Shadows of the Past (6 page)

“No problem. Don’t look so nervous.
I just want to get to know you.” Her heart nearly stopped at that statement, but his eyes slid shut and he shook his head before adding, “As a friend. There aren’t many fae out here. It’s nice to know there is one right next door. It gets lonely.” He did look a little sad, but hearing that he wanted to be her friend was a blow to her ego.

Amethyst reminded herself that he wasn’t on her menu. He was a big powerful man and she knew he was used to getting his way. She
didn’t want a man to take over, and she had a feeling he would.

“Sorry
. It’s just that after everything… I don’t know what to think anymore.” Mostly about her own libido flaring to life just days after she mindraped her ex into leaving her alone, and then finding out he killed himself. She fought back the hysterical laugh. “You seem like a nice guy. It just takes some time for me to warm up.” Warmth flooded her face and she sputtered. “Not that way. Just, give me a little while to get used to you.”

“
I can do that. Go get some sleep, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” The corners of his mouth lifted, and heat infused his gaze as he backed toward the door with a little wave that made her heart flutter.

Then she realized he
’d said tomorrow, and her mind started racing. “What? Why?”

“Brody invited me to breakfast. He’s a good cook. Trust me, you won’t have any complaints.”

“Oh.” She deflated a little. “Okay. Goodnight.” He stepped out and she locked the door behind him. She forced herself to turn around and go to work on putting things away.

* * * *

Everything in Hayden urged him to turn around and claim Amethyst. He wanted to chase, wanted to catch, needed to make her his.

First, he needed her to trust him, and she didn’t, not yet. Every time she was close, he wanted to reach out and touch her, pull her to him,
and breathe in her savory sweet scent.

As he took the stairs two at a time, he told himself that it was just the fact that she remind
ed him of home. A home she had never visited, but she was so perfectly fae, even if she didn’t seem comfortable with that part of herself.

T
hat little nymph was the first woman he craved in so long. He had almost forgotten what desire was. There was a time, years ago, when he enjoyed the chase. It was never anything more than that though. The women never kept his interest. Somewhere along the way, he stopped wanting to play games where everyone lost.

So
, why now? Why did he want to chase, and capture this little nymph’s heart? It wasn’t just desire. He wanted to protect her, needed to. He wanted to drive the fear out of her beautiful lavender eyes. He needed to find a way gain her trust, so she didn’t distance herself. Then he would learn her secrets, like why she seemed to fear what she was and what she could do.

He
really was tempted to call her brother and ask him, but he wouldn’t do that. This was a challenge he was going to see through himself. For now, he would give Amethyst her space, and build her trust. He was a hunter, he was patient, and he had a feeling that Amethyst was worth the wait. Besides, an old friend always told him that a slow seduction was always worth the wait.

Preston’s stomach heaved as his feet hit the pavement. Robert had translocated them to the front steps of the hospital. At least he had the decency to give Preston a few minutes to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth.

“You okay?” Robert asked as
he rubbed his eyes.

It was barely six in the morning when Preston got the call from Jarvis
, telling him to go investigate the damned morgue because Carl’s corpse got up and walked away. Carl was the piece of shit warlock who nearly put sweet, innocent Amethyst in that sick fuck Jarvis’ hands. The urge to punch something ran deep but he bit back the snarl and narrowed his eyes.

“Fi
ne,” Preston grumbled. “I want to find out what in the hell is going on.”

“What did Jarvis say?”

“That Carl’s body is gone. That his corpse got up and left. It’s on the damned camera, but I don’t understand how that is even possible, or why the bastard waited three days to tell me.” Preston shoved the door open and headed for the elevator to take him down to the morgue.

Robert grabbed Preston’s a
rm to pull him to a stop. “Wait. The body is gone? Video caught it?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “That’s not even possible.”

“No shit. Now let’s go.” Preston jerked his arm away and decided to take the stairs to blow off some steam. Amethyst didn’t deserve any of this mess. He had a really bad feeling about whatever was coming. It was deep in his gut, and he’d had it ever since he first saw Carl’s corpse.

Robert hurried after him. “Okay, I understand that this is bad news, but why the rush?”

Preston shoved his hands through his hair. “I’m worried. I felt something at Carl’s place, but it was just out of reach, and something I couldn’t put my finger on. I thought the fact
that he stabbed himself through the heart was wrong, but there was no struggle, nothing. So, what if I missed something?”

He
pushed through the doors, and before he could open his mouth to talk to the technician, Robert put the tech to sleep with a simple touch and started for the door.

“Well, that’
s easier,” Preston grumbled.

