Light Beyond the Darkness (26 page)

Twice now he’d tried to bring up the subject of mating, and both times Carley waylaid him. He now understood why.

“They’re mates, after all.”

When he stalked out of the room, he was peripherally aware of the fact that Carley chased after him, might have even been sobbing, but as she passed him, Roman grabbed her by the arm and held her back, whispering to her that Reid no doubt needed some time to cool off. If she went after him now, Reid would probably say some things he didn’t really mean. Best to wait.

Damned perceptive human.

Reid would have almost liked it if Carley chased after him. He’d like to say some things to her right now. He might regret them later, but it would help assuage this feeling churning in his gut. He needed an outlet. He needed to scream, to shout, to yell. To hit something. He was half-tempted to shift into the form of a hawk and fly back to Wyoming.

While he’d been in Tennessee, his father had told him there were a few stragglers who had returned to the land once owned by Quentin Lyons. They were trying to reform a pack, but were having issues. Everyone kept challenging one another for the position of pack master. No one would accept anyone else.

The idea of heading out there, throwing his hat into the ring, was highly tempting. Not because he really wanted to be pack master, but because he wanted a fight. He wanted to take out his anger and frustration on someone who would fight back, who would show him no mercy. Someone who might just destroy him, so he wouldn’t have to live with this feeling anymore.

He did in fact shift into the form of a hawk, after stepping around the side of the building and into a dark alley where there were no prying human eyes. But instead of heading west, he went north, to his brother and the coterie. Maybe he’d run into this lightbearer named Miguel. Despite his jangled feelings about Carley and her deceit, he would still like to kick the guy’s ass. Maybe even kill him. Not that it really mattered anymore. Even if she was free of her mate, he doubted he would take her back. Not after this.

*

Mica stayed after Reid left. Sean returned to the kitchen to comfort the nearly inconsolable lightbearer, while Roman waited until Reid left the house and then guided Carley upstairs to her bedroom.

“So this is going to sound weird,” Roman said after he closed the bedroom door. “But I know what a coterie is.”

“You do?” Carley asked, blinking owlishly.

Roman nodded. “Well, I know what it means. It’s a small group of people with shared interests that are exclusive of all others.”

“It
is
weird that you know that,” Carley admitted.

“I do a lot of crossword puzzles.” He watched her steadily. “It’s not unlike a cult.”

Carley took a deep breath. “Not a cult, exactly.” She hesitated, tried to determine how much to say without really saying anything at all.

“My…people suffered. A long time ago, we were hunted by some other…people. To protect ourselves, we went into hiding, formed the coterie. We’ve been there ever since. It is very exclusive. It’s only in the last year that any of us ever left at all.”

“Where does Reid fit into this?”

She glanced at the window. “He…he isn’t like my kind. But a few in the coterie have ventured out, met other people, fell in love—what’s the word when two people decide to be a couple forever?”

“Married.”

“Right. Sorry. As you can see, we really did avoid the outside world,” she said with a small smile.

“Clearly. That other woman used the term
mated
.”

How could she forget?

“Yes. Mated. Same thing, I believe. At any rate, there are some within the coterie who are very—what’s the term? Old school. They do not believe we should be mating or marrying anyone except our own kind. It became extreme a few months ago. That’s why I left.”

“That and your husband.”

“Husband?”

“Miguel.”

“Oh.”

“I take it, it wasn’t a loving relationship?”

“Hardly,” Carley said with a small shiver. “It was arranged. My parents—I was a mistake. They hadn’t wanted younglings—children. I didn’t exactly have a happy upbringing. At the first available opportunity, they passed me off to someone else. They actually paid Miguel to take me to mate.”

“Jesus. That’s insane. That doesn’t happen in today’s world.”

“Not in your world,” Carley said sadly.

“You come from a pretty fucked-up place, Carley. No wonder you don’t want to go back.”

Carley shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “It really isn’t, not normally. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s such a wonderful place, I swear. And the ones who were so determined to keep us exclusive, they’re gone now. Their leader is dead. Everything is back to normal. Everything except Miguel.”

