Palm Haven Shifters: Complete Five-Part Series Page 34

  Sean smirked. “I didn’t say that.”

  At her offended look he held up a hand. “In my defense, this place really needed the makeover and you are exceptionally talented.”

  She pursed her lips and laid her head back on his chest. “Nice recovery.”

  “So,” Sean rolled one of her sensitive nipples between his thumb and forefinger, making her gasp, “do you still think you’ll want to tackle a house of this magnitude?”

  She arched into his hand, her insides already warming in response to his touch. “I do. But I think it may take me a while to move on from the bedroom,” she joked.

  He laughed and pulled her in for a quick kiss before settling her on top of him, her legs straddling his hips.

  “Perfect answer.”

  Chapter 11

  SEAN

  As the first tendrils of sunlight tickled Sean’s nose, he woke, feeling like he was still in a dream world.

  Curled up at his side was Emily, his arm draped over her gentle curves, his face pressed into her mahogany tresses.

  It seemed impossible that they’d come so far in such a short amount of time. Even more impossible that Sean came clean with her about everything and she responded so enthusiastically.

  What had he ever done to deserve that kind of luck?

  He heard birds tweeting outside, but the only thing that captured his attention was the rhythmic rise and fall of Emily’s chest. Her soft breaths, gentle moans in her sleep.

  He’d imagined what it would be like to have her here in his bed a million times over.

  But nothing ever came close to the reality. To the perfection that they’d shared together last night.

  Again and again.

  The memories of being buried within her made him rock hard again in an instant. He thought of rousing her from her slumber. Sliding a hand over her breast. Waking her with a kiss. Spending the day exploring her body and all the sensitive spots that could make her toes curl.

  A buzz from the nightstand pulled him away from Emily — the caller ID said it was Sloan and Sean picked it up, pulling himself away from his mate with will power that surprised even him.

  “What’s up?” He answered quietly as he padded out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He didn’t want to wake her when she looked so peaceful sleeping there.

  “You need to get to the Clan house ASAP,” Sloan said, his voice tight.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Just get here.”

  Sean glanced back to the bedroom door. His heart pulled him toward Emily, but he knew Sloan wouldn’t make a demand like this without reason.

  “Okay, I need to get dressed.”

  “You remember how to get there?”

  It had been years since Sean made the trip to Cunningham’s house. Last time, he’d been holding his tail between his legs, begging for a loan.

  Now, things seemed much more serious. Sloan’s clipped tone told him something was seriously wrong. But what could have happened that required a Clan meeting?

  It didn’t bode well.

  “Yeah, of course,” he said and Sloan ended the call without any comment.

  Sean looked at his phone in disbelief. How could things go from utterly perfect to completely unknown in such a short span of time?

  He needed answers, though. There was too much at stake to ignore the things going on around them.

  Sean got dressed and pulled out a pen and a scrap piece of paper to leave a note for Emily who would no doubt wonder where he’d gone.

  He stared at the paper for the longest time, trying to think of what to say. How could he tell her what was happening if he himself didn’t know?

  Finally, he left without writing her anything. He didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily by being vague. It wasn’t ideal, but surely Emily would understand.

  When he turned down the driveway of the Elder’s massive home, Sean got his first inkling of how wrong things were.

  It seemed that every tiger in the state was there. That never happened.

  “Shit,” he muttered, parking his sports car amongst the dozens of other equally fabulous automobiles. For all of their seclusion, tigers sure were a flashy bunch.

  He walked up the front steps and entered the house to a somber mood. The house was draped in black and all around people were crying, speaking in tearful whispers and looking solemnly to the Elder.

  Sean’s first instinct was that the old man had died, but Cunningham stood tall as ever, with his daughter at his side.

  Sean hardly recognized Rianne after all of these years, but there was no mistaking the exotic beauty — or the head-to-toe black she wore and the fat tears that streamed from her eyes.

  Sloan found him and dragged him off to the perimeter of the room. “Randal’s dead,” he said in a whisper.

  Though he knew something was up, Sean’s knees buckled at the pronouncement.

  “What?”

  Sloan cast a wary eye around the room. “It’s not good for us. I never got the footage.”

  Sean blew out a breath. “Shit. What now then? What happened?”

  “Dunno. By all accounts he appears to look completely normal. Just exceedingly dead.”

  “We just saw him yesterday,” Sean said, disbelief still making his brain processes sluggish.

  Sloan’s face hardened. “Say that a little louder next time, why don’t you? We should pay our respects.”

  Though Sean didn’t like the guy, the sudden death of a man younger than him — a shifter who was by definition difficult to kill — rocked him to the core.

  This was more serious than he’d given it credit for.

  Sean and Sloan made their way through the crowd of mourners up to Rianne and Elder Cunningham.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sloan said, taking Rianne’s hand in his. Once upon a time, she’d had a crush on Sloan, Sean remembered. Of course, she was probably still in elementary school when she had that crush and had long since outgrown it.

  Rianne’s grip tightened on Sloan’s hand and she pulled him forward. “What business did you two have at my house last night?”

