Into the Light (16 page)

“How are we supposed to get there if you are under some sort of spell that keeps you from telling me where it is?” Tanner inquired. Olivia silently cursed the fact that the shifter had paid attention when they first met, and she’d told him as much.

“I may have hedged the truth somewhat,” she said carefully, not wishing to reveal too much.

“Only Olivia can tell you,” Cecilia added, far too helpfully. “Only those who are direct descendants of the one who created the ward in the first place.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes and glared at her cousin. Tanner furrowed his brows. “I thought you two were cousins?” he asked.

“We are, but my father isn’t—” Olivia cut her off before she could say far too much.

“I can get us there,” Olivia said firmly, and then she guided the conversation into less dangerous waters.

Everyone except Lisa ate heartily. She sat in the booth and rocked her babe, while Sofia clung to her, stuffed tiger in her arm, thumb firmly planted in her mouth. Dane tried to cheer her up, but she turned to Tanner instead. Olivia knew it was because Tanner was familiar, but that still made it no easier to watch as she let her head rest on Tanner’s shoulder in what Olivia considered a very intimate gesture.

The shifter attack had brought back terrible memories for Lisa, and Tanner commented earlier that she had not yet mourned her deceased mate. Olivia hated that Lisa had lost her mate and that Sofia had lost her father. She hated that Tanner had lost one of his best friends. She hated that any of it happened. And selfishly, she hated watching Tanner with his arm around Lisa, offering her comfort, lifting Sofia into his arms to carry her out to the car. She hated it, because she was jealous. And she hated herself for feeling jealous when Lisa deserved whatever small comfort she could get, whether it was from Tanner or someone else.

“Why Dane?” Tanner wanted to know, when Olivia said that Dane could open the wards and let them into the coterie.

“He is one of the king’s guards,” Olivia explained. “There are only a precious few lightbearers with the ability to open and close the wards.”

Tanner looked as if he found it difficult to believe Dane had been bestowed so much power.

After they stopped for lunch, the rest of the group fell asleep in the back of the SUV, leaving Olivia and Tanner momentarily alone. It was time to have what Olivia expected would be an extremely uncomfortable conversation.

“About this morning…” she started, and before she could continue, Tanner spoke.

“It’s my fault,” he said grimly. “I shouldn’t have trusted those kids I met at the grocery store. I was trying to get them to put me in touch with the pack master, so that I could introduce Lisa and my mother. I wasn’t sure I could convince my mother to stay, but I’d hoped at least Lisa could start a new life there. My instincts were obviously off.” He growled the last, gripping the steering wheel as he said it.

Olivia tilted her head and watched him. That hadn’t been what she meant to discuss, but she couldn’t very well change the subject now.

“Where were you planning to go?” she asked curiously.

He shot her a quick glance before turning back to watch the road. “With you,” he said shortly.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “With me? What do you mean, with me?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I was going to see you safely back to the coterie, at least. I couldn’t very well leave you to fend for yourself, could I?”

“Oh,” Olivia said, disappointment flooding her system. “Right.”

He leaned toward her, while keeping his eyes on the road. His arm slipped over the console and his hand cupped her thigh. Warmth spread through her like butter melting on a hot griddle.

“But now, I’m going with you because of what happened before those shifters attacked. Because I sure as hell intend to finish what we started this morning.”

He squeezed her thigh. Pleasure spiked through her system.

“Oh. Right.”

The conversation wasn’t so awkward after all.

* * * *

They arrived at their destination around dinnertime. Tanner pushed on the brake and shifted the SUV into park. “This is it?” he asked as he looked around.

It looked as if the road simply ended. An expanse of beach and then Lake Michigan was to his left, and endless miles of pine forest spread out before him and to the right for as far as the eye could see. The road simply ended at the line of trees.

“Yes,” Olivia replied, looking around distractedly.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

“The guard,” she replied.

A moment later, a figure materialized out of the emptiness. By this point, they all knew he stepped through from the other side of the wards protecting the coterie, but to Tanner and the rest of the shifters in the vehicle, it looked as if he simply appeared.

