Seven devils, p.4
Seven Devils, page 4
Which meant this was bad. Bad, bad.
Her mouth opened, but no words came out. She snapped it shut and tried again.
Dammit all. If she was this upset, this flustered, whatever was happening was worse than my already overactive imagination conjured up. I took her upper arms in my hands, but gently, jarring her with physical contact. “Florence, whatever it is you think about me, you know I’m here for you. I’m here to help. What’s going on?”
She took a shaky breath. “I know that. I do. Even if we don’t make sense, you’ve always been ready to fight for your House. Fuck, every House.”
Even if we don’t make sense. But we did. She was just too scared to try. And in a way I understood. We were fire. No, we were fireworks next to a fire, next to a gasoline depot. That level of passion scared her while it thrilled the fuck out of me.
“No one can know that I told you.”
“I hate to break it to you, but Rever probably assumes you’re telling me everything.”
She shook her head. “Rever won’t have time to think about you.”
“He’s hunting?” I guessed.
She nodded. Rever was an excellent hunter and an even better Gatlin Guardsman. But he wasn’t me. “If you need information, you know who you need to ask.” Maybe that’s why she hadn’t sent me away yet. Why she didn’t disappear after she met with Rever. Nothing stopped her from sliding out of here. And yeah, it could have been out of politeness that she stayed, but seeing her like this, I was more than willing to bet it was because she hoped I would drag it out of her.
She wanted my help, my comfort, even if she couldn’t admit it.
She stared up at me with those hypnotic dark eyes. The same ones I fell into over and over again when I held her through her nightmares. The ones that looked up at me like I was everything.
Fuck, maybe I did have a hero complex when it came to her. I wanted to save her, protect her, and make myself her whole world so no one would ever be good enough for her but me.
Yeah, I had a hero complex. A big fucking hero complex. But only for her.
“I’m getting tired of repeating myself, Florence.”
More staring. Then a look of determination set her delicate features like granite. “If I tell you, you have to take me with you.”
“Fuck no.” I didn’t even hesitate. It was my built-in response to anything that put her in danger. Maybe if I’d thought for a second I could have phrased it differently.
The fire was back, blazing as hot as ever. “Then get out of my way, Seamus.”
But I didn’t let her go. In fact, I squeezed harder. “That’s not what I meant.” Fuck, could I say anything without pissing her off? “I meant I can’t guarantee something when I don’t know what I’m guaranteeing.” Especially when it came to her safety. Why couldn’t she understand that?
“Then I can’t tell you.”
I looked up at the ceiling while I controlled my temper. “You’re killing me.”
She shook me off. “It’s quite simple, Seamus. You either trust me or you don’t.”
Was she insane? “What does trust have to do with safety?” I trusted her with my damned life! My dick hadn’t touched another woman since her lips touched mine. Of course I trusted her! But she was talking about something else entirely and conflating the two.
“Everything,” she whispered. Then she threw back her shoulders, her voice clear. “You can’t change what I have to do. If you want to help me, then you’ll trust me and you’ll work with me. Otherwise, take all your claims and promises and leave me alone once and for all.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Claims and promises?”
She batted her eyes, her voice a mocking falsetto. “I love you. We’re so good together.” Then her voice hardened, taking on an edge that made my blood run cold. “Trust me.”
Fucking hell. Yes, she was throwing our history back at me, but if I wasn’t mistaken, she was also throwing me one last line. A final chance to prove to her we should be together. If I could give her this, maybe she’d give us a chance.
But it came with a cost I wasn’t sure I was prepared to pay. I trusted Florence. She was a strong, capable woman. Smart and sure. But I couldn’t put her in danger. She was my Achilles. If anything ever happened to her, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.
But then again, I would never have her at all if I didn’t take this chance. I scratched my beard then stuck out my hand. “On my honor,” the magical words that would bind me to this promise, “we will work as a team.” I felt the magic twist in the air. I’d given my word. It would be a bitch to break it.
She was betting I wouldn’t. I was still breathing because I could.
She stared at my hand, then slid hers into mine. Small and delicate inside large and rough. “Thank you, Seamus.” Fuck. She looked at me like I’d just given her the best present of her life.
I was a goner. “You know all you ever have to do is ask.”
To my great satisfaction, she blushed.
I reached out and brushed a hair that tangled with her dark brow out of the way before letting myself have one moment of weakness, cupping her face in my big paw of a hand. “Tell me what’s wrong, darlin’.”
She leaned into my touch. “It’s bad.”
Sneaking around, trying to catch someone’s attention, fuck, coming to me. No shit it was bad. “Are these Shoshanna’s orders?” Shoshanna was a fair and decent Head of House. She’d led House of Gatlin most of my life. If this was her plan, I had no doubt it was solid.
Not solid enough for me to risk Florence’s life, but enough that I would entertain it before doing whatever the hell I knew was best.
Fig turned as pale as a ghost and tears pricked her eyes.
“Shit. What’s wrong?” I pulled her into my chest, finally holding her the way she needed to be held. They way I’d held her after her nightmares. Wrapping myself around her was the only way to calm her down. Her whole body trembled against mine and the depth of her fears multiplied, short circuiting my senses.
