Familiar Desires: 5 (Protective Affairs) (5 page)

“We have time to talk if we don’t get around to it. I want
to be near you more than anything else.” Michael brushed her hair back.

“You can double that for me.” Kane strode into the room.

The buzz of her alarm jolted Alana out of sleep. She felt as
if she’d just gone to bed only a moment ago. That dream. It had been months
since she’d experienced that particular frustration. She still didn’t know what
was dream and if any of the dreams held the truth. Parts of it were fact and
well known to her, but exactly how she ended up leaving with both of them and
then in Michael’s apartment that was all up in the air. She’d been so wrapped
up in the power of the joining that she didn’t remember.

She did remember the time after she had sex with Michael and
Kane and leaving before they woke the next morning. Doubts had pushed at her.
She hadn’t doubted the bond. She’d had so many questions about what they were
going to do and how the relationship would work when they were all so young and
starting their lives.

Alana rolled out of bed with a frown on her face. It had
been a far from restful night. She’d tossed and turned in bed with thoughts of
Kane and Michael. Heading for the shower with heavy feet, she hoped that the
water would wash away some of the drowsiness. If not, she was going to have to
go heavy on the caffeine today.

The water helped a little, but not enough to avoid the forbidden
brew. There was a coffee maker in the room, but she knew there wouldn’t be any
complimentary bag of beans. She hadn’t been served that drink in Devoe since
they’d managed to work out what caused her Familiar ability to surge. That
wouldn’t have changed. They’d been expecting her. The coffee would be the first
thing they thought of removing from the room. Fortunately, she’d gotten used to
carrying her own supply.

It amped up her Familiar abilities a little and sometimes,
like today, brought clouds rolling in and thunder and lightning booming across
the sky. It didn’t always get severe and normally, she only had one cup and the
effects faded quickly, within half an hour.

The moment they’d discovered it was that fragrant, warm
brew, word had spread through the town and no one would give her anything with
coffee in it, even the java cake made at the local bakery. It was ridiculous.
She’d never even heard of similar restrictions for other Familiars and she’d
decided from the start that she wasn’t letting them tell her what to drink.

She set the coffee to brewing, began her makeup and getting
dressed. After last night, she needed the pick-me-up. She walked over to the
window and then looked out at the city. It was early. She wasn’t worried about
Michael and Kane showing up yet. The sun hadn’t risen and darkness still
blanketed the mountain.

She drank one cup of coffee and then another. She took a
third with her when she left her room. Her step was light and a smile curved
her lips as she exited the elevator.

Heading out of the hotel, Alana inhaled the crisp, early
spring air. The sky was beginning to lighten. The tangy scent of nearby trees
and water on the air exhilarated her. It made her long to get into her fur and
run. Her mood had brightened, but the day would probably be a little dreary.

Clouds darkened overhead and she could feel her Familiar
ability feeding the storm. The ability was mainly with lightning, but when she
called on it, storm clouds brewed as well. If there was enough moisture in the
air, it would rain, but she couldn’t control if it would or not.

It was something in the coffee that amped up her Familiar
powers. She’d ruled out the caffeine part early on. It didn’t matter if it was
decaf, instant, espresso, cappuccino or the other various ways the beverage was
made. Anything made with the beans drew the same reaction from her. Even food,
if it had the actual bean or a little of the drink in it and not simply a
flavoring.

Getting in her car, she let out a sigh of relief. Michael
and Kane weren’t here. Grateful for the time alone, she started the car and
drove out of the parking lot. She turned toward one of the roads out of town.
Since she wasn’t ready to deal with the Council or her mates yet, she’d go see
a few of the suspected abduction sites. She had a list. Maybe she could
discover what she was dealing with here. Taking a shifter wasn’t normal
practice for most of the known anti-shifter groups. They didn’t want to keep
the shifter.

Or witch. She had to remind herself that one of those who
disappeared was a witch. Most of those hate groups would simply kill a shifter
or witch and leave their bodies in plain sight as a warning to others.

