SWEET CALLAHAN HOMECOMING Read online

  Perhaps Xav had misread the situation. The thought calmed her a little, pushed back some of the panic threatening to take her over. Xav was only postulating that Wolf was operating on his own. It was a hunch; it might not mean a thing.

  Maybe it was best to meet the enemy head-on.

  Tomorrow, she would.

  * * *

  ASH SLEPT IN XAV’S ARMS, secure in the peace that came with being held by her man. In just a few days, she’d be his wife. The knowledge gave her a sense of comfort she’d longed for all her life.

  She drifted, thinking about her parents and how much she’d missed knowing them. Her children would always know her; she was determined to turn the tide of the past.

  A gasp pushed out of her as she had a vision of Wolf’s face, evil and taunting. A loner now, he was more desperate than ever to achieve the goal. No longer backed up by the cartel, and no longer useful to them, the chance to take over Rancho Diablo fired his desperation.

  He would do whatever it took to force them out. He believed he alone deserved the land, felt cut out by his father, whom he hated. A spirit of revenge swirled inside him, guiding him.

  Her grandfather came to her in the vision, instructing her to lure Wolf to Loco Diablo. She awakened in a sweat, her heart racing.

  “Babe, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Go back to sleep.”

  “I can’t.” Xav wrapped an arm around her, dragging her next to him. “My better half’s had a bad dream. I can feel your heart banging like a drum. The only solution for that is for me to make love to you.”

  She relaxed under his kisses, his hands skillfully easing away her fear. Her breath returned, her stomach unclenched as he charmed her terror away.

  “It’s going to be okay, babe,” Xav murmured. “I’m never going to let anything happen to you. You’re safe.”

  She wanted to tell him so badly about the vision she’d had. Not a dream; a true vision. It had been clear as a bell, full of color and sound, like watching a movie. There was so much she didn’t understand, still couldn’t understand. The magic wedding dress was gone, its magic destroyed. There was another dress in its place, but it was all wrong. She reached deep inside her soul, trying to find the source of her unease, yet only her mother’s and father’s faces came to her from the photo she’d seen in Fiona’s room. They’d been one big happy family—a long time ago.

  But Xav held her and made love to her, and it was as if calm water rushed over, making her forget everything for just a while. Yet the vision haunted her, despite Xav’s love. The babies were the future of Rancho Diablo, as were all the Callahan children.

  She knew what she had to do.

  * * *

  AFTER XAV LEFT HER in the early morning, she dressed in dark jeans, a dark shirt and a black jacket with a sheepskin vest beneath. She went to find Fiona in her usual location, stirring up eggs, bacon and pancakes in the kitchen. It all smelled heavenly, but she had little appetite.

  “You’re up early,” Fiona said with a smile.

  “I was thinking I might go out for a bit, if you and Burke wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on the children.”

  “We’d love to!” Fiona beamed. “Just like the old days. We don’t get many chances to have them to ourselves.”

  “You’re sure you don’t mind? I feel terribly—”

  “Ashlyn Callahan, don’t you say another word!” Fiona’s face was serene in spite of the reprimand. “We live and breathe to hold those babies. We would do it more often, but we’re trying not to be overbearing family members while you and Xav are working on bonding with those angels! And with each other, I might add,” Fiona said with a wink. “He sure seemed in a good mood this morning.”

  Xav’s happiness made her smile. “Aunt, about that gown I tried on the other day.”

  “Don’t dwell on it, niece.”

  She shook her head. “It was a magic wedding dress, too. But it felt all wrong. Evil, even. Like it was trying to trap me.”

  Fiona nodded. “It was a dress with bad magic. You know that there are tests in life, Ash. If you’d worn it, if you’d just been content to get married just for the sake of marriage, you’d have settled for any old gown. The bad wedding dress was a test to sway you from your true path in life. Who knows how your destiny might have changed if you’d fallen for its lure?”

