by Zoe Chant
Only Candice seemed to be withholding judgement. She sat on a log a little distance from the rest of them, her expression impassively unreadable. She’d barely said a word since they’d left the first aid tent to rejoin the others back at the crew’s camp. Flash was curled up in her lap, sleeping with the limp abandonment of an exhausted child.
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.” Wystan looked around at the gathered squad: Rory, Edith, Joe, Callum, Blaise, and Buck. Fenrir was still back at the first aid tent, with Bethany watching over him. “Do you remember the hawk? The one that had been possessed by the snake-demon?”
“As if I could forget,” Joe said, wrinkling his nose. “I couldn’t get the stench of that thing out of my shirt. Ended up burning it.”
“When I examined the body, I found that it had strange mutations. Red eyes, and the beak was misshapen into fangs.” Wystan gestured at his own forehead. “And it had horns. Curved ones, somewhat like a goat’s, but sharper. Striations suggested that they’d grown very rapidly.”
Callum’s mouth thinned. “Seth.”
“Right,” Wystan agreed. “His body had horns too. Smaller than the hawk’s, but he wasn’t possessed by the demon as long.”
“Now I’m really glad we got that thing out of you as fast as we did,” Edith murmured to Rory. He nodded, his arm tightening around her.
“The creature that attacked Candice today had three horns,” Wystan continued. Picking up a stick, he made a rough sketch in the dry, hard-packed dirt. “Two curving back, just like the hawk’s did. And one straight forward, right from the center of its forehead. There’s only one creature that has a horn like that.”
“Well, if anyone can recognize a unicorn’s horn, it’s you,” Blaise conceded. “But why do you think it’s Flash’s mother? Surely she wouldn’t attack her own baby.”
“I don’t think she was trying to hurt Flash,” Wystan said, thinking back over the confrontation. “Just to get to her. She could have zapped all three of us with her death-bolt power, but she didn’t. Perhaps the fact that she couldn’t shoot Candice or myself without also endangering Flash stopped her.”
“You reckon she’s just trying to get her baby back?” Joe asked. “But then why would she have abandoned Flash in the first place?”
“Maybe Flash was the one who ran away,” Edith said. “Poor baby. Imagine having your mom suddenly turn into a monster. She must have been so scared.”
“Actually, she wasn’t.”
Candice’s voice was surprisingly strong, considering her ordeal. He was grateful she didn’t seem to have taken any damage from the smoke. He didn’t think he would have been able to live with the guilt of not being able to heal her.
“Flash wasn’t scared of the creature,” Candice continued. “She called out to it. I think she would have gone to meet it, if I hadn’t been holding her back.”
“That would make sense, if Wystan’s right,” Blaise said. “She’s too little to understand what’s happened. All she knows is that she wants her mom.”
“And her mother wants her too,” Wystan said grimly. “And is willing to kill to get to her. From the extent of the Nightmare’s transformation, the demon must have been possessing her for some time. I suspect she’s half-mad. She showed no sign of understanding that we were trying to help rather than hurt her baby. She’s not capable of looking after Flash while she’s possessed.”
“Right. She won’t have much control over her own actions.” Rory looked sickened by the thought of what could happen. “When I was possessed by a demon, it kept grabbing control of my body as if I was a puppet. We can’t possibly risk letting the Nightmare and Flash reunite, no matter how much they both want to.”
“This is all mighty interesting speculation.” Buck folded his arms. “But more importantly, how do we kill this motherloving…mother?”
“We can’t!” Edith exclaimed, her hands flurrying in agitation. “She can’t help being possessed. There must be a way to help her. Rory got free of his demon, after all.”
“Only with your help,” Rory said to her. “The demon couldn’t tolerate your presence in my soul, the love binding us together. We’d need the unicorn’s true mate.”
Buck looked as though he’d bitten into a lemon. “What is it with you people and true mates? Is that your answer to every problem?”
“Not mine,” Joe muttered.
Candice was looking perplexed. “What’s a true mate?”
Wystan’s stomach lurched. That was not a conversation he wanted to have right now.
“I’ll explain later,” he said hastily, before anyone else had a chance to speak. “In any case, I’m afraid I can’t see that working here. The unicorns aren’t shifters, after all. Most animals don’t have true mates. Given that there’s no sign of a father unicorn, it’s possible they aren’t even monogamous.”
“That’s a good point, actually,” Blaise said, frowning. “Where is Daddy? Flash here can’t have just split off from her mom like an amoeba.”
“No other unicorns around,” Callum said with great certainty. There was a weary slump to his usually ramrod-straight posture, betraying his exhaustion. The pegasus shifter had spent most of the day in the air. Not only had he searched the area that afternoon and then gone straight out after the Thunderbird with Rory, he’d flown another wide sweep straight after the attack, just to confirm that the creature wasn’t still lurking near the camp. “I’m certain of that.”
Blaise pursed her lips. “Yeah, but you didn’t sense the…what did Fenrir call it, Wys?”
“Night Mare,” Wystan supplied. “One of his more appropriate nicknames, I feel.”
“Certainly more understandable than ‘Icehorse’, at least.” Blaise shrugged. “Okay, let’s call it the Nightmare. In any event, you didn’t spot it earlier, Cal.”
Callum threw her a flat look. “You try listening for a whisper in a thunderstorm. I was distracted.”
“The Thunderbird distracted all of us.” Rory leaned his elbows on his knees, his rugged face serious. “So the question is, was it trying to draw us away, or trying to get through?”
“Who cares?” Buck growled. “That monster’s solution to everything is a great smoking hole in the ground.”
“I agree with the chief.” Blaise made a face. “Even if it was trying to hunt down the Nightmare, in this case the enemy of our enemy is very much not our friend. If we hadn’t forced it to turn back, we’d all be sitting in a wildfire right now.”
