A Shift in the Air (2 page)

Caitlin glanced up and down the
street, shivering in the frigid winter air. “Not here.”

“
Bewley’s?”

She nodded and allowed him to take her
arm, walking her to a quiet coffee shop a few blocks off the main
road. While he ordered cappuccinos, Caitlin took a seat at a corner
table, facing the street. She darted glances between him and the
door, and he wondered, not for the first time, what had happened to
her.

Caitlin was a nervous woman. Had been
their entire two weeks together. But the panic in her eyes moments
before had been more than mild nerves. He hoped to God she wasn’t a
victim of a crime. She’d been in Dublin for three years and
finished her degree only a few weeks ago, but that was all he’d
gotten out of her. Her childhood, her parents, even her hometown
were all a mystery to him. Anger chafed again, and the mirror
behind the bar revealed amber, bright and feral, flashing in his
eyes. He blinked hard, took a couple of deep breaths, and prayed.
He hadn’t told her what he was, and given her earlier fright, he
didn’t want her to find out now.

Coffees in his hands, he slid one cup
in front of her and then took a seat. “I’m listening.”

“
Ya won’t believe
me.”

“
Try me.”

“
Do ya know what an
elemental is?” She took a sip of her coffee, hiding behind the
mug.

“
I’ve heard of them. Never
met one.”

Caitlin ripped into a sugar packet and
dumped the granules into her palm. She met his gaze as silver
streaks glowed around her irises. Cupping her hands together, she
took a deep breath. A tiny tornado swirled before her, lifting the
sugar in a delicate spiral before streaming into her
cup.

Shock tightened his throat, and he
cast a gaze around the shop, hoping no one noticed. He found his
voice, gritty and low. “Can all elementals do that?” He intended no
malice, curiosity quelling his frustration.

“
No. My element is air, so
I can bring about wind. Sometimes I can even influence thoughts,
compel actions. Ya only get one element”—she took a shuddering
breath—“except in rare cases.”

“
Rare cases?”

“
Centuries ago, a child was
born of two powerful practitioners. Witches,” she clarified, when
he raised his brows. “No one knows what power they wielded to
‘create’ the baby, but she carried all four elements within her.
The power drove the woman mad as she grew up, and she murdered
dozens before the local townspeople kidnapped her children, used
them to secure her surrender. They killed her.”

“
Like in Salem, then?” Liam
took a sip of his cappuccino and licked a bit of foam from his
upper lip. Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and
swallowed hard.

“
I suppose. Her daughters
each held sway over two elements. One earth and fire; the other,
air and water. Practitioners attempted to bind their powers, but
the twins were strong enough to escape, and they fled—no one knows
where.” Caitlin glanced towards the door again and set down her
coffee cup. Fiddling with her purse strap, she blew out a breath.
“Since then, it’s rare—almost unheard of—to be born with more than
one element. Unless ya...take another’s element by
force.”

“
How is that even possible?
It’s part of who ya are, yeah?”

She twisted the leather strap, and her
breath hitched. “Bollocks. I’m making a feckin’ mess of this, and I
don’t have more time to explain. I’ve had such a grand two weeks
with ya. Truly. I’d stay forever if I could.” Caitlin eased his
hand from the mug and turned his palm up. Tracing the lines,
stroking up to his wrist, she sighed. “I love your hands, Liam. I
won’t forget…any of this…you…never.”

“
Ye’re talking like I’m
never going to see ya again.” He tightened his grip as the wolf
raged inside.

“
You’re at risk if I stay.
I’m…bound to another.”

Liam saw red and yanked his hand away.
He wasn’t an asshole—he’d never have pursued another man’s woman.
“Fuck me.”

“
Luv—”

“
Am I? Your love? Ya had
another man this whole time. Why would ya do that to
me?”

“
I didn’t! I thought—” She
collapsed against her seat, the blue depths of her eyes swirling
with silver until she clutched the table and groaned. “I don’t have
much time left to explain. But he disappeared. Dead, I hoped. Lost
to the sea after…”

“
After what?” A tear
streaked down her cheek, and he fought not to wipe the trail away.
Man and beast wrestled for control—the beast aching to steal her
away and protect her, and the man slain by her betrayal.