The first fat drops of rain hit the windshield while she ran
through the possibilities. Alana wasn’t sure what was going on in Devoe. It
probably wasn’t simple. She suspected that the crimes had ties within the
community, but if the missing people were still alive, they probably weren’t held
in town. Just from the list of addresses, most of which were near or in Corona
City, she could tell some of the places were isolated and not likely to be
found by an outsider to the area.

She drove around the wide curve in the road that led out of
town. When she reached the short, straight section beyond it, her car simply
stopped. The motor still ran and the tires spun on the black top, but the
vehicle didn’t move. For a moment, she simply stared, unbelieving.

Finally, the squeal of tires cut through her astonishment.
She took her foot off the accelerator and slapped the seat in frustration. Damn
it. She wasn’t in the mood for any wizard tantrums today.

That’s what it had to be. When she got her hands on those
two, she was going to shred them. She expected to see another car stop near her
soon. Michael and Kane wouldn’t have done this without knowing where she was.

It took longer than she expected and the car, which pulled around
in front of hers, was a police cruiser. Michael or Kane definitely wouldn’t be
driving that vehicle. An officer got out of the car and looked up at the sky.
He shook his head before walking back to talk to her He came to the door and
tapped on the window.

Alana took a drink and then pushed the button to lower the
window. Rain gushed in on a wild breeze. She flinched back, but smirked as she
looked at the soaked officer. He definitely hadn’t been prepared for rain
today. Well, at least, she was going to get some amusement out of this. He
looked familiar, but a name wouldn’t come to her.

“Hello, Alana, they told us to expect to find you having a
few problems today if you tried to leave the area.” The officer bent a little
so he could look into the car. “You’ll need to turn around and go back into the
city.”

“No, I want to those two, pain-in-the-ass wizards to take
off the spell now. If they think this is going to help them get closer to me,
then they’re even bigger idiots than I ever thought.” She narrowed her eyes on
him. “So you contact them and tell them that.”

She read his name tag. Officer B. Taggert. Now she
remembered. Brian Taggert. He’d been one of her brother’s best friends in high
school.

“Who do you think did this?” Brian frowned down at her.

“I know it was Michael and Kane. It’s their way of ensuring
I stay close to them. Unfortunately for them, it pissed me off and they’re
insane if they think I won’t make them pay.” She deliberately picked up her cup
of coffee and deliberately gulped some of the still warm brew.

“It wasn’t them, Alana.” He glanced pointedly at her mug. “You
want to give me that cup?”

“No,” she said and scowled at him as she wondered why he’d
protect them. “I don’t believe you. Who else would do this to me?”

“The Council. I believe they said something last night about
you not leaving until a certain matter is settled.” Brian straightened and
reached for the door handle. He tried to open the door, but it was still
locked. “Turn around and head back. You can talk to them yourself.”

Alana scowled at him. She did remember them saying something
like that, but she hadn’t thought they’d do anything to keep her in the area
when they knew she was here on a mission. The Council had never entered her
mind. Michael and Kane had been at the forefront of her thoughts since she’d
woken. They’d said they’d be with her. She wouldn’t put it past them to do
something to ensure she stayed with them.

“No, I want the spell removed and for them to stop trying to
run my life.” She narrowed her eyes and her anger built again. Thunder boomed
overhead and lightning streaked across the sky.

Officer Taggert raised a brow, but released the handle after
trying it one more time. He walked back to his squad car. She saw him get in
and do something. He was probably contacting the station to see what they
wanted him to do. She knew it wouldn’t enter any of their minds to take the
spell off. That was much too simple and straightforward, not to mention
reasonable. The Witch Council hadn’t been able to claim that for as long as she
knew about them.

Alana waited impatiently, tapping her foot. Her jaw clenched
tight and she felt her muscles stretch taut as time passed. That couldn’t be
good. What was the Council planning?

It probably wasn’t more than ten or fifteen minutes before a
black, hardtop Jeep drew up beside the car. The passenger door swung open first
and Michael jumped down, but it was only a moment before the driver stepped
from the car too. She wasn’t at all surprised to see Michael and Kane walking
toward her. None of the Witches’ Council would make an appearance here.

