Then again, he hadn’t been shot before. And she dared not forget he was still recovering.

  “Why would they care to follow me here?”

  Devon didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I’ve been trying to come up with a good reason and can’t. It’s one thing to shoot you at the time because you stopped their robbery from happening, but it doesn’t make any sense to track you down here. You can identify them, yes, but they were caught on the video feed anyway.”

  “Right. It makes no sense.”

  “Unfortunately, there are other scenarios we have to consider,” he said as they walked through the quiet underbrush. “They might just be pissed and figure that they need to eliminate you before you mess up another one of their plans. They might have heard about the problems here and that you and your sisters are going to be wealthy and they figure they might be able to get a part of that.”

  “Ouch. I hadn’t considered that.”

  “And we have to consider that someone brought them here to get rid of you for a different reason.” His voice slowed to a stop.

  She looked over at him. “And that reason would be?”

  “If you and your sisters aren’t alive anymore, there would be no one left to contest the land ownership issue.”

  She froze in place. “He wouldn’t do that, would he?”

  “I don’t know. But I do know he’s old and doesn’t likely have too many more years to go. So who stands to inherit from him?”

  “Crap. There’s nothing worse than hungry relatives.”

  “Exactly.” After a long moment, he stepped forward and pulled several branches back out of the way from their path. “Maybe it’s time we met with Matt.”

  “It’s past time, according to Genesis. We need to meet all three and talk about this. And someone needs to warn Celeste.”

  “Do you know how to get a hold of her?”

  Tori shook her head. “No. I went to hide away and she went to find herself. If she couldn’t do it, how could anyone else?” she added cryptically. At Devon’s questioning look, she shook her head and refused to elaborate. He had to understand energy to understand the mess Celeste was trying to sort out. And going to Matt for help almost felt like she was going against her sister at the moment, too.

  “No. Let’s walk to the forest corner closest to the parking lot and head over to the Center.”

  “What about the other corners? Do you need to fix those?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but I’m not sure how much I can do today.” She pushed more brush aside, still worried at the lack of responsiveness. Normally walking for her was especially easy, but not today. Was it her energy levels or the forest? Probably a combination of both.

  The air lightened closer to the parking lot. It made her feel more positive about the problem. When they reached the closest corner, where she’d assumed there’d be problems, she found out they were wrong. “It’s fine,” she said in surprise. “Not glowing in health, but it hasn’t got an energy mass blocking it.”

  “Which isn’t to say that there isn’t a problem of some kind.”

  “No, there definitely is, but it’s not as bad as the other one.”

  “Because you were already working on the area where the people were held?”

  “Yes, to a certain extent.” But was it really? “You know, I honestly don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”

  He laughed. “Let’s do whatever we have to do, then we can go home.”

  “Speaking of home, where is that for you?” she asked. The trees in front of her were dark and mainly healthy, low on energy from the ground up, but not necessarily so low as to be problematic. She gave them a wave of strong, healthy energy, anyway. At least enough to keep them happy for a little while. She walked the area, seeing little bits of congestion and problems in the flow, but in a very big way, these plants were doing fine.

  “Tori?”

  She nodded. “I asked you a question. Where is your home?”

  “For the moment, it’s on Grandfather’s estate. But we’ll fix that as soon as I can.”

  “Interesting.” Typical in a way. She tossed a last look at the forest, then turned in the direction of the vehicle. “Let’s go. I’ve done what I can for now. Or at least,” she amended, “until I see who else is available to help. I’d also like to catch up with Genesis a little more.”

  “You could call her.”

  She gave him a fat smile. “But I can’t get a decent meal over the phone. Besides, I don’t have a phone of my own either. Genesis gave me her old one for now.”

  He hooked her arm in his and led her toward his truck. “I can take care of that.”

  *

  They drove into town and parked outside the coffee shop. When they walked in, Vienna raced to give Tori a big hug. “Oh my. Are you okay?”

  Tori hugged Vienna back. “We’re both fine.”

  “Ha.” Vienna gave Devon a narrow-eyed look. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  Devon smiled thinly. “Tori is starving. Do you think we could have a table? Me and her,” he added shortly.

  “Sure.” Vienna locked arms with Tori and led her over to the corner table. “I always have room for Tori.”

  Tori giggled. Devon ignored them both. He’d be shunned for a while until he and Tori were obviously on the mend. Maybe then Tori’s friends would forgive him.

  Until then…

  He sat down across from Tori at the restaurant and waited quietly for the girls to finish chatting. He was starving, too, but had used up his good graces already. He stared out the window, his gaze absentmindedly watching as the cars drove by. Several long, black models from the Paranormal Council drove by.

  He studied the group of people sitting outside the restaurant. There were small collections of chairs for those looking to just sit and relax, unlike the more formal seating inside. Several people walked down the sideways, talking together. The passersby walked past two men standing off to the side; quiet, leaning against a tree, half-hidden. Actually, mostly hidden. They only were visible when they leaned out from their hiding spot.