  Ash stared at Fiona. “Who put it there?”

  “The same spirits that drive your uncle Wolf, of course. We’re not the only ones who fight for good. Supernatural forces are always at work, trying to help us, but thwarted just the same by their battles with evil. Angels fight with bad angels, good wars with bad—evil is always going to try to win. Magic can’t stop that. What’s important is that you discerned wisely. You didn’t know it, but you set your course for the good and didn’t allow yourself to be tempted by an easier path.”

  “I’ll burn that dress later.”

  Fiona shook her head. “You can’t destroy it. Only a strong woman who refuses to be set aside from her destiny destroys the gown’s evil charm. It goes to haunt another poor bride, who may not make the same choices. Life is about choices, and we are all governed by our choices.”

  Ash tried to smile, thinking she wouldn’t want her daughters to experience that, nor her sons’ brides. But by the time her children were ready to be married, maybe they’d just go to the wedding shop in town and choose something new for themselves.

  In the meantime, she would raise her children to be warriors, as she and her brothers had been raised. “Thank you for everything, Fiona. I’ll be back soon.”

  She went out in the cold, bracing herself against the wind. With any luck, Xav wouldn’t discover her leaving and try to stop her. He had that tendency to be protective.

  She loved that about him.

  But today, he couldn’t protect her, so she hadn’t told him, though she felt guilty about it.

  In the paddock was the silver mare Wolf had trapped when Jace and Sawyer had released the Diablos from the underground cave. “Hello, beautiful girl,” Ash murmured, and the mare looked at her calmly.

  “I remember you can run very fast. Something tells me you’re here for me. So if you don’t mind taking this adventure with me, kindred spirit, we’ll see what today has in store for us.”

  The mare tossed her head as if in agreement, accepted the saddle and bridle with no complaint. If anything, she seemed eager to be off and running.

  Ash slipped into the saddle and left the paddock, making her getaway before any of her brothers or Xav might see her. They would ask a thousand questions and try to change her mind.

  She rode toward the canyons until she got to the Sister Wind Ranch, also known as Loco Diablo, aware that Wolf had shot at Xav when he’d come out here. But only the silence of predawn greeted her.

  A flash of light drew her eyes, and she followed it. To her surprise—and suspicion—a gate had been left open, perhaps by a federal agent or someone else. She asked the beautiful mare to stay close by and, drawing her gun, went down into the opening, astonished by the size of the tunnel she found.

  It led to another, then another reinforced tunnel, an underground city of concrete and steel. She passed an oven of sorts, an antiquated type of bake oven used for rudimentary cooking. Ventilation pipes appeared at different intervals, denoting the potential for subterranean life.

  She pulled out a flashlight to supplement the glow from crude gas sconces. Chambers split off into different directions, and an occasional wheeled cart or three-wheeler indicated transport deeper into the tunnels, destined for Rancho Diablo.

  Ash burned with fury as she took in the stronghold fortified under their lands. Wolf knew all this was here, and if he had been cut loose, as Xav suspected, then he would know he had to strike before the cartel did, in order to claim what he wanted first
.

  But if the cartel could destroy and take over Rancho Diablo, there was no reason for them to cut Wolf in on the spoils.

  “Hang on there, little lady,” a deep voice said behind her, and Ash whirled with a gasp, ready to strike.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Xav!” Ash hissed his name. “What if I’d killed you?”

  “You wouldn’t have, darling. I’m the man of your dreams.” He smiled, big and sexy, and Ash repressed the desire to bean him. “So what’s the plan?”

  “Why are you here?”

  “I told you. I’m always going to take care of you. And Fiona gave me the heads-up that I might want to follow you. Said you had a distinctly wild look in your eyes that seemed like you had something on your mind.”

  Well, she couldn’t fault the busybody aunt for that. “I’m going to find Wolf. It’s something I have to do alone.”

  “All right. Whatever you say.”

