by Scott, Helen
Arthur merely hummed as he stroked a hand over the fender of the SUV. Taking that to mean yes, I barely held it in as he said, “I saw cars before, but nothing like this.” He pursed his lips. “Porsche?”
Darius blinked. “Yes.”
“Can always tell good, solid German engineering. Even after I’ve been asleep for a lifetime.” Another hum. “Can I have the keys?”
Barclay frowned and strode forward to get the Sire’s attention. “No. You can’t drive.”
“Of course I can,” Arthur retorted with a scowl.
“The SUV doesn’t matter,” Barclay commented, as he wafted an arm at our downed mate. “Whatever the hell you did to her, take it back.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes and stepped into Barclay’s space. He wasn’t scowling though, was just peering. “Shifter. Wolf.” Another hum. “Unusual, unusual.”
“What is?” Raven demanded, then in a snarky tone, added, “Wolves are the least unusual shifters out there.”
Barclay flipped him the bird, but Arthur merely murmured, “Exactly. Common, very common, and yet, here you are, attached to the Descendant.”
The title didn’t perturb me. After everything the Cavalry had been telling us—whether most of it was BS or not, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them—followed by our weird as fuck conversations with two Mothers, we’d managed to figure out that Marcella was important. We just didn’t know why.
“She is from your bloodline?” Darius enunciated carefully, his shoulders as ramrod straight as ever, and his posture as perfect as the Roman Legionnaire he’d once been. But the frown on his face? It belied a thousand years plus of control.
He was scared.
Holy fuck, Darius was scared, and that scared the shit out of me.
Darius was one of those creepy motherfuckers who wasn’t afraid of anything. In the Academy, we’d had to learn all about the council, not just what it did and where its reach extended—which was everywhere—but the councilors themselves.
We lived so long, pursangs especially, that the councilors rarely died. We’d had the same council for the past three hundred years and undoubtedly would have the same set of bastards governing us for another three centuries.
Learning who they were, what they did, and their powers? It was like a human learning the name of all the Presidents. It was standard.
That meant I knew what he was capable of, what he had done in his past and knew that as he aged, he’d get worse. Though our bodies didn’t fall decrepit, that didn’t mean our minds didn’t. The older we were, the harder we fell, and a decent being at the start of his life could, after a millennium, turn cruel beyond belief.
Marcella saved him. That I knew. She would keep him on the straight and narrow, but if she was hurt? The Maker save anyone who dared harm our woman.
There was no real point in fearing her death. If she died, we did too. And that made dying pretty anticlimactic. Fearing the loss of a future with her made my stomach clench, but at the moment I wasn’t scared of that, just over whatever it was that had Darius shitting bullets.
“No,” Arthur replied, his tone disinterested. But I wasn’t. I studied Darius and saw his relief, only for that relief to disappear as the Sire stated, “She is of the Lady.”
Darius’s mouth trembled before he firmed his lips into a stark line. “She is of the Lady?”
Arthur scowled. “Is there an echo here? Yes, she is of the Lady.”
“Who the fuck is the Lady?” Cade spat, his hands on his hips as he stared down at one of the most powerful creatures in the universe as though the dude was a really shitty customer service rep.
The man seriously had no brains sometimes.
“The Lady of the Lake,” Arthur explained, but I could see from the flicker in his eye that he wasn’t happy about being spoken to that way.
“The person who trapped Merlin?” Barclay asked quietly, his hands balling into fists as he accepted the ramifications of that.
“Indeed,” Arthur murmured. “She is important.”
“Why?” Barc rasped.
Arthur tilted his head back and stared up at the sky. “There is more radiation than before.”
The out of the blue comment had us all frowning. But considering the guy had been sleeping for a few decades, I figured he wasn’t exactly in the loop. “Global warming.”
A hum. “Yes.” He dropped to his knees and pressed his hands to the soil. “Elayne won’t be happy.” His lips curved down in a frown. “Saying that, neither am I. What is this global warming?”