This wasn’t bad. This was catastrophic.
She took two deep breaths, then pulled back, looking me straight in the eyes with her tear-filled ones. “Shoshanna is dead. I dreamt it, no one believed me, and now she’s dead.”
CHAPTER 5
Fig
The minute the words left my mouth I collapsed back into his arms. One thing I couldn’t deny Seamus, he was good at holding me.
Damn good.
It was so frustrating.
His whole body was tense. Rigid with shock. One hand stroked my hair while the other held me firm. A rock. Just like he always was. Damn it! I’d pull away if I didn’t need him so damn much.
“I’m going to need you to say that again,” he croaked.
I swallowed down the bile that rose in my throat every time I let the truth in. “Shoshanna is dead.” The Head of the House of Gatlin had been murdered. Brutally. Intentionally. Something unthinkable in the samhain world.
Seamus eased down into the large wooden chair, taking me with him, sitting me on his large lap. Then he cupped my face with both giant hands, claiming my gaze. “Shoshanna is dead?”
I nodded. “She’s dead. And I dreamt it, Seamus. Weeks ago.”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “They didn’t believe you? How is that possible?”
I laughed out of frustration. “I’m merely one-quarter samhain. And the Council is, shall we say, made up of assholes.”
“They didn’t believe you.” He whispered, understanding. “How is that possible after all you’ve done? All you’ve seen?”
I huffed. “You’d be surprised how snobby the House of Gatlin can be. The Council always dismisses me.” I had never felt so meaningless in my life. And that was saying something considering I didn’t know who my father was.
I should have left years ago. But I was stubborn. Too stubborn.
“Fuck them!” he growled.
His complete conviction stole my breath. It had been a long time since anyone simply…trusted me. Everyone at the House of Gatlin second guessed me. They treated me like an errant child. Too young and inexperienced to know anything, too human to understand the samhain world, too dumb to comprehend my own gifts. At best I was coddled, at worst I was ignored.
It’s why I had to go to Rever. He operated outside the House, outside of a lot of lines these days. But he’d once been a highly regarded member of the House and the Gatlin Guard. He knew both worlds, knew how odd it was that a dream that strong and clear was simply ignored.
I hadn’t had dreams that vivid and gruesome since Samantha. Back then everyone trusted me. No one dismissed my visions.
But somewhere in the last three years things had changed. It was slow, but steady. At first I was tentatively welcomed. Then I was left off a guest list. Asked to skip an event or two. They said they needed to test my gifts to understand them and help me grow.
That was when things really started changing, but I was so far in over my head and turned around that I didn’t notice the signs. Not until it was too late.
There was more going on at the House of Gatlin than we knew. And not knowing how much we didn’t know was a crippling position to be in.
Seamus might be the perfect person to help me unravel it all. His work as a shadow dealer in the Underground meant he knew how people with less than noble intentions operated. He’d seen the darkest parts of the samhain. The ones the Houses liked to sweep under rugs and stuff into closets pretending they didn’t exist.
It was the hardest part of my transition to a samhain life. At first it was presented as an almost fairytale-like existence. Magic was real. Superpowers, for lack of a better word, existed. Samhain didn’t have human diseases, lived much longer, and weren’t driven by the same human instincts that brought about wars, jealousy, murder, crime, or greed.
At least that’s what they liked to think. The reality was somewhat different. The Underground was proof of that. It was the samhain equivalent of a black market, a criminal underworld, with locations all over the world. No location was permanent. It was where samhain went to do or get anything that might be looked down upon by the Houses.
Seamus might think it was dangerous for me here for that reason, but what he didn’t understand was that it might actually be the safest place I could be.
“I appreciate your confidence in me.” Why was I still in his lap? Why hadn’t I shaken out of his hands?
Because you don’t want to be anywhere else.
“Fuck, Florence. I’ve seen with my own eyes how powerful your dreams are, not that I needed to. You shouldn’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”
“Unfortunately that’s not how the world works.” Not in my experience. Didn’t matter if it was humans or samhain.
“It’s the way it works for full blooded samhain.” He brushed his thumbs over my cheeks then let them glide down my shoulders. It felt so good to be touched. “Why did you stay somewhere that treated you so poorly?”
I looked away from his eyes. It was too intense. Too close for this kind of raw truth. “They are my family now.” My shitty, egotistical, elitist family.
His jaw locked and I swear he didn’t take another breath. I wanted to shrink away but he held me firm. There was no escaping this conversation. It was two years in the making. If I wanted his help and for him to trust me, then I had to face what happened.
“What do you want me to say?”
“That you love them. That they love you. That you’ve found a good home and good friends. That’s what I want you to say.”
Not a single swear word or nickname. It didn’t get more real with Seamus. I didn’t respond because I couldn’t say any of that. It wasn’t a good home. I didn’t have any friends. I pushed the only people who loved me so far away I barely saw them.
He cocked his head, trying to catch my gaze. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Are you going to say it?”
I swallowed. “It’s my home, Seamus. My House.” Rain was Gatlin, and other than Wils, probably the closest person I had to family now that I’d left my human family behind. It was far from perfect, but no family was.