  He grinned, and she glared at his big-shouldered self. Why did she have the sudden urge to kiss him? She should be mad at him for anointing himself her bodyguard. She was a well-trained operative, and he was a hot, sexy company-owning geek who’d worked for her family for years.

  “Come on,” she said finally. “But if I find Wolf, you have to let what happens happen. In other words, it’s my mission.”

  “Got it. Believe me, I understand.” He took her gun from her holster and checked it. “Good girl. You look sexy when you’re prepared.”

  “I have four children. Disorganization doesn’t fly when you have four babies.” She returned her gun to her holster and proceeded down the tunnel, her footsteps soft on the dirt floor.

  “What makes you think he’s down here?” Xav whispered.

  She thought of her vision, and that Loco Diablo was where she had to find Wolf. “Just a hunch.”

  She could feel him behind her, pressed tight to shield her. “This place is a bunker,” he said. “Looks like it could withstand Armageddon.”

  “I think that’s why law enforcement has left it alone.”

  “Or they got paid off to do so,” Xav said.

  She whirled to face him. “Sheriff Cartwright is a friend of our family!”

  “Different county, babe. Different jurisdiction altogether. Plus the feds have been in control of this operation for months. For all you know, there’s a reason they decided not to do anything about this fortress.”

  She’d never considered that the law might not be on their side. But Xav was right; bribes had been known to change hands.

  “I can’t worry about that,” she said, and pushed on.

  But it angered her. This was her land—her family’s land. Bought and paid for. Intended for the good of the community one day.

  They must have walked for miles without coming across anyone, yet there was evidence that indicated people had been there recently. “I don’t understand. It’s like it’s been abandoned.”

  “I was thinking the same thing, angel face.” Xav put his ear against a cave wall and listened, put his hand against it to feel vibrations. “I don’t hear anything. Feels inactive. Deserted.”

  She closed her eyes, reached to divine human movement, or spirit force. There was nothing but silence.

  “It’s like a tomb,” she whispered.

  “So is it kinky if I suggest this is one cave we haven’t made love in?” Xav asked, pulling her to him.

  She wanted to melt in his arms, but the memory of the terror of her vision was too real. “This place isn’t for making love. It’s made for war.” She pulled away, regretfully letting go of him.

  “Rats,” Xav said. “My problem is I’m always on Go around you.”

  She smiled, batted away a cobweb. “Wolf’s not here. My vision was wrong.”

  Xav kicked at something near the cave wall, sending up a plume of dust. The musty smell of the cave was almost overpowering. He shone his flashlight on something huddled in the darkness. “Look. A tarp.”

  “Covering what?” She swept off a few handfuls of the dirt disguise which overlaid the tarp and pulled it up.

  A pile of dynamite and other explosives lay neatly, and ominously, stacked.

  “Damn,” Xav said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Jace had already been here.”

  “No. Jace does a different kind of party favor.” She shone her flashlight over the stacked pile surrounded by a metal casing. “He’s more into detonating IEDs and enjoying the select grenades.”

  “This is quite a marker.”

  “Yes, it is.” She folded the tarp down carefully, restored the dirt disguise.

  “Why would they put in the work for these tunnels and then lay in enough explosives to send Loco Diablo to the moon?” Xav asked.

  A chill spread over Ash, stealing her breath. She felt the prescience roll over her, fogging her vision, the way it had earlier—felt the heat of fire and smelled the acrid burning smoke.

  The magic wedding dress had been warning her.

  Xav put his arms around her, and she felt stronger for his warmth. “If you’re right about my uncle being a lone wolf now, would he destroy Rancho Diablo rather than see the Callahans keep it forever?”

  Xav was silent a moment. “There’s no way this dynamite is federal property. They wouldn’t put in this much explosive material. It’s enough to take out a small city, at least a good bit of Loco Diablo.”

