then she clasped my arm. "Take us back."
"What? You do it."
"You do it. Sire thinks you're ready so you need to be able to do this. Take us back."
"I have no idea where we are."
"It doesn't matter. You know where you want to go. Take us there."
"But…" My mouth hung open. How was I supposed to do that? Then I heard a voice in my head. It was a whisper and it felt strangely familiar, too familiar. 'Think of where you want to go, where you want to be, then wish it and it will be.'
"What?!" I snapped, spinning in a circle. The voice was in my head, but it sounded so real. "I thought I was done hearing voices in my head and now someone's back."
Saren grabbed my other arm. "What are you talking about?"
"Someone just told me to wish and it will be. It's annoying. You're all annoying. You want to know why I don't want to be the Immortal, it's because of this! I have voices in my head. I have freaky witch spirits telling me that I can teleport myself somewhere and I have no idea how to do it." But as I spoke, everything started to move around us. We were in the eye of a tornado and time was being sucked around us, whipping, snarling.
Then the voice whispered again, 'She can't hear me, she should not. I am here for you, Davina. I always will be… You are never alone.'
Okay—creepy. And before I could reflect on that thought, something snapped us away. It was like a hand reached into our vortex and shook us into a different vortex. Before I could shriek from surprise, we'd fallen to the ground and I hissed from the pain.
"What was that?" I turned for Saren, but she wasn't there. "Saren? Where are you? This is not funny. Did you do that?" Scrambling to my feet, I couldn't see or feel her. She wasn't close to me at all. I didn't feel her presence. It was like she was dead, but she was a witch spirit so I wasn't that surprised. Well, a witch spirit with some extra oomph to her.
"We're close."
A gruff voice spoke behind me and I whirled around to see a blonde vampire sitting in front of a fire. She was hunched over with her elbows braced on her knees. A bag was placed behind her. It was slightly open. Some pictures poked out from the bag along with a yellow cardigan and a beaded necklace.
"Fine," she sighed and stood lithely in one motion. When she turned around, I found myself staring into Talia's face, but it wasn't. This was a vampire, not the thread holder. She was older, maybe five years older, but the same hazel eyes stared through me, hardened. Instead of Talia's red hair flying around her, this girl had blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun tucked behind at the base of her head. She bent down and pulled a long sleeve armor shirt over her. The front of it had a black wolf painted over it with green eyes that seemed to see right through me. As I moved to the left, they watched and then followed when I went to the right.
Freaky.
Suddenly, she walked right through me. I gasped, braced for the contact, but nothing happened. The girl walked straight through me as if I was air. Then I realized I was air. I wasn't there in body, but in mind. I had no idea why I would want to be there, but I turned with the intention of following the girl when a shadow jerked away from the fire.
The movement caught my eye and I whirled back around, but I didn't see anything except the flames that waved back and forth in a smooth rhythm. I started to turn again, but there it was. The shadow jerked forward and this time I was able to catch where it went. I focused all my attention on it.
"Who are you?" I asked. Was this an actual shadow or a ghost or a witch spirit?
It didn't say anything. It didn't move. It glimmered there above the bag. Some embers in the fire moved in that moment and flames exploded, the sky was illuminated for a second. I saw a face in the shadow and they looked downwards. It was focused on the bag, so much that I drifted closer so I could look at the bag too. Glancing back up, I could no longer make out the shadow, but I could still feel it. The presence was strong, so strong, and I closed my eyes. I let myself feel what this shadow wanted me to feel.
Urgency. Desperation. And such clear concentration that I was jerked out of my trance-like state. The thing wanted me to look in the bag and if it could've told me in person, it would've been screaming at me.
"Tracey, where are you going?"
I jerked around. She was coming back. Talia's sister was almost to the bag, reaching down.
'Oh god…' I sucked in my breath and snatched the bag before she could. Everything whirled around me again and I knew I'd broken through the vortex. She couldn't see me before, but she did now and she was pissed. Her eyes went from shock to a murderous rage.
"Hi! Sorry!" I squeaked and then closed my eyes again. 'Vacuum away. Vacuum away. Roane. Go to Roane! Go to Roane!' I tried to command my Immortal insides and as Tracey's rough hands scraped my skin, the wind picked me up again and I was back in the same tornado.
When I landed this time, it took me a minute before I realized where I was. It was quiet, too quiet in the room, but there was loud music below me. It sounded like a bass booming underneath my feet and when I looked around, I saw a couple of leather couches, a bar, a desk, and three walls made from glass. Then I realized that it was the sound of bass under me. I was in Roane's office at the Shoilster. Then I gulped, oh goodness.
Just then the door opened, the bass sounded clearer, and I looked up.
Wren took two steps inside and froze. The papers in her hand ripped apart. She couldn't hide the terror in her eyes before I saw it. And then it was gone. She stood at her highest height and her leather corset creaked from the movement. The papers were forgotten when she moved her hand behind her back.
"What is that?" I lurched forward.
