Dark Tremor (Mated by Magic #2) (2 page)

She turned and grinned. “Sure. It’ll cost you. Sat-phones ain’t cheap.”

“Tack it onto the cost of my tow.”

“That’ll work just fine. Can I see your card?” Her palm shot out as he dug his wallet out of his dusty jeans. He handed her his Amex.

With her nose to the plastic, she read, “F-i-a-l-k-o...Like in the New York Fialko’s in the news?”

“No relation,” he lied. The last thing he needed was someone knowing his brother was a b’zillionaire.

She slid the card through an ancient mechanical device and handed him back his card. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Where the hell would I go?” Grumbling, he picked up the satellite phone and dialed his brother. “Hey, Jack.”

“I thought you were off the grid for a few days of R&R.”

“Me too.” He raked his fingers through his hair, stared at his wreck, and paced. “Something came up. I was on my ATV in the middle of the desert and found a piece of what looks like black turquoise. And damned if it isn’t hot to the touch. It’s got some kind of magical properties. Possibly a conduit of sorts.”

“Hold on while I login to our site. Takes a few minutes. The guys in IT have it so secure that even I can’t get in without an act of God.” After a long silence and much clicking of a keyboard, Jack let out a long whistle. “Call me back when you find a land line. Use the encrypted number.”

Jace scratched the back of his neck and kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot. Figures the woman was hiding something big. Fuck. He should hop on the next plane out of there and let his brother deal with this shit. Jack was the expert. Plus the man was already mated, so there was no danger of the little badger working her solstice magic on him.

“Everything else okay?” Jack asked.

Hell no
. But he couldn’t let his big brother know how the little badger had affected him. Jack would be up in his face about it, his mother and sister would come, and they’d have him in a wedding tux by week’s end. He’d just not touch the witch again. Once solstice was over, the mating urge would subside, and he could get on with his life.

“Nah, I’m good. Call you back in an hour or so.”

They said their goodbyes.

Five days of solstice hell left to go. His cock swelled, thinking about her naked under him.

Shut up dick-head. We’re not mating. We’ll find a willing, sweet thing in Vegas, pick her up, and have meaningless sex.

His cock disagreed.

Pumpkin meowed and paced along the glass wall, wanting out.

“Uh-uh. Not now.” Terra sat at her computer, glancing out the window every few seconds. Where was ATV-man? She stood, about to go out and check, then stopped. Jelly would be here any moment. Best to avoid all contact with him.

But what if he’s unconscious in this heat?

Heat. Holy crap. The heat that man generated could get him arrested. That, along with trespassing.

In the distance, a cloud of dust in the flat desert indicated the tow truck was on its way.
Jelly. Thank God.

He must’ve seen it too, because he came out of the gully, turned, and scowled up at the window.

Well, screw you too, buddy.

Sitting, she began the tedious task of categorizing her pieces of turquoise, then sent out a few emails to her East Coast buyers. Only the rich and rather clueless.

What were the odds that someone who knew turquoise would crash right outside her vein?

She swallowed hard and a tremor of fear vibrated in her chest. What if it wasn’t a coincidence? Maybe he knew all along about her mine and wanted to steal it.

That’s why he’s here.

Her heart raced as she ran back to the window. ATV-man toed the ground, bent over and picked up a stone. His mouth gaped open wide.

The familiar look, then the power shift. She shuddered, feeling him within, as his palm stretched out, producing a fireball. It blazed and grew, until it flew across the desert, landing beyond sight. From his expression, he was seriously impressed.

Shit and double hell.

She flew into the bathroom, rummaged through her jacket pocket and pulled out a Ziploc bag. Two shards, not three. A hole in a corner of the plastic made her let out a string of curses.

Gritting her teeth, she moaned. How to get it back?

“I’m here,” Jelly yelled from the front door. “Just checking to make sure the hottie out there didn’t murder you or something.”

“Or something,” she muttered, then walked toward the kitchen. Damn the man to hell, ‘cause that’s where he was going if she didn’t get the gem back.

“You okay, Hun?” Jelly’s dark eyes studied her, no doubt sizing up the whole morning.

