Point of No Return (20 page)

“Sure—”

“I understand from Danial you enjoy painting,
and have a knack for decoration. Much of Hayden could also use your
help.”

I nodded. “You said Leri trashed the place. I
haven’t seen anything so far that’s less than spectacular.”

Devlin grimaced. “The ballroom has a wall
badly crumbling. My men are earning a lot of overtime working on
that. In addition, there are at least ten guest rooms that need new
walls, fresh paint, and new carpeting—”

The more he talked, the more the weight on my
shoulders intensified.
Where would I start?

“Also, we should get the room to the right of
mine set up for a nursery—”

“Enough,” I said, putting my hand over his
mouth. “I’m feeling challenged enough now, thanks.”

“Listen, Love, I don’t expect or want you to
do the harder jobs. I don't want you toiling on your hands and
knees. What I do want is your opinion and direction in decorating.
I especially want you to design the nursery.”

“Who do I see for ordering supplies?” I said,
dreading the answer I suspected was coming.

“Lash,” Devlin said predictably. “You’ll find
him easy to work with, once you get to know him.”

I didn’t want to get to know him. “When does
Serena usually...um, have free time? I don’t want to interrupt
anything knocking on her bedroom door.”

“Today, she will probably wake up at dusk.
She’ll have some time then, at least until Vince gets off his shift
at midnight.”

How was that schedule set up, so Serena
didn’t get exhausted and none of the bears got frustrated? Devlin
had to have at least twenty male bears working for him. That meant
even if they were only getting laid once a week, Serena had to
service, on average, three a night, every night. How in Hell did
she do it?

“Doing the math, Sar?” Devlin laughed.

“Yes, and pitying her.”

“Don’t. She’s well compensated. Also, she
does not see all my men, only half.”

Since we’d already gotten into the subject, I
might as well satisfy my curiosity. “What do the rest do?”

“Some of them have live-in girlfriends or
mates. They are the most stable men, the mated ones.” He nuzzled
me. “Like I am with you—”

“Brian said that you had no women here except
Leri,” I said pointedly.

“When he was here, that was true,” Devlin
explained. “Leri was always jealous, and she tended to harass any
other women. After she disappeared, I hired men with women, if the
women were mated to them. I told you that I lost a lot of men
getting Ebediah and Sola. The replacements I hired were all mated,
as it happened.”

“Do they have children?”

“Not yet,” Devlin said. “Most are young, only
in their twenties. Also, I have a mated couple that are gay. They
both work as guards, and are two of my best men.”

I gave him a look, not sure what he was
getting at.

“We are not a big happy family here,” Devlin
said seriously. “This is dangerous work with a high mortality rate.
If having young is an urgent desire, then that employee is in the
wrong line of work. You could compare it to trying to raise a
family while living in a war zone.”

That gave me shivers. “Should I be
afraid?”

“No, just aware that I have reasons for my
decisions. To answer your curiosity, Serena sees seven of my guards
regularly, which is at least two a day, every day.”

“That’s all I need to know,” I said quickly,
flushing. I got up from the bed. “I’m going to eat, then make a
list of supplies I need, if I can get Lash to show me the
rooms.”

“Go, Love,” Devlin said, kissing me. “Get
started. You can show me what you’ve done when I get up at
dusk.”

I kissed him back, got dressed, and headed
downstairs, pen and paper in hand. First thing was the kitchen. I
couldn’t teach Serena to bake if there was no baking equipment.
Then I’d need some ideas from Lash of how big the flower gardens
Devlin had spoken about were. I could at least make a list of
possible plants to use. Lastly, there was getting paint. Lash
should know also some of Devlin’s favorite colors. With ten rooms
to do, there would be leeway for some creativity.

Devlin had indeed laid in food for me. In the
kitchen, I found fresh fruit, yogurt, Fig Newtons, cereal, low-fat
milk, and a huge gift basket full of Godiva chocolate. The name on
the gift tag said, “For Sar, from Dev.”

I ate a piece as I made a healthy breakfast,
just to sample it. It was better to eat higher calorie foods early
in the day, as it gave me a better chance to burn them off. The
first piece was so good I ate another.
Yum.

