Ancient Warrior, page 8
Harlow sucked in a breath, unable to stop herself.
He ignored her and continued. “As far as I could tell, no one even knew I was under the dungeon. I could hear what went on in the castle so I gathered a lot of information while I was imprisoned. While I stupidly waited for my team to rescue me,” he snarled, looking at Harlow and the others, his eyes accusing.
And she couldn’t breathe, because what if he was telling the truth? But no, she’d been there, he’d…well, why had he tried to stab her instead of burn her?
“But they never came,” he finished, his tone dripping with accusation. Betrayal.
“You said the witch imprisoned you?” Everleigh’s question cut through the quiet.
“Yes, had to be. I mean, I never saw her, but—” Suddenly he turned to them, avoiding Harlow’s gaze, focusing on Axel instead. “You said the trail went cold but did anyone ever find out anything about her?”
“No,” Axel said on a growl. “The killings stopped though. We thought maybe…” He cleared his throat.
“You thought maybe I’d been involved in the killings?” Aodh looked disgusted, his gaze flashing to his dragon.
Harlow could barely breathe, let alone speak. She looked at Everleigh, waiting for the witch to say something.
Finally, Everleigh cleared her throat, looked at Ace once, then sighed. “Right now, you’re both telling the truth. Which tells me that some kind of spellwork was involved. I could be off base, but it’s believable that someone created an illusion that made you see Aodh attacking you.”
“But…I felt the knife go in.” Goddess, it hurt to remember it. “It was so real,” she rasped out.
“That kind of magic is rare, but there are witches who wield that sort of power, specifically energy witches. And if you were in a heightened state of emotion, it’s believable that someone was able to create a spell where you saw what they wanted you to.”
Bile rose in Harlow’s throat, but she swallowed hard and forced herself to look at Aodh. Goddess, had everything been a lie? An illusion? Oh…goddess. No. No, no, no. “I never would have abandoned you if…any of this is true. If you were imprisoned, I never would have left you.” She’d have torn up the world looking for him.
Brielle shifted to her human form then, took the T-shirt Axel gave her. “We wouldn’t have left you to die,” her sister added.
“Ever,” Axel finished.
Aodh just glared at them, rage shining bright as he said, “And I’ve never tried to kill any of you. Of all people.”
“How sure are you they’re both telling the truth?” Ace asked Everleigh.
“Ninety-nine percent, because there is no one hundred percent anything. But they’re not lying. Or at least they both believe the story they’re telling.”
Ace scrubbed a hand over his face. “Is there a way to find out if there was spellwork involved in what happened?”
Everleigh paused. “Perhaps. I’ll need to speak to my coven members. And I believe the Magic Man might be able to help. We could theoretically recreate what happened that day, see it through their eyes sort of like a movie playing out. I’ve seen such a spell done once, but never attempted it myself.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“No. But it’s an intricate spell.”
“Could Dallas help?” Harlow asked. “Because she’s in town.” Harlow wanted to get to the bottom of this, needed to know the truth. Because right now Aodh smelled of pure, unadulterated truth. Unless he was the best damn actor in the world. And maybe he was.
“Dallas can help,” Everleigh murmured, moving to talk quietly with Ace.
Harlow frowned at Aodh. “Why are you here in New Orleans?” she suddenly demanded. “Did you come to kill us? To get revenge?”
“I came to find out why you’d left me! We were like family—” He snapped his mouth shut, as if he’d said too much, but she heard the pain in his voice, as vivid as it was etched into his expression before he stood and turned away from all of them.
“Wait…have you been following me? Was that you in the woods?”
“I was following you for a bit to see what you’ve been up to. But I left those animals for the humans, not you.”
But she could hear the lie crystal clear in his voice—he’d left those kills, the dinner, for her. Not the humans.
Harlow stalked over to Aodh, stood in front of him, heart pounding. “If this is true…” The words stuck in her throat. If all this was true, then they had left him to rot. And he’d been imprisoned, thinking they’d just abandoned him. “I never would have left you behind.”
