Love (The Allure Chronicles Book 4) (15 page)

“I have to worry. I am tired of watching innocent people get hurt.” Especially when they were doing things to either directly, or indirectly, help me.

Glendale walked over. “Hun, the kid captured a Grantor. He can’t be that innocent.”

“What do you mean?” I rolled my shoulders trying to get some tension out.

Owen figured out what I was doing and started to give me a back rub.

“It means the only way to capture me is to use dark magic.” Harold gave me a knowing look. “You figure out what that means.”

“What?” Allie and I shouted at once.

“You used dark magic?” Allie stormed across the room to Andrew. “Are you crazy?”

Andrew shrugged. “I did what I believed I had to do. I needed help, so I found it. It’s not like I practiced the magic myself. No one can tell me it was wrong.”

“Everyone can tell you it was wrong.” Allie fumed.

“Speaking of magic, we could use more. Anyone have a witch on retainer?” Glendale glanced around at everyone in the room.

“I’m a witch.” Taylor raised a finger.

I was about to dispute her claim when I remembered who her mom was. “You were born one. Did you hold on to those abilities?”

“Are you asking whether I lost them when I became an Allure, or when my essence was stolen from me?” She glared.

“Either.” She’d been through two major changes in her adult life.

“It’s in there, but it can’t be brought out on its own.” She looked down as if embarrassed.

“She needs someone to bring it out—someone like me.” Glendale settled down in front of her. “I love being useful.”

“You love yourself.” Sol smirked.

“Ok, Taylor is in.” Glendale stretched his front paws. “That leaves me with transporting a Seer, a half-Allure, a former Allure, two Pterons, and myself. Am I leaving anyone out?”

I wanted to say quite a few words about his characterization of me as a half-Allure, but I didn’t. Half sounded better than broken, whether it was or not.

“Are we ready then?” Glendale stretched for the umpteenth time that day.

“I guess so.” Ready or not we had to do this. The only good thing about the numbness returning was I wasn’t afraid.

“Hailey, we should go.” Wyatt touched her arm. “Our trip is going to take longer.”

“Are you sure you want to go with him?” Owen sounded half-panicked yet resigned. “I am sure Glendale can take one more.”

“You’re not sure of anything.” Glendale turned away from him. “I’m stretching as is. She’s safe with the Drago. He protected her from a Shadow; have some faith in the man.”

“She’s my sister,” Owen argued.

“She’s a Pteron.” Glendale stuck up his tail. “Don’t you think you’re all strong and powerful?”

“I’ll be fine, Owen. Take care of Daisy.” Hailey locked eyes with Owen before turning to Levi. “And get Allie home safe.”

“Take care of yourself!” Allie pulled Hailey into a hug. She then came over to me and gave me a big hug. “You can do this. It’s all going to work out.” She patted my back before returning to Levi’s side.

“How are we getting home?” Levi asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Glendale stopped mid-way to sitting. “I’ll do that real quick.”

For the first time I got to watch others getting transported by Glendale. I was too far away to feel the wind, but I knew it was there by the way Allie’s hair blew all around her face. Then in a whoosh they were gone.

“It looks a whole lot easier when it’s not you.” It almost looked fake.

“It looks a whole lot easier than it is.” Sol zipped his jacket. “Glendale expends a lot of energy doing it.”

“Then isn’t this dangerous? Moving them before we go to face the Elders?” I was positive the whole operation was risky, but weren’t we adding more to it than we had to?

“He has no choice. How else would they get back?”

Sol had a point, and I knew it.

Before long Glendale reappeared. “Now that that’s out of the way. Let’s do this.”

“Are you sure you don’t need more time?” I asked as gently as possible. “We can wait a few minutes.”

“No, we can’t. Wyatt and Hailey are already on their way. The rest of the Dragos will be there soon. We need to time this up perfectly.” Glendale eyed the corner of the room. Maybe he was wishing he could nap. As if to prove me right he yawned.

“If you’re sure you’re ready.” I had no other choice but to go along with it.

