I wrinkled my nose up. There was? How did I smell now? "What do you mean?"
"It's not lemons, if that's what you're asking." She rolled her eyes. "You're different. That's all I can say."
"You're stronger." Gavin spoke for her. His eyes were grave now and I was reminded of the first and last time I'd met him. He was dangerous then and seemed more dangerous now.
"I am?"
Gregory shifted in the background and remained quiet.
"You were strong before, but you hid it. There's nothing more for you to hide behind. You are just strong now. There's no weakness in you anymore, none that I can see."
"He's right. They're all right." Roane sighed. "You are different, Davy. It's why I didn't think you were you, but you said you could control your powers. You're going to have to. Or you will have to stay hidden. No one can know who you are. The Alpha really can't know who you are."
"So how are you going to do that?" Wren sat on the edge of Roane's desk.
I looked at her and had no idea how to answer that question.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Are you sure about this?" Roane asked when he showed me to a guest bedroom at the Shoilster.
So many vampires had come to town to join him that his home was full and the extra rooms at the Alexander were all taken. Even though the Shoilster and Alexander were a nightclub and restaurant, Roane had rooms built into them and tunnels around them. They were perfect to hide the entire army, but he kept a few rooms for his closest allies. Since my room was right next to his, I knew it meant something. They were attached by a door in the wall.
Was I sure? Yes. Did I want to? No. I sighed and turned back. He looked good, so good, but there was so much distance between us. We'd been excited before and had jumped at each other, but I'd had time to remember something that would guarantee more distance between us. Talia.
So I nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay." He glanced at the door. "You know where I'll be if you want to…talk."
Talk. Yes. We needed to do some of that too.
"Davy." He sounded hesitant. "I thought we were fine. Before, in the room…"
"I know, but I have to wrap my head around things." Not to mention that I'd forgotten about the day I'd met Gavin when waves had hit me with the same urgency I'd felt by the fire and from the shadow. The shadow pulled me there. It wanted me to find Tracey's bag. It was the same voice that had assaulted me the day before I'd disappeared.
'Tell Roane of my daughter.'
I wasn't stupid. That shadow was connected to Tracey. It was connected to a child. And it was connected to Roane. Common factor? Talia. I'd forgotten about it amidst everything, but it came back to me. As I glanced at my bag, I knew that Roane smelled Tracey from it. Wren had bolted from the room because of it. Why was Roane ignoring it? What did that mean?
"Things?"
I looked back at him. There was sadness to him. I felt the history from it. Oh yes. He knew that I had connected with Tracey. He was aware her bag was in my possession and he knew I had something else to tell him. Did he know it was about Talia? Did he know it was her child?
Oh hell. Why postpone it?
I dumped the bag out on the bed.
"What are you doing?" Roane jerked behind me. There was panic in his voice.
I started to shift through her things.
"Stop." He caught my hand. "Please stop."
I yanked my hand away and kept looking. Clothes. Weapons. A journal. Little remnants here and there. And then my finger touched something small, thin, and I knew it was a picture. I felt it in my gut. This was what she wanted me to find. Intense pain flooded me, dread formed in my stomach, but I gritted my teeth and lifted the photograph.
It was of Talia holding an infant to her cheeks. She was smiling to the camera. Love exuded from her. The baby's eyes were open a fraction, but it was enough. They had the same eyes. All eyes were blue at birth, but this one had hazel eyes. This one was the same as her mother's. That also told me that this child wasn't an ordinary child. There was magic in her.
"Oh my god," Roane said beside me. He took the picture from me and lifted it for closer inspection.