Children of the Sea 02 - Sea Fever

is.”
     
    “What about the rest of the island? Other threats? Other demons?”
    Caleb asked.
     
    Dylan shrugged. “There has been . . . activity on and around World’s End before this. But they want Regina now.”
     
    “And are willing to possess anybody else to get at her,” Caleb said grimly.
     
    “Not anybody. There are limits to their power.”
     
    Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “The cross.”
     
    “And my tattoo,” Regina said.
     
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    Dylan nodded. “They could not kill you. And they did not anticipate me. They cannot afford to attract Heaven’s attention with a series of botched attempts. They will choose the next time and their next target very carefully.”
     
    “Are you trying to make me feel better?”
     
    Dylan’s expression did not change. “I’m trying to scare you.”
     
    “So that I’ll run away with you to Sanctuary.”
     
    Caleb cleared his throat.
     
    Dylan ignored him. “Yes.”
     
    “For how long?” Regina demanded.
     
    “Until we know you and the child are safe.”
     
    “And how long will that take?” She pressed her hand to her stomach.
    “Nine months?”
     
    He was silent.
     
    “Thirteen years?”
     
    He glared, his dark eyes stormy. “Sanctuary is the best solution.”
     
    She squeezed her hands together in her lap at the tumult in those eyes. “The safest, maybe. Not the best. Not for me or my children. In thirteen years, my mother could be dead. If the heartbreak doesn’t kill her sooner.”
     
    “Regina . . .”
     
    Her heart shook at his tone. She could not afford to give in to him.
    She would not give in. She had crawled and fought and worked damn hard for the life she had made with her son. She would not give it up.
    “No.”
     
    He flung himself from his chair; stalked to the window. “I could leave you here.”
     
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    “But you won’t,” she said softly.
     
    He glanced over his shoulder. A corner of his mouth rose. “No.”
     
    Her heart beat faster. “Because of the child.”
     
    He inclined his head. “If you like.”
     
    She could not read him. She did not know him. How could she be falling in love with him?
     
    Caleb cleared his throat again. “You’ll need a place to stay.”
     
    “For how long?” Regina asked.
     
    “Nine months?” Dylan smiled in wicked echo. “Thirteen years?”
     
    And then what? He’d leave her like his mother left his father? Like her father left her mother?
     
    “You can’t just move in with us,” Regina said. “It’s not fair to Nick.”
     
    “Nick is not the one with the problem,” Dylan shot back.
     
    “I have to protect him,” she said stubbornly.
     
    Even if it was too late to protect her own heart.
     
    Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t see how we’re going to protect either one of them.”
     
    Regina glanced at Dylan, startled by the easy way Caleb allied himself with his brother over her defense. Dylan hardly seemed to notice.
    Men.
     
    “I’ll have to ward her building,” Dylan said.
     
    Caleb raised his eyebrows. “You can do that?”
     
    His jaw set. “I must.”
     
    “And if she has to leave the apartment? Or the restaurant?”
     
    177
     
    A long look passed between the brothers.
     
    “Then I will be with her,” Dylan said. “Attached to her like a lamprey. Or a lover.”
     
    “Not in the apartment,” Regina said.
     
    “You’ll need a place to stay,” Caleb said again at the same time.
    “Somewhere close.”
     
    “Is that an invitation, little brother?”
     
    “If you need one,” Caleb said steadily.
     
    “I don’t need anything from you,” Dylan said. But the darkness in his eyes made the words a lie.
     
    “You should go home. To your parents’ house,” Regina said.
     
    Dylan sneered. “The way you did?”
     
    He would not let her pity him. Fine. She wouldn’t permit him to goad her.
     
    “There’s no shame in going home when you need to.”
     
    She could say that now. She could even believe it. The realization lightened her heart.
     
    “This was never my home. I’d rather pay to stay at the Inn.”
     
    “Full up this time of year,” Regina said. “Your father has room.”
     
    “Our old room,” Caleb said. “Nothing’s changed.”
     
    Dylan’s face was blank and hard as the sea cliffs. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
     
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Fourteen
     
    DYLAN KNELT IN THE WEEDS AND GRAVEL BEHIND the restaurant, running his long-fingered hands over the brick of the building the way Regina