He waited as the rest of us surrounded him. “I’m never sure of anything, but it’s never stopped me before.”

The bright light appeared, an intense wind, and the next moment our feet left the ground.

W
e landed
in a heap on warm sand. I helped Daisy up before taking in our new surroundings. The whole transporting thing was something I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to. One moment we were in the old bar. The next we were on a spectacular tropical island. I glanced around, trying to take in the expansive ocean and bright sky that seemed to go on forever.

Daisy bent down and ran her hand through the fine white sand. “It’s beautiful here.”

“It is. Too bad this isn’t a vacation.” Once all of this was over, a vacation was exactly what we’d need to take.

“Duck!” Sol yelled.

I pulled Daisy down to the ground seconds before a flock of giant, bright red birds with wingspans about twice that of an eagle flew right where our heads were. We stayed low to the ground while they circled back again. This time I noticed razor sharp points on the bottom of their bodies. “What are those?” I asked as soon as the birds flew away.

“Blood birds. Not very nice animals.” Glendale came out from where he was hiding behind Sol.

“You’re hiding?” I asked, surprised that Glendale was cowering.

“If you were my size you’d be hiding too. Those birds eat cats for breakfast. Of course I’m not a normal cat and could have ripped them apart, but I didn’t want to upset our lady folk.”

“Your lady folk could have handled it.” Taylor rolled her eyes.

I blinked several times to get used to the bright light. The dingy bar had almost no lighting, so the bright sun above was a drastic change. “This is Pyrean?” No wonder the Dragos talked so highly of their realm. They lived in paradise. Crystal clear water surrounded the lush tropical landscape. The only sounds came from the distant crashing waves.

In the distance I saw two dark figures flying in. Before I could worry for long, they moved close enough that I could tell it was Wyatt and Hailey.

They landed on the sand next to us and retracted their wings.

I felt a flood of relief when I saw Hailey appeared unharmed. “You okay?”

“Of course.” Hailey put a hand on her hip. “You need to stop worrying about me so much.”

“I’m never going to stop worrying about you. You’re my baby sister.”

“So now what? I feel like no one has quite explained the full plan.” Daisy sat down on the edge of a rock. When the tide came in the water stopped about a foot from her.

“That’s just details.” Glendale lay down in the sand in front of Daisy. “Who needs details?”

“We all need details.” Daisy stretched out her legs to the side of Glendale. “Details are what mean the difference between success and failure.”

“Not necessarily.” Glendale lay back—on top of Daisy’s legs. “But you want details? Here they are. We have to get to the other side of Pyrean.”

“Then why did we land here?” I sat down beside Daisy.

“Because this side isn’t so heavily guarded.” Glendale reached out a paw and proceeded to play with the lace of my boot.

“When do we switch and want to get spotted?” I yanked my boot out of his reach. He wasn’t a real cat, and he needed to stop pretending he was.

“You mean when do I get used as bait?” Daisy spoke bluntly.

“So you do understand?” I watched her reaction carefully. I hadn’t been sure how much she knew.

“I’m not sure whether I should be concerned that you came with me here without knowing whether I knew what I was up against.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and balanced them on the rock.

“I knew you’d do whatever it took to save your emotions—and to escape the Elders.” I scooted closer to her.

“True.” Daisy pressed her lips together in a firm line. “I’ll let you off the hook just this time.” If I hadn’t noticed the lightness in her eyes, I might have worried she was upset with me.

Wyatt tossed a small rock out into the ocean. He watched it disappear out in the waves. “To answer your question, we need to wait until I know all my men are ready.”

“How many men do you have here?” Sol asked.

“All of them.” Wyatt turned from the water.

“Why did you want The Society involved?” I asked Wyatt the question that had been bothering me. “You sent Levi away after all that.”

“Because we’re not going to be destroying the Elders today.” He tossed another rock into the waves. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan ahead. We need to build a relationship. Trouble is brewing and your people need to stop burying their heads in the sand. Levi is back in New Orleans planning, isn’t he? Do you doubt at this moment he’s readying his troops for war?”

