War of Hearts (True Immortality 1)

Thea shot him a sardonic look. “Would you believe me if I said it was you?”

He grunted. “It pains me to say, but I think you fear me as much as a shark fears a wee fish.”

Her lips twitched and the laughter that glittered in her eyes took Conall aback. “Not quite.”

The basic ringtone of his temporary phone blasted, cutting off his quest to ask more about her nightmares. Striding across the room, Conall answered, his voice impatient and gruff with self-directed frustration. “This better be my sister.”

The sound of Callie’s gentle laughter soothed him. “Then thank goodness it is.”

He hadn’t realized until that moment how tightly wound he was about leaving Callie with Ashforth. Hearing her voice was a balm to the guilt he carried about letting his sister be used as a pawn in this hunt for Thea. Flicking a look at his prey, he noted she was watching him and listening in.

Fine.

He didn’t care.

She should know how important Callie was to him. Understanding that would make her understand the hopelessness of her position. This only ends one way, he silently reminded her with his expression.

Or was he silently reminding himself?

“Are you all right?” He turned from Thea’s intense regard.

“I’m fine. Some guards complain a lot among themselves. Apparently, our food is horrible, and the castle is cold.”

Conall smirked. Wolves ran at hotter temperatures than humans and so the cold didn’t bother them. Luckily for them because winters in the Highlands weren’t exactly a Caribbean paradise. “Where do these guards come from?”

“There’s a mingling of accents.”

Conall nodded, thinking he’d get strategic information from James instead of grilling his sister. Once upon a time, as lead warrior, it had been her job to compile that kind of information, but Conall didn’t want to tire her out. “But you’re comfortable? They havenae done anything to you?”

“I’m very comfortable,” she assured him. “He’s given me the nicest bedroom in the castle and I have free roam of the place as long as a guard accompanies me. And James is always with me.”

“Always?”

She chuckled. “He sleeps in a cot at the bottom of my bed. The perfect gentleman, to my great frustration.”

“You didnae just say that to your brother,” Conall heard James complain in the background.

Callie laughed, and he closed his eyes against the sound. That was all it took. It reminded him that if he didn’t succeed in bringing Thea back to Castle Cara, there would be a short limit to the times he’d hear Callie laugh.

“Put James on, sweetheart.”

“Okay. I miss you, big brother.”

“I miss you too. I’ll be home soon.”

After a shuffling noise, his beta’s voice filled his ear. “Conall?”

“She’s doing okay?”

“Callie’s fine. We’re the best-treated prisoners in the world.”

Conall bared his teeth. “Aye, not for long. How many guards?”

“It’s not their numbers that worry me. Several of the night guards are vampires and Ashforth has lone wolves on the daytime guard. A few of them are big, mean buggers.”

“Vamps and wolves?” He frowned. “I’d like to know how one human man can amass so many contacts in the paranormal community.”

“Money. I’ve overheard the guards talking and they’re being paid extremely well to guard us.”

“Dishonorable fucks,” Conall sneered. It was one thing to take the risk of going into business with a human who was emotionally blackmailing him to save his sister’s life. It was another thing entirely to act as a prison guard against your own kind for the sake of something as fleeting as money.

But that was lone wolves for you.

“You doing okay, Chief?” James asked.

“Things … are a little complicated. It seems I’m not the only one after Ashforth’s ward. But we’ll be in Scotland in several days if all goes to plan.”

They hung up with assurances to speak again soon and Conall looked over at Thea. She was standing by the window, the morning sun casting her in a halo of light as she stared out into the city. Feeling his regard, she glanced over at him. “I’m not Ashforth’s ward. I’m not his anything, and you can’t trust him.”

Conall glowered at what he was sure was an attempt to manipulate him. Finally. He’d been waiting for her to take this path and was relieved he hadn’t misjudged her. “And I suppose I should trust you instead?”

Thea shook her head. “You shouldn’t trust anyone who can never trust you in return.”

Struck silent by the weary wisdom of those words, Conall’s scowl deepened. He wanted her to attempt to manipulate him. To fill his ears with lies about Ashforth. Instead, she continually surprised him.

The urge to ask for her side of her story was great, but he refrained. Conall now doubted Thea would tell him. She would have done so by now. There was a moment he thought she was going for it, and instead she’d chosen silence. That was frustrating for many reasons, mostly because he appreciated that she wasn’t trying to manipulate him, just as much as he wished she fucking would.