“And I never would have tried to kill you. Or hurt you.” And he was clearly horrified she’d thought he could.
But those memories were imprinted in her brain. If this was all an illusion—and it was starting to feel like it might have been—she wasn’t sure where the hell they went from here. “How’d you get out of the prison?” She’d heard the story from her friend Stella, who’d told them how her grandmother had destroyed the castle in the Domincary realm with her dragon fire. And when she had, it had unleashed a dragon from a prison below it. She’d just never imagined it had been Aodh.
Why would she? Because he’d been dead. Clearly not though.
And if his story lined up with what she already knew… Oh goddess, he was telling the truth.
“An ancient female dragon destroyed everything. Her fire must have cracked the magic holding me. It had been waning anyway. I’d felt it in the last couple years, but couldn’t manage to break through it. I was too weak.” He growled in disgust. “But as soon as I was able, I busted out and returned to a very different world.”
Oooh. Oh sweet goddess. Her heart twisted painfully. He’d been all alone, thinking they’d just left him. “Where are you staying?”
He lifted a shoulder, glanced away from her as if he couldn’t stand to look at her.
It cut deep, but she swallowed her stupid feelings down. She couldn’t offer to let him stay with her, not when they had cubs at the house. But maybe—
“Tomorrow morning bright and early we’re going to reconvene here and figure out if you’re telling the truth,” Ace said as he approached them. “Dallas and the Magic Man are going to help us clarify everything. If you didn’t try to kill Harlow, then I have no beef with you. But you are in this territory illegally. You didn’t once try to contact King or—”
“I want to call in my favor with King,” Harlow blurted. The thought of Aodh getting into hot water because he’d come here looking for answers after thinking his family had just abandoned him was too much.
Because blood didn’t always make you family. They’d all chosen each other.
Ace lifted an eyebrow at Harlow.
“When King was poisoned and I stayed behind in the fae realm and hunted down that antidote, he told me he owed me. I’m cashing that in now—if Aodh is telling the truth, then he gets a free pass for being here.” But her gut told her he was telling the truth. Why lie? Why show up here after all these years? They’d thought he was dead. And she felt sick about that.
Ace blinked once, then nodded. “Okay.” Then he turned a sharp gaze on Aodh. “You’re going to stay here tonight.”
When Aodh went to open his big mouth, no doubt to snap something at Ace, Christian stepped onto the patio, having been out of sight until now.
“I’ve already made up a room for him,” he said smoothly.
Aodh looked as if he wanted to argue, then shrugged. “Fine, whatever. I’ll do whatever you need tomorrow, then I’m gone.”
Harlow’s heart jumped in her chest, panic punching through her. “You’ll leave, just like that?”
“I can’t stand to look at you. You actually thought I’d try to kill you? Much less hurt you?” Pain echoed in his words.
“It was so real,” she whispered, feeling like she was being torn apart inside.
“If you leave, you’ll never find that witch on your own,” Axel said calmly, striding up to them. “And I assume you plan to hunt her down.”
“If she’s even out there,” Aodh muttered. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Oh hell, Axel was right. Of course that was what he would be planning to do. And if Harlow had been thinking more clearly, she’d have had the same thought.
Someone had messed with their minds, had tricked her into believing the male she loved had turned on her. “It’s been fifteen years,” she whispered.
“Where the hell are we even going to start?” her twin murmured.
Harlow had no clue. She also had no clue how Aodh could ever forgive her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Oh, you’re cooking?” Marley strolled into the kitchen, bright-eyed, clearly buzzing from her night out. It was two in the morning and Harlow hadn’t been able to sleep since getting back to the house an hour ago so she’d started cooking.
For Aodh. As guilt shredded up her insides.