  Cunningham butted in, a surprised and suspicious expression shadowing his eyes. “Is this true?”

  Sloan faltered — something Sean had never seen him do before — and tried to pull his hand from Rianne’s iron grip.

  “Yes, but we had nothing to do with his death. We were discussing a mutual acquaintance.”

  “You lie!” Rianne screeched, tears washing over her once again. The other tigers broke out of their small groups and turned to observe.

  “Darling,” Cunningham said gently, “they could not have done this. Only the darkest black magic could.”

  “A witch killed him?” An older female woman spoke up, malice in her voice. The Clan already mistrusted witches.

  “And who do we know that is mated to one of them?” Rianne hurled the accusation at Sloan.

  “What? Sarah wouldn’t harm a fly!”

  “You protect their kind over your own,” Rianne’s voice shook with hysteria. “You are the worst kind of traitor!”

  Murmurs and angry grumbles erupted all around them and Sean sensed the angry glares shooting Sloan’s way.

  “We should get out of here,” Sean said under his breath.

  “The witches have declared war!” A man shouted from the crowd.

  “We must retaliate!”

  “Randal’s death must not be in vain!”

  “Kill the traitor!”

  “Yep, that’s our cue,” Sean said, grabbing Sloan by the arm. He dragged them through the crowd as more and more tigers voiced their outrage and pledged to destroy all witches.

  By the time they reached the door, tigers were shifting, growling, clamoring over one another to get to them. They had only seconds to spare before there was an outright mob on their hands.

  Sean shoved Sloan into his car and sped off as a line of angry tigers formed at the driveway. Sean and Sloan both felt the Elder’s
compulsion ripple over them as the tigers broke apart and retreated back to the house.

  Sloan huffed out a heavy sigh. “Well, that was unexpected.”

  Sean cast him a glance out of the corner of his eye. “We need to get Sarah and go someplace safe. Someplace the Clan won’t expect us.”

  “Where?”

  Sean gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. He hated to say it out loud, but what choice did they have? “Emily’s.”

  Chapter 12

  EMILY

  After the magical night they’d shared, Emily was ready to spend the day with Sean, hoping for a repeat performance.

  Her magic crackled to life at the memories and she craved more. She didn’t think she’d ever stop craving Sean. Even though she’d resisted at first, she knew now that theirs was never supposed to be a professional relationship.

  Why fight fate?

  That thought stunned her for a moment. Fate? Was that what this was? Even as someone with magic, Emily thought fate was a concept a little too out there.

  But shifters had always believed in the one true fated mate.

  And things with Sean certainly seemed perfect.

  She rolled over, expecting to find his impeccably muscled body next to her and frowned when she found nothing but cold empty space.

  “Sean?” She called, getting out of bed to look for him in the bathroom, the kitchen and then a handful of other rooms. If she was going to search the whole house for him, she’d be there all day.

  Emily decided to call him.

  This is Sean, sorry I can’t pick up now. Leave a message.

  The phone didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail.

  And an icy dagger went straight through her heart.

  So this was how he wanted to play it? She finally gave into him and he disappeared and iced her out.

  Emily felt nauseous with disappointment. She thought that they had something… That he was different… That maybe they could…

  Well, clearly she was wrong.

  He probably never even had the proof on Esther that he claimed. But maybe it existed. Maybe it didn’t.

  She couldn’t sit on the information any more though. Not with a dark witch masquerading as good. Not when there were unsuspecting people like Sonya and Ashley in danger. People she loved and cared about.

  People that didn’t leave her in the morning without a word.

  Emily hugged her body as she went back upstairs to find her clothes. How could she have been so foolish? So naive?

  Anger bubbled inside her as she got dressed. This whole thing was out of control. Witches and shifters fighting, a dark witch in hiding, and she was supposed to keep it all to herself?

  Fat chance.

  Instead of going home, Emily went back to the Coven house. Ashley wasn’t around to stop her this time. No one was. She couldn’t count on anyone to have her back here, clearly. She needed to handle things herself.

  She let herself into the big plantation home, honing in on the shimmering trails of magic left by dozens of witches. Among them, she found one slimy strand intermingled with the rest and it was instantly recognizable.

  The house was quiet. Only a few people lived there full-time and it seemed none of them were home.

  Emily climbed the grand staircase to the second floor and continued to follow the path laid before her by Esther’s rancid aura. Her magic rebelled. Urged her to turn back and leave. All of her survival instincts said to run far and fast, but Emily set her jaw and pushed forward. Determined.

  At the end of the hallway, she heard voices. Chanting. The door was open just a crack and Emily peered in, only to see Esther humming foreign syllables, her aura pulsing with energy. A trickle of dread ran through Emily’s intestines — whatever spell she was casting couldn’t be good.

  “Stop!” Emily cried, bursting into the room without any more thought.

  Esther’s concentration was broken and her aura shrank back.

  “Excuse me? What reason do you have to interrupt me?”

  “I know you’re dark. I have proof.”

  Esther’s hood fell back from her face and her eyes drilled into Emily, making her wish she could go back in time and avoid this place.

