Intoxicating Magic (13 page)

I stiffened.

“Wil,” he said. “Relax.”

That wasn’t going to happen. I was too wound up, too frustrated. But then his cool healing energy skittered over my skin, giving me a jolt. My steps were lighter and it was infinitely easier to keep up with the group. His hand lingered on my neck for a few moments, and I got the feeling he was reluctant to let go.

I glanced at him and then averted my gaze, biting my lip. “Thanks. I needed that.”

He nodded and then stuffed his hands in his pockets. And for just a moment, I swear I saw sadness flash through his gaze. There had been a time in our relationship when I wouldn’t have hesitated to ask him to help me. But now… everything was different. And even though Tal was right next to me, I started to feel as if I was farther from him than I’d ever been.

It took us over an hour to make our way to a dirt road. There were two Isuzu Troopers parked in a clearing, both a nondescript black.

Matt dumped Meredith into one of the vehicles and then tossed Tal a set of keys. “We’ll follow you,” he said as he climbed into the other Trooper.

“No need.” Tal hit the key fob. “We’re getting on a plane to New Orleans. I’ll be in touch once I’m briefed on the situation.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. One thing I knew for sure about Allcot was that he most definitely wouldn’t stand for Tal briefing anyone who wasn’t part of Allcot’s team. Wait. Did they work for Allcot, too? Not possible.

I opened the back door and gestured for Link to climb in. He jumped up with ease; all signs of his wound were nonexistent. “Feeling okay, boy?”

He leaned his head out the window and licked my hand.

“Good.”

Tal came up behind me and opened the door for me. It was a sweet gesture, but gestures were meaningless when he’d been keeping important information from me. Just like everyone else in my life. David, my mom, Allcot. I’d thought Tal was different. A little piece of my heart hardened as I stared at him.

“Get in, Wil,” Tal said softly. “I’ll explain on the way to the airport.”

He knew I was pissed. Of course he did. I nodded and climbed into the passenger’s seat, relieved we were on our way home. “I need to stop at Mom’s to get my suitcase.”

He shook his head as he turned the ignition. “Too risky. Asher’s people will be staking it out now that they know you’re in town. We’ll get someone to pick it up later if there’s anything important.”

I shook my head. I’d only brought a change of clothes. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t live without.

“Good.”

The ride over the dirt road was bumpy as hell. But at least we were low enough in elevation that the snow had cleared. By the time we finally turned onto a paved highway, my jaw ached from keeping my teeth from clattering together. It didn’t take long for me to turn to Talisen expectantly. “Well?”

He glanced at me and let out a slow breath. “What do you want to know first?”

Had he really slept with that fae bitch?
That was the first question to pop into my head? How sad was I? I swallowed it and instead asked, “How long have you been working for Allcot?”

“Since before I left New Orleans. You knew that.” He added the last part quietly as if to remind me.

“Yeah. But I thought that was to only supply him with your new drug. Not to spy for him. Jeez, Tal. Do you have any idea how dangerous this all is?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “That’s some question after the past twenty-four hours, don’t you think?”

I just stared at him, waiting.

“Son of a… of course I know how dangerous it is.” His eyes flashed with anger as he glanced over at me. “You think I want to work for him? Or the Void for that matter? Hasn’t it ever occurred to you I didn’t have a choice? That maybe I was forced into it by both of them? That if I’d had any real choice, I’d still be in New Orleans by your side?”

A lump formed in the back of my throat. After a few swallows, I could only say the obvious. “The Void forced you to come back here. It’s their fault all this happened between us.”

He stared straight ahead, his neck strained from tension. Then he slowly shook his head. “No. As far as they were concerned, I could’ve stayed there and just worked on my drug.”

“But you said you were forced—” Then it hit me. “Allcot made you leave.” I knew the statement was true deep in my bones.

Tal’s hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Finally he said, “Yes.”

“Why?” I breathed, clutching my throat.

Tal sent me an incredulous look. “Why, Willow? Don’t be so naïve.”