“Do we really have time for a science lesson?” Cade barked. “Sire, please, this is our mate. Explain what’s going on. When will she wake up?”
I never heard Cade reason with anyone. He was Thor’s hammer, not someone who batted words around to gain what he wanted through diplomacy. But I knew my brother. Knew he would have picked up on Darius’s unease as well, and that he’d seen the Enforcer’s fear for our woman.
It didn’t bode well.
“Merlin is our Maker. For a time, he was good. Then, he wasn’t.” Arthur cut Marcella a look. “Her great—” He wafted a hand. “Multiply that by forty—grandmother stopped him with a fluke of magic. That she is born, that she has such diverse mates, tells me Merlin has finally discerned how to break that fluke and to free himself from his prison. She is the one who shall stop him.”
For a second, we were all silent, just processing the crap he was saying. Then, we started flickering glances, sharing looks, and shaking our heads. We could talk, be it out loud or mentally, but neither of us had any words that we could say.
Barclay was the first to speak up. That didn’t surprise me. With his dumbass comments, it was easy to forget that he had a sharp brain, but despite his flaws, he was brave. To a fault. “We have met with two of your sisters, Sire. One of them, in particular, could hardly be considered good.”
“Morgana?” Arthur winced. “Father should have had a firmer hand with her.”
“Merlin?” Raven questioned.
“No. He was the father who gave me life, but not the one who reared me. My father was Uther Pendragon.” He rubbed his chin. “What did Morgana do now?”
It was uncomfortably like a father asking what his teenage child had done over Halloween weekend. How many houses has Morgana TPed now? How many people did she egg?
Wincing, I replied, “She had Marcella kill all of us to make a statement. That included slaughtering several men who have worked for you for as long as you have lived.”
“My Knights of the Round Table?”
“Yes.”
“Sir Rhys is used to being toyed with by us.” He shrugged. “This slaughtering… it was a statement?”
I dipped my chin, but anxiety and anger rumbled together, putting me on edge. Rhys and his brothers had served the Sires since the beginning, and Arthur’s lack of respect didn’t bode well for us. Anyone who could shrug off the suffering of loyal followers wasn’t someone I liked. Still, I stated, “I believe she fears Marcella doesn’t have as firm a hand on us as she ought to.”
Arthur blinked then snorted. “Witch.” He shook his head. “Regardless, Morgana is a wild card. Always was.”
“That doesn’t make me want to be on her side,” Barclay reasoned. “She’s battier than a baseball bat. I don’t want to be on the crazy team.” Not for the first time since we became brothers, I agreed wholeheartedly with the shifter.
Arthur shrugged. “For all her ills, she is a kinder evil than Merlin.”
Barclay flinched. “Maker.”
“Exactly.” Arthur shot him a look, then he stared at Marcella. “She is well. She will awaken soon. If you have met with Morgana and Elayne, then my reading of her was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“What do you mean?”
“You need explanations for everything,” Arthur grumbled. “The last crusaders didn’t talk so much.”
Crusaders?
What the hell were we
dealing with?
He huffed again, then replied, “Just as I did, I had to read Marcella to discern her truth. My sisters will have done the same thing. It is rare for a Descendant to come across one Sire, never mind three in such a short span of time. Our otherness has affected her. She will waken, but she might be changed. If this is the case, it is no ill. It will be good for her in the days ahead.
“If Merlin truly is Awakening, then we will need every weapon on our side.”
* * *
Barclay
The world was starting to feel a little like a broken record. Merlin this and the Sires that. Death, destruction, and recovery were on repeat in my head more so than ever before. Sometimes, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were going to make it through the next week without someone else trying to ruin our small family.