Robert lifted his shoulder in a shrug.
“I thought we were in a hurry. This is your case, though. What do you want from me?”

“Find the footage
and get a copy. I know you can work your magic. I’ll go look for any clues.”

He stepped into the
unnaturally cold room. The air grew denser, and something dark pressed in on him. It was the residual of something he had never felt.

“What the fuck?” he whispered as he went to the drawer Carl
was supposed to be in. He took a deep breath and yanked it open. The body was certainly gone, but there were smudges of a dark substance on the sheet and slab.

Without thinking, he reached out to touch, but just the feel of the energy was enough for him to jerk his hand back
before he came into contact with it. He fumbled with a vial and managed to scoop some into it and cap the container. The primordial presence vibrated its way up his arm and down his spine, leaving his teeth chattering as he rushed out of the room.

He ran straight into Robert who caught him by the shoulders. “Are you okay?”

Shaking his head, he held up the vial.

“What is that?”

“Don’t know,” Preston admitted. “Something bad, really fucking bad.”

“What’s your next move?” Robert asked, obviously not bailing. Not like Mr.
Buzzkill had anywhere better to be.

“We visit Carl’s place. Then maybe visit the archives.
”

* * * *

It was 8:30. Where in the Abyss was she? Hayden sat in the kitchen with Brody and Fallon. “Is Amethyst all right?” he finally asked as he scraped the chair back and stood to pace.

Amusement danced in Fallon’s green eyes as she swept her red hair up and twisted it into a knot. “She is. She was up late, unpacking. Probably couldn’t sleep. She’s sort of nervous if you haven’t noticed.” She gave him a knowing look. “Before you charge up there like a moron, what is
it you want from her?”

His voice rumbled with his agitation. “What do you mean?”

“You’re obviously interested. I’ll tell you now she won’t deal well if you push. She’s dealing with enough. And just a warning, if you hurt her, I will twist your balls off and force feed them to you.”

Hayden knew she would. The woman wasn’t one to mess with, and after seeing a little of what she could do, he didn’t want to
piss her off.

Brody closed his eyes, and shook his head with a
chuckle. “What Fallon is trying to say, is that you should be careful with Amethyst and her heart. You might want to let Fallon go up there to check on her. About the only person Amethyst seems to trust is Fallon. She even seemed a bit nervous around Jess and Jamie.”

Fallon rolled her eyes.
“That has nothing to do with her comfort around them, and everything to do with the fact that she knows that too long around either of them and they are going to be asking her questions she doesn’t want to answer, or going prophet on her which she hates even worse than I do.” Fallon fixed Hayden with a look that made him sit back down. “I’m going to get her. Brody has a point; you’ll just spook her if you go up there. Whatever you did last night already did that, at the police station, before you got to the bar.” She didn’t wait, she turned on her heel and left.

The door slammed shut and Hayden looked to Brody
, and tried to explain. “Yes, I’m curious about Amethyst. I am going to get answers out of her, eventually. I have to know what hurt her so bad that she’s so afraid. I swear, I only healed the burns from the cuffs, and the bruise Simons put on her arm.”

Brody stilled, but his eyes snapped up to meet Hayden’s gaze with silent fury.
“What did Simons do, and how the hell did the cuffs burn her?”

“You could say she’s allergic to most anything with iron content. It’s the same way you all are allergic to silver. Simons held her arm too tightly. She says he didn’t do anything horrible to her, but he did drag her from the car into the station and forced her into the seat. She wasn’t fighting either. Probably trying not to cause trouble or stir up any suspicion.” Hayden sighed. “I just tried to make her feel welcome, and show her
that we aren’t all assholes.”

Brody harrumphed.
“I didn’t suspect you of any foul play, Hayden. I’ve never seen you disrespect anyone who didn’t deserve it.” Brody sighed as he fixed everyone a plate. “All I know is that her ex, who didn’t beat her or anything, did try to blackmail her into staying with him. Apparently he involved the Council. Preston proved her innocence and got them to release her. I just don’t trust the asshole that put her in their hands to begin with.”

That lit a spark of fury.
Someone handed her to the Council?
“I wouldn’t either. The council doesn’t like anyone who isn’t a mage. Her hair and eyes alone would raise suspicion. I don’t think that girl would do anything to hurt anyone. Not without a good reason.”

“Fallon assures me she wouldn’t, but she will fight dirty when she’s cornered. I blame Fallon for that, but in our world, that really is a good thing, and I thank God that Fallon can beat the shit out of any asshole who means her harm.”

