Prodigal Son (31 page)

“These men have been judged.”

“Judged?” Criten spat. “I am the only one who should judge them. They are
my
employees!”

“Then you should keep a closer eye on them.”

“How dare you?” Criten whirled toward him, clenching his hands at his sides.

“I dare,” Adrian said, “because no one else can.” He took a step toward Criten. “These men tried to commit murder.”

“That’s an outrageous claim!”

“We both know they were acting on your orders,” Adrian said.

“I think you should leave.” Criten pointed at the door. “I will address this with your state department tomorrow.”

“No, you won’t.” Adrian took another step closer. “We have our own laws, don’t we?”

“Get out.”

“Of course.” Adrian gave a nod and headed for the door. The bodyguards made a path for him. He paused in the doorway and looked back at Criten. “Do yourself a favor and forget about the stone.” He glanced from one bodyguard to the other. “The stone and the Seers are both under the protection of the Leyala.”

The door slammed behind him. He allowed himself a small smile and headed for his office.

*   *   *

“The Leyala!” Gadi hurried forward, his face pale with terror. “Your Excellency, what are they doing here?”

“A good question.” Criten narrowed his eyes at the two employees Gray had returned to him, both reduced to drooling idiots. Of course he was familiar with the Leyala, the Warriors who policed the Warrior sect. Since the Warriors were the strongest and fastest of all the sects of Atlantis, someone had to stand as judge and jury in the event one of them went rogue—and so the Leyala had been born. “As I recall, an entire temple left the island about twenty years ago. They disagreed with my father’s policies. I wonder if this fellow was among them. He would have been just a child.”

“What do we do with Evan and Mestor, Your Excellency?”

“Once the Leyala has enacted judgment, there is no turning back, correct?” At Gadi’s nod, Criten shrugged. “Dispose of them then. I’m certain that’s what they would have wanted.”

Gadi swallowed hard, but nodded.

“Your Excellency.” Marcus came forward, a cell phone in his hand. “I found this in Evan’s pocket. It’s not his.”

Criten took the turquoise-colored phone with a skeptical glance. “I should hope not.” He powered it on and pulled up the contacts list. Slowly he smiled. “Well, well. This is Cara McGaffigan’s phone. Even in defeat, Evan did well for us.” There was a new text message, and he opened it. A delighted smile spread across his face. He flipped through the contacts again, found the number for Home and called it, listening to the answering machine that picked up.

When the beep sounded, he disconnected the call and summoned power, gathering energy from the air around them. A soft glow covered his hand and the phone in it. Motioning for quiet, he dialed the number where the text message had originated.

Danny Cangialosi answered on the first ring. “Cara, my God, where have you been?”

Criten filtered his voice through his power, manipulating the tones and pitch to match the voice on Cara McGaffigan’s home answering machine. “Danny, I’m so sorry. My phone went dead and I had to get a new charger, and I just got your text. I can have the money you need wired to you, just tell me where.”

“I’m in a small town called Benediction in Arizona. There’s a Western Union in the grocery store here. You can send it there.”

“Are you okay, Danny? I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine. Just send the money so I can pick it up in the morning. I’m running low. I’ll text you the info, and if it’s not there by noon, then I’ll know you changed your mind.”

“Maybe I should come out there. I can help.”

“By the time you get here, I’ll be long gone. Don’t look for me, Cara. Just go home to Jersey, and I’ll be in touch when things settle down.” He hung up.

Criten closed the phone and looked at Gadi. “Arrange for a private plane to fly to Benediction, Arizona, tonight. Danny Cangialosi will be picking up a wire transfer there tomorrow morning.”

Gadi nodded. “Yes, Your Excellency. We’ll go get him.”

“No.” Criten held up a hand. “We’ll all go. I’m tired of incompetence. Arrange for appropriate accommodations in whatever decent-sized city is closest to the area.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“And see to those two before you go.” Criten waved a hand at Evan and Mestor before slipping the phone in his pocket and heading toward the bedroom.

By tomorrow morning, the Stone of Igarle would be in his possession. By tomorrow night, the bounty hunter and his entire family of Seers would be dead. And then he could begin his search for the last of the Stones of Ekhia.

