The Fire Road Read online

  “But Ain felt horrible for accidentally killing one baby when he didn’t mean to. And Brighton just went in and…slaughtered them?”

  “It was the amulet,” Purs said. “It…it wasn’t just Brighton. The amulet drove him. The power in it drew him to the book. It took what he was and amplified it, all the bad, all the crazy, all the broken pieces and put him back together in a horribly wrong way.”

  She wasn’t sure, but thought maybe Purson’s hand shook a little when he raised the glass to take another swallow.

  “Things like that,” Ryan said, “can take over a person’s soul if they’re vulnerable.”

  “What about those fucking things we have at the ranch?” she asked, her voice low and desperate. “Those damn statues? The books? The knives? Will they do that shit to us, too?”

  “No,” Ryan said. “The amulet came from off-Earth. I haven’t finished studying it yet to determine its exact origins.”

  “How do you know that thing won’t do that to you?” She didn’t even know how she’d be able to defeat Ryan if he went to the dark side of the Force, or whatever the fuck they wanted to call it.

  “It will not. It cannot.” He smiled, but it held no humor. “That, my dear, is one of the many reasons why I am the head of The Firm.”

  * * * *

  Elain felt more than a little shaky when she returned home an hour later. Purs had finally given them what details he could.

  More than ever, she was grateful that she hadn’t tried to take that look herself.

  It would have made her sick, it would have completely destroyed her peace of mind, not to mention it would have had her doubting herself and her choice to bring Brighton’s soul back to their family in the first place.

  But doing so had helped heal Brodey’s soul, as well as Ain and Cail. They looked forward to loving their son. They still grieved Brighton’s death, but knowing he had a second, better chance had helped soothe them.

  She placed her hands over her belly, which was relatively flat despite the fact that she’d still had a little baby fat from Ellie that she hadn’t had time to get rid of yet.

  Yay, shifter genes.

  Unfortunately, she felt no joy over that right now.

  This time around, she’d make sure he had a good life. Both of them. That was why they had to get this damn bomb stopped.

  What Purs had learned didn’t give her any info in that direction, though, unfortunately. She’d kind of hoped maybe it would give her any nuggets she could use to track cockatrice, but…no.

  As she returned to bed and stretched out, staring at the ceiling, she wondered if there’d ever come a time when they could just have a boring, normal family?

  Because that was looking like a pretty damn good option at that point.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Aliah didn’t waste much time while she was in Carl’s body. She not only wanted to get to know Carl’s Eastern European contacts a lot better, but she wanted to know more about his home nest. He’d been so fucking closed-mouthed over the years that she’d had no idea his mother and some other relatives were even still alive.

  Honestly? She’d thought his nest was operating out of Maine.

  But now that she knew a little, she wanted to know it all. Unfortunately, she needed that info from Carl.

  It’d be awfully suspicious if she—Carl—started asking people shit they already knew he knew.

  Despite trying to get the info out of Carl, she was having trouble deciphering everything. Which pissed her off.

  Finally, she found a folder in his computer that she couldn’t access. It required a login, and none of the ones she knew he used worked.

  When she asked him for the info, he remained stubbornly quiet on the matter.

  “Carl, I swear to the Dark Ones, I will get ‘I AM A CUM SLUT’ tattooed on your fucking forehead and ‘FILL MY SLUT ASS’ for you as a tramp stamp and sell you off to a biker gang as their bitch if you don’t work with me, buddy.”

  The protestations died down. Suddenly, a username and password appeared out of nowhere in her mind.

  She typed it in and that worked.

  “See? Now was that so fucking hard, asshole? Holy crap, you’d think I was asking you to barbecue live kittens or something.”

  She tiptoed through the files and records in the folder. There were documents and .pdf files and spreadsheets.

  And copies of property deeds. Especially in and around the New Madrid area.

  She looked up one of the addresses on Google Earth and zoomed in on it. “Heeey…” The area was perfect from what she’d seen on the TV show about the New Madrid fault.

  If she could get her hands on a big enough nuclear device…

  A slow grin filled her face.

  Well, filled Carl’s face.

  If she could detonate a large enough bomb right there, dead center on the New Madrid fault line…

  Hell, with fracking and shit like that triggering earthquakes like crazy, couldn’t a nuclear device do the same damn thing?

  Even if it didn’t trigger a massive earthquake, the chaos it would kick off would be gorgeously epic. The US government would immediately blame it on militant religious nutjobs and start bombing some worthless shithole in the middle of Buttfuckistan.

  When Carl started to speak, she shut him down. “You are one syllable away from a call to a tattoo parlor.”

  He shut up.

  Holy fuck, she was enjoying the hell out of terrorizing Carl like this. She might be able to get her baby back and got to torture the fuck out of Carl? And blow up part of the Midwest and possibly trigger a massive earthquake, or at least World War III, in the process?

  Fuck yeah!

  If only Cameron could see her now, finally in charge and able to make some real shit happen. She closed her eyes against the prickle of tears threatening. She had to be strong. No tears allowed. Not yet. Not now.

  First, she had to get their baby back.

  Their son.

  The only living link she had left to her mate.

