A Shift in the Air (8 page)

“
So you’re not Bella?” Cade
leaned forward, his hands clenched on his thighs. The knife-edge to
his voice sliced through her, and she risked a glance at Liam. Hope
lifted his brows, and his breath stuttered.

“
I am…now. Or…I was.
Katerina called me Bella. I didn’t remember the name Caitlin until
yesterday. Or maybe even today.” She reached for her throat, the
tender, flushed skin where her crystal used to be burning at her
touch.

“
Why then?” Mara slid her
fingers through Cade’s and rested her head on his shoulder. “What
happened to trigger your memories?”

Liam cleared his throat. “Let me.” He
explained their first meeting, though thankfully glossed over the
details. “She asked about my tattoo.”

Icy fear spread across her chest, and
she shrank into the cushions. “I found a newspaper article.” She
pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times, then handed
it to Liam. “Did I really die that day?”

“
I don’t know, luv.” He
passed the phone to Cade and then took her hands. The warmth from
his touch quelled the worst of the fear. “Ya sent me a letter. I
can show ya, if ya need. Ya said ya weren’t strong enough to escape
him. That ya lo—that ya didn’t want to leave me, but he’d never
stop, and ya couldn’t risk him findin’ me.”

“
Who?” Cade asked. He
straightened. “Is Liam in any danger?”

Tears burned her eyes. Liam’s arms
around her had felt so good the previous night, and she wanted to
ask for comfort now, but she’d had a hand in hurting his pack and
the old woman, Maggie. Instead, she curled her arms around herself
and forced the lump in her throat away. “I can’t remember much. But
his name was Fergus.”

“
Can we back up a bit?”
Liam draped his hand over hers once more. A calloused thumb stroked
back and forth over her wrist, and the soothing motion quieted the
storm in her mind. If she could think, she’d be okay. Maybe. “Why
can’t ya remember? What happened to ya, Cait—Bella? I don’t even
know what to call ya.”

“
I don’t know!” The tears
spilled over, full of shame and regret, though for what, she
couldn’t say. “I woke up in a hospital in Mexico. Katerina called
me Bella. I can tell you everything that happened after that, but
almost
nothing
before.”

“
Shh, easy, luv. Calm
yourself.” He tried to pull her closer, but she jerked her hand
away.

“
You try to be calm when
your world turns upside down! I had a good life in Phoenix.
Katerina was like a sister to me. I lived with her; she gave me a
job. Now I’m guilty of trying to kill everyone in this room, even
though I don’t know why I’d ever agree to such a thing, and there’s
a man in my dreams who hurt me, and I just found his picture
online. You’re someone I used to know—used to care about—and
I
died
by jumping
off some cliffs I didn’t think I’d ever been to before this
morning. And I’m supposed to be calm?”

A swirling breeze lifted Liam’s hair,
and Cade growled, “Drop the charm. Now. Before I kick you out of
this house.”

“
Wait.” Mara sidestepped
the coffee table between them and dropped to her knees. “Take my
hand.”

The invisible thread that connected
the two elementals pulled tighter, and Caitlin reached out,
clutching Mara’s fingers tightly. Turbulent emotions coursed
through her: fear, horror, regret.

“
Breathe. Close your eyes
and breathe. Good. Now, I can explain—at least a little—but only if
you stay calm and in control of your element, okay? Because I’m not
inclined to fight my husband to protect you.”

Caitlin met Mara’s emerald gaze.
“Please. Nothing makes any sense.”

“
I know.”

When Mara had settled back on the
couch, a shadow—pain or sadness perhaps—passed over her face. With
a pale hand, she pulled open her robe to reveal a mangled scar
between her breasts. “This is a lasting gift from my sister. She
wore a crystal similar to yours. You remember that?”

“
A present from her mother.
At least that’s what she told me.”

“
She sent a fire charm for
Cade—but I got in the way. The fire burned me from the inside out,
and my whole world imploded. Everything changed, shifted. I thought
she’d kill me.” A small smile tugged at her lips. “But instead, I
twisted the fire around and sent the charm back, even stronger.
Katerina’s death should have severed our connection—taken her fire
back, sent the energy out into the universe or something, but that
didn’t happen. I have two elements within me now: my sister’s
element and my own.”

