Blood Pool

Chapter Twenty-four

Bo was lost in thought as he stumbled out of the house at the same time Jade and Tobias shimmered out of the vapors. They practically collided.

“Damn!” he cursed, sidestepping Jade, virtually falling over the front steps.

“Thank God you’re all right!” Jade said, throwing her arms around his neck. Upon second thought, she pulled away immediately. He’d not been so jovial in her presence the last time they were together.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I’m not your favorite person.”

“No, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I was…” Bo headed toward the water, his head down, shoulders slumped. He looked terrible.

“Wait. Where are you going?” Jade called to him.

“Let him be,” Tobias said, and in an instant he stood at the side of the boat. “Are you okay, Bo? Let me take a look at your wound.”

“It’s healing, Tobias. I’ll be fine. I must have just missed her… She was so close. I saw her for the briefest second.”

The rope tied to the cleat lay loosely around the metal hook, and Bo leaned to unknot it. He dropped to his knees and grabbed the cleat, ripping it from the wooden dock.

“Raven!” he howled into the night.

“I know where my father is. Let me go talk to him,” Jade pleaded with Tobias and Bo while they sat around a table at The Bed and Brew having a quick meal.

No one was eating. The three of them hadn’t slept or eaten in days, with the exception of Jade downing a pint or two a day of O negative. Bo showed the worst signs of fatigue.

“He’s on the island at this guy Henri’s house. It’s located on the south side. I went there last night.”

Bo jumped up from his seat. “You what?” he exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.

“I went there. Tobias was with Emerald and you were-where were you? Anyway, I used my abilities to tune in to both my father and Raven. She’s there with two other Lamai and three shifters. Henri is one Lamai, and Mick is the other.”

“The same Mick from Blood Pool?” Bo asked.

Jade’s face flushed.

“You know this man?” Tobias stated more than asked.

“Yes. I’ve been seeing him for a few months now.”

Bo moved suddenly, knocking the table over in his wake. “You’ve been in contact with this Lamai all along?” His ire visibly inundated him as he grabbed Jade by her shirt collar.

“N-no-Bo, listen to me. I haven’t been in contact with him…”

Bo tossed her to the side, and she crashed into an empty table and chairs. Bridget poked her head from the kitchen and wisely made a quick retreat.

Jade straightened her white cotton shirt and tucked it back into her jeans. She was more stunned than physically hurt by Bo’s reaction. She knew she should have seen it coming. Bo was running on empty and feeling more and more dejected at every turn.

“I was so close to rescuing Raven the night before. I had her in my sights and lost her because I was paralyzed by my emotions. I-I didn’t realize the other two shifters had noticed me and were circling.”

“Tobias, I haven’t spoken with Mick in days. Since I came back to Mirabelle Cove, we haven’t spoken. I didn’t tell Mick where I was in case he’d unwittingly let my father know what I was doing, that I was helping you. I swear to you both I didn’t speak with Mick last night, either.”

“You know what, Jade, I don’t give a fuck.” Bo stormed across the room and stood just inches away from her. “All I know is that ever since you got here, my life has been a living hell. I almost died trying to save your ass, and now your father has Raven. The gods only know if she’s even still alive.”

“She is alive. I saw her last night, asleep. She knew I was near. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to enter her dream.” Jade turned to walk out of the bar. “But you don’t want to hear what I have to say,” she snapped as she slammed the door behind her.

Bo yelled over the clamor, “You’re right! Like I said, I don’t give a fuck!”

Tobias walked over to try to calm the brooding man down. Bo spun around and roared, “Don’t, Tobias! Don’t say a word!” With that, Bo bolted out the door.

Tobias was left standing alone in the ransacked room.

Bo beat a path to Blood Pool by noon, his stride purposeful as he entered Solaris’s office. She sat behind her desk with the curtains drawn. Incense burned in the brazier. A midnight blue velvet cloth covered the desktop. Tiny bones lay scattered across it, forming a pattern that made sense only to Solaris.

She didn’t bother to look up as he made his way over to the chair opposite her.

“I need to know where she is, Sol. You’re my last chance.”

“Why don’t you let Jade show you?” Solaris lowered her lids and bore into Bo’s soul with her gaze.

“I don’t trust her,” he stated.

She canted her head. “After all she’s done, you still don’t trust her?”

Bo stood and paced, not knowing what to do with all the angry energy tearing apart his insides.

“What has she done? Almost gotten me killed? Lied?”

Solaris reached for her cup of tea. “I know you want to blame someone for everything that’s happened, and someone is responsible, but it’s not her. You can trust her.”

“Tell me where Raven is…please,” he begged.

Sorrow filled her eyes. “I don’t know. Don’t you think if I had this information I would tell you?”

Bo heard the sound of a door creak behind him. He turned.

“Oh, it’s you,” he spat with disdain.

Jade stood in the threshold between Solaris’s office and the hall leading to the basement.

“Yeah, it’s me. I figured since you don’t want to hear where your lady love is, I thought I’d share the information with…”

She was about to say with someone who cares. Bo could hear it in her voice as clearly as if she’d spoken the words aloud.

But she knew better, he thought.

Of course he cared, but he was hurting too much. And he was a cop, which at times sucked for him. Cops don’t trust anyone and sometimes he missed that ability to simply trust.

“His name is Henri Rioux, and he lives at 19 Avery Drive, in Bayport.”

“Does Tobias know?” Solaris asked as Bo ran out of her office.

“Of course I told him,” Jade said.

Solaris rose from her seat. “Bo-wait!”

Jade tried to shimmer into Bo’s car, but only made it across the room. “It works so much better when Tobias is around,” she whined.

“Come on. I’ll drive,” Solaris offered.

“He’ll be back shortly. She’s not there,” Tobias said as he walked into Solaris’s office. “I caught him as he was getting into his car and told him. I’m worried about him. He’s falling apart. He’s just sitting in his car, staring into space.”

“He hasn’t eaten or slept since we were in the Keys,” Jade added.

“I’ll go talk to him, maybe get him to eat something,” Sol said, grabbing a small leather pouch.

Solaris walked out into the afternoon sun. It would be glorious weather for the celebration that night. Except for their current predicament, she would be ecstatic.

Knocking on the glass window with one hand, she reached for the handle on the passenger side of Bo’s Mustang with the other. It wasn’t locked. She slid in silently.

They both sat there watching the workers from the town put up barricades for the final parade. Shopkeepers set up tables outside to sell their wares in preparation for the big night.

“She found her once. She can find her again,” Solaris said, breaking the silence.

“I know.”

“So what’s the problem?”

He turned to her, his eyes red from the tears he’d shed. “I should be able to find her. We had that connection once. Maybe she doesn’t love me anymore. Maybe she regrets the price she had to pay for saving me. And if she doesn’t now, she will in the future.”

“Bo, she’s not Lamai, she’s human. That’s why you don’t have the same connection-not because her feelings for you have changed. I may not know where she is, but I do know she still loves you.”

Bo rubbed at his face with callused hands.

“I want you to come inside and let me make you a bowl of soup. You need to eat or you’ll be no good to Raven when we get her home,” she said with a smile.

Jade stood by the entrance of Blood Pool and watched as Solaris walked in with Bo at her side. She saw the tiny leather pouch hanging around the older woman’s neck and wondered what was inside. Solaris would never tell, but whatever was in there must have helped get Bo to eat a bowl of stew and get an hour of sleep.