Motor City Witch (4 page)

He set Elise down on the bed and stepped back before he could do something stupid—like climb in with her. “Is there anything else you need?”

Elise looked down at the jeans and sweater she’d thrown on before leaving her house and shook her head. “No. I’ll be fine. I can put these on again when I get up.”

“Set them outside the door. Someone will make sure they’re clean.”

“I’ve only had them on for two hours. They’re fine.” She stood and moved toward the bathroom on wobbly feet, but Aidan resisted the urge to help. “Get some rest yourself, Aidan. And—thank you. For everything.”

“Thank me when Adina is safely home,” he growled. “Not before. I’m right across the hall—I’ll leave my door open a bit. Give a shout if you need anything.”

It took all his willpower to turn and make his way into his own suite. Ignoring the bed, he moved directly to the bathroom, where he stripped off his clothes and left them in an uncharacteristic heap. He turned the cold water on full blast and stepped into the oversized marble-lined shower.

Once he was in the enclosure, he sank down onto the built-in bench and let the icy water sluice over his skin from the multiple jets in the wall and ceiling. Closing his eyes, he propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his face into his hands. What was supposed to have been a day of celebration had turned into a disaster of epic proportions. First finding out about Adina, then being told she wasn’t his—that had been enough to handle for one day. Now the thought of losing her, even if she wasn’t his biological daughter, had brought all his old feelings for Elise right back to the surface. In eleven hundred years, he’d never loved another woman the way he did the tiny
Wyndewin
. He’d looked for her after she left Detroit, left him, until her brother had told him in no uncertain terms to stop—that she never wanted to lay eyes on him again. After that, he’d buried himself in his work, trying to forget the woman who’d claimed his heart.

Now, gods help him, another part of his heart had already been claimed by her—or maybe their—daughter. Why the
hell
had someone taken the girl? Because of him? It was the only thing that made any sense given the timing. He looked up into the blasting water, glad the shower would wash away the few stray tears that escaped despite his best intentions.

Finally when he got mind and body back under control, he climbed out of the shower and dried himself off. Since he’d said he’d leave his door open, he materialized a pair of silk pajama pants and pulled them on before heading back into his bedroom. The soothing dark blues and greens of the luxurious chamber did nothing for his mood tonight—this morning—
but even he needed some downtime. Muffling a yawn of his own, he pulled back the thick duvet and climbed between the sheets.

Before he could turn off the light, his door, which he’d left ajar about an inch, slid further open. Aidan sat up in bed as Elise crept barefooted into the room.

“Do you need something?” Gods, she was adorable in that virginal white nightgown.

Elise shook her head. “Your staff is thorough. The bathroom was fully stocked.” She moved closer to the foot of the bed and wrung her hands together. “I—just—couldn’t sleep.”

“Elise…” He had no idea what he was about to say, so it was good that she stopped him with one hand held in front of her.

“Please. I…I can’t be alone right now.”

He was throwing back the covers even before he heard the crack in her voice. “Come here,
leannan.
” His arms opened wide.

“Aidan!” She launched herself around the bed and into his arms.

“I’m here, dearling.” He pulled her into his lap and dragged the covers up over them both.

“I feel like I should be doing something—anything, but I don’t know what to do.”

“I know. But right now we have to wait for information. I promise, we’re doing every single thing we can.”

“The rational part of me knows that.” She gave a suspicious sniffle. “But the emotional part isn’t happy about it.”

“You’re a mother,
leannan
. Of course you want to be doing something. But right now you need to rest. Taking care of yourself is important too.” He dropped a kiss on her silky black hair, inhaling her scent, as his hands coursed up and down her spine.

“I wanted to tell you.” Her words came out so softly, he barely heard them. “I debated all through my pregnancy, wondering if I should call you, praying she was yours.”

“I wish you had, dear one.” What more could he say?

“I was afraid.” Her voice dropped even lower. “I didn’t want to tie you down, when you had so much else going on.” The emotion he heard in her tone nearly broke him. He’d made it clear that being part of a couple wasn’t his first priority. Aidan knew he was as guilty as Elise for the collapse of their relationship, maybe more.

“I’ve missed this.” She nuzzled the base of his neck. “Nobody in the world smells like you do, so warm and woodsy.”