A memory knocked against Caitlin’s
battered mind: someone shouting, cursing. Too frightened, she
banished the muffled words with a shake of her head and focused
instead on Liam’s steady breathing next to her. She reached for his
hand, a spark of recognition quickening her heartbeat.

“
Caitlin’s pendant was like
Katerina’s?” Liam squeezed her fingers.

“
Yes. I could feel the
charm. My sister…she’d learned some witchcraft, I think. The
crystal didn’t only contain a charm; she infused the quartz with
power. Her power.”

“
She protected me,” Caitlin
whispered. “I remember panicking in the hospital in Mexico because
I didn’t know where I’d go or how I’d survive. She took me in. I
owe her my life. I know you probably hate her, but I loved her like
a sister.”

Cade’s eyes glinted with gold, and he
looked away. “Fucking bitch,” he muttered quietly.

“
Misguided bitch might be a
better term,” Mara said, rubbing his thigh. “I understand her a lot
better now than I did when…I killed her. I can feel her, inside me.
Whatever I did to absorb her fire, there’s a part of Katerina that
didn’t die.”

“
What the hell?” Liam sat
up, and Caitlin could practically taste his panic. Bitter ire
followed. “Why didn’t ya say something before?”

Cade raised a brow. “You haven’t been
around much lately. You’re either working or brooding. I haven’t
called you on it because Mara’s needed me. She’s sick,
Liam.”

“
Shite. Fuck
me.”

“
Hello? I’m right here.”
Mara snorted. “I’m not sick. Not like I was before. But Katerina’s
fire feels wrong. It’s twisting, swirling, like this vicious snake
threatening to squeeze the life out of me. I can’t breathe. Every
time I use my fire element, it gets worse.”

“
Oh God.” In Caitlin’s
mind, Fergus ranted, his hands around her throat.

“
I need more, Catie! Fire
and water will end this perpetual torment. Yer air is suffocating
me.” He squeezed, and Caitlin clawed at his arms, pinpricks of
darkness obscuring his twisted lips, his haunted eyes. Gasping,
choking, desperate for air, her body convulsing in his grip, she
prayed this time she wouldn’t survive.

“
Caitlin! Look at me!”
Fergus’s dark eyes faded into Liam’s bright green and gold orbs. An
arm around her back held her close. “Ye’re safe. Shite. What
happened?”

Something fractured, something deeply
broken inside of her ached, as if a piece of her had been cut away,
the jagged edges aflame, threatening to consume her and leave
nothing but ashes. She had to get away. Liam’s proximity threatened
to suffocate her. And Cade…he wanted to kill her for what she’d
done to him and Mara.

Caitlin laid her hand on
Liam’s chest.
“Let me go.”
A calm settled over the room, and Mara sighed. Her
eyelids fluttered closed, andCade settled back against the cushions
next to her.

Liam groaned. “No.” The slurred
protest shook her resolve, but her throat still throbbed from the
memory of Fergus’s hands.

“
I’m sorry.” The words
paled against the offense of the charm, but he’d be happier without
her. Safer. And that alone was worth hurting the only man she
thought she might have truly loved.

***

The charm wouldn’t last long. Ten,
fifteen minutes at the most. Her element vibrated, the hum of a
tuning fork sending waves of influence outward, over Liam, Cade,
and Mara. She ran down the tree-lined street and gave thanks that
the rain had stopped before she’d left home. Two bus lines
crisscrossed the city, intersecting only two blocks from her
apartment. She prayed the sixty-six hadn’t ceased for the
night.

Relief steadied her hands when the bus
rolled to a stop half a mile from the pack’s house. Low, resonating
tones of her element and the charm she’d cast faded, replaced by
another, strident chord that raised the hairs on the back of her
neck and drilled a headache into her temples.

The foreign song strengthened, pulling
her, urging her somewhere—not here. The burnt crater deep within
her rumbled and cracked open. Pain drove her hands over her ears,
but the terrible cacophony rose to a fevered pitch, deafening,
until suddenly, silence.

