It was time.
“Time for what?” Duron found himself asking, his senses humming so badly it made his skin burn.
The head tilted to the side, her emotionless eyes boring into his.To prove I was worthy.
The prickling burn increased. “To who?”
My Father.
~/~/~/~
Duron kept Selina in his eyeline as they followed her out of the rainforest under a disguising spell to prevent anyone from seeing them, while constantly checking in on Beaumont.
After he’d peppered Selina with questions, none of which she’d answered in a way that appeased his mate, Beaumont had gone silent.
Her Father. Who did she mean? She’d not elaborated further on that score either. Just kept giving the same answer, “My Father.”
Did she mean the scientists? The trainers? Roiu, who’d found her? Had he been part of the set-up in the jungle? Or was it…
One look at Beaumont’s drawn features stopped him from speculating further. Selina had agreed willingly to return to the brother’s home to explain the change to the wards. It was as if she didn’t have a worry in the world as she walked beside them. Although that was hard to tell with her expression.
She’d the best mask Duron had ever seen, concealing any and all thoughts she might be having. It made other thoughts creep into Duron’s mind. Like had they actually included her in the assassin training program? It was a skill they taught them through torture.
Had they trained all the emotions out of her?
A shiver ran through him at what that would entail. It was too scary a fucking thought when, of all the assassins he’d trained with, a slither of humanity remained tucked deep inside. Again, he kept that to himself.
His mate’s silence as he watched Selina move with intense concentration left Duron uneasy. If this woman looked like his daughter, did she look like his dead wife? Was Beaumont recalling the good times he had with her?
Duron wasn’t sure how to feel about that and was pleased to see they were close to the house. After being inside Selina’s home, he could now feel the similarity between the magic signature from the wards. It was interesting to notice that they felt the same…protective.
He’d have to discuss that later with Beaumont, when he didn’t have so much going on in his head.
When they reached the gate, he went to punch in the code. Before he could, Selina stepped forward and touched the gate, and it opened silently.
What level of magic ability did she have? And where had it come from? She had no animal inside her. Duron was positive about that. Yet, part of her scent smelled the same as Teilo and Nico, along with the same signature as the men they’d seen before. They had an animal spirit. Why didn’t Selina?
They’d barely made it to the front of the house when the door opened, and light spilled out from inside.
Kylo appeared and wore what could only have been a shocked expression. His lower lip dropped open and his eyes widened as they went from Selina to Beaumont and then to Duron. “You found her!” he exclaimed in a strange screechy tone that hurt Duron’s ears.
He resisted rubbing them and grinned for the first time since they’d left the house.
“Never underestimate my mate,” Beaumont said in a prideful tone, his mind once more open to Duron.
Kylo came down the steps, his lips thinning as he reached Selina. His eyes were pure panther. His brothers appeared through the open doorway. They formed an intimating line.
Selina showed not a sniff of concern.
“I think we need to have a talk, don’t you?” Kylo growled.
Chapter Sixteen
Beaumont
Beaumont had to get out of the house. Selina was being deliberately vague, and Beaumont couldn’t see her behavior in any other way. Her airy-fairy cryptic responses weren’t any help to anyone, and she genuinely acted as though nothing she’d done had actually caused any harm. Maybe that was true, maybe it wasn’t, but Beaumont knew at a gut level he wasn’t going to get any of the answers he sought from her. Part of him wanted to shake her, scream at her—try and do anything to get some emotion out of her, because he was driven to know how she came about. And, more importantly, how the hell she was carrying the scent of his son? He was a better man than that—Eugenie had taught him that.
It was her eyes that threw him. The eyes that reminded him so much of the sweet little girl Victoria had been—the same eyes he saw when he looked in the mirror anytime he could be bothered to. Beaumont knew he’d caused some concern in his mate. And while he hated that he’d done that, he couldn’t help that either. In the end, the more they dug into what should’ve been a simple case of finding some fucking idiot calling himself Devil, the more questions were raised.
