rest of his life, another shadow added to the substantial group already weighing upon his soul. His stepfather, brothers both Conroy and Terriot, his mother, and now his love and his heir.
The pull to follow them lessened with Savoie’s blunt words. He had work to do before that rewarding reunion. And it began with the figure now standing next to him.
“You’re sure it wasn’t an accident?”
Colin’s grim expression answered for him.
“Any ideas?”
“A few, but I’d like to hear yours first.”
MacCreedy didn’t waste time with delicacy. “My Top Ten.” He ticked the list off on his fingers. “Starting with the local clan resenting a Terriot presence and influence. Any number of folks wanting to distract you from uniting New Orleans. Your insane father and rogue brothers scared you’ll get to them first. Someone wanting to bring Rueben back to the city either to kill him or threaten him into compliance. Any Guedrey or Terriot wanting to eliminate a possible heir to either clan. Brady striking back at your family. Those in the North working to crush and conquer. Someone in the NOPD trying to bring Babineau and Charlotte to heel. As a warning to Savoie that everyone is vulnerable. Or Rueben himself, out to break the truce and take control. Depends on who the target was.”
Colin blinked. “That’s a long damned list.”
“I’ll start narrowing it down for you.”
His confidence gave Colin his first shot of encouragement since hearing metal rip and crumple. “But you’ll save the last one for me.”
“Oh, yeah.”
The firm press of MacCreedy’s hand on his shoulder brought wildly spinning moods under control. Then Silas asked softly, “What if you aren’t the only target? Shouldn’t everyone be warned?”
To lose more of his family, his friends . . .
A quick nod. “No details, just that there’s a prospective threat. Okay?”
Silas nodded and advised, “Don’t be a hero. Call if you need anything.”
Both knowing he wouldn’t, Silas left him to mechanical beeps echoing the clock’s tick down to the light extinguishing in his life.
Leaving only vengeance to sustain him.
– – –
The unthinkable happened. Sitting at Mia’s bedside, listening to the monotonous beat of her artificially maintained life, Colin slept.
He could have been dreaming.
Had a breath of movement behind his chair prodded him awake? Expecting one of the silent, bustling medical staff, he blinked heavy eyes open. No one came into view. His nape bristled.
“They can’t help you,” a soft female voice whispered behind him, “but I can.” As he straightened with a jerk, a hand fell upon his shoulder, grip small but firm. “Don’t turn around.”
He stiffened but didn’t look back. “Who are you?”
“Let’s say a friend of a friend.”
Annoyed by her riddle, Colin snapped, “What do you want?”
“It’s what you want. They can’t give it to you. But I can.”
As his breath stumbled then hurried on, her answer stroked against his cheek.
“I can bring her back.”
Gooseflesh erupted, making him shiver with cautious hope. Colin reined in the leap of his heart with a quick tug from a cautious nature. “What can you do? Resurrect the dead?”
“Is that what you want?”
No hesitation. “Yes.”
“There’ll be a cost.”
“Name it.”
“I do this for you and someday soon, I’ll ask you to do something for me. And you will, no matter what it is, without question or hesitation. Because I can take back what I give in a heartbeat. Are we agreed?”
A fool’s bargain, one he could never meet. But he’d worry about that later.
“Agreed.”
– – –
Something slipped through his determined slumber, a slight sound, a breath of movement. Instantly alert, Colin sat up straight, every muscle group in his abused body screaming as he braced for possible threat.
A tall, lean figure with his mate’s dark coloring bent over Mia’s bed, his hand resting over one threaded with tubes and wires. Without turning, Rueben Guedry murmured, “Didn’t mean to wake you,” in a soft Tennessee drawl.
Colin rubbed his eyes, mumbling, “How long you been here?”
“Just got in. ’Preciate the call.” Then he addressed the figure in the bed. “Hey, little lady, how ya feeling?”
As the fingers beneath his grip stirred, Colin jerked, hit by an electrocuting jolt of astonishment. Not real. Couldn’t be. Was he still dreaming? Rueben stepped aside, allowing Colin an answer too incredible to take in all at once.
Dark eyes were open, glazed by sedation but still aware. Animating color had seeped back into features drained to parchment finality.
Once his heart restarted, a name whispered from Colin’s lips like an answered prayer. “Mia.”
Alerted by the unexpected change in their monitors, medical staff