“You’re not serious?” I gaped. “You’re saying he made you leave because of David? What? He was trying to get rid of the competition or something?”

He gave me a flat stare.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on. You don’t really believe Allcot cares that much who his son dates?”

Talisen shook his head and focused on the road.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said, unable to come to terms with what he was implying. If Allcot had asked him to leave, there must’ve been some other reason.

“If you say so.”

Now he was pissing me off. I turned my body toward him and fixed him with a stare of my own. “What exactly did he say to you?”

Tal didn’t answer at first, and just when I thought he was going to stay silent, he pulled over and turned to me. His eyes were ablaze with wild fury. “His exact words?”

I pressed back against the door but nodded anyway. I needed to know.

Tal barked out a laugh. “After almost twenty-four hours of interrogation by the Void, Allcot himself was waiting for me at my trashed apartment. There he was, sitting among the destruction in one of my kitchen chairs as if there wasn’t chaos surrounding him. And when I stepped through the door, he stood, staring me down as if he owned me. Then he said, ‘You’re a distraction. Ms. Rhoswen is safer when you’re not around. Leave. If you don’t want problems for her to surface, you’ll go back to your woods and investigate the murder of Beau Rhoswen.’”

My heart stopped as the breath left me. The words sounded exactly like something Allcot would say. But I couldn’t believe Tal had caved to his demands. “You should’ve told him to shove it. We already know what happened to Beau.”

Talisen frowned and closed his eyes momentarily. When he opened them, the anger was gone, replaced by wariness. “I did. But he made it clear he’d renegotiate the terms he’d secured regarding your testing with the Void. As in he’d tell them he didn’t care what they did to you as long as you were kept alive. It was pretty clear he was only interested in keeping Laveaux happy. He wasn’t about to let you and me keep dating. The easiest way to break us up was to force me to leave.”

I was frozen in the passenger seat. David would’ve never stood for such a thing. But then, if Tal hadn’t left and we’d stayed together, would David have fought with his father over me? When I was with another man? I couldn’t be sure. “So you went. To keep me safe.” My voice was small and dejected. I hated that Allcot had pulled Tal’s strings.

“Yes. To keep you safe. But I won’t lie and say I didn’t want to go. After everything that had happened, it was tempting to come back here where life was easier.” His eyes turned dark again. “
Was
being the operative word. Turns out there’s more to Beau’s death than we knew.”

Another gasp flew from my throat. “What did you find out?” The words were so low, I wasn’t sure Tal even heard me.

But then he reached over and took my hand. Squeezing my fingers, he said, “He knew Asher.”

My blood ran cold. My fingers involuntarily gripped Tal’s until they started to ache.

“Hunter told me Beau was on Asher’s payroll, but he was vague on the details. I’m not sure he was ready to share everything he knows. After years of undercover work, I understand it’s hard to trust anybody, but I swear on everything that’s good in this world that I won’t stop until we find the answers.”

I sat there, stunned. Speechless. Beau had been involved with Asher? How? Why? And if his power was like mine, there was no way he didn’t know Asher was a vampire. Why in the world would he have gotten mixed up with him? I wanted to scream the questions. Instead, my mind whirled in a storm of chaos. Had he known who Asher was? Had he known he was in danger? But the biggest question, the one that ate away at my heart, was why hadn’t he told me?

Beau had been my other half. The one person in the world I’d told everything. He was my twin, and as time went on, it became more and more apparent he had a whole other life I’d had no knowledge of.

There was no denying it. I was hurt… and angry. He’d gotten mixed up with Asher and he’d died because of it.

When we got about ten miles from Eureka, my phone beeped, indicating multiple messages. I glanced down, sifting through half a dozen texts from David. All of them from when we’d been out of range with no cell service.

Yesterday afternoon:
Checking in. Let me know when you’re on your way back.

A few hours later:
Any luck finding him yet?

Just before ten p.m. Pacific time:
Wil? You didn’t forget to charge your phone again did you?

Midnight:
It’s
late. I’m worried now. Please give me a call.

Early this morning:
No one has heard from you. Call back ASAP.

