CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HURRY,” ANNA SAID. They all piled in the car, and as it would happen, Anna was seated next to Tavis. Neither of them had planned it. In fact, he was sure Anna would have sat somewhere else if she’d had a choice.

This was going to be awkward. “Are you all right?” he asked. Duncan drove the car onto the road so quickly that Anna was thrown against Tavis.

She quickly sat up and folded her hands in her lap. “I’m fine. Have you seen Faelan?”

“Aye. Thank you for putting me in the crypt. For leading Voltar away from me.” A bloody stupid thing for her to do, but he appreciated the effort and the thought.

“You’re welcome. I’m sure he was happy to see you.”

“And surprised. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Of course,” she said stiffly.

This wasn’t the woman who’d tended his wounds and cared for him. Stuffed her blanket through the bars of the cell to keep him warm. Helped him piss in a cup. He still cringed to think of that. This woman was distant. Cold.

“Time for explanations,” Ronan said. “Why didn’t you call for help?”

“I didn’t have a phone.”

“Why didn’t you get one?”

“I didn’t have time. I got captured the night I talked to you.”

“If you’d had a phone, you could have called us, and we would have stormed his bloody fortress,” Ronan said.

“Do you want to hear what happened or not?”

“Tell us,” Duncan said.

“After I left Tavis in the crypt, I tried to lure Voltar away.” Anna glanced at Tavis. “He followed me, and then I lost him. Tristol showed up a few minutes later. He wanted to know what I’d done with his fortress.”

“He thinks you took it?” Ronan asked.

“Not anymore. He thinks Voltar did it.”

“So Tristol, hell’s favorite son, brings you to Voltar’s penthouse? Why?” Duncan asked.

“He hoped I’d kill Voltar for him. He doesn’t like Voltar very much. I gathered that the feeling is mutual.”

“I guess he doesn’t know a warrior has to be assigned,” Lachlan said.

“Or doesn’t care,” Duncan said. “Tristol must know Anna’s strong. Even if she wasn’t assigned to Voltar, she could do some damage. I doubt Tristol cares whether that monster kills her too.”

“Tristol has some interesting abilities,” Anna said. “He can walk on holy ground. He can touch a talisman and not get burned. And he can fly.”

“I take it you don’t mean he’s a pilot,” Lachlan said.

“No, like a bird. We passed an airplane.”

“A demon who can fly.” Ronan shook his head. “What the hell?”

“Maybe he’s some kind of special demon,” Duncan said. “They say he’s the Dark One’s favorite. Maybe he’s given him some other powers.”

The warriors exhausted the possibilities about Tristol’s strange powers, and the conversation drifted to the best shortcut back to the airport.

“Why are you being so bloody stiff?” Tavis whispered softly to Anna. He understood that she must still be troubled over what had happened, but she’d felt enough for him to help him escape, to risk her own life to make sure Voltar didn’t find him.

She turned her head and glanced at him. Barely. She licked her lips. “It’s been a long day.”

Tavis didn’t speak much for the rest of the trip. He concentrated on the feel of Anna’s leg pressed against his, though she was doing everything but clinging to the door to put some space between them. When they got to the plane, she waited until he sat, and then sat behind him. He mused over the situation as they flew back to the Albany castle. It was highly irritating to have her behaving so brusquely when they’d been so close in the dungeon. He glanced back at her in irritation and saw her watching him with stark fear on her face.

* * *

She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. She was still trembling from the ride in the car. The feel of his body so close to hers reminded her of the other time when his body had been close to hers. Inside hers. But before that. Before the guard came and saw them…She’d never felt anything like having him kiss her and touch her. Her excuse was that it was the drug the guard had given her, but she wasn’t drugged now, and she still couldn’t get him out of her head.

Tavis turned and looked at her then. He held her gaze a moment, then clenched his jaw and looked away. He was hurt. And worried. She could see it in the slope of his shoulders. Wide shoulders. Beautiful shoulders. Beautiful chest. Would she ever get the image of that damned soapy washcloth out of her head? She knew he felt something for her. Probably just gratitude and lust. She always got the lust.

That was the part that frightened her. Not physically. Mentally. Sex represented control. Loss of control for her. Wielding control for him. Not him. She closed her eyes in frustration. Tavis hadn’t done anything wrong. He wasn’t the one who’d raped her mother and left her pregnant with a child she didn’t want but was unwilling to abort. Tavis wasn’t the one who’d trained her, mentored her, and when she’d begun to trust him like the father she never had, wanted her to show appreciation for his work. Appreciation with her body.

Sex sucked. Love sucked.

Didn’t it? What about Ronan? That hadn’t sucked. Bad timing. Wrong person. But it hadn’t been bad. Just awkward. And Tavis…before the guard came, that had been amazing. She wasn’t being fair to him. They’d shared some kind of connection in the dungeon. Maybe just because they were both prisoners trapped and scared, but she’d felt something for him that she’d never felt for a man before. The thought of exploring it made her sick to her stomach.

* * *

When they reached the castle, Faelan came charging out to meet the plane. “He looks like an angry bull,” Ronan said.

Tavis knew that look too well. “Aye. I’ll handle him.” When he was pissed the only thing to do was to confront him head-on.

“Good,” Lachlan said, shutting himself in the cockpit when Faelan started pounding on the door to the plane.

Tavis had to wait for Ronan to open it. He couldn’t figure out how to get out of the confounded thing.

Faelan stood there, his hands clenched, eyes frightened. “You just leave without telling me? Go off on some bloody mission without a word? You’ve just come back from the dead.”

“I had to do it. Lance said I had to come alone.”

