A Shift in the Air (14 page)

“
We don’t know that.” But
the lack of conviction in his words left her cold, despite his
tight embrace

She shook her head. “The plaque.
There’s a photo of him…after I jumped…with the plaque. I know he
did this to get my attention. He knows I’m alive. He’s calling to
me. If I don’t go to him…”

“
Hell, no. We’re goin’ to
Cade’s. Now.” Liam steered her out of the restaurant, pausing only
to grab their coats from the table. He’d parked his motorcycle in
her underground garage, and he gestured to the chrome and black
beast. “Ya okay ridin’?”

Numb, barely able to nod,
she let him adjust the helmet for her and slid onto the bike behind
him. With her arms wrapped around him and her eyes closed against
the buildings, cars, and sidewalks streaming by, she let his warmth
and steady breathing calm the storm inside her.
I have to stop him. Maybe I can save him.

Liam eased the bike to a stop. “We’re
here, luv. Ya can let go now.”

If only she could. Her arms wouldn’t
obey. “I’m scared,” she whispered, her head still pressed to his
back.

“
Ye’re also half-frozen. Do
this for me, Caitlin. Please. We’ll talk to Cade and figure out
what to do.”

Somehow, she managed to release him
and get the helmet off her head. Liam kept her close, his arm
curling around her shoulders. The red door stood sentry, and on the
other side, an alpha wolf she’d almost killed and an unstable
elemental waited. Both times she’d been in this house, she’d left
running, terrified and alone. Would this time be any
different?

Liam knocked, each sharp rap of his
fist another tick of the clock counting down to her greatest fear:
losing herself, once again, to Fergus’s insanity.

Chapter Eleven

Liam kept his hand on the small of
Caitlin’s back under her jacket. The warmth and deep-seated sense
of calm kept her steps steady as Cade led the way into the living
room. “Mara’s getting dressed. I’ll make coffee.”

“
Do you get BBC?” Liam
picked up the remote and flipped on the television. Channel after
channel flickered by, and the whir of the coffee grinder and rich
scent of the beans temporarily distracted her.

“
Shite.” A live shot of the
Cliffs of Moher filled the screen. The sun beat down on an empty
landscape, the missing crowds stark in their absence and a gaping
maw bisecting the cliffside.

“
Experts say the cliffs
will be closed for the foreseeable future. Our on-scene reporter
obtained amateur video of the earthquake. We want to warn you that
these images may be disturbing to sensitive viewers.”

The jerky video captured the moment a
massive section of earth sheared off and crashed into the sea
below. Churning spray exploded fifty feet in every direction,
screams filled the air, and tourists fled, streaming like rats from
a sinking ship. As the narrator called for God’s help, the camera
panned and focused on a lone man standing at the top of the path
that wound around the tallest of the majestic cliffs. Arms raised
to the sky, black hair whipping in the gales, the man stared into
the camera. A metal and rock plaque next to him cracked in two, and
the narrator screamed and dove for cover as half of the metal flew
towards him.

On screen, the newswoman shook her
head. “The videographer suffered minor injuries, but the death toll
is up to seventeen confirmed, with six more missing.”

Every frame burned into her mind, and
memories of Fergus’s fists, his charms, and his words sent her
sliding off the couch and onto the floor, her hands over her ears,
lost in the terror of his insanity.

Liam wrapped his arms around her.
“Ye’re safe, luv. I won’t let him get to ya.”

She didn’t want his comfort or his
promises. Fergus would continue to kill and maim and threaten until
the day he had her in his thrall once more. “N-no. Not safe. I have
to go.” Struggling out of his embrace, she looked to Mara, curled
on the couch. “Please. You said you’d help me.”

Mara raised a brow. “Caitlin, I gave
Liam your letter for just that reason. He’s my family, and he loves
you. And I’m pretty sure you love him, too. Don’t run off to
Ireland on your own and let Fergus kill you. Please.”

Love?
Caitlin tried to focus on Liam. “You said”—she hiccupped,
fighting back a sob—“not yet.“

“
I said we wouldn’t mate,
luv. There’s a difference, yeah? And that’s not important right
now.” He shot Mara an angry glance, then turned back to Caitlin,
the golden flames in his eyes overtaking the green. “Ye’re still
chilled. Let me hold ya.”