  A sudden realization came to her, foreboding in its powerful suggestion. “It’s enough to destroy Rancho Diablo, and everything Running Bear and his two sons and their wives worked for. All the years of hiding would have been almost for nothing. Molly, Jeremiah, Carlos and Julia might have saved their lives but Wolf would win by destroying the spirit here.” She took a deep breath. “It would kill my grandfather to know he’d fathered such evil.”

  “We’ll fix this,” Xav said.

  She shook her head. “This isn’t your battle.” It shouldn’t have to be his fight.

  “Babe, I signed on for the war long before I knew I was going to reel you in. Trust me, I’m not about to leave the Callahans high and dry now. With or without you, I’m staying in this to help your family win.” He kissed her, comforting and sexy, a strength she was learning to rely on.

  “But now that you have a good idea of what might be coming to your family’s home,” Xav said, kissing her tenderly, “you’re going to have to leave, babe. You and the children are going far away, where I should have left you in the first place. I should never have brought you back.”

  “That’s a fine way to talk to the woman you want to marry,” Ash said.

  “It’s the way it’s got to be. We can’t endanger the babies. Now let’s get out of here before we’re discovered. That would really put the capper on our wedding plans. You might get kidnapped, and I might get—”

  “Don’t say it,” Ash said quickly. “Don’t even speak the words. The evil spirits listen closely.”

  “Okay, babe. No worries. Let’s get out of here.” He dragged her back the length of the tunnel, and Ash had never felt such a driving compulsion to run in her life. The very thought of losing Xav put life to her feet, forcing her through the dark passageway.

  But at the same time, she knew she was coming back for those explosives.

  Just not with Xav.

  * * *

  “I CAN’T DO ANYTHING. He follows me everywhere, my virtual shadow,” Ash complained to her six brothers when she finally gathered them together in the upstairs library the night before Christmas Eve. “My overly protective shadow. He’s obsessed about small details, like the fact that I haven’t yet bought a wedding gown for tomorrow.”

  Dante looked at her. “I would call that a huge detail.”

  “I’m getting married in a regular dress,” Ash said. “The ch
ief is giving me away, or at least Xav asked him to. Xav’s wearing jeans and a black jacket with a lariat.”

  They all took that in with nods.

  “I’m just telling you, so that you know and understand why I’ve invited him here tonight.”

  They scowled a bit. “This isn’t his first rodeo here,” she said. “He’s been a good warrior for us, and he’s going to be part of this family. From now on, I say Xav should be part of any family conversations. Xav,” she called down the landing, “come up. We’re all in agreement.”

  “Whatever little sister says,” Jace said when Xav walked in. “Welcome.”

  “Here’s the thing,” Ash said, taking a deep breath. “This is the last family meeting in this library we will ever have. I know this.”

  They all stared at her, astonished. Tighe passed around the whiskey decanter, and they topped off their crystal tumblers, eyeing her.

  “When you’re through hoping I’ll disappear and that what I said isn’t a foretelling of the future, you’ll figure out that I am telling you exactly what is going to happen,” Ash said quietly. “Our assignment is nearing its end.”

  “I’m not sure how you could know this, little sister,” Galen said. “And yet, I know that if you’re saying it, it’s probably true.”

  They all looked at each other, not doubting her. She knew she wasn’t wrong. Every moment, the power became stronger inside her.

  She reached to take Xav’s hand. “I might as well tell all of you this at the same time. There’s a lot to go over. You’ll have to stand in for Grandfather tomorrow. He won’t be giving me away.” She looked at her brothers. “In fact, all of you will give me away.”

  They blinked, not sure what to say for a moment.

  “I’ll stand in for Running Bear in a heartbeat,” Jace said. “But how do you know he’s not coming?”

  “He’s not coming because he can’t,” Ash said with certainty, briefly closing her eyes. “He hasn’t come to see my children. He’s gone away.”

  “What’s going on with you, sister?” Falcon looked at her carefully. “Are you having visions?”