© ItalRT4u, 2012

     Somehow, in the middle of our evening, someone had let themselves into the basement where Gage was being held and they had freed him.  We found ourselves running through every possible scenario, trying to figure out who would be capable of doing this?  We knew that we had Fae present that weren’t entirely fond of the idea of having a Royal in their midst – curiosity dictating their need to see a Royal in the flesh I suppose.  My mind floated to that woman whose eyes seemed a little too familiar – something bothered me about her and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  Sure, there had been a few others but she stuck out in my mind. 

     Those eyes.

     “Come out with it.”  Cane said softly, bringing me out of my reverie after we had found ourselves in Angus’ den.

     “I- Uh…  I was just thinking.”  I stuttered.

     “About?”  My match eyed me studiously.

     “It could just be my imagination but there was this one woman.”  I explained.  “Her eyes.”  I let out a loud breath.  “They were so familiar, like I’ve seen them before.”

     “You’ve seen one of our guests before?  Where?”  Angus eyed me curiously; seriousness displayed onto his features, lacing his every syllable.

     “It’s not her per se, it’s her eyes.”  I said ponderously and then it clicked suddenly.  “But it can’t be!”  I exclaimed to myself, trying to make more sense out of it all.  How could I have been that stupid?  I had stared into those eyes numerous times – when Gage and I had been an item.

     “What is it?”  Angus pushed an irritated tone ever so present.  Cane’s hand landed on my lap, its electrical impulses bringing me out of my personal pondering session.

     “Huh?”  I looked up in a slight daze.  “Oh.  Uh…  Angus, what happened to Gage’s mother?”

     “I never heard from her again after she took off for America.”  He divulged; the disgust evident in his words.  Cane noticed the slight look of alarm that washed over my face.

     “What’s the matter?”  He asked.

     “I think she was here but it doesn’t make sense.  Gage told me she had died.”  I tell the two of them.  “You didn’t see her around last night?”  I knew that it was futile to even ask that.  There had been so many people around that it was next to impossible to meet and greet everyone.  Angus’ shake of the head, indicating the negative proved my suspicions true.

     “If there’s one thing I know now and wished I knew before I married her is that she’s quite the conniving bitch.”  Angus stated bitterly as if he would have been able to prevent his urges to renounce his match and remain alone all these years.

     The Nottingham’s had left without Cane and I.  Angus assured them that we’d be fine and back to them on the next flight out.  After making a few calls, he had everyone that he could possibly rally on the lookout for Gage but I had a sneaking suspicion that he would be back in the United States.  That thought was far from comforting to be honest; it only meant that I could expect to see him again in the future.  Today was supposed to be the last time – he was supposed to suffer his fate and that was it.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case anymore.  Angus was slowly realizing that Lana, Gage’s mother, couldn’t have acted alone.

     “She might be conniving but there’s the fact that she wouldn’t have been able to stand around and get rid of the two guys I had on watch duty and free her spawn.  Someone else had to have helped her.”  Angus stated.  Cane nodded in agreement.  We had been given the tour of where they kept their traitors and delinquents; it wasn’t an easy place to escape from, that much could be easily said.

     Other than finalizing the bonding process publicly, this whole trip seemed to have been utterly pointless.  I had met various Fae families and leaders of various factions from the surrounding areas let alone some from other areas around the world; I had bared witness to some of their harsher customs but it felt like nothing had been resolved as to the current hostility that they were enduring.  I had found out that the Nottingham’s and MacDougall’s were part of the same original lineage, thus, they were family.  When I said that two of the four remaining families would remain in the end, much like the oracle of my dreams had foretold years ago, it wasn’t by narrowing things down to two families by name per se; more like the lineage that spanned from their original ancestries would remain.

     “You seem troubled.”  Cane said quietly, his hand reaching for mine as we sat on the plane.  Angus had commandeered his jet to take us back; we were the only ones on it aside from the pilots and one flight attendant.  It was a nice little jet that held a small room with a queen-sized bed and a bathroom at the back, and seats with a table on one side and a few larger seats with a TV mounted to the wall by the doors to the aisle to the cockpit.  Quite luxurious if I may say so and I was thankful that we didn’t have to deal with the monstrous crowds at the airport at the moment.

