by Caris Roane
The problem of managing even these few belongings struck him. “But how did you get this stuff in here, the shelf, the clothes, the fur blanket?” He picked up his briefs, sliding into them, then into his snug battle leathers. His boots came next, pulling them up to mid-thigh.
She stood up and tossed the washcloth into a small basket by the shelf.
“You even have a laundry hamper.” The whole thing struck him as highly resourceful, one more sign that she’d been on her own for most of her life. She was a woman who knew how to make the best of a situation.
She chuckled and without showing too much embarrassment, slipped into her thong. He avoided watching that part of the show as well because, damn it, he loved the way she looked no matter what she was doing. He would have been attracted to her, blood rose or not. She was a beautiful woman and had a sense of humor that countered his own irascibility. “So, I’ll ask again, how did you get this stuff here?”
As she slid into her pants, she asked, “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“The thing is, I have a feeling you won’t like it.”
“Tell me anyway.” He picked up his dark shirt and pulled it on over his head, tucking the tails into his leathers.
“Well, it was a simple choice really, since I don’t have the power in my fae form to fly. Once I made my purchases, I’d shift to my wraith-form and fly everything in, hidden behind my enthrallment shield of course. It took a few trips. I’m not very strong as a wraith.”
Her wraith form.
He shrugged into his sleeveless leather battle coat.
Sweet Goddess, he’d almost forgotten and he quickly created another box in which he crammed ‘Lorelei’s flying wraith-form’.
He seemed to set that part of her reality aside most of the time, that she was part wraith and had the potential to bind him to her and to form a dangerous Invictus wraith-pair. Then he remembered what Gerrod had once told him that her blood-rose status would cancel out that kind of pairing. Because she was a blood rose, despite the fact that she was a wraith, she could never bind him into an Invictus wraith-pair.
The realm-folk who ended up bound to wraiths, usually through kidnapping, lost their identity in the process and essentially became slaves to the Invictus imperative of killing other realm-folk and serving the whims of Margetta. The ancient fae, as she was known, had created the process a long time ago with the help of her scientific husband, Gustav.
“And you’re sure no one saw you in your wraith-form?” If she’d ever been seen, she would have been hunted down. Though there were innocent wraiths around, no one trusted them.
“I used the layered enthrallment that Rosamunde taught me just to be sure.” She looked away from him, her eyes pinched, a familiar look for her. “You don’t know how much my wraith-form frightens me.”
“Do you fear becoming Invictus?”
She met his gaze. “More than anything in the world. But I think I’d kill myself first before I ever let that happen.”
He nodded. They’d just made love and now they spoke of the horrors of their world and Lorelei’s deepest fears. He couldn’t remember ever experiencing this level of sharing with another realm-woman, except of course with Kristen, who had led him deep into betrayal.
He felt uneasy as he turned toward the entrance to the den. A scattering of snow lined the opening. His coat had probably dragged it in when he’d eased through in his levitated state.
But it was time to go and he started to shift to levitated flight, when her hand caught the inside of his elbow. “Hey,” she said softly.
Once more, he turned toward her. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you for this.” She gestured with a dip of her head toward the furs. “It was amazing.”
“Yes, it was.” Possibly even extraordinary, but he couldn’t tell her that. He already felt way too much.
He’d known her such a short time, yet it seemed longer, months, even years, longer.
Remembering that she’d fed him from her vein as well, he added, “Thank you for sharing your life-force with me.”
She once more put a hand between her breasts, her brows rising. “And thank you. Honestly, Seth, I swear I feel better than ever because you’ve fed from me.”
One more reminder that she was his blood rose.
At that, he turned toward her fully and pulled her into his arms. “I don’t know what this time together is supposed to be, or mean, or how it will end, but this I will say, thank you so much for alleviating centuries of chronic blood -starvation.”
She nodded several times, but looked serious all over again. “Seth, I’m worried.”
“In what way.” He rubbed her arms, wanting to comfort her.
“This is all happening so fast, this thing between us. It scares me. Does it bother you?”
“Yes.” Understatement. “I’m afraid you’ll get hurt. I’m not exactly boyfriend material.”
“And I have a little baggage of my own.” She huffed a sigh, but her lips curved. “Ah, well, if all we get out of this is some great sex, that’s still a lot of pluses if you add them up, give or take a few deadly encounters with my mother and her army.”
He chuckled again, marveling once more how easily she could make him laugh, then pulled her tight against his chest once more. “I’ll try not to hurt you.”
“And I’ll try not to expect the impossible.”
With that, there was nothing more to be said.
Chapter Seven
Lorelei held onto Seth’s neck, nuzzling his throat. He flew her through the dense forest in what amounted to a series of almost acrobatic moves as he squeezed through thickets of branches and jumbles of snow covered deadfall.
She was happy, that was what she knew as he carried her in the direction of his house once more.
As the chill air swept over her, she held him close, her free arm slung around his opposite shoulder. She sniffed his scent, which smelled of the forest he loved. How well he seemed suited to her because his shifter community dominated the Shauck Mountains where he lived.
