Second Skin (Skinned) (18 page)

“I told you we shouldn’t leave them alone together.” Following an answering murmur from Brit, Matt said, “Let her go, Eryn. She doesn’t have him. We searched all three floors.” When my knuckles whitened instead of relaxing, he grabbed my arm. I bared my teeth at him, but his grip remained firm.

“Are you blind?” He gave my arm a rough shake. “She can barely stand.”

He spoke the truth. Kate was like deadweight in my hands. I was the only thing keeping her upright. Her face was as washed out as the walls around us, her many piercings glinting in the torchlight. Eyes half closed, her breath came in shallow gasps.

“But I smell him. His magic is all around us.” I leaned into

Kate, nose to nose, forcing her to stare into my eyes.

She shook her head. “Not Wade, and not his magic. You’re sensing his mother’s influence. Elizabeth was the head of my coven. This house is built on the foundation of her original homestead, a place of power.”

I lowered Kate to the chair. She slumped over the armrest, a testament to how truly weak she had become.

“What did you see in the mirrors?” Kate asked when she’d recovered her breath.

Matt approached the silver-and-glass monoliths. “These things made Eryn pass out?” He placed his palm on the glass. Stared deeply at his image. “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” he chanted.

I braced for impact, but no blast of power sent him flying. Matt stepped back, looking himself over. “You know, there’s something really weird about these. My reflection is off. I look… buffer than usual.” He assumed a series of body builder poses. He mock growled, veins in his neck popping, his face fierce.

“They like to tease the foolish,” Kate said.

“Are you sure? ’Cause I think they’re telling me I rock.”

I shook my head. And I thought
I
didn’t take magic seriously. At least I respected its power, how it was used, or misused. I turned my back on Matt’s antics. “So what happened? I opened the door, saw my reflection, and,
whamo
, I was back to the night Wade was turned.”

Kate’s gaze narrowed on me. “You relived your dream with Elizabeth? Interesting. The mirrors take us to where we need to go.” She leaned forward. Power flared around her and then dimmed. “So what did you learn?”

I’d never fully confided in anyone about witnessing the night Wade turned. It had always felt secret. A pact of sorts between Elizabeth and me. Now with the added complication of trying to figure out what my father was doing there… No, I couldn’t share my knowledge until I understood exactly what was going on.

Another thing nagged at me. If Elizabeth and Kate were in the same coven, then Kate was older than Wade. Possibly older than Logan. How involved was Kate with the founding of Redgrave? How else would my father have gained the ability to time travel if not through a witch? Was she working with Logan, maybe even my father, this whole time? I studied Kate, who seemed to wilt under my regard. She slumped further in the chair.

Matt bolted for us. “Kate, you all right?” He shot me a look, as if blaming me for her decline.

Why did a near immortal witch look half dead?

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Some kind of magical backlash,” Matt said.

Kate showed some of her usual spunk. “Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here. I haven’t lost the ability to contribute to a conversation.” She craned her neck to look up at me. “The night mare had its claws in good before I did the protection spell, and I’m afraid the result has been less than ideal. I’m trapped in the cafe.”

I frowned. “How? By that mummy thing we saw? So we find it, take it down, and then you can help us locate Wade. We need him if I’m going to dream-police the night mare out of town.”

Grimacing, Kate struggled to her feet, ignoring Matt’s attempt to keep her seated. She held out her arm. Her blackened, leathery arm. “I am that mummy thing, and if you try to take me down, I’ll give you a magical butt-kicking you’ll never forget.”

“Okay, she gets the picture. You’re one tough witch,” Matt said, supporting her weight when her knees buckled. “Can we get you upstairs now? You need to rest.”

“I’m trapped in my worst fear, Eryn. If I leave the café, my body assumes its true age. I’ll be a mummy, for real, living inside a shriveled corpse.” She held her damaged arm close to her torso. “I’ll heal if I stay inside. Might take a day or two.”

I observed Kate, the smoothness of her skin. Amazing considering she’d just informed us she was ancient. The way she moved, usually so fluid, but now kind of folded over herself as if all her secrets would seep from her body if she didn’t hold them inside. What did she know about my father? Did she have anything to do with Wade’s disappearance? Conundrum had been moved onto this land, so Kate must have been here when the town was founded. She must know what Harbinger had planned. I opened my mouth to ask, but Matt shut me down.

“Save it,” he said, for once attaining the commanding tone of his brother. Since his worry for Kate was at the heart of his request, I choked back my questions. He guided her from the room.

“Age before beauty,” he said, all light and cheerful.

Kate slapped him smartly on the shoulder. He laughed as they slowly climbed the steep steps.

I pulled the door closed behind us, resisting the urge to glance over my shoulder and peer into the mirrors’ depths.

I found Alec slumped deep in a tweed couch in the café, facing the row of windows, watching people scurry from shop to shop on Main Street. Anger. Resolve. Betrayal. I scented the emotions jolting through the air around him, but his face remained blank, his arms folded over his chest, his chin tilted away from me. Alec was closing me out, physically and emotionally. I felt him shutting me down from across the room. I glanced out at the shoppers, laughing and linking arms, their faces alight with the simple pleasure of being with someone they cared for.

A simple pleasure I couldn’t afford. The safety of those I loved wasn’t something I could buy. I had to make it happen myself, and the cost was steep.

