THIRTY-ONE
After presenting his plan to Hamish and the others, Aiden felt confident that they could ferret out the traitor and in turn find Zoltan and the pendant.
“And when you get the pendant back, what then?” Leila asked, now dressed in clothes Enya had lent her.
He brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Then he pressed a quick kiss on her lips, not caring whether his friends were watching or not. They would get used to it. “Trust me, baby.”
She gave a quick nod. “I do.”
“I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Flanked by Pearce, he made his way down to the basement.
“What’s your plan?”
Aiden gave his friend a sideways glance. “I just told you my plan. Weren’t you listening?”
Pearce made a dismissive hand movement. “Not about the traitor, about your charge.”
He couldn’t answer that, not because he didn’t know the answer, but because the person to hear it first should be Leila. When he was back, he would talk to her about it. And he hoped she felt the same way. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“That surprises me, considering you shared virta with her.”
Aiden spun his head toward him and let out a frustrated breath. “Can nobody in this joint keep a secret anymore?”
His friend made a comical face. “Must have surprised the hell out of Hamish, otherwise he wouldn’t have mentioned it. So what’s up with that?”
“As I said, there’s nothing to tell.” Yet.
Next time he and Leila made love, it would be like the first time again. But he hadn’t told her that it would always be like that between them from now on. And at the thought of that, his chest puffed up with pride, knowing what that would do to her, knowing what it would do to both of them. Even now as he stepped into the portal, Pearce by his side, he felt a thrill shoot through his loins and could barely wait to have her back in his arms. He was in for the long haul with Leila, and that knowledge scared the shit out of him.
He was glad to have to concentrate on their destination and pushed all thoughts about Leila out of his mind.
Moments later, they had arrived.
The place looked the same as it had in the nearly two hundred years he’d known it, and from what his father and the elders of their species said, nothing had changed in over a thousand years. The Outer Hebrides were still as untouched by civilization as always. The incessant fog hung eerily over this particular island, the one no human had set foot on in a millennium.
The portal they stepped out of was out in the open and looked like a much smaller version of Stonehenge. Surrounded by dense brush and shrouded in fog, it was nearly undetectable, unless you knew what you were looking for.
Following the small path that led downhill, he soaked in the familiar smells of home. Only his parents and a few other families still lived here. Most of the others of their species had opted to live closer to civilization. He was grateful for the island’s remoteness now. Talking to his father without being seen by any other council members was paramount.
“I haven’t been here in years,” Pearce murmured next to him, rubbing his arms to ward off the fog. “It’s freezing here.”
“Getting soft in your old age?”
“Easy for you to say. You’ve just risen from between the thighs of a warm woman. No wonder you’re not cold.”
“Zip it, Pearce, or I’m going to have to polish your nose. I’m entitled to some privacy, so stay out of this.”
His friend grumbled, but didn’t say anything else.
In the distance, a mansion came into view. As they approached, he saw light shining from the windows, and smoke rising from the chimney. His feet moved faster as he crossed the remaining distance.
Without opening the massive oak door with its cast iron handles, he passed through it, Pearce on his heels.
“Mother? Father?”
A few moments passed in silence. Then from upstairs, he heard hurried footsteps.
“Aiden?” his mother’s voice called down from the top of the stairs.
“Yes, Mother.”
“Oh dear,” he heard her murmur before she came running down the stairs, dressed only in a long bathrobe, covering her from neck to toe, her long hair open and slightly disheveled. But even the long robe couldn’t cover what she seemed to want to hide from him as she reached the foot of the stairs: she was glowing golden.
“Aiden, it’s so good to see you.” She hugged him enthusiastically, sparing him having to look at her in embarrassment. No son wanted to know that his parents had just had sex.
“You should have let us know you were visiting,” his father said as he walked down the stairs, dressed in jogging pants and nothing else.
Releasing his mother and stepping back, he nodded at his father, acknowledging the slight reprimand. Ever since he’d moved out from home to reside in one of the compounds, his parents had viewed their home as their private little love nest. He should have thought of that. His father was still virile despite his age and would remain so for his entire life. Strangely enough, despite the embarrassing looks now being exchanged between all four of them, the thought that a couple could still keep their sex life exciting and—by the looks of it—very satisfying after such a long time, made him yearn for Leila. Could he have something like this with her?