“Fallon is something else.” At least Brody was happy, but Hayden would never understand how such an alpha male could be with a woman who rivaled everything but his physical strength, and she made up for that with speed, magic and cunning. Brody had his hands full, but he had never been happier, so more power to them.

* * * *

There was a knock on the door, and Amethyst shot up off the couch. She was still in her clothes from the night before, but everything was put away already. With a yawn she peeked out the window and found Fallon there.

Her heart sank
, which was stupid, because why the heck would Hayden be on her doorstep?

Really?

Amethyst opened the door with a sheepish shrug. “Hey. Guess I slept in.”

“You already unpacked?” Fallon
shook her head, but she didn’t look surprised. “Brody heard you putting the boxes in the recycle bin. He startled me when he left to go investigate.”

“Sorry,” she frowned, “I’m just going to shower really, really fast and then I’ll be down. I promise.”

“All right, but hurry. Sheriff Eyeball, as you called him, was worried just a minute ago. You are half an hour late. I’m surprised he kept his trap shut that long.”

Of course he was worried about her. She was an infant compared to him. That
thought tamped her mood down further.

“What in the
Abyss is his problem? Stupid flipping men,” she grumbled as she went back to the shower.

Fallon’s chuckled before shutting the door.

Deep down, she knew Carl’s suicide wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one to bury the blade in his chest, and she had ended their relationship months ago, but she did have sex with him to plant the suggestion to leave her alone for good.

With all of that
weighing heavy on her heart, she felt guilty for wanting Hayden so soon.

* * * *

Dacia came out of the shower and found that weird-ass, little freak still in her bed. “Hey, numb-nuts, I told you to get your ass out.” She shoved him, and he rolled over with a groan, flinging his arm over his eyes.

In the sunlight, h
e had the weirdest shade of purplish ashy hair. It couldn’t have been dyed either. The sparse hair on his body was the same strange color. Whatever, she didn’t care. She wanted him gone.

Grumbling, she stomped back to the bathroom to fill a glass with icy cold water.

When she came back, she noticed the sheet had slipped. She couldn’t help snickering at the bastard’s below average prick.

Without warning, she dumped the water right on
his little-winky.

He shot off the bed with a snarl and glared up at her.

Her head cocked to the side with derision. “You really are short, aren’t you?”

His hand shot up, and he pulled
it back like he would slap her.

Dacia wasn’t playing around anymore. She phased into thin air, reappeared behind the prick and shoved him toward the door. “Don’t fuck with me, and get out of my house.” Her tone was deadly.

What’s-his-ass flipped around and launched himself at her. She phased out again and darted to the pile of his rumpled clothes. Reforming, she scooped up his jeans and throat punched him. While he was coughing, she tied him up with his own pants, and dragged him toward the rest of his belongings that she scooped up with her free hand. She shoved him down the stairs and tossed him out.

She
hurled first one shoe at his head and then the second at his pathetic equipment. Then quickly slammed the door shut and warded all entrances from the shithead.

* * * *

It was still pretty warm, being the beginning of June, so Amethyst braided her hair, pulled a tank top on, a loose skirt, and sandals. Her shirt was pale blue, and the skirt was floral but matched and wouldn’t clash with her coloring. She took a sweater with her and went down to face the peanut gallery.

They all looked up when she came in. Hayden froze though, h
is expression softening as he smiled at her. Her heart sped up, and her stomach fluttered. His dark eyes held her gaze and she wanted to melt right there on the spot.

Fallon broke the silence. “I made
the berry tea I know you love.”

Amethyst forced her gaze
away from Hayden and over to Fallon. “Thank you.” She took a look around. “Sorry I didn’t wake up earlier. I overslept.” Hayden stood up and pulled her chair out. Heat infused her cheeks as she sat down while he towered over her. Then he pushed her in before taking his own seat.

Fallon’s brow rose, a smirk tilting one
side of her mouth.

It was too quiet, and
terribly awkward. Amethyst looked toward Brody. “Thank you. Hayden told me you make excellent food.” She took a bite of the scramble and then the pancakes. “Mmm, and he was right.”

“
No thanks needed, but thank you.” Brody grinned. Amethyst could totally see how Fallon fell for him. He was sort of perfect. Fallon had told her enough to know he was badass when the situation called for it, but all she could feel between Fallon and Brody was true love. She could almost see it, like their aura’s entwined around each other, binding them further than was normal for most mated couples. Plus, he could really cook, and Amethyst loved good food.

“Did you sleep well?” Hayden asked.
             

She swallowed and looked at him
. His dark eyes were full of concern and her heart sank. Maybe she imagined the lust. “Yes, just couldn’t sleep right away, so I put things away. I forgot to set an alarm. That’s all.”