Breanna (23 page)

“Hey!” Pale amber eyes blinked and blinked again, peering into a set of grey eyes edged in hard silver. “Jase? What are you…..” the office slowly came into focus, Nick perched on her desk and Jase hauled her from her chair. She wasn’t quite sure what happened to the floor, but it wasn’t beneath her feet. “Umm…..down. Could you…”

“Where were you, Brea?” Jase lifted her another foot off the ground, the edge of his fangs peeking out of his mouth.

“I…just fell asleep….I was thinking about recipes and my computer and….”

“We’ve been trying to wake you for ten minutes,” Nick said from behind her, his voice hard and barely hiding his fear. “Were you out looking for that monster again?”

“He’s not a monster!” She shoved both palms flat against his chest, hard and fell to the floor, the vehemence in her voice making them both take a step back. She straightened her shirt and glared at them both. “He is not a monster and do not ever call him that again,” she reached for her tote and shoved Jase aside. “I’m going home.” They looked at each other and sighed.

“Brea, you rode in with us.”

“Damn it, woman, slow down!” Jase ordered with a growl.

“I’ll walk. It’s only a mile or so and I want to be alone,” she threw over her shoulder, not looking back and not stopping.

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Jase surged forward only to crash face first into a sheer wall of nothing. Her palm flung up behind her as she walked.

“What – the – fuck!”

“I think she’s serious. And we won’t get her to talk later unless we let her go,” Nick pulled the keys from his cargo pants. “You meet the next applicant, I’ll follow and make sure she gets there and be right back.” Brea could hear both of them and they were far from happy. She dropped the shield and kept walking, the fury in her pace beating itself into the loose sand with each footstep.

Damn it, she was just getting answers that made sense.

And he was not a monster!

She heard the SUV come along the highway and wasn’t surprised that Nick was behind the wheel, pacing her. She tried ignoring him.

Yeah, there’s a funny joke.

Neither of them was easy to ignore. She saw him wave a car past him out of the corner of her eye and sighed.

She turned to him. Damn that sexy smile and that shaft of dark hair that fell over one eye when he didn’t have it raked back. She walked toward the SUV and pulled the door open, sliding onto the seat and sitting stiffly once her belt was in place.

“You know we worry about you. We can’t give up that right,” Nick drove slowly along the coastal road. “If you don’t answer, it means you know I’m right.”

“He’s not a monster,” she said after a long minute, shifting resolutely and facing 284

him. “He didn’t know about the reward, Nick. He didn’t know demons had come after me,” she told him firmly, meeting the dark eyes and seeing all humor fade from them.

“He didn’t know someone was hunting me.”

“You asked him?”

“I told him, I asked him and I could see the truth in his eyes,” she said without doubt. “I could feel the truth in him and I….I told him to see what I knew about the town in North Carolina. He wasn’t the one responsible!”

“So you think someone is using his name to cause trouble,” Nick said slowly. “Or using his name because it throws clout behind whatever they’re trying to do,” he corrected thoughtfully.

“I have to talk to my parents,” she told him, quickly jumping out at the house.

“I’ll see you at dinner.”

Brea continued into the house, not watching Nick head back to the office. She went straight through the house to the kitchen and outside, calling out to her mother and father loudly. She smiled when she saw her mother on the deck at the side and her father down by the SUV.

“I need information. I want to know who lived from the attack in North Carolina,” Brea said instantly, not wanting lead in time or cushioning. She wanted truth.

“Brea, what’s wrong?” Hannah started down the steps, stopping when her daughter flung up a palm.

“Sullivan Moore has known where you are our entire lives. Whoever is doing this isn’t him but is using him. And I think they’ve been using you, too,” she stared from one 285

to the other, her father walking up behind her mother, his hands wiping on the rag he’d been using on the SUV. “What did he tell you about your mother? About my grandmother.”

“He never talked about her,” Jeffrey said with a sigh. “What I heard was from people who used to know them before I was born. But even that was selective, guarded.”

“She died giving birth to you. He blames himself. He believes he should have shoved her aside because she was human. That’s why he was against you and mother.

He didn’t want you to hurt like he did. He still loves her,” Brea felt her lips quiver, heard her words filled with tears and fell against her father when he urged her closer. “Oh, dad! He hurts so much inside! I saw it….felt it…”

“Brea…..you….you went to him again?” Hannah felt the fear in her chest.

“Yes!” The word exploded from her lips, defiance in her eyes. “He didn’t know.

He doesn’t know someone was hunting me. He didn’t offer a reward. It’s all lies!

Someone is lying to us,” Brea swiped a palm over her face. “He didn’t send people to hurt everyone in North Carolina. I saw his face when I asked him. I felt his emotions.

He….he says he’s been watching me grow up,” she laid her head back against her father’s chest. “I think he’s lonely.”

