A Shift in the Air (28 page)

Fergus retreated into his own little
world of sorrow, childlike in his movements. His broad shoulders
collapsed inward, and he hunched, his lower lip jutting out. He
reached into his pocket and pulled out a prescription bottle. Pills
rattled as his hand shook.

“
That’s right, man. Ya need
one of those pills. Or two.”

“
I need Catie.” He squeezed
his head again, harder, the veins popping in his neck. “And ya took
her from me. Tried to make her better than me. But ya failed. If I
kill you, she’ll love me again. She can help me be
whole.”

The boy disappeared as frantic energy
overtook him again. Fergus’s hand shot out, and he grabbed Liam by
the throat. The ground rumbled as a crushing weight pressed down on
Liam’s chest. His breath stifled as he wheezed against the
pressure. With his good hand, he clawed at Fergus’s hold, but the
earth elemental laughed. The raspy, hysterical noise quickly faded
into the roar of Liam’s own heartbeat in his ears.

Seconds before losing consciousness,
Fergus released him.

Liam crumpled to the ground, gasping
for air. “Is that what ya did to her?” He coughed, tears burning in
his eyes. “Ye’re hurting me, Fergus. Like ya hurt her. Every time
ya hit her, punished her, ya hurt her. She threw herself off the
fuckin’ cliffs to escape.”

“
Where is she? I need her.”
Innocent and hesitant, Fergus made a childish plea.
“Please.”

“
Fergus, I know ya didn’t
mean to hurt her. Ya shouldn’t have to suffer like this.” Liam
could barely get the words out, and Fergus’s face swam in and out
of focus. “Let me go to her—I’ll release my hold on her. Send her
to you.”

“
If I let you go, ye’re
going to take her away.”

Liam struggled to lift his head, his
gaze pleading as he stared into the unending pain swimming in
Fergus’s eyes. He couldn’t survive much more torture, and his wolf
strained against the pull of the moon, begging for freedom.
“Fergus, I know you love her. I can help—talk to her for
ya.”

Fergus’s eyes softened as he fell to
his knees. A gentle hand brushed Liam’s throat, as though when
Fergus looked at him, he saw blue eyes alight with silver and
coiling strands of chestnut hair. “I need her. So much.” His
fingers caressed Liam’s jaw, the harsh stubble there hardening his
gaze. Disgust tightened his lips, destroying any illusions of
escape Liam had.

As Fergus dropped his other hand to
Liam’s neck, his grip tightened into a vise. Liam struggled against
the hold, but exhaustion and blood loss left him helpless. Darkness
slid over him like a warm blanket, taking away the pain and the
fear, welcoming him home for the final time.

“
I need her,” Fergus
repeated, his voice a harsh whisper in the blackness. “Your death
will bring her back to me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The moon shimmered over the low stone
wall around Farren’s estate. Caitlin lay on a plush mattress in one
of the upstairs bedrooms, staring out the window. Two wolves played
tag around the edge of the property, and the absurdity of the game
brought an odd laugh bubbling up until the tears spilled
over.

After finding nothing at the castle or
Fergus’s home, they’d returned to Farren’s. Caitlin spent an hour
with the book, using Farren’s laptop to try to translate the
ancient form of Gaelic, but when the words started to blur, she
reluctantly admitted defeat and trudged up to the bedroom she and
Liam had claimed before—a sob welled up, and she broke, her tenuous
control shattering with a waterfall of tears.

“
Caitlin?”

Turning over, Caitlin swiped at her
cheeks.

Farren ran a hand through her silvery
hair as she came to sit on the edge of the bed. “Are ya having
trouble sleeping, luv? Ya won’t do him any good if ya can’t keep
yer eyes open.”

“
I tried. But every time I
close my eyes I see Liam…dead. Fergus took him six hours
ago.”

Farren slid down and wrapped her arms
around Caitlin. “Liam’s the strongest wolf I’ve ever met. And he
loves ya. That’s a powerful motivator, yeah?”