The fates must have been having a good laugh at our expense. I have been told my whole life that wolf shifters were a dime a dozen and that I’d be lucky to ever get a Sixth, and now not only did I have the most kickass Sixth ever, but she loved me and, miraculously, wasn’t ashamed of me. The only problem was all the other shit that came with it. Hell, I was even okay with Darius joining us, stuffy bastard that he was, if it fulfilled Marcella.
“I need to see to my sisters and determine how close Merlin is to Awakening,” Arthur stated, his attention elsewhere now he’d revealed all he intended to reveal, before disappearing like some kind of fucking magician without the smoke and sexy assistant for misdirection.
It was a testament to how many Sires we’d been around that we didn’t flinch at his sudden disappearance. We were getting used to this flashing in and out shit.
Sort of.
“Let’s get out of here,” I grumbled, as, after glancing over my brothers, I climbed into the SUV.
Darius hauled his ass in next to me, which was a surprise, but I was happy that I got to keep an eye on Marcella. Her ruby hair and alabaster skin were as tempting as ice-cold lemonade in the summer. Even now, as her body was dealing with Arthur’s invasion of her mind and his scanning, whatever the fuck that was, she drew me to her, not just her looks but her scent, her energy. Everything about her was irresistible to me, and to my wolf, who hummed in agreement.
Thinking of my wolf reminded me how long it had been since I’d been for a run. Sure, that bitch of a Sire had held me bound in my wolf form not too long ago, but that wasn’t a run, that was stressful. I never wanted to experience something like it again. Being a wolf while my mate and two of my brothers were hurting was torture. I’d tried the best I could, but there was only so much a guy could do when he was limited to growls and paws. I needed a chance for my wolf and I to come to a balance once more, one where no other being was interfering.
Marcella chose that moment to stir. A groan escaped her lips as she turned more fully toward Darius. “My head is killing me,” she muttered.
“Well, you did have a Sire talking to you telepathically for a bit there, so I’m sure it’s just residual from that.” The pursang stroked her hair with the hand of the arm that was cradling her back. It looked awkward AF but she seemed to enjoy it because she relaxed into sleep a moment later. A gentle snore started up, caused by the way her head was tilted, and hushed chuckles sounded throughout the car. It almost made me feel bad for Cade and Raven since they were missing out while they handled transporting Sylvester. Almost, but not quite.
It was a few hours later when we arrived at our newest lodgings—so new that I wasn’t even sure who it belonged to. It clearly wasn’t Darius’s since it didn’t have the Maximus insignia all over the place, but it wasn’t the Cavalry’s either.
“Where are we this time?” Cade asked with a long sigh as he jumped out of his SUV, cranking his neck as he scowled at the cabin.
“Remember Emrys, from the Academy? The other druid? I texted him before we left Westbrook, and he said we could stay here. This is his place,” Gideon said, as though nothing in that sentence was ridiculous. Which it was.
Crazy ridiculous.
“You’re friends with one of the guys who tried to kill you multiple times?” Keiran asked, sounding bemused.
“It was just the nature of Eastbrook.” Gid shrugged, not seeming to understand our confusion—damn druids were always so quick to forgive and forget. “Anyway, this is his place. I figured we might need somewhere to stay that was somewhat close to Westbrook, so he’s letting us borrow his grounds. It’ll be good for me to reconnect with nature, and if you want to go for a run, Barc, then the forest is large.”
My brother’s words were music to my ears. I needed to run, and I hoped that I could reconnect with my wolf in a way that was healthy and balanced by doing so. My eyes flicked to Marcella, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d want to come with me.
As we all grabbed our shit from the SUVs—Sylvester included—Darius gently woke our mate, and we traipsed into the house. It wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for a brotherhood, so I assumed it was one of Emrys and his brotherhood’s base too. It had more of a farmhouse feel to it, which I liked because it wasn’t as stuffy as Darius’s homes. The decor spoke more of things that were used than displayed, and I wasn’t scared of breaking something insanely valuable.