His eyes flared wide. “You can claim them, but have they truly claimed you? Why do they deserve you?”
I gulped down the regrets. Maybe my decision to move to the House was made out of reaction instead of a careful decision, but it was the choice I made. I had no deep feelings for the House of Gatlin. At best they’d been complacent about my arrival. But on the plus side, now that things had gone haywire, I wasn’t blinded by love for them. I could see clear as day that something was very, very wrong.
And Shoshanna had paid the price for it.
I pushed up off his lap and, to my surprise, he let me go. “I’m not here to discuss my living arrangements.”
“Fuck that. You and I both know what we’re really talking about.” He didn’t move, didn’t raise his voice. Just laid the truth out clearly and calmly.
It was infuriating how calm he could be. He was a giant. He could be scary. He should yell and use all that raw strength to get what he wanted. But he didn’t. Not with me.
I set my jaw and tried to find one useful thing to say that wouldn’t rip me to shreds, but there wasn’t a lot that had gone my way in the last two years. “Wils and Vic had this whole new life that I wasn’t part of. It felt easier to give them space, to try and find my own way.” It hurt to be around their happiness, so it was easier to avoid them.
Easier to avoid Seamus and all the feelings he always made me feel. Having him this close again was hard. Minute by minute my walls eroded. The desire began to build, the longing took root.
Especially when he looked at me with those eyes. “I’m part of their life. We haven’t had any problems.”
Of course they hadn’t. They were a perfect triangle. Wils and Vic, hopelessly in love, and their best friend, always there to support them. It left me…nowhere. I didn’t fit with Wils anymore. Seamus and I made as much sense as a bird and a turtle. “Good for you. This transition hasn’t been easy for me. Wils had her own problems and believe me I don’t envy anything she went through to get where she is now, but I’m adrift. All I’ve done is search for my new normal. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
His jaw ticked. “We’re really not going to talk about it?”
He could easily say it, drop the bomb, but he wanted—maybe even needed—me to be the one to explain why I ran.
Maybe he even deserved it. “What is there to say?”
“That the fight was a mistake. We were both upset and said things we shouldn’t have.”
“Or maybe we were finally being honest with each other.”
I flinched as he roared. “You are such a fucking liar, Florence. We’re honest with each other all the damn time. That’s the problem!”
So honest it destroyed us. I came to him that day with so much hope. Too much. After a year of fighting our attraction, I was ready to give in. To be his. Yeah, he’d hurt me. And I’d hurt him back. Over and over again. No matter how many times he apologized for spilling my secret to Wils, I couldn’t forgive him. Too many men had hurt me over the years. All I saw was another overbearing man who wanted to control my life.
It took me months to understand that Seamus wasn’t like that. We kissed like we were starved. His hands burned into my skin. I could still smell his mint and soap scent.
And then we exploded in spectacular fashion. We burned so bright there was nothing left of Seamus and Florence but ashes.
“Our problem is that you’re a jerk and I’m a pain in the ass. We will never work.”
He looked like he wanted to kiss me senseless. And dammit all, I wanted to be kissed. Why couldn’t I be attracted to someone else?
Anyone else?
Seamus shook his head then dropped his face into his hands, growling. He stabbed his fingers through his hair and then looked up, pinning me with his eyes. They were full of pain.
Fuck. Me.
I couldn’t keep running. Couldn’t keep fighting. Not when he looked at me like that. “No,” I confessed, “the House of Gatlin doesn’t deserve me.”
More pain flashed behind his eyes. “Then why do you stay?”
“Where would I go?”
His gaze turned furious. “How about anywhere else? You have choices, Florence. You’re not a prisoner in that House.”
“It didn’t feel that way.”
He frowned, his eyes unfocusing for a moment, then he shot up out of his chair. “What the hell?”
I took a step back, trying to keep some distance between us. “It’s me, Seamus. I…I can’t back down from a challenge. Them not wanting me? Not believing in me? It was an insult, yeah, but it was also a massive challenge. I thought I could prove myself.” I was wrong.
“You don’t prove yourself to family. That’s one thing I know all too well,” he replied with a bit of growl to his voice.
My heart broke for him. “Seamus…”
“Nope. We’re not going there now. Later. Not now. We’re staying focused on you and what the fuck led to…how did it happen?”
I swallowed down the bile. It had been one thing to dream it and quite another to see her dismembered body with my own eyes.
“If it happened as it did in my dream, she had her heart ripped out of her chest first.”
“She was murdered?”
I nodded once. “Then her body was put on a spike. Her head was removed.” I slammed my eyes shut but the images were in my head. There was no escaping them. “They took her arms and legs.” It was horrific. Ritualistic. Meant to send a message.
Seamus ran a hand down his face. “Where did it happen?”
“Beside the mist lakes of Midnight Manor.”
“What the fuck?” He jerked back. “It would have taken weeks, maybe months to find her. How long has she been dead?”
Midnight Manor was protected. It could only be reached through a portal. The way in constantly changed, and the mist lakes were rarely visited. “Two days. I dreamt it. So I knew where to find her when she went missing.” The trembling came back. I hated dreaming about death. Hated seeing it even more.