“We’re sorry to intrude,” Pearce apologized, clearing his throat as he avoided looking at Aiden’s mother.
“We wouldn’t have come unannounced if it weren’t urgent.” Aiden looked at his father, who replied with a sheepish smile.
“Well, luckily you didn’t get here any earlier than you did.”
“Barclay!” his wife admonished, a blush staining her cheeks underneath the golden sheen.
He winked at his wife before looking back at Aiden and Pearce. “Come, how about some Whiskey in front of the fireplace?”
“We’ll need that,” Aiden agreed.
They followed his father and mother as they walked into the living room, a great room with vaulted ceilings, exposed stone walls, and a massive fireplace, which could accommodate a spit to roast an entire pig.
Once they were all sitting down, Whiskey glasses in hand, his father gave him an expectant look. “Considering that you’re supposed to be on assignment right now, I’m assuming your visit isn’t entirely personal.”
Aiden straightened, turning the glass in his hand. “My charge is being protected at the compound right now, so I—”
His father shot up. “At the compound? What on earth has gotten into you? It’s against our rules! You’d better have a damn good explanation for that!”
“I do. Actually more than one.”
“Well, don’t make me wait for it.”
“Sit down, father, this will take a while.”
When he took his seat again, Aiden nipped from his glass. “There were several attempts on Leila’s life, and we have reason to believe that a council member who wasn’t happy with the outcome of the vote, is behind it.”
Both his mother and father gasped at the accusation.
“They would never!” his father said in outrage.
“They would, and they did. But that’s not the worst of it. There’s more. We have a traitor on the council. A traitor who’s feeding information to the demons.”
His father’s face went white in shock. He exchanged a surprised look with his wife.
“Tell me everything.”
Aiden nodded, filling his father and mother in about what had transpired up till now. With every word, his father’s expression grew grimmer. By the end, both of his parents sat there, looking shell-shocked.
“No wonder Hamish disappeared. The boy has good instincts. Always knew it.” His father nodded as if talking to himself. Then he stared back at him and Pearce. “I’m assuming you have a plan.”
“I need to know how the council voted on Leila’s case.”
“The votes are secret. You know I can’t tell you,” his father objected, outrage coloring his voice.
“I’m afraid you’ll need to break some rules this time. We have no lead on who on the council is responsible. We have to narrow down the field. Whoever voted to eliminate Leila is a suspect in the attempts on her life. And somebody who voted to protect her, must work—”
“—for the demons,” Pearce concluded.
“Explain your reasoning,” his father requested.
“The first is easy: the person voting to eliminate Leila wanted to make sure neither she nor her research falls into the demons’ hands. He or she tried to steal the research data, killed Leila’s boss and wiped the data off her laptop in the process. That same person is responsible for sending the dogs on us at our safe house.” Aiden knew his reasoning was solid.
“And the traitor? Why would he have to be someone voting to protect her?”
“Because Leila’s drug is only in its final stages. She’s still needed to refine it. It is in the interest of the demons to keep her alive if they don’t want to end up with a drug that might in the end not work. They had to keep her alive.”
“And you think somebody on the council was responsible for sending this Zoltan and his thugs after you in Sonoma?”
Aiden nodded. “Yes. By that time they’d realized that all known copies of the data were destroyed, and now they had no choice but to snatch Leila if they wanted the drug. Nobody knew we were there. Only Hamish, Leila and I.”
“And you trust Hamish,” his father asked.
Was his father doubting his friend? “Implicitly. He helped us escape the safe house, and he was the one finding the lost portals.”
“Good. You should trust your gut more often.”
“So, will you help us?”
His parents exchanged looks. Then his mother gave him a soft smile. “Of course, he’ll help you.”
“Then who voted to protect her?”
Anxiously, Aiden leaned forward. One of the names he’d receive was the traitor who worked for the demons.
“I did,” his father confessed. “But then, you knew that already. Besides me, there were Cinead, Riona, Finlay, and Norton. The others voted to eliminate her.”
“Thank you.”
“How are you going to trap the guilty party?”
“I need you to call an emergency council meeting.”
“What do you want me to put on the agenda, son?”
“You need to tell the council members where Leila and I are hiding.”
Stunned, his father stared at him. “You want to turn yourself and your charge into bait?”
“There’s no other way.”