Point of No Return (17 page)

Try to be pleasant. “Nice truck,” I said,
getting into his Avalanche. “Devlin told me it was yours, not
Danial’s.”

“It’s dirty,” Lash hissed coldly. “Goddamn
black shows dirt like a bastard.”

Appalled at his language, I didn’t answer.
The truck was indeed dirty from all the slush on the roads this
morning. The weather forecast was calling for another six to ten
inches by nightfall. I buckled myself in, glad that I wasn’t the
one driving

Lash started the truck, quickly backing up
smoothly, turning around, and heading down the driveway. He was
silent as he drove, not speaking. This was normal, as far as I
knew. He’d acted standoffish every time I’d been around him, except
for the night he’d tasted my blood. Even then, he hadn’t been very
friendly. That was fine by me, though. I’d planned to ask Devlin
about teleporting to Hayden from now on, so I could skip these fun
drives with Lash.

In any case, his silence gave me time to
prepare my revelatory speech. I’d decided to tell Devlin about what
happened with Theo and me during our shared dream. Danial would
likely deduce the truth from me before I left him on Sunday. Before
he made me break the news or told Devlin, it was better to break it
myself. I’d spent the last six months keeping secrets. I wasn’t
going to keep any more.

* * * *

As we drove in through Hayden’s gates and up
the long driveway, I looked over again at Lash. In the entire
drive, he hadn’t put on any music, or tried to talk to me at all.
Not talking for a while was normal between strangers. Utter silence
for a solid hour was not only unnatural, but oppressive.

“Someone plowed,” I murmured. “I hope it
wasn’t just for me.”

“It wasn’t,” Lash hissed, parking in the
garage. “Get out.”

I got out, walking in front of him a few
strides, then suddenly wheeled around to face him. Instead of
startling him, he merely stepped back gracefully. His forked tongue
flickered out, tasting the air.

“I want you to search me,” I stammered
out.

Lash lifted one black eyebrow, but his
expression didn’t change. “Search you how? And for what?”

“However you usually would search someone.
You clearly don’t trust me or like me. I can’t do anything about
the latter, but I can do something about the former.”

“Stand facing the wall, your hands touching
it,” Lash hissed. “Then spread your legs,” he added lecherously,
putting emphasis on the last words. Uneasy, I did as he asked,
ruing my offer and bracing for a grope or two. He patted me down
thoroughly, but didn’t touch me anywhere that wasn’t necessary.

Lash stepped back as I turned around, then
held his hand out to me. “Bag.”

I handed him my duffel bag. He looked through
it carefully, then he handed it back. There hadn’t been much
inside; just a change of clothes, that sweater Devlin liked, and my
prenatal vitamins.

“You want to look in my purse?” I asked.

“No. Come with me,” Lash said. We went into
the kitchen, then through the living room to the base of the
stairs. He took my bag, setting it on the stairs with my purse.

“Where is everybody?” I asked. “Is everyone
on guard duty?”

“The bears and I weren’t all down here for a
damn horror movie,” he said, smiling at me widely. “Devlin said he
was going to make you scream, and we all wanted to hear that. Word
around was you love to scream—”

“I hope you weren’t disappointed,” I said
harshly, giving him a cold look.

“Not at all,” Lash said, smiling wider. “You
made him scream in a way we’d not heard before. You got a round of
applause.”

My mouth dropped open, my face flushing. Lash
laughed, opened a door beneath the second story stairs, and began
descending.

Devlin had told me Titus’s workshop was down
here in the basement. I expected a dank and dark dungeon, but this
workshop was much like Terian’s. There were many bottles, all
neatly stacked and labeled, and a huge shelf of books, some of them
very old. Underneath was a large rack of scrolls, some of them
yellowed, the edges crumbling.

“Sarelle,” Titus said in a friendly deep
bass, then held out his arms to hug me.

“Hi, Titus,” I said warmly, quickly hugging
him. He was almost too hot to touch; in a few moments of contact, I
was sweating. “Are you blocking your, um, blackness? I don’t feel
it very much today.”

“You need to test her for poisons,” Lash
interjected. “I’ll wait.”

“Go tell Devlin she’ll be right up,” Titus
said, glancing at him in dismissal. “After all, Terian has told me
of her this week, it’s probably unnecessary, but I’ll do a thorough
check. It’ll take a few minutes.”

