A Shift in the Air (17 page)

“
Liam?” Livie answered,
with Serena wailing close by. “The airline won’t tell us whether he
and Mara made the flight. Fuc—dging privacy laws or some…stuff like
that. Take her,” she said, presumably to someone else in the room,
and the wailing faded away. “If they’re on their way to New York,
they’ll land in an hour. Tierney’s still at Farren’s, and he’s
holding strong. Little runt of the pack is getting his alpha on.
But they haven’t heard from her, Colin, or Brian.”

“
Farren lives four hours
from Dublin. We’ll stay here until we know about Cade and Mara.
They didn’t tell ya anything about what happened with the
elementals?” Liam turned down a narrow, tree-lined
street.

“
Nothing more than he told
you. But if the elders are after Mara, I’m worried they’re going to
come here. Shawn and I are taking the baby and going to Vancouver
for a while. We know the beta up there. Christine and Ollie are
staying here, and I hate leaving them, but I can’t risk
Serena.”

“
Go,” Liam said. “We’re
almost to the hotel. Take care of yourself.”

No one spoke until Liam booked them
into a two-room suite. The moment the door shut, Peter exploded.
“What the fuck have you dragged me into? Elementals turning on
their own? Our alpha…maybe dead?”

Caitlin stifled a yelp. Peter hated
her—she’d accepted that—but his eyes glowed with his wolf, and his
hands shook with rage. Fear sank like a stone in her gut. Liam said
Peter had been bitten years ago. He didn’t have as much control
over his wolf as a pureblood did, and right now, he looked like he
could lose his tenuous hold at any moment.

“
If ya shift, Peter, don’t
expect me to forgive ya.”

Peter yanked at the top two buttons on
his shirt, and a feral growl rumbled through his chest. The skin of
his cheeks rippled, and pops and cracks pinged off the walls as his
fingers broke. His baritone howl turned into a human groan, and the
shift halted with one last ominous crack.

“
Get the fuck out of here,
now.” Liam kept his voice low, stepping in front of Caitlin with
his arms out, tension rolling off of him in waves. “This hotel
backs up to a preserve. Go run. Ye’re no help to anyone if ya can’t
keep yourself together, and I’ll not have ya threatening my
m—Caitlin. Be back in an hour, calmer, and ready to help. Or don’t
come back at all.”

Peter didn’t bother to reply, and the
slam of the door echoed like a shot.

“
Caitlin, luv. Come
here.”

She relaxed into his embrace, needing
the steady, solid weight of his arms around her. During the ride to
the hotel, she’d scanned the internet on her phone, expecting to
find more horrors Fergus had unleashed on the poor people of
Ireland. But other than confirming that all six missing people from
the “earthquake” had died, nothing leapt out at her.

Liam brought her to the bedroom, eased
the jacket from her shoulders, and sat her down on the bed. “Ye’re
exhausted, Caitlin. I could pack a week’s worth of clothes in those
bags under your eyes. He’s not lookin’ for ya yet. Rest a bit. I’m
goin’ to call Tierney and see if anyone’s heard from Farren, and
then I’ll join ya.”

If only a little rest could solve her
problems. But Liam had a point. Once Fergus called to her, they’d
have no choice but to fight. And without sleep, she’d be no good to
anyone. Barely eight in the morning and she’d pissed off one of the
wolves protecting her, and the other carried such hurt from that
betrayal, and fear for his alpha, that his wolf threatened to break
free. Liam’s eyes hadn’t returned to their calm moss green since
they’d landed. She kicked off her shoes and then pulled back the
blankets.

His low voice rumbled from the other
side of the bedroom door. Though she’d helped him sleep for a
couple of hours on the flight across the Atlantic, he woke soon
after her conversation with Peter, and they’d spent the rest of the
flight talking—about their lives, his pack, and her time with
Katerina. He had to be exhausted. And worried about Farren. She
crept into the suite’s living room, finding him at the window,
staring out over the back lawn of the old castle’s
grounds.

“
And he’s said
nothin’?”

