Instead of sleeping, he went to the river. He didn’t mean to, but his mind took him there of its own will. Ever since he’d seen Father Ike with that gun, he’d stayed back, afraid of what he’d see if he went again. But now he couldn’t stop the feet in his mind finding the path to his soul, and up and over the rise he found a night river flowing easy and sweet. Lightning bugs skimmed the surface, flashing their double lights—one true, one reflection. The full white moon rose over the tree tops, and he saw something moving under the water, something alive. He followed it with his eyes, waiting for it to surface. It dove deep and the water stilled.
From the opposite direction, he saw someone swimming toward where he stood on a flat stone that hung over the river’s edge.
The swimmer rose up in the shallow end near the bank.
“Nora? What are you doing?”
She was fully dressed in the clothes she’d been wearing tonight—corset and jeans—but soaking wet.
“Water’s nice tonight,” she said. “Want to swim?”
“You better get out. Something’s in the water.”
“Only fish,” she said. “I’m not afraid of—”
Something shot out of the water, grabbed her around the waist, and dragged her under. Fast, too fast for Cyrus to stop him. But not too fast to see who it was who’d taken her under.
Father Ike.
Cyrus jumped in the river but as soon as his feet hit the water, something shook him out of his meditative state.
His phone vibrated wildly in his jeans pocket. He took it out, breathing hard, pressed the phone against his chest and his pounding heart.
A text from Paulina.
Got your email. What’s going on? Everybody okay?
Cyrus stared at her message, his eyes focused but his mind still in the river. He took a few deep breaths and slowly came back to himself. He knew exactly what he was seeing in his meditation, that this case was putting Nora in danger. He’d seen with his own eyes a drunk asshole holding her against her will. He’d heard the fear in her voice when she’d called to tell him one of their witnesses had shown up at her front door. Except why had it been Father Ike he’d seen grabbing Nora? Why him and not the drunk kid? Why him and not the witch?
He didn’t have time to figure that out. Paulina was waiting.
What are you doing up? he texted back.
Woke up, went to the bathroom, checked my phone. How scared should I be right now?
Been a crazy night, but we’re okay. I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Call me if you want. We can talk. Wide awake now.
Cyrus thought about that. After seeing what he saw in the river, he wanted to hear her voice so bad it hurt. Still, it was almost two in the morning. Paulina needed her sleep. So did he.
He was about to tell her “no,” that it was okay, he’d tell her more about it tomorrow. But he didn’t. The elevator thrummed. The Viking had arrived.
He texted back, You mind if I come over?
Cyrus could see the sleepy grin on her face as she replied.
Don’t mind one bit, Daddy.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nora was shocked by her own relief at seeing Søren stride into her dungeon. He didn’t say a word, only pulled her into his arms and held her.
“I thought you’d be with Kingsley,” she said. As soon as she was in his strong arms, she let herself relax. Exhaustion had finally caught up with her.
“You know he can’t stay away from Juliette all night. He went home an hour ago. I wanted to check on you and when you weren’t home…”
“You thought I was in jail, didn’t you?”
“It did occur to me.”
Nora laughed against his chest. He held her even tighter and she inhaled the scent of him—frost on frozen pine trees and the clean smell of soap from his recent shower.
“What happened?” he asked.
“It’s a long story. Can it wait until morning?”
“No.”
“Fine.” She gave him the CliffsNotes version—the drunk dickhead, Cyrus interviewing a vampire, the witch they were looking for who found them first. She shook her head, sighed.
Søren seemed to mull that over for a moment.
“Were you planning on telling me any of this?”
“It crossed my mind,” Nora said. A half-truth but still, a truth.
Søren narrowed his eyes at her.
“You were supposed to be with King,” she reminded him. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Tonight we were having dinner. Last night I might not have answered any calls.” He smiled, but she knew it wasn’t a real smile. “I am glad you had Cyrus to bring you here. Although I’m not happy with you helping him on this case. It’s keeping me up at night for the wrong reasons.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Same here. But I don’t want to stop either. We’re getting closer.”
He kissed her forehead. “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”
As it was well after two now, they decided to sleep there in the dungeon. Nora had the bed. Might as well put it to use.
Søren went downstairs to reset the alarm. Nora went into her dungeon bedroom and switched on the lights. The bed was a Moroccan daybed with a canopy. She’d strung copper-wire LED lights all through the slats of the canopy, creating a low and gentle glow in the little room.
Nora undressed down to her panties and t-shirt and climbed into bed. Søren returned and undressed and slid in next to her.
“Very nice,” he said, glancing up at her lights.
“Perfect light to do wicked things to Sheridan’s body by,” she said. “Speaking of…did you and King have fun last night?”
“Fun was had by all.”
“How did the engraved handcuffs work out?”
“As well as non-engraved handcuffs.”
“And what does King think of the beard?”
“He’s coping.”
“I guess you’ve decided to keep the house?”
“For now,” he said. “Seems a shame to let it go to waste. Oh, housewarming party Sunday. Not my idea, but I can’t seem to stop it.”
Nora smiled and curled up on his chest, resting her head at the sturdy center under his collar bone. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close and tight. His strong arms were always her favorite sort of bondage.
“I’m never going to leave you,” she said.
Søren cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to him.
“Where did that come from?”
“I just wanted to tell you that.”
Søren pushed her onto her back and he lay on his side, propped on one elbow and gazing down at her.
“Are you worried you’re going to, Little One?”
Nora wasn’t about to tell Søren about Mercedes and her insane prediction. No reason to upset him, too.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like telling you I love you is enough. I was in love with you when I left you. And I was in love with you the whole time we were apart. Saying I’ll never leave you means more than just ‘I love you.’ Besides,” she said, lightly tracing his bottom lip, “you already know and believe I love you. But I’m not sure you believe I’ll never leave you again.”