She shouldn’t even be bothering, knew she was acting unhinged, because as soon as she was done she was taking this over to Christian’s house for Aodh. No matter what happened tomorrow when Everleigh and the Magic Man did that test on them to see if they’d been spelled, she already knew in her gut that they must have been.
It was the only thing that made sense. In her bones, she’d never been able to process that Aodh had tried to kill her or the others. And he’d made a heartbreaking point—he’d have just burned them all to a crisp if he had. Not tried to stab her.
Goddess.
“Not for you,” she finally said as Marley tried to snag one of her corn tortillas.
“Ooh, cranky pants.” Marley sat at the island across from her, grabbed an apple from the bowl as she leaned back. “Why aren’t you sharing?”
“Because she’s cooking for a male,” Brielle said, stalking into the room. Her twin had changed into jogging pants and a sports bra and her hair was pulled back in a long braid.
“Wait, what?” Marley sat up straight, apple forgotten. “Who? Have I met him? When did this happen?”
“Really?” she growled at Brielle, annoyed her sister had decided to spill the beans.
Her twin just shrugged and sat on the seat next to Marley. “We’re telling everyone now. Because after tomorrow I have a feeling we’re going to be…” She sighed, not finishing.
Not that she needed to. After tomorrow—or technically today, since it was two in the morning already—they’d be hunting down that witch who’d screwed up their lives and killed over a hundred people they knew of. And this time they’d make sure they stopped her forever. She wouldn’t be locked up either. Nope. This was going to be a fight to the death.
Harlow couldn’t just sit back and do nothing now that Aodh was back, knowing that witch had stolen all those years from them, kept him imprisoned. Hurt the male she loved.
“You’re going to be what?” Marley looked between the two of them. “Stop doing that twin thing,” she growled when they didn’t respond.
“I just want to wait until everyone is here. Axel’s grabbing the others now so you can wait three minutes,” Brielle said, leaning back in her chair, her expression as tense as Harlow felt.
Lola and Bella came in a few minutes later with Axel. The kids were all sleeping, as they should be.
Bella had stayed at the house to watch them instead of going out with everyone, so she was the only one who actually looked sleepy, stumbling into the kitchen in her silky pink PJs. “It’s too early to be up,” she mumbled, sliding onto the seat next to Brielle.
Brielle wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I know, but we’ve got something to tell everyone and didn’t want you to find out last.”
“Oh…thanks.” She perked up slightly, even as she eyed Harlow. “You’re cooking?”
“For a man, apparently,” Marley murmured.
Harlow cleared her throat. “All right, ya’ll are going to listen as I give you a quick rundown of what’s going on. Aurora already knows, for the record. I called her,” she added. She’d have been told the basics anyway because Ace had immediately contacted King, but Harlow had told Aurora regardless. “As you know, years ago the three of us did supernatural operations while in the Marine Corps. We worked with another male, a dragon. And…” She cleared her throat, tried to force the words out, but it was too hard.
Thankfully Axel finished explaining the situation for her, outlining everything that had happened years ago and then tonight.
“Holy shit,” Marley breathed. “That’s a lot of info to process at once. So you’re cooking for this Aodh because…you feel bad?” she said to Harlow.
Brielle elbowed Marley. “She’s cooking because she loved him, dummy. She feels awful. We all do.”
Harlow didn’t say anything, couldn’t find the words, couldn’t talk at all as she finished. Bad didn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling.
Migas were ridiculously easy to make and they’d been one of Aodh’s favorite foods. She left the zesty egg mixture in the cast iron skillet and put a cover over it before she started gathering the different toppings.
“Is there anything we can do?” Bella asked, more awake now.
“No,” Harlow said, finding her voice.
“We just wanted you all to know,” Brielle said. “In case we leave soon.”
“We can come with you. We want to,” Marley added, getting nods of agreement from Lola and Bella.