She was killing him. Worse, she had to notice the erection stabbing up into her backside. Elise didn’t say anything, only shifted against his lap, inflaming him further. She nipped the tendon on the side of his throat and reached one hand up to stroke the point of his ear. Aidan shuddered as his entire body tensed. An elf’s ears were sensitive.

“Make me forget for a while, Aidan. Make it all go away, if only for a few minutes.”

“Oh, dearling, this is not a good idea.” Every cell of his being was screaming at him to strip off the sedate nightgown and take her, make up for their years apart.

“Please, Aidan? I need you so much.”

He couldn’t deny her anything when she asked him like that. He’d have cut out his own heart if she’d begged him for it. Kissing her was far less painful. All he had to do was cup her chin in his hand and lift her face to his.

***

Kissing Aidan was the one thing powerful enough—not to make her forget, nothing could do that—but to distract her mind, just a little. It gave the adrenaline in her body something to do, gave all that terrified nervous energy an outlet, so she threw herself into the embrace, kissing him back as deeply and intensely as she’d wanted to for the last five years. Impossibly, it was every bit as good as she’d remembered.

His lips molded against hers with the perfect combination of strength and softness. His tongue probed gently, swept inside and traced all the curves and hollows of her mouth. One of his hands moved up to tangle in her hair, while the other wrapped around her waist, holding her close against his bare, sculpted chest.

Like most Fae, Aidan was lean, but well muscled in a wiry kind of way and she let her fingers trail down the ridges of his spine, while her palm caressed the taut planes of his back. The tension coiled in his body assured her that he was as affected by the kiss as she was, as did the thick ridge of his erection poking her in the butt. Instinctively, she rubbed against it, remembering how wonderful it had been to have him inside her, filling up all the empty spaces in her body and her heart.

“Easy, dearling,” he murmured, trailing kisses along her chin to her ear. She shivered as he nibbled on the lobe before swirling his tongue around the shell. “It’s been way too long for me to have that much control.”

“Don’t care.” She didn’t really believe him, anyway. Aidan had more control than any man she’d ever met, human or otherwise. She slid one of her hands up to his nape and around to toy with the pointed tips of his ears. His low groan into her ear was gratifyingly hoarse.

At last he slipped one of his hands inside the front of her nightgown. When had he opened the buttons? His long fingers cupped one of her small breasts and it was her turn to moan. Her nipples, already pebbled, hardened even further, especially the one he’d begun to roll between his finger and thumb. She didn’t protest when he rolled her off of his lap onto her back or moved over her to take that aching peak into the moist heat of his mouth.

Her back arched, pushing her tender flesh deeper into his mouth, while he slid his hand down her thigh to gather up the hem of her nightgown. The stroke of his fingers up her inner thigh made her spread her legs, opening herself to his expert touch. He continued his assault on her nipples with his mouth while one long finger traced the seam of her sex, sliding easily through her slick moisture. All Elise could do was hold on, one hand in his hair, clutching his head to her breast, the other splayed across his back.

“Aidan.” She whimpered, still only partially able to believe she was really here, in his bed, with the one man she’d ever loved.

“Come for me,
leannan
.” He kissed his way from one swollen peak to the other while his thumb found her clitoris and massaged it, adding another finger to the one stroking in and out of her core.

Tension coiled deep inside her and she heard herself whimper, gasping for breath. A few more plunges of his fingers and she shattered, this time screaming his name as sparks flashed in front of her eyes, which she’d squeezed shut. He gentled his movements until her tremors subsided, when he moved up for a long, tender kiss on her lips.

“Sleep now, dear one. I’ve got you.” He kissed each cheek and then her forehead, smoothing her nightgown back down her legs.

“But…you…” She felt the slight push of magic, urging her toward sleep. As a witch, she had the power to fight it, but she knew she did need to rest and it was so warm and comfortable here in his arms.

“Not tonight, though I’ve never been more tempted in my life,” he murmured.

She knew she should protest, but the fatigue hit her like a sledgehammer and she went with it, cuddling into his embrace.

Aidan settled back against the pillows, holding her close. She heard his words as if from a distance as she drifted off to sleep. “Go to sleep, Elise. I promise I won’t let you go.”