Lash nodded, then slid his flat eyes to me.
“Sure, you volunteered to be searched. That doesn’t make me trust
you, especially since your Cat’s desperate enough to try anything.”
He turned from me without another word, and walked away, ascending
the stairs. The basement door shut hard

I looked at Titus, uncomfortable. “Do I need
to get undressed?”

“No.” Titus held open his hand, then said
some words under his breath. His hand glowed white, and my skin all
over my body began to tingle. Looking at my hands, my skin itself
seemed to be glowing from within.

“Answer, Sar, is there anything that you
harbor that would harm Devlin?”

My answer was supposed to be no.
Cringe
. “I’m not sure.”

Titus dropped his hand, perplexed. “That
wasn’t an answer I expected.”

I put my hands on my hips, facing him
accusingly. “And I didn’t expect to wake up and find that the sex
I’d had with Theo in the dream had happened in real life.”

Titus gave me a long look, then gave a great
rumbling laugh. “Indeed, your bond with Theo was renewed.”

“It’s not fucking funny,” I said viciously.
“I’ve been upset over what to tell Devlin since I woke up. I wasn’t
going to tell him, but I’m worried he’ll find out accidentally. I’m
not good at keeping secrets from Danial, and I’m going to see him
tomorrow—”

Titus enfolded me into his arms. “I didn’t
mean to upset you. I’m sorry. Now you’re worried how Devlin’s going
to take the news that you’re possibly pregnant by Theo.”

“Yes.”

He stepped back from me, and again raised his
hand. “Do you intend any harm to Devlin?”

“No,” I answered.

Titus lowered his hand and nodded. “Follow
me.”

I followed him upstairs all the way to
Devlin’s bedroom, the steps groaning under his weight. Titus
knocked.

Devlin’s rich voice, full of lust, called out
“Send her in!”

We walked in, and Titus shut the door behind
us. Devlin was sitting in his bed dressed in some black loose pants
and a loose black shirt, reading reports of some kind.

“You look very casual,” I said, thinking he
looked drop dead gorgeous, especially with the golden stubble
covering his lower jaw. “Working in bed?”

“I’ll shave, Love,” he purred, moving aside
his papers. “I fed just before you came. I’ll probably do that from
now on. I neither want to frighten you, nor sacrifice your health.”
He glanced at Titus beside me. At once, his eyes narrowed, his
friendly expression souring. “What did you find on her?”

“Nothing,” Titus replied.

“Then why not just send her up to me?” he
said suspiciously. “Why are you here, Titus?”

“I’m here to take any punishment you might
visit on Sarelle,” Titus rumbled. “Theo and she had sex in life as
they dreamed. Sarelle is afraid she is pregnant by him, and she
could be, Devlin—”

“God damn it!” Devlin screamed wrathfully,
his eyes redder than I had ever seen them. “How could you have let
this happen? I’ll flay the skin off you for this!”

“Go ahead, Master,” Titus dared. He folded
his arms across his chest, and faced Devlin, completely unfazed.
“I’m not afraid of your petty torments.”

Devlin screamed again in anguish and rage,
his frustrated howl deafening. I shrank back against the wall.

Devlin stared at me. He drew in a long slow
breath, then let it out. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? If it was
his and not mine?” he said bitterly, every word sharp enough to cut
me. “You didn’t want my child, you only agreed because you were
made to—”

“That’s right!” I shot back. “I didn’t want
any more children at all, neither yours nor his. This happened in a
dream, Devlin. I didn’t do this on purpose.”

Devlin closed his eyes. “That doesn’t matter.
If you had a choice of whose baby to have, you’d choose him.”

No, I’d choose Danial.
“That’s not
true.”

“You want to flay me now or later?” Titus
said mockingly.

Devlin whipped around and glared at him. “You
didn’t know this could happen? You had no idea? I don’t believe
that, Titus!”

“The dream they shared doesn’t have a lot of
documentation on it,” Titus answered. “There isn’t anything written
about having sex in the dream and having it in real life, too,
while being unconscious.”

“This ruins everything,” Devlin grated out.
“You’ve put us all at risk with your mistake.”

Titus let loose some of his blackness, making
me shiver. “They love each other, Devlin. You can still have a
child with Sar later, her having one with Theo won’t—”

“She has to have mine!” Devlin yelled. “Not
his!”