“Yeah,” she lied, and picked up the freshly brewed pot of coffee. She set down two mugs. “Want some?”

“Sure, I’ll take a cup. But make it quick. He doesn’t look all that good. Probably should drop him off with Doctor Subra-whatever.”

“Subrahana.”

“Yup. That’s what I said.” Jelly placed her credit card machine on the table, and pulled off the merchant’s copy.

“He looks fine to me.” Terra grabbed the paper. Fialko. New Jersey.

Jelly snorted. “Got that right. Damnedest green eyes I ever seen. Look how he fills out those jeans. The rest isn’t all that bad, either.”

Her frankness caused Terra’s face to burn, but it was all true.

The man who signed his name J. Fialko curled his biceps as he struggled to get a hook under his ATV. He scooted onto his back and his t-shirt rode up exposing cut abs. His low cut button-fly jeans pulled down, and a small line of dark hair pointed to what was no doubt, a treat any woman would love to try.

Any woman except her. She squeezed her legs tightly, annoyed that she was growing damp between her thighs.

“What happened out there?” Jelly pointed to the crack in the ground that ran for three or four hundred feet.

“There’s an old mine under all this land. Must’ve collapsed. He crashed when it happened. I heard him and got help.

“Pretty lucky for him you were nearby. What was he doin’ way out here?”

Probably trying to steal my mine.
“Don’t know.”

“Want me to take him down to the sheriff’s office and have him throw a fine on him?”

“No.” She didn’t need anyone else snooping around here. Best leave it alone until she figured a way to get the stone back.

Jelly swallowed the last of her coffee and headed out the door. “Well. Looks like he just about got his little toy car all ready to go. By the way, I called Falcon to check up on ya. Surprised he ain’t here yet. Catch ya’ later, Hun.”

“Jelly.”

The woman stopped at the door.

“Can you find out where he’s staying and let me know?”

Jelly’s bushy eyebrows shot up, then she winked. “Want me to get his keycard too?”

“It’s not like that…I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“Sure thing, Hun.” Jelly gave her a wide grin.

“Thanks,” she muttered, her face more heated than before.

The dust from the tow truck had just cleared when another appeared down the road.
Falcon
.

Terra rolled her eyes and said to Pumpkin, “Great. Here I was hoping to avoid him until after solstice.”

Her cat meowed, jumped off the table and onto the top of the bookshelf, where he could see better out the window. She swore he hissed as his tail wagged.

Best get this over with.

The desert heat hit her face and body when she opened the front door. Too warm, she started to remove her sweatshirt, then remembered J. Fialko’s heated look, earlier.

Falcon waved as he jumped out of the old blue truck. As was his norm, he dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, with his long native hair tied back at the nape of his neck.

“I heard you had company this morning. Everything okay?” Dark eyes over high cheekbones studied her face.

“Sure. I just had to save an idiot tourist from a boulder.”

“So that’s what’s up with the new crack in the sand?”

“No biggie. Just an ounce of power. It’s not that big or deep.”
I need that shard back.

“We should go in. Hot out here.” He took her hand, and she couldn’t help but compare his touch to that of J. Fialko. Soggy cornflakes versus Fourth of July.

She slipped out of Falcon’s grasp and made a beeline for the kitchen area, but he followed on her heels. Thankfully, Pumpkin did his best to tangle up their feet and they separated.

“Iced coffee?”

“That’ll do fine.” He stepped close behind her and slid a hand around her waist while she poured.

“C’mon, Falcon. We’ve talked about this.” She firmly peeled his fingers off her body.

“I’m not good enough for you? Is that it?” His hands fisted at his sides.

“No.” She shook her head. Dammit. How not to hurt him? Her heart bled. She couldn’t lie and she couldn’t tell him the truth. He was like her big brother. It could never be more.

“What is it then? Because I’m from a healer clan, not warring?” He wore the wounded look of a little kid whose bike was stolen.

“You know that doesn’t matter to me. I’m just not ready. Maybe I’ll never be.” She inched backwards when he moved closer. “I like living alone.”

“Just say you’ll come with me to the reservation for the solstice celebration. They’ll be good food, dancing. You can say hi to my grandfather...I won’t try anything.”