Caitlin measured the distance to the
door, but Cade blocked her path. Four mugs of coffee balanced in
his hands, he met her gaze. “If you’re going to run, do it now. But
I’ll warn you. If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back.
You vowed to help Mara, and we’re depending on that. You run now,
you’re through with this pack. So is Liam if he goes after you.”
Cade set the mugs down on the coffee table.

Mara averted her eyes as Liam clenched
his fists. Running would save Liam’s life. Or would it? He’d go
after her—she had no doubt about that. And without his pack, what
would happen to him? And Mara. The water elemental cupped her mug
and watched her mate with bloodshot eyes and a vaguely
uncomfortable expression. The connection between them tugged at
Caitlin, and she dropped her head, sending the barest hint of a
charm towards Mara. A little air to balance the fire.

“
Well?” Cade asked, his arm
tight around his wife.

“
Help me,” Caitlin
whispered and let Liam wrap his arm around her and ease her up to
the love seat across from Cade and Mara.

“
All right. What do you
know?”

Caitlin looked to Liam, drawing
strength from the absolute conviction in his eyes and the fingers
wrapped tightly around hers. “I can feel Fergus—the charm between
us. Earlier tonight…we’re so far away from one another, the
sensations are muted, but…loneliness, pain…those carry. He thinks
he needs me to survive…to do what he’s certain will fix
him.”

“
Getting all four
elements,” Mara said, her fingers fluttering on the mug.

“
Yes.” Caitlin glanced at
the television. Someone—Liam?—had turned off the sound, but the
videos taken by helicopter showed the devastation. The
once-majestic cliffs crumbled along their north end with a great
slide of rubble tumbling in a slow crawl towards the sea. The
southern heights towered over them, and the yawning fissure between
the two extended almost to the visitor’s center.

A fresh wave of panic rolled through
her, and she leaned into Liam long enough to take in a breath of
his spicy, woodsy scent, tinged with the leather from his jacket.
How could she need him so desperately in such a short
time?

Shaking off the thought, she looked
back at Cade. The alpha’s cold eyes, steel gray and focused
completely on her and Liam’s joined hands, didn’t reassure, but she
cleared her throat. “Katerina’s charm protected me from him. I
remember now—her promises. Air can…do many things: insulate, carry
sounds, move objects. But our true power comes from what we can do
to minds. Air is persuasion, subterfuge, lies. Katerina’s fire
combined with my air, and we crafted a charm that would change me.
Caitlin disappeared into Bella. Cade, the charm she used on
you…fire hardens, consumes. Nothing escapes. She trapped Caitlin in
the same way, with my blessing, and used my air to convince Bella
that Caitlin had never existed.”

“
Fuckin’ bitch,” Liam
muttered.

Shame wove amid the deep-seated
knowledge that she’d had no other option and let loose a storm of
emotion inside her. Anger boiled over, and she pulled away from
him.

“
Katerina had a lot of
darkness in her. And she did terrible things. I’ll spend the rest
of my life trying to make up for the evil she wrought on all of
you. But this…I asked. Begged, even. I tried to end my life again
in the hospital. Had a scalpel to my throat when she came to visit
me.” Tears gathered in her eyes, but her element whirled around
her, drying them as quickly as they fell. “Death saved me. Can’t
you see that? Death brought me back to you.”

“
Dammit, Caitlin!” Liam
snapped, and she flinched. “Stop makin’ excuses for the shite
Katerina did.”

“
Liam, outside. Now.” Cade
jerked his hand towards the hall and strode out of the room. Liam
followed, meekness and anger battling for control in his churning
eyes. He cast a lingering gaze at Caitlin at the door, then turned
on his heel and followed his alpha outside.

“
I think we need something
a little stronger than coffee.” Mara let Caitlin gather herself
alone, memories of Katerina, of Bella’s first few minutes of life,
of the feel of the cold scalpel against her overheated, sunburnt
skin simmering in her mind.