"What are you doing here?" She looked around, but no one was there. The door was closed. There was no escape.
"It's just you and me and whatever you're hiding from me."
"I'm not hiding anything from you."
I narrowed my eyes and studied her. I studied the vein that had started to pop in her neck. "Yes, you are. What's in those papers?"
"Nothing. They're for Roane, not you. And what are you doing here? I should be yelling for him right now."
I swallowed and looked back to her eyes. They were frosty now, but I narrowed mine and went inside of her. It was an old empathic trick. I sensed the disarray inside. Wren was relieved I was back, pissed that she was relieved, and another part was in chaos because she smelled something familiar, too familiar for her to handle.
I pulled out and then sniffed the air. Nothing.
"What do you have?" Her eyes looked frantic.
I lifted the bag. "This? This is what you smelled?"
"Wha—get out of my head!" She grabbed the bag from me. Her long curls whipped against my head as she moved back. "Do you know whose this is?"
"I'm the one who took it. Do you?"
Wren blanched and jerked backwards, stumbling to the door. I watched as she went through it, but gaped as the door shut behind her. The almighty hoity-toity vampiress had just ran from me—me! She was scared of me for some reason. My gaze shifted to the bag. I doubted she was terrified of a bag so that left only one possibility…She knew the owner of the bag. Wren was scared of Tracey, not me. Who was Tracey to Wren? How did they know each other?
"Davy?" Roane was frozen in the doorway. His gaze was riveted to me.
Oh god, he looked good. His hair had been buzzed again, but it was how he was dressed that had my knees buckling. He had on black dress slacks matched with a black soft cotton buttoned shirt tucked inside. Roane looked like a business owner, one that oozed sex appeal from extreme confidence. And he didn't care, which made him even hotter. He looked so different from the college student he'd been in the beginning.
I swallowed, my throat was tight. "Hey," I choked out with a small wave. When I saw that my hand was trembling, I stuffed it behind me.
I didn't know what to say. He didn't move. He didn't speak. And my feet were glued to the floor. Maybe I shouldn't have come. Maybe Sireenia had gotten it
wrong and I wasn't my strongest around him. "I shouldn't have come. I'm sorry."
"No!" Roane jerked forward, but stopped. His hand was in the air. He reached out to me, but he didn't move or say anything more. A myriad of emotions flashed over his face before his hand moved back to his side. "Where were you?"
My eyebrows shot up. That was what he settled with? No hug? No kiss? No 'I missed you and was so worried about you?' My blood started to boil. "Are you serious? That's all you have to say to me?" Maybe I hadn't been gone that long? And maybe Roane hadn't missed me as much as I hoped he would.
"I…" He opened his mouth, but shut it without saying anything, again.
The door burst open behind him and Gavin came inside. He flashed me a smile. "Well, well, well. The prodigal superpower is back again. Where've you been, darling?" Then he opened his arms wide to lift me in the air.
Finally. Someone was happy to see me.
He twirled me in a circle.
I laughed and glared at the same time. "Put me down." But it was nice to know someone missed me.
Gavin set me back down and glanced over his shoulder. "Aren't you going to give your girl a kiss? You've been worrying enough to give your immortal body an ulcer. And a splendid body he has, Davy. He really does, but then again, I think you already know this."
I felt him patting my shoulder and knew he was trying to reassure me, but it wasn't helping. Roane still hadn't moved. He seemed normal now, no shock residing. His eyes were clear and focused on me, but I didn't see what I had hoped I would. Gavin was wrong, Roane hadn't missed me. If he was worried, it was about the Immortal being gone. It was all about the Immortal, not me.
"Gavin, can you give us a moment?"
"Sure." Gavin flashed another smile and winked at me before he left.
I remembered being annoyed with him the last time I saw him but now I didn't want him to go. He wore a white track suit that still gave him the athletic look, but somehow he made it look natural. All vampires should dress like that. When the door closed behind him, I wondered what color his track suit would be the next time I saw him. Then Roane cleared his throat and I no longer cared.
"You've been gone for three months." He moved around me to his desk.
We brushed shoulders as he moved past, but it wasn't close enough. I sucked in a breath and felt my body yearn for his touch. When it didn't happen, I felt cheated, but I turned and regarded him. "Has it been that long?"
Roane turned his back to me and looked out over the dance floor. "What happened that day? Gavin was there. He said you were fine. You were with your roommate and a witch. I've spoken to Emily and I've read the police reports from the witch and wolf. None of them know what happened and there's no video of you leaving."
Wow, the police had been called. "Emily's mate has Immortal essence in him. He was made with magic and I had to leave. He would've sensed the Immortal in me and tried to drain me. I might not have been able to control myself and I was scared of what could've happened. I could've killed everybody. So I left."
"Left where?" He turned now with his eyes narrowed.
I tried to sense inside of him, but was blocked. I could've pushed through, but it didn't take away the fact that Roane didn't want me in his head. He was guarded against me and I realized that he didn't trust me. Pain flooded me at that thought. I felt a knife to my gut.