After I finished breakfast and my outline of
a list, I went through the kitchen. Devlin had absolutely no
bakeware, not even a muffin tin or a mixing bowl. There was a set
of blue glass bowls, but they didn’t really count, being too small
for making anything besides maybe one loaf of cornbread. There were
also no spices, except for salt and pepper. Other than what Devlin
had laid in for me, the fridge contained plenty of burgers,
assorted meat, bread, cheese, and a little salad. The freezer held
only meat, and a few frozen pizzas.

I made a list of baking groceries to get, and
left it on the fridge for Devlin. The bakeware I would pick out
myself. I had certain brands I relied on, and didn’t want to end us
with plastic measuring spoons, or non-dishwasher safe loaf pans.
Good tools made a world of difference. Serena’s experience with me
should encourage her to bake, not discourage her.

Glancing at the clock, I sighed in
irritation. It was close to three o’clock. To be to Danial’s on
time, I would have to skip talking to Serena today and starting any
projects.

I rubbed my eyes, reminding myself that I
didn’t have a deadline for any of this work I was doing. This was
supposed to be fun, not work. Instead, I was treating it like all
my projects: very excited, fanatically into it as it developed, and
annoyed when something kept me from making progress. But baking and
decorating wasn’t what I was here for. My only real job now was
getting pregnant.
Was I just desperate to throw myself into
tasks to forget about what Devlin really had me here for?

Angrily slamming the cabinet, I went in
search of Lash. Through the kitchen door, I entered a short
hallway, then a large living area with a huge TV. I opened the door
off it, and ran into a woman in jeans carrying a laundry
basket.

Her short black hair reminded me of Suri. I
gave her a smile. “Hi.”

“Hello, Sarelle,” she said, smiling back.
“I’m Valerie, Jazz’s mate.”

Should I call her Val? I didn’t know who the
hell Jazz was, except he was most likely a werebear. “Good to meet
you.”

“Good to meet you, too,” she said with a
touch of respect. “Are you on an errand for Dalcon?”

I wondered whom she was talking about for a
moment, and then realized she meant Dev. “Yes. I’m looking for
Lash—”

“I’ll take you directly to him,” she said,
dropping the basket immediately. “Follow me.”

I walked with her back into the kitchen, then
through the dining room into another hallway, where the guest rooms
were located. Someone had already patched up the holes in the
walls. Titus and Leri must have been having a hell of a fight, to
make holes that had to have four by four sections of drywall to
patch them.

The guest room hallway dead-ended at an
ornate wider hallway that had been the site of an even bigger
battle. There was some fresh joint compound, wire mesh, and other
tools on a palette. Two men, presumably werebears, were working on
some of the ceiling that had come down, patching a hole about one
foot by a half, with cracks in all directions.

I wanted to make a comment about how this
lover’s spat must have been something to see with all the damage,
but stayed quiet. I didn’t know Val well enough. She might be close
friends with Titus. I wanted her to like me if she turned out to be
nice.

She led me past them into what had to be the
ballroom, the scene of the battle finale. There was fallen plaster
everywhere; the gilt mirrors that had lined the sides of the room
shattered, pieces of silver glass lying here and there. The
hardwood floor looked to be the only thing that was unscathed.

“Why are you here?” The cold hissing voice
echoed in the room.

I looked up. Lash was on the balcony, staring
down at me, dressed in black as usual.

“Dev asked me to come and see you,” I
replied. “He said to talk to you about fixing up some of the rooms.
I need supplies.”

“Stay there, and don’t move,” Lash hissed,
moving from view.

I waited for him for several minutes. Valerie
waited with me, though her anxious body language clearly showed
that she wanted to leave before Lash got here.

Several more minutes went by.

“He’s clearly taking his time,” I said to
Valerie. “You can leave me here if you want.”

Obviously relieved, she left at once, jogging
back towards the door.

I walked closer to the far wall, inspecting
it. Some sort of huge blast had hit this back wall and knocked a
section of it away, exposing five splintered two by fours. Cracks
radiated from the blast site. There was plaster missing in places
all the way up to the ceiling forty feet above.

“What did he ask you to do?” Lash said from
behind me. His tone was standoffish as usual. “What do you
need?”

