“I don’t know what to believe any more.”
She had to get out of here. For an hour. Maybe two. Just enough time to clear her head and check on the searches she’d started last night. “I need some air. I’m goin’ to town for a piece. When I come back, we’re havin’ a pack meetin’ to find another way through this fuckin’ mess.”
Chapter Eighteen
Farren
She slammed her office door, taking a measure of satisfaction from the sound and the way the window rattled.
Stop acting like a child. Eli’s an adult. And an elemental. He can take care of himself.
Farren cringed when Paddy’s words came back to her.“Ya’ risk everythin’ by pushin’ him away.”
And yet, she’d done so. Again. Her mate. What good was she if she couldn’t even trust the man who held her heart in his hands?
At least she was still a bloody good PI. And now that she had his real first name—thanks to the old man—she might be able to get somewhere with her searches.
It took less than five minutes. Only a single Eliziam had been born in the UK within three years of Eli’s supposed birthday. He was four months older than he’d thought. Born Eliziam Colón to an Una Colón at a small hospital in Sheffield. No father listed on the birth certificate. Not the real one, anyway. The fake one—the one he’d thought was genuine for twenty years—listed a Celia and Miguel Escobar as his parents.
Searching for Una Colón gave her a wealth of information. Her credit history showed lease agreements for three different flats over a period of eight years, then the purchase of a small farmhouse in the countryside not long after Eli’s seventh birthday.
Farren had a few contacts in Sheffield. Leaning back so she could cross her feet on the corner of her desk, she picked up the phone.
* * *
The printer hummedas she transferred all she’d found to hard copies. Eli might want them, even if she’d memorized most of what she’d found.
For the past three hours, her uneasiness had grown steadily. Separation from her mate this close to the full moon was toying with her emotions, as was the way she’d left him.
Why had she been so stupid? Over the past few months, she’d been living with two other mated werewolves, and though Cade and Liam were over the top in love with Mara and Caitlin, they still had some spectacular rows on occasion. Usually for the same exact reason Farren had run from Eli today.
Eli wouldn’t accept her if she didn’t start trusting him.
Letting the fresh air and a rare sunny day refresh her on the ride home, she vowed she’d be better. Calmer. More supportive and less...intense.
The second she reached her living room, all those vows flew right out the window.
Eli was slumped on the couch, an arm draped over his eyes, looking like he’d been run over by a herd of elephants. His skin was downright pale, and the shallowness of his breathing sent her heart shooting directly into her throat.
“Eli! Shite. What happened?” Fitting herself to his side, she pressed unsteady fingers to his neck. His pulse was too fast, too weak for her liking, and she was about to straddle him just to get closer when he groaned softly and tried to sit up.
“I’m all right, Farren. Just knackered and with a headache the size of the Atlantic.”
She believed him until she snuggled closer and rested her hand on his chest. He hissed out a breath and curled inward, and she lost the tenuous control she’d had on her temper. “Pull yer shirt up. Now.”
When he made no move to do so, she did it for him and gaped. This morning, perhaps a dozen symbols, some sigils, but others quite clearly objects—the sun, the moon, a mountain range—had been scattered across his skin. Now...? His entire torso looked like a tattoo artist’s life’s work. Even worse? The markings continued down his sides, and she pulled him forward. “Fuck me. Eli. How did you stand this?”
His back was covered as well. The pure, raw power of all that pain hit her, and she closed her eyes so he wouldn’t see her regrets over leaving him this morning. If she’d stayed, could she have prevented this? Saved him from what must have been hours of agony?
“Didn’t stand for much of it.” The humor in his tone set her off, and she jerked back.
“Ye’re goin’ to joke about this now? Tell me ye’re done, at least. Give me some reason not to go tear that book into shreds and throw it into the fire.”
“He’s done,” Caitlin called from the dining room. “And Mara just gave us an idea about how Eli can use the symbols and sigils to craft a protection spell like Diedre’s.”
Farren turned, shocked to see everyone else enjoying a meal while her mate was practically dead two meters away. “Ye’re proud of this? Of what ya’ did to him? Sittin’ there eatin’ while he’s sufferin’?”
“Farren, I did this to myself. No one forced me. It was my choice.” Eli snagged her wrist and pulled her close. “I’m not hungry. Tierney tried to get me to join them half a dozen times.”
