LITMIR.BIZ

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Dylan forced himself to relax his grip on the phone before answering. “The connection is fine. I was thinking.”

      “I’ll be calling another meeting with the Elders today. Is there anything else you feel I should pass on?”

      The urge to consult him about Danu’s ages-old dream pounded at him, but pride kept him silent. He’d not go running to his father now if he hadn’t then. “Yes. When Cailleach possessed the host today, she partially manifested, changing the host’s hands into her own.”

      Aylish interrupted, cursing violently enough that Dylan raised his brows. “Kill the woman now. We cannot risk Cailleach regaining additional strengths in this plane.”

      Dylan gripped the phone case so hard the plastic and metal creaked in protest. “If we kill her now, we’ll have little time to find her new host before Samhain. We’ll have better luck securing the current host and controlling the outcome on Samhain per our original plan.”

      “Your orders are to end her now. I will call the Elders together and prepare the ritual to identify Cailleach’s next host. The moment she rises, we’ll dispatch you. Return home and await your next orders.”

      The disconnecting click was sharp. Silence yawned in the absence of conversation. Kill her now. A glance at the woman revealed her eyes were only partially closed, her breaths a bit shallow.

      Realization dawned on him, a sort of sunrise of consciousness. Danu had told him this woman held his single hope to survive. He need only find this mysterious truth. And if identifying that truth would save his life, greedy as it seemed, he had good reason not to kill her yet. Until his blade fell, nothing was decided.

       Gods save me, am I truly taking her home? And after that directive from Aylish?

      Yes. Yes, he was.

      Dylan took the off-ramp to the airport’s private runway entrance and mindlessly followed the dark road. A right turn pointed him toward the airport’s private hangars. He slowed his approach to the gated entrance. The magickal push it took to wake Ethan was second nature, and Dylan watched as the man’s eyes fluttered open.

      “Ow,” Ethan groaned, gripping his head.

      Dylan didn’t bother to hide his grin in the rearview mirror. “Sit up. You’re going to help keep your best friend from being questioned.”

      He watched the warlock grip his head, hands coming away bloodied. “What happened?”

      “Cailleach. I explained what she’d do if she rose, but apparently you’re more a visual, hands-on learner.” He reached over and sat Kennedy upright. “I want you to lean her seat back and wad that jacket up. Prop her head on it against the frame.”

      The reply from the backseat was surly at best, disrespectful at worst. “Why?”

      “Because I’m going to tell the guard she’s sleeping, and you’re going to go along.”

      “Why?”

      “Do you really want to do this right now?” Silence. “Lean the damned seat back. Now.” The whir of the electric motor buzzed, a low-level hum of angry insects against his damaged ear.

      Ethan placed the jacket between her head and the car, gently arranging her hair. “Close your eyes, find some rest,” he murmured, laying his fingers against her temple.

      The tingle of magick in the car was the only thing odd about her closing her unfocused eyes with a sigh.

      Dylan’s heart lurched at the sight of her so relaxed. With skin like alabaster, hair as dark as night and a mouth made for sin, she looked like a fallen angel. He couldn’t stop glancing at her as he drove. His body quickened against his will.

      “Damn it to the ninth level of hell!” He pounded the steering wheel with his fist. “Not only am I caught in an emotional bog, but I’m maudlin with it, as well. Might as well retire and take up competitive knitting.”

      “You knit?”

      “Piss off, warlock.” Dylan rolled the window down and tried not to glare at the gate guard.

      The standard night watchman, a burly fellow who took his job seriously if his starched uniform and buzz cut were any indicators, lumbered out of the gatehouse. “You have a pilot ID or flight plan?” The portly man hitched up his belt and retrieved his flashlight, shining it into the car. “Lady got a problem?” His gaze skipped back and forth between Dylan and the warlock so fast Dylan wondered if the man observed any detail at all.

      “No problem other than she’s sleeping.” Dylan’s quiet resonance commanded the man’s attention. “I’m running late, so if you don’t mind...” He jerked his chin toward the gate arm in an attempt to get the man to move away.

      “She don’t look like she’s sleeping.” He shone the light into Kennedy’s face.

      Dylan snapped. Grabbing the flashlight, he removed it from the man’s pudgy fingers in one deft move. “She won’t be if you keep harassing her.” He removed the batteries and handed the light back. “Open the gate before I call the tower for your supervisor’s name.” For effect, he pulled out his cell.

      “Asshole.”

      The muttered insult only made Dylan grin. “It won’t be the last time I’m called that and worse.” Staring at the man, he murmured, “De réir mo uacht, tú nach cuimhin liom.” By my will, you remember me not.

      The security guard’s face went blank.

      Dylan pulled straight into hangar C-1. A midsized Learjet sat, the pilot lounging against the step railing as he chatted up a brunette flight attendant. Parking at the base of the stairs, passenger side to the plane, Dylan met Ethan’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Scoot over.”

      Ethan opened his eyes and whistled, long and low. “Your people know how to travel.”

      “You need to stay here.” Dylan shut the car off and got out, not surprised when the warlock did the same. “I said ‘stay.’”

      “I’m not your lapdog, Assassin.”

      “That’s fair.” He opened the passenger door and undid the woman’s seat belt. He pulled her out of the car and settled her over one shoulder, her dangling hands gently brushing his ass. With her settled, he turned back to Ethan. “I asked, and you’d have fared better if you’d listened.”

      Ethan opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Dylan grinned. “What?”

      Dylan raised a hand, his fingers blurring before he called fire to their tips. “I’ll not kill you, because it would...distress her.” It irritated him to realize his actions were, in large part, due to what she would likely think of him. “But you’re not coming with us.” He saw the moment it all clicked for the man.

      Ethan’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “You aren’t taking her, you sheep-loving, skirt-wearing, mud-drinking son of a bitch.”

      “Now that’s a fair curse,” Dylan said, smiling.

      Ethan reclaimed that step and more as he rushed Dylan.

      The murmur of his voice disappeared in the depth of the hangar. “Bí go fóill.” Be still.

      The warlock froze, teetering precariously midstep.

      “Duillín ar shiúl, titim níos tapúla. Lig codladh éilíonn tú go dtí go bhriseann an ghrian a slumber.” Slip away, fall faster. Let sleep claim you until the sun breaks her slumber.

      The warlock crumpled, his head bouncing off the concrete.

      “Poor bloke. That’s going to leave a wee bit of a mark, I’d imagine.” Dylan toed Ethan and flipped him over, wincing at the knot already forming on the man’s forehead. “You’ll have a wicked headache, no doubt. You shouldna have disparaged the Guinness.”

      Turning,

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