Fated, A Timeless Series Novella (A Timeless Series Companion Novel) (13 page)

“This is worse than I thought,” Callon muttered. “
We have to start hiding our tracks.” He nodded at me. “
Daniel, show Colt where the Tresez were hiding. We can’t have them report the Ghoster’s death back to Marcus. I’ll go and follow Cheyenne until she arrives back home.”

“I don’t understand it.” Colt shook his head. “She
always
drives to her
appointments and parks in front of the shops
. I should’ve checked on her this morning.”

“Maybe she
was having her Jeep serviced.
” I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. What matters now is getting rid of the Tresez before they
find her
.”

“Right.” Colt stood up.
“Let’s go.”

He headed out the door. I hung back for a second. Callon suddenly didn’t look so good.

“Callon?”

Callon blinked
, broken from his thoughts
.

“Sorry,” he said. “
Thank you, Daniel.
It was lucky you were there
.” He sighed. “I’ve never thought you weak.
Don’t ever say anything like that again.
”

I smiled.

“I know, Callon.” I plucked my fedora from the hall.
“We’re all in this together. Don’t keep trying to go it alone, alright?”

Callon laughed.

“Of course.”
He patted my shoulder. “I know you sympathize with Cheyenne, because you had to go through a similar thing. You just have to hol
d on a little longer. I promise
she’s all yours when we fly her over to Ireland. Be patient.”

I nodded.

Come on, Daniel!
Colt’s voice broke my thoughts.
Hurry up.
I want to get home in time for the game.

Coming
, Colt
!
With a
wave
to Callon, I hurried out the door
, my heart feeling much lighter
.

Maybe I could get used to be Cheyenne’s invisible protector, after all.

Chapter 4

“
The
re is only the will of the
clans
.
My feelings aren’t important
.”
~Callon

I
paced the front hall
,
sliding
my hands through my hair
.
Things had really slowed down in terms of progress
, and I was running out of patience
. Between myself, Colt and Daniel, we were
completely stretched keeping Cheyenne under guard
. Colt
was
spen
ding
every spare moment with
her
,
and Daniel and I were constantly doing sweeps
to
get rid of ‘strays’
.
I’d even had to ask for help from Colt’s cousin,
Koda,
though
he’d
not been able to stay for long
due to problems of his own back home
.
I was
also
sure
Marcus was suspicious as to why his spies couldn’
t infiltrate this
area, and sooner or later he would come to check things out himself.
If he found out about Cheyenne’s existence, he’d either try to manipulate her for his own ends or kill her.

Neither of which were an option
.

We’
d already agreed
the safest course would be to relocate the Wilsons to Ireland. At least in the O’Shea manor I had some element of control, unlike out here
in the wilderness
. However,
Gene and Alexis
had changed their minds again. First they had promised to let us move Cheyenne on her eighteenth birthday,
but
now they
were adamant to stay put until after
her
graduation
.
I’d spent a good two hours with them earlier,
trying to convince them the risk was too much
, but it se
emed years living in hiding had made them stubborn.
T
hey
also
refused to speak up about Cheyenne’s past.
Of course, I
had a pretty good idea
about
the truth
, but
I needed
a
proper
confession
to
clear
my final doubts
.

Why
did they have to keep being so evasive
?

Hey Callon, you home?
Daniel
’s voice echoed in my head. He must have returned from his patrol
.
Any luck with the Wilsons?

I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

No
, not really
. Come inside
and
I’ll fill you in.

Sure thing
, Daniel answered.
I’m gonna
wait for Colt first
, he said he was on his way
.

Alright.

I headed back to the sitting room. It was cold out,
so
it was probably a good idea to get a fire going.
Particularly as I was expecting company later.
As I arranged the logs
and set them alight
,
I caught sight of my Consilador ring.
The clover pattern stuck out in my mind, and I closed my eyes
.

This was what had me convinced Cheyenne was someone important.
That rainy night,
wh
en Daniel and I had snuck into her room
,
I’d studied her ring
,
and
it had
the very same pattern on it.
As I’d guessed, i
t was
a
clan
ring,
and it
specifically belong
ed
to the Servak
.
This further strengthened my belief of her connection to Sahara
, as she
’d been
Servak
as well
.
Still,
it wasn’t enough to prove
her parentage
.
It was possible Cheyenne could have been a cousin
,
as Sahara had no siblings,
but Cheyenne exhibited far too many similar traits. They had to be closer, like mother and daughter…

The fire crackled, jarring my thoughts.
I reached for the metal poker and started stoking the flames.
I hadn’t shared
these
views with my brothers, if only because it would make it too real.
Even though I had all th
is evidence, and everything
point
ed
to Cheyenne being Qaysean
and Sahara
’s secret daughter, a small part of me wanted to deny it.
Because if she truly was the last remaining Kvech, I’d have to fulfill my obligation as Consilador leader.

I’d have to marry her.

