I hadn"t had the pleasure of spending much time at home lately, unable to leave Tristan all chained up like an animal while I luxuriated in the comforts of our home. I never knew what I could do to repay Blossom and Heather for all the time they spent with Dorian, watching him for me, but I would have to find a way. I also needed to find a way to repent with my son himself for all the time we"ve spent apart.
"Blossom?" I called when Dorian didn"t answer. I frowned. The house was empty. My mind felt no signatures except Sasha"s. The lykora sat at my feet, looking up at me with puppy-dog eyes. Weird. Dorian never went anywhere without her.
Where could they be? I"d just been on the beach, so I knew they weren"t there. I called the safe house. Although I kept Dorian away from the safe house as much as possible, if they"d needed something, maybe they"d gone there after I left, and we"d crossed paths. I was about to nix that idea because n.o.body was answering, but then Bree picked up.
"No, Dorian"s not here," she said. "I haven"t seen him or Blossom since yesterday."
"Did you find Sheree?" I asked as my heart picked up speed. Something"s wrong. The frightening feeling began creeping under my skin.
"No. She"s nowhere in the mansion. I can"t sense her at all. Maybe she went to the store or the coffeehouse? Maybe she just needed to get out for a few."
"She never goes anywhere without telling me. What about Owen?"
Bree didn"t answer at first. "I don"t sense him here, either."
I told myself that was a good thing. Dorian must have been with them, and he"d be safe with them, especially with Owen. But where could they have gone? Why hadn"t anyone told me? My heart rate spiked again. This didn"t feel right. My finger could barely tap the b.u.t.tons on the phone as I tried to dial Owen"s number. No answer. I tried Blossom"s. Again, no answer. Sheree"s went straight to voicemail, which wasn"t even set up. She rarely left the safe house, so hadn"t bothered with it yet.
I couldn"t shake the feeling that something was wrong. My throat tightened as I thought of all the possibilities. What if something had happened to Dorian? Maybe he was hurt when Heather was watching him and not knowing any better, she took him to the hospital. I shook my head. No. Heather would know better. Besides, Dorian could heal himself before they"d even get to the hospital, and that didn"t explain everyone else"s absences. I could barely scroll through the contacts on my phone, searching for Heather"s number, as more possibilities shot through my mind.
He ran away, mad at us for not giving him enough attention. He"d been practicing his flying, as we had reluctantly allowed him to do, and he"d gone beyond Owen"s cloak so they were all searching for him. He was bored and demanded all of them to take him to the village on Captiva for something to do and their phones were off. All of them. Maybe the batteries were drained.
But no. Those were all stupid excuses my mind created while trying to suppress the one and only real possibility: the Daemoni had come for him.
Strange choking sounds barked through the empty house. They came from me. Strangled sobs trying to make their way out of my constricted throat.
"Dorian!" I screamed. Oh, G.o.d, no. I ran through the house, throwing open every single door, looking, looking, looking. Sasha ran at my heels, barking. "Where is he, Sasha? Where"s my baby?"
Tears flooded my eyes as I charged into his room, tripping over toys scattered on the floor. I collapsed on the unmade bed, pulled the covers to my chest and sobbed. What am I going to do? What will I tell Tristan? Oh, G.o.d, my baby! Sasha cuddled next to me and licked my tears away, but they gushed too fast for her to keep up.
"No, no, no! I can"t do this. Dorian, please ..."
"Please what, Mom?"
I bolted out of the bed and swiped at my eyes.
"Dorian?" I could hardly believe what I saw, but there he was, standing in the doorway.
"What?" His c.o.c.ked his head. "What"s the matter, Mom?"
I lunged at him and swept him into my arms, lifting him off the ground and spinning in circles. I kissed him all over his face.
"Mom, what"s going on?" he demanded. "Put me down already."
His annoyed tone shocked me back to reality. I put him back on his feet as my heart finally stopped racing. I took a step back, put my fists on my hips and narrowed my eyes.
"Where on earth have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was?" I shook a finger in his face.
"Universal Studios. Since you and Dad couldn"t bother to take me, Uncle Owen, Sheree, and Blossom did."
I recoiled with the verbal smack. "What?"
He lifted his chin, a look of triumph all over his face. "Yep. They took me and Heather. We didn"t want to bother you with permission."
The grief and longing fell away. Far, far away. Anger bubbled up in my chest. Tristan"s condition and my frustrations had sent me into panic mode over Dorian"s absence, and I admittedly overreacted. Okay, I freaked the h.e.l.l out. I didn"t even use all my gifts to search for him, but jumped to the worst conclusion. But that emotional outburst paled to the anger I felt now. Which was one-hundred-percent, unequivocally justified.
