A Shift in the Air (18 page)

“
I’m goin’ to take your
hand.” He tended to her like a wounded animal. Announcing his
movements, easing her inch-by-inch into his embrace, and finally
lifting her up and carrying her back to the bed. The tenderness
clashed against Fergus’s threats, and when Liam held her close and
stroked her hair, she let herself take a deep breath, trying to
banish the last of Fergus from between them. “Tell me what
happened. All of it.”

“
We were...” She shivered.
“You woke me up with…” Caitlin buried further under the blankets
and let him tighten his arm around her.

“
I felt you, wanted you,
but then…
he
came
for me. Fergus…knows where we are, that we’re here in Dublin. He
g-got in my h-head and told me…he’s going to kill you. Or…m-make me
do it.” The tears refused to fall, and her fear faded away, leaving
resignation and a deep sadness burning a fresh hole in her
heart.

“
In your head? How’s that
even possible? And how the hell would he know me? I’ve never met
the wanker. Is he here? Do we have to run?”

“
I don’t think so.” Caitlin
closed her eyes and tried to sense the other half of her element.
The location charm whispered from her, flowing outward, seeping
through walls, over the landscape, and landing on the farthest
reaches of the continent. As the charm returned, bringing a hint of
Fergus’s loamy scent to her nose, she shuddered. “He’s somewhere in
the west. Far away. Probably not too far from the cliffs.” She
stifled a grunt as Fergus sent out his own charm, using her element
against her, and with a whimper, she buried her face against Liam’s
chest.

“
I’ve got ya, luv. Ye’re
okay.” He rubbed her back in slow, rhythmic circles, and she
breathed in the scent of his aftershave, of clean sheets, of
leather, and sex.

No. Not okay in the least. Liam
shifted and stifled a wince, and Caitlin raised her
head.

“
I hurt you.”

“
I’m a werewolf, luv. I’ll
shift in a few minutes, and I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about
you.”

The ringing made them both jump, and
Liam snagged the mobile phone and jabbed the screen, sending the
call to the speaker. “Cade, thank God.”

“
We’re about to board the
flight to Dublin. Mara lost her phone, and mine died right after I
left you that message. We had to go buy a charger as soon as we
landed. Listen, there’s not a lot of time. Eleanor’s dead. She
tried to protect Mara when the elders turned against us, and shit,
Liam.” His voice broke and he swore again before he continued.
“They killed her. I don’t even think they cared.”

“
How’s Mara?” Caitlin
asked, resting her head against Liam’s.

“
Sick. She needs you.
Whatever you did for us at the house—the runes, the quartz—can you
do it again? They took the stone you gave her.”

“
Yes. Put her on.
Please.”

Mara cleared her throat. “Are you and
Liam all right?”

Shit. She sounded so weak. Liam
stiffened at her side, and Caitlin closed her eyes, drawing on her
element and hoping that she could help, even a small amount, over
such a distance. “Listen to my voice, Mara. Concentrate on it. Take
a deep breath in and hold it. Four. Three. Two. One. Release.
Again.” Caitlin talked Mara through half a dozen slow breaths. “If
you can, lay your hand over Cade’s heart, skin to skin.”

“
Okay.”

“
You can use him to center
your water element. You’re mated; let him calm you. Now, focus on
his heartbeat, the steady rhythm. I’m going to breathe with you,
listen and match me.” Caitlin took deep, rhythmic breaths directly
into the speaker, watching the bedside clock. One minute, then two,
and Mara’s breathing steadied.

“
Thank you,” she said
quietly. “I feel better.”

“
Now boarding, Aer Lingus
Flight 603 to Dublin.”

“
Mara, put Cade back on,”
Liam said.

“
We’ll land a little after
five tonight. Where will you be? Mara’s going to need Caitlin.”
Cade lowered his voice. “Please, Liam.”

“
Give us a moment,
yeah?”

The pain in Cade’s voice worried her.
Mara had to be in bad shape. How could she help? Giving Mara some
of her air steadied her before. Perhaps that was the answer. Liam
held his hand over the phone’s microphone. “Luv, can ya hide us at
all if Fergus heads for Dublin?”

