“I call shotgun,” Mandy said.
Michael smiled. “You can have it. I’ll stretch out in the back. I’m dead tired.”
More so than he thought. He was out cold before Ryder backed the SUV out of the truck stop parking lot, and didn’t wake until they pulled into a gas station about twenty minutes from their destination. He went inside to grab a soda, needing the caffeine to clear his head. Derek met him in there.
“What bug crawled up Mandy’s ass?” Derek asked. “She was grumpy and quiet the whole way.”
Michael took a long swallow of the soda. “That’s different for Mandy?”
Derek laughed. “Okay, so she’s normally moody. But there’s something off about her.”
“She froze when she tried to kill the demon in Florida. Couldn’t pull the trigger. It really messed her up. She had some kind of meltdown over it.”
Derek’s brows lifted. “That’s weird. She’s usually right on the front line and eager to be the first on a kill.”
“Yeah, I know. I read her file. But something’s going on with her, Derek. She went out after that and hunted down another, made a kill, but it screwed with her head. She came back a wreck.”
“Physically?”
Michael shook his head. “Physically and emotionally. My guess is she’s still pretty messed up over Lou’s death and the part she was forced to play in it.”
“You talk to her about that?”
No. He got her naked and made love to her. “I’ve tried.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
“I’ll handle it. I’m her Keeper and in charge of her. She needs a cooling-off period right now.”
Derek nodded. “Your call. If you need me, let me know. In the meantime, I’ll make sure we all have her back. She’s family.”
To them she was family. To him she was …something entirely different.
“Okay. Thanks. Look, I know I’m not Lou and I’ll never try to be, but I have all your best interests in mind with this. My job is to protect you. If you can’t do your jobs, I’ll pull you. Any of you. That’s what I told Mandy”
Derek’s lips lifted. “I’ll bet she hated that. And you for doing it.”
Michael leaned against the counter and waited for the store clerk to make change, grinning back at Derek. “Uh, yeah, you could say she was a little unhappy with me.”
Derek looked Michael over from head to foot.
“What are you doing?” Michael asked.
“Searching for wounds. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re still walking.”
Michael laughed. At that moment, Mandy walked in and they both stared at her. She stopped, looked at both of them, then glared.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Derek said.
Her gaze narrowed. She had to know they’d been discussing her. She cast a look at Michael, then moved on to the back of the store.
“Yeah, she’s pissed,” Derek said.
“I’ll handle her. But first we need to get through this situation with Dalton and Isabelle. One crisis at a time.”
“Do you think there’ll be a problem when we get there?”
Michael took the change from the clerk and they walked outside. He shrugged. “No idea. You know Dalton better than I do.”
“Yeah, I do. But what he did wasn’t like him. He’s always been pretty much by the book. So I have no idea what we’ll find.”
Great. Michael hated surprises. Then again, in their line of work, every damn day was a surprise.
“I do know one thing, though,” Derek added.
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Dalton’s a good guy. We need to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Michael shrugged. “Why? Just because he’s a ‘good guy’ doesn’t mean he gets a pass. But I’m not going to go up to him and shoot him, either. I’ll listen to what he has to say.” And then decide what to do.
The last thing he wanted was more bloodshed, more death. Especially of one of their own. Michael would do anything to avoid that.
Frankly, he didn’t think Mandy could handle it if it came to having to take drastic measures against Dalton. Not that Mandy’s feelings were his concern, or his primary consideration when tackling an issue.
Or at least they shouldn’t be. But part of his decision-making in this situation did take her feelings into account. Mandy was on the edge, teetering on the cliff. One gentle push and she’d go over. It wasn’t his personal feelings for Mandy-or that’s what he told himself-he just didn’t want to lose another team member.
Yeah, he’d be handling Dalton with care.
At least until he found out what the hell was going on.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
By late afternoon the puddles had mostly cleared and the sun was out, doing its best to dry the rain-soaked area. Frankly all the sun was doing was making it even more hellishly humid. It was damned near unbearable outside, but Dalton couldn’t stand being cooped up in the house. The sense of expectation had become intolerable.
Isabelle seemed to feel it, too. She’d been quiet since he told her about the Realm coming. He could only wonder about what she was thinking and having to deal with: everything he’d told her about himself, plus her realistic dreams about the Sons of Darkness-now she also had to worry about what would happen when the Realm showed up.
He’d protect her. Nothing bad would happen. He wouldn’t let it. They’d come too far to fail now.
He was out back when he heard the sounds of car engines approaching along the main road. It would take the hunters a bit to maneuver their way to the main house, then figure out where Isabelle and he were. Abandoning his work, he grabbed a towel to wipe the mud off his hands and headed inside to clean up. Isabelle was standing at the front window, her arms crossed. A light breeze blew the curtains inward.
“I heard cars,” she said, not turning to look at him.
“Yeah. It’s probably the hunters.”
She nodded. Even without touching her, he felt her tension.
“It’s going to be okay.”
She turned to him. “Is it? How do you know?”
“You’re right. I don’t know. But I’ll make it okay. We haven’t come this far for me to let them strike you down. And I know the Realm, Isabelle. They don’t operate that way.”
She tilted her head back, her hair picking up sunlight and shining like golden fire. “They ordered you to kill me once, and you defied them. They may just decide to kill me now and then talk to you. Or kill us both.”
He shook his head. “It’s not going to happen that way.” He swept his knuckles across her cheek. “Please, just trust that I will do whatever it takes to protect you.”
She nodded. “You always have, haven’t you?”
“Yes. And I don’t intend to stop.”
She inhaled and let it out on an audible sigh. “I’ll be fine.”
He wanted to go to her, hold her, tell her to relax. But he knew it wouldn’t help. She wasn’t going to be calm. Not until this was over.
He washed up, threw on jeans and a sleeveless shirt, and came back out. Isabelle was still standing at the window. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“My sister is with them,” she said. “I’ve felt my connection to her growing lately.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess so. But I can’t help but wonder: If Angie broke through long enough to help the Realm locate me, maybe the Sons of Darkness can find me, too.”
“Isabelle, it was only a matter of time before the Realm picked up our trail. Angelique may have had nothing to do with it.”
“Maybe. But I feel her. I know she feels me, too.”
“Isn’t it possible you let her in? That you can distinguish between light and darkness?”
“True enough. I do need her.”