Chapter 683 Chapter 683
She just needed a breath of air. Any air that wasn’t saturated with the scent of Taggart. Deva walked around the deck and took deep breaths. She heard Illias and was surprised he was out there. She honestly believed he couldn’t be further than five feet from his laptop and electronics. Smiling, she walked to the front and then stopped. Illias was there, his back was to her, and he was waving his arm around, pacing while talking on the phone.
“Listen. I know you’ll check this and when you do, you call me. You should have stuck with the plan and stayed where you were. Everything was fine. You panicked and…” He turned and saw her. His eyes widened. “Just call me.” He lowered the phone and tapped the screen. “I, uh, hate it when people don’t follow the plan.” He cleared his throat.
“Is everything all right with the location we’re going to?”
He gave his head a quick shake. “What? Oh yeah. Just—” He shook the phone. “Family stuff.” He shrugged. “Okay, well, that’s enough salty air for me. I better get back to the communications.” He walked by her quickly, jerked the door open and went inside.
He was out of sorts, for sure. Deva grinned. Family could do that to someone. She understood that well. Turning, she looked out at the water. It wasn’t as appealing as it had been when she first saw it. Glancing left and right, she saw the coastline and wondered how much further they had to go. Spinning away from the rail, she stopped and looked at Illias inside. He was still waving his hand around, but no one was in the room. She didn’t know the first thing about him but understood how family drama could do that to anyone—seemed like it was a sibling. That she knew too much about, sighing, she took out her phone. It had been quite a while since she’d called home. They were used to her sporadic calls, so she knew her mother wouldn’t be freaking out. Checking it wasn’t too late, she tapped the screen, and she brought up the number.
After two rings, her mother answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“Deva. I was just thinking about you.”
Deva cocked her head to the side. “You were?”
“Yes. I was just going through the Christmas decorations and found that ornament you made—I think you were eight when you made it.”
She cringed. She knew the one she was talking about. It was fun as a kid to make something special for your parents, but as an adult, it was used against you to remind you of when you were a sappy kid and believed in things that you now knew weren’t real. “I can’t believe it’s still in one piece.”
“We may have to reinforce it…”
“Or, just put it away for safekeeping.”
Her mother laughed. “As much as you’d love that, you know we put every decoration on that has been added since the first Christmas in this family.”
Deva leaned back against the glass. “I know. So, how are things there?”
“Your sisters are thrilled with the snow. I can’t say we are as much.”
Deva looked around at the water and then at her arm. No jacket is required here. “They’re old enough to shovel and help out, Mom.”
“I know, but they’re just not as into it as you were.”
Deva rolled her eyes. She had always helped out with the physical tasks when she was at home. Her sisters were probably afraid to break a nail. “A little hard work won’t kill them.”
Her mother laughed again. “Rita Is busy with her schoolwork. Thank goodness they have them meeting now and not sitting here with screens. Oh, and Iliana is helping with the little ones—hopefully, we’ll be able to travel next year and have something more to look at than the same ol’ view.”
“Yeah.” There wasn’t much she could say to that. She knew the reasons for the remote schooling and clans having travel restricted, but she wasn’t allowed to share, and the parts she could, she didn’t know how to explain to her mother, who saw the love and positive in everything in the world.
“We think Ella is going to shift soon. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
Deva smiled, “I don’t think you have the option not to be.”
“I know, I know. It’s just—it feels like she was only ten yesterday.” She made one of those mom sounds that said she was flustered but was moving on. “So, how are you? Where are you? Are you allowed to tell me? Are you safe wherever you are?”
If she could see her right now, she knew she would have just plopped down right in front of her, arms still filled with ornaments or whatever she was doing. Her mother always gave one hundred percent of her attention to each of her girls when they talked to her. She loved that about her. “I am good.” She bit her lip. Did she tell her about Taggart? She wasn’t sure if she should. There would be a hundred more questions, and most Deva didn’t have answers for. “I can’t say where I am, but there’s no snow.”
“No snow. I’m jealous. Is it warm? I miss warm.” Her mother laughed.
“It’s warm enough.” She looked around. “I am safe. We work as teams now, so we’re never alone.” She thought of when Amari was taken, and a shudder went through her.
“I’m so happy to hear that.”
Turning, she saw Taggart was talking to Illias now. Illias looked less freaked out. She had to tell her mom something. She couldn’t just drop the mate thing on her without some sort of precursory mention, right? “I’m working with a team from Europe. Well, I’ve only met a few of them so far.” She hadn’t actually met Lars, but she’d seen him in his animal form, so that counted.
“Oh my. That sounds exciting. Wait, you’re not in Europe, are you? Because I might cry from jealousy if you are.”
“No, Mom, I’m not in Europe.”
“Okay. If you are and can’t say, I expect pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.”
“I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever there.”
“So, what are they like? The team from Europe? Do they speak English? Oh, do they have those fancy accents?”
Deva rolled her eyes. Maybe her accent fetish came from her mother. “They speak pretty good English. They try.” She smiled. “Sometimes the way they say things—” She shook her head. She couldn’t say sexy to her mom. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. “Well, I’m understanding what is said well enough.” She needed to change the subject before she did blurt out that she’d found her mate and wasn’t exactly sure of things pertaining to that. “Is Dad there?”
Her mom tisked. “He’s outside swearing at a tree.” She laughed. “I told him we could use the fake one, but he thought if we couldn’t travel, we could at least have a real tree, and of course, he chose one that was too big to fit, so he’s trimming it down.”
Deva closed her eyes and had to do the math to figure out what time it was there. Time zones had never been something she paid attention to until she started working for the Alliance. “Hopefully, he gets it done before it’s late.”
“Your sisters are out there giving him their opinion.”
Deva cringed. “You should go save him.”
Her mother laughed. “He did this to himself. I told him before he cut it that it was too big, but he chose not to listen.”
Deva chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll make it work.”
“And likely destroy half the living room getting it inside.” She sighed. “He was asking if you were coming home for Christmas. Are you?”
Deva hugged her arm around her waist and leaned her elbow on top of it. “I’m not sure yet. Some—” She really needed to ask what she couldn’t share. “Some big things are in the works, and I want to do my part.”
“I see. Okay. Well, if it’s something that’s going to allow us to travel again, then I’m all for it—but be safe.”
Deva shrugged. “I’m a coordinator, mom. I mostly drive.” It wasn’t a lie.
“Good. Okay. Hold on.” She heard her mom walk through what she could only figure was boxes and likely too much garland. “Oh, dear. I should go. It’s not going well out there.”
Deva nodded. “Go save Dad and tell everyone I love them, and I will be home as soon as I can.”
“Yes. Be safe. Love and kisses.”
“Bye.” She waited until her mother hung up. What was it about moms you couldn’t hang up the phone on them? Tucking the phone in her back pocket, she turned to see Taggart standing on the other side of the glass, looking at her. She wanted to go in where he was but continued to stand here looking at him.