“I know,” Hannah whispered softly. “I know.”

“Hannah?” Jeffrey looked at his wife, felt the sorrow from her.

“I could feel him, Rey,” she said quietly. “But it was never anger or….or revulsion I felt from him, so I didn’t say anything.” 286

“Then who….”

“Who knew?” Brea pushed away and paced the concrete, two hands up and sweeping the annoying tears from her cheeks. “It has to be someone from North Carolina. Only they know the why part, but it has to be something that happened before North Carolina. What were they actually after when they came there?”

“There are only half a dozen people who…..who left North Carolina,” Hannah blinked back the tears, staring at her husband and busily turning over names in her mind. “They’re our friends! They’ve protected us, Brea.”

“They wanted you,” Rey said slowly, an expression on his face that made Brea think of Nick. He stared at his daughter thoughtfully, frowning.

“Protected you from what? It’s not grandfather. Why would someone hate you so much they want us dead?” Brea pleaded with them both. “You’ve done a good job as my parents. But you’ve been afraid of the wrong thing all this time,” she shook her head. “Nick saw two people, a man and a woman, carry me to the beach the day they found me out there. But if they knew who I was, if they knew what I was, they knew what they’d done wouldn’t kill me.”

“Your blood,” Rey said abruptly, his brows arched and eyes focused. “They took your blood and slit your wrists to cover it. They made sure we were out of the picture on purpose so we wouldn’t feel….wouldn’t know what they’d done to you.”

“Why? Is there something special about it?” Brea asked excitedly. Finally.

“Chemistry, Brea. Demon chemistry. They would use it in their spells. They would make a fortune from it,” Jeffrey began pacing, one palm up and stroking over his neck.

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“I need to go ask some questions. And no, before you even ask, you are not going with me, either of you,” he informed them sternly, running up the stairs and kissing Hannah soundly. “I’ll be back in an hour. Stay here, both of you.”

“I hate when he does that!” Hannah stomped her foot and caught the surprised giggle from her daughter.

“Do you know where he’d go?” Brea sunk to the bottom step, her chin resting on the two upturned palms.

“I have a guess. I don’t know as much about demon spells as he does,” she came slowly down the stairs and took one above Brea. “Are you alright?”

“Confused,” Brea sighed. “Did you and dad…..”

“Relationship problems?”

“I…no…..no….not really…..” She sighed again. “They own the building I’m putting the new shop in. That’s why I got such a good deal.”

“Okay. Good.”

“They didn’t tell me.”

“You would have fought it, Brea,” she laughed lightly when she got that familiar pout as an answer. “Now you’ve signed the agreement, so it’s a done deal. Why is it important?”

“Did you and dad talk about finance stuff?”

“When we met, our finance stuff consisted of both of us emptying pockets and wallets onto a table to see what we could afford for the month,” Hannah recalled with a happy laugh. “You’re lucky. Your mates are established and doing well. Now your 288

profits will go for supporting all of you the way you want.”

“It feels like I’m taking advantage of them.”

“You’re worried what people will think about your shop but not your personal life?” Hannah arched a brow at her daughter. “Breanna, you’ve taken two men into your life, into your bed. If you can weather that, what people believe about your business arrangement should be a moot point.”

“Gee, make me sound wacked….” She shook her head and laughed, turning slightly to the side and laying her head on her mother’s lap. She closed her eyes, something she’d done since she was little and her mother began gently stroking along her head.

“Those two boys would do anything for you, baby girl. I’ve watched the three of you and…..you’re happy. You’re at ease…..with yourself. The only other place I saw that confidence in you was inside your shop,” Hannah wrapped her arms around Brea’s shoulders and hugged. “If you had the chance to do something they needed, you’d jump on it. It’s not so different for them.”

“I think grandfather scares them.”

“Your grandfather scares a lot of people, Breanna,” she said with a dry laugh. “I think he revels in it, honestly. Leave it to you to break through the walls he’s built.”

“He’s sad. He must have loved her very much,” Brea whispered sadly. “He listens for me to call him. I don’t think he’s inside my head….” She laughed. “He says my mouth would drive him insane. But he listens for me.”

“How do you know?” Hannah felt the trepidation inside her. She had spent her 289

life believing she knew who to trust. She knew why to trust. Protecting her baby had been the only thing in her heart.

“Only since….since you were gone…..the shields you had around me faded. I could feel someone but I never knew who,” Brea sighed. “I don’t think he’s a monster, mom. I don’t. I don’t think he’s responsible for the North Carolina thing, either. Did none of you ever speak to him about it?”

“Brea…..when we went to him to tell him we were getting married….” Hannah could see the day as clearly as she could the sunshine around them now. “He was adamantly against it. Swore he’d never accept it and ordered your father to break off all contact immediately. We left that day and haven’t seen or spoke with him since.”

