Darkangel(71)

Margot Emory had said Rachel was trying to protect me, but I couldn’t see how not knowing the whole truth was of any benefit. All right, some of it might have been too frightening to tell a young girl, and waiting possibly served some purpose. But I was almost twenty-two now, and although I was sheltered in a lot of ways, I wasn’t completely innocent. Plenty of information to be had on the Internet if you needed to have your curiosity satisfied.

The bright sun and the palm trees blowing in the warm wind and the gleaming high-rises around us seemed incongruous when balanced against my brooding thoughts. It wasn’t the sort of place you expected to see a group of dark warlocks descend, that was for sure. Had they left, or were they still watching us, waiting to see if the de la Paz crew might leave us undefended at some point?

A chill went over me as I recalled Damon Wilcox’s hungry dark eyes, the way he had smiled so knowingly at me. Even the Verde Valley’s oldest virgin could figure out exactly what he wanted.

I didn’t know if I made a sound, or a sudden movement, but Aunt Rachel asked in worried tones, “Angela, are you all right?”

Of course I wasn’t. Not really. But I was angry at her, for all the things she’d hidden and hadn’t said. Angry as I was, though, this was not the place for me to blow up. True, everyone in the van was family, more or less. Even so, there was family, and then there was family. The things I wanted to say to her would have to wait until the two of us were alone together.

So I only shook my head and told her, “I’m fine. That was just…not something I was expecting. But I’m okay.”

Her expression was still dubious, but she appeared unwilling to press the issue. Instead, she gave a little nod and then turned to look back out the window. We were turning now down the side street that led to the parking garage. I glanced behind us. The black Suburban was still there.

Since it was now past noon and people from the surrounding high-rise office buildings had apparently converged on the place for lunch, we did have to drive to the upper level of the parking structure to get two spots next to one another. Phil waited for the de la Paz men to get out of their SUV, and then he unlocked the doors of the van so we could all climb out as well.

“You know where the Apple store is?” Alex asked me.

“I think so.”

He smiled even as he shook his head. “I’ll guide you in. Come on.”

Once we got to the ground level, we entered the shopping center proper. Most of the people around us were well-dressed and glossy, and I wondered what they thought of our contingent. Bad enough that we were now such a large group that we’d attract attention merely from our sheer numbers. Add to that Rachel’s swirling India-print skirt and Phil’s ponytail and dark brown tunic, which looked like he’d stolen it off someone in an ashram somewhere, and we didn’t exactly fit in.

I generally didn’t buy a huge number of holiday presents, mainly because once I went outside my own little circle, I felt as if I should be getting something for each and every McAllister in Jerome, and that would break the bank pretty fast. Sydney was already taken care of, and after I saw Aunt Rachel pick up an iPad mini, look it over, then set it back down with a regretful look on her face, I decided to get one for her. Yes, I was angry with her, but she’d done so much for me. I had more money now than I’d ever had before to spend on gifts, and I might as well get her something she wanted.

So I went over to one of the blue-shirted store employees and made my request in an undertone as Aunt Rachel turned away to inspect a display of laptop bags, then added a fun weather station you operated with your iPhone to my order. Adam would love that…and since it seemed we were probably going to be shacked up together in the near future, I figured I should buy him something good for Yule. And he did love his iPhone.

Most of the rest of my group was what you’d call technologically impaired, so they didn’t get much. The whole time I was aware of the watching eyes of the de la Pazes on me, especially Alex. He was still as attractive as ever, but I didn’t think he was quite as good-looking as Chris Wilson.

Who had never returned my call. After I finished paying for my items, I fished out my phone…trying not to feel self-conscious about using an Android device in an Apple store…and checked it for any missed calls. Nada.

By then it was almost one. “Everyone hungry?” I asked, after we’d regrouped in the courtyard outside.

Head nods and various yeses.

“Zinburger is good,” Alex offered. “I’ll show you.”

We all trooped after him, following along like ducklings following the momma duck. I wondered if any of the people watching us go by thought we were on some kind of tour. There were far too many of us to be seated at one table, so we had to settle for adjacent spots toward the back of the restaurant. And although Alex looked as though he would rather have sat by me, we all ended up more or less segregated by clan, with my aunt on one side of me and Henry Lynch on the other.