“If that bitch comes around, I’ll make sure she never can again. And you be careful too. I don’t like you being away right now with all this mess.”

“I can’t be here right now, Simon. I’ve given him space. I’ve not shown him just how upset I am. But I have feelings too. And I have a job. I have a clan to run. This meeting is important and so I’ll go. It’s two days.”

And all she could do, she thought as she drove home, was hope he felt it when she was gone.

“YOU’RE being a grumpy fuck who is going to have my fist in his eye in about five seconds.” Simon growled at Dominic from across the table.

Dominic slumped, looking around for the eight-millionth time, hoping to see Meriel and then remembering she was gone. And then he’d start missing her again. Even more than he had an hour before.

“You miss her.”

He sighed. “When she said she was going I didn’t think she meant it. I went to her house yesterday morning and she was gone. I had no chance to apologize or to even say goodbye.” He should have followed her when she’d left Heart of Darkness that night. He’d let pride keep him glued to his seat as she walked away.

“Do you even know if she got there safely?”

“She sent me a text when she got to San Francisco giving me her hotel and room number.”

“You haven’t called her yet? What the hell is wrong with you? I know you understand the magickal stuff now, I’ve seen how much stronger you are. The wards on the club, all the diversions and glamours between the back room and the front of the house are seamless. Gage’s idea of changing the overall flow of traffic between Other and human entrances was helpful too. You’re better now. With her in your life. You’re stronger. You don’t lose your cool at all. It’s like you’ve finally calmed down enough to know you’re doing just fuckin’ fine, thankyouverymuch.”

Dominic laughed at that description. “Pretty much from a short time after we met until this fight, we’ve gotten along. Sure we bicker. She’s a very vexing woman sometimes.” He said that with a big smile. “I came up on this thing and when we were in Bend, we had this unity and closeness. She’d been supportive and helpful. She left me and Tom alone enough to work through our stuff, but not long enough for us to start fighting.

“The way she is stuns me. She’s got this effortless intuitiveness about what I need. I took that. But I got back here and we sort of fell back into our schedules and I guess I fell back into my old patterns. I didn’t have this person to share with and turn to before her. I sure didn’t have a person I was metaphysically attached to, who shared my life in such a breathtakingly intimate way. And I was pissed off. Scared too probably, that she gets to me the way she does. I didn’t want her to be right about my mother and I resented that she was.”

“Why aren’t you telling her this?”

“I thought I could hold out until she got back. Give us both time to get past the anger and hurt. Be a little further from it. I’d show up at her place with flowers and some sea salt caramels and a lot of groveling, that we could get to makeup sex within an hour or two.” He covered his face. “I know. God. I’ve never run after a woman before. I let that get to me and then I’ve suffered for it just like she knows I will.”

Simon laughed. “That’s tough love, man. But it’s either deal with it now and at least get some relief from this suffering and then you can get to the sex part way faster when you get back. Or you can wait till she gets back after you’ve suffered for another day and then still have to apologize and admit you were being a jerk.” He tipped a beer in Dominic’s direction. “She’s a ruthless, canny bitch. I really love that.”

Indeed. He did too apparently.

“So I talked to Nell earlier. They got some possible hits on my mom.”

His friend looked around and then shook his head. “Get your head out of your ass. Damn it, Dominic. You are one of the smartest guys I know. Street smarts, business smarts. You are a survivor for a reason and that’s because you are fearless when it comes to the truth. Except for now. Why you holdin’ on to some fantasy that this witch is anything but a cancer? You don’t need to find a witch like her unless you got plans to remove her from your enemies list.”

“Why does everyone judge her? You don’t even know her.”

“Fuck you, Dom. Neither do you. And that’s a fact. What I know is as much as what you know. It’s as much as what Meriel knows. Tom knows even more. You’re the only one who looks at all this evidence and decides to just ignore the facts. That’s not you, man. Think about this woman.”

“She’s my mother.”

“So what? Huh? She gave birth to you and then abandoned you a time or two, oh and then maybe was even stealing your life force to get high. Brava. We know she’s turned. We know there’s no cure once you turn. She’s a turned witch who will kidnap, torture and maybe even kill, most likely kill, to get her fix. She is not whoever she was when she met your dad. She is not even a witch anymore. Her ties to her own magick are dead. She’s cut herself off from her gifts. When even nature won’t recognize you, you are not a cat people want at Thanksgiving dinner.”

Dominic chewed his bottom lip a moment.

“You’re my brother as assuredly as any of the ones back home who turn furry and have claws. I can’t allow you to lie to yourself. She can’t either. Meriel is exactly what you need. She won’t take your shit and she’d take a bullet for you. Don’t go fucking that up for some junkie who means you nothing but heartache. Don’t be dumb and lose everything real and good for this dream of yours.”

Shit.

MERIEL’S phone buzzed and a text from Dominic came onto her screen.

I want to hear your voice. Can I call you?

She smiled.

Yes please

Moments later the phone rang and she picked up. “Hey there.”

“Hey there yourself. I miss you. I’m an asshole too. I’m sorry.”

“I know you’re having a hard time with all this. I understand that. And I understand that you’re feeling exposed and raw and that maybe a lot of what you’d thought was your past was all just made up.

“And I’m sorry. I’m sorry it happened to you. I’m sorry you’re hurting. But you wouldn’t let me in. You were so open with me at Tom’s but when we got back you dropped me at my apartment and went home. You made an excuse the next night too. I brought you dinner and you wouldn’t even look at me. You owe it to me to look me in the eye if you don’t want me around. It’s not fair for you to hurt me to get me to leave.” That had been the worst part.

“I know. I’m sorry. I am. I was a dick. And I was scared and all off balance and I shoved you back even when I knew you would make it better. That you would help me find a way to give it all some meaning, so that it made sense somehow. And I knew I’d hurt your feelings when you left and I didn’t come after you, even when I knew you were upset. I came to you yesterday morning and you were gone. I miss you. I need you to help me make sense.”

Meriel wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and tried not to sniffle where he could hear it. “You didn’t come after me. I wanted you to and you didn’t.” That’s when the tears leaked from her voice and she cringed, not wanting to make him feel bad.

She heard his intake of breath. “I’m sorry. God. I’m sorry. I hurt you and it was totally my being a dick. I’ll come for you. Always from now on I will come for you.”

She believed it. “You’d better. And how are you then?”

“I haven’t slept much. I talked to Nell about some information that came up about my mother, Gloria, whatever. Simon yelled at me, but I think he set me straight. I guess I’m lucky to have a friend who’ll totally take me to school.”

“He did? What for?” Good heavens, did they regularly get into fistfights? For fun? “I can’t believe that gets me hot.”