Now he had that, too. And he would proceed with OperationEagle’s Flight, as soon as he took care of the traitor.
QUINN
waited to find out what Caleb would do.
After a moment, he said, “I will let you go.”
She breathed out a little sigh and turned to Zarah. “We should hurry. I left Rinna and Logan a note, but they’ll be worried about us.”
They started off in the direction of the house, but it soon became clear that the past few hours had been too much for Zarah.
Stopping beside a fallen log, she sat down heavily. “I have to rest.”
Quinn looked at the slump of her friend’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I was pushing you.”
“That’s okay. I know you want to keep me safe. But I think no more soldiers are coming after us with the doorway hidden.” Then, to Quinn’s horror, Zarah burst into tears.
“Oh, sweetheart.” Quinn sat down awkwardly on the log. Her friend had fought so bravely, but now reaction must be setting in.
“Great Mother, it’s too much. Too much,” Zarah sobbed.
“I know. I understand.” Quinn moved over and gathered her close, rocking her in her arms. “Just cry. Let it out and cry.”
“I love him. So much. He changed everything for me. Everything. What we have together is . . . fantastic. And I may never see him again,” Zarah managed to say between sobs.
“You will!”
“You said that before. But how can you know?” Zarah gasped and began to cry harder.
Quinn tried to imagine it. She’d envied Zarah and Griffin. They were so close. And now that bond might be broken.
“You said your powers had increased. You can’t see your future?”
“No! Not about me and Griffin.”
Quinn held her friend, giving as much comfort as she could. The flood of tears lasted for minutes, but finally Zarah cried herself out.
Quinn fumbled in her pack for a tissue—something from this world that she had brought along in case she needed it. She handed it to Zarah. “You can wipe your eyes and blow your nose with this.”
“Thank you.”
The other woman blew, then held up the crumpled tissue. “What do I do with it?”
Quinn scraped aside some leaves, pressed the sodden mass into the ground, and covered it again. “It will fall apart with the rain.”
“Okay.” Zarah heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry I did that to you.”
“You’re holding up better than most women would. You’ve been through so much over the past year. Your parents’ death. Slavery. Griffin’s wrath when he found out you’d been spying on him. And now this.”
“You had a lot to deal with, too.”
“Not compared to you.”
Zarah tipped her head to the side, studying her. And Quinn fought the impulse to look away. “You’re . . . different.The ghost has changed you.”
She closed her eyes and opened them again. “What you can have with a ghost is . . . limited.”
“He saved us. And he could turn out to be very good for you.”
“How could he be?”
Zarah shrugged. “In school, when they brought ghosts to class, I could never see them. Or sense them. Could you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, my psychic powers were never great.”
“They were good enough to cure Griffin. And to hide the portal just now. And to tell me something would happen in the forest.”
Zarah’s eyes welled up, and Quinn was instantly sorry she had mentioned her friend’s husband.
Zarah dragged in a breath and let it out. “I won’t go to pieces on you again. Tell me about the ghost.”
Quinn considered the question. “I wish I knew how to directhis interest away from me.”
“Do you really mean that?”
She turned her hand palm up. “I don’t know.”
“I think the two of you are good together. And you will mean more to each other than you can imagine.”
Quinn nodded. She had some ability to sense the future, too. And she knew that she hadn’t seen the last of Caleb Marshall. She cleared her throat.
“Unfortunately, there’s a problem.”
“What?”
Quinn pressed her hands against her thighs. “In our world, there are many people who are werewolves. Griffin is. So is Rinna. And she had the bird form, too.”
“But there aren’t so many here. I realize that,” Zarah answered.
“As far as I know, there is only one family of men. The women can’t carry the trait. They are all in the Marshall family—Logan’s family.” She paused, wishing she could just drop the subject. But it had to be said.
“And?”
“They are all aggressive men. They fight among themselves.Or—they used to until Logan’s cousin, Ross Marshall,started getting them to work together. The ghost, Caleb Marshall, was killed by one of his cousins seventy-five years ago. Caleb stayed here to avenge his death. The man who killed him is long gone, but he has to be related to Logan.”
