Barely Winging It (5 page)

Phoenix reached a hand out, and
Bronya
couldn’t resist letting him take her hand and wrap his around hers in a warm
caress. “You can call me Nix.” His smooth, sexy voice washed over her, creating
a rippling of goosebumps prickling across her skin and down her spine. Now that
she had her eyes back on the man, she couldn’t remove them again. He seemed to
have noticed because his smile turned into a knowing smirk, but instead of
derision, she received a look of heat that was intense enough to make her core
convulse.

“Sit down, sweetheart. There is much to discuss.” Her
father’s voice cut through her lust induced brain meltdown, and she slowly
re-solidified her brain enough to acknowledge her father and do as he asked. “I
was visited today by the two officers who were assigned the case of the
suspicious fire. They told me it was most definitely arson, and it started at
your apartment. They couldn’t give me any more information, but Gates is their
number one suspect, only they can’t seem to find him.”

“Great, idiot on the loose.”
She rubbed the palms of her hands over her eyes as
she groused then looked back up as her father continued.

“Yes, well being an idiot makes him dangerous. Now you
know how I am about my instincts, and they tell me you need more protection
than I can give you. These men are from a budding business in security,
protection, and investigation, among other things. They have generously offered
their services, and given the auspicious timing of their inquiries for their
business, I believe they are the men for the job.”

As much as she would normally disagree and argue with
her father about trusting complete strangers with her welfare, not to mention
without her permission or even so much as discussing it with her first,
Bronya
couldn’t formulate a response that could turn away
the man she was so intensely attracted to.

Her father didn’t wait for a response, he continued.
“While you were out, your mother went to the house and packed what clothes you
have. Your bag is already waiting in the trunk of their vehicle. Would there be
anything she wouldn’t have packed that you would want?” With the quiet shake of
her head her father turned to face the two men. “All right then. I expect you
to take exceptional care of my daughter.” Her father got up and crossed the
room to her. She stood up and let him give her a hug, and as she turned her
mother did the same.

“Miss Webber.”
Bronya
was
drawn by the magnetism Nix had when he addressed her, “You’ll need to leave
your cell here. If you want to make any calls, we could make the necessary
arrangements.”

Digging into her pocket, she pulled out her cell and
placed it on the table, then feeling the heat from Nix’s hand on the small of
her back, she let them usher her out of the building and into their car. She
really didn’t know what to say and she really didn’t like to be a drama queen,
so she stayed quiet and tried to relax.

Nix sat in the seat next to
her while Enzo sat behind the wheel. While everyone fastened their seatbelts,
she tried to pay attention to Nix’s instructions.
Bronya
felt tired. Nix must have picked up on it because he soon stopped talking as
they headed out of the city.

Chapter Six

Friday after sundown

Dultyn
came out of his roost and stretched his muscles, filling his lungs with air and
scenting for his mate. Severe disappointment stabbed through him when he didn’t
scent her.
She didn’t visit today
.
Worry and concern flooded him, and mingled with the heavy ache in his heart.

Dultyn
quickly made his way toward the house with Bogdan and Stelios quietly beside
him. His emotions were all over the place as he remembered she hadn’t returned
home by the time he was forced to roost.
Did
she return at all? Is she still out there? Could she be hurt?
He didn’t want her to be hurt or
missing, but the knowledge that she may have
chosen
not to see him, hurt him more.
Worry for her health was a simple matter of tracking
down whoever took her and killing them, slowly, but if she was safe and refused
to see him of her own will, well that cut deeply. Even if it was what he
basically what he wanted. But after thinking of it last night, he was
considering
 
revising
his logic.

Dultyn
threw open the door and let it bang against the little metal doorstop. Its
twang echoed through the entryway behind him as he searched the house for
Havana. Not seeing or hearing her anywhere, he hurried to the office where
Alphy
was talking with Enzo, Slate, Matteo and Ryker.

Alphy
turned and looked at him as he entered, “
Dultyn
,
what’s the matter?” His voice was calm like the alpha was trying to soothe him.
No doubt he probably looked like he needed to be, but there wouldn’t be any
soothing until he knew she was safe.

“Where’s Havana?”