  Once she did that, then she could make the rest of the world pay. And if she fucked it up, who cared?

  She could always head to other worlds, now that she knew how to get there.

  Using some of the notes she’d discovered in Carl’s files, she used a TOR server to send an anonymous e-mail to a guy in New Jersey, asking for a meeting and promising twenty thousand, cash, just to talk.

  Sitting back with a smile on her face, she knew she wouldn’t have to wait long. This guy was greedy, based on Carl’s memories of past dealings with him. He’d be able to arrange a meeting with people who could provide what she wanted.

  Meanwhile, she used the next several weeks wisely. Her guys in Florida had gotten decent intel and were working on trying to figure out what the wolves’ routines were. Just running in there and grabbing the baby wouldn’t be the best option.

  Especially since there was more than one male baby in there. Only two of them appeared young enough to possibly be hers. If worse came to worst, the fallback plan was to grab any male baby who was around the right age and bring them. She’d kill off the wrong ones. Sacrifice them on the rock pile, even.

  Then she’d have her Cameron back.

  It was the one thing keeping her going and not just plundering Carl’s assets and then trying to get her own body back.

  She had to take precautions. If she came back in her own body now, she not only lost the leverage of Carl’s position, but she lost access to all his money and holdings and contacts—and he would be on her ass like a fly on shit trying to kill her.

  That couldn’t happen.

  The alligator bullshit in Louisiana. The Yellowstone cock-up. The meth house disappearing. All those failures would pale in comparison if she fucked this up.

  And this would not be fucked up.

  But she’d have to be patient.

  Then, the luckiest break of all, she received a reply from the contact about getting the weapon she wanted. It w
as doable, but it would cost her.

  Well, it’d cost Carl.

  And she’d already figured out Carl had the dough. He’d been storing up assets in secret accounts all over the fucking place.

  “Bet your mom would be pissed off you’ve been holding out on her, huh?” Aliah teased as she headed out for the meeting. “Don’t worry. Once this is over, she won’t be a problem for you anymore. I’ll make sure of that.”

  She thought he might be trying to protest, but she wasn’t sure.

  Frankly, she didn’t care.

  The days of her caring what Carl might think had long since passed.

  She was in the driver’s seat. If she had to stay here for the rest of her life because she couldn’t get her own body back? That would suck, but it’d be preferable to standing idly by and watching her and her mate’s baby be raised by those mangy, goddamned meddling wolves.

  She’d rather die than let that happen.

  And if she had to die in the process, she’d take as many fucking assholes with her as possible.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the middle of September, Elain was ready to give up on the vision and admit defeat. Nothing they’d tried had worked. Other than that little snippet about the unknown man—who still remained unidentified—talking to the woman, Elain and the others hadn’t had any more visions regarding the bomb.

  Ryan, Baba Yaga, and Lacey made no progress, either.

  It was beyond frustrating.

  Even Lina, who’d previously exuded unshakable self-confidence, was nearing depression. Poor Mai was distraught, and not just due to her pregnancy hormones.

  Late one night, after feeding and changing Ellie and getting her put to bed, Elain stood there in her room and stared down at her daughter. So innocent and beautiful and perfect. An Alpha wolf.

  In this case, Elain hadn’t been the one to manipulate the Ether to bring about her soul’s rebirth, either.

  That was all on Baba Yaga. No, Elain wouldn’t complain. Mercedes had been a hater of Rodolfo Abernathy, too.

  As she stared at her daughter, a thought slammed into Elain’s head.

  A stupidly simple thought.

  She picked Ellie up and created her “don’t wake up the guys” bubble as she walked down to the far end of the house, into a spare bedroom, and closed the door behind her.

  “Ryan, appareo,” she softly said.

  He appeared, arching an eyebrow at her in greeting.

  “We need Purson.”

  He let out a sigh, nodded, and disappeared again.

  She settled on the bed to wait. He returned a few minutes later with Purson in tow.

  “Now what?” Purson asked.

  “Ellie was Mercedes.”

  “I don’t care if she was a fucking Rolls Royce. What’s that got to do with me?”

  “Purs,” Ryan said. “Elain’s daughter was Mercedes, an Alpha wolf-atrice, in her previous life.”

  Purson finally looked like he was paying attention. “An Alpha whatatrice?”

  “You heard me the first time,” Ryan said. “She was the sister to the two cockatrice who were in possession of two of those spell books.”

  “Oh. Well, why didn’t you say so? What the home does that have to do with me?”

  Ryan pointed to Elain, handing it off to her.

  “I know what Mercedes told her mate, Marston. But I need to know if Mercedes knew anything about the origins of the books, where her brothers got them, how her mother got hold of the magick she did to trick Rodolfo Abernathy, any of that. Stuff that she either didn’t tell Marston, or maybe that she lied about to him. Even better if we can find out exactly what her brothers told her.”

  Purson looked from her to Ryan and back again. “I thought wolf mates couldn’t lie to each other?”

  “It depends on the circumstances. She wasn’t his One, and she wasn’t full wolf.”

  Purson stared at the baby in Elain’s arms for a long, quiet moment. “Ryan, are you seriously signing off on this?”