Zarah winced.
“I don’t want to tell Logan and Rinna about him.”
“Maybe you have to warn them. What if he acquired the power to come after them?”
It was Quinn’s turn to draw in a sharp breath. “I was hopinghe wouldn’t. But I see he’s getting stronger. That’s why I told him he couldn’t come with us.”
“So his need to avenge his death complicates your relationship.”
“Yes.”
“Like with me and Griffin. I was sent to spy on him. Then I wanted to confess, but I knew he’d be furious.” She heaved a sigh. “Why can’t anything be simple?”
Quinn shook her head. “Because life is never easy. I thought that when Griffin freed me, everything would be better.”
“And now you’re saddled with me,” Zarah said softly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know it’s not. But I feel like a burden.”
“You’re not. You’re my best friend!”
“And what if Rinna and Logan hate having me in their house?”
“Stop!”
“I can’t help it.”
“I know. So maybe we should get the meeting over with as soon as we can. You’ll like them. And they’ll like you.”
Zarah stood and looked down at her tummy. “You’re sure I don’t look like a pregnant whore in this outfit?”
“Not here.”
Zarah reached to pluck some dried leaves off of Quinn’s shirt. “Let’s get it over with.”
“You’re still nervous.”
“Of course. But I have to keep myself safe—until Griffin and I can live together again.”
Quinn nodded. Neither of them said the obvious, that it might never happen.
FORTY
minutes later, they approached the Marshall house. Zarah stopped and stared. “You told me that they live out in the woods. And it’s safe. I had trouble believing it was true.”
“I did, too. But things here are very different.”
“I studied the books and . . . magazines . . . you brought me. But I have so much to learn.”
“That will keep you busy.”
“Yes.”
When Quinn knocked on the door, Rinna opened it almostat once. “Thank the Great Mother,” she said. “We were so worried about you.” She gave Quinn a questioning look. “You left in the middle of the night. We knew you’d gone to get Zarah, and we were worried.”
Zarah was hanging back, but Rinna stepped forward and held out her arms.
“Welcome to our house.”
After a little hesitation, the other woman stepped forward,and they embraced.
“I’m so glad to have someone from home come stay with us,” Rinna said.
“But I think you don’t have servants. I’ll make extra work for you,” Zarah answered.
“Over here, we don’t need servants. There are ways to get things done quickly. You’ll see.”
Logan came striding to the door and saw the two women. Looking at them carefully, he asked, “What happened?”
Quinn heaved in a breath and let it out. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk outside.”
“Right.”
They filed into the front hall.
“To give you a summary of the past twenty-four hours, Baron’s men tried to kill Zarah in her bedchamber,” Quinn explained. “She stabbed one of them instead. Griffin got us to the portal in a wagon, disguised as a shipment of grain. But soldiers caught up with us. He led them away, and we got through the portal.”
Rinna peered at Zarah. “You look worn out. Come sit down.”
“Thank you.” It was obvious that Zarah was overwhelmed by the situation.
Quinn leaned toward her. “Relax,” she said in a low voice. “You’re safe now. Everything’s okay.”
Rinna led the way down the hall to what they called the great room, where large windows looked out over a wooded area.
“Make yourselves comfortable. This is your house now,” Rinna said. “Let me get you something to eat and drink. I’d been thinking you’d come back soon. So the refrigerator’s full. I have fruit. And cheese. And meat. And we have juices or tea or spring water, if you prefer.”
“Water,” Zarah whispered.
“Try the orange juice,” Quinn said. “You’ll like it.”
Zarah gave her a doubtful look. “But I hate for Rinna to use up her supply. Or go to any trouble squeezing it.”
Rinna laughed. “No trouble. I don’t have to pick the fruit and make the juice. I bought it at the grocery store. I just have to pour it out of a carton.”
“Oh.”