  “Is that so? You may want to check again with your feline friend,” Esther sneered.

  Emily’s body trembled. Sean? Had she done something to him? Oh god, she never even considered that.

  “What did you do to him?” Emily heard the quake in her voice and her skin prickled as her magic tried to find an escape.

  “What’s going on here?” Sage came in from another door that connected to the adjoining room. “What happened to the incantation?”

  “I was interrupted,” Esther said without inflection.

  Emily stammered. Where they in on this together? Did Sage know?

  But the other woman’s aura was bright and spotless. Beyond powerful. Surely she wouldn’t knowingly engage with something so… dirty.

  “She’s evil, can’t you see it? She’s using the Coven to orchestrate a war between the shifter clans.”

  Sage’s eyes went wide, the whites visible under the hood.

  Esther gave a papery chuckle. “That is an amusing tale. What’s more amusing is that you come with these accusations and you are not even one of our sisters. You have lain with a tiger — how do we know it is not you trying to disband the Coven for the clans’ benefit?”

  Emily faltered. “Because that’s—”

  “I’m frankly appalled that you dare come into our midst and cast aspersions on me without an ounce of evidence.”

  Emily’s body thrummed with rage but her tongue was made of lead.

  Sage nodded, her hood bobbing slightly. “I am inclined to agree. Leave us and think very carefully when choosing your allies.”

  Emily’s feet shuffled backwards with Sage’s words, as if compelled to obey her command to leave. There was probably a ward on the house to prevent unwelcome guests and now Emily was certainly persona non grata.

  Ashley was right. She was a fool for jumping in without a plan.

  “Believe me,” she growled, doing her best to channel Sean’s tiger, “I am.”

  Chapter 13

  SEAN

  The sound of a car door slamming was the first thing that told Sean Emily was back.

  He braced himself for her righteous anger. Not that he didn’t deserve it. She had to know he was here. His car was parked out front — not as inconspicuous as he’d like.

  She burst through the door like a hurricane and various small items flew around the room, propelled by her magic.

  God, she was breathtaking, even like this.

  Sarah, Sloan’s mate, cast a force field around them, shielding them from the tiny projectiles.

  The assistant who had let Sloan and him in, shrank into the couch, only getting the first inclination that all was not well. He and Sloan had kept quiet about everything, not sure how trustworthy the woman was. Meanwhile, Sarah had her nose buried in dusty old books, searching for something — what, he didn’t know.

  Emily leveled a glare at Sean, her face softening briefly before she remembered she was angry at him.

  Well, at least she was a little happy to see him, right?

  “Shit has hit the fan,” he said, standing to close the door behind her.

  Emily frowned. “No kidding. I just went to confront Esther and made myself look like a lunatic. The Coven is never going to believe a word I say now.” Every word was laced with venom, directed right at Sean.

  “Our informant was killed,” Sloan said.

  “And we didn’t kill the asshole, so why are you mad at me?” Sean added, drawing another angry look from Emily.

  Her magic electrified the room and made every electronic and light whir to life at once.

  “You left me without a word this morning and didn’t tell me what was going on. I didn’t know if you were kidnapped or murdered or if you just wanted to walk away after some no-strings-
attached sex.”

  He cringed. “Emily, it’s not like that.” Sean took a step toward her, wanting to touch her, but afraid he might be electrocuted.

  “No? Where’s all that ‘mate’ stuff now?” Tears gathered in her eyes and Sean wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms. She fumed on, “Was that all just a bunch of lines to get me into bed?”

  “What? No. Of course not. You remember the airport, don’t you? I didn’t make that up. Or my feelings for you.” He took another step closer, the hairs on his arms standing straight up in the electric field surrounding her.

  “Um… Should we leave you two alone?” Sarah asked, shifting in her seat.

  Sloan looked just as uncomfortable, but Sean didn’t care about the audience. He cared about righting his mistakes.

  “I know I didn’t handle it well. I didn’t know what was happening when I left and once I found out, I should have told you. You’re completely right to be angry and I’m sorry.”

  Emily let out an angry huff, but the crackling energy around her dissipated.

  “How am I supposed to stay mad at you when you’re so damn apologetic?”

  Sean wasted no time settling his hands on her hips and pulling her close with a grin.

  “If you decide to keep me around, I’m sure you’ll get annoyed with me again someday.”

  Emily laughed. “Fair enough.”

  Sean leaned in for a kiss, but Sloan cleared his throat.

  “We still have the pressing matter of finding that evidence. If Esther killed Randal to bury it, that makes it more important than ever.”

  “You think Esther killed that guy? But she couldn’t — the rule of three. She’d be dead three times over and she’s definitely not dead.”

  Sarah looked up from her book again, her face grim. “Not necessarily.”

  “What do you mean?” Sarah and Emily seemed to forget anyone else was in the room.

  “There is a way for a witch to circumvent the rule of three but…”

  “No way, that would be insane.”

  “What?” Sean pressed, feeling lost.

  “It makes sense though, don’t you think?”