strength now. Whatever she’d done under his control, that guilt belonged to him, not her. She’d made a mistake, yes. A single, stupid mistake at sixteen that she’d let twist the rest of her life into knots, binding her first to him, then to Katerina. He’d controlled her body, and Katerina wrapped Caitlin’s mind—even her heart—in chains, but now…the bindings fell away as she tipped her head to the sky, smiling as a cloud skated across the cerulean canvas. Free of the compulsion, she banished Fergus to the dark recesses of her mind. Sun warmed her back, and she took an easy breath as she trailed her fingers along the padlocks that dotted the wrought iron rails stretching their lengths to the heavens.

  “I have something for us, luv.”

  Liam held out his hand; an old-fashioned padlock rested in his palm. On her first night in Dublin, Caitlin had walked along Ha’penny Bridge, and the love surrounding the span staggered her. She’d shared the memory with him days ago, and the twinkle in his eye now pulled a giggle from her lips.

  The physical presence of so many promises wrapped her in a warm blanket against the chill of her past, and she gently plucked the heavy lock from Liam’s hand and examined the scrawl on the back.

  Liam and Caitlin

  “I have the key.” He offered his other hand, and the long antique key caught the moonlight, glowing in the waxing moon.

  “Shall we?” she asked. He nodded, turned the key in the lock, and wrapped his fingers around hers. They closed the lock together, and with their hands still joined, he brushed a tender kiss to her lips.

  As she traced the lines and curves of the weathered metal, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

  I miss you. Are you safe?

  She missed him, too. The haze between fear and love thinned, and now…accepting that she could love him, she had to see him.

  Yes. I’ll be back soon.

  With one last glance down at the promise they’d made to one another so many years ago, she turned and ran.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Caitlin paused outside the hotel room door. The keycard slipped from her fingers. Nerves almost had her turning around and heading down to the hotel bar for a shot of whiskey. What if Fergus intruded again? No. If he tried, she’d fight him.

  The door lock turned green as she withdrew the card, and she slipped into the suite. Steam from a recent shower and Liam’s spicy, delicious scent filled the room; he leaned against the window, staring out over the manicured lawns behind the hotel.

  “Liam.”

  He stole her breath with his churning eyes, the damp locks that brushed the towel around his bare shoulders. “I was worried.”

  Caitlin slid her arms around his waist, stifling a momentary flash of panic at the memory of him pressed against her with Fergus in her head. “I’m sorry. But…I needed some time.”

  “I don’t want ya alone with Fergus so close. What if he compelled ya and took ya away? I don’t know what I’d do if I lost ya.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she rested her cheek against his chest. “He tried.”

  Liam stepped back so quickly Caitlin fought not to lose her balance. “What?”

  Needing his touch, she closed the sudden distance between them and wrapped her hands around his arms. “He called to me. But after a few blocks, I broke free. I fought him.”

  “Caitlin, shite. What did he do to ya?” The beast glowed in his eyes, though she couldn’t tell if anger or fear caused the sudden change.

  “He tries to control my body. Only my body. Never my mind. He never had to, because I felt so guilty over what I’d done that I didn’t think I deserved to be free. I’d hurt so many people. But…I didn’t choose to do so. He made me. Even Katerina—I understand now.”

  “Understand what?”

  “What Katerina did to me. Why I hurt Maggie, why I helped Mara. Katerina used my element to infuse the crystal so I’d want to follow her. I thought I’d made the choice, but I didn’t. Not really. The only choice I made was t
rusting her. Fergus never gave me any choice. He took so much of my element that I never had a chance. Until now.”

  “What’s so different now?”

  “I am. Which is why I can’t let him ruin what…we have. I can fight him.”

  Liam tipped her chin up. “Ye’re shaking, luv.”

  ”I let him come between us this morning, and I’m sorry for that.” She slipped a finger through one of the belt loops on his jeans and tugged him towards the bedroom. Slowly, she guided him to the bed, but he didn’t let her tug him down, instead running his hands down her back and pulling her against him. With his gaze locked on hers, she tried to banish Fergus from her mind. He didn’t belong here. “I won’t let that happen again.”

  Liam cupped her ass, and she shivered. She could do this. She could show him how much she loved him.

  Caitlin sunk her hands into his hair, savoring the silky strands between her fingers. The control allowed her easy access to those firm lips, and she rose up on her toes, slanting her mouth over his. His low rumbling moan accompanied the dance of his tongue along hers. Liam slid an arm around her back, but she pulled away. “No. This is for me.”

  Trailing the backs of her fingers along his jaw, the faint rasp of stubble tickling her skin, she licked her lips. A teasing kiss at the corner of his mouth, another to his shoulder, his nipple, and he pawed at the button on her jeans.

  “Naked, luv. Now.”

  Two quick steps back took her out of his reach, and she pulled the green sweater over her head, then toed off her boots and jeans. “No touching. Take off your pants.”

  His cock strained against his briefs, and she couldn’t help her smile as she admired him, all coiled strength and ferocious desire. Flames danced in his green eyes, as bright as the sun.

  Sliding a single finger under the seam of his briefs, then two, then three, his cock twitched against her hand. She rained kisses over his chest, grinding her hips against him. Only two scraps of material separated them, and arousal soaked her panties in the space of a single breath when he swept her against him in a searing kiss, demanding all of her.