“Alone?” His incredulous glance swept over the others, who were looking at their feet, twiddling their thumbs. Lachlan was watching from the window in the front of the plane.

“They weren’t supposed to be there,” Tavis said. “They waylaid me.”

Ronan jumped down and stood next to Tavis. “Lance told him he had to come alone or he wouldn’t take him to Anna.”

“You found Anna?”

“Aye. I didn’t want him going alone, so I followed,” Ronan said. “Same with Shane and Duncan.”

Cody stalked up to meet them. He didn’t look any happier than Faelan. “You could have told us you were going,” Cody said, frowning at Lachlan, whose face vanished from the window.

“I did. I put a letter under Faelan’s door. I didn’t want to knock. You and Bree were…engaged.”

“And he did leave a letter,” Ronan said. “I saw him write it.”

“I didn’t see it.” Faelan looked around and spotted Anna standing behind the others. “And where the bloody hell have you been? And what’re you wearing?”

“Don’t start with me, Faelan.” Anna walked off the plane.

“She’s in a foul mood,” Ronan said. “But she’s been visiting with Tristol and Voltar, so I don’t blame her.”

“Tristol and Voltar!” Faelan eyebrows rose, and he looked like a duplicate of Duncan, who’d moved next to him. Everyone started talking at once.

Cody held up his hand. “Hold on. Come inside and let’s get the story straight. Bree needs to know Anna’s OK. She’s been worried sick. Everyone has.”

“I’m sorry,” Anna said. “There wasn’t time to warn everyone.”

“If you’d bothered to replace your cell phone, you could have called,” Ronan said.

Anna didn’t answer. They all walked toward the castle, but it was slow going with everyone along the way stopping to talk. By the time they got inside, they had an entourage. Anna had been missing for some time, and the whole clan had been worried.

The interior structure of the castle was so similar to the one Tavis had grown up in that he felt homesick. He expected to see Ian and Alana rushing out to greet him. Instead, Bree and Shay ran down the hall. “You’re back. Thank God.” Bree hugged Anna and suddenly jumped back as if she’d been burned.

Anna peered at her. “Are you OK?”

Bree appeared at a loss for words. She must be overcome with emotion. Tavis remembered when his mother was pregnant with Alana. How easily she’d cried.

An elderly man and woman joined them. Both were white-haired, with happy faces and warm eyes. The man stared at Tavis and then grabbed him in a hug.

The move surprised Tavis, but he hugged him back. When the old man stepped away, he looked up at Tavis, his eyes glistening. “I never thought to see such a remarkable thing in all my days.”

“Sean, Tavis has no idea who you are,” the woman said, smiling at him like his mother used to.

“I got a bit ahead of myself. I’m Sean Connor, and this is Coira. We’re your family.” He beamed, hunched his shoulders, and chuckled.

Tavis nodded to them. “Tavis Connor, and I’m very glad to meet you both.”

“He’s overwhelmed, Sean.” The woman took Tavis by the arm. “What you need is a good meal.”

Food. “Aye. I am hungry.”

“Come along then,” the old man said, “and let Coira feed you. You’ve a lot to learn. Times have changed. Even in my lifetime. I hardly recognize the world sometimes. But you’ll sort it all out. Your brother did. He’s become a whiz at texting.”

Tavis didn’t know what texting was. Perhaps a new kind of weaponry. Coira led the way to the kitchen. It was similar to the one at home, but there were more of those modern appliances like the ones he’d seen at Faelan and Bree’s. Several people were in the kitchen working at large ovens. Some were baking bread, others chopping vegetables. He had a wistful moment remembering how his mother had fussed about having to feed so many warriors, even with help, when everyone knew she loved every moment of it.

Tavis ate some bread and stew and answered more questions. When he’d finished, Sean took one of Tavis’s hands and one of Faelan’s. “A family reunion. That’s what we’ll have.”

“What about Voltar and Tristol?” Sorcha asked.

“They’ll have to wait,” Sean said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I won’t let the demons ruin this moment.” He stopped and paused. “Your brother Ian, he’s not coming is he?”

Tavis shook his head. “God, I hope not.”

“With two of you here, I was beginning to wonder if the whole family was coming.”

“Ian stayed behind to take care of Ma.”

Sean’s lips pressed together, and he nodded. “I understand. You’re a brave lad for doing what you did. And he’s a brave one for staying behind. Makes me proud to be a Connor.”

Warmth stirred in Tavis’s chest. He’d worried that he’d arrive to find Faelan dead, Druan on a rampage, or worse, the world already destroyed. But he’d found his family. Part of his family. His eyes strayed to Anna, whose eyes were damp. She turned her head.

Two older women entered the kitchen. One of them had the reddest hair Tavis had ever seen, and her clothes looked like an artist had splattered her with paint. “Look, Nina, he looks just like Faelan,” the redhead said, moving right up to him and inspecting him like he was a wax model. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she pinched him. And she did, right on one of his healing cuts. “Almost like twins. Triplets if you count Duncan. All three of you look alike.”

“I’m Nina, Cody and Shay’s aunt. I’m so glad to meet you. It’s just amazing that you’re here.”

“And I’m Matilda, their aunt. Or practically their aunt.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” He tried not to stare at Matilda, but he’d never seen anything quite like her.

“Let’s hope you can still say that in a week,” Nina said, frowning at Matilda.

“I’m sorry we missed your funeral,” Matilda said. “But we’re pleased as punch that you’re alive. Maybe I could interview you. I’m writing a book, and I’m interested in learning more about time vaults.”

Tavis was almost certain the Council wouldn’t allow any books to be written about time vaults or any other thing connected to the clan. But she was probably just barmy. He’d been warned about her on the airplane.