Page 68 of Redeemed
David gives him a troubled look. “I’m not promising anything.”
“I understand.” Marcus’s single eye is downcast. “All I ask for is a chance.”
David closes his eyes and takes a measured breath. “Sure.” The single word sounds close to a sigh. I’m missing something here, and I better find out what before we bring more trouble down on our heads.
Connor and Sheena get ready to leave. Connor and David kiss, while Sheena mock-punches Cliffe in the shoulder. On his way out the door, Connor squeezes my hand, and I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad he didn’t lean in for a kiss. We might have fucked last night, but that doesn’t mean all the hurts are healed.
I take Connor’s spot on the bed with David. Marcus slides off the other bed and takes the chair, while Cliffe and Abby stretch out into the space he occupied. They’re bickering over whether to watch a movie, but David finds an episode ofDancing with the Starsand pulls rank.
“Youarethe alpha, after all,” Abby says, using the kind of little sister tone designed to get under David’s skin.
David rests his head on my shoulder. “We’re not that kind of pack. In his own way, Guido’s more of an alpha than I’ll ever be, and even though he hides it well, so is Pookie.”
I snort a laugh. “Hides it well. I’m sure Connor would love that description.”
“Just sayin’…”
“Well, you’re my alpha,” Cliffe says. She’s cleaner than when we first met, and sitting next to Abby she’s calmer, less brittle.
David winks at her and Cliffe’s smile broadens.
“He’s not my alpha.” Abby blows him a kiss. “He’s my big brother, which is worse.”
Marcus stays silent and again I wonder what’s not being said.
We watch forgettable television until Connor calls. The Sensitive has tracked Princess Tatiana to a cave on a beach.Which one?
“Sheena suggested you check out Leo Carillo Beach,” Connor says. “That’s the only one she knows that has a cave.” I repeat the name out loud. David’s attention goes to his phone and I assume he’s hitting Google. Connor repeats the plan, that he, Sheena, and Brodie will head for Jacques’ house, and we arrange to connect before sunrise.
We have our assignment. Find the cave. Find the Princess. And get the hell out.
Chapter Twenty-Six
David
“WHAT DO YOU think?” I murmur to Abby. We’re crouched in the dirt behind a pile of driftwood between the parking lot and the beach. The Pacific keeps up its steady beat, the smell of dead fish competing with the salt air. Marcus and Cliffe are a few feet away behind their own rocks, and Trajan’s off in the darkness on my left. Behind us the beach access road is quiet, but cars run along the Pacific Coast highway, their headlights flashing overhead. And behind that is darkness, where the Santa Monica mountains rise up from the coast.
The beach itself has been blocked off. Not that many people want to go to the beach after midnight, but there’ll be some disappointed surfers here in a couple of hours.
Not that the No Trespassing signs are legal. The enormous pyre, cords of wood stacked five or six feet high, covering a ten-foot square between us and the water probably doesn’t have a permit, either. Vampires don’t play by the same rules as the rest of us.
“Looks like they all went home.” Abby doesn’t look at me, her attention still on the beach. “They must have this place warded somehow. I can’t imagine they want anyone to find that thing.”
It’s not just wood. We’ve been here for over an hour, most of it spent watching a mixed bag of creeps and weirdos shove bundles of stuff in all the gaps. “If we get closer, we can smell what they’ve added to the pile.”
“If we get closer, the guards we can’t see now will find us.”
She’s not wrong. “Maybe we should shift first.”
The moon gives me just enough light to see her roll her eyes.
“Okay, so we go on two legs, then.”
I stand, waving at Cliffe and Marcus. The moon is bright enough that we don’t need flashlights. “Let’s check it out,” I say, keeping my voice low and heading for the pyre.
After a single “tsk,” Abby follows.
“Marcus, you go ahead of us.” He has the sharpest nose, or he did. “And Abby, let us know if you feel any wards.”