She felt at home for perhaps the first time in her life, at least from the time she’d left Genevieve behind.
She knew she rode the perilous cliffs of unrequited love. Her heart, maybe she could even say her blood rose heart, had been given from the moment she’d first seen Seth, even though she knew his preference for going it alone.
She’d never been this close to a man and yes she understood the dangers of engaging sexually, that women bonded so damn easily with men because of it, but right now she didn’t care.
This was Seth, and though she could sense his uneasiness because of his past, she knew him. She understood his most basic nature, even if he didn’t yet know himself. He’d served the Nine Realms as mastyr longer than any of the others and had essentially set aside his personal happiness to make sure that his fellow realm-folk thrived in their land.
As each mastyr did, he watched over a million souls. A million lives all intent on the same thing, on earning a decent living and raising a happy family, staying alive and, in her world, avoiding the deadly Invictus pairs.
The ambitions of the average family didn’t extend much beyond that, except perhaps to limited community and religious involvement. Even the Vampire Guard had many married warriors in its ranks and the Shifter Brigade was all about pairing up and making wolf pups.
Maybe the latter was the reason that she hugged him now, because she was part shifter. Or maybe it was simpler, and he was just a gorgeous man and she got to be with him for this stretch of time.
She’d never lived longer than two years in any one place, moving from city-to-city, realm-to-realm. In most places, her mother had found her within the first twelve months. Margetta had hunted for her relentlessly, yet somehow, Lorelei had always been able to stay just a little bit ahead of her.
Now she was here in Walvashorr, holding Seth as he flew her back to his home, safe behind layers of enthrallment that woul
d keep Margetta at bay forever.
When they arrived, she dropped to her feet just outside the door and walked in. She was always surprised at how much Seth’s home smelled like him, which made her smile all over again.
“You’re smiling. Why?”
She shook her head and a strong warmth crept up her cheeks. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“What?” He caught her arm and turned her to face him. “I want to know. You smile a lot.”
“Seth, I’m happy here and when we walked in, well, you don’t know how much your home carries your scent. It’s almost like being in your arms.”
* * * * * * * * *
Seth stared at her for a long moment, caught once more by the warm light in her eye. That’s what he loved the best, that she was such a caring, selfless person. Despite her rough life, she’d somehow kept herself pure of entangled bitterness and hatred. She never even spoke of her mother in harsh, angry terms, only with a hope that she would never be like her.
He loved that about her, that something innocent had survived her childhood, another testament to the work of the troll, Genevieve.
He leaned close. He wanted his lips on hers again, despite an equal desire to keep his distance, that dichotomy again, his rational, boxed up mind and his passionate need to be with this woman.
But at that moment, a loud banging sounded on his front door.
He levitated past Lorelei, ordering her to remain hidden until he knew what was going on. His home had a wall of windows overlooking the gorge so he could easily see that all four alphas ranged his deck. Two looked down into the gorge. One paced, while Ephyx stood behind the front, glass door itself.
Ephyx scowled as he waited, the unacknowledged leader of the Shifter Brigade, the one Seth would put in charge in a heartbeat if it wouldn’t infuriate the others. In true ironic form, Ephyx proved his leadership repeatedly, not by bellowing but rather by deferring to Cohoet in any situation that didn’t involve multiple pack engagement. Cohoet might think himself top dog, but his self-awareness had always been blocked by his ego.
Ephyx was Seth’s go-to.
Of all four shifters, Valgus had the greatest eye to his own pack and held the reins more tightly than even Seth thought necessary. On the other hand, nothing could go volatile more quickly than one of the packs.
Alophi, more than the others, resented interference of any kind with his warriors, but was much less strict than Valgus with the overall running of pack community life.
Opening the door, he let them in, standing aside as each moved into his living room. He rarely had Guardsmen of any kind in his home, vampire or shifter, because of his preference for solitude, but he’d made the space large enough to accommodate the occasional visit.
Even so, four bulked up shifters took up a lot of room.
“What’s going on?” He glanced from one to the other.
Ephyx scowled all over again and a slight show of fur appeared at his jaw line, then disappeared, a sign of distress. “We each have sensitives in our ranks that can catch battle vibrations from hundreds of miles away. Something’s going on, Regis Seth, and we thought we should bring this to you.” The use of the recently acquired title surprised Seth, except that of all the species, shifters honored rank and pack order obsessively.
“You mean, all of you heard from your sensitives?”
The men nodded.
The mastyr part of him, the vibration that looked to Walvashorr interests, pulsed within him. He could feel it now as well, that something was on the wind.
He was about to call Lorelei to the living room, when the shifters almost as one turned in the direction of the doorway so he knew she’d already determined she was needed.
What happened next, however, stunned him, as each man sniffed the air then drifted to a position that placed Seth between Lorelei and the rest of them. The air became charged with a vibration that felt like respect, or maybe deference.
