Chapter Seventeen
As views went, the one off Priest’s raised back porch was second only to the one off his bedroom. But for the first time since he’d built the modernized cabin on stilts, it wasn’t the view that held his attention, but the subtle rush of running water from the master bath upstairs.
He kicked his bare feet up on the middle rung of the rail that surrounded the porch, set his nearly empty cup of coffee aside and checked the time on his phone.
12:21p.m.
He grinned and set the device aside. Good thing he had a big hot water tank and no one in the house to hog the water, because with Kateri nearing the thirty-minute mark, she seemed determined to bleed the damned thing dry. Though, he had to admit...imagining what could be taking her so long had definitely spurred him to pencil in a tankless unit to his list of home improvements.
Three minutes later, the water shut off, followed by the steady drone of her blow dryer ten minutes after that. Since getting the darkness under control all those years ago, he’d spent countless mornings just like this. Alone and quiet. Either roaming the woods in his panther form, or sitting in this exact spot, letting his mind wander where it wanted. Not once had the practice been difficult. If anything, the stillness helped keep him balanced. The same as when he inked a talisman into someone’s skin.
But today had been an exercise in restraint. He’d lost count of the times he’d nearly stood and given up all pretense of waiting in favor of waking Kateri up the same way he’d helped her fall asleep.
The whole damned dream had been phenomenal, every detail as vivid as if it had happened in real life only seconds ago. But it was those last few seconds—the unguarded softness in her eyes as she’d sleepily smiled up at him, caressed the side of his face and let her eyelids slip shut—that had moved him the most. She’d been happy. At peace with what she’d experienced and easily trusting him to guide her back from her dream.
And now he waited. Waited to see if the woman who walked out of his bedroom was the one who’d soared as she’d come apart, or the one determined to keep every emotion bound and locked down tight.
A muted thunk sounded from upstairs and his cat stirred, his beast’s heightened hearing instantly zeroing in on the soft footfalls rounding the top of the stairs.
Finally.
He forced himself to stay in place, covering his need to move by finishing off what was left of his lukewarm coffee. He’d shown her what he could last night. The next step was hers and he’d be damned if he pressured her one way or another with his actions.
A wood plank at the bottom of the stairs creaked and the electric awareness that always came when Kateri grew near prickled along his shoulder blades. And yet, she didn’t come out.
She was there, though. Watching him. Probably overthinking way too much while she did it, but there all the same. He knew it the same way he sensed an imminent soul quest. Felt her stare as sure as a hand wrapped around the back of his neck. And she was nervous. Even without looking at her he could feel it. The aggravated emotion rippled through the open sliding glass door out into the still air in tiny waves, the same as a shock wave moving across a glass-topped lake.
Giving her space to make the next move was one thing. Making her suffer with nerves was something else altogether. “You finally slept,” he said, breaking the silence, but keeping his gaze on the swath of trees ahead.
She hesitated only a beat, then stepped out onto the wood porch. “Apparently well enough I missed everyone leaving the house.”
Yeah, definitely nervous, the tremor in her voice holding more uncertainty than he’d heard from her in the whole time they’d known each other. Which was saying something considering how many new and strange things she’d seen.
He stood, stuffed his phone in his back pocket and snatched his mug off the side table, still forcing himself to maintain some semblance of casual when all he really wanted was to wrap her up and hold her until she settled. “Naomi and Jade are working with the other seers in town. Tate is covering the shop.”
“What about you? Don’t you have clients?”
He turned and met her gaze. One second, and his plans for calm and casual were soundly wiped right off the table. This was the woman he’d loved in her dreams last night. Uncertain, yes, but ready to face him in the real world all the same. She’d left her feet bare and dressed in the same hip-hugging jeans as the night before, but paired them with a form-fitting tank. And from the tight points peaking beneath the white cotton, there wasn’t a damned thing else underneath.
