Seeing Eye Mate (25 page)

Caelan wanted to pull her into his lap and wrap his arms around her in comfort, but he couldn’t. Not now when she was entering that trance-like state again. If he’d learned anything in the last couple of days, it was to let her work through the episodes at her own pace.

“He watched her from one corner where she couldn’t see him,” she continued, “like he was waiting for something. Then he went to her and grabbed her hair. He yanked her head back, forcing her to look at him. It was dark and he had a hat on. With the light above him, I couldn’t see his face.” Tieran’s monotone drone raked at his nerves.

The pulse in her wrist jumped in tempo and Caelan damned himself for putting her through this. If it weren’t vital, he’d give her his shoulder to cry on and listen to her fears.

“Then he said, ‘We won’t have this problem when I’m Prime.’”

Caelan slammed to his feet, overturning the chair and inadvertently letting go of her hand and flinging it aside. Tieran screamed beside him, jolted out of the spell she was in and grabbed the table, swaying in her seat as if he’d pushed her.

“What are you doing?” she said, breathing heavy.

He almost laughed at the incredulity in her voice. If what she’d said hadn’t just thrown him for a total loop, he might have. At least now he knew the motivation of their killer.

“Do you even realize what you just said?” Of course not, she’d been back in her vision, probably couldn’t even hear what she said. He thrust his fingers through his hair. Righting the seat, he faced her.

Her face was white, her eyes too wide and tears shimmered along the lower lids.

Her chin trembled and a myriad of emotions crossed her face. “You’re a Prime,” she whispered as if she’d just come to the conclusion.

She had, he reminded himself. Getting angry with her would solve nothing. What he needed to do was drag every bit of information out of her.

Things were beyond his control because as soon as the elders discovered her ability and the information she had, the choice of whether or not to involve her would be taken out of his hands. It already had been, the moment she murmured something about a Prime.

The sick bastard wasn’t playing at murdering mates, he was clearing a path to take out a Prime.

And Tieran was about to stand directly in his path.

“Yes,” he answered, even though she’d only made a statement. “I am Prime, and I don’t know exactly where you go when you recall these visions, but I need to be able to converse with you about them.”

“You’re the only one?”

He sighed. “The only one what?”

“Prime. Are you the only Prime?” she asked getting slightly hysterical. “Is he coming after you?” A tear slipped down her cheek and his heart thudded. Despite the very short amount of time they’d known each other, their bond was already very strong. The baby made it more so.

“No,” he said, wiping the tear off her cheek then cupping the back of her head. “Every pack has its own head alpha and there are about thirty packs in our community. We’re just one of many across the country, my own.”

“But he’s here, in yours, he could be coming after you.” Tieran dug her fingernails into his arm and squeezed closer. “You have to leave,” she begged.

“I will not leave my pack,” he growled, sounding harsher than he meant to. “There’s no way of knowing which pack he’s targeting.” He brought her forehead to his and kissed her nose. “Unless you’ve seen something that can help us catch him?”

His cell phone rang before he could get any further and he grumbled at the intrusion. It might be Eli though with some new information anyway.

“We’ll talk in a minute,” he said, scraping a hand over his face and flipping the phone open as he stormed out of the kitchen.

Tieran’s heart raced. Someone was out to kill him. She knew it. Could feel it in the pit of her stomach. All the visions were suddenly clear to her and with a heaviness that weighed her down, she remembered Eli’s words. “What it really means is that as a Prime’s mate, you are the alpha bitch. The only way I’ll
ever
get to touch you is for me to fight Caelan to the death and take over the pack.” But he’d also said he wasn’t too intrigued by that prospect. Words to throw her off, or truth?

God, she didn’t know. More confused than ever before about Eli, she buried her head in her hands. She jumped about a foot in the air when Caelan slammed his cell phone down on the table in front of her. Tieran wondered how it didn’t shatter into a million pieces.

“Let’s go,” he snarled.

“Where? What’s wrong?” Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn’t really eaten anything yet. Yesterday it seemed like she’d done nothing but eat. How could she possibly be hungry again? Tieran laid a hand over her belly and sighed. At this rate she’d be as big as a whale in no time.

“That was the police.” A mixture of rage, hurt and confusion clouded his features when he turned to her. “They fucking arrested Eli for the murders.”

Tieran’s knees threatened to give out. Please, God, no. Not now after all the times Caelan had insisted Eli was innocent. She’d been trying hard to believe it herself ever since the car vision. She didn’t want to go back to thinking of him as a cold-blooded killer. Damn.

“Maybe you should go by yourself,” she said. He would need the time to deal with Eli’s betrayal.

“And leave you here, vulnerable? I don’t think so.” He grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward the door.

“You don’t need me there, Caelan. I’ll only be in the way.”

“The hell you will. This would be a perfect opportunity for the killer. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d set this up just to get at you.”

He was delusional. Her heart ached for him at a time when his world was about to be ripped apart, leaving him without a twin. She loved him. Tieran sucked in a breath with the realization. And she hated Eli for the pain he would cause her mate.

She stopped, ignoring the pain as her shoulder wrenched in its socket. “You need to go alone.” Not that she didn’t want to support him, but she hated police stations. If she ever saw one again it would be too soon.

“Damn it, Tieran. I don’t have time for this. Eli’s rotting in a jail cell, he’s hurt, and I need to get over there before somebody makes him their prison bitch.”

Despite the grave situation, a short laugh escaped her pursed lips. Envisioning Eli as anybody’s bitch was too much. The man was testosterone on wheels, the same as Caelan.

“You think this is funny?” Caelan rounded on her, gripping her elbow tight.