Aidan did manage to sleep, if lightly, and only for an hour or so. Every time Elise shifted or whimpered in her slumber, he roused until he was sure she was all right. When his cell phone began to vibrate on his nightstand, he snatched it up before it could wake her and slipped out of bed to answer it. His suite’s sitting area was far enough from the bed that he could talk without disturbing her sleep.

“Talk to me,” he said to Wallis as he flipped open the phone.

“You’ve got company,” the security chief said. “Desmond Sutton is here, demanding to see you.”

“Shite.” Aidan scrubbed his fingers through his hair and absently scratched like every normal male humanoid did on waking. “I’ll be down in five, but tell him Elise is asleep and I’m not waking her.”

“He’s blaming you, boss.” Wallis sounded faintly amused.

“Big sodding surprise.” Desmond would find a way to blame Aidan for global warming if he could. “Tell him what we know and let me get dressed. Oh—and keep him away from Novak if you don’t want things to get really messy.” One day he’d find out what Des had against werewolves. Though maybe the wizard just flat-out hated everyone.

“Mr. Novak is outside patrolling the ground.”

“Is Toby back yet?” Aidan ducked into the bathroom.

“No.”

“Any word from the men at Elise’s condo?”

“I checked in five minutes ago,” the ever-efficient Wallis said. “There’ve been no calls, no visitors, no disturbance of any kind.”

“Send Mairead up to sit with Elise. See you in five.” Elves didn’t need a lot of sleep, but Elise was human—she’d need all she could get before this day was over. Aidan clicked his phone shut, brushed his teeth and pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt. When he reentered the bedroom, Mairead was sitting in a chair near the door, knitting in the near darkness.

“Thank you,” he whispered as he passed.

He sensed her return smile. “Go. We’ll be fine.”

He walked down the stairs buttoning his blue oxford shirt, grateful for Mairead’s understanding. The gnome/Fae hybrid had worked for him for close to a century and he’d become fond of the motherly female. How had he not known she and Toby were an item? Had he really been that wrapped up in his work and his search, so much so that he’d shut himself off from the lives of the people around him?

Perhaps Elise had been right. He had been too obsessed with his duties to be of any use as a man. Had he overlooked her feelings as well?

Well that was ending right here and now. And one of the things he needed to do was mend fences with Des. He descended the mansion’s curved grand staircase and found the
Wyndewin
waiting impatiently in the foyer below.

“Where’s Elise?” Des snarled.

“She’s asleep, upstairs,” Aidan answered calmly, resisting the urge to snarl back.
Mending fences
, he reminded himself. He nodded to the guard stationed at the front door, who turned back to watching the outside of the house. Another guard was posted right inside the library door, since the Underhill portal was off of Aidan’s private office. Aidan nodded to him as well.

“Go get her.” Des moved toward the stairs.

Still half a dozen steps from the bottom, Aidan paused in the middle of the stairway, as if blocking it with his body. “No. She’s so sodding exhausted and frantic, she’s liable to make herself ill. Let her sleep until we have some kind of news.”

“I’m right here.” Elise’s sharp voice behind him brought Aidan to a halt. He turned around to see her tying the belt on one of the terry cloth robes Bronwyn kept for guests. “And the next time you try to run off and leave me tucked up like some fragile flower, I’ll gut you with a spoon. This is
my
daughter we’re talking about. Not yours,
mine.
” She was pale and had dark shadows under her eyes, but she was functional again. Good.

Aidan tipped his head. It went against the grain to apologize for chivalry, but he did it anyway. “Sorry.”

Des paused with one foot on the bottom step and his hand on the newel post, his body so tense it practically quivered as he stared up at Aidan, his dark eyes assessing every line of Aidan’s face. “What the hell have you done, Greene?”

“Not a bloody damned thing except try to find your niece.” He took three more steps, nodding his thanks as Des backed off and let him leave the stairs. Elise slipped down behind him. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she hesitated, then allowed her brother to gather her awkwardly into a hug. Even with family, she wasn’t demonstrative—at least not in front of others. Maybe Aidan had been reading her wrong when they were together. When they’d split, he hadn’t thought her feelings were all that engaged due to her lack of open affection. When she’d pressed for commitment, he’d thought it was more for appearances’ sake than because she’d actually cared about him. Had he been wrong all this time? Perhaps he should have been honored that she was so warm and open in private, rather than feeling rebuffed because she didn’t like to touch in public.