The most recent one:
No longer willing to wait. I’m on my way.

“No. Dammit!”

Tal sent me a worried glance. “What is it?”

I shook my head and dialed David’s number. Straight to voice mail. I checked the time of his last text. Four hours ago. Oh no. Was he really on his way to Eureka? I’d barely been gone twenty-four hours. Of course, I hadn’t contacted him at all. And since I’d arrived I’d been kidnapped and caught up in a magical battle.

Grimacing, I texted:
Where are you?

The response was almost instantaneous.
In the air. We’re landing in twenty-five minutes. Where are you?

Oh, son of a…
On our way to the airport.

Do you have Kavanagh?

Yes.

Wait for me there.

I stuffed the phone into my pocket and flopped back against the seat.

“Wil?” Tal prompted.

There was no way I could avoid telling him. He’d see for himself shortly. “David’s on his way here. He wants us to wait for him at the airport.”

Tal glanced at me once, a storm in his eyes, but he clenched his jaw and didn’t comment.

We rode in silence the rest of the way to the airport. When we pulled to a stop outside the hangar, he put the vehicle in park but made no move to get out.

I started to wonder if he was going to refuse to go back to New Orleans with me. I’d never known him to let anyone suffer before, but everything was so complicated now. There wasn’t even anything to say. I hadn’t asked David to come. In fact, I’d demanded he let me do this on my own. But if there was one thing I’d learned in the past months, it was that I had little to no influence on what the vampires of New Orleans did. Even if one of them claimed to be in love with me.

Sighing, I pushed the door open, but before I could climb out, Tal put a light hand on my wrist. “Wait.”

I stared at his hand before meeting his hooded eyes. “Why?”

He withdrew his hand and ran it through his mussed hair. The loss of his touch left me feeling empty, and I gently closed the door with a soft click.

He turned his gaze straight ahead, not meeting my eyes. “I need to know.”

“Know what?” I asked, totally confused.

He closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath. “Are you with Laveaux?”

My stomach dropped to my toes. Was he really sitting there asking if I was dating David? How was I supposed to answer that when I didn’t even know? David had been my companion for the past three months. He’d helped me through a rough time. Honestly, I had no idea how I would’ve survived the testing without him. But that hadn’t been romantic at all. No, through the testing, David had just been a good friend.

But he had kissed me. Twice. That didn’t mean I was with him, did it? We hadn’t even been out on a proper date. Unless you counted the times we had lunch together at my store. Could you call it a date if someone just showed up and ate with you? I didn’t think so.

“Never mind,” Tal said, blowing out a breath. “I think that’s all the answer I needed.”

He had his own door open when I grabbed his hand.

“No it isn’t,” I said.

He froze but didn’t look at me.

“Damn, Tal. I don’t know what you want me to say here.”

He snapped his head up, his expression tortured. “The truth, Willow. That’s all. I need to know what I’m walking into. I know I left. I
know
I hurt you. That doesn’t mean I stopped loving you.”

My breath got caught in my throat.

He glanced away, clearly regretting his outburst.

My eyes burned with tears as emotion churned inside me. He’d explained why he left. I understood it, could forgive him for it. I still struggled with being left in the dark, but on some level, I understood that too. If he’d told me, I would’ve battled Allcot and likely would’ve ended up making my own situation worse. Tal loved me. And it was clear by the emotion welling in my chest that I still loved him.

“David and I… Well, you know we’re friends. But we’re not together.”

“No?” The hope in his voice made me want to cringe with guilt.

“No. Not officially. But…” I didn’t want to tell him we’d kissed. That was too cruel. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him more. “The potential is there.”

Nodding slowly, he pulled his arm from my grip and then clasped my hand in his, entwining our fingers together.

“When were you with Meredith?”

His eyes widened with surprise. “Three years ago. For about a week.”

Relief claimed my battered heart. I knew I’d had no right to be so upset over her when I was still dancing around a relationship with David. But the heart wasn’t rational.

“Can you do something for me?”

“Of course.” I brushed my thumb over his knuckles. “Anything.”