Lights flickered outside as a car turned, its headlights blasting into the café. Alec turned his head from the glare. His gaze met mine, and then slid away. But not before I saw pain behind his eyes and in the scowl he affected to mask his feelings.

Well, bully for me.

This is what I’d wanted, what I’d pushed for. So why did his coldness and the distance between us feel unbearable, like a burning slice across my heart that I couldn’t block if I tried? If I had to endure one more second of this silence, heavy with things we both wished we could say, or scream, or rage at each other, I’d go mad.

I perched on the arm of the couch. “No one’s tried to buy a java. They haven’t even looked at the café. Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

“Are we making small talk now?” Alec said.

I sighed. “Apparently not well.” After another long beat of silence, I stood to leave Alec in his solitude even though I doubted I’d ever find peace again.

“Kate’s glamoured the exterior,” he said.

I sat back down on the armrest, sucking in a relieved breath. “It’s off their radar.”

“Ah,” I said, brilliantly, and then thought of our run in with

Logan-not-Logan. “But not the night mare’s.”

“No. So far, the ironclad spell protects us as long as we’re in the café.” He nodded at the window. “Out there, we’re easy pickings.” He glanced at my wrist. “I see you’re still wearing the bracelet. That’s good. It’ll keep the night mare out of your dreams.” “Yeah, but it doesn’t stop a damn thing when I’m awake.” Across the street, the tattoo parlor’s neon
Open
sign flickered and went dark. “Does Whip know what’s up with Kate?”

“She won’t let us get him. She doesn’t want him to see her this way.”

“Understandable.” I’d hated it when Alec had seen me partially shift and that was only for a few minutes. Kate’d said her injury might take days to heal. Not cool.

“No, it’s not understandable.” Alec twisted to face me, his arm stretching out along the back of the couch, his strong fingers digging into the material.

How would he react if I moved in close and rested my hand over his? Would he push me away, or worse, pull me down into his arms? I sucked in a breath and focused on what he was saying instead of what I wished I could say and do.

“It’s ridiculous. Don’t you think he’d want to be here for her? In case you haven’t noticed, Whip would do anything for Kate. Take any risk, face any danger to see her safe. But she keeps pushing him away. Why do you think she does that, Eryn? You got any ideas?”

I pursed my lips, downplaying his sudden attack. Oh, I had ideas all right. “Because she doesn’t want him hurt?”

“Holding things back from him doesn’t hurt?”

“It won’t kill him.” I stood and slipped in front of Alec, blocking his view of the street.

“We all face things worse than death, Eryn,” he said as he rose to his feet. We were chest to chest with the heat of his body, the spice of his scent, surrounding me. “I thought you’d have figured that out by now.”

“Fine. You’re angry that I need Wade’s help to face the night mare. I get that, but here’s what I don’t get, Alec…” I couldn’t meet the directness of his gaze, so I focused on the black neckband of his T-shirt and the rapid pulse that beat in his throat. “Why don’t you give up on me? You know I could be a loaded gun about to misfire. You’ve seen it yourself.”

Alec slid his hand down along my forearm and linked his fingers with mine. “Maybe that’s true.”

My throat tightened. This was it. I’d finally gotten him to see the truth. He was letting me go. I’d accomplished what I’d set out to do.

So why couldn’t I breathe?

“Eryn,” he said, his dark eyes holding mine. “What if you put your weapons down? What could you be to me then?”

My jaw worked, but speech wouldn’t come.
Put my weapons down?
Come to him, exposed? Vulnerable? My eyes misted. I understood that he’d done exactly that. Unarmed, Alec had sliced through my every defense. I bowed my head, trembling against a tide of tears. Emotions I’d been damming up for days threatened to pull me under.

“Shh…I’ve got you,” Alec said, tugging me into his arms. Together we fell back onto the couch. I buried my face in his shoulder.

I didn’t cry.

I wouldn’t give myself the release. I didn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve Alec.

Because even as he held me close, all I could think of was finding Wade and destroying the night mare. No matter how hard we both wished it were otherwise, I wasn’t human. I was a predator.

Nothing mattered until I caught my prey.

The Beginning of the End

“Eryn?”

Brit’s voice pulled me from Alec’s arms. I blinked myself back to the real world.

“We’re in here,” Alec rumbled in protest.

“Have you seen Paige?” Brit’s voice was doubtful and hopeful all at once. I considered that particular tone a bad omen.

Alec’s strong hands lifted me onto my feet as he stood. If the pressure on my waist lingered a bit longer than necessary, I didn’t pull away.

“I thought she was with you,” I said, grumbling at being pulled out of our moment, the sanctuary of each other’s arms.

“Oh.” Brit gave an odd laugh. “And I thought she was with you. Not good.”

“You said you were going to keep an eye on her…”

“Yeah, but I had Gertrude to take care of, and then Matt needed help getting Kate to rest, and then…” She rocked on her heels. “I guess I forgot.”

“Paige? Get your ass in here,” I called out, my voice piercing. The three of us paused, waiting. I closed my eyes. One second passed. Two.

No answer.

My eyes flew open. Alec was staring at me. He slowly shook his head.

This was not good.

I stalked to the window and peered out into the street, cursing. “Her car’s gone.” Nothing had prepared me for Paige to take off, although I should have factored that into the grand scheme of screw-ups that had made this day what it was. It was akin to losing a child in a busy shopping mall. Paige was out there, helpless, with demons running amok.