“Fucking telekinesis, asshole,” he grumbled. His words were garbled because his cheek was squashed against the car’s roof. “Marcus pulled it out of my pocket, put it near my face, and called you.”
I couldn’t completely contain myself then and I snorted. Quickly, I swallowed the rest of the chuckles. Callum and Marcus were doing me a favor by coming here. It wouldn’t do to piss them off before we accomplished what we needed to do.
“You can release them, Kerry. They’re my offspring.”
“I figured as much,” she replied. “But I wanted to wait until you and Ava were finished with your…talk.”
My urge to laugh died as she reminded me of the shitstorm that had exploded over our heads this morning and the memory that had returned.
“You knew what would happen, didn’t you?” I asked. It was a struggle to keep my voice even as I realized what Kerry meant. Her cryptic words and behavior leading up to this morning made sense. Her reaction when she saw Ava for the first time, everything. “You knew who we were as soon as you saw us,” I murmured.
Her gaze softened. “I did and I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. But you saw what happened to Ava when some of her memories came through. She was in agony. And then what happened to you when she spoke your name. I couldn’t risk the curse killing you before you broke through on your own. The magic holding you both has weakened over centuries. It was a damn powerful spell to last two millennia. Then, once the two of you were together, you were stronger. Your own power shattered the spell. If I pushed you the wrong way or too early, it would have ended in disaster.”
I nodded because I knew that she was telling the truth. I could smell it, and her eyes remained steady on mine. I took a deep breath and as I exhaled, I let it go. There were too many battles ahead and this wasn’t one of them. Kerry made the same decision I would have in her position and I couldn’t fault her for it.
“Heeeeeeyyyyy,” Callum yelled. “Could you please tell your witch to release us?”
I shot Kerry a dry look and she grinned. A moment later, Callum and Marcus straightened from the car and shook out their arms and shoulders. Callum looked irritated but it was shaded with amusement. He’d always been quick to laugh, even quicker to laugh at himself.
Marcus looked as stoic and aloof as ever. He rarely spoke and smiled even less. But he had a wicked, dry sense of humor and he was unfailingly loyal, even when I didn’t deserve it.
I walked forward, lifting a hand to greet Callum. He wrapped his hand around my forearm and surprised me by pulling me into an embrace and pounding me on the back. If I’d been human, he would have broken several ribs.
“It’s good to see you again, Mac,” he said.
I stared at him, confused by his warm greeting. When I walked away from him a century ago, we’d exchanged harsh words and he’d told me to never darken his door again. I couldn’t blame him. I’d chosen my past over my friends.
I didn’t deserve this welcome.
Marcus shocked me further by mirroring Callum’s behavior. I could barely believe my ears when he spoke. “Glad you’re in one piece.” His voice was deep and rusty, as though he so rarely used it that his vocal chords didn’t work correctly. It had always been that way, even when he was human.
As I stared at the two of them, the smile faded from Callum’s face. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
I glanced over my shoulder and Kerry met my gaze. She seemed to instinctually understand that I wanted some privacy because she took Finn’s arm and whistled for Harrison. The group moved another twenty feet away and she began speaking to Finn in low tones.
I faced Callum. “The last time I saw you, you told me to never darken your door again.”
The two exchanged a look before Callum met my stare. “A few decades can change a lot of things, Macgrath,” he finally replied.
My eyes narrowed. Callum wasn’t one to hold a grudge, but I had run off the woman he intended to claim for his mate. Rhiannon had plans for her, but I’d made sure she disappeared first. Callum had been heartbroken and enraged. He truly believed she’d been his mate but I’d sensed that something was off between the two of them. Lisandra, his love, didn’t seem quite right. She smelled completely human, but something about her set me on edge. No matter how I probed her with my magic or how much I watched her, I could never discover her secret. I knew she wasn’t what she seemed. The fact that Rhiannon wanted me to acquire her only reinforced my belief.
Instead of doing Rhiannon’s bidding, I’d helped Lisandra run away. After a token resistance, she accepted my offer of help easily and with no tears. I understood then that she hadn’t loved Callum. Not truly. She wanted to use him.
Looking back, I should have killed her rather than let her go. Whatever she intended for my friend, my brother, couldn’t have been pleasant. But I hated killing women. I didn’t want Lisandra’s blood on my hands when I saw Callum once again.
I had been with Rhiannon for a year by then. I still openly challenged her. Then, as decades passed, I became jaded. I refused to kill for her, but I no longer shied away from doing her dirty work.
Until I met Ava.
“What exactly did time change?” I asked Callum. He and Marcus exchanged another look and I was close to losing my temper. “Answer me.”
Callum sighed. “I discovered…information about Lisandra. Knowledge that helped me realize that she wasn’t my mate. That she only wanted one thing from me—my immortality. Or my version of immortality.”
“She wanted you to turn her?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. She had no desire to be stuck with me for eternity or to drink blood. Only my long life.”
I frowned at him. “And how did she intend to do that?”