“Maybe it’s best I don’t. Not until after solstice.”

Growling, he pulled her close, and placed a soggy kiss on her closed lips.

It would be awesome if she felt something. But nothing. Just mushy wet unwanted lips. And if she was honest, a bit of revulsion.

When she didn’t respond, he stepped away. “Dammit, Terra. I love you. We’ve been friends for years.
We
make sense. I can protect you. Who knows who’ll find you out here all alone.”

There was a hint of a threat behind his words that made the hair on the back of Terra’s neck stand on end.

“I can protect myself. I have for years.”

“Maybe.” Falcon gave a small shrug. “Why waste away out here, all alone, when you can have a family, a community?”

“I love you, too, just not
that
way.”

His face went red, and his jaw pulsed from where he no doubt ground his teeth. “I’m not going to wait forever.”

“I don’t expect you to.” She wrapped her arms around her chest, suddenly cold all the way through.

He turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

As his truck raced away, she sat down at her desk and rubbed her temples.

Could this day get any worse?

Apparently, it could. As she scrolled through her recent banking transactions and sales, the figures made her stomach cramp. Her credit card was maxed to the hilt and her personal account was in the red. She was flat-out broke. 

Her only option left was to sell some turquoise, locally. Ebay was better, but those transactions could take weeks and there were bills that needed paying now.

For the millionth time, she considered a loan, but let it go. That would mean dealing with a bank, and answering all sorts of personal questions. Maybe she could lie, just a little, but not today. Not when J. Fialko had just stolen a shard of black turquoise.

The minute he got to Jelly’s garage, Jace borrowed a landline and called his brother. “Why the secrecy?”

“Tell me a little more about that black turquoise.”

The intensity of Jack’s tone made Jace shiver. Shit. He should’ve left the rock where he found it. This day was nothing but trouble.

He unwound the handset cord as he walked over to the door of the waiting room. When he was sure no one was listening, he pulled the shard out of his pocket. It still burned as it did in the heat of the sun. The rush to his witch senses was fucking unbelievable. The urge to use it, almost undeniable. He dropped it onto the counter and shuddered.

“Looks like a rare shard of turquoise, but when it hits my skin, it’s almost…alive, begging me to conjure.” He hissed a breath through his teeth. “Never felt anything like it before.”

“How big a piece did you find?”

“About a sixteenth of an inch thick, and about two inches long.” Jace paced as best he could, tied by the short phone cord.

“You think there’s more?”

“Hard to know...” He didn’t doubt the little badger had a few more secrets. “I was out in the middle of nowhere.”

How much did he want his brother to know? He did a quick calculation of the events that would unfold. He’d tell Jack about the witch, Jack would have her investigated, and the US clan court would dole out some sentence for hiding this shit. Her prickly nature alone would get her convicted.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.” He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

“Listen. It’s dangerous. If there’s a whole vein of it, it could turn the tide of power. If it’s just a random piece, bring it home and we’ll lock it up. You need to find out which it is. I’m trusting you on this.”

“You sure you want to do that?”

There was a heavy sigh on the other side of the line. “Whatever you
think
I feel about you, it’s all in your head. Time to step up and drop the past.” The big-brother tone grated on Jace’s already frayed nerves.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you as soon as I find anything out.” He picked up the shard and shoved it back in his pocket. “Put what you have on a secure FTP site and I’ll download it when I find a hotspot.”

“Be careful. I got a bad feeling about this.”

“Yeah, me too.”

He got back into his truck, turned on the blessed AC, and counted the cash in his wallet. It’d taken fifty bucks to convince Jelly to take him to where he’d parked the car, and the tow hadn’t been cheap. No credit cards allowed at the gas station, either. Damn. Who the hell carried cash anymore?

All he wanted to do was go back to his hotel and forget about the little badger and her stone, but Jack was counting on him.

Best to go back out into the desert, confront the witch, then get his ass out of Dodge.

He was halfway to her place when he spotted a truck barreling down the road towards him. A flash of blonde hair and blue eyes zoomed by.

The little badger was in a hurry and no doubt headed for trouble.