Caitlin smoothed her hands over his
shoulders, massaging the tight muscles, working her fingers into
his hair, and he tipped his head back to allow her better access.
With a stifled groan, he dropped into a chair. She called a bit of
her element to enhance the conversation on the other end of the
line and continued to work out the tension gathered in his
neck.

“
His wolf showed up beaten
all to hell, Liam. Fell right over at the front door, unconscious.
We got some water into him, and he shifted, but he passed out
again. No sign of Farren, and he’s not spoken a word.”

Liam rolled his head
around
.
“Bloody
hell. Call me as soon as he wakes, yeah?”

“
Be careful, mate,” Tierney
said and hung up the phone.

With a groan, Liam let Caitlin take
the full weight of his head in her hands. She alternated light,
soothing touches with firm pressure along the base of his skull,
the sides of his neck, and behind his ears.

“
Relax,” she whispered,
pressing a kiss to his hair. “Who came back? Brian or
Colin?”

“
Colin. Lower.”

She ground her knuckle into a
particularly hard knot at the curve of his shoulder and held the
pressure for a count of three, then smoothed the flat of her hand
over his back. “Come to bed. I can do more if you lie
down.”

Leading him to the plush bed, she
removed his vest, the travel-weary blue button-down shirt, and his
belt. “On your stomach.”

While he shed his pants and threw back
the blankets, Caitlin shut the bedroom door. Liam wrapped his arms
around one of the thick pillows and closed his eyes with a deep
sigh. “I’m afraid Farren’s dead,” he said when Caitlin straddled
him and started pressing the heels of her hands into his
back.

“
You don’t know that. Until
Colin wakes up, we don’t know anything.” She spread the flats of
her hands along his shoulder blades and whispered a quick, soothing
charm.

“
Oh God,” he murmured into
the pillow. “What are ya doin’ to me?”

“
I’m loosening your muscles
so I can get to the stress points. If Cade calls, I can sever the
charm in a few seconds.” She savored the feel of his sculpted body
under her fingers, the coiled strength, the soft silk of his hair,
and the low, appreciative rumbles and groans as she worked on his
plane-cramped shoulders.

“
Farren’s strong, Liam.
She’d have to be to lead a pack.” Caitlin forced confidence into
her tone despite the number of times she’d seen Fergus break his
victims. He’d gone after three different elementals with her under
his charms. Stifling a shudder, she leaned forward to press a kiss
to one of the knots in his back.

“
I can feel yer pain, luv.
What just happened?” Liam turned under her, pulling her to his
chest.

“
Nothing.” Admitting how
much her guilt weighed on her would do nothing but cause him more
stress.

Liam trailed a knuckle along her jaw.
“Talk to me.”

She couldn’t resist him. Where Fergus
had relied on his stolen element to compel her, Liam needed only a
gentle touch, and she ached to tell him everything.

“
Fergus bound me at
sixteen, Liam. But he disappeared the next day. Left without a
word. I couldn’t tell my mother what we’d done; she’d forbidden me
from seeing him a few days before, but I snuck out of the house to
work the charm with him. Life continued for two years, and though I
hurt, every day, we had a good life. Mum made soaps, and I worked
in the little woolen shop in Doolin. I’d enrolled in some part-time
courses at a local school in Shannon, and I planned to apply for
college. That all changed on my eighteenth birthday. Fergus came
for me then, out of his mind, ranting, going on about an ancient
book. The charm took me before I could fight back, and I followed
him out of my mother’s home, all the way to Kerry. I begged him to
release me, but he said he needed me.” A tear wound a lazy trail
down her cheek, landing on Liam’s chest.

“
He brought me to an
elderly woman’s home on the coast. A water elemental. Used my air
against her until she melted into putty in his hands. Everything
since that day—his entire insane plan—she gave to him. In the end,
he killed her with my element. I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t
fight him. We returned to Lahinch, and he informed me I belonged to
him now, and I’d do well to remember that.”

“
So ya stayed?” He looked
down at their joined hands, and Caitlin couldn’t stand the pain
etched on his face.