"You, young man, stay right here. You will not leave this room until I say." I stomped out of his bedroom toward the kitchen where I found Owen and Blossom.
Blossom took one look at my face and bolted for the backdoor. "I need to take Heather home and Sheree back to the safe house."
She didn"t wait for a response, swinging the door shut behind her.
"Are you trying to kill me, Owen?" I shrieked. "What were you thinking?"
He gave a casual shrug. "Dorian"s been begging to go, and you and Tristan can"t exactly take him. I thought I"d do the uncle thing and help you all out."
"You didn"t ask me!"
"You were a little busy with more important problems."
"More important problems? Nothing is more important than my son! How dare you!"
"Calm down, Alexis. Everything"s okay. Why are you so worked up?"
I half-expected the top of my head to literally blow off and steam to pour out of my ears, just like in Dorian"s cartoons.
"Oh, I don"t know, Owen, maybe because I came home to spend some time with my son only to find that he"s gone. Gone. The son who may permanently be gone at any time. Or maybe because I couldn"t get a hold of any of you, and no one bothered to tell me a thing. You didn"t think I might freak out a little? And Universal Studios? Really, Owen? In what dimension would you think that was safe, because definitely not this one. Not with Daemoni everywhere, any of them looking for a chance to s.n.a.t.c.h him up."
He cleared his throat and dropped his head. He stared at the floor, scuffing his toe against the tile floor. "Sorry. The shield blocked the cell signals. I thought-"
"What shield?"
"I shielded the park, of course. No one was there but us."
"Except the workers, any of which could have been Dae-"
"Nope, no workers either. The park was closed, Alexis. Closed. We were completely alone, with a shield. You had nothing to worry about."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then how exactly did the rides run? With mag- Oh."
He wiggled his fingers in the air. "Between Blossom and me, yeah, with magic. And Dorian had a great time."
I glowered at him for a long moment. At least he"d taken every precaution possible, and my son was home, safe and sound. But still ...
I took a step toward him, trying to get in his face, but like most people, he towered over me. "Don"t. Ever. Do. That. Again. Got it?"
He lifted his chin in a nod.
"That"s an order, Owen!"
He held his hands up in surrender. "Understood. Just trying to do everyone a favor."
He disappeared with that.
After a few cleansing breaths, I headed for Dorian"s room.
"Are you really mad?" His voice was small and quiet as he sat on his bed, knees to chin, and backed up as far as he could go against the headboard.
I pushed a hand through my hair. "I"m not happy, that"s for sure. Did you have fun?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I wish you and Dad could have taken me, though."
"Me, too, little man. Me, too." I tilted my head. "What about the roller coasters? Were they as great as Heather said?"
His mouth pulled up in a crooked grin. "They were all right. But nothing like flying! And I can do that anytime."
I gave "the mom" look. "Not anytime."
"Right. But you know what I mean."
No, I wasn"t sure what he meant. Had he been flying whenever he wanted, not just under careful supervision? Did he somehow find a way to sneak that in? Sheesh. Who was I kidding? He found a way to go to Universal Studios without my knowledge, so he could have done all kinds of things and I"d never know. Some mother I was.
But ... wasn"t that what even normal teens did? And wasn"t that how their parents were-clueless of half the things their children did? Ugh. There we go again. Dorian wasn"t a teen yet, but he was definitely growing up way too fast. I"d have to become one of those meddling parents, only I didn"t have to dig around his room-I could mind-snoop, and I had no qualms about invading his privacy.
"You"re grounded," I said. Dorian"s head snapped up, and he looked at me with a face full of shock. I rarely disciplined him. I rarely needed to discipline him. "No matter who it is taking you, no matter where they"re taking you, you always, always clear it with Dad or me. Understood?"
He nodded.
"Say it. Say you understand."
"I understand," he mumbled.
"Just to make sure you don"t forget, you"ll have lots of time to think about it. No video games. No TV. No Heather." I waved my hand at his room. "You have all these toys and books and Sasha to keep you company for the next week."
He stuck his lip out in a pout as he stared at his comforter, obviously fighting tears. The temptation to forgive and forget nearly got the best of me. I hated this. Hated that we"d disappointed him by not fulfilling his one request sooner. Hated that someone else was able to spend the time and enjoy the thrill of taking him to an amus.e.m.e.nt park for the first time. Hated that I had to discipline him over it. But he had to understand that he could never do this to me again. The potential consequences were far too great.
Now, if I could only ground Owen, who"d obviously been the instigator of this little field trip.