“
Your eyes.
They’re…glowing.” Caution widened her gaze. “Ye’re not going to
shift, are ya?”

“
Ya knew.” He forced the
words out through his shock, gripping the table hard enough he
feared it would crack.

At her nod, he leaned forward,
inhaling the unique scent of fig blossoms that was Caitlin—his
Caitlin—and dropping his voice so only she could hear. “No. I won’t
shift. How long have ya known?”

“
Since I met ya. Your wolf
is so much a part of ya, Liam. I saw him in your eyes that first
night—that’s what drew me to ya. Werewolves and elementals, we’ve a
long history.” Her eyelids fluttered, and she leaned back in her
seat. “I should have told you from the start. But I can’t change
the past. If I could…none of this would have happened. Please
forgive me.”

“
I can’t—not without
knowing why. I’ll be alpha one day. We don’t do casual
relationships. We mate for life. So when ya tell me ye’re bound to
another, that there’s a man out there with a claim to
ya…”

“
I don’t love him, Liam. I
did once. Many years ago. But he destroyed that love. When I said
bound, I meant it—by our elements. Or mine, anyway. We’re always
linked, and I can’t get away. He can find me, and he’s convinced
we’re meant to be together forever.”

“
If ya wanted to leave him,
ya could. No man’s that powerful. And I’d protect ya.” His wolf
asserted his claim, the overwhelming need to touch her forcing him
closer, his fingers covering hers.

She clutched his hand with a desperate
strength, and her short nails dug into his palm. “You don’t know
Fergus. He’s a dangerous man, and I couldn’t live with myself if ya
got hurt.”

Anger suffocated him, and the ache in
his chest threatened to obscure all but the wolf clawing his way to
the surface. No one hurt the woman he loved. “Where is this fuckin’
tosser?”

“
Close. I thought—I’d
convinced myself he was dead. But deep down, I knew he’d come for
me one day. I don’t know how he found me. It’s not important now.
He’s somewhere in Dublin, and he’s called to me. If I don’t go to
him…he’ll hurt me.”

“
I won’t let him hurt you.”
By her sharp intake of breath, she’d noticed the wolf in his eyes
again. He didn’t care. He wanted the beast to show. The strength of
a pureblood werewolf could match any creature on earth—even a
vampire. Liam tossed back the last of his cappuccino. “I’ll drive
ya to him myself. One of the advantages of being what I am, luv.
Only a proper idiot’ll stand up to a werewolf.”

“
Fergus will. Every time
I’ve tried to leave him, he’s found me. Once he puts his mind to
finding me, he won’t stop. Whatever luck allowed me these past
three years, it’s gone now. And I have to accept my fate. I’m his,
and I always will be.”

“
Ye’re not making any
sense. Why did he leave ya alone for so long? I’m tryin’ to
understand, Caitlin. Help me.”

“
He’s mental. But...not all
the time. When he’s sane, he’s sweet and respectful and…the man I
loved once. Or thought I did. It’s why I let him take my element in
the first place. He had such a way about him.” Her eyes softened, a
calm smoothing out the furrow in her brow. “There was good in him
once. Maybe there still is, somewhere. All I can think is that he
spent the last years with his sanity intact. Or perhaps he thought
I was dead and didn’t look for me. I don’t know. But it doesn’t
matter. Can’t ya see that? Ya need to forget about me. These past
two weeks—they’ve been the best of my life. I thought I was free
for three years…free to love ya, but now…today…I can feel him
searching for me. I can’t keep pretending that I’m free to do what
I want. Fergus always finds me.

“
The last time I ran, I got
myself all the way to London before—” She choked back a sob. “Ya
can’t protect me. Not against him.” She shoved her chair back,
slamming her hip against the table in her haste to
escape.

Liam grabbed her wrist. Desperation
roughened his voice until the words escaped in a growl. “I can. I
won’t lose ya.”