“
Not powerful enough.”
Despair forced more tears from her already swollen eyes. “What if I
can’t find him? What if I can’t figure out that damn book and help
Mara? Everything I translate sounds like gibberish—worse than
Paddy’s ramblings. Riddles and nonsense. I need to save Liam, Mara,
and even Fergus with words no one can understand? I can’t. And
every minute that passes…Fergus won’t let Liam live.”

“
There’ll be no more of
that talk. I’m goin’ to tell ya a story, and ye’re going to close
yer eyes and try to relax. And after a few hours, we’ll go back to
that cursed book and find a way to break that feckin’ charm. Ya
can’t give up because Liam needs ya.” Farren tucked the blankets
tighter around Caitlin and smoothed a hand over her
hair.

“
My da ran our pack, and
just after my fifth birthday, Liam and his family joined us. He’s
only a few months older than I am, and no other pups had been born
for years. So we bonded. I suppose his father’s role as beta
helped, for we spent a lot of time together trying to listen in
when our parents met to discuss pack business. My mum worked for
the Garda. Detective.” Farren’s voice swelled with pride. “She
could tell any time a suspect lied to her. There’s a scent, yeah?
Like fear. Ya sweat more when ya lie.”

Caitlin almost laughed. That couldn’t
have been pleasant.

Farren rested her head against the
headboard. “Liam and I were in school together, yeah? And a fair
bit of trouble we got into—almost had our parents convinced to keep
us permanently separated. We were, eh, maybe fifteen or so, and we
decided that we’d go to this rock concert in the worst neighborhood
in Dublin. Knife fights, killings, drug trade—there was a reason
our parents told us no. But we were young and stupid,
yeah?

“
Sure enough, we no sooner
get there, and the whole place is raided. Some feckin’ drug ring
using the pub as a home base. Liam and I end up running for our
lives, caught up in a group of miscreants, probably the only sober
ones of the bunch. Once we were far enough away to be safe, they
turned on us. Wanted every bit of cash we had. When we refused, one
of them drew a switchblade. Of course, we weren’t afraid of a wee
knife, but the ringleader—he was a wolf. Nearly choked on our
tongues when he told us. But Liam being Liam, he starts chatting
the guy up about how we’re the worst choice to kill because of some
ridiculous connection we have to the Irish mafia, and if they just
let us go, we’d be willing to overlook their mistake.”

“
They didn’t believe you.”
Caitlin couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto her
face.

Farren grinned at the memory, her fine
features softening with amusement. “Aye, they did. That boy could
spin a tale like no one else. And he never quit—even when we were
backed into a corner, he kept going until they
listened.”

Caitlin shook her head, wondering at
the boy and young man Liam had been. “I’ve never seen that side of
him.”

Sobering, Farren’s mouth tightened
with sadness and stress as she continued. “Ya haven’t known Liam
long, Caitlin. And while you’ve known him, ya’ve always been on the
run. He’s tougher than he looks, and not just because he’s got a
thick pelt—and a hard head.” Farren offered a solemn wink. “He’s
pure stubbornness and steel, that one. Don’t underestimate him. Ya
find us Fergus, and we’ll beat him.”

Caitlin closed her eyes. Beating
Fergus—at least in the way they’d intended—might not be an option
any longer. “I don’t know that I can do anything but kill
him.”

“
Then ya kill
him.”

“
It’s not that simple. He’s
being driven mad, Farren. Fergus—the boy I knew—might still be in
there. I can’t read much of the book, but this much I know: more
than one element drives elementals insane. The elders insisted that
something in this book could heal Mara. If so, then we could
probably rescue Fergus as well.” Her conviction strengthened with
each word.

"He wasn't always like this. I can
remember who he was as a child--hear his laughter, see the joy in
his eyes when we worked charms. He loved me, as much as he
understood love, and I tried to help him scare the shadows away,
even though I was never enough.

"I know he's a monster now--he has
Liam. I can barely breathe when I think of how Fergus is making
Liam pay for loving me." A sob choked her voice, and she swallowed
hard before she continued. "Can we really kill him when we might be
able to save him?”

Farren withdrew a few inches, quiet in
contemplation. “Cade told me a bit about ya, yeah? About what
happened to ya with Mara’s sister.”

Caitlin stared at her hands, the
leather cuff around her wrist offering little distraction against
the humiliation and guilt that squeezed her chest.