“And Reid. I think you broke his heart, Carley.”

“What?” She gave him a startled look. “I would never!”

“You didn’t tell him about Miguel. You weren’t honest.”

“How could I? If I had, he never would have…”

“You don’t know that.”

“My kind, we mate—marry—for life. And something terrible happened in Reid’s past, too, that makes my deception even worse.”

“Love has a way of working itself out,” Roman predicted. “But you have to be honest. That’s the key.”

“I didn’t lie to him,” Carley whispered. “I just didn’t tell him.”

“It’s the same thing, and you know it.”

She sank onto the bed. “What do I do, Roman?”

“Give him time to cool off. Then try to talk to him. Explain yourself. Be honest.”

* * * *

Mica went to work with Carley, Sean, Roman, and the rest of them that evening. Carley didn’t know what else to do with her, and Sean had glued himself to her side anyway, so it seemed like the most logical decision. Besides, if Mica was good enough to cook in the king’s kitchen, she would certainly be good enough to work in the kitchen at a human restaurant.

When they returned home at the end of the evening, Carley noticed that Sean whisked Mica away upstairs. She assumed he was getting her settled into a bedroom for the night. She decided not to consider which bedroom.

When she woke the next morning, Carley was disoriented for a few moments. A storm raged outside, dark clouds spit rain and snow both, as the wind howled and rattled the windowpanes. It was the worst sort of day for a lightbearer. She would be exhausted before she even started her shift at the restaurant.

She rolled over and realized she was alone in the bed. Reid was gone. She had no idea where he went. Had he gone back to his apartment? Had he gone back to his old pack? Had he—out of spite—gone out last night and found someone else to warm his bed?

Her mind sifted through the possibilities, over and over, each one getting worse and worse, until she finally dragged herself out of bed and shuffled downstairs.

No one else was awake, or at least no one had come downstairs and started the coffee. Carley set about doing just that, and then she stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and watching the nasty weather outside as she waited for the caffeine-infused drink to fill the carafe.

A shadow passed across the window. She blinked, but she was certain that she’d seen a person—a male—walk past the window. Reid?

She rushed across the kitchen and threw open the back door. If he came all the way here in this raging storm, then he must be willing to forgive her—right?

“Well, hello, mate.”

The voice chilled her far worse than the wet wind blowing into the kitchen. She released the doorknob and shuffled backward several paces.

“I admit I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this easy to get into your abode.” Miguel’s gaze made a swift perusal of the kitchen as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

“So this is where you have been hiding from me, Carley? This is where the shifter lives?”

Carley shook her head as she backed away farther, until she bumped into the counter.

“How—how did you find me?” she whispered.

Miguel waved his hand dismissively. “That simpleton, Mica. Such a foolish lightbearer. One of the many fools who believe love conquers all.” He shook his head as if he was perplexed.

“Mica brought you here?” The woman had seemed so convincing yesterday.

Miguel’s mouth curled in disgust. “I followed her, when she informed me that she would no longer help me in my endeavor to, as she believed, win you back. Seemed to be under the impression that my intentions were less than pure.”

He gave her a malevolent smile. “Do you believe my intentions are less than pure, mate?”

“Yes,” Carley whispered.

He snorted derisively. “And here I’ve always been under the impression that you were an idiot. A passable piece of ass and a decent cook. If you hadn’t decided to go against the Chosen One, I probably would have been happy to settle for that. What else does a man need, after all?”

“The Chosen One was wrong,” Carley whispered. “Tanner loves Olivia. And Finn loves Cecilia. There is nothing unpure about their relationships.”

Mine is the only one that is unpure
.
And that is only because of you, Miguel
.

Miguel’s face contorted. “
Everything
about their relationships is unpure,” he raged. “Everything! Shifters are the enemy. Everyone is the enemy. Lightbearers should be with lightbearers. There is no other way.”

“And you,” he continued as he stabbed his finger in the air. “You broke the rules, too. Not only have you cheated on your mate, but you did it with a shifter. You spread your legs and allowed a shifter to defile you, you backstabbing bitch.”