“What the hell is going on in here?” Lash
hissed loudly, opening the door. “Dev, I could hear you screaming
from outside—”

“I don’t give a damn!” Devlin said furiously.
“It’s all gone to hell!”

Lash looked at the three of us, then tilted
his head just slightly. “The bitch is already knocked up with a
kitten,” he hissed. He crossed the room and put his hand on
Devlin’s shoulder. “You should know you can’t trust women by
now.”

Devlin shrugged off Lash’s hand. Unruffled,
Lash put it back on his shoulder again. This time, Devlin left it
there.

Lash looked up at me, flat eyes gleaming.
“Say the word, and he’s dead, Dev. Titus could teleport me in no
time—”

“No,” Devlin said hollowly. “He didn’t plan
this, and neither did she. It’s not anyone’s fault, expect maybe
mine, for agreeing to let Titus break him free of that love spell
he was under—”

“I would have done it regardless of your
wishes,” Titus rumbled. “You know that.”

Devlin looked at me, but his gold eyes seemed
not to see me. “I should’ve made sure they dreamed apart. That, or
had you sterilize him.” He rubbed his eyes.

“We should do that in any case,” Lash hissed.
“The world could do with less werecougars—”

I had to soothe Devlin before he gave into
Lash. “Look, I don’t know that Theo’s the father, or if I’m even
I’m pregnant at all.”

They all looked at me.

“I freaked out because I was a little
nauseous in the bathroom at the place Theo, Elle, and I ate today.
Given my life lately, that’s likely stress-related. ”

“We need to know as soon as possible if it
isn’t,” Devlin said quickly. He turned to Titus. “Can you do
anything to tell me, one way or the other?”

“Not without an invasive test,” Titus rumbled
regretfully. “If she is pregnant, it might cause her to abort the
baby.” He paused. “There isn’t a need for that anyway, Devlin. The
fertility spell you administered to Sar almost ensures that by the
time Theo and she dreamed together, she was already pregnant.”

All the blood drained from my face.
“What?”

Titus looked at me with a faint smile. “The
spell Danial used to become fertile again was a much less potent
spell. Terian’s blood is only half demon and much weaker than mine.
I’m an accomplished sorcerer.” He smiled widely, baring his rows of
sharp teeth. “I don’t leave room for accidents.”

“What fertility spell did you give me?” I
whispered. “When?”

“It was in your wine,” Titus replied. “And in
Devlin’s, also, to ensure conception. The sooner you got pregnant,
the sooner I could stop making daily potions for Devlin and get
back to my real work.”

Devlin had used those ornate glasses from his
mantle when we’d returned to his room...and I’d trusted Titus when
I shouldn’t have. “Neither of you said a word to me.”

Devlin was also annoyed at Titus. “You let me
think that it was possible he got her pregnant. Why?”

Titus gave a great rumbling laugh. “I’m a
demon. You’d think after all these years in your service, you’d
know how much I enjoy seeing you lose your composure.”

I glared at them for a moment, then strode
into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I locked the door,
then wiped at my filling eyes.

Lash said something low in the other room,
then laughed raucously. There was silence for a moment, then Devlin
began talking in a low voice, his words muffled.

I stripped off my clothes. I’d wanted to try
the Jacuzzi. This was an opportune time as any. Maybe it would help
me decide what to do now.

I slipped into the steaming water, sinking my
body in until the sweet hot heavenly sensation covered all of me
except my head. I lay back against the jets, letting them massage
my shoulder blades, and tried to think of absolutely nothing.

There was a knock at the door. “Sar? Can I
come in?”

“Wait, door’s locked—”

There was the sound of a key in the lock,
then Devlin opened the door. “You think you’re the first woman to
try escaping into my bathroom?” he said with a wide smile. “I had a
key made to open the door from outside, after the first time I had
to break down the door.”

“That’s so charming of you,” I replied
scathingly. “And just what I wanted to know right at this
moment.”

Devlin closed the door behind him, then took
off his clothes. Despite my anger, I watched him hungrily, the
sight of his excellent physique stimulating. He turned to me
suddenly. I averted my eyes, blushing.

Devlin eased into the water with a sigh of
pleasure. “I like your desire for me,” he murmured, putting his
arms around my shoulders gently. “Watch me openly, Sar.”