No warning had ever been so clear.
Fergus would find her. Hurt her. And whoever dared help
her.

Chapter Seven

Liam groaned and shook his head,
trying to clear the cotton that clouded his thoughts. Across from
him, Cade pulled Mara close. “If I ever see that bitch again, she
better kill me, or I’m going to—“

“
I feel…better.” Mara took
a deep breath, a smile curving her lips. “I’ve never felt normal
this quickly after an attack before.”

Cade cupped her cheeks, staring into
her eyes, searching. “How?”

“
I don’t know. Maybe
Caitlin. She set the protection stones around the house, drew the
runes. Every time the fire’s threatened to suffocate me in the past
few months, I think she knew. She’s not a bad person—not really.
She’s confused. My sister’s charm messed her up.”

“
Goddammit, Mara. Bella
could have killed all three of us, and we wouldn’t have been able
to stop her. I don’t trust her, even if she did somehow help
you.”

“
She’s not Bella. She’s
Caitlin,” Liam said, running his hands through his thick locks. His
bruises, scrapes, and cuts ached. If he shifted into his wolf, he’d
heal, but right now, he welcomed the pain. He’d failed her. All
those years ago and again now. She’d come to him for help, and he’d
let her down. The few minutes sitting next to her, holding her
hand, brought back all of his long ago hopes and
desires.

“
I don’t care.” Cade rose,
stalked into the kitchen, and poured a generous splash of whiskey.
“Stay away from her, Liam. Consider that an order.”

Liam flinched, and his wolf railed.
The rumble started deep in his chest, exploding in a feral,
desperate sound.

“
Back off. You want to be
my beta, that’s the price. That bitch helped kidnap Mara.
She
hurt
Mara. The
pack comes first. Always.”

“
Ya didn’t say that when ya
mated with Mara.”

Cade threw the glass of whiskey across
the room and surged towards Liam. His fist cracked against Liam’s
jaw, sending black spots swirling, obscuring Mara’s horrified
expression over Cade’s shoulder.

Liam took the punishment. If he fought
back, let his wolf escape, he’d lose his friend, his alpha, and his
family. All for a woman who barely remembered him.

Cade threw him into the love seat
where he rolled over the back and landed with a bone jarring crash
on his shoulder.

“
Not in the house!” Mara’s
sharp words stilled them both. “I get that the moon is messing with
both of you, but take it outside.” With a huff, she grabbed a broom
and headed for the whiskey-soaked shards. “I liked that glass,” she
muttered.

Cade’s chest heaved. “You don’t
disrespect my mate.”

“
Mara, I owe ya an
apology.” Liam shoved his hands into his pockets and examined a
burled pattern on the hardwood floor. Caitlin’s scent lingered on
his skin, and the memory of her touch prickled the hairs on the
back of his neck. “But Caitlin’s alone. Ya didn’t know her
before—didn’t see her when she ran from me. I didn’t keep tabs on
the bloke who hurt her, but he might still be out there, searchin’
for her. She needs us. Don’t make me choose between ya.”

“
It’s too fucking late for
this tonight.” Cade took the broom from Mara and brushed a gentle
kiss to her forehead. “Mara’s exhausted. You look like shit, and I
need to run. Go home. We’ll talk more about this in the morning.
Pack meeting at ten.”

Thankful for the dismissal, Liam
trudged back to the pack’s house and lowered his aching body onto
his front stoop, unwilling to face the rest of his pack. He’d seen
Christine’s worried face in the hall for a split second before
she’d ducked back into her room. Getting between alpha and beta
carried risks. The last time the two clashed, Mara’s life hung in
the balance. Liam had offered to leave the pack then and had almost
lost his brother—a man he also considered his surrogate father—over
disrespecting Mara.

One text message. Then he’d walk away.
Or…not. Shite, he needed her like he needed his next
breath.

I’m coming
over.

Fuck. He hadn’t intended that. She’d
run away, used her charms to escape him. He had to try one last
time. If she rejected him again, he’d give up. He dug out his keys
and headed for his bike. One way or another, he’d have his answer
tonight.