“
I can take away your
fear.” Katerina’s quiet words and her grip staying Caitlin’s hand
gave her the first bit of hope she’d had in weeks.

“
How?”

Katerina offered Caitlin a
red crystal on a chain. “Your air holds the key. Air stokes fire,
and my charm will seal who you were inside a cocoon, protected by
flames so strong, nothing will penetrate. Will you trust
me?”

“
He’ll find me.”

“
And if he does, I will
kill him.”

“
Here.” Mara handed Caitlin
a glass of whiskey, and the sweet scent of caramel and butterscotch
wafted over her. “He shouldn’t have snapped at you. But Liam had a
hard time after Cade disappeared. He had to act as alpha—something
he never wanted—all while mourning his best friend. No one but
Livie believed Cade lived.”

“
He told me a long time ago
that he’d be an alpha one day. Why didn’t he want that?” A sip of
whiskey burned down her throat.

“
You’ll have to ask him.
Liam and I had some trouble when Cade and I mated. Your leaving
soured him on the whole elemental community, and my sister’s
actions didn’t help. But that’s not important right now. I’m more
concerned with you. Fergus couldn’t sense you as Bella?”

“
I don’t think so. Air
elementals can use location charms. That’s how he always found me
before. I would have sensed one—even if I wouldn’t have known the
who or the why in the casting.”

“
But he knows you’re alive
now, and what? He’s doing this”—she waved her hand at the
television—“to get you to come back to him?”

“
Yes. He’s scared to death
of flying, so he won’t come to the States until he’s done his worst
in Ireland.”

The door shut, and Caitlin stifled a
nervous breath. Liam trudged after Cade, his eyes back to their
usual green as his gaze locked on hers. Cade eyed the whiskey,
shrugged, and went to pour two more glasses, returning with the
bottle tucked under his arm.

Tension formed a wall between them
when Liam sat, and Caitlin stared into her glass. “Fergus won’t
stop. Absorbing my element broke him. Something triggers
him—casting a charm, my defiance, even a whispered rumor in
town…and the insanity changes him…like a switch. His episodes can
last a few hours or even weeks. I learned to manage them. I could
calm him, say the right things, pretend I wanted to
help.”

“
Could you do that now?
Call him? Get him to stop the violence until we come up with a
plan?” Cade asked.

The idea of talking to Fergus again,
even with an ocean between them, brought a shudder. Unsure of how
to ask for what she needed—Liam’s strength—Caitlin downed the rest
of her whiskey. “Get me a number for him and I’ll try.”

Liam shifted uncomfortably on the
other end of the love seat. “Farren can help, yeah?”

“
Who’s Farren?”

A smile tugged at Liam’s lips. “That’s
a long story,” he said, digging his mobile out of his pocket,
dialing, and putting the call on speaker. Equal parts affection and
discomfort in his tone had her reaching for the bottle of whiskey
and pouring a generous shot.

“
Ya’ve reached
Ghealach Lán
Investigations. Please leave a brief message, and we’ll return
your call as soon as we can.”

“
Farren, I need your
help—“

“
Mailbox full.” The click
of the disconnected call reverberated in the room.

“
The fuck?” Liam scrolled
through his contacts and punched a second number. Strain tightened
the small lines around his eyes, and his lips pressed into a
straight, firm line.

“
Farren?” A young male
voice answered, and his worried tone did nothing for Caitlin’s
nerves.

“
No, lad. I’m Liam
O’Sullivan, Farren and I grew up together. Where is
she?”

“
Uh…missing…I
think…we—“

Cade grabbed the phone. “Listen up.
This is Cade Bowman, alpha of the Seattle pack. Where the fuck is
she, and who the hell are you?”

“
I’m Tierney, sir. Farren
and our beta, Colin, went to Lahinch yesterday and no one’s heard
from them since. She said somethin’ about a rogue elemental makin’
trouble.”

“
Shite,” Liam whispered,
and the wall between them fell away as he reached for Caitlin and
pulled her into his arms. The vise-like embrace settled her. He
clearly cared for this woman, and her heart ached to
comfort.