“It is, yes, when you’ve got him rotting in a cell he’s probably only been in for a few short hours, and have him tagged as Butch’s Bitch.” Tieran tilted her head and put her hand on his cheek. “What happened to all that talk about him not being capable of doing this? I think I was beginning to believe it,” she whispered.

Her gut twisted in sympathy for both of them. After yesterday, she could see they were both protectors by nature. Otherwise, why would Eli have hidden in those trees just to watch over her? Or had he had other reasons for wanting to watch her? There had to be a reason for the police to arrest him.

Caelan jerked again, throwing her off balance and into his chest. “I know what you’re thinking, Tieran, and you’re wrong. I don’t care if they found his fingerprints, hair, blood and semen tied up in a nice little bow on top of the body. He didn’t do it.” He pivoted on his heel and dragged her out of the house, pausing only long enough to slam the front door shut. Which it did the first time, without bouncing back open and mocking them like her door would.

“Caelan, please,” she cried, digging her feet in all the way to his truck.

He threw open the passengers side and bodily hauled her into the seat. Before she could even speak in protest, he had her buckled in.

“Stay.” He stabbed her nose with his forefinger, his eyes promising retribution if she so much as twitched. He closed her in with a thump and jogged around the hood, jumping into the driver’s seat in the blink of an eye. The engine roared to life and the tires squealed with the slamming of his door.

“Not one word, my own, just listen.” Caelan took the corner so fast Tieran was thrown against the window.

He would kill them before they got there. “You won’t do your brother any good dead.”

“You are the most stubborn…” A vein throbbed in his temple and his teeth were clenched tighter than a sprung bear trap.

Fitting considering that’s about what his twin had gotten himself into. She sighed.

“Do you remember telling me what the man said in the warehouse?”

“Do you want me to answer, or is that a rhetorical question?”

“Son of a bitch.”

She didn’t know whether his curse was for her smart-aleck remark or the traffic. He slapped the steering wheel and slammed on his brakes when a slow-moving tractor pulled out in front them. An oncoming semi prevented him from immediately passing the farmer. At least Caelan’s brain was still functioning properly.

“You said he wanted to take out a Prime.” His fingers drummed with impatience. “Right?”

Tieran jumped in her seat at his shout and nodded. Did he want her to speak, or didn’t he?

“Besides a mate, who else would have to be gone in order for him to take over a Prime position?”

How the hell should she know? Her knowledge of werewolves was extremely limited, and it certainly didn’t include their hierarchy.

“The second-born son is the next in line.”

Well that made everything clearer. Pfft. She was still clueless as to what he was getting at.

Caelan stomped on the gas as soon as the truck passed, sucking Tieran back into her seat. She’d be bruised from his crazy-ass driving.

“With no mate in the way and no second-born son, and in my case, no other sons at all to contend with, if something should happen to me, the Prime is up for grabs. It’s the strongest who’ll survive.”

Tieran grabbed the “oh shit” handle above her head when they came to a screeching halt at a stop sign. She panted in relief. Another foot and Caelan would have creamed the car crossing the intersection. Because she’d been thrown forward with the stop, now her damn seatbelt was locked and pressing into her sternum. For someone who’d once said it was his job to make her happy, he wasn’t doing too good a job right now.

“They’re framing him to get to me,” he ground out, oblivious to the fact he’d almost careened into another vehicle.

She swallowed. As impossible as it seemed, what if he was right?

*

“Where is he?” Caelan smashed through the double doors leading into the detective’s area, sending them crashing into the wall. He ignored the few gazes of the early shift detectives whipping in their direction and stormed in with Tieran in tow. Hayward sat directly opposite him in the far corner, typing on a laptop keyboard. Motherfucker didn’t look bothered one iota by his arrest of the Prime’s brother.

Hayward stood, his chin rising in a superior gesture. They might be on his turf now, but Caelan didn’t stop until he was a foot away from the smug little bastard. Even in the human world, Caelan was still Prime. If Hayward didn’t like it, he could shove it up his ass.

“Not where he should be. He should be rotting in a fucking jail cell for what he’s done to our kind,” Hayward hissed low enough that none of the other detectives could hear.

Caelan cocked his hand back to punch the son of a bitch. Tieran stopped him.

“That won’t solve anything, Caelan.”

The prick grinned. “Take her advice, Prime,” he muttered. “Don’t make me arrest you for assaulting an officer.”

“Where’s my brother, Hayward?”

“At the hospital, Prime. Under lock and key until they release him. He had a poor wittle bump on his head. Then he’ll be in a jail cell,” Hayward sneered.

“He didn’t do it.” Caelan ground his teeth until he thought they would crack.

“Let’s go, Caelan. We’ll go to the hospital and see him.” Tieran entwined her fingers with his and led him backward to the door. He glared at the smirking Hayward the whole way. He’d rather put his foot through Hayward’s face than walk away right now. How could he do this? Hayward knew Eli. Was one of their pack for Christ’s sake. If anyone should be sticking up for Eli, it was Hayward.

Tieran’s hand brushed across his back, returning his sanity. She was right. He had to talk to Eli first. Obviously Hayward wasn’t going to be any help. Caelan spun around and yanked open the double glass doors again.

“Fuck.” He swiped a hand over his face and kicked at the water fountain on the opposite wall. The resulting crash rang throughout the quiet hallway. A door opened further down the hall and a man poked his head out. Caelan grabbed Tieran’s hand and hauled her out before the man said anything. A confrontation was the last thing he wanted.

“This is un-fucking-believable.”

“Yes.” He couldn’t tell if she was truly agreeing with him or simply trying to keep the peace. He didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting to Eli.

Not three minutes later they were back in the truck and headed to the hospital. “God damn it. What the hell was he doing out there anyway?”

“You said he had a meeting.” Tieran’s soft voice banged around his head like a sledgehammer.