When I found him the next day, he was serving Sonya breakfast in bed. I watched from the doorway as he poured blood into a cup and sat on the side of her bed, her eyes never leaving his face. She licked her lips, and her fingers brushed against his as they lingered on the cup he gave her. I couldn"t help the snort. Please.
Owen looked over his shoulder at me with raised eyebrows.
"When you have a moment ..." I said. He stood and followed me down the hall, across the foyer, to my office. He shut the door, and I spun on him. "What about Vanessa? Did you even think about her this morning? Or, wait. Yesterday was Sheree and Blossom. Today"s Sonya. I guess Vanessa has to wait until tomorrow?"
He pulled back. "Vanessa has already eaten and Sheree"s working with her right now."
"Oh, wow, Owen," I scoffed. "That"s brave of you. What are you going to do when they start talking?"
He c.o.c.ked his head. "What"s your problem, Alexis?"
I blew out a huff and then groaned. His girl problems were really none of my business. "Nothing. Nothing"s my problem, except your little escapade with my son yesterday."
He nodded. "I owe you a real apology for that. I"m sorry. I wanted to do something for Dorian and something for Sheree. She"s been cooped up in this mansion all the time-"
I lifted my hand up. "Don"t. Just stop with the guilt trip."
"I"m not trying to make you feel guilty. Only pointing out facts."
I pushed past him, opened the door and headed for Tristan"s room. I knew what Owen said about Sheree being practically imprisoned here was right. But how could I have done anything differently? The Amadis was short on qualified personnel, which left Sheree and me to run the safe house by ourselves.
"Whatever," I muttered. "Just don"t ever take my son anywhere without my permission again."
"I said I was sorry."
"Save your apologies. You"ll need them for your girlfriends."
This time Owen snorted. "My girlfriends?"
I lifted my shoulder in a shrug. "What do you call them? Your girls? Your toys? Your playthings? Because that"s all you"re doing is playing with their feelings."
Owen sputtered behind me as we reached Tristan"s room. My heart broke once more, seeing him chained against the wall. Bree sat in the winged back chair to keep him company-and to guard him-although it didn"t appear they"d been in conversation. Tristan"s head hung, his chin against his chest, as though he slept.
"You have no idea about my feelings," Owen muttered from behind me. I spun on him.
"You"re right. I don"t. And it"s none of my business. Except someone will have to pick up the pieces of whoever"s heart you break. Pick one, Owen. One. Whichever one you want, but don"t keep stringing the others along."
He narrowed his eyes. "No, it"s not any of your business, but I"d think you would have figured it out by now, Alexis. The one I want-"
A growl ripped through the air from behind me, and Owen cut himself off. I looked over my shoulder at Tristan, who was fully awake, staring at his best friend with flame-filled, murderous eyes. Bree jumped out of her chair and went to Tristan. For some reason, she could touch him and he wouldn"t snap at her. Maybe because she wasn"t exactly Amadis. I didn"t know but was grateful she could calm him.
I looked back at Owen. He"d clamped his mouth shut. I searched his face for the ending of that sentence, feeling as though I should already know it, but Tristan had distracted me. Owen"s eyes looked sad as they flitted away to Vanessa"s door.
"She"s the one I want," he murmured. "The others are only friends, and they know it. Just like you and me."
"We"re more than just friends, Owen," I said.
"Yeah, well, I haven"t been much of a protector, and you"re not really much of a damsel in distress."
"That"s not what I mean and you know it." What had happened to us? Where was the Owen who called me his "little sis from a different miss"?
"Whatever, Alexis." He strode over to Vanessa"s door and disappeared inside her room.
I stared after him in bewilderment, with an undertone of sadness. Well. I"d asked for it. I had told him to pick one, and he had, apparently before he"d even arrived here. I just really hadn"t thought it so serious between them. Had really hoped it hadn"t been so serious. I wasn"t exactly jealous-I had no right to be-but the vamp wasn"t quite who I"d expect Owen to fall for. Owen, who didn"t exactly love nor trust vampires had become a vamp tramp, to use his own words. And love and trust were pretty vital ingredients to any relationship. Then there were the others. Did they really know they were only friends? Especially Sheree?
I shook my head. Not my problem. Not yet, anyway, and I had many other issues to contend with. Such as my poor husband. I turned to enter his room, and once again, my heart stuttered at the sight. I couldn"t get used to it, no matter how many times I saw him like this, which was way too many. This couldn"t carry on.
"Bree, I think we need to do it," I said quietly as I sat on the bed next to her. My heart broke as if each word were a slice right through it. "We need to sever the connection."