Echo had thought the evil and power-hungry Ansara clan to be no more. Foolish. One had survived. Over the years that single surviving Ansara had brought strays into the fold. Strays like Maisy. They’d begun to build a new clan, one independent at a time. What sorts of promises had been made? Power, certainly.
Money. Revenge. Possessing Cloughban would be the final step. They’d have the stones, the magic, the people. And Cassidy. No matter what, they could not have Cassidy.
He could simply take his daughter and go. Screw the town and the people in it. The Ansara could have them.
But a part of him, the weak part he could not yet shake, still cared. With his old powers coming back and trying to take control, he felt like two very different people occupying the same body. He’d managed a balance before, but his dark side had been sleeping so long it was stronger than before. More determined to survive. To win.
That part of him was angry, and determined not to be denied again.
The back of the pub was in sight when Echo said, “Two days.”
“I’m aware,” he snapped.
“In two days the Ansara will march into Cloughban and if we don’t do something they’ll take it.”
“Go, then. Get into your rental car, drive to the airport and go home.”
“No,” she said softly.
“Why not? This is not your battle to fight!”
“It is my battle, dammit! Do you think I like it? Do you think I like admitting that this is home now? I don’t, but it is.” She didn’t sound happy about the fact. “All my life I’ve searched for home. Not Raintree home, not Gideon’s home, not a place to crash for a while. My home. And finally, I find it on the other side of the world. No Wi-Fi, no Walmart, no movie theater or bowling alley or...hell, anything!”
“Then go,” he said again. “Find another home, one with your bleedin’ Wi-Fi.”
She sighed. He did not turn to look at her.
“It doesn’t work that way, and you know it.” Her voice was slightly calmer than it had been. “Besides, faults aside, this is the most beautiful and peaceful place I’ve ever been.”
Rye snorted. “Peaceful?”
“Well, normally. Maybe not this week, but...all in all. The important thing is, I belong here. I feel like I’ve spent my entire life taking one small step after another for the specific purpose of finding Cloughban. And you,” she added in a more determined voice.
He needed to be just as determined as she was. Colder. Surer. “This is not your home, and what we have is nothing more than lust.”
“Bullshit!” she said as she ran forward to pull up alongside him. “Empath here, remember? A part of you does love me.”
She was silent for a few moments after that. Silent and thoughtful. Finally she said, “Two days is not enough time.”
“To get ready for the Ansara?”
She didn’t answer, not out loud, but he heard her thoughts more clearly than ever.
To make you love me. Jerk.
Chapter 20
Ryder didn’t invite her into the pub, but he didn’t push her away when she followed him inside, either. Empathic abilities were not required to see that he was a man at war with himself, that since removing the protective talismans he’d been light and evil wrapped in one package.
Her Ryder was a father, a lover, a leader and protector. He was what he had been born to be—a guardian. Guardian of the stones, of his child, of Cloughban...even of her.
He was also a killer. Ryder had killed years ago, and he’d killed again tonight. Did it matter that those lives he’d taken had been dark ones? She couldn’t—wouldn’t—say. She did understand that with his own darkness flowing free again he was power hungry and slightly sociopathic. Slightly? Who was she kidding...?
In spite of all that, there remained deep inside a part of him a man who was willing to do anything for those he loved. For her. For Cassidy. She looked at him with loving eyes and so easily saw the man he had been as well as the man he was now, at this moment. She saw the good and bad.
It sounded like a fairy tale, she realized that, but in her heart she was certain that love could save Ryder. No, not save. Guide. He was going to have to save himself. Love could push back the dark and feed the light. Her love. It wasn’t enough that she loved him, he had to love her back.
Then they could handle the Ansara, and after that, the cure. The removal of the curse.