He prowled toward her. “My mihara needed sleep and my protection while she got it. Nothing is more important than that.” He cupped the side of her neck and fanned his thumb along her hummingbird pulse.
Her eyes dilated and her lips parted, her breath coming just a notch faster than it had a moment before.
Beautiful.
A woman awake, alive and ready to explore. She just hadn’t quite figured out how to take that first step. But he’d help her. Just like he promised her last night.
Slipping his hand up to frame her face, he tilted it for an easy, yet lingering good morning kiss.
She sighed into it, a mix of relief and want as her hands tentatively rested against his bare chest.
“Do you want your coffee, kitten?” he murmured against her mouth. The same intimate contact reserved for languid mornings in bed after an intensely carnal night. “Or would you rather run first?”
She backed away only enough to meet his gaze beneath her lashes, a light pink creeping along her cheeks. “I think I’ll skip my run today.”
He couldn’t help the smile that split his face, the unspoken I got plenty of exercise last night and feel like playing hooky today undercurrent too hard to ignore. “Then let’s get you coffee and figure out how to tackle the rest of the day.”
Stepping away, he steered her into the kitchen and into the same quiet routine they’d developed over the last week. Since that first day when she’d tried to slip out of the house unnoticed, their mornings had always ended here. Her perched on a barstool behind the breakfast counter. Him making her coffee the way she liked it before he poured his own. Only then would they settle into her endless questions about what his clan had been like before Draven.
Except today, she didn’t wait. “Are we going to talk about it?”
With his back to her, she couldn’t see the tiny falter as he poured the cream into her mug. He shouldn’t have been surprised by her head-on approach. Still, today was about her accepting not only what happened, but who she was underneath all that control, and anything worth owning was worth working for. “Talk about what?”
The quiet stretched bold and charged between them, broken only by a few intermittent raps of the spoon against the ceramic as he stirred. “I dreamed about you last night.”
He set the spoon in the sink and went about pouring his own cup, keeping his silence.
“Only it wasn’t an ordinary dream.” So breathless. Less from nerves now and more on par with the sounds she’d made as he’d explored her body. “It was you guiding the whole thing, wasn’t it?”
Mugs in hand, he ambled to her, slid her mug in front of her fisted hands and settled on the empty stool beside her. “What do you think?”
“I think I’ve never had a dream like that.”
“Like what?”
“That real.”
Talk about your revealing moments. The words themselves might have been innocent, but the sheer vulnerability behind them spoke volumes. As if in uttering her thoughts out loud, she’d finally dared to step outside her comfort zone and truly considered her heritage in the full light of day. He sipped his coffee. It was either that or haul her between his thighs and dive into a replay of last night until the rawness in her gaze spawned from another emotion entirely.
“I felt it,” she said. “All of it. My body...” Her eyes widened as though she’d realized too late where she was headed, but then narrowed again with the same soft determination he’d grown to appreciate. “In my dream, you told me I’d feel it all today.”
From deep inside, his cat paced, tail twitching with irritation at Priest’s inactivity. As far as his beast was concerned, she’d done enough. Said enough to earn his comfort. And surprisingly, the darkness agreed.
He couldn’t blame either of them. More than anything, he’d wanted to be there when she woke up. To see the marks he’d left behind and tend to every tender ache. “And the things that happened in your dream...how did that make you feel?”
Heat blossomed in an instant. So fast and powerful he felt it like a flame against his bare torso. Lower than before, she voiced her confession in a sultry rasp. “I liked it.”
Fuck it.
He thunked his mug to the counter and stood. “That’s good, kitten. Because you’re right. It wasn’t an ordinary dream.” He pulled her off her stool, slipped his hands around her lithe waist and smoothed them along her spine, one ending low and the other loosely fisting her hair. Where he’d managed a steady tone before, now the undercurrent of his beast was in every word. “It was me guiding you. Showing you what it will be like between us.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and she licked her lip, an invitation he took a second later, tracing the path with his own tongue before delving deeper. And damned if her taste wasn’t sweeter today than when he’d left her at his bedroom door last night. Richer and more addictive. A flavor heightened by her growing emotions.