Of course he was. Levi may have been willing to stay back, but that didn’t mean he went home to sleep. He knew how much was at stake. “Ok. So all that talk about specifically needing Pterons now, for this mission. The talk at your den about the allure? That was all bullshit?” I couldn’t understand why they’d even wasted time trying to convince us of anything.

“Everything that was said is true. Having you and Jared around will be helpful.” He pointed between where Jared stood in the sand and where I sat with Daisy. “Getting Pterons and Dragos to work together is going to take more than a few hours. Or a few weeks. It might take years, so we might as well start building it now.”

“You’re making all this up spur of the moment.”

Wyatt shook his head. “Believe what you want, but I always have a reason for what I do. We have a strong enough group right now to achieve the goals we need. That’s what’s important.”

“And you’re completely confident about that?” I pressed. “I understand that Glendale couldn’t transport everyone, but shouldn’t we get more backup?” Now that we were in Pyrean reality had set in. We were facing a major threat with limited resources.

“I already told you we had my men, and this isn’t a battle of numbers. It’s the element of surprise. Our goal is to weaken them.”

“Weaken them enough that they can’t hurt Daisy?” That was the reason we were there. Even with the herb, if the Elders were going to pursue her; Daisy would never truly be free.

“If they are strong enough to get Daisy, they’re not weakened enough. We need to get Troy back. That’s going to take some work.”

“Uh, looks like a storm’s approaching.” Daisy pointed up at the blackening sky. The once bright sun was now nearly blocked by dark storm clouds.

“Let’s take cover in the sea caves.” Wyatt gestured to large rocks further down along the shore. “There’s no sense doing anything in this storm. I need my men, and they won’t be able to reach the meeting place in this weather.”

A flash of lighting lit up the sky.

“You can’t fly in the rain?” Did the Dragos really have that weakness?

“We can, but this is going to be a whole lot more than rain.” As if to prove Wyatt’s point a roll of thunder was followed by another flash of lightning. “Just wait until the hail starts.”

“Let’s go. My fur is getting wet.” Glendale scurried off toward the series of caves carved into the rocks most likely by years of heavy storms sending in waves.

“This place reminds me of where Allie got married.” Hailey called over the sound of the howling wind. She carefully stepped over the rocks that jutted out of the ground.

“It does. It’s a lot like Kauai.” I thought about Allie and Levi’s wedding in Hawaii and it led to the thought of one other thing. I held tight to Daisy’s hand and held back to let Wyatt catch up. “Let me guess, you like this place for more than the weather and surf. There are active volcanos aren’t there?”

Wyatt grinned. “We do love our fire.”

We walked under the pouring rain. “Owen, why don’t you two take this one? I’ll keep watch up ahead.” Wyatt pointed to a secluded cave a ways off from the others. It was by far the most protected from the wind and rain.

“Why?” Daisy asked with suspicion. “Why should we get it?”

Wyatt leaned in. “Because you never know what night will be your last.”

The words should have been depressing, but they weren’t. Instead they gave me hope. He was right—but wasn’t that the way it was for everyone? We were living a more dangerous life than most people, but dangers lurked everywhere. No one truly knew how long they had to spend with their loved ones. That was reality of life. We should all have been spending every day as if it were our last, but few of us have the luxury to do that. Whether it was the right choice or not, I’d take it. I needed time alone with Daisy. And I sensed she needed the same thing. “Ok, man. Thanks.” I led Daisy into the secluded, dark cave just as the hail Wyatt had predicted started to fall. They were easily the size of golf balls. I understood why we needed to take shelter.

“Romantic.” Daisy moved into the corner of the cave. She smiled to herself.

“It’s secluded all right.” I sat down next to her and took her hand in mine. Her hands didn’t seem quite as small as they used to, but they were still far smaller than my own.

“Does it feel real to you that we’re in another realm?”

“I haven’t thought about that much to be honest.”

“Then what have you been thinking of?” She rested her head on my shoulder.