Michael reached the car before Kane. He tried the door, but
she had locked it more out of habit than any intent. She let her lips curve
upward in a smirk as she looked out the window at him. The rain was plastering
his hair to his head. He didn’t look happy.

His white shirt stuck to his chest as the rain began to soak
it, although his dark-blue jeans didn’t show much of the wetness. She let her
eyes linger on his chest for a moment, savoring the breadth. Her fingers
tingled with the desire to unbutton that shirt and explore.

Kane stood beside Michael. His black shirt clung wetly to
his shoulders and chest. He put a hand on the roof of the car and glanced down
at her. His eyebrow raised. She let her eyes drop lower to the black jeans
clinging to his strong thighs. He looked good.

Alana decided to let them stand out there a little longer.
She was being a bitch, but damn it, they were interfering with her duty. If
they wanted to try to get to know her again or change her mind, they could do
it when she wasn’t trying to find missing people.

“Roll the window down or I’ll do it for you.” Michael’s
voice sounded all too clear.

She knew that was probably some wizard trick. Still, she
wasn’t going to give in that easily. If they could have made the window roll
down, they would have done it without the demand. Probably. She just smiled,
took a deliberate drink of coffee and put the cup into the holder at her side.
Let him do his worst. The window slowly slid down.

She cringed when rain pelted into the car’s interior.
Michael reached in and opened the door. He leaned in and unbuckled her seatbelt
before grabbing her hand and tugging her out of the car. He started tugging her
toward their Jeep. The road was wet and slick and her feet skidded over the
surface as he towed her in his wake.

Michael opened the door to the back seat of the Jeep, lifted
her and set her in the middle. He climbed in after her before she could
scramble across and out the other side. He reached over and drew the belt
across her. It clicked when the lock slid into place. She looked back to see
Kane slipping into the seat and starting her car.

“You can’t do this, Michael. I have a job to do. I can’t
leave my car here.” She watched as Kane steered it off the road. If they’d
planned for Kane to take it back, Michael would have put her in the front of
the Jeep so he could keep an eye on her as he drove. When Kane got out, he
dumped her coffee into the grass.

“Someone will come get it. You’ll be working with us, Alana.”
Michael clasped her hand.

“I don’t need babysitters and it doesn’t look like I’m going
to be able to get much done.” She glanced over at the point where her car had
been stopped.

“We told you that we’d be with you every step of the way. We
just didn’t get to the hotel in time to join you. Of course, if we had, we
might have stopped some of this. Since we’re the only people who are safe from
your talents, we were elected to get out in this mess.” Michael gestured out
the window to the rain. “How many cups of coffee did you have?”

“Not enough.” Alana didn’t reach for the seatbelt. If they
didn’t want her out of the car, she wouldn’t get out of the car. It was one of
the hazards of dealing with wizards and witches. Kane and Michael hadn’t ever
used their magic against her, but she knew it could happen.

“Antagonistic too. That coffee’s really revving your system.”
Michael grinned.

“Not the coffee. It’s anger.” She narrowed her eyes. Half of
her wanted to tug her hand free of his loose hold, but the other part wanted
the contact. “I don’t like you messing around in my business when I’m here on a
mission.”

She’d barely had a taste of the ties, but she craved more.
Hell, she’d always wanted everything. It was part of the reason she’d known she
couldn’t stay in Devoe believing they needed someone else. She couldn’t accept
only a piece of their lives when all of her being yearned for a life of loving
them.

“You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t on a mission.” Michael’s
fingers stroked over the back of her hand. “So we’ll have to take the
opportunities we have to be with you.”

“So you’re going to slog through the rain with me when we go
visit the nearby location that I can get to without running into that damn wall
the Council erected to keep me where they want me.” She held back a chuckle at
the thought. No way was she telling him that she’d have come back here soon
anyway.

Alana really couldn’t see them hiking through the rain even
though they wouldn’t be much off the road. It wasn’t that she thought they
couldn’t. From what she remembered, they trekked and climbed like everyone else
in the area. She just had a feeling they didn’t do it much now and that they
wouldn’t appreciate the discomfort. For that fact, she wouldn’t enjoy getting
wet, but it would be worth it if it made them miserable.