     “Just thinking.”  I told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

     “Care to elaborate?”  He rubbed circles with his thumb over the top of my held hand.  I noticed the smile in his voice.  My mind flittered to the smell of his arousing heat and the urge that was building within me – in reality, the urge hadn’t fully gone away throughout our day’s dealings; it was merely supressed out of necessity.  I found my eyes turning to meet his and my sense of control was abandoning me.  It was hard enough for me to maintain control over my succubus but now that Cane had heated tendencies, it was about to become hell to keep from always being all over one another; after all, I could barely control myself, so don’t get me started on controlling my match.  I was thankful that this heat is only a temporary thing.  This sudden surge of carnal lust was due to the surge of powers that finalized their exchange during our bonding ceremony – it only happened when the bond was completed and would dissipate on its own.

     “N-no.”  I stammered as his nose began to nuzzle the soft skin below my ear, making me groan and him to chuckle into my neck.

     Sweat glistened off of our bodies as I tried to regain my wits.  My breath ragged, my body exhausted, I had all but forgotten about the realities of our world.  Cane was great at that.  My mind slowly coming back, I found myself thinking about what I had found in Cane’s suit as I had been tidying and packing earlier this morning.  I bit my lower lip, wondering if I should say anything at all.

     “You need to stop that.”  Cane whispered as he came to a hover above me.  “You’re keeping something from me.”  He kissed my neck.  “You need to spill or,” he deposited another kiss on the other side of my neck; “I’ll be forced to persuade you to do so.”  He kissed my nose and pulled back to look me in the eye with a light chuckle. 

     I can’t keep this from him.  I thought to myself. 

     He could just weasel it out of me with his persuasive abilities anyway; and I’m sure you gathered this much – the type of persuasion he referred to wasn’t with regards to his abilities but geared towards physically making me submit my thoughts to him.

     I proceeded with telling him about how pointless this latest trip seemed to me albeit also significant.  I told him about my mixed feelings for the purpose and how I had no clue as to why our swift presence there would do any good at lulling the feuding that existed in that region.  It hadn’t seemed that bad honestly but Cane was quick to assure me that last night’s festivities were quite deceptive in nature and began listing a few of our acquaintances and how despite they had seemed pleased to have a Royal in their midst, there was no way he was convinced that they were in fact swayed to side with us and resolving this feuding.  Not yet anyway.  Cane had remained silent through the remainder of my expulsion of thoughts.

     “That’s it?”  He asked me.  I nodded, averting my gaze from him.

     “Yeah.”

     “I don’t think it is.”  He lifted my chin up so our eyes would meet.  My eyes betrayed me by keeping themselves averted from his.

     “Uh,” I paused but he interrupted.

     “What else?”

     “It’s nothing.  Don’t worry about it.”  I told him, giving him a light peck on the lips.  I resolved that I wouldn’t ask him about my findings fearing that it would ruin everything.  I was relieved that Cane had let sleeping dogs lie as the saying goes.

     The drive back to the Nottingham’s was a relatively quiet one in the backseat of the cab we took.  I was exhausted and all I wanted was my bed but tension was in the air – Cane seemed withdrawn slightly.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was responsible for that withdrawal. 

     So much for letting sleeping dogs lie.

     For once, I was glad of the time difference – it meant I had an additional five hours of sleep.  Those additional hours faded quickly when we walked through the door and there was Cane’s entire family in the living room.  The conversation halted the minute we walked in, their heads turning to look over at us. 

     “Everything okay?”  Sandra asked us.  She baffled me with how intuitive she always was.

     “Aside from Gage being loose, wars brewing, and my match hiding something from me, everything’s great.”  Cane said nonchalantly.  My head snapped to him.  “What?”  He looked at me sheepishly shrugging his shoulders.  I heard Andy’s uh oh in the background followed by a slap from who I could only presume to be Carly seeing as my eyes remained fused to Cane; he refused to meet my eye.  I felt his hostility in the air exuding from his pores and I immediately jumped on the defensive despite being regretful for being the cause of this horrid tension between us.  Choosing to refrain from making a scene in front of everyone, I bid everyone a good night, huffed after him refusing to give me a second glance and stormed my way upstairs.  He would come around.  At least, I hoped.

     I quickly changed, washed up, and got under the covers keeping my back to the bedroom door.  Closing my eyes, I wished for the darkness of slumber to take me away swiftly and hopefully before Cane made his way upstairs.  Unfortunately, sleep never took me nor did Cane ever come to bed.  It had been a few hours since my storming out on him and I now found myself regretting it instead of facing the situation head on.  Everything was eerily silent and I knew that everyone must have gone to bed.  With no other room in the house to take leave in, Cane had to have either left the house or decided to sleep on one of the couches.  I finally decided to make my way downstairs and see why it was that Cane hadn’t come up as of yet.

     I made my way downstairs, not knowing what I was heading into.  What waited for me wasn’t what I had expected…

                                          *************************************

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