“I’m so sorry, Lise. We’ll get her back.” Desmond’s tone softened as it only ever did for his sister. Aidan fought back an urge to rip Elise out of her brother’s arms and back into his where she belonged…
oh, fuck.
He had to stop thinking like that.

“I don’t know how they did it, Des.” Her voice broke. “I don’t know
why
. Dina never hurt a living thing in her life.”

“I know, Lise. I know. Now why don’t you go get dressed while I talk to Greene?”

“Desmond—”

“Look, I promise I won’t hit him. But it’s going to be a long day. You’re going to want some clothes on.” Des made it sound like not hitting Aidan would be an effort, but he’d manage.

Ah, well, that feeling was mutual.

Elise turned to Aidan. “Will you behave?”

Aidan gave her a brief bow. “Of course. We’ll be in the security office if that’s okay. One of the guards can take you there whenever you’re ready.”

He nodded at the security staff stationed in the foyer. Wallis had brought in more guards from Oakwood, Aidan’s Underhill estate. Good.

When Elise turned and stomped back up stairs, he turned to her brother. “Have you been by Elise’s house, or did you come straight here?”

“Straight here.” Des ran one hand through his short black hair. It was already standing straight up, a testament to his having repeated the gesture often as he drove. “She sent me a text that she wanted to be near the portal.”

Aidan nodded. “We know that Dina was taken by an elf and a djinni. The likelihood of them being somewhere Underhill is pretty damn high, so basing ourselves here seemed the wisest course of action.”

“Djinni? How the hell did the djinn get involved in this?” Des glared at Aidan, his dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. “This has to have something to do with you. In almost five years, there’ve been no problems until today.”

“You’re probably right.” Aidan held both hands, palms out, in a conciliatory gesture. “But it was none of my doing. You want to actually come in, sit down and talk, or would you rather stand here and yell at me?”

Desmond might have had his issues with Aidan, but he wasn’t a totally unreasonable bastard. With a curt nod, he stepped past Aidan toward the library. “Any chance of getting some coffee?”

“There’s probably some in the security office.” Aidan pointed toward a hallway behind the library. “I assume you’re going to want to talk to my staff anyway. We might as well go there.”

“Fine.” The mage turned to follow Aidan down the corridor toward the staff offices, several of which, including the security office, backed on to the library. “One thing before we do. Did Elise tell you that Dina isn’t yours?”

Aidan nodded sharply, his lips pressed together. “Yes.”

“Do you believe her?”

Well now, that wasn’t a question he’d expected from Des. The last thing they needed right now was a pissing match between Elise’s brother and him, so total honesty was probably called for. He lifted his shoulders a fraction of an inch. “I’m not sure. I do believe that she thinks it’s so.”

“Why the hell haven’t you been there for her before now?”

Aidan turned, half expecting a fist to the jaw. Instead, the mage simply stood with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed.

Mending fences, not breaking faces.
“Until Meagan showed me the card for her gallery, I didn’t even know Elise was back in Detroit. I never knew she’d been…hurt and I damn sure never knew she was pregnant. Imagine my shock when I saw a girl with green eyes show up at my fucking house yesterday morning. Seems like someone might have told me about that five years ago, doesn’t it?” He was aware of the fact that his voice had risen to rarely used levels.

Desmond had made a point of letting Aidan know Elise had moved back to Vancouver with their parents. He’d never said why. Now he shrugged. “You’d hurt her. Why the hell would I have told you anything? Especially since she didn’t want you to know. It’s not like you ever had time for her anyway.”

Aidan took the shot, though the words hurt like a physical blow. He deserved it. After a moment spent getting his own anger under control, he tipped his chin. “Glad to know where you stand, but none of this is going to help us find Adina. If you want to hit me, get it over with now so we can get on with the important things.”

The corner of Desmond’s lips quirked for a moment before his expression hardened again. “Agreed. I’ll take a raincheck on that. What are your people doing to find my niece?”