  Hiding spot?

  He studied them again. Yes, hiding spot. They were waiting for someone. Watching for something.

  He picked up his coffee and kept his eye on them while they ordered and waited for their lunch to be delivered.

  “What’s caught your eye?” Tori asked as she eyed him over the rim of her cup. “You keep looking across the road.”

  “And here I thought I was covering it up so well.”

  She laughed. “This is a small town. Everyone knows everything. If I didn’t say something, one of the other people here would have most likely.”

  He grinned, realizing she was teasing him. With a tiny nod of his head, he motioned to the men half-hidden in the trees. “The two men keep popping out, as if looking for someone.”

  Her eyebrows shot up and she turned to look. All she could see were the trees. She kept a half eye on the area and saw one man lean around the tree and look in their direction.

  She gasped. “It’s the man from the bank. The one that shot at us.”

  “Really? Are you sure?” He hadn’t recognized them, but then he hadn’t had a chance to see them clearly back in the woods. “He’s too far away to see clearly.”

  “I can see enough.”

  “I believe you.” He fiddled with the cutlery on the table, his gaze intent on the shadows. He tried to jack up his senses, but they barely spluttered to life. Not enough to be of use.

  “Is it me they are keeping an eye on then?”

  He nodded slowly as the first man popped his head around the corner and stared in the direction of the restaurant. “Maybe.”

  “How do we find out?”

  “We leave and see if they follow.” He pulled out his phone and called Connor. After quickly explaining the problem, he closed his phone and put it away. Vienna arrived just then with their meals. He waited for her to leave before leaning forward to say, “Connor is going to come to the restaurant and wait. He’ll track the men to see who they are following.”

  “That sounds like fun. I like the idea of catching these guys red-handed,” she muttered. “They deserve to be shot for shooting you.”

  “They might have shot me, but I think they were shooting at you.”

  “Then they aren’t after me to use for their own purposes. They’d be trying to shut me up.” She picked up her sandwich and took a big bite.

  “Especially if their goal is the property issue.”

  She chewed slowly. He watched, but it was if the first bite of breathtaking flavor had soured to something nasty in her mouth. Then she’d spent her whole life without money, and even now, to imagine someone trying to kill her, to be able to take the little she did have just pissed him off.

  “I can’t stand the thought of them going after my sisters.” She stared at him, “They could do what they would to me, but if they tried to hurt my family…oh, hell no!” As he narrowed his gaze at her, she added, “I think we should confront them.”

  Devon slowly put his forkful of food down on his plate. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?” She took a bite and chewed slowly as if working her way through the concept. “At least we’d be able to see what they have to say. Hear an explanation of why they shot at us. Between us, we’d be able to tell if they were lying.”

  “Maybe we’d be able to tell and it wouldn’t matter much, as they still wouldn’t tell us the truth.” He paused, looked at her intently, and asked, “Unless you have a way of making them tell us the truth.”

  She laughed. “No, I don’t.”

  “Too bad,” he muttered and took a bite of food. His phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket. “Connor is in position.”

  Tori immediately looked out the window to find him. “I can’t see him.”

  “Good. You aren’t supposed to, remember?”

  They finished up their meal quickly, Devon paid the bill, and they walked out into the sunshine.

  Devon kept Tori between him and the men, a hand at the small of her back, urging her toward the truck.

  “Don’t push,” she muttered.

  Immediately he eased back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

  “No. You’re just trying to protect me.” She reached for his hand at her waist and draped it over her shoulder, squeezing his hand. “And it’s appreciated. But no more bullets for you either, please.”

  “Hey, that works for me.”

  At the car, he opened the passenger door and waited until she got in. He closed the door and walked to the driver’s side. He glanced around casually then hopped inside.

  “Did you see them?”

  “Yes. They’re both still there.”

  He turned on the engine and drove past where the men had been standing, only he couldn’t see them in the trees as they went past.

  “I can’t see them, now. They must have moved.”

  “Either deeper into the trees to stay out of sight or dashing for their own vehicle.” Because he wanted to give them lots of time to follow, if that was their plan, he drove slowly down the main street then took the turnoff to the Center. “I wonder if there is a meeting going on at the Center,” he said. “I saw three of their vehicles travelling in a convoy when we first arrived at the coffee shop.”

  “Maybe,” Tori said, then shrugged. “I think lots goes on there.”

  “Hmm. I’m surprised that Genesis would be happy there, after being alone so much.”

  “I’m not sure that she is, exactly, but I don’t think that she’s uncomfortable. Chances are she’s still adapting.”

  “That’s all you guys have been doing for a long time.”

  “Yeah, it was definitely a tough year.”

  At the Center, he parked in one of the empty spots in the middle of the lot and walked around to help her out. They walked up to the front door. It was open and there was music coming from inside.

  They stepped in and stood at the entrance, wondering what was going on.

