Liadan thought of all the curses she could put on the little redhead. It would give her great pleasure to watch as the King’s new bride’s hair fell out or her skin withered and died on her body. It wouldn’t take much. The human was ill-prepared for life on this plane. She would likely have no defenses in place against a nicely crafted spell. It was tempting, but there were ways to track a spell back to its originator. Liadan had to be careful with her magic. She would have killed Cian Finn years ago if she’d been able to truly use her skills without fear of retribution.
It was incomprehensible that Beck had chosen that idiot human over her. Liadan was beautiful. She had made sure of it when she started this mission. She had chosen the perfect façade. Liadan O’Neill was every inch the elegant Fae lady. It should have been enough to ensure that the twins fell in love with her. It hadn’t happened that way. It had taken a long time to get Beck to come to her bed, and Cian avoided her altogether.
She wasn’t sure what was between the human and Beck. He wasn’t sleeping with his new bride for some reason. He wouldn’t be able to resist her for long. He had already broken off his relationship with Liadan. Beck had wasted no time doing it, either. He’d knocked on her door earlier that afternoon and refused to come in. He’d told her that he’d married and wouldn’t be seeing her again. He had tried to be kind, but there was a dismissiveness to the whole conversation that infuriated her.
Liadan watched the barn thoughtfully and wondered if the king had mentioned her to his bride. She rather thought not. Perhaps tomorrow she would visit the little human and introduce herself. After all, they were neighbors.
Humming, Liadan walked back across the fields to her own house.
Chapter Ten
Meg was surrounded by warmth as she gradually came to her senses the next morning. She snuggled closer to the heat source and sighed as Cian pulled her closer. He was a cuddler. He’d been a perfect gentleman, but he had been very insistent on spooning her and holding her close all night. His hair had gotten tangled around her. It tickled her skin and warmed her.
She had thought she would be up all night thinking about Beck, but Cian seemed to have a soothing effect on her. The minute he wrapped himself around her, she’d heard a low, soothing hum in the back of her brain. It had taken her a moment to realize it was coming from him. It was like white noise, and it hummed her gently to sleep.
It was another noise entirely that forced Meg from the warmth of Cian’s arms.
The door slammed, and there was the unmistakable sound of an engine coming to life. It didn’t sound like any car she could remember, but Meg knew instantly what it was. It had to be that cool-looking Harley of Dante’s. Meg wanted to see it in action, so she scrambled out of her warm bed, despite Cian’s sleepy protests.
There was a robe lying across the end of the bed. Meg quickly put it on and rushed out of the bedroom. She threw open the door with a smile on her face, ready to demand a ride from Dante.
Her smile quickly dissolved as she realized Dante already had a passenger. Beck was seated on the back of the big bike that now hovered two feet in the air. The wheels of the bike had disappeared, and there was a noticeable cloud of dust under the vehicle.
“Crap.” Dante looked up from strapping his gear on the back, his face falling when he saw her. He stood beside the bike. “We have company.”
The last was said to Beck, who turned and stared at her with dark, surprised eyes.
“I left you a note,” he said almost defensively.
Meg felt her heart seize. He’d left her a note? Why did he need to leave her a note if he was just going joyriding with his cousin? That was all it could be, right? “Where are you going?”
Dante backed off. Meg could tell the vampire wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but he seemed determined to stay out of it.
Beck didn’t get off the bike. He turned to her slightly. “I explained it all in the note. I have to go to work. The best work I can get is on the Vampire plane, working for Dante’s company. It’s rough work in a dangerous part of that world. I’ll be back in a few weeks.”
“Weeks?” Meg practically shouted the question. He was leaving her. They had been married for two days, and he was leaving her. All her old doubts flooded back like a tidal wave. At least Michael had stayed for a couple of years. Beck wasn’t even staying for a week. He was leaving her with Cian, a stranger with a bunch of problems. She had no idea how to help him. She was completely lost in this strange land. She didn’t even know which horses would try to eat her. Panic seized her. “I’ll go with you.” She wouldn’t even have to pack. She didn’t own anything.
His eyes seemed cold now, and his sensual mouth was a flat line. “No. It’s too dangerous. I have to work. I won’t have time to do my job and watch after you.”
Tears formed in her eyes and Meg ran to him. “Please let me go with you. I don’t know what to do here. I don’t know how to do anything.”
It went against everything she was, but she felt like begging. She didn’t want to be left behind with an amnesiac and a farm falling down around her. She wanted Beck. He’d been the rock she had clung to ever since she found herself on this plane.
Beck gently pushed her back. “You’ll be fine. Bond with Cian. He’ll take care of you.”
She didn’t think that was happening any time soon. Cian couldn’t take care of himself. Cian couldn’t remember who she was for more than five minutes. “You promised you would take care of me.”
Beck shook his head. He looked so arrogant. “That’s what I’m doing, Meg. When I finish this job, we’ll have enough gold to fix up the place. We can hire a housekeeper so you won’t have to work.”
“I don’t mind working,” Meg promised. She hated the fact that she was crying, but she couldn’t seem to help it. “I’ve worked all my life, but I don’t know what to do here.”
“Nor should you,” he replied as though it was a foregone conclusion. “You’re a bondmate. You shouldn’t be doing housework, and you shouldn’t live in a cottage that’s falling down around you.”
Her frustration made her eyes squeeze shut. “Shouldn’t I decide what I want or don’t want?”
“You don’t know enough to decide,” Beck explained with a dismissive wave. “Back up. We have to leave now.”
Meg backed off as Dante hopped on the cycle in one graceful move.
“I left you my computer.” Dante nodded in her direction. “I showed you how to use it, remember? Look up bonding, and it will give you a description of how to get Cian to bond with you. It’s connected to the web on the Vampire plane. You should be able to find just about any information you need.”
Meg nodded her head dully. Beck was really leaving, and he hadn’t kissed her goodbye. Hell, if she hadn’t woken when she did, he would have left without seeing her at all. She took a deep breath and tried to come to terms with the fact that she had, perhaps, been wrong about him. He hadn’t really wanted her. Men could feel lust for women they didn’t really care about. He had explained it at the time. His brother was dying. They needed a bondmate, and she was the only one to be found. Was it such a surprise that, having done his duty, he would want to be away from her?
All that other stuff, all the stuff about caring about her and never cheating on her, had been lies. It wouldn’t be the first time some guy had told her what she wanted to hear to get her to do something. She had to give Beck a little credit. At least he had done it to save his brother.
“I’ll be back in a few weeks.” Beck looked slightly concerned for the first time. He slid off the bike and came to stand in front of her. He towered over her, but this time his massive size didn’t make her feel secure. “You’ll be fine.”