Light Beyond the Darkness (13 page)

“I could cook for them,” she replied. “Maybe then they’d accept me.”

“They will accept you because you’re with me. And if they don’t, we’ll leave.”

“You can’t choose me over your family, Reid.”

He gripped the steering wheel and watched the road. “I don’t think I have a choice.”

Maybe his brother-in-law was right after all.

When he turned onto the street leading into the neighborhood where his sister lived, Reid guided the car to the side of the road and shifted it into park. He turned in his seat to face Carley.

“I don’t know what to expect,” he admitted. “I haven’t talked to my parents in nine months. Haven’t seen my sister in eight years. She has two pups that I’ve never met.”

“Okay.”

“They don’t know the story behind the scars.” He didn’t know why he mentioned them. Normally, he did his damnedest to try to forget they were even there.

She didn’t say anything, just looked at him with those overlarge azure eyes. He turned away from her inquiring gaze, stared out the windshield at the manicured lawns and well-kept, average-size homes. Already, he could see why his sister had put down roots here. Beside the fact that her mate’s pack lived here, this looked like just the sort of neighborhood Felicia used to daydream about when she was a teenaged pup.

“I made a mistake. A big one. The pack master caught me. Whipped me with my own belt. It was the most excruciatingly painful and humiliating experience of my life.”

He could tell she wanted to ask, wanted to know what he’d done to warrant such abuse. He wondered if she now thought less of him as a person. Did she believe he deserved such punishment?

“I’m so sorry, Reid. From everything the shifters who live in the coterie have said, Quentin Lyons was a horrible ruler who had no consideration for his fellow beings. Which, of course, as a lightbearer, I understand, since he was willing to kill us for our magic.”

His heart swelled with appreciation, possibly with something else, something far more important. Mindless of their location, he reached across the seat, cupped her head in his hand, and pulled her to him. Within moments, she was settled on his lap, her fingers tangled in his hair, his hands under her shirt, his lips locked onto hers. A knock on the window caused her to wrench her mouth away from him and give a little shriek.

A man stood outside the car, beaming at them as if he’d just unwrapped his favorite Christmas gift.

“Oh shit,” Reid muttered, as he helped Carley climb out of his lap and into the passenger seat. “I can’t believe my dad just caught us making out.”

*

“Your dad?”

Carley immediately grabbed the visor, pulled it down so she could look at herself in the tiny mirror. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen. She looked as if she’d just been ravished. She quickly used her magic to set herself to rights, before turning, just as the passenger-side door opened. Reid had already climbed out of the car and walked around to help her out. She accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her from the car, as she willed her heart rate to slow and her voice not to crack, and she braced herself to meet his father.

His family.

It was so surreal, this entire trip, the concept that she had left the safety of her home with the humans in Chicago, to go to a shifter pack in Tennessee. While Reid had assured her they lived within a human community, in a small town just north of Nashville, Carley had still been nervous. Which was silly, really, because the likelihood of running into Miguel in Tennessee was even less than running into him in Chicago. The very reason she’d agreed to go with Reid was to avoid going back to the coterie.

It was the idea of meeting his family that was so frightening. It felt so…sincere. Important. She had no idea if Reid felt anything more for what they were doing than his obsession for her, which she assumed was a result of his attraction, and not a deeper, emotional connection. And truthfully, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to feel more for her than that. She was a mated woman—mated to another—so even if they developed feelings for one another, there was nothing they could do about it.

Eventually, she would have to admit the truth to Reid, and the longer she stayed with him, the more she became convinced he would not be happy to learn she belonged to another. She suspected he would see it as a betrayal—her betraying him—and he would very likely leave her. Forever.

Every time she thought about it, the idea caused her entire body to clench with fear.

“Hello there. George Hennigan.”

He clasped her right hand with his own, and covered both with his left hand, as they shook. Bright blue eyes sparkled and crinkled at the sides. His smile was wide and genuine. He was about the same height as Reid, although not quite as wide in the shoulders. His ginger hair was streaked with gray. The hair on his face was even more liberally gray. The resemblance between father and son was strong.