“Dane,” she muttered as she watched the man tentatively approach.

“I’m here,” Dane said from the backseat. He climbed out of the SUV.

“I’ll be right back,” Olivia said to Tanner, and she hurried out of the vehicle before he could ask any more questions.

She followed Dane as he strode up to the guard and offered his hand to shake. “Samuel. You look well.”

“Where’ve you been?” Samuel asked by way of greeting. He angled his head to try to see who else was inside the SUV, but the sun was shining at just the right angle and it was impossible from their vantage point.

“Rescuing Cecilia again,” Olivia said with a forced laugh.

Samuel shook his head. “Your cousin needs to settle down,” he said sternly. “She needs a good man, someone to keep her occupied and keep her
inside
the coterie.” He looked as if he would be happy to volunteer for the position. “Where’d she go this time?”

Olivia ignored his incredibly sexist comment and said, “Las Vegas. It is two days’ drive from here.”

“Or four hours by airplane,” Dane added, and both Olivia and Samuel stared at him.

“You rode on an airplane?” Samuel asked, sounding utterly shocked. Lightbearers didn’t get out much.

Dane nodded. “It was pretty intense,” he assured Samuel.

“Cecilia too?”

“Cecilia and Olivia drove cross country,” Dane explained.

Samuel looked at the SUV again. “You planning on driving that into the coterie?”

There were no vehicles inside the coterie. Lightbearers used their feet or horses to get around. In some ways, they were permanently stuck in a bygone era. Olivia thought about her father’s refusal to let her train to be a healer because he was determined that she would mate and birth babes and carry on his family legacy.

In
many
ways, they were stuck in a bygone era.

Dane glanced back at the SUV. “Yes,” he admitted as he slid a pleading glance in Olivia’s direction.

Inspiration struck. “I’ll be right back,” she promised, and she ran back to the SUV.

“Cecilia, I need your help.”

Cecilia hopped out of the SUV and followed her back to where Dane and Samuel stood, chatting quietly. As soon as Cecilia recognized Samuel, she stopped. “No.”

“Come on, Cici.”

“No. I am not going to distract Samuel so you can get into the coterie,” she said, guessing Olivia’s intent. “No. He’ll have us mated by midnight if I even speak to him.” She shuddered.

“Please. For me. For Dane and Sofia and the babe.”

“And Lisa and Tanner. Mostly Tanner.”

Olivia didn’t reply. Cecilia sighed.

“He
is
handsome,” she said, glancing back at the SUV. Olivia knew she referred to Tanner, and she wanted to ask Cecilia what she meant by that comment.

“You owe me,” Cecilia added, and then she trotted up to greet Samuel and Dane. It seemed like it took less than thirty seconds for her to have Samuel so completely preoccupied that Tanner was able to drive the SUV within a few feet of him, and Samuel never tore his eyes away from Cecilia.

* * * *

Dane’s cottage was a small, two-bedroom, one-story, cozy place that, like most of the cottages of the coterie, was perched on the edge of the beach stretching out to Lake Michigan. The backyard was comprised of wispy beach grass, a few straggly bushes and trees, and then the foot of a tall, sheer cliff.

At the top of the cliff sat the largest beach house Tanner said he had ever seen. When he inquired, Dane explained that it belonged to the king of the lightbearers.

Olivia had purposely avoided going there and therefore making her presence within the coterie known. “To your house, Dane,” she’d whispered to him earlier. “I’m not ready to face him yet.”

“Sooner or later, you will have to,” Dane replied ominously.

Tanner strode across the living room to stand in front of a massive plate-glass window that overlooked the beach and the lake beyond. Sofia spotted a pile of colorful blocks on the floor and struggled to get out of his arms. Tanner placed her on the floor and then watched as she quickly turned the blocks into a miniature train and began pushing it around the room.

“Does Dane have his own children?” he wondered out loud.

Olivia shook her head. “A lot of nieces and nephews, though. He’s a good guy. A real family man. He’ll let Lisa and the kids stay here for a while, until we figure out what to do. Your mom, too, if she wants.”

“What about me?”

