Because You're Mine(67)

The kitten went to the food as soon as he put it down. “I’m saying it’s a girl, but I don’t know for sure.”

“We can find out.” He scooped up the kitten and turned it over. The cat howled in indignation as he probed. “It’s a girl.”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s a girl.” He set the kitten on the floor and she went back to eating the chicken in dainty bites.

Alanna watched the hollow sides heave as the small cat ate. “She was starving. Barry thought she might belong to someone, but I think she’s a stray. Hattie says they come and go.”

Jesse knelt and stroked the cat. “What are you going to name her?”

“I don’t know her personality yet. I’ll have to think about it.” Watching the man with the kitten, something lodged in her throat. She’d seen Liam sit like this with cats.

Her heart was knowing her Liam, but how was that possible? It was all too mystical to figure out.

He rose and his crooked smile came, the smile that was so like Liam’s. Her gaze fastened on his mouth, and she couldn’t look away. The curve of his lips straightened, and he stepped close enough to touch her. His hands came down on her shoulders. He bent his head toward hers.

She watched his lips grow nearer and she wanted to kiss him. Maybe a kiss would tell her the truth. She closed her eyes. “Liam,” she murmured. The sound of his name awoke her from her stupor.

She stepped back. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “You can’t be Liam.” She scooped up the kitten and the food and ran for her bedroom. Even if Liam’s spirit was there, it wasn’t right.





Twenty-Eight


The kitten insisted on sleeping with Alanna. Every time she put the little rascal down, the cat clawed her way up the blankets to Alanna’s chest. Alanna finally gave up and nestled the tiny white cat close. Sometime near midnight she fell asleep.

It seemed she’d just closed her eyes when a shriek awoke her. She lay in the bed with her heart pounding out of her chest. Was it a dream or something real? Struggling to sit up, she realized the cat was hunched with her ears back. She’d heard something too.

She swung her legs to the floor and went to the window. The wail came again. From outside. She snatched up her robe and went to the door. Barry’s wide shoulders loomed in the hallway, and she clutched him with cold fingers.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” he said, his Southern drawl as soothing as his words. He draped his arm around her shoulders. “You should go back to bed, sugar.”

“But what was it? Some kind of animal?” She shuddered and realized no animal sounded like that.

“We’ve never figured out what it is. I think it’s a wildcat, but Mother is convinced it’s a banshee.”

“The banshee?” Alanna had never heard one. Shivers wracked her, and she clutched her robe more tightly. “Doesn’t that mean someone in your family is going to die?” A thought gripped her. Was this happening because she’d disturbed the music box?

“Of course not. Go on back to bed.” He guided her back to her door and pulled it shut behind him.

Alanna stood staring at the closed door. She didn’t want to stay here alone. Not when her mates were just down the hall. It would be easier to deal with together. They had to have heard that unearthly shriek and would be wondering about it.

She opened the door. Barry was gone. Scooping up the cat, she raced in bare feet down the hall to the back wing. Turning the corner, she collided with a solid body. They both screamed before she recognized Ciara.

Ciara clutched Alanna’s arm. “Lass, you’ll be scaring me to my grave. What was that sound?”

“Barry said his mother thinks it’s a banshee.”

Ciara led her back toward her bedroom. “And I’ll be believing it. If someone is dying tonight, it’s not going to be one of us.”

She pushed Alanna into the bedroom, where the rest of Ceol were sitting by the sides of the bed and on the floor. “Did all of you hear that?” Alanna asked.

“It would be waking the dead,” Fiona grumbled. “I was having a lovely dream.”

“We could tell ghost stories.” Ena smiled.

“I’ll not be listening,” Fiona said with a shudder.

Alanna found herself looking for Jesse. She didn’t want to even think about him, not after the way she’d nearly thrown herself at him in the kitchen. Still, she wanted him safe. “Where’s Jesse?”

“He was here a minute ago, but he said something about looking for her, the banshee.”

She hoped he wouldn’t run into Barry. She clasped her arms around herself and wished she had just gone back to bed.

Until the wail came again.

“Maybe we can see the banshee,” Ena said. “Anyone game to go with me?”

“I’ll go,” Alanna said. “It’s better than sitting here wondering what’s happening.”

“I’ll go too,” Ciara said.

“You’re all crazy!” Fiona grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself. “I’ll be staying here.”

“By yourself?” Ena whistled an eerie tune, and Fiona threw a pillow at her. “Come on. All for one and one for all.”