He forced himself to ease the kiss. To focus on the slow burn instead of the flash fire she offered. Resting his forehead on hers, he traced her jawline, her neck, his medallion back where it belonged at the base of her throat. “This is what it means to have a mate. To feel what you’re feeling now, only deeper. Stronger. To be protected. Always.” He skimmed his lips against hers, remembering all too vividly how she’d arched and cried his name as she’d come around his fingers. “And, Kateri, it’s good you enjoyed what I gave you last night. Because your dream will be nothing compared to when I take you in the flesh.”
The front door opened then closed with a resounding thud, and quick footsteps clipped down the hallway. More than one set and lighter than Alek or Tate’s heavy strides, which meant Naomi and Jade were about to intrude at a seriously inopportune time.
Sure enough, Kateri tried to push away, but he held her fast. “This isn’t over, mihara. You’re mine. You know it. You felt it. Your fear is the only thing keeping you from claiming what’s yours.”
His last word hadn’t even died off when the troublesome seer duo rounded the corner, Naomi in the lead. Though she came to such an abrupt halt that Jade nearly plowed into her from behind. “Oh.” Her hand went to her throat, and in the two seconds that followed, she assessed Priest’s possessive hold, the scowl he made no pretense of hiding and Kateri’s dumbfounded expression.
Another woman might have scampered right back out of the room. But not Naomi. She smiled huge, then sauntered into the breakfast nook. “I’d ask if we’re interrupting, but I think that’s a forgone conclusion.”
This time when Kateri pushed against his chest, he gave way and let her face them, but kept her anchored at his side. “We were just talking.”
Jade snickered, but caught Priest’s answering scowl, rolled her lips inward like that might better fight back the growing laughter and averted her face.
“Mmm.” Naomi paused at the kitchen table and cocked her head. “Should we let you finish your...talk? Or are you up for a new development with the primos?”
Not surprisingly, Kateri lurched forward and pulled out a chair. “What developments?”
If Priest hadn’t already zeroed in on Kateri’s thirst for vengeance against Draven, his ego might have taken a hit at the sudden change in focus. As if their kiss and talk of dreams had never existed. Instead, he chalked the shift up to her giving her emotions more room to flow.
Naomi met his gaze, a silent check-in to make sure he was on board with the interruption.
He moved in behind Kateri’s chair and squeezed her shoulder. “Go ahead. Pretty sure my mate could use the distraction.”
Whether the scowl Kateri shot him was based on the go-ahead coming from him instead of her, or the fact that he’d driven home her place as his mate in front of the other two women, he couldn’t say. What he could say was he liked the fire behind it.
“Right.” Naomi dug in her purse, pulled out a journal and slid into her own chair. “The last few days our group has broken up into three teams, one for each of the primo families we need to find. Up until today, everything’s been limited to images too hard to narrow down outside of regional generalities. For instance, with the descriptions those focused on the seer family have described, I’m inclined to think they relocated to Colorado, or someplace similar, like our family did.”
“It could be southern Wyoming, too,” Jade said as she circled the table to point at one page over Naomi’s shoulder. “I’ll swear this sketch Rada made from her vision looks right out of a paper I did in high school on Medicine Bow National Forest.”
Naomi nodded. “Maybe. Both would be a good place to target going forward.”
“But no cities or more distinct clues to go on?” Kateri prompted.
Naomi shook her head. “No. Not for the seer family. Not yet. But we did get a lead on the healer family.”
She flipped a few pages, turned the book around and tapped just above a rough sketch of what looked like a mom-and-pop cafe, or an old-time convenience store. A tall sign stretched across the top of it with the name Mary’s on Butte La Rose painted in easy cursive. On either side was a seagull and a patch of cattails and tall grass. “For days, all we’ve been able to glean from the healer medallion has been shallow water, an old, but unique-looking bridge and a street sign with the name Yellow Street on it. But today one of the ladies saw this.”