  “Maybe she’s not here. Connor is out hunting down bad guys; maybe she went with him.”

  “Now that would make sense,” Tori muttered. “So what are we doing here, then?”

  “Tori!”

  A call from across the floor had her turning her head. “There’s Matt.”

  Devon turned to study the man approaching quickly. He was long and lean and looked to be completely in charge. Devon shook his hand.

  “Devon, nice to see you.”

  He engulfed Tori in a big hug. “You are looking stunning as always, Tori. I’m so glad to have you home.”

  Tori laughed quietly. “Maybe, but only because you’re hoping Celeste is right behind me.”

  Matt winced. “Damn. Am I that obvious?”

  “Yep.” Tori linked arms with him. “So where is my other sister?”

  “Probably hiding in her suite right at this moment. She did put in an appearance, but I thought I saw her making a rapid exit.” He frowned. “Unless she snuck out with Connor. I told him he wouldn’t be able to go without her, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Tori laughed. “My sister doesn’t like to be left out of anything.”

  “In fact, she also refuses to be left behind anymore.”

  Tori winced at the reference to everyone walking away on her sister. “Touché.”

  “Sorry. I had to say it once. Now we’ll move on.” He led the way past the people standing around and mingling, all holding brightly colored drinks in their hands. “Let’s grab a few moments in my office.”

  Leading the way, he took the two of them down several hallways and into an office large enough for several people.

  “Matt, life is treating you very well, I see.” Tori wandered the room, looking at the evidence of his new position.

  “Ha. It’s the position, not the man.”

  She turned and smiled at him. “The man is the position.”

  He nodded once as if giving her the point.

  Devon watched the interplay with interest. He’d known some of Matt’s history, but obviously Tori knew him much better than he expected. He reached out as Tori walked past and dragged her down into the chair next to him.

  She gave him a questioning look. He smiled blandly back.

  Like hell he was going to explain.

  Matt gave a bark of laughter. “Okay, down to business. Tori, what the hell have you gotten yourself into now?”

  Chapter 23

  She gasped. “I didn’t ‘get’ myself into anything. This isn’t my fault.”

  Matt rolled his eyes, a grin flashing across his face. “Okay, so this isn’t your fault. I still need to understand what the hell is going on.”

  “And I can’t tell you, as I don’t know.” She glared at him.

  “I’ll do the explaining.” Devon leaned forward and quickly outlined the events of the last couple of days—all the way from the bank robbery through to what they found in the woods. Tori interrupted a couple of times but within ten minutes, they managed to get it out.

  “Well.” Matt leaned back in surprise. “This is a mess. I knew about the accident of course, but not from Grandfather. I didn’t know the details, but it’s hard to keep something like that quiet.”

  “And I had nothing to do with it. If you want to blame someone, blame Devon. He’s the one that dragged me back.” She turned to glare at Devon, but he leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips, catching her by surprise.

  “That’s right, I did. And I would again,” he said casually. “Those people needed saving.”

  “I know.” She slumped back in her chair, watching as Devon’s long fingers gently stroked across her slim ones. The man could turn her into jelly with just a look; add in a kiss, and she was a goner. With difficulty, she refocused on the men and realized they were both trying to hide grins. “So what are we going to do about this?” she asked, determined to get things back on track.

  Connor chose that moment to walk in. “Hey. I followed the guys. They were definitely keeping an eye on you. They came into this parking lot, then circled around and left again. This time, they went to Grandfather’s. I stopped just outside the gate and watched as they were let in, then I came back here.”

  “So it is Grandfather. Figures.”

  “It looks that way, yes, but we don’t know for certain.” Matt cautioned. “He’s a different man since he ended up in the healing pools. Still a bastard, but a different kind of one.”

  “Great. I’d rather the devil I knew.”

  “And that’s a good point. We don’t know anything about this mess, or what’s going on here, so we can’t assume he’s done anything like he would normally do.”

  “But he does appear to be pulling the strings with the men.”

  “No,” Connor said. “It could be any one of the people in that place. Several are relatives, many are in the will, and others are just plain loyal and would hate to see his name dragged through the mud. They’d be happy to shoot you just on principle.”

  “Crap. So what’s the answer?”

  Tori was damn tired of the whole thing. Her instincts said to go and confront Grandfather. Maybe then he’d lay off, but if Connor and Matt were right, then he might not even be the asshole behind all this.

  She remembered something else that Devon had mentioned.

  “We also need to consider that if Grandfather’s good name was destroyed, and his business fell, who would step into his position of power?”

  Matt slowly raised his head and stared at her. “Oh, very good thinking. Money and power are two of the biggest motivators. If we could figure out who would be in a position to take advantage of his trouble, then we’d have another angle to look at.”

  Tori nodded. “And considering that sex is the third biggest motivator, don’t look only at the males in his world. Women are pretty cagey when it comes to landing on their feet.”