I stared at the flickering flames.
It was hardly fair to Cheyenne, but the real tragedy lay with me.
I’d already proposed to someone, and the thought of having to call off our engagement
had
burned deep.
In the end, after much deliberation,
I’d
talked
to her,
saying that I couldn’t go through with my promise
.
She
’d said she’d
understood, or at least that’s what she
claimed
, but I knew inside I’d torn her to pieces
.
I had no right to do that, not after
everything we’d been through,
yet I’d been left with no choice.
I had to put the clans first, and after centuries of war with the Sara
c, this could be our final chanc
e to bring
about
peace.
It would be a better future for our children, too.

It didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt, though.
She’d got me through those black days after Dad’s death,
pulling me
from the brink even my brothers couldn’t save me from. She’d reminded me there were things worth living for
,
things worth fighting for.
After decades of failure, she helped me think things through, and rekindled my spirits.
She was everything to me.
And
it was devastating knowing
I’d been forced to betray her love.

My grip tightened around t
he
fire poker.
Stop it.
I didn’t need to dwell on this now. I
’d accepted this mission and
had a duty
to see it through.
Besides,
Colt and
Daniel would be back any minute, and hopefully our invited guests wouldn’t be far behind, either
.

Koda
had said he could visit over Christmas. He’d also promised to bring Bailee, another member of his clan, the Silloquize, and Bree, one of our own Consilador members.
Since Cheyenne had
travel
plans for
the
holiday
s
, it would’ve
been impossible to track her with only the three of us. Besides that,
Colt had an inkling she knew she was being w
atched, and was keeping a close
eye out for anything out of the ordinary.
Meaning it would’ve been far too obvious if one of us was always around her.

Hence I’d agreed with his idea to get the girls involved.
Of course, I couldn’t let them catch on about the issues surrounding her heritage, but
as
I
’d ke
p
t
that information from Colt and Daniel,
I was confident that
hiding it from them would be a piece of cake.

I grew tired
playing with the fire, so
I pushed the curtain aside and stared at the falling snow
. It
blanket
ed
the forest
, like white icing.
Colt and Daniel were taking their time.
I briefly recalled my panic
that night Daniel stormed out, but quickly shook it off. They were more than capable of handling themselves.
Daniel wasn’t too far away, anyway.

Soon I caught a flash of
headlights in the long drive.
Ah;
Koda,
Bailee and Bree
had arrived
.

Daniel, is Colt back yet?

There was a long pause.

No, not yet. Want me to call him?

No, it’s fine. Just come inside, the others are here.

I
heard
truck
doors close, so
I
made for the front door. The second I opened it, a frigid wind hit me, throwing a blast of snow in my face
.

“Hey, Callon!
” Bree waved as she stepped into the snow bank.
Koda was behind, dressed in a hood as he helped Bailee cross over to the porch.
She seemed a little unsteady
on her feet
.

“
Hello Bree,
” I smiled
as
Bree
skipped up
to the front step
, giving me a brief hug
.

“Callon,
long time no see!
” Koda
called.
Bailee
looked up, smiling
, but didn’t say anything
.

“I’m glad you
made it, Bailee,
” I
said
, leading her inside. Bailee nodded. Inwardly I frowned. It wasn’t like her to be this quiet.
Koda turned back to the horse trailer; he’d brought Midnight along, too.

“Wow, neat place!”
Bree
pok
ed
around the living room, testing out the
surround sound
unit. “
Of course I’d never expect anything less from you, Callon.”

“Good to see you’re still as curious as ever,” I chuckled. “How was the drive?”

“Snowy,”
Bree answered, jumping o
nto the sofa and kicking her feet up.
“I’d forgotten
it gets just as
cold here
as home
.” She glanced around. “Where’s Daniel?”

“He should be coming back soon,” I said,
checking the fire. From the corner of my eye I watched Bailee, who
stood
near the window.
She was staring at Koda, who was
tend
ing
to
Midnight.
“Bailee, is everything alright?”

Bailee jumped, and turned around.

“
Oh. I’m f
ine, fine.” She began to play with the buttons on her sleeves.
She was nervous.

“
Did
someth
ing
happen
on the way over
?” I
asked
.

Her eyes grew wide.
Hmm, seemed I’d hit the nail on the head.

“W
ell…”
Bailee
was hesitant.
“It wasn’t…um…”

I reached for her hand
.

“
Tell me.
”

Her words seemed to dry up, and she shook her head sadly.
I glanced towards the window
. Koda was taking an awfully long time
with Midnight
.
Was he trying to put off speaking to me?

“Bree, please explain what’s going on.” My voice was firm.

Bree managed a nervous laugh, though it quickly died.
She knew she couldn’t lie to me.

“Well, we had an…unexpected visit
or
.”

My brows narrowed.

“Bree,
please
don’t
say anything!
” Bailee was starting to tremble.

Bree looked at her with sympathy, before she bolted out of her seat and wrapped her arm around her.
I didn’t know what to make of it. I’d never seen Bailee look so
upset
.