Protector(18)

Hearing this, Alex wanted to smile. Yes, she was scared, and worried, but he could tell she wasn’t going to lie down and give up. Those McAllister witches were tougher than they looked.

“That’s good to hear,” Luz said. “But let’s gather up your things and bring them with us. That way, when we are done at Maya’s house, you can go directly to Alex’s place. Do we need to wait for you to pack anything?”

“No,” Caitlin said. “I put everything back as I used it. Just give me a sec to go get my bags — I left them sitting on the bed.” She headed back into the other room.

Alex gave his mother a sharp look, and she smiled. “Worried, my son?”

“Worried” probably wasn’t the exact word. Disturbed…on edge…unsure of himself. Was he ready to have a beauty like Caitlin McAllister camped out in his house for the indefinite future?

“I’m fine,” he said shortly.

Right after that, she came back in, a hard-sided suitcase in one hand and a smaller weekender-style bag in the other. She lifted her chin, and her shining hair fell over her shoulders as she announced, “I’m ready.”

Once again Alex wondered what it would feel like, those rivers of molten copper slipping through his fingers, and a not entirely unpleasant shiver went over him. This wasn’t good. He shouldn’t be attracted to her. He couldn’t, not with his mother inviting her to come stay with him so she would be safe.

All right, maybe she’d be safe from those unknown warlocks if she was staying at his house.

The question was, would she be safe from him?





4





Everything was happening so fast, moving so quickly. Now they were back in Alex’s SUV, heading north toward Scottsdale and a meeting with Maya de la Paz. Somehow that felt wrong, as if she should be calling her parents to tell them what had happened, or at least Roslyn’s parents — belatedly, Caitlin realized she didn’t even have a number where she could reach Danica’s mother and father, now that her cell phone with all its stored contact information was gone — but when she’d tried to suggest doing so, Luz Trujillo had only shaken her head and told her that it was Maya’s duty to inform the prima of the McAllisters and the Wilcox primus that something terrible had happened to two of their witches while visiting in de la Paz territory.

That had made a little sense, but Caitlin still thought it was wrong that her Aunt Lysette and Uncle Marcus didn’t know anything of what had happened to their daughter, and neither did Olivia and Joseph Wilcox. But there wasn’t much she could do about it now. If she’d wanted to call anyone, she should have done it while she was back at the condo and had access to a landline.

And maybe those warlocks had looked up Lysette’s and Marcus’ number where it was stored in her contacts, and had already called. Maybe they’d made a ransom demand or something. No, that didn’t feel right. Those warlocks hadn’t been after money. They’d wanted Roslyn and Danica…and Caitlin herself, only she’d somehow been lucky enough or crazy enough or whatever to get away. Something about the blood…she didn’t know what it was for sure. A whisper of a whisper, the sort of subject that was always carefully avoided whenever impressionable ears were around. Blood magic was the darkest kind, one that had been forbidden for generations. What were those three warlocks trying to do?

She stared out at the unfamiliar landscape passing by outside the SUV’s windows. How dry and dusty it was here, how inhospitable-looking. No, that wasn’t exactly fair. At this time of year, there were wildflowers blooming along the edges of the highway, in shades of bright coral and pale, pale lavender and purest white. Even the desert had its blooms, although sometimes you had to look harder to find them.

On the way out of town, Alex had stopped at a drive-through and gotten iced teas for everyone. Luz had asked if Caitlin wanted anything to eat, and she’d shaken her head. It had been a long time since the burger she’d eaten on her way into Phoenix, when Danica had pulled over at an In-N-Out on the outskirts of the suburban sprawl, but at the moment, the thought of trying to force some food down her throat only made her feel vaguely nauseated. At some point Caitlin knew she’d have to eat, but not now. Right now, she just had to get through this interview with Maya de la Paz.

That notion was almost as frightening as the thought of confronting those three warlocks again. Caitlin had never met Maya, or even seen her, but she’d heard stories about what a tough woman the de la Paz prima was, how no witch or warlock with a healthy sense of self-preservation would ever think about going up against her. She was sure to ask questions, hard questions, and Caitlin had no idea how she would ever begin to answer them.