“I’ve written up an account of the whole conversation and emailed it to you right before you called.”

Nell snorted. “Should have known. Perfect. Okay, so I’m going to focus in those states we’ve seen the mage activity in. And I’ll expand to the areas around it. But not too far. She won’t be going into Gennessee or Owen territory unless she’s desperate. The West Coast is far afield for her.”

Meriel’s stomach clenched. “Someone has.”

“Yes, but those mages aren’t necessarily tied to her. I just don’t think she’d have survived for thirty years turned if she wasn’t being somewhat smart.”

“Get back to me.”

“You stay safe. You use all your magick if this bitch rolls up on you. Or any of them. Do not think you can talk sense into these people.”

Meriel knew the stakes.

“I know. We’ll be back tomorrow night late. Call me if you find anything else.”

She hung up and turned her gaze back to the windows, but her mind was a million miles away.

* * *

DOMINIC came down to find his gorgeous woman having a rather intense discussion with a cat. He grinned when Ernie finally gave in and jumped down from her lap.

“He’s a snob. He likes Tom and that’s about it.” Dominic paused for a kiss but she stood and wrapped herself around him, which was even better. “You should be honored he sat in your lap.”

“We were just fine with that. But he drools and he has sharp claws he likes to use when he’s getting pets. We can’t agree on whether this is acceptable behavior or not.” She glanced at the cat, currently washing his face with his paw. “Good morning.” She kissed Dominic.

“It is now.”

Laughing, she pointed at the carafe on the counter. “Coffee there. Tom has promised a big farm breakfast and I graciously accepted his very fine offer. I promise I was even going to wake you up in time. After I filled my own plate first, of course.”

“He’ll make enough for fifteen people anyway. That’s why the cat’s so fat.”

Ernie looked up at Dominic with one green eye and one blue eye. Neither was that impressed. He did stretch his head out to get a scratch though, so Dominic complied and was rewarded with a throaty purr.

“How’d you sleep?” Tom asked as he came into the room with an armful of food.

“It was hard to get used to the quiet, but after about thirty minutes my mind let go.” Despite all his emotional upheaval, it had been a deep and dreamless sleep. He’d needed that. Needed to wake up to the quiet of the house and Meriel’s scent on his skin and the sheets. He’d lain in bed, staring up at the naked beams above, just thinking.

Of course all the thinking had only made him itchy. Uncomfortable and off balance again.

“Tonight will be the one you really conk out. You should stay an extra day or two.” Tom began to pull out bowls and pots. Dominic automatically moved to help.

“If you two won’t miss my helping hands, I’m going to grab a shower.”

He turned to find her near the doorway, the sunlight on her hair, backlighting her like an angel. He saw her worry and it comforted. She cared about him, worried over him. She’d probably been up four hours already and had most likely been in contact with Nell about this business with his parents. He wished … wished she could take his side in this. Understood she had to protect her people, their people he supposed. But he wanted her to believe with him that his mother wasn’t a lost cause.

“We’ve got it handled. Breakfast will be ready in about half an hour so you’ve got some time.” He moved to her, meeting her halfway. He wanted to join her, but that wasn’t the time. He needed the alone time with Tom and she knew that too.

She said nothing else, but tiptoed up to kiss him quickly and then left.

“I like her. She’s a lot like your grandmother, your Meriel. I’ve got a lot of things I’ve held back for you, for the time when you finally learned the truth. Pictures, that sort of thing. So you can know your grandparents too.”

Dominic rejoined Tom at the kitchen island. Automatically, he began to peel potatoes. “I can’t believe you never told me any of this.”

“I know you’re angry at me.”

“I’m angry, period. What if she’s been looking for me?”

“You’re a smart man. You were a smart boy too. Too smart to hold fantasies as reality. She’s not a fairy princess, boy, she’s a turned witch working with mages to hurt her own people to get a fix. Don’t forget it. If she has been looking for you, let’s all say a prayer of thanks she never found you. Gloria is nothing but bad news for you.”

“You had no right to make that decision for me.”

Tom slammed his fist on the counter and spun to face him. “Bullshit. I have every right to make that decision. I adored my brother. Idolized him. He was everything I wanted to be. He was good at everything. Sports, academics, women, my god, the women. But our parents didn’t know how to keep that channeled in a positive direction. In college he met Gloria and that was it. I’d hoped they would be good for each other, but they weren’t. She encouraged his recklessness and he doted on her. She needed a man who’d help her get her act together, but he wasn’t that man. He needed a woman who’d have given him a reason to finally stop fucking around and build a life as an adult. She wasn’t that woman.

“And then you came along about six months after they married and we’d all hoped that would finally do the trick. It didn’t. So he came to me, on the verge of losing it. The last time I saw Felix, he stood in my living room and begged me to kill him if I ever saw him again. He gave his child to me to raise and protect and you’d damn well better know that’s what I did. I don’t have the right? Fuck. You.”

Tom turned again and went back to slicing the bacon as Dominic peeled potatoes.

Both men worked silently. Tom was slow to anger and usually quick to get over it. Dominic thought about his life. He thought about the way he’d been raised. Physically hale, fed intellectually and emotionally. The very firm way Tom dealt with him and any infractions made sense on a whole new level. He’d done it to keep Dominic from turning out like his own dad.

And Dominic didn’t quite know how to process it. It had been a long time since he’d felt so out of sorts. He hadn’t missed it.

“Did you hate him? Or me?” Dominic poured oil into the cast-iron skillet and waited for it to heat while he grabbed some onion and green pepper to go with the potatoes.

“Never you. I was young when I came out here. Having you … well, it gave me a direction. One I didn’t really have. I suppose you saved my life in a lot of ways.”

Dominic waited for more as he slid everything into the hot skillet. Tom would say more when he was ready.

“I grew up with a larger-than-life big brother. He took me with him sometimes when he’d go with his friends. Seeing what he’d become … I was disappointed, but more than that, I was angry. He had everything, including a baby, and it wasn’t enough.”

Dominic looked around the kitchen. At the cabinets they’d made and installed themselves.

“Did you know I made extra money when I was in L.A. by doing carpentry?”

“Yeah? Good. You have a good hand with it. But you’re better at running things. This club of yours. Meriel told me about it last night. She invited me to Seattle to stay whenever I like. I want to see what you’ve built. If you’ll have me in your life, that is.”

Dominic turned to face the man who was his father in every way that was important. “I’m pissed off at you. But that doesn’t change that I love you. Of course I want you in my life. Why do you think I’m still here?”

Tom turned the bacon. “Put the biscuits in the oven please.”

Dominic did.

“Maybe you’re only here to get more info on your mother.”

Dominic turned the potatoes, satisfied with how golden they’d gotten. “Really? You think that?”