“And neither of you tried to mend things,” Brea sighed. “He’s probably not easy to get along with…..but he doesn’t deserve to be blamed for things he didn’t do, either.

He was very angry when I told him someone was using him as an excuse to hunt me.”

“You…..you told him that?”

“Of course,” she paused. “Maybe he’s changed. Maybe he’s not so against us now.”

“Maybe, baby-girl…..maybe,” Hannah leaned down, her arms around her daughter and hugging tightly.

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Jase and Nick made their own notes about their final applicant, both looking up when the footsteps sounded in the outer office.

“Rey,” Jase said his name slowly, his eyes immediately sharp. “Brea?”

“With Hannah,” he answered quietly. “I’ve been doing a little checking around town and a few places less popular to humans. Trying to find the source of the who is hunting my daughter.”

“We know it’s demons,” Nick said carefully, leaning back in his chair.

“I saw her take on two of them and a third caught her in the woods one day. I know they were demons by their scent,” Jase confirmed quietly.

“She went to see my father,” Rey saw the immediate tension in both of them.

“Yeah, that’s my reaction, but she swears he’s not involved,” he saw Nick open his mouth and then close it. “She asked him. Told him of the attempts.” Jase closed his eyes, his head back and sigh long.

“And it dawned on me there is probably the reason she needs two mates,” he met the half smile from Nick and the groan from Jase. “There are demons using his name to…..” he exhaled deeply and paced their office. “They want her blood. The more people looking for her, the better their chance, obviously. I think they’re using his name as some kind of focal point,” he shook his head. “As if to say, the head man wants her, do this and you’ll be in good with him. Only I just let a whole lot of them know that it’s 291

a lie and his pleasure is not what they’ll get if they harm his grand-daughter. That information should rush like fire through the community.”

“He wasn’t acting friendly when we met him,” Jase said slowly.

“My father likes to bluster. He likes to intimidate and control.”

“Oh, then he’s just having a grand time with Brea,” Nick burst out laughing, ignoring the scowls from the other two. “Oh, come on…..do either of you really believe there’s any way to curtail her enthusiasm? Her zest or her righteous effort to correct a wrong? And I bet right now she’s seeing her grandfather as seriously wronged and in need of an avenging angel. Our avenging angel.”

“A woman with a mission,” Jase groaned.

“Do you think it’ll help?” Nick asked. “Warning them off?”

“I don’t know. But I do know if my father is now actively involved, you don’t want to be on his bad side.”

“What do they want her blood for?” Jase asked cautiously.

“Brea has a unique formulation of Fae and demon,” Rey said with a sigh. “To be honest, I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before now. I suppose because I don’t see her as a composite of items, I see her as my child. It would be quite powerful, more so than normal blood in rituals that could extend life and other less positive spells,” he pushed a long breath between his lips. “They never wanted her dead, though. They want her alive as a constant source. Whoever it is behind it wanted her isolated, so they tried removing us, first.”

“And your father?”

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“I don’t disbelieve what Brea said about his reactions when she told him what had been happening to her. I also don’t envy the demons responsible when he finds them, and he will find them. His network was always top notch and I’ve been mostly….I’ve been away from that side of things for a long time, trying to shield Brea from that world.”

“We can’t stop her from visiting him,” Nick said carefully.

“I’m…we didn’t part on good terms,” Rey said slowly. “And I’m working very hard not to lose my daughter because I don’t….understand….her choice.”

“You mean because of us,” Nick said quietly.

Dark eyes looked from one man to the other. Not for the first time since meeting them. Not for the first time laying the blame at their feet for what he saw.

“Breanna made a choice,” he began slowly. “If she’s like me, then I’m like my own father and both of us locked the other out after his orders to end my relationship with Hannah. I won’t allow that to happen with my child. I won’t lose her because of something I fear or something I don’t comprehend as…..conventional. She’s happy and I won’t do anything to take that from her.”

“Then it might be time to mend that rift,” Nick said. “I think we all know that if it’s something Brea wants, it will happen. And you can go peacefully, or kicking and screaming. But you will go.”

Jeffrey Cooper laughed, his head shaking.

“You know my daughter well, young man. Now multiply that by two,” he said with a sigh.

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“As long as he doesn’t show up with the horns and hoof thing,” Jase shook his head. “And you really gotta use our names, Rey. Seriously……looking like you do….calling us ‘young man’ it’s just……off.”

“Yeah, well we all have things we must adjust to….boy,” Rey turned and left their office without looking back over his shoulder. But he heard Nick groan and Jase growl.

He chuckled. Keeping his sons-in-laws in line would be one of his more enjoyable tasks through the years.

“So the players have shifted,” Nick commented as they gathered papers and closed things down.

“I put in a call to Seth at the institute. If anyone has hints of what’s going on, he should,” Jase shoved his noted into the soft leather case and snapped it shut. “Let’s go home.”

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