Free Lissa Kasey - Dominion 3 - Conviction by Lissa Kasey

bear in hibernation beside me, unbothered by all my floundering. And just after 2 a.m. I decided I’d had enough, got up, threw on some sweats and a tee, and made my way downstairs.
    The lobby and lounge were dark and empty. Light in the kitchen drew me like a beacon. I prayed it wasn’t Con and that the lodge had some sort of ice cream tucked away even in the dead of winter.
    Gabe sat at the large kitchen counter, fussing with the CB radio.
“Still not getting a signal?” I asked.
“No one’s replied yet.”
“Sei sleeping?”
“Yeah. Sleepytime tea puts him out in less than a half an hour.”
I dug into the freezer and found a giant bucket of ice cream, then scooped some into a bowl. Sucking on the spoon, I put the pail away and sat down across from Gabe to devour my treat.
“You’re as bad as Sei with the sweets.”
Actually, the habit had grown since I’d moved in with Seiran. Now I just worked out more to cover for all his amazing cooking. “You must have lots of sex to keep him so skinny.”
Gabe smiled. “Never enough for Sei. He’s actually still five pounds under his normal weight. I was hoping the trip would help with that.” He ran his hands through his blond hair, then played with the radio dials again. He looked worried, which was more emotion than I’d seen from Jamie in days. Gabe tried to stay stoic most of the time too, so this must really be getting to him. “I’m always putting him in danger.”
“It’s not your fault.” Why people seemed to be drawn to hurt Seiran I didn’t know, but it wasn’t right for Gabe to blame himself. “If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I suggested the trip.” The ice cream looked more like cream soup in my bowl. “But I’m not doing this storm thing. Just so you know.”
    “I didn’t think you were.”
“But it’s not normal. I feel the water, like it’s being tossed around carelessly. I’m just not strong enough to stop it.” That bugged me a lot, and I really needed someone in our little family to trust me.
“Sei and I talked about it before he went to bed. Air is at play, which probably means Roman again.” He sounded matter of fact. “But Roman shouldn’t have this kind of power. If he were to test, he’d be around Jamie’s level of power, not yours or Sei’s.”
“What if he has others helping him? Like other air witches.”
“Not the same. Now that Sei is my focus I understand his much better. Most witches draw the power into themselves and can only expend so much. For Sei, it’s like he’s standing in the middle of a lei line all the time or is a lightning rod that’s constantly pulling in storms. He has a never-ending supply of power. Most witches are selfish and can’t control the power they do have, so lending it to someone else would be unheard of. Sei, of course, can do it without a passing thought.”
I stared at him for a while, knowing why Sei had such a thing for the guy.
“What?”
“You’re kind of poetic.” And sappy.
He rolled his eyes at me.
“So you think Roman’s still alive.” There had been a massive explosion that had taken out a barn and likely its occupants, which had been Andrew Roman, Matthew Pierson, and maybe, Sam Mueller, all men who wanted to harm Sei at one time. Sam had been under vampire influence, but the other two were pure evil, in my opinion.
“The police found Roman’s badge at the house, but no sign of his remains.”
“And Sam survived.”
“Poor kid is still trying to figure himself out. Sei hasn’t heard anything in a few weeks, though.”
“At least Sei has you.” The wind howled, and the lodge creaked. I shivered. “It’s building again.”
“The storm?”
“Yeah.”
“You should go back to bed. Get some rest. Not sleeping will make it feel worse. I’ll keep trying to reach civilization. If anything, I can go out in the storm and walk somewhere. I won’t freeze to death, and I can bury myself in the snow in the daytime. We’ll be fine.”
I put my hands over my