“I don’t know. She came home briefly this morning and
took a shower, then headed out. We figured she was out in the barn with you
like she had been before.”
Alphy
was already taking
his phone out as he spoke. After he dialed a number and put the phone to his
ear, there was a pregnant pause as they waited for it to be answered. With
their sensitive hearing, a cell phone ringing could be heard.
Dultyn
knew it was coming from the direction of Havana’s
room. Darting out of the room, pushing his two friends aside as he did, he
swiftly made his way to her room and entered it without knocking. He spotted
her phone on the side table of her bed. A loud and pained roar escaped from him
before he could control his emotions. Actually, he was in such a state that he
didn’t think there was any controlling them.

Picking up the cell, he answered it. “She left it in
her room, but she’s not here.”

“Yeah, I heard your response, hell, I’m sure people
twenty miles away could hear your response. You need to keep a level head about
this. Get back down here, and I’ll make some more calls.”

Dultyn
took a few minutes to regain some control. His head went over what he’d
learned. Good news was
,
she
did
return home safely. Bad news was
,
she
chose
not to visit him. With the pain of
knowing this slashing through his chest and gut,
Dultyn
started to feel despair.
Damn it, I should
have stated the good news last.

As he slowly descended the stairs, he heard the
building crew returning and the sound of Havana’s voice with it.

“…at fault. I won’t let that failure, or anything
else, stop me from achieving my goals.” He overheard Havana’s determined voice
as they approached.
Dultyn’s
blood ran cold through
his veins, and bile threatened to rise from his stomach at her words. “I’m not
going to die some slow, pining death.” He heard her as they stepped through the
door. Havana stopped with her hand frozen on the door knob, a look of surprise
on her face.

Dultyn
first scanned her body to make certain there were no injuries. Satisfied there
were none, he didn’t know how to handle the hurt and betrayal he felt.
She believes I’m at fault for holding her
back?
Her words more than did enough to strike him down.
It was the whole reason why he didn’t want to claim her right away. He didn’t
want her to resent him.

“It was not my intention to hold you back.” The words
felt bitter in his mouth, and his stomach twisted in response to what he was
going to say next. “I will leave and let you accomplish your goals.”

“
Dultyn
, no!
Wait!” Havana cried after him as he charged past.

Burning
with grief, he stretched his wings and leaped off the porch taking
himself
up into the dark and heavy clouds. He couldn’t think
with the onslaught of emotions.
Dultyn
didn’t feel
the chill, or the drops splatter against his skin, as he flew as hard as he
could to purge himself from the heavy grief that churned his chest and stomach.

****

Havana had run around the wet and soggy woods most of
the previous night thinking about what
Dultyn
had
said and wondering if maybe there was a way to change his mind. She enjoyed
helping the building crew so much that she thought it was the best place to
work out more of her aggressions while waiting for
Dultyn
to wake.
Kace
and the crew kept her spirits up the
whole day and seriously talked to her on the walk back.

“You’re an adult now, Havana,”
Kace
told her. “You can’t just rant and storm off. You need to communicate, or you
will make things worse.”

Rushod
added his own bit of advice. “And never let the day finish without resolving
your issue. Not only will it fester and become bigger, hurting both of you, you
can’t guarantee when you will have the opportunity again, especially in our
world where surprise attacks or whatnot happen all the time.”

“Ok, I get it, I need to grow up.
Got
it.
It still doesn’t take the hurt away that my mate doesn’t want me.”

Kace
shook his head. “He didn’t
say that. He said ‘yet’ and that you were still too young, as was proven by
your rampage after. It’s not possible to
not
want the other half of your soul. He’s just afraid of holding you back from
attaining your goals.”

“So I should have stayed and worked things out?”
Havana asked.

“I don’t know if either of you were ready to work
things out at that moment. Sometimes you need to cool off or risk making things
worse. But what you should have done, however, was set yourself a time limit
and returned to him to at least start talking things out with him before he had
to roost. Remember this isn’t just about you. It’s about him, too. It isn’t
just about your emotions, your hurt, and your worries. It’s about his, too, so don’t
be at fault for his. You can’t control what he does to you, but you can control
what you do to him.”
Kace’s
voice was serious. Even
his southern accent had smoothed out a bit, proof he was trying to choose his
words carefully.

“Whoa,
Kace
, that’s deep.
Especially for you.”
She snickered.

Kace
shrugged. “I may be a
flirt and have the reputation of a playboy, but I grew up in a huge family. My
parents are true mates, and I have eight siblings.”

Havana let out a whistle. “Wow, and I thought it was
bad enough with the two brothers I’m stuck with.” Everyone around her laughed.

Kace
smiled at her. “Well, I’m
family oriented, as my mother likes to say.”