There was a thump of bare feet on the marble floor and Greg appeared in the hallway, pulling a black T-shirt on over his head. He’d gotten a pair of jeans from somewhere.

“What the hell is
he
doing here?” Des demanded.

“Helping.” Aidan closed his eyes and counted to five. “Look, I don’t know what your deal is with werewolves but get the hell over it or get out of my house.”

Tension vibrated in the atmosphere, until Des shook his head and held out his hand to Greg, though his nostrils flared. “Sorry. Long story and not relevant. What’s important now is Dina. Thanks for your help.”

Greg shook the mage’s hand, though his lips twitched into what might have been a snarl. “No sweat.” He turned to Aidan. “I didn’t find any trace of anything like djinn anywhere on the grounds. I can’t tell if the same elf was here and at the condo or not—too many similar scents overlain and too long ago.”

Aidan swore again.

“Any news on this end?” Greg followed them as they continued to move down the hallway.

“No ransom calls, no disturbance at Elise’s condo and Toby isn’t back from Underhill yet. We’re heading in now to see if Wallis knows anything more.” Aidan opened the door to the security room and stepped inside.

“Morning, boss.” Wallis looked up from a monitor screen, his face haggard with fatigue and strain. “I’m sorry. I’ve gone over every single surveillance photo of the wedding and can’t find anyone who wasn’t supposed to be here. Either our guy walked in as the date of an invited guest, or he was an invited guest, or staff. Jase emailed a list of the artists and their dates. No one leaps out as suspicious.”

“Which guests came via the portal?” Aidan asked. “Or staff?”

“The extra security I pulled in from Oakwood,” Wallis responded immediately, needing no time to stop and think. Good. “Along with extra cleaning and waitstaff from both Oakwood and Rosemeade. I’ve recalled all of them and you’ll find most of them waiting for you in the kitchen, though half the guards are patrolling the grounds. Guests, we’ve got a handful. Lord and Lady Willow, a few of Lady Rose’s personal staff and three invited by Sir Alaric. Looks like two other council members and their families showed up.”

Aidan turned to Desmond and translated. “We pulled in extra staff from both my estate and Meagan’s to help out. Ric’s guests were Lady Night Sky, the guardian of the Chicago portal, her husband and her sister, a healer who saved Ric’s life after an attack. Lady Willow is a human married to a council member, who took Meagan under her wing at Court. I can absolutely guarantee they are not involved in the purity movement, if that is what this is about. In fact,” he tipped his head at Wallis, “get a message to Lord Willow, asking him to contact me as soon as possible. He needs to be warned.”

“What makes you think this has anything to do with your elven purity bullshit?” Desmond helped himself to a cup of coffee from an urn in the corner.

“No ransom note, for one thing.” At least not yet. “And the timing, for another. It had to be a spur-of-the-moment thing. Somebody saw her at the wedding, jumped to the same conclusions I did and snatched her. The only question is why. What do they want from me? Money would be just too gods-damned easy.”

“Maybe they want to eliminate half-bloods,” Desmond suggested darkly. “Your people aren’t known for being fond of mongrels.”

Aidan’s stomach lurched, but he swallowed hard and managed to make it stop even as he shook his head. “I don’t think so. They could have killed her while she slept. Taking her was far riskier, so they have to have a different motive.” At least he hoped so.

Desmond mulled that over for a bit then grunted his agreement.

“Have you contacted Her Majesty?” Wallis asked tentatively.

“No and I need to.” Aidan nodded at Desmond and Greg. “Give me a minute, would you?” He didn’t want to get chewed out by the queen in front of the other men.

“Go on.” Greg pushed him toward the door. “Wallis and I will fill him in on what we know so far.”

Aidan turned and opened a door on the back side of the room. This one led directly into the library. From this side, it was simply a door, but from the library, it was completely disguised as one more section of paneled wall. A similar arrangement connected his private office with his secretary’s, which was the next room over from security headquarters. After nodding to the guard in the library, Aidan moved through into his office and flipped open his cell phone.

For the most part, modern technology and Fae magic didn’t work together well. Underhill Industries, however, had come up with a few gadgets that managed to blend the two successfully. Aidan’s phone was one of those. He and each of the other hundred or so portal-house guardians scattered around the world had direct contact with the queen—or at least her personal staff.