“You.” I brushed my lips against hers. “All I can think about is you.”

“I feel the same way.” She leaned into my arms.

“I love you, Daisy. I’ve loved you since before I even really knew you.”

“I know the feeling.” A tear slid down her face. “I’ve spent more time searching for you than with you, yet that doesn’t change the intensity of my feelings.”

“You okay?” I brushed away the tear.

“I don’t want this to be our last time together.” She blinked back more tears. “I can’t lose you. This.” She touched the space over my heart.

“You won’t.” I put my hands on either side of her face. “We’re going to make it through this. That’s why we’re here. And we’re going to do it together.”

“I don’t deserve you.” She looked down.

“It’s me who doesn’t deserve someone as strong and brave and beautiful as you, but I don’t care. You’ve chosen me, and for that I will be eternally grateful.”

The storm continued to brew outside, lightning lit up the mouth of our little cave. Thunder and the sound of waves crashing against the shore were the only sounds in the otherwise silent night.

“And I will be eternally grateful for you.” She kissed me, pressing her lips into mine.

I gladly opened up to her, pulling her completely into my arms. I explored her mouth as I listened to her heartbeat. It was a heartbeat I already knew by heart.

The kiss grew more fevered, and I ran a hand under the hem of her shirt.

She leaned into my hand, and I moved it up higher, wanting to touch every inch of her warm skin. She wasn’t cold anymore, a side-effect of no longer being human, but she felt as soft as always.

She broke the kiss and pulled off my t-shirt. “I love being able to see in the dark.” She ran her hand over my chest.

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” I pulled off her t-shirt and set it down next to my own. I unhooked her bra and cupped her breasts in my hands.

She lined the shirts and her sweatshirt up and lay down on the floor, pulling me down on top of her. I took my weight off of her.

“Those clothes can’t make this floor soft.” I patted the hard stone floor.

“Who said I need soft?” She leaned up on an elbow. “I need to feel.”

“I need you to feel.” I unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down her body. By the time I had them off of her she was already starting on mine.

She pulled off my boxers. “This is when I’d normally make a comment about how we shouldn’t be doing this with everything going on.”

“But?” I waited for her to continue as I kissed my way down her body.

“But I’m not wasting my breath or energy worrying about that this time. Worrying has never helped me before, and it’s not going to help me now.”

“What is going to help you?” I took one of her breasts in my mouth.

She moaned softly. “Being with you.”

“Glad we both agree on that.” I slid my hand between her legs, watching her expression as she opened up to me.

She reached up and took me in her hand.

I closed my eyes and savored the sensation.

“I need you, Owen.” There was nothing soft about this request.

My name on her lips had my eyes flying open. Her eyes were large and sharing the same message as her words.

“I love you, my Daisy.” I thrust into her, hoping our physically connected bodies would protect us from what the next hours held in store.

Her eyes widened and she grabbed hold of my shoulders. “I love you, Owen.”

We moved together in perfect unison. Our breathing and heart rates falling into the same fast-paced rhythms. We both had our eyes open, locked on one another. I refused to miss a single one of her reactions. Every sound, every expression filled me with joy.

Outside the storm raged on, and I could still hear the hail hitting the rocky ground, but inside all that mattered was our connection.

“I’m never losing this.” She put her hand on my cheek.

I leaned my face into her hand. “I’m never losing you.”

“Owen.” She sighed my name, and I sped up, sensing it’s what she needed. She held on as I pushed her over the edge. Moments later I reached my own.

I stayed inside her afterward, breathing heavily and unwilling to separate.

She brushed her lips against mine. “If we survive this, we’re doing that every day.”

“When we survive this we’re doing that more than once every day.” I kissed her shoulder.

Daisy ran her hand down my back. “I like that positive attitude, but we should get dressed.”

“I know.” As much as I didn’t want to disturb the magic of our time together, we had no choice. The thunder occurred less frequently now, and I no longer heard the hail. The storm was dying down, which meant it was time to move.

We dressed in silence, each watching the other. Daisy was a view I’d never get enough of.