I turned to him, trying my best to act
friendly. “He gave me a bunch of things to work on when I’m here.
He said to come and see you for help.”

“Help with what?” Lash hissed, annoyed. “Get
to the point already. I’m busy, Sar.”

I forced a smile. “I just need a little
direction. Tell me his favorite colors, so I can pick up some
paint. I know he likes shades of grey, black, and white, and
probably silver and gold. But the guest rooms would look austere or
garish using just those shades. I would like to use colors,
preferably ones he doesn’t hate.”

Lash eyed me for a moment. “Green-blue, like
your eyes,” he hissed. “Or darker. Red, like fresh blood.
Yellow-orange like flames. Maybe purple, if the color was deep
enough. No pastels or light colors.”

That all made sense. “And brown or blue?”

“No, he doesn’t like earthy colors,” Lash
hissed. His face twisted in something like a smile. “He doesn’t
like the outdoors. I have to drag him camping with me.”

“Devlin said the equipment Danial had the
night I found him was yours.”

His face lost the smile. “Yes, though I don’t
see why that matters to you.”

“It just solved a mystery,” I said quickly.
“I wondered sometimes if Danial had purchased it for show, once I
got to know him.”

“That’s why he borrowed it,” Lash hissed.
“Danny doesn’t like getting dirty.” He smiled again, this one
lecherous. “But I do.”

I averted my eyes, appalled. “Can you tell me
about the gardens around the house?”

“What about them?”

“Could tell me where each of them are in
relation to the house, maybe show me what you can the next time I
come here? He wants me to plant flowers in the spring. I need to
know what kind of shade/sun to plan for.”

“Sure, but you can’t check soil type,” Lash
replied. “The earth is frozen.”

I was surprised he knew that soil was
important. “With the modern fertilizers, that shouldn’t be a
problem. Besides, I’m going to plant easy to grow flowers, nothing
fancy.”

“Practical,” Lash said in approval. “Anything
else?”

“I need painting supplies, baking supplies,
and decorating stuff. I’d prefer to pick them out myself in person.
Do you have an account at a certain store that I should use? Does
it matter where I get them?”

“Dev wants you to bake for us?” Lash said,
surprised. “Why?”

“He wants me to teach Serena.”

“Arrive early in the morning the next time
you come to see Dev,” Lash hissed, sounding annoyed. “I will go
with you to get supplies.”

Ugh. Hope hard, Sar.
“Don’t you have
to guard Dev? I could go with Titus.”

“Until he knows if you are pregnant, Dev
wants me with you anytime you are not with him, his brother, or his
brother’s men. Titus is occupied, and the bears are uncouth.”

If they were uncouth, what did Lash see
himself as?
“Okay.”

“Sarelle?”

I turned to see Devlin coming toward us.

“What have you accomplished?” he asked,
laying his arm possessively across my shoulders.

I filled him in on the last few hours, ending
with Lash’s offer to get supplies next week.

“You are too efficient, Love,” he said,
pleased. “But remember, you are not to exhaust yourself. That is
for me to do—”

“Do you want me to take her to Danial?” Lash
interrupted. “Otherwise, I should get back to work.”

“No, Terian is already here for her. He’s
down in the basement with Titus, looking again at that werecougar
poison.”

“What’s the big deal?” Lash hissed, as he
walked away. “So it’s poison.”

“It’s more than poison,” Terian said coldly,
appearing next to Lash.

Lash neither jumped nor moved, just turned
slowly, his expression unimpressed.

“What do you mean?” I asked, worried.

“Poison usually kills quickly,” Terian said
meaningfully, his cherry wood eyes angry. “This would’ve been
excruciating for a long while before killing.”

“Samuel must have more,” I replied. “Is there
an antidote?”

“No,” Terian said knowledgeably. “But one is
alluded to in Titus’s Book of Poisons.”

It bothered me that Titus was so into the
dark arts that he was a poisoner. He seemed so nice, but he’d
tricked me with that fertility spell. What were his real motives?
What did he intend for Terian, now that father and son had been
reunited? Would Titus lead him deeper into evil?

“What does it say?” Lash hissed abruptly,
startling me.