Pulling a fast U-turn, he followed at what he hoped was a safe distance. After they got to the highway, he closed the gap before hitting Vegas traffic.

At a light, with a cop nearby, he almost lost her, but her pull was strong. He turned right. Then, it was an easy ride, up until he drove to the Texas-sized pawnshop. There, a neon ‘R’ towered into the sky on a rusty pole. Three foot lettering ‘R nny’s’ stood on the flat roof of the cinder block building. The ‘O,’ lay flat on its back, next to the rundown building.

She got out of her truck and started across the parking lot, never noticing the scruffy guy heading straight towards her. On the surface, he seemed innocent enough, but the gun in his waistband said differently.

Heart racing, Jace jumped out of the truck, slammed the door, and glowered. The guy looked up, shrugged, and veered off. 

Terra headed into the shop with her purse clutched tight, never noticing the close call. The door slammed shut behind her.

What was she up to?
If she was selling pieces of dark turquoise on the black market, she was in a hell of a lot more trouble than he’d originally thought.

Jace sprinted across the hot tar and entered silently. From the shelves of cheap souvenirs in the back, he inched forward toward the register.

Already, she’d unzipped a small vinyl bag and emptied rough turquoise onto the countertop.

A large black guy, twice the size of her, took a look at the stones and said, “Twenty bucks.”

Bullshit.
The stones, if they were the ones he’d seen on her table, were worth over five hundred. His ears burned. Why did she put up with this shit? Why not go to a reputable buyer? He walked to the front, turned his back to her, appearing to study the figurines behind the cabinet. He used the glass as a mirror.

With a scrunched up face, she shook her head, no, and put the stones back in her bag.
Good girl.

“Tell you what, you give me a piece of that black you showed me awhile back, and I’ll make it worth your while. I got us a real generous buyer.” The man leaned over the counter and clamped a paw over her wrist.

“Let go.” She struggled.

“Can’t do that, Doll. I want that stone and you’re going to give it to me.”

The ground started to tremble. A few glass ornaments fell off the shelves and crashed to the floor.

“I said, let go.”

“Your kind doesn’t scare me.”

“I think you should do as she asks.” Jace turned, balls of flaming energy blazing in both hands, weighing the possibility of burning the bastard to a crisp. The cops would call it spontaneous human combustion.

The big guy let go, and one hand reached under the counter.

“Hands. Let me see them.” Jace shot one of the balls close to the man’s head.

“Stop it.” Terra glared at him. “What’re you doing here?”

“Saving your ass. Get behind me.”

The man used the opportunity to pull out a shotgun. “I got video to prove self-defense.”

“I have no problem dealing with the fallout. Do you?”

The man cocked the gun.

“Are you insane?”  She shook her head at him.

“Are you? Get behind me.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned back to the man behind the counter and set down a shard of black turquoise. “Here. This is what I got. What’ll you give me for it?”

The man’s eyes glistened and he licked his lips. “Three hundred.”

“I’ll give you five. C’mon. We’re going.” Jace scooped up the rocks, and tugged her behind his back.

Wham.
He almost staggered at the double dose of intoxication, of black rock and solstice mating heat.

“You’ll regret this,” the man sneered.

He already did. But what the hell else was he supposed to do?

Breathing hard, and with blood rushing to his cock, he backed her out of the building and didn’t stop until they reached his truck.

“Get in.” He pushed the key fob with one eye on the door.

With a slight hesitation, she jumped in. “You really are crazy.”

“I wasn’t the one trying to sell a magical conduit to a thug in the middle of the Nevada desert.”

“I wasn’t–”

He slammed her door, not waiting to hear her excuse.

When he jumped in the driver’s side, she picked up her tirade. “Who do you think you are? And why were you following me?”

Ignoring her, he gunned the engine, checking the rearview every few seconds. At least four laws were broken as the blocks of pawn shops and dollar stores flew by. Wheels squealed, he turned onto the main freeway, and exhaled.

She gripped the edge of the seat with white knuckles and said, “I need to go back. I can’t just leave my truck there.”

He reached into his pocket, threw his phone at her, and growled, “Call someone to get it. You’re not going back there. Ever.”