A tear raced down her cheek, plopping
on the stained wooden table. “Ya made me happy, Liam O’Sullivan. I
haven’t been happy in a long time. I’ll cherish the memories we
made for the rest of my life.” Caitlin leaned down, stealing a
quick, desperate kiss, and roused the wolf to a fevered pitch. His
hands ached with the need to shift, to tear this Fergus limb from
limb. A caress of air surrounded him with her scent and ruffled his
thick mane before the sweet aroma faded, leaving him alone with
only the memory of her touch lingering against his skin. Peace held
him still and soothed his beast. The slam of the shop door
shattered the moment, and when he turned towards the sound, the
sight of Caitlin’s tear-stained face shimmered through the glass.
With one last glance, she turned and ran.

***

Liam spent the next two weeks scouring
the western towns: Ennis, Galway, Lahinch, and Limerick. He must
have asked a thousand people if they knew Caitlin Brannigan, and
each refusal twisted the knife deeper into his heart. Brannigan was
a common name. One woman shook her head at his query, crossing
herself and recounting the tragic death of a Kionah Brannigan in a
landslide years ago. “She had a daughter, and the wee lass
disappeared not long after. She might have been your Caitlin, but I
can’t be sure. Go to Doolin.”

The town, a mere speck on the map,
shuttered for the winter, and though a wizened old man at a pub
gave him a hard stare and mumbled something about love, loss, and
pain, the empty words brought no comfort. A few in Doolin
remembered Caitlin as a sad woman. “Worked in the woolen shop, she
did. Slung pints for a time. Always with a smile that never reached
her eyes. She disappeared years ago, now. Off to Dublin, she was,
yeah?”

With every conversation, hope faded,
and Liam sunk into a dark despair, barely eating, sleeping, or
shifting. He avoided his parents’ frantic phone calls and suffered
through a rather difficult conversation with his alpha,
Mike.

“
Get back here, Liam.
You’re needed. Nathan is moving to Albany to join his mate’s pack.
I need a beta, and I want you. I won’t live forever. You’ll be this
pack’s alpha one day. You need to start stepping up.”

The vote of confidence would have
meant the world to him any other time, but with Caitlin missing and
potentially in danger, he couldn’t even think about leading a pack.
Not yet. “I can’t give up on her, Mike. Give me another week, yeah?
If I can’t find her by then, I’ll come home.”

“
Fine. But after a week,
that’s it. No more excuses. Consider that an order.”

He couldn’t disobey Mike’s order. The
man gave so few. No fighting. No hurting innocent humans. No
exposing their secrets to others. Liam found his home with the
Bellingham pack—an independence he’d never attain under his
father’s leadership of a small pack outside of Dublin. His job at
Built It, one step away from owner, and now a beta role, couldn’t
be tossed away—not even for the possibility of love. If he found
her, if she asked him to stay, he’d do it. But without knowing
where she was, he would soon have no choice. But if he couldn’t
find her, he’d have to return home.

The moon waned, and the mating call
receded to a dull hum in his bones. He left word with every pub,
local authority, and elder in County Clare, and sought out the
leader of a band of young wolves outside Shannon, confessing all to
the man over a pint. They switched to whiskey when the alpha wolf
recognized the name Fergus and warned Liam that the man was as
mental as a three-headed bear. “Ye’ll never best him, lad. That is,
if ya ever found him. He disappeared years ago, after killin’ a
lass with fire in her blood. The elemental community’s fled these
parts, and Fergus left with ‘em. Give up on your Caitlin. Your
life—your pack—comes before a pretty thing ya never made
yours.”

In the end, Liam’s loyalty to the man
who’d given him a home, and the desperate pleas of his parents, won
out over the dying hope Caitlin would return. She’d made her choice
despite him, and he returned to the States, leaving his heart in
pieces scattered over the Irish countryside.

Chapter Two

Four pieces of smooth, smoky quartz
clicked together in the palm of her hand as cool, calming waves
buffeted her raw nerves. Down the quiet street, curtains drawn
tight against the darkness, her destination loomed. The quaint gray
and green single-story home with tulips lining the front walk drew
a scowl. She shouldn’t be here.

Fear skittered down her spine, and she
shrank into the shadows of the early hours of the morning.
Cleansing the quartz had taken a week, and so much of her air
element that she’d lost five pounds, barely able to eat or
sleep.