“C-Carley Santiago,” she stuttered. Reid’s hand pressed against her back, slid up to cup the back of her neck. She appreciated the gesture. His touch helped to tamp some of the nerves.

“Pleasure to meet you, Carley.” His gaze cut to his son. “So this is what you’ve been off doing, while cutting off your family for the past nine months?”

Before Reid could respond, Carley shook her head. “No. No, it isn’t like that at all, Mr. Hennigan. It hasn’t been that long. And I didn’t know. If I’d known sooner, I would have insisted…” Her voice trailed off when she realized they were both laughing.

“What?” she demanded, feeling confused.

Reid wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to him. “He’s giving me a hard time, Carley. It’s nothing to do with you. How did you figure out we were out here, anyway?” he asked his father.

George pointed at the truck parked behind the rental car. “Your sister had a revelation that there was no wine in the house. Even though she’s only met a couple of lightbearers, she seems to be under the impression that they would expect to have wine with dinner. I drew the short straw, and was elected to go to the store. Although truthfully, I didn’t mind getting out of that house for a minute. I love my grandkids, but Austin and Bryan have enough energy for a damn army, and all little Julia does is cry, eat, shit, and sleep.”

“Julia?” Reid repeated.

His father nodded. “Yep. Felicia and Ben have a female pup now. She’s three months old, I think. Your sister—and your mother—finally got their little girl. Come on, let’s get up to the house. It’s just at the end of that cul-de-sac.” He pointed at the street on which their vehicles were parked.

Reid guided her back into the car, while George jumped into his truck and motored off. The drive to his sister’s house was brief, only a few minutes at most. During that short span of time, all Carley could think was,
A little girl.

A babe. She hadn’t been around a babe since she lost her own, after Miguel pushed her over the cliff in the coterie. Her heart stuttered, her hand strayed to her abdomen, and she sucked in a breath, trying to keep her emotions under control.

As he pulled the car to the curb in front of a cozy brick ranch home, Reid gave her a sharp look. “What’s wrong?”

How did he know? She hadn’t said anything out loud. He knew nothing of the babe she’d lost. She hadn’t moved or changed her expression in any way.

She shook her head. “Nothing. Nerves. I’m fine.”

George opened the passenger-side door and pulled her from the car. He patted her hand and said, “Don’t be nervous. It’s hectic with all those people in the house right now, but we’re an easygoing bunch of shifters, I promise.”

“Is Finn here?” Reid asked with a glance at the house. Carley could hear the hopefulness in his voice. The eagerness to see the brother he had thought was dead had distracted him from her stress. Thank the lights.

“Yes. He brought a couple of lightbearers, too. His mate, and the guy who fixed up Felicia when she was having problems, toward the end of whelping little Julia. Name’s Dane. Kind of a pansy, but Finn seems to like him well enough.” He shrugged.

“Lightbearers?” Carley said, her voice sounding like a squeak. She took an impulsive step away from Reid and his father. No, not lightbearers. She had expected to meet Reid’s family, spend time with shifters. Shifters who would not tell anyone who she was or that she’d visited. Suddenly, this entire thing seemed like a terrible idea.

Reid reached out, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her back to his side, before speaking to his father. “He brought lightbearers? Why?”

George frowned and looked as if he didn’t quite understand his son’s question. “The one’s his mate, and she’s come with him every time he’s come to visit. They come every couple months. They were about due again anyway. The other one’s a healer. I told you, he helped Felicia when she was having some problems, toward the end of whelping Julia. Finn says he gets protective of those he’s healed. I guess he wanted to check up on Felicia, make sure everyone’s good.” He shrugged, as if a visit from not one but two lightbearers was really of little consequence.

But it was. To Carley, it was. Dane. And Cecilia. She wasn’t ready to face them. Not yet.

“Do we need to leave?”

Reid asked the question, and directed it to her. Giving her a choice. He would walk away, before even speaking to anyone else in his family, if she said the word.

Would she?