  “I am.”

  “What?” Elain asked. “What’s wrong?” She held Ellie a little closer. “Why is this different than what you did before?” Now she was having second thoughts.

  Ryan held up a staying hand. “An unborn child isn’t likely to suffer any ill effects or disorientation from the investigation Purson conducted. An adult is far easier to deal with as well, since they usually have their personality, their soul, their being for this life already defined and well-set.

  “A young baby, their mind is malleable, flexible. While the soul is technically sealed off in its own life, things can leak back and forth through those barriers until the child is older and their personality comes through and the barriers solidify. Nature or nurture, either way. This is why it’s not uncommon for young children reportedly speak of things which are verifiable that happened in previous lives.”

  “Will it hurt her?” Elain asked.

  “It shouldn’t harm her, no,” Ryan said. “It’s just not something usually mucked about with.”

  “So you can do it?”

  Purson nodded. “I won’t be happy about it, but I’ll try. Especially given what’s at stake.”

  Elain sat on the bed with Ellie in her arms. Purson sat next to her and while holding his amulet in one hand, he placed his other on Ellie’s head, cupping her skull.

  A moment of fear washed through Elain as she realized those very same hands had killed no telling how many people.

  “I don’t kill babies,” he muttered with a smirk. “So stop it.”

  She felt her face redden. “Sorry.”

  She didn’t interrupt him, trying to keep her mind as quiet as possible while he did his thing. Ellie slept right through it, not even moving as he did.

  It took him a while, nearly twenty minutes. By the time he sat back and opened his eyes, Elain felt her nerves frayed, on edge.

  “Her brothers told her the books came from family and never explained how or where. She thought the one Edgar had might have been their mother’s simply because of the scents she remembered smelling on it as a young child. But she never realized there were still more books out there. She thought they had the only two left.”

  “And the knives?”

  “Ditto. They already had them. She realized later in life, after she was with Marston, that maybe her brothers weren’t what she thought they were early on. Marston was good for her.”

  Purson’s expression turned sad as he stared down at the sleeping baby. “Marston made her finally understand how bad her brothers were. Believe it or not, he was a good influence on her, and she on him. She wanted a second chance for both of them to have a happy family. To love each other. To take the money they stole from Abernathy and go somewhere and raise their daughter. Maybe have more children. To stay away from everyone else and just live in peace.”

  “I believe it,” Elain whispered. “That’s why he’s still alive.”

  “There was also something about her talking to you in a garden. By a sundial? And in the woods by a grave.”

  Elain choked back a sob. “That really was her?”

  “She died violently and terrified for her baby, sad to be leaving her mate. It was some strong residual energy that hadn’t quite embedded itself deep inside you yet as your baby. Her way of saying good-bye and thank you. She was aware then what happened and what would come next. She’s glad that she’ll be in a good family.”

  Tears rolled down Elain’s face. “Anything else?”

  He took a deep breath, looking away. “She said thank you for sparing him. That she knows how hard that was for you. And to please tell him she loves him and their baby, and that she doesn’t hold him responsible. And she said thank you for moving her so she won’t be forgotten.”

  Elain found herself nodding. “Thank you.”

  Purson looked at Ryan, who held a hand out. “Thank you, Purson. I truly appreciate it.”

  After shaking with Ryan, Purson disappeared, leaving Elain with R
yan. He walked over and took Purson’s place on the edge of the bed.

  “My dear,” he finally said, “this is another reason I don’t recommend mucking about inside people’s past lives.”

  She nodded hard, still crying.

  “You have the potential to be able to do this very thing. Please, promise me to keep this moment close to your heart, and close at hand in your mind, as a valuable reminder why you cannot just go doing things to take an easy path. I agree that, in this case, it was warranted. Absolutely. But just as the Ether should not be tampered with for fun or spite, neither should soul energy.”

  She nodded.

  He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Do you wish me to stay for a few moments?”

  She shook her head.

  He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before reaching down and gently stroking Ellie’s head.

  Then, he disappeared.

  Elain needed to pull herself together before her next task. She put Ellie back to bed, washed her face and blew her nose, grabbed her cell phone, and appeared in Marston’s kitchen.

  He was sitting on the couch, watching TV. When he saw her, he immediately sat up, alarmed. “Elain! Are you all right?”

  He rushed across the room and into the kitchen, concern on his face.

  Genuine concern.

  She threw her arms around him and hugged him. “Please don’t ask me how I know this, but it’s true, and I can’t make myself say it more than once, so listen closely,” she whispered.

  “All right.”

  “Mercedes loves you, and she doesn’t blame you for what happened. At all. She loves you and the baby.”

  His body went rigid in her embrace. “Elain, please tell me Ellie is all right and safe?”

  “She is. She’s fine.”

  He marginally relaxed and finally hugged her back. “Thank you.”

  “Please don’t break my heart and do something shitty and make me have to kill you one day.”

  A sad sigh escaped him. “If you tell me to live, I will. For Colleen and for you. But I take no pleasure in it for myself. I am no longer that wolf. I didn’t want to be him in the first place, but I hated myself after I lost my One.”