Harlequin Nocturne March 2016 Box Set Read online

“Why not?”

  “I think you were duped. You weren’t out seeking Nalusa and trading information for your own benefit. I believe what you said, only wanting to conjure Bo.”

  Tallulah set her cup down. “You’re right,” she answered softly.

  “Tell me who put you up to it.”

  “Nobody. One of the archaeology crews found that old flute on a dig, and they brought it to the Cultural Center to be archived. I always guessed that it held powerful magic. Then yesterday, when everyone went home after five, something came over me. I had to have that flute. I can’t explain it.”

  Annie nodded. “Go on.”

  “That’s it. I went out to the woods, and this crazy notion wouldn’t get out of my brain that if I played it, Bo would magically appear.”

  “Nalusa must have planted that idea in your brain, then.”

  Tallulah’s brow furrowed. “But the flute makes Nalusa weaker, forces him to appear as himself and not in snake form. Why would he want me to play it?”

  “Because, even weakened, Nalusa could take you on, one-on-one, without interference from the other hunters. Then he’d grab the flute and take it back into his possession. Your tribe would lose its best chance to capture him at the next full moon.”

  Tallulah nodded slowly. “Makes sense. Wish my brother had reasoned everything in his mind before jumping to conclusions.”

  “He’s too close to the situation to react logically. He’ll come around.” Tombi might forgive his sister for bad judgment, but the fact remained that he didn’t love her. Nothing about their relationship would change for the better.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” Tallulah mumbled.

  Annie stiffened in the chair, back to pondering the mystery. “I’m disappointed that it wasn’t another hunter who gave you the idea that you had the power to contact Bo. Because if it had been one of them, we’d know the real betrayer.”

  They sipped their tea in glum silence until Tallulah spoke again. “Not only did the flute fail me, but if anyone at the Center finds out it’s missing, I can kiss my job goodbye.”

  Well, she did steal the flute from her employer, but Annie bit her lip. Who was she to judge? Nalusa’s influence must be a powerful thing. And at least Tallulah was opening up to her a bit.

  Tallulah regarded her thoughtfully. “Why won’t Bo talk to me? We were in love. He never even met you.”

  “Don’t take it personal. I hear things no one else can.”

  “Can you try to contact him again?” Tallulah grasped Annie’s hand. “And take me with you. Please?”

  That was exactly what she’d do. Initiate contact. Many nights she’d wanted to sneak away into the bayou and try to find Bo, but Tombi wouldn’t hear of it. They had sought him together, but no luck. Secretly, Annie thought Bo wasn’t able to risk talking to anyone but her.

  “I’ll try to reach Bo tonight, but alone. You can’t come with me. It won’t work with you around. You’re a distraction to him.”

  Tallulah’s eager expression fell to one of resigned misery. “Okay.” She gulped. “Thank you for trying and...thanks for believing in me when my own brother didn’t.”

  So the seemingly unbreakable warrior woman wasn’t all badass. She had a heart that had been broken and bludgeoned. A feeling Annie knew all too well. “You’re welcome,” Annie said softly. She rose and gathered up the dirty cups and saucers.

  Tallulah placed a hand on her arm. “Tombi is a fool if he doesn’t love you.”

  * * *

  He was a damn idiot.

  Tombi stood on the porch and stared out at the night. Where was Annie? Was she okay? He pulled out the cell phone from his jeans pocket and then angrily stuffed it back in. There was no need to call. She’d told him she loved him, and he’d just stared at her and said nothing. He’d lost the right to know where she chose to spend her evenings.

  The cabin was silent and empty without Annie. How quickly he’d grown accustomed to her presence.

  A spherical beam of light turned from the main road onto the dirt road leading to his cabin. About time Hanan and Chulah showed up.

  Tombi pushed off from the railing and paced the porch. Telling them the news wasn’t going to be easy. They would be almost as torn about Tallulah as he was. Hanan especially. He didn’t know how deep their feelings for each other went. Or, as Tallulah implied, if they were merely friends with benefits. Ugh. Not how he wanted to think of his sister.

  The old Chevy truck doors squeaked as the hunters jumped out of Chulah’s pickup. Hanan’s silver sheriff’s badge glinted like a miniature star. “What’s up?” Hanan asked, direct as always. His eyes were as sharp and focused as the eagle he was named after. Once he swooped in on a problem, he never let go until he was satisfied every stone had been turned. It made him an excellent officer.

  “We have a problem,” Tombi answered.

  Chulah bounded the porch steps, face crafty and searching. “Where’s Tallulah? She should be here, too. We always meet together when there’s trouble.”

  “Tallulah is the trouble.”

  Fear danced in Chulah’s brown eyes. “Is she okay?”

  Best to just spit it out. “Tallulah’s our traitor.”

  “No way. She’d never do that,” Chulah said, voice pitched low and fierce.

  Hanan stuffed his hands into his uniform pockets and frowned. “Hard to believe. How can you be sure?”

  “The ancient flute that we once searched for and couldn’t find? Turns out, it’s a real thing after all. Tallulah has it. I caught her playing it in the woods today.”

  Shock registered on his friends’ faces.

  “But that’s great news,” Chulah protested. “She found it for us, and now we can use it to capture Nalusa.”

  “You say you caught her,” Hanan said slowly. “Did she admit to revealing our secrets to Nalusa?”

  “Of course she didn’t admit anything. But she’s desperate. Somehow she got it in her head that the flute would help her contact Bo’s spirit. Tallulah would stop at nothing to hear from Bo.” A kind of madness must have eaten away at Tallulah’s mind. Her grief over Bo went far deeper than Tombi had realized. And someone suffering such grief was a target for Nalusa and the shadows. It made a person easy prey to whisper false promises. A seduction to the mystery of the night.

  Chulah’s face crumbled, and he stumbled down the porch steps, no doubt needing distance until he regained his composure.

  “Where’s the flute now?”

  As usual, Hanan cut to the heart of their situation. His friend hid his emotions well, buried them under logic and a determination to attack problems. Tombi didn’t see the attraction between Hanan and Tallulah, but there was no accounting for sexual chemistry. Personally, he’d rather Tallulah had chosen Chulah, an honorable man who’d quickly become his closest friend in the past few months. Hanan was honorable as well, but in a detached, intellectual manner.

  Tombi sighed. “My sister threw it in the air, and a hawk flew off with it.”

  “You didn’t have the opportunity to kill it?” Hanan asked.

  “Annie stopped me. The hawk is her animal guide. Or so she believed.”

  Chulah jerked around. “Where’s Annie now? I bet she’s behind everything. Not your sister.” He stomped onto the porch, warming to his theory. “That’s it. She’s been the one whispering in Tallulah’s ear about the flute, knowing Tallulah’s grief. And Annie knew Tallulah gets to examine artifacts as soon as the archaeologists bring them in from their digs. She’s the real traitor.”

  Tombi winced. No. Not Annie. It couldn’t possibly be Annie. The porch tilted beneath his feet, and a rushing whirled like a tornado in his mind. Chulah had a point. A damn good one. He couldn’t be so duped...or could he? What if it were true? What if his sister were innocent?