“We have a lot of conveniences here.” She smiled. “Let me play hostess. I don’t get to do it a lot.”
Quinn went with Rinna to help bring the food, but all the time she was feeling the weight of her secret pressing against her chest. Because her nerves were jumping, she almostdropped the carton of juice.
“Are you all right?” Rinna asked.
“A little shaky.”
“You look pale.” Rinna gave her a closer look. “You had an ordeal escaping from Baron’s men. I think you haven’t told us all of it yet.”
“That’s right.”
“You should sit down, too.”
“I’ll sit when we bring the food in.”
Back in the great room, Logan was talking to Zarah.
“So you think you weren’t followed,” he said as Rinna and Quinn set down plates of food.
“We were,” she answered. After cutting a piece of melon with the side of her fork, she said, “Two soldiers followed us. We killed one.” She stopped and swallowed. “A ghost drove the other one off a cliff and into the river.”
Logan’s gaze shot to her. “A ghost? Are you sure it was something supernatural?”
“Yes.”
Quinn scuffed her foot against the rug under the coffee table. She caught Zarah’s eye, then looked away. Before she could stop herself, she turned her gaze back to Logan and said, “I think I have to tell you about him.”
Now that Quinn had spoken, she hovered between relief that she was about to be honest with Rinna and Logan and dread at the consequences.
“The ghost found me . . . the last time I came through the portal.”
Logan was staring at her with an intensity that made her want to squirm in her seat. Obviously he’d picked up on the import of what she’d said. But she managed to keep her gaze level and her body still.
“And you didn’t mention him?” he asked.
She swallowed, wishing she had prepared herself better. She’d known all along that this moment was coming, but she’d kept hoping it would stay in the future. “I wasn’t sure what to say. He was a werewolf killed in a fight with his cousin. The other werewolf buried him in the woods.”
“Werewolf! How do you know?”
“I talked to him. His name is Caleb Marshall. He said he was still on earth because he wanted to avenge his death. And I think one of your relatives killed him.”
CHAPTER NINE
For several seconds,
there was dead silence in the room.
Finally, Logan spoke. “Do you happen to know how long he’s been dead?”
“Seventy-five years.”
His gaze turned inward, and she saw his lips thin. “That fits.”
“What?” Rinna asked.
“The time period. I think my grandfather might have killed him.”
Everyone had been looking at Quinn. Now their gazes shifted to Logan.
“What makes you think so?” Rinna murmured.
“I’ve told you all the men in my family want to be top wolf. So they fight for territory. Or that was the Marshall tradition,until my cousin Ross started changing things. First he contacted his brothers. Then he got together with me and his other cousins. He showed us how to work together and got us together socially—with our life mates.” He laughed. “Once that happened, the women played a big part in socializing us. They want the contact with each other, so they arrange familyevents.”
He shook his head regretfully. “But it wasn’t like that years ago. Not hardly. The Marshalls rarely saw each other. And when they did, there was likely to be a fight. There was talk in the family—of something happening. I never could get a straight story out of my parents. But I know there was a cousin named Caleb Marshall. He was my grandfather’s age. I know people used to whisper about bad blood between him and my father’s father. Some said that he went out west, like Ross’s brother Johnny, who changed his name to Sam Morgan.But I always wondered if that was just a cover story for something more sinister. Like in the
Sopranos
, when they whacked a guy and said he’d disappeared into the witness protection program.”
Quinn put her hand to her forehead. “The
Sopranos
? Singers? And what does it mean to
whack
someone?” She’d thought she was doing so well in this world, but she wasn’t following very much of what he’d been saying.
Logan laughed again. This time it was a grating sound that did little to break the tension. “The
Sopranos
aren’t singers. They’re a family in a television show—where the dad is in organizedcrime. And sometimes they kill their rivals.”
Quinn nodded. “But it’s just on television?”
“Well, it has some basis in reality.”
Before she could ask about that, Logan tipped his head toward her. “Do you know where Caleb Marshall is buried?”