“You’re the one who defiled me, Miguel,” Carley burst out, unable to hold back any longer. “You used me for your own ends whenever it was convenient for you. I never had any pleasure. I never wanted it with you. You—you raped me! Reid would never do that. Never!”

Miguel looked momentarily surprised that she talked back. Carley realized she’d never actually done so, not in any of the years they were mated.

His surprise was quickly erased by malice. He took a step toward her. She pressed more firmly against the counter.

“Reid? Is that your shifter’s name?” He paused. Carley glared at him but did not speak.

“I’m going to kill him. You’re lucky I want you to be alive to see it, or else I’d kill you right now. Stupid bitch, you’ve ruined my life!” Although he said he wasn’t going to kill her right then, he lunged at her as if that was exactly what he intended to do.

Carley grabbed the coffee carafe and flung it at him. Scalding, dark liquid poured out, hitting him in the face and the front of his shirt. He screamed, lifted his hands to his face, and dropped to his knees, still screaming. The carafe crashed against the wall behind him and shattered.

There was a sound like a herd of elephants stampeded across the ceiling above her, as Carley stood there, rooted to the spot, staring at her mate while he crouched on his knees and shouted in pain. The herd of elephants stampeded down the stairs, and Miguel stumbled to his feet, staggering like a drunken man, and lurched toward the back door.

His hand went through one of the glass panes and he screamed with renewed pain as he held that arm close to his chest and fumbled with the doorknob with the other. He flung himself out the door just as her roommates and Mica came rushing through the other door.

“Carley,” Roman called out as he muscled his way through the crowd. “You okay?” He glanced at the open door and then at Carley’s ashen face.

“It was Miguel,” she whispered. She heard a cry of distress and assumed it was Mica. The younger lightbearer hadn’t lied to them after all. Considering how quickly Sean was falling for her, Carley thought that was a good thing. The young human deserved a little happiness.

Didn’t they all?

“Miguel? Here?” Mica pulled away from Sean and hurried to Carley’s side. “How?”

“He followed you.”

“Oh!” Mica shoved her fist into her mouth and blinked rapidly.

“Don’t cry,” Carley ordered in a hardened voice. “Don’t you think you’ve cried enough already?”

Mica swallowed the tears and stared at her with widened eyes.

Carley waved at the open door and the shattered glass scattered all over the floor. “Can someone please clean that up? I’ll pay for the damages. Mica, come with me. We need to get dressed. We’re leaving, as quickly as we can.”

She abruptly turned and pushed her way through the crowd, with Mica in her wake.

“Where are we going?” the other lightbearer asked.

“Back to the coterie. I’m through running from Miguel. It’s time to fight back.”

Roman waylaid her in the front foyer. “Carley, listen to me.”

“I can’t, Roman. I have no idea how much time I have. I don’t know where Reid is, and he’s the one in the most danger right now. Miguel means to kill him. I have to get to Miguel before he finds Reid.”

“I get it, Carley. I’m just saying that I don’t think you should take Mica with you.”

That grabbed her attention. She paused and gave him a considering look. “Why?”

Roman waved at the stairs. Mica and Sean were at the top, locked in an embrace. Despite Carley’s earlier admonishment, Mica was quietly crying as Sean held her tightly.

“Cut the kid some slack, will you? Let her stay. Besides, when you find Reid and work everything out with him”—he ignored her snort of disbelief—“and stop this Miguel guy, you aren’t going to come back. We need a good head chef at the restaurant, and Mica’s almost as good as you in the kitchen.”

“I’m coming back,” Carley protested, but she knew it was a lie. Even if Reid wouldn’t take her back, she knew, in her heart of hearts, that she wanted to go back to the coterie. Back home.

Roman shook his head, seeing through her lie.

“I can’t leave Mica alone.”

“Does it look like she’ll be alone?” Roman asked as he nodded at the couple canoodling at the top of the stairs.

“It’s only been twenty-four hours,” Carley said in wonder. “Does it really happen that quickly?”

“Look at how fast it happened for you and Reid, and the two of you both have some pretty deep-seated issues,” Roman pointed out.