head, though part of her wanted to say yes. To have them as a buffer. But she had to face Malcolm on her own. They couldn’t hear that conversation. “No, thanks.” Celia watched her cousins walk out the door and was sorely tempted to call them back. But she didn’t. Instead she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and sat back down behind the counter to wait for Malcolm to arrive.
* * *
By the time Malcolm pulled to a stop in front of the shop, he was furious and hurt everywhere. He was still bleeding, and worse, he’d never found the stones. He was working on borrowed time. Time he couldn’t afford to lose. He jumped out of the truck, wincing at the arc of pain slicing through his ribs, and hurried toward the shop.
He pulled open the door, cringing as the bells pierced his throbbing brain. “Celia!” he bellowed.
Silence greeted him. He was about to call her again when the door to the back room opened and she stepped into the doorway. His breath caught in this throat, strangling the yell that had been perched on his tongue.
“Hello, Malcolm,” she said, her warm, brandy-laced voice washing over him. She walked into the room. As if nothing had happened. As if he weren’t covered in red dirt and blood.
“Celia,” he said, not trusting himself to say more.
She walked forward, her long, gorgeous legs hidden beneath a gauzy dark blue skirt. Graceful. Elegant. And yet, as her chocolate-brown eyes caught his, they were filled with wariness. He’d done that to her. Her eyes used to be wide-open and filled with joy. Now they were guarded and hard.
“It’s good to see you,” he said. She looked beautiful, her copper hair a wild mane bouncing around her shoulders. How he’d missed that hair tickling his skin. How he missed her.
“What are you doing here, Malcolm?” A note of coldness entered her voice, and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her.
“I needed to see you—”
“That’s not a good enough reason to intrude on my life. I don’t want to see you. To have anything to do with you. Not now. Not ever.” Fire flashed amber in her dark eyes as they took in the cut on his brow, the blood on his face. “I would have thought your little field trip into the canyons had made that clear.”
Anger fired like a .22 bullet ricocheting off his insides, bouncing within him. “You sent me there on purpose?”
“Of course.”
What had happened to her? The Celia he knew never... “You could have got me killed,” he said evenly.
“Oh, please, men like you don’t die, Malcolm. They live on to make everyone else suffer.”
Her sharp words cut him deep. “My protection is gone. I lost the bracelet of crystals in the canyon when I was attacked by an Abatu.”
“Then you’re in a helluva lot of trouble, aren’t you?”
He sucked in a quick breath, disbelief thick in his throat. “What are you saying?”
“Get out, Malcolm. And don’t ever come back.”
He stared at the hard, cold fury in her eyes and wondered what had happened to the soft, caring woman he loved.
He was what happened. He’d made her like this. “Do you really hate me that much?” he asked, his voice breaking over the words.
“Yes,” she said without missing a beat.
He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t. She was being absurd. Childish. “I made some mistakes...some misjudgments—”
“Don’t kid yourself, Malcolm. You are a coldhearted, self-absorbed, power-hungry ass, and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t ever want to see you again. So I’ll tell you what. I will find your bracelet. I will rejuvenate your crystals. I will do whatever it takes to get you out of here. To go back to the Colony and never return. Is that clear?”
He took in the stiffness in her spine, the hardness in her jaw, the white knuckles of her clenched fingers, and knew there would be nothing he could say or do that would get through to her. And right then, he wished he could leave. Wished he could turn around and not have to face her, not have to break her heart any further. But he couldn’t. The Colony needed her. And they needed him to bring her to them.
“I’m sorry, Celia, but I can’t leave without you.” He took a step toward her, his hand outstretched.
She backed away. “Stay away from me,” she warned. “I will hurt you.”
“I know that I deserve your anger. I would leave you here in peace, if I could, but I can’t.”
Uncertainty and fear flashed through her eyes.
“I have to take you back to the Colony.”
“Why?” she asked, her voice rising in pitch. She could tell something was wrong; he could see it in the fear creeping into her face. But she didn’t want to face it. Didn’t want to know. And he wished like hell he didn’t have to tell her.
“The Colony needs you,” he said, his voice not much louder than a whisper.
She shook her head. “I won’t go back. I can’t,” she insisted, and turned away from him.
He took a deep steadying breath, steeling himself. “You have to, Celia. And not just for me, but for everyone. The stones surrounding the Colony need to be rejuvenated. There isn’t much time....”
She was still shaking her head. Her anger and bravado were gone now, replaced by something desperate. Something afraid. “Why can’t my mother—” She stopped midsentence as her eyes widened with a whisper of understanding.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out Jaya’s necklace, the long purple crystal hanging from a silver chain, and held it out to her. Guilt and shame burned through him. How would he say the words that would shatter her world? How could he confess the ugly truth of what he’d done?
He didn’t have to. He knew it was written all over his face.
Her head started swinging violently back and forth as a low keening wail broke free from somewhere deep inside her. The sound exploded into the air, filling the room. “Tell me!” she insisted, her hot, shimmering gaze glued to the purple stone dangling from his hand. “What happened to my mother?”
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, stepping toward her. “She’s...she’s dead, Celia.”
Her loud cry ripped his soul apart. Her knees buckled and she collapsed, slowly falling to the floor. He caught her in his arms and together they fell as she cried heart-wrenching sobs, her hands clutching his shirt as she tried desperately to hang on even as her grief overwhelmed her, pulling her under.
He had done this to her. To her mother, Jaya. To them all.
None of this should have happened. He’d still be Pack leader. Jason would still be his best friend and right-hand man. Jaya would still be alive and regenerating the Colony’s crystals and Celia would still be in his house. In his bed. He wouldn’t be sitting in a heap on the floor far from home holding the woman he loved