After centuries, justice would finally come to pass for the Great Betrayal.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The tension at dinner could have smothered all of them.

Cara swallowed the last bite of her meal—simple tacos with fresh tortillas and refried beans—and reached for her iced tea. She’d hoped that Rafe’s emotional confession in the bedroom would have given him some release, but in the presence of his family, he once more took shelter in a shell of reserve. He exchanged small talk with his father, punctuated by awkward silences, and otherwise focused on his food. Maria chatted with Tessa about a shoe sale she’d seen at the mall, but the stiffness of her shoulders indicated she wasn’t as relaxed as she pretended to be. Darius scowled and ripped into the soft tacos as if he were a lion with a freshly killed gazelle.

Cara looked from one to the other. Their polite imitation of a family eating dinner together tore at her insides, ripping open old wounds that left her throbbing. Where were the good-natured debates, the ribbing, the laughter? This wasn’t a family. This was a ragtag bunch of survivors from a long-ago war. She didn’t know how long she could stand it. Didn’t they realize how lucky they were to have one another? Didn’t they know it could all be gone in the blink of an eye?

Darius threw his taco down on the plate. “Cut it out,” he snapped. “You’re spoiling my appetite.”

She jerked as she realized he was talking to
her
. The entire table grew silent, everyone looking from her to him with wariness and uncertainty. It ticked her off. Why did they stare at her as if
she
were the one who had done something wrong?

Rafe put down the glass he had been holding. She could tell he was about to get up and charge to her rescue—heck, maybe even leap across the table at Darius for all she knew—but she caught his eye and shook her head. He hesitated, then sat back in his chair, folding his arms, his eyes mere slits as he stared at his brother. His entire posture said he was ready to defend her if necessary, and a trickle of warmth curled into her belly.

His silent confidence gave her courage. She turned to Darius. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to point out the elephant in the room?”

Tessa’s eyes widened, and Rafe glanced down, a grin tugging at his lips. His parents exchanged a look of surprise. Darius just scowled at her, then picked up his taco and took another bite, chewing and watching her with the intimidation of the lion she’d just compared him to.

Well, she wasn’t about to be the gazelle.

She pulled the napkin from her lap and dropped it on her plate. “Don’t try and glare your way out of this, Darius. I’m sorry you can feel my feelings, but at least they’re honest. And I can’t stop having them because you don’t like it.”

“Try,” Darius bit out.

“Watch how you talk to her,” Rafe growled.

“Or what?” Darius challenged. “You’ll kick my ass?”

“He won’t,” John Montana said. “But I might. You don’t speak to a guest in our home like that.”

Darius opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it, clenching his jaw. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Maria pushed back her chair with a sigh. “Rafael, if you’re done I have some things from the vault to show you.”

Darius clenched his hand into a fist but said nothing.

Rafe stood up, setting his napkin beside his plate. “Cara, you coming?”

His mother stopped short on her way out of the dining room. “Rafael, you know—”

“I’m fine here,” Cara interrupted, not missing the relief that flickered across his mother’s face. She gave him an encouraging smile. “I’m going to have some more tacos.”

“If you’re sure.” Rafe flicked a narrow-eyed look toward his brother.

“I’m fine. You can tell me about it later.”

“All right.” He came over and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “This won’t take long.”

Her mouth tingled from his kiss as she watched him leave the room with his mother. Sneaky guy. Apparently he’d decided their earlier talk meant the door was still open to continue their affair. And he wasn’t wrong. She’d just wanted some time to get used to all this supernatural stuff, to decide that this Rafe, the real Rafe, was the guy she wanted as her lover. And from his new determination to fix things with his family, she knew he was.

“Oh, for pity’s sake. Get a room already.” Darius shoved his plate aside and lurched awkwardly to his feet, reaching for the cane hooked over the arm of the chair.

Tessa sent a teasing grin her way. “Nothing’s private here, remember?”

Cara’s cheeks heated, and she darted a quick glance at Rafe’s father, who studiously built another taco and avoided her gaze.

Darius stomped past her, the click of his cane on the hardwood floor echoing the heavy tread of his footsteps. Cara watched him, her heart going out to his struggle. How difficult it must have been for a man so obviously strong and healthy to have to learn to walk again.