She so badly wanted to, but that wasn’t fair to him. He hadn’t seen his family in nine months, family he had once been so close to that he’d refused to leave a pack ruled by a pack master whose abuse had been so bad, Reid still carried both the physical and emotional scars. Until a few days ago, he’d thought his brother was dead.

Despite this, he would walk away, for her. She knew this; she could
feel
it. He would grab her hand, lead her back to the car he’d rented, and drive her back to Chicago. He wouldn’t question her, wouldn’t second-guess himself.

For me
.

“Holy shit, you’re here.”

The decision—whichever one she meant to choose—was taken out of her hands by the loud, masculine shout from the porch of the house in front of which they’d parked. A moment later, Finn was striding across the lawn. He barely spared a glance for Carley or his father before he grabbed his brother in a bear hug, and the two spent a few moments trying to lift each other off the ground and laughing like long lost friends. Or brothers.

“Damn, you look good, baby brother,” Finn teased as he lightly slapped Reid’s cheek.

Reid pushed his hands away and grinned. “You don’t look so bad yourself. Thought for sure you’d have a few gray hairs by now.”

Finn raked his hand through his ginger locks and matched his brother’s grin. “Yeah, me too, frankly. Being mated to a lightbearer’s no easy feat, I can assure you. Or maybe that’s just my mate.” He ducked just as a waiflike spitfire charged across the lawn and attempted to smack his shoulder.

“Carley!”

Carley tried to shrink away, to step behind Reid, but with his arm around her shoulder, it was impossible for her to hide.

“Lights above, you’re alive!” Cecilia all but shrieked the proclamation.

Reid gave her a questioning look. Finn focused on her for the first time. “Holy hell, Carley.” His gaze darted from her to Reid and back again, before his eyes narrowed and he studied his brother’s features. “You found her?”

Reid shook his head. “I’ve been staying in Chicago. Went to a steak house with a stellar reputation. Figured out it was because a lightbearer was making the steaks.”

“And?” Finn demanded when Reid offered no more detail.

Cecilia attempted to hug Carley, whose magic flared in response. Reid’s father cast a nervous glance at the nearest houses. “Maybe we should take this inside. There are humans living in this neighborhood.”

Finn slapped Reid on the back and gave him a shove toward the house. “Come on. Felicia’s probably going to cry when she sees you. Mom’s probably going to box your ears for disappearing without a trace for the last nine months. They’ve been trying to convince me to go search for you, but I haven’t been able to get out of the coterie for more than a few days here and there…” Finn continued talking as the three men headed toward the house, leaving Cecilia and Carley standing on the front lawn.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Cecilia said. She had pulled her hand away and stood in front of Carley, her body in a state of attempted hug. “We’ve been worried.”

Carley dropped her gaze to the grass. “I…was afraid,” she admitted. “Miguel…” She lifted her gaze and watched Reid and his father and brother walk into the house. He turned around, pinning his gaze on her. She nodded, letting him know she was fine, but then Finn shouted Cecilia’s name.

“Come on,” he called. “Felicia and my mom are going to want to meet Carley. And the Fates know you’ll somehow manage to get into trouble, just standing on the front lawn, Cici.”

Cecilia rolled her eyes and then looped her arm through the crook of Carley’s elbow. Her magic didn’t flare this time. “Ignore him. I do, often. Still, let’s go inside. We’ll find some time to talk later. I want to hear all about what it’s like living outside the coterie for an extended length of time.” She started to walk, but Carley pulled her to a stop.

“Don’t tell him,” she whispered, her gaze pleading.

Cecilia frowned. “Who?”

“Reid. About Miguel. He doesn’t know.
Anything
.”

Cecilia’s eyes widened. “Oh.” Then she pitched her voice low and added, “He’s never been found. They’ve given up the search. Finn assumes he fled the coterie, and is living among the humans, like you’ve been doing.”

The idea that Miguel could have found her, might have been looking for her, caused Carley’s heart to begin galloping at an uncomfortable pace. Within seconds, Reid was rushing across the lawn toward them, a determined look on his face. He came to an abrupt stop and grabbed Carley’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” His gaze slid to Cecilia, as if she had done something wrong.

Carley tried to speak, but words escaped her for a moment.