"Where did you go, Davy?"
I sucked in my breath and blinked back tears. It shouldn't hurt that much, but it did.
"Where did you go? You said you left, but there's no footage of you leaving. Did you disappear in thin air? Can you do that now?"
He was so cold. I shivered in his office and wrapped my arms around myself. "It's an Immortal thing that I didn't know I could do. I came back once I figured out how to control it, not that I really can, but I think I'm figuring it out."
"You came back? You came back here?" Roane still stood in front of the glass wall, as far away from me as possible.
"I came here. I wanted to see you. I know that I'm stronger when I'm with you. I can control my powers better…" I trailed off because he didn't look convinced. He looked alarmed, but what was wrong about that? I hadn't expected any of this from him. He should've been happy I was back. He shouldn't be cautious.
"But where did you go?"
"I don't know, not really. I was in some castle somewhere."
"Alone?"
"I—yes." I had no idea why I kept Saren and Sireenia a secret, but if he was being cautious then I would too.
"And you decided to come back now?"
"No." Why wouldn't he understand? "I couldn't come back because I didn't know how. I couldn't control my powers and I don't know what to do about Emily's mate. He can't know I'm the Immortal. I don't know why he can't know, but I just know that he can't. It wouldn't be good if he did." And I was rambling like an idiot. 'Smooth move, Davy. Just remind him that you're still a dork and he really won't see what he liked about you before.'
Roane cracked a grin.
My eyes popped out. "You can hear my thoughts, but you won't let me hear yours?"
Everything about him relaxed in that moment and he came around the desk with a smile. "I had to make sure it was you and not someone else. Jacith is a powerful sorcerer. He could do this. I'm sorry that I hurt you."
"What?" I glared. "Not fun."
But then it didn't matter. Roane moved close and folded me against his chest. He hugged me tight. The fight, the tension, the hurt all rolled out of me in that moment. Everything slipped away and I was wrapped in warmth again. With my hands fisted in his shirt and my forehead pressed against his chest, I mumbled out, "What made up your mind?"
"Only you would worry about me seeing you as a dork. No imposter could be that good." He rested his cheek on the top of my head and held me tighter. "It's good to have you back."
I felt his relief then. He had been worried, enough to grow ulcers as Gavin had teased. And then I felt desire burst inside of me. Nothing else mattered. It started low, in the pit of my stomach and spread out. It spread fast, shooting through me and then I was wet between my legs. The need throbbed there. It was powerful, so powerful that I was blind to everything else. Without thinking, I lifted my head, arched my back, and climbed up his body.
Roane grabbed the back of my thighs and anchored them around his waist. His hand caught my neck and tilted my head back. His lips brushed mine and I groaned. I needed more. As he touched them again, it was agonizing. He was gentle when I wanted him to dominate.
"Yep, they're getting along just fine."
Gavin's voice interrupted us and Roane growled. "Out!" His voice was low, so low it sounded like an animal and I knew his vampire side had come to the forefront.
"I'm going to be sick."
Wren wasn't far behind Gavin. The two ignored the warning and came further into the room. Gavin perched on the couch while Wren went to the glass wall and peered out. The door opened one more time and Gregory came through. His shoulders almost didn't fit, but he stooped down and shifted sideways.
'They aren't going anywhere.'
I felt Roane's reluctance as he let me down, but he held my elbow and lifted me to the opposite couch from Gavin. My legs weren't able to stand so I was grateful for his help. As I collapsed on the couch, my heart was racing. I pressed my sweaty palms between my knees and felt them throbbing, pulsating from need. Gavin gave me a knowing look and I ducked my head. I couldn't control my body.
Roane shot me a dark, primal look underneath his eyelids, but turned to the group. "The Immortal took her away. I assume that Emily called out for her mate and he was approaching the room. Davy feared that he would've attacked her and she wouldn't have been able to control herself. She worried that the Immortal in her would've reacted and killed people she didn't want to kill."
"So where was she?" Wren clipped out.
"Davy doesn't know where she was, but she came back once she could figure out how to get back." Roane gazed at the vampiress steadi
ly for a moment before she lowered her gaze. Then he glanced at the rest with authority. "That's all we need to know. I trust her and she's right. The Alpha would've known who she was so Davy did the right thing in disappearing. He still can't know who she is."
Gavin growled, "The wolves want to take over. They always have. It's why they created him and it's why he's here. They know something about the Immortal – otherwise he wouldn't be here. His pack comes from across the ocean."
"Their ancestors originate from where Talia grew up," Gregory said as he watched his master.
Roane didn't blink. "Talia came from a gypsy family. They had no set place."
"Where did her mother die?" I felt all the desire drain from my body. Any talk about Talia would do that. I just felt empty now.
"In Veneto. Talia's roots are the Sinti gypsies. They had settled there when her mother was killed."
"And when the thread went to Talia," Gavin finished.
"Does it matter where he came from? He's here now and he's a pain in the ass. It's all nice and not really lovely that Davy's