“
Ya feel guilty, even
though it wasn’t your fault. And that’s reasonable, perhaps even
appropriate, given the few details I know. Fergus is not like ya,
Caitlin. He’s killed a lot of people, and he has only his
foolishness to blame.” Farren’s tone softened. “I understand yer
wish to be compassionate, and I commend ya for trying to see what
Fergus might have been, even if I detest the man myself. But if
there is good in him left, what kind of life could he live, knowing
what he’d done? If he was half the man ya say he was, he’d wish
himself dead, if only to escape the reality of who he’s
become.”

Caitlin’s eyes burned with unshed
tears, for the Fergus who might have been. For Liam, who
unknowingly had ended up in his path. For her own agony as she
relived her past actions, unintentional as they may have been, each
day and tried to move forward.

“
Killing is not always an
act of retribution, luv. Sometimes, it’s an act of mercy. Ya need
to remember that, because it's not just you on your own anymore. Ya
chose Liam. Ya chose to love him and what comes with him, which
means we're all yer family now. We will stand with ya against
Fergus. And when the time comes, yer choices could save or hang us
all."

***

Dark dreams haunted her fitful sleep,
and Caitlin gave up after two hours. Perhaps a shower would help.
Fiddling with the antique brass knobs of the claw-foot tub, the
amber in her leather cuff on the counter caught the light. Her
mother believed in the power of healing stones and had long
embraced amber as a way to absorb negative energy.

A tiny snort escaped. After all that
had happened, that stone had to be full of what her mother used to
call “dark spirits.” She’d have to cleanse the amber and might as
well cleanse Mara’s quartz as well. And her own. If nothing else,
the process would distract her from playing the events at Diedre’s
over and over again in her mind. She should have stopped Liam from
tackling Fergus, fought harder. Perhaps she’d be in Fergus’s
clutches now, but if she’d been stronger, they all could have
walked away. And if not, she’d be in Liam’s place.

The hot water soothed her sore
muscles. Any other time, she’d relish a soak in a tub this big, but
now, she stayed only long enough to wash the dirt and grime from
her skin. She plaited her hair and then, needing to feel closer to
her mate, dabbed a drop of his aftershave behind her ear. Black
leggings went on under one of his flannel shirts, and once she’d
tugged on her boots, she grabbed the white sage smudge stick and
the smoky quartz she habitually carried in her wallet.

Only a few lights blazed downstairs. A
wolf curled up on one of the couches—Tierney by the color of his
fur, and low snoring rumbled towards the back of the house. Ewan
perhaps? Cade and Mara had a room not far from hers. A silver wolf
paced outside. Farren.

Caitlin slipped out the door and sat
at a small table, spreading her tools in front of her. She didn’t
want to wake Mara, but she could cleanse the amber and her own
quartz now and do Mara’s later.

Farren padded over and gave her an
inquisitive yip.

“
You understand me, right?”
She’d never asked Liam what happened when he shifted, but Mara
seemed able to communicate with Cade in wolf form. Farren nodded
her head. “I’m going to cleanse the crystals. We’ve had too much
negative energy hit us. Maybe this will help.”

With an affirmative bark, Farren lay
down at Caitlin’s feet and leaned her massive body against
Caitlin’s shins. The warmth of the wolf comforted her, and she
reached down to stroke the animal’s fur. Farren’s tail thumped on
the stones.

“
You like that?” Another
thump. “I didn’t expect you to be…soft.”

Farren’s reply sounded almost like a
laugh.

“
When I light the sage,
focus your thoughts on Liam. On finding him.” She spread the
leather cuff over a baseball-sized rock she’d found at the edge of
the small stone patio and nestled the smoky quartz in the
multi-colored braid before touching a match to the smudge stick.
White smoke swirled around her, calming her frayed nerves. Drawing
a rune in the air over the stones, she offered up her
intention.
For Liam. For Mara. For
me.
Protect us all.

Cleansing took a lot out of her—the
intense focus she sent into the task always left her spent, but
under the light of the full moon, the sage energized her. She
finished her task by drawing two final runes: one over Farren’s
wolf and one over her own heart.