Max’s fingers tightened around her waist. His cock slipped free, and he leaned sideways to stare at her. “Your memories are back?”
“Only some of them.”
“Wait…lighthouse?” His eyebrows knitting, Boone glanced toward Max. “Didn’t we find her car at the Tybee Light Station? That’s kind of a weird coincidence.”
Max remained quiet for a moment, his expression hinting at how deep in thought he was. It occurred to Willa how incredibly weird it was talking about this when seconds ago the three of them had been boinking their brains out. She was on the verge of pointing that out when Max broke from his concentration and stared at her. “You said you could hear the leviathan calling your name. Was it before or after you arrived at the lighthouse?”
“I’m not completely certain. That part hasn’t fully come back to me.” She tried to focus. “After, maybe?”
“Then that means something else led you to the lighthouse.” Excitement threaded through Max’s voice. “Something wanted you to go there.”
The ramification of what he was implying slammed into her. “You think Aurele hid the trident at the lighthouse?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” He lifted her from Boone’s lap. His face displayed a mix of hope and firm resolution. “We need to return to Tybee. Tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Harrison hissed between his teeth, his patience wearing thin as Kragos failed for the hundredth time to break past the block barricading Aurele Telluride’s memory. “You aren’t trying hard enough.”
His normally black eyes filled with a red rage, Kragos strained against the ropes securing him to the chair across from Aurele’s. In truth, the leviathan’s murderous expression—combined with his considerable strength—would have concerned Harrison. The syringe filled with toxic sea-anemone venom that Harrison wedged warningly into Kragos’s neck gave Harrison an edge in keeping the soul collector in line. There weren’t many things capable of killing a leviathan, particularly when not in its true form, but the venom was one. Fortunately he’d been able to get his tentacles on enough of the toxin to take care of Kragos and the rest of the leviathans as soon as their usefulness was over.
“I’m going to enjoy ripping your intestines out, boy.”
“Keep feeding yourself that pipe dream.” Digging his talons into Kragos’s scalp, Harrison depressed the plunger a fraction, releasing a small amount of the venom—just enough to make Kragos writhe in agony.
A trilling laugh rolled from the duchess, her delight in witnessing Kragos’s pain apparent. She leaned down and raked her nails along the soul collector’s face, leaving bloody trails. “What a fitting reunion. The traitor who betrayed me and the woman responsible for delaying my destruction of the humans. Both of your pathetic struggles are for nothing. I will be victorious.” She slapped Kragos in the back of the head. “If you don’t break that block, I’ll have him double the dose.”
Fresh waves of the elder leviathan’s energy rushed at Aurele. Harrison could detect its magnetic currents battering at the woman’s defenses. Great rivers of sweat plastering her hair to her skull, Aurele moaned, her limbs shaking. “I—I don’t remember where it is.”
Reva’s lips thinned. “Yes, you do. Tell me.”
Aurele convulsed like she was experiencing a seizure. Her eyes rolled back, and she screamed a single word, “Lighthouse.”
The duchess gave a cold smile. “Now we’re getting somewhere. What lighthouse?”
“I don’t know.”
Reva lifted her hand, presumably to strike Aurele, but Harrison stayed her as he recalled where he’d tracked the girl to before ultimately luring her into the ocean. Ignoring the duchess’s furious expression, he pinned his gaze to the Telluride woman. “Is it the lighthouse here on this island?”
Aurele’s eyes twitched erratically. “Yes.”
Kragos’s energy lessened and Aurele’s head lolled back, a weak groan floating from her. The woman’s reprieve was short-lived however when Reva pounced on Aurele, her clawlike fingers encircling her neck.
Harrison’s patience threatened to snap. “You might want to wait to do that until after we’ve secured the trident. There’s a fair amount of ground to cover at the lighthouse. She might give us more information once we get there.”
Looking vastly disappointed at having her revenge cut short, Reva let go of Aurele and straightened. She glared at Kragos. “We have no need of him anymore.”
The elder leviathan began struggling in earnest. “I can get her to tell you more.”
“We have enough.” Reva’s features twisted with icy menace. “His services are done here. Finish him.”
Harrison gave the top of Kragos’s head a patronizing pat. “Perhaps you should have taken me under your tentacle.” With those words of advice, he fully released the plunger.
While Kragos’s body shuddered in its painful death throe, Harrison tugged Aurele and Reva close before mentally inputting the coordinates for the lighthouse. As the teleportation took effect, Kragos slumped, dead as a doornail. Harrison gave the soul collector a mock salute. Kragos was just the first of many grievances to be laid to rest tonight.
Oh yes, victory had never tasted so sweet.
It wasn’t until Max and Boone led her toward the back entrance of the mansion that Willa realized they wouldn’t be taking a car to Tybee. She dragged her feet on the marble, panic creating a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead. “Uh, guys, there’s no way I’m getting in that portal.”
Max stroked her cheek. “Baby, it’s going to be okay. I’d never let anything happen to you.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“Because I’d die for you.”
She shivered. “Don’t say that. I don’t want anyone else I love dying for me.”
Max sucked in a harsh breath. “You love me?”
Okay, not quite how she’d imagined telling him. This special moment wasn’t supposed to be in the middle of her fighting a panic attack and moments after a mind-blowing threesome with Max and his best friend. “Yes.”
The intensity of emotion filling Max’s eyes made her heart give a giddy leap as she recognized it for what it was. “I love you too, sweetheart.” The light dimmed slightly. “But your birthright—”
“Won’t mean anything if we don’t get our asses moving,” Boone pointed out. He swung open the back door and sprinted across the lawn. Taking her hand, Max hurried after him, hauling her along. It was a good thing they’d decided to dress, because several of the armed guards patrolling the property stopped in their tracks, gaping at them.
“I guess they’ve never seen anyone running for no apparent reason,” she said between gasps. They dashed along a pea-graveled path, streaking past a manicured border of yews. A clearing opened in front of them. In the middle of it, spotlighted by blue floodlights, was the reflecting pool.
It was the same one from her dream.
She slammed to a halt fast enough it knocked Max, who’d still been clutching her hand, back a step. “I can’t go in there.” If she did…bad things would happen. She knew it was the implant talking, but hell if she didn’t agree with it at the moment.
“Baby, I’m here. There’s no reason to be scared.”
She stared at Max, wanting to believe him, wishing for the confidence to take that leap of faith.
“Come on, we’ll do it together. One step at a time. Okay?”
Rather than forward, her feet moved in the opposite direction.
She could see Max’s disappointment. His frustration. In her mind, she pictured all of the people she was letting down by giving in to her fears. The millions and millions of potential deaths that were weighing on her shoulders. Gritting her teeth, she took another step back. Then another. Sucking in a deep breath, she bent her knees and locked her jaw. Expelling the oxygen in her lungs, she bolted forward.