“You weren’t able to communicate with the Thunderbird at all?” Wystan asked Rory.
The griffin shifter shook his head. “I think it can hear our telepathy, but it doesn’t react. I’m not entirely convinced the Thunderbird can even understand that we’re trying to talk to it. It’s more like a force of nature than a sentient being.”
“Even when the Thunderbird was fighting us this evening, I somehow got the feeling that it wasn’t personal,” Joe put in. “We were just in its way.”
Blaise sniffed, looking unconvinced. “I take thunderbolts being hurled at my head pretty damn personally.”
Wystan steepled his fingers, frowning in thought. “I wish we could get through to it. Whatever the Thunderbird is, it’s clearly opposed to these demon-creatures. It seems to be able to sense them. If we could get it on our side-“
“It’s a motherfucking monster!” Buck exploded without warning. “Now you fucking want to make friends with it?”
Wystan stared at him, along with the rest of the squad. For all the chief’s creative language, Wystan had never heard him actually swear before.
Buck paused in the face of their mass astonishment. He cleared his throat, looking uncharacteristically self-conscious.
“That is, that motherlover has torched countless acres over the years,” he said, rather more calmly. “It’s killed people. I hired y’all to kill it, before it could destroy any more lives.” He glared around at them all, his face falling back into its usual fierce scowl. “I
f you aren’t going to do that, then you’re all fired.”
Edith went white, her whole body jerking violently. “No!”
“It’s all right, Edith. That’s not going to happen,” Rory said. His tone was reassuring, but his amber eyes betrayed his anger at Buck for scaring his mate. “Superintendent, there’s no need for threats. You know we won’t let the Thunderbird hurt anyone. We’ll do whatever we have to do.”
Buck spat to one side, standing up. “You’d better. And on that note, I’m breaking up this slumber party. No matter what other weird crap rains down on our heads, we’ve still got the mother of all wildfires breathing down our necks. Everyone needs to get some shut-eye or you’re all going to be as much use as day-old kittens out on the line tomorrow.”
“Superintendent.” Wystan scrambled to his own feet, blocking Buck’s path. “I know I promised that meeting my mate wouldn’t affect my performance on the crew, but now…” He spread his hands helplessly. “I can’t leave her unprotected. Or the baby. Not while the Nightmare is out there.”
Buck massaged his forehead. “Motherloving shifters and your motherloving mates. Fine. We’ll work something out. At the moment, I would promise you an all-expenses honeymoon on the actual moon if that’s what it took to get you out of the way so I can go to bed. I’m too old for this crap.”
Relieved, Wystan stepped aside. Buck stomped off in the direction of his tent, muttering imprecations under his breath all the way.
“Buck’s right,” Rory said as he helped Edith up. “The rest of you should get some sleep while you can. I’ll stand guard, just in case that thing comes back.”
Edith poked her mate in the side, giving him a stern look. “We talked about the overprotective thing, Rory.”
He kissed her forehead; a brief, tender gesture. “I know. But I really couldn’t sleep, not when I know there’s a threat in the area. Don’t worry, I know my limits. When I get too tired, I’ll call someone else to take over.”
“Me,” Wystan said, simultaneously with Blaise and Callum.
Joe smirked, standing up and stretching out his long arms to loosen stiff muscles. “Well, since you have no shortage of volunteers…a certain attractive squad boss will be wondering where I’ve got to. I’d hate to disappoint her.”
“Seriously?” Blaise said to him. “Now?”
Joe shrugged, cracking his knuckles. “That’s the thing about a reputation. Have to maintain it, or it starts to slip. In any case, I have a hunch that neither the Nightmare nor the Thunderbird will be dropping by again tonight.” He hesitated, casting a glance at Wystan and Candice. “We should all enjoy the peace while we can. Night, all.”
Joe sauntered off, whistling. Blaise shook her head.
“Unbelievable,” she muttered. “And that man is meant to be the next Emperor of the Sea, heaven help us all.” Her tone turned brisk. “Well, the rest of us will just have to pick up the slack, as usual. You want second watch or third, Wys?”
“Both,” he replied firmly. “I was cooling my heels in camp all afternoon while the rest of you were slaving away out on the line. I’m far fresher than any of you. That includes you, Rory. Just let me get Candice settled, and then I’ll take over. Medic’s orders,” he added, as both Rory and Blaise opened their mouths to argue. “I can sign you off as unfit for duty, remember. Don’t think I won’t.”
“I like it when you go all alpha,” Edith said in satisfaction. She tugged on Rory’s arm. “Come on, you. If you’re too wound up to sleep, I’m sure I can find some way to relax you…”
“Not listennnning!” Blaise called after Edith as she dragged Rory away. “At least try to help me pretend that my almost-brother is still a sweet, innocent little boy, okay?”
Callum pointedly looked from Blaise to Candice, and back again. He didn’t make any further comment.
“Oh, shut up.” Blaise rose, dusting off the seat of her pants. She hesitated, eying Candice herself. “Uh, if you want, you’re welcome to share my tent. I promise I don’t snore.”
One of Candice’s eyebrow quirked. “Worried I have designs on another almost-brother’s virtue?”
“Please don’t make me think about that,” Blaise said fervently. “As far as I’m concerned, all your future nights with Wystan will be spent playing Go Fish while fully clothed.”
At the moment, Wystan would have been quite happy for that to be the case. At least that would mean he had future nights with Candice.
“I’m afraid you do need to stay here tonight,” he said to his mate. “You and Flash. For the safety of both of you. And I very much appreciate the offer, Blaise, but you don’t need to share your tent. Candice can have mine.”
Blaise threw him a look he couldn’t quite decipher before turning back to Candice. “You okay with that? Offer still stands if not.”