knew his destiny bound him to a lifetime of loneliness despite his wish otherwise, but it would give him comfort to know she’d still be among the living. That he hadn’t taken the life of the most beautiful soul he’d ever encountered.
Damn the gods.
Minutes crawled into hours as he held her, as he watched flickers of sun burst through the clouds and onto the walls of his bedroom only to disappear again. Her pulse remained steady though weak, and she didn’t wake.
There had been many times he’d lain in wait to take out an enemy or for an opportunity to whisper incendiary words into the right ear and then stand back as casualties of war mounted higher. It was his gift and his curse. But never had time threatened to defeat him.
His phone rang, disturbing the deathly quiet house. He reached over Claire and took it from the table near his bed, the jostling not affecting her in the least.
The name Nicholas Kingswood flashed on his phone screen.
“What?” he said to Nick.
“Bane said you haven’t killed her yet. Why not?”
Damn him. Just because he knew when a soul departed from Earth didn’t mean he had to hold it over his head. “I’ve neutralized the threat she posed.” She might possibly die as a result.
“But she lives.”
“She has no power. She’s barely alive.” In an effort to spare him the pain of taking her life, he’d reduced her to nothing. He should have given her the warrior’s death she deserved.
“The coven knows she’s in Port Townsend.”
“It doesn’t matter. She freely relinquished her power to me and sealed it with a blood oath. She can’t hurt anyone now.” Perhaps he should ask her sisters to come. They might be able to help her.
“Damn it, Dru. I’ve come up against her sister, Moira. She knocked me on my ass before she linked with Tierra. They’ve bonded, making them capable of more than the ordinary witch.”
“The only way Claire’s powers can be returned is if I give them to her. I’ve experienced every kind of torture known to man, and there’s nothing that will make me change my mind.” Even now, the fiery ball of her essence burned deeper through his layers, like hot ash through the pages of a book.
A tremble shook her frail body as she struggled for a breath. God. She was dying. He’d wrongly believed her heartbeat meant she’d live.
Instead, it only meant she hadn’t died yet.
“I’ll meet you later at Sirens and tell you everything. Right now, there’s something that can’t wait.” Dru hung up the phone before Nick could reply.
As Claire struggled for another breath, he climbed out of bed and lifted her into his arms. What he offered her wasn’t enough. There was only one possible way to save her, and it rested in the hands of others.
The gods were truly devils in disguise. He’d known that forever, known he was a pawn in their cruel plots. He’d never understood why they hadn’t brought about the end of the world centuries earlier. Why allow so much pain and suffering to continue? But this pain, this suffering would be his undoing.
He carried Claire’s limp body through the waning evening light to his SUV and placed her on the backseat. With fire burning a hole through his core, he climbed in the driver’s seat and started the engine. The tires of his Hummer screeched as he hit asphalt and barreled down the winding, forested road toward town.
He stopped when he reached the home where Claire’s family resided. The picturesque Victorian house loomed before him, lights glowing from the windows as unseen eyes surely watched him. No doubt, the occupants would damn him to hell if they could. Hopefully, they’d save Claire first.
Claire weighed next to nothing as he lifted her in his arms. He was steps from the porch when the front door flew open wide. The visage of a woman with Claire’s face appeared in the doorway, causing him to pause. Her stature, the shape of her face appeared identical to the woman he held in his arms. The color of her hair reminded him of a rich Bordeaux, and her eyes were the shade of deep emeralds instead of the golden amber he ached to see again.
“Oh my God. Moira, come now!” she yelled backward into the house before she marched toward him like one of the many valiant soldiers he’d encountered in his lifetime. “What’s happened to her?”
Before he could respond, another image of Claire rushed