I went and looked out the back window of the living area, and found a forest, as promised, waiting for me. My wolf started anxiously pacing inside me, wanting the run as much as I did. I needed to make sure that everyone was okay here first though. I did a quick tour of the house, checking everything out for any unusual scents or sounds, and found nothing suspicious. When I was coming back down the hallway with the bedrooms, I found Marcella walking toward me.
Her skin was blanched, her eyes were shadowed and the lids heavy, but she was awake and on her own two feet. I’d take that as a win.
“How are you feeling?” I asked softly, in case her head was still aching, and reaching out, I brushed a lock of hair away from her face.
“Good, the nap helped. Although I can’t believe I was snoring! Why didn’t someone wake me up?” Marcella laughed as she spoke.
“Because it was adorable, and we were all just happy that you were getting some rest,” I said seriously, wondering who’d been teasing her when our resident jokers—Cade and Raven—had been in the other vehicle. I’d have asked if something else wasn’t on my mind though, and before she could say a word, I added, “I’m going to go for a run, want to join me?”
“I don’t even know where my clothes are—”
“I meant as my wolf. You can shift as well, if you connect with me. I know it’s been a while, though.”
Her eyes glittered with excitement, and my heart soared in response. “In that case, I’d love to.” She smiled at me, and it was like I was standing in a sunbeam on a chilly day. The warmth radiated through me to the point that I scooped her up in a quick hug, just so I could share it with her.
“Come on, before the others get jealous,” she urged with a giggle, and that slight sound made my heart soar. I knew I loved her, but when I had a physiological response to one of her tiny gestures? It was a reminder of how hard I’d fallen.
The two of us jogged out of the back door and stripped on the patio. As much as I tried to be a gentleman and pretend I was completely fine with being naked next to Marcella, I couldn’t. My eyes were drawn to her form like electromagnets and nothing would have been able to pull me away, except for a life or death situation. Before I could let the physical draw of my mate become too much, my wolf, sensing his run was about to be postponed in favor of fucking, took over.
As soon as I shifted, Marcella did as well. I felt the draw on my power more like a caress than anything else. My wolf yipped, and I felt the joy in his heart, just as it was in my own when I took off into the woods with my mate trailing ever so slightly behind me. When we cleared the first tree line, she put on a burst of speed and left me in the dust. I raced after her at my top speed, which I knew was nowhere close to hers—after all, she was running on pursang blood.
We headed back into the forest, leapfrogging each other in terms of speed. Marcella was faster, but she was still unused to this form, so I had agility on my side as I wove between the trees. While we wound our way through the forest, I heard the sound of water and headed toward it. A stream led through the trees and down to a small lake.
For a moment, I thought I was going to be the one that won our little chasing contest, but at the last second, she put on a final burst of speed and made it to the water’s edge before I did.
My wolf nuzzled hers, and the two played for a while, splashing and rolling in the mud by the streambed. Once they both seemed satisfied or had worn each other out, my wolf stood and went to drink from the pond.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Gideon’s voice called.
My wolf froze and snarled over its shoulder, unhappy at having our private time with Marcella interrupted. Her wolf, on the other hand, bolted over to the druid and thrust her head under his hand. His fingers tangled in her fur and she was panting happily and wagging her tail. Wolves didn’t wag. We were fierce creatures of the forest. However, if it had been my wolf and Marcella, I was pretty sure I’d have been doing the same thing.
I shifted back to my human form, feeling more at peace with my wolf than I had in a long time, and the beast’s irritation at sharing her faded the second I was back in my other form. I wasn’t, and could never be, jealous of my brothers. “Why not?” I asked, gesturing to the water. Marcella and I had been more interested in the mud than the lake—the state of her fur and my body told their own tale.
“It’s spelled to keep some of the locals from fishing in it. They’d been sneaking onto Emrys’s land and taking advantage of the friendlier wildlife.” Gid’s lip curled in disgust. If there was one thing my fiercest brother hated, it was when people were cruel or took advantage of animals.