Harlow glanced at Axel and Brielle, shook her head once. “Look,” she said as she started loading everything into a cloth bag. “I love you guys more than anything, but we have no idea what we’re up against. The kids need you here anyway. We can’t all leave them.” The kids needed structure and security. And more than that, to feel safe. No way could all of them leave at once.
They started to argue, but Harlow ignored them as she packed up, then nodded at Axel to help her.
Brielle was wonderfully patient as she fielded questions and arguments from everyone while Harlow hurried out of the room with Axel. She simply didn’t have the energy to deal with anything else right now.
“I feel like the biggest asshole on the planet,” she said as she and Axel stepped out into the chilly night air. “We just left him in a prison.”
Axel grabbed one of the bags. “We didn’t know, something he’ll soon realize.”
“It doesn’t matter! I should have known. I should have…”
How had she not realized? Of course he wouldn’t have tried to kill her.
“You’re not omniscient, Harlow. There was no way for you to know. We didn’t realize it either, or of course we’d have scoured the damn planet for him. Other realms. We’d have never stopped looking for him.”
Axel’s words did little to ease the tightness in her chest, the knowledge that she’d failed the male she loved. That he’d endured imprisonment while believing she’d betrayed him. “He probably won’t even eat this but I needed to do something. Goddess, this is probably stupid,” she grumbled to herself. “He’s not going to forgive me because I made him migas. And he didn’t even want to talk to me, so…” She sighed. Hopefully he just needed time and would listen to her.
Axel didn’t respond, remained quiet as they walked the rest of the way to Christian’s.
Thankfully Christian stepped out the front door almost as soon as Axel texted him.
“Hey, everything okay?” The handsome vampire was in casual lounge pants and a cashmere pullover sweater.
“I just wanted to bring Aodh food,” Harlow murmured, feeling stupid as she handed her bag to Christian.
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.” Christian was so damn sweet and sincere as he took her bag, then Axel’s. “Would you like me to get him? He’s not asleep.”
“No,” Harlow said quickly before Axel could respond. She knew Aodh would say no and she didn’t need to have the rejection shoved in her face. “We’ll be back in a few hours though for the meeting.”
“Okay.” Christian looked as if he wanted to say more, but nodded at the two of them before heading back inside.
Harlow quickly retraced her steps back to the street with Axel. “I didn’t want him to get Aodh—he doesn’t want to see us. Definitely not me.”
Axel simply sighed, but didn’t refute her words.
Which somehow made her feel even worse, something that shouldn’t be possible. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to sleep at all. Nope, she’d just count down until they returned here in a few hours.
Where she’d have it confirmed that Aodh hadn’t actually tried to kill her; that she’d stabbed…well, whatever the hell that witch had conjured. Not him.
As Christian stepped into his large kitchen—that was now being used far more often since he’d had a revolving door of guests the last couple years, including two dragons who were due to return fairly soon—Aodh hesitantly stepped inside as well.
The large male had put on the T-shirt he’d been carrying around earlier—the one that smelled like Harlow. “Is everything all right? I thought I heard Harlow.”
“Everything is fine. Harlow dropped off food for you.” He set the bags on the pristine island countertop and began unloading everything.
“Probably poisoned it,” Aodh murmured, with no heat in his voice.
“Then I guess I should just toss it?”
“What? No,” he snapped, frowning at Christian as he approached, sniffed slightly. His expression shifted as Christian took the top off the cast iron skillet. Surprise flashed across his hard face but it was fleeting, quickly replaced by a neutral expression.
But he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Are you hungry?”
Aodh lifted a shoulder. “I could eat, I guess.”
Oh, so this one was surly. Christian could deal with that much more easily than someone who moped. “Sit,” he ordered, pointing to one of the stools on the other side of the island.
“I can get my own food.”
“I’m well aware. But I don’t want you banging around in my kitchen, so you will sit.” He got out a plate, utensils, and started plating everything for him, mainly because something told Christian that this big dragon needed someone to take care of him at the moment. “So how long did you work with Harlow and the others?”