“Butte La Rose is in Louisiana,” Priest said.
“Exactly!” Naomi said clearly on a roll. “Which is just south of the Atchafalaya Wildlife Refuge. A perfect place for a shifter family to pick if they wanted to hide.”
“Is there a Yellow Street in Butte La Rose?” Kateri asked.
Jade chuckled and ambled toward the fridge. “According to Google, there is. Yellow Street, plus about ten others and that’s it.” She pulled out a grape Gatorade and cracked the lid. “Not exactly a big network to work through.”
“Still, it’s a lead,” Kateri said. “And if you think about it, a smaller population ought to make tracking families in the area easier.” She swiveled in her chair and locked gazes with Priest. “I’ll call David and see if his contacts can come up with any names. If they can find something that fits, Louisiana’s close enough we could drive there and scout them out.”
“I thought we’d established my brother’s looking for the primos.”
“Right. So, we have to find them before he does.”
“No, I have to find them. You have to stay the hell away from him.”
Her frown whipped into place, a ready argument obviously cuing up behind her blue-gray eyes.
So, he cut her off at the pass and zeroed in on Naomi. “Anything on the sorcerer family?”
He sensed more than witnessed Jade’s apprehension behind him, but the concern that clouded Naomi’s expression confirmed he’d unintentionally struck a nerve with his ward. By the time he turned to assess Jade, she’d paced into the kitchen, intentionally avoiding his study by making far too big a deal out of selecting a glass from the cabinet. “Jade?”
She kept her silence.
Naomi’s soft voice drifted from behind him. “You should tell him, Jade. You may not trust your gifts yet, but the rest of us do. Especially Eerikki.”
Shit.
Another vision. As if she hadn’t already been indoctrinated to her magic in the worst way possible. “What did you see?”
She huffed, turned and braced her hands on her hips. “It was probably a fluke. Bad timing with memories.”
“A memory or a vision?”
“A vision,” Naomi said the same time Jade answered, “A memory.”
Priest leveled the same don’t-fuck-with-me glare on Jade that he’d used to keep her and Tate out of all kinds of trouble through their teenage years. “I thought you were working with the seer team. What happened?”
“I was.” Jade sucked in a long breath, shot a glower at Naomi that said she wasn’t at all thrilled with what she’d been cornered into sharing, then refocused on Priest. “But one of the girls asked me to hand her the sorcerer medallion. When I did, I remembered the vision I had before. The first one.”
Fuck.
As news went, the development wasn’t just bad, but worst case. Especially with the sorcerer house.
“It wasn’t a memory,” Naomi said, clearly on the same page as Priest. “Visions don’t work that way. Yes, we can mine for them as we’ve been doing, but usually they’re triggered. Either by objects or events. I saw you, Jade. We all did. That was a vision.”
Kateri stood and padded to the breakfast counter, meeting Jade’s stare head-on. “I don’t get it. What was the vision about?”
Jade went back to pouring her drink, but her hand was nowhere near as steady as it normally was. “It started in a house. There were people, but the images were too blurred to make out. Kind of like a hazy filter on a slow-motion action flick. But the blood was crystal clear. And I heard them, too. Screaming.” She set the Gatorade aside, but the plastic crinkled from the brutal grip she kept on the bottle. “It ended with a mist. Or maybe a fog. Someone was running. Panting really heavy.” She turned and faced them all. “I’m pretty sure whoever was in the vision was being hunted.”
One beat.
Then another.
“You touched the medallion,” Kateri muttered, quickly putting the same pieces together the rest of them already had. The quiet grew thick and supercharged, the deeply buried anger he’d sensed in his mate blossoming fast and furious. She looked to Priest. “Tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it does.”
“I can’t,” he answered, but wished like hell he could. “With what Jade’s seen, especially with the connection to the medallion, odds are good Draven’s already found the sorcerer family.”