Page 86 of Bound

“Of course, master,” the computer says with an invitingsmile. “Which pornographic material should I seek out today?”

Oh, I totally glossed over the fun parts of this tech.“Really? You can do that?” I feel Meg’s stare. Judgment. There’s a whole lot ofjudgment in her eyes. I clear my throat and get back to business. “Nothing likethat. I want you to run a search on all strange happenings in the city of FortWorth, Texas. Use the human Internet, the primitive, sucky one. Check thingslike police reports and news articles and even blogs. I need a list oflocations around the city where strange things happen.”

The hostess bows her head and winks out of existence tostart her search.

“There,” I say to Meg. She’s looking at a photograph I keepon my desk. “We’ll have someplace to search soon.”

Meg’s face goes soft as she looks at the picture of four menin tuxedoes. They’re all smiling, with their arms around each other’sshoulders. I know the photograph well. I took it myself. “The twins are mycousins. They’re from Ireland.”

She nods and almost reverently touches the picture. “Theirhair is short. It looks good, though. Why are they wearing tuxedoes? And whoare the other men? Do they have other brothers on this plane?”

I’m used to women drooling over my very attractive cousins.No one pays me a bit of attention when Beck and Ci are around. Not that itwould help them. It gives me great pleasure to tell her where the picture wastaken. “Nope. Just a sister. They all live in Dublin. Those men are Beck andCian’s husbands. I took that picture at their commitment ceremony.”

Meg’s eyes widen, and she drags me forward by the neck of myT-shirt. Her teeth are clenched, and she shakes me lightly. “You have to get meout of here. This isn’t my home. I don’t like it. Everything is wrong here.”

“Jeez,” I say, holding my hands up in submission. “I’mworking on it, babe. Why don’t you go upstairs? I have an apartment up there.You can take the bed. I’m going to stay up and play with this a little more. Idon’t sleep much at night, anyway. Never have.”

Meg nods. She looks exhausted. Crazy or not, she obviouslyhad an emotional day. “Thank you, Dante. I really appreciate this. I know itwill work. It has to.”

She starts up the stairs. I’m not so sure it will work, butI am starting to believe her story. I know one thing, though, as I stare at themagnificent machine in front of me—my life has just changed forever.

ChapterForty-Two

Cian

I can’t get over the nausea that threatens toovertake me. It’s been hours since Meg was taken from us. I don’t know what’shappening to her, what she’s going through. I feel her loss like someone carvedmy heart out of my chest and tossed it away.

“Where is she?” I think we’re wasting time, but Beck is socertain, and I spent my life following my brother when things get dangerous.

“She said it would take her half an hour to gather theingredients for the spell.” Beck looks up from where he’s inspecting the circleLiadan explained she will need to attempt the locator spell.

Liadan seemed deeply concerned when we spoke to her. She wassurprised to see us and then shocked at what was happening in our quietvillage.

I can’t stop thinking about the word seemed. Itplays through my head because something deep inside tells me Liadan is acting.

“Why would she help us find Meg?” I’m starting to ask thequestions I should have been asking all along. Of all the people in thevillage, Liadan is the one who stands the most to gain if Meggie stays missing.Or at least she’s the only one who might think she has something to gain. IfMeg is gone, Beck won’t go back to her, but this might not be about getting himback. It might be about revenge. The more I shove my fear back and thinkrationally, the more I’m convinced this is a bad idea.

Beck seems to think for a moment. “She’s a part of ourvillage. She wants to help.”

Something about Liadan…

I didn’t like her from the first. While Beck saw a pleasant,lovely female, I was put off. I never figured out why, but I don’t like beingin the same room with Liadan. “Who would want Meggie gone? Lia. That’s the onlyperson in the village I can think of who would want to get rid of our wife.”

Beck’s hands go to his hips, and he glares my way. “Torin.Our uncle certainly would do anything he needed to in order to keep us weak.”

“But we’re not weak.” The fact that Meggie isn’t dead andour powers aren’t gone bugs me. It makes no sense. Oh, I’m fairly certain aftera time we’ll weaken due to the distance between the three of us, but it couldtake months for that to happen, and the bond between myself and Beck willremain in place, weakened though it might be. “Torin would have killed Meg. Ifhe’d sent someone to deal with her, it would have been to murder her, not tohaul her off the plane.”

“Or he kidnapped her and he’s going to use her to force usto turn ourselves in,” Beck points out.

A valid point, but there’s still a problem with it. “I thinkI saw a Planeswalker before she passed out.”

Right before I felt her terror, she managed to send a singleimage out to me. It was foggy, but I’m almost certain now that it was the faceof a demon—a Planeswalker. I never saw one in person but there are books withdescriptions.

“Why would a Planeswalker come after Meggie?” Beck asks. “Doyou think he’s trying to sell her again? We would feel it if she was in themarketplace. Reeve would protect her.”

I shake my head. “She’s not on this plane and she’s not onthe Vampire plane. We would feel that. The doors are open too frequently. No,she’s somewhere far away. Torin wouldn’t have used a Planeswalker. Not evenhe’s crazy enough to pay with his soul. And he wouldn’t have to. He could sendone of his men to do it. None of this makes sense.”

Unless the plan was initiated by someone desperate.