“
Hell, no. As soon as he
released the charm, I ran back to my mum’s and confessed
everything. But he…” Grief drowned her next words, and she rolled
off the bed and yanked open the window. Her heart pounded, and the
drapes billowed as her emotions let loose a storm within
her.

Liam wrapped his arms
around her waist, nuzzling her neck and whispering her name.
“Is breá liom tú.”
If only
love could erase the past.

“
He killed my mother.
Suffocated her with my element, buried her with his.”

“
Shite.”

“
You shouldn’t love me,
Liam. The water elemental, my mother…those are only two of the
deaths I have on my conscience. How can you forgive me for what
I’ve done?”

Liam turned her to face him and cupped
her cheeks. A gentle kiss brought a promise of everything she’d
longed for: acceptance, respect, and protection. “Answer me this,
luv. Did ya choose to kill?”

“
I…chose to trust Fergus
enough to give him my element.”

“
At sixteen. We’re stupid
at that age. All of us. Answer my question. Did ya choose to kill?
Anyone?”

“
No. I fought him every
minute. Even that final day when I threw myself off the cliffs. I
‘died’ fighting him.”

“
That’s how I can love
ya.”

Chapter Fourteen

“
Let me in,” he whispered,
and a gentle hand skimmed over her hip, raising goose bumps along
her spine. “I need ya.”

Fingers danced lower, teasing towards
her center, and a burst of warmth in her core turned into a
tremble, then a cascading waterfall of emotion, churning and
sending her flying over the edge to the whitewater
below.

The orgasm dashed her along rocks,
slamming her body into his, and lips nibbled along her collarbone,
up her neck; teeth nipped the spot behind her ear he loved so
much.

“
Liam,” she moaned, arching
her back, the thick cotton sheets rustling beneath her. Her mind
protested, off-key notes floating in the air, but his mouth closed
around a nipple, and the sound faded, rose, and faded again.
Pinpricks of light burst behind her eyes, his teeth, tongue, and
lips driving her higher once more.

“
Come to me, Catie. Ya
belong to me, with me. He cannot give you what I can—we share
power, you and I, and we’re so much more together than we are
apart.”

No
.
Caitlin tried to open her eyes; behind her shuttered lids, Fergus’s
face hovered over her. Another kiss to her neck wrenched a scream
from her throat, and she clawed at the hands that stroked down her
arms, the chest pressed against hers. Wailing, pleading for her
life, she begged him. “Please, no!”

“
Can’t ya feel the power of
him, Catie? His blood will bring us closer. Once ya see the error
of yer ways, and we destroy him, we can be happy. Ya want that,
don’t ya? We’ll be together. Bound by blood and air for a
lifetime.”

“
Caitlin!”

She crashed into the floor, the impact
singing along her left shoulder, her hip, and the side of her head.
Dazed, she blinked back the stars floating in her vision. Liam
landed next to her in a crouch, his eyes wild with burning flames,
and angry red trails oozing blood across his chest.

“
Caitlin, look at me.” He
held up his hands, and deep furrows on his arms brought a fresh
sob. What had she done? How had Fergus invaded her mind? Turned
something so beautiful into such horror?

“
Liam?” She covered her
mouth with her hand. The door slammed open, sending her scrambling
back against the wall under the window, wrapping her arms around
her knees, shaking.

“
What the hell’s going on?”
Peter asked as he barged into the room.

“
Get the fuck out of here.
Now. We’re fine. Or we will be.” Liam’s quiet words carried a
physical weight, and the smaller werewolf slunk out of the room,
closing the door with a quiet snick. “Luv, what happened? Can I
touch ya?”

She heard him somewhere in the back of
her mind, but Fergus’s words overlaid his. The ominous warning, the
threat of Liam’s death, the horrors of her past swamped her, and
she rocked back and forth, trying to make sense of the past few
minutes. “F-Fergus…in my h-head.” Pressing the heels of her hands
to her temples, she tried to drive him out, close off her thoughts,
protect herself from an invasion worse than any before.
“H-he…knew…you.”