Darius spun around to face her, nearly upsetting his balance. “Don’t pity me,” he snarled, his blue eyes fierce. “Don’t you dare pity me.”

“Pity and sympathy are two different things,” she returned. “I can’t help but feel for your situation. It can’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t.”

“He only started walking with the cane a few months ago,” Tessa said. “Before that he was in a wheelchair.”

Darius shot his sister a hard look. “Can it, Tess.”

“Hey.” John looked up. “I know this is hard for you, son, but you’ve got to keep hold of your temper.”

“I’m in no mood for any
fatherly
advice tonight, Dad. After what you and Mom pulled, I think I have a right to be ticked off.”

John pressed his lips together and rubbed the bridge of his nose, but remained silent.

“You should have seen Darius right after the accident,” Tessa confided to Cara in a dramatic stage whisper. “He was horrible. But he’s been so much better over the past couple of years, at least until Rafe came home.”

“But he didn’t
come home.
” Darius turned his narrow-eyed glare from his father to the two women. “Isn’t that right, Cara? He just stopped here to regroup after you two almost got killed by the bad guys. He has no intention of
coming home
.”

“I don’t know what he intends,” Cara said. “I can’t read his mind. Or his emotions.”

Darius jabbed a thumb at his chest. “Well, I can. And I can tell you that he has no intention of staying here. We’re just a rest stop on his latest mission.”

“If you know so much about what he’s feeling,” Cara shot back, “then you know how torn up he is over what happened. He was trying to prove something and it backfired.”

“He was being a hotshot as usual,” Darius snapped. “Trying to show off. And we all paid the price.”

“He was young and stupid, and he knows it,” Cara replied. “He wants to make amends but he doesn’t know how. Some empath you are, if you can’t see that.”

“Oh, I can see it. I know he regrets what happened. And yeah, he was young and an idiot. We all do stupid things at that age.”

“You did,” John said.

“But at least I knew to say I was sorry.” He looked from one to the other, his expression daring them to comment. “He never said he was sorry. Not to me.”

He left the room, leaving awkward silence in his wake.

Rafe’s father sighed. “Sorry about that, Cara. I appreciate what you’re trying to do.”

“I just don’t understand.” She tore her eyes from the empty doorway where Darius had disappeared. “I’m no empath, but I can tell clear as day that strong emotions are running here. Why aren’t you all trying to sort things out? Why did it take five years for Rafe to come back here before any of this was addressed?”

John remained silent for a long moment, making her wonder if she had overstepped. Finally he said, “There’s a lot more going on here than a simple mistake. Rafe’s actions cost a man his life and challenged the very foundations of my family’s beliefs. Maria was very firm in her decision that Rafe wait to complete his Soul Circle. The ritual would give him even more power, and if he couldn’t control what he already had—” He pressed his lips together. “My wife and I disagreed on this point, but as
apaiz nagusi
—the high priestess—she has the last word in these matters. I’m the outsider here.” His lopsided grin echoed Rafe’s. “As are you.”

“I get that, but did you explain that to Rafe?” Cara asked. “He seems to think you held him back as punishment.”

“No, no, not at all! Maria just wanted to slow things down, to make sure Rafe really was ready.” His expression grew grim. “The Soul Circle is just a formality for most people, just a challenge to test the mastery of their gifts. But in Rafe’s case—”

“The Hunter might take him over,” Tessa cut in, her expression uncharacteristically sober. “The essence that is Rafe would be gone, possibly for good.” She looked at her father. “Guess someone should have explained the danger.”

“We didn’t have time. He left so abruptly.”

“You have time now.” Cara sat back in her chair, regarding father and daughter. “I lost almost every member of my family over the years. Danny is all I have left, and if we can’t find him … if something happens to him—” She choked back the words before the tears could take hold and cleared her throat. “Sorry. I lost my cell phone earlier today, and I haven’t been able to call Danny. Not being able to contact him … It’s got me a little upset.”

“That’s understandable,” Tessa said.

Cara looked from daughter to father. “You all need to fix this. Rafe needs you. He’s been alone way too long, and stubbornness is no reason to lose the people you love.”