“You mean she wishes you were. What you
are is
a …” Marley started to say but was cut off when
Kace
pushed him over a log.

“Hush, none of that now.”
Kace’s
southern drawl was back.

As the guys bantered, Havana thought about what the
guys were convey to her. She couldn’t argue that she was childish for storming
off into the woods like she did. It had hurt her deeply that he would reject
her.
And at my own birthday
party.
When she stripped to shift, instead of just stripping and
shifting, she paused to give a dramatic look at her mate. She had done it as a
way of lashing out to deliberately hurt him. She had wanted him to charge out
there and stop her or shield her from the others, but he didn’t. That had only
angered her further.

Kace
is right. I shouldn’t have
deliberately tried to hurt him.
Her father’s words echoed
in her head.
“There is never a right
reason to do something wrong, because it will always be the wrong thing to do
.
”

Ranting and storming off only made things worse. She
was an adult now, so she had to drop the dramatics and communicate.
Ok, so I was in the wrong. Now I just need
to figure out how to achieve my goals the right way
. Because having her
mate was now on the top of her list of goals, and she didn’t want to fail in
achieving any of her goals,
especially
that one.

As they approached the house, she said determinedly,
“Ok.” She spoke more to herself than to the others. “I see where I was at
fault. I won’t let that failure, or anything else, stop me from achieving my
goals.”

Havana felt happy at her resolution. “I’m not going to
die some slow, pining death,” she said with relief as she opened the door.
Suddenly she froze as she was confronted by her mate, and the look on his face
wasn’t a happy one.

“It was not my intention to hold you back. I will
leave and let you accomplish your goals.” He sounded tortured.

“
Dultyn
, no!
Wait!” Havana called for him as he charged past, but
he whipped open his wings and leapt into the air before she could say anything
else.

Havana felt her heart die has her mate turned from her
and ran. Confusion mixed with pain at seeing him run from her.
Where’s he going? When will he come back
? .
She fought back the sob that threatened to overtake
her from the intense grief she felt.
It
was hell not being with him the last few weeks. I can’t do this for who knows
how long.

The last of her thoughts caught up with her, and
Havana crumpled to the ground in agonizing sorrow. She had never felt such
emotional pain as intense as this, not even from the death of her parents.
She’d always thought she was pretty strong, but after her parents’ deaths, and
now this, she had discovered she wasn’t as strong as she thought she was. She
was finding her breath hard to come by between sobs.

Havana felt more than one body press against hers as
more than one set of arms warmly wrapped around her. She couldn’t open her
flooded eyes to see who they were, and her nose was too clogged from her crying
to scent anyone, but through the buzzing in her ears, caused by her extreme
emotions, she heard their voices attempting to soothe her. She felt a hand
stroke her hair. One rubbed her back and another voice kissed her on her head.
With their comfort, Havana slowly brought herself back under a little bit of
control.

Embarrassment started to set in. She had never broken
down so hard before, and to do it in front of so many people wasn’t sitting
well with her. Someone handed her a box of tissues, and Havana used several to
clean herself up, taking the time to look around. Reese, Gale, Connie and Katie
were all surrounding her with words of comfort and encouragement.
Alphy
,
Kace
, Slate, and Stelios
were talking quietly nearby.
Alphy
must have sensed
her looking because he glanced at her, giving her a concerned look, but
continued with the conversation.

A wet heavy flapping sounded through the door behind
her. Havana’s heart leaped into her throat with excitement, believing her mate
was retuning. Looking towards the sound, her heart dropped painfully into her
lower gut with disappointment as Bogdan’s wet blue and white form stepped
through the doorway. She witnessed him give
Alphy
a
look that wasn’t encouraging.

Alphy
nodded. “Why don’t we take this into the office? Come on, sis, let’s go have a
talk. We’ll get this worked out.”

Havana knew her brother wasn’t one to give empty
threats or promises, but she didn’t feel much like he knew what he was talking
about this time. She felt no hope for anything positive. Her heart ached so
much, she couldn’t talk out of fear she would lose herself to grief again. She
was further embarrassed when her brother had to help her up off the floor. She,
Gale, and Reese followed behind
Alphy
, Slate,
Kace
and the two gargoyles.

The office was really Ryker’s domain and bedroom, but
over the weeks it had been smartly set up to allow both men to use it with
still enough room for a large group to congregate in it. As they entered the
room, she heard
Alphy’s
voice directed towards Ryker.
“Ryker, why don’t you go get some supper?”