Lorelei’s voice was in his head. They smell that you’ve marked me.
He stared at her for a long moment.
He’d marked her. That’s what he’d done when he’d bit the back of her neck hard, then pierced her vein, all while making love to her. But hearing her say it within his mind, made it real and at the same time extraordinary.
He had mixed feelings, though. As private as he was, he didn’t like the idea of the shifters knowing he’d just had sex with Lorelei. He didn’t want her viewed in a light that might make her the brunt of typical male jokes. At the same time, knowing the shifter community as he did, marking was a critical factor in keeping unwanted male attention away from a woman, especially when a man had made his choice.
His chest puffed out a little as he moved toward her.
She met his gaze with that familiar expression of appreciation for him that he’d come to recognize. As she glanced at the shifters, she pathed, What a fine array of maleness.
He knew her by now and he glared playfully in return. You’re going to start with me? Here? In this room?
Anytime, Mastyr.
She got to him, to his sense of humor, his heart, and his groin all at the same time. Who was this woman who didn’t see him as an unconquerable mountain like most women did, but as her equal? And maybe she was his equal because he felt the latent power of her. She had abilities beyond what even he could comprehend, no doubt the same reason that had caused Margetta to target Walvashorr right now.
A new vibration took hold of Lorelei, but one that had nothing to do with sex or her role as prime female. Instead, he felt the dominant fae part of her spark to life as her eyes widened.
She gripped his arm. “This hasn’t happened before. Seth, I think I’m having a fae vision and it’s because of your alphas.”
He slid his arm around her waist. “I’ve got you.”
A trance slid over her and the shifters tensed up, almost as much as Seth did. Lorelei didn’t blink for the longest time, but she trembled, then essentially passed out.
He caught her in his arms, scowling down at her. So much had happened over the past few hours that his head spun. What the hell was going on in his life and in his realm?
She finally gasped a long, deep breath and her eyes fluttered open. “Put me on my feet and get a map of the Shauck Mountains now.”
She’d all but fainted, yet when she came to, her first words constituted a command. But it was there again, her latent power vibrating in the background and he intended to do as she wished.
He eased her onto her feet, steadying her. “There’s one in my library ready to go. I always keep it out.”
Waving everyone to the south section of his home, he took Lorelei’s hand.
His home had two rooms at the south end, one of them his bedroom. The other was his library with a plate glass window that overlooked the eastern portion of the gorge and the opposing tree-lined ridge.
A large table in front of the book-lined, south wall held a map of Walvashorr. Four pewter wolves, a gift from his housekeeper, kept the map pinned in place. He drew Lorelei to the other side, and once more supported her with an arm around her waist. The alphas took up places on the opposite side of the table well away from her.
As soon as Lorelei stretched out a hand to the map, which put her too close to the alphas, he growled softly.
The shifters met his gaze first with a challenge in each eye, then with quick deference they backed up almost as one.
Lorelei met Seth’s gaze as she pathed, Really?
Yet again torn, he wanted to impress her with how she needed to keep away from other men. At the same time, he loved that she’d lightened the mood.
He went with the latter. I’ll try to control myself.
Good, because I’ve got some serious shit to discuss. She then spoke aloud and launched into a very visual description of an imminent attack.
He hadn’t seen her like this before, bent over the map sweeping her index finger down several different gorges, none of them far from Big Timber. She talked abo
ut two hundred extremely powerful wraith-pairs, in the air and coming for the Shifter Brigade.
“Are any of the Vampire Guard in the air?” Seth felt nerved up now. As battle-worthy as the Shifter Brigade was, they could only make speed as wolves, shift, then engage on the ground in the upright male form. They weren’t nearly as effective as his Vampire Guard against the Invictus, despite their powerful and extremely exact skills with daggers and bows-and-arrows.
She lifted her gaze to his. “Not a one.” She fell silent for a moment. “This will be a blood bath unless we do something.”
The four alphas paced and cursed.
When Seth started to lift a hand to stop them for her sake, she caught his arm and gave a squeeze, her voice suddenly in his head again. It’s okay. Let them walk it off.
He turned toward her, staring into her eyes. She was such an unusual woman that she didn’t seem to mind four men cursing up a shit-storm. But then she was part shifter.
You always surprise me.
I do? Her arched brows rose.
He nodded. Yeah, you do. He caught the underside of her arm and squeezed gently.
When the alphas had burnt themselves out on their damn-all-the-elf-lords-to-hell-and-back, each returned to the map, settling in on the area closest to the Big Timber conference grounds. Of all the species in his realm, the shifter community knew every crevice, gully, and feeder stream of the Shauck Mountains almost as thoroughly as he did.
He scanned the map as well, trying to understand just why Margetta would send a force into such a rocky, gorge riddled terrain. He drew closer to the four-by-six topographical map, spreading his fingers to encompass the four major gorges over which the attack would take place. He frowned then glanced at Lorelei. “And you’re sure you saw the battles here?”