Olivia fidgeted. She wanted Tanner to be closer to her, like in her bedchamber. She wasn’t sure yet how to arrange that, though. Since she still lived with her parents, she had a feeling it would be difficult to hide him.

“I’m still trying to figure that part out. But I get the feeling you don’t want to stay here, and it would be too crowded anyway.”

“You’re right, I don’t want to stay here. Where do you live?”

Olivia glanced over her shoulder, at the cliff she could see through the back window. “I, um, still live with my parents, actually,” she admitted.

Tanner lifted one brow, silently mocking her. “I admit, I wasn’t expecting that.”

She waved her hand. “It’s the way of our kind. I am expected to go from my parents’ home to my mate’s.” Except in her case, her mate would be expected to move in with her. The irony was not lost on her.

“In that case, I’m glad you still live with your parents,” Tanner said, and then he slipped his arm around her waist and hauled her to him. “Because it means you aren’t mated.”

He kissed her until she panted, and then he nuzzled her ear. “Is there someplace we can go that doesn’t have so many windows? I feel like I’m on display here.”

She playfully pushed him away, even though it was the very last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to hold him tightly and never let him go.

“This is also the way of the lightbearers. We live in glass houses because we need the sun’s energy, remember?”

“Does this mean you prefer morning sex over evening sex? Because I think that’s kind of hot.” He rolled his hips and Olivia’s eyes rolled into the back of her head.

“Sofia is right there,” she pointed out, trying to maintain some semblance of decorum.

In response, Tanner scooped her into his arms and carried her to the washroom. “How’s this?” he asked after he closed the door and backed her up until she was wedged between the sink and his body. His very hard body. He ran his hands along her side and then cupped her neck as he rained kisses on her face.

“This is a bit of a change from yesterday, when you told me to stay away from you,” Olivia could not help but tease him.

Tanner stopped kissing her, and when she opened her eyes, she found that he was watching her with a very serious look in his glowing eye. “At some point last night, while I held you as you slept, I realized that I was fighting a losing battle, trying to stay away from you, Olivia. I have never wanted something so much as I want you. Now that Freddy is dead, I realize that I can’t wait any longer to have you. I might not have tomorrow.
We
might not have tomorrow.”

“Oh Tanner.” She launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

* * * *

He wasted no time. He kissed her, urgently, desperately, while he tugged off her panties and shoved the skirt of her dress out of the way. He cupped her bare ass and then let his fingers skim along her most sensitive area. His fingers came away wet, and he groaned as he thrust against her, his clothing creating a frustrating barrier between them. She whimpered and pleaded with him, without really explaining for what she pleaded. But he knew. He knew what she wanted. And he damned well intended to give it to her.

She reached down, tentatively at first, her fingers skimming along the edge of the waistband of his shorts. It was erotic as hell. Especially when her movements became frantic, as she fumbled with the snap and zipper, pulled the fly apart, and grabbed the elastic hem of his boxer shorts. He pushed her hand away, half-afraid that if she touched his erection, he would lose it before he even had the chance to penetrate her.

“Tanner?” His name was accompanied by a soft knock on the door. “Tanner, are you in there?”

Tanner groaned as he dropped his forehead to rest it against Olivia’s. His pants were undone and he had his cock in his hand. He’d been just about to thrust. He’d been just about to find heaven.

Until his mother’s voice cut off his ascent.

“What do you need?” he snapped irritably. Olivia, the little minx, was silently laughing at him. He fully intended to make her pay for that laughter. Of course, his version of making her pay would bring pleasure to them both, but even so.

“Lisa is asking for you, dear.”

Concern instantly replaced desire. One of his pack needed him. He pulled away from Olivia, zipped his pants, and then bent over and scooped her panties off the floor.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” he promised, and then he waited until he heard his mother’s footsteps fade away before turning his focus to Olivia once again.

“I’m beginning to think this is never going to happen,” she grumbled as she slipped her legs into her panties.

Regret lanced through his system. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’m all she has left now.”

He watched the guilt crawl across her face. “Go,” she said as she waved her hand at the door. “I understand.”