She nodded, chewing on the inside of
her cheek. “I think so. For a short time.”

Liam blinked hard, and a muscle in his
jaw ticked for a moment before he adjusted his grip on the phone.
“We’ll be at Clontarf Castle Hotel. Get here as quick as ya can,
and we’ll leave for Farren’s as soon as ya arrive and Caitlin has a
chance to help Mara.”

“
Okay. We’re walking down
the jetway. Call the pack and let them know we’re all
right?

“
I will.” Liam hung up and
dropped his head into his hands. “I hope to all that’s holy that we
haven’t sealed Farren’s fate.”

“
Send Peter? You said he
knows the area. Send him to Farren’s pack, and we’ll stay here.
Fergus knows us, but he can’t know Peter, can he?”

Liam’s brows knit, and
Caitlin couldn’t help taking his hand. Fergus’s words echoed in her
mind.
His blood will bring us closer. Once
ya see the error of yer ways, and we destroy him, we can be
happy.
She forced the thought away. Liam
needed her. Mara needed her. She squeezed his fingers
tightly.

“
Ye’re right. I’ll go talk
to him.”

***

After washing away hours of travel,
Caitlin dressed quickly. She needed air, and more than anything,
needed to get away from Liam. Every time he touched her, she
remembered Fergus’s voice alongside Liam’s kiss. She wanted to love
Liam, wanted to melt into his arms and have him reassure her, but
between his fear for Farren and her own discomfort, they tiptoed
around one another. Peter had calmed, at least, and set off for
Farren’s with a promise to call as soon as he arrived.

Liam paced the suite’s main room, his
prowling gait doing nothing for her nerves. When she emerged
buttoning her jacket, he turned and narrowed his eyes at
her.

“
Where do ya think ye’re
going?”

“
I need to get quartz and
sage for Mara.”

Liam reached for her arm, but she
jerked away.

“
Don’t touch me, please,”
she whispered. “I can’t…not right now. Not after Fergus. He’s still
far away. I’m not in any danger. I’ll be back. I
promise.”

“
Caitlin. Please. At least
let me go with you.” The pain in his voice shattered her control,
and a breeze lifted locks of his hair and drove him back a step.
“Don’t do this.”

“
I have to.” Caitlin
clutched her cross-body bag to her chest, retreating slowly. “I’ll
be back in a couple of hours.” She turned and fled, trying to
ignore Liam calling after her. Reaching for her element, she flew
down the stairs, the wind at her back, and burst out of the hotel
like a drowning woman clawing her way onto land.

Whatever god or goddess shaped her
life smiled on her—for once—and a taxi pulled up less than a minute
later as she sucked in a lungful of air to calm her turbulent
emotions. “Grafton Street, please,” she said, huddled in the back
of the cab, clutching her phone.

Caitlin, please come back.
Or at least tell me where you are.

A moment later, another
message.

I need you.

Finally, as the taxi turned onto a
side street and swerved to the curb, the final message brought a
tear to her eye.

I love you. Be
safe.

She threw some money at the driver and
fled into the crowds. As she lost herself in tourists and locals
alike, she tapped out a reply.

I will. I
promise.

***

Grafton Street housed hundreds of
shops: jewelry stores, mobile phone kiosks, upscale boutiques,
bookstores, and banks. She hoped the area’s seedier end hadn’t
changed much in the eleven years she’d been gone. Wandering among
hundreds of shoppers, she could almost pretend she lived here
again—a recent graduate, looking for her first “adult”
job.

Caitlin bought a coffee at Baker’s and
a scone at Nola’s, and window-shopped at some of the city’s more
expensive clothing meccas. She’d lived a free life here for three
years, and she couldn’t let Fergus take this from her
again.

“
He can’t have my life.”
She fingered the amber tucked in the leather cuff at her wrist. The
ancient resin warmed under her touch, and the memory of Liam’s lips
on her neck brought a shiver and a smile. No, Fergus had no place
in her relationship with Liam.

Caitlin wandered into an alley,
praying she’d locate the occult shop quickly. She’d found the store
online, though their website had appeared woefully out-of-date. The
sun disappeared behind the tall, gray, stone buildings, leaving
only a thin slice of sky visible above her. A chill worked into her
bones, and she pulled her jacket tighter.

Cloch
Anam
. The sign swung on creaky hinges in
the Dublin breeze. Whispering a quick protection charm, she slipped
through the door. A wall of incense threatened to knock her back,
but she sucked in a breath through her teeth and pressed
forward.

Floor-to-ceiling shelves bore every
manner of glass jar filled with herbs, spices, and dried animal
parts, weathered tomes of all sizes and thicknesses, and ornamental
athames, Celtic crosses, and engraved ceremonial bowls.

Making her way to the back of the
shop, Caitlin called out for help. “Hello? Blessings
be.”

After a few tense breaths, a withered
response no louder than a whisper came from behind her. “Blessings
be, child. What can I do for you?”

Turning, Caitlin forced a nervous
smile for the elderly woman in front of her.

White hair fell in an angled bob
around the woman’s haggard face, and she leaned heavily on a cane.
A black shawl wrapped thin shoulders, and her long skirt brushed
the wood floor planks as she shuffled forward.

“
I need five smoky quartz
stones, cleansed if you have them; a quartz or jasper worry stone,
with bag; a smudge stick of white sage; one of rosemary; and both
essential oils.”

“
Ye have an eye for the
craft, do ye?” The old woman reached around Caitlin and plucked a
leather pouch from a high shelf, then sidestepped her with more
speed and grace than should have been possible, to withdraw a small
glass jar filled with gray stones.

“
No, but I had a good
teacher in America.”

Her scoffing laugh riled Caitlin’s
anger. “There are no good practitioners in the States, lass. Ye’re
mistaken, and ye’re goin’ to get yerself in a bad way.”

Caitlin took the proffered smoky
quartz and closed her eyes. “This stone hasn’t been cleansed. The
negative energy contained here sickens me.”

When she looked back at the
shopkeeper, respect shone in the woman’s eyes. “Ye passed the first
test. Can ye identify the sage?”

With a snort, Caitlin snatched the
white sage smudge stick from the shelf behind her. “You’ll have to
try harder to trip me up.”

Item by item, the elderly practitioner
arranged Caitlin’s purchases on the counter, finally adding the red
jasper worry stone. “Ye’ll know this, I’m certain, but red jasper
is a talisman for warriors. Ye have a sadness to ye, lass, but also
a resolve that tells me ye plan on fightin’ whatever comes for
ya.”

“
None of these are for me,”
she protested, and the woman’s watery hazel eyes
narrowed.

“
Give me yer
hands.”

Bony fingers grasped Caitlin’s, and a
subtle current of energy flowed between them.

“
Air. Tainted by the earth,
purified by…love, yeah?” A smile deepened the wrinkles around the
woman’s mouth. “For ye, the red jasper will strengthen yer will and
allow ye to escape whatever hunts ye.”

Caitlin snatched her hands away. She
needed to send all of her energy to Mara. She didn’t deserve any
for herself. Not after what she’d done…all the deaths, all the
pain. “No. Nothing is hunting me. I don’t—“

“
Ye do, lass. There’ll be
no arguing with Shayla. And ye did nothin’ wrong. The guilt in ye
weighs heavy. Release what ye’re holding onto so ye can be
free.”

She’d never be free. Not truly. Not
enough to love Liam. No talisman or worry stone would fix
that.

Carefully, Shayla wrapped each item in
paper, tucked them all in a large sack, and retrieved a second
smaller leather pouch from under the counter. “This is for yer red
jasper, and I’ll have no protestin’. Wear this around yer neck, and
ye’ll find strength ye didn’t know ye had. No charge. I sense too
much sadness in ye for such a pretty thing. Now go, before old
Shayla changes her mind.”

Caitlin tucked the sack under her arm,
and draped the red jasper pouch around her neck, a slight measure
of peace seeping through the leather. She didn’t have much faith
the stone would do what Shayla intended—yes, stones and crystals
carried power, and the quartz worked for Mara, but Caitlin carried
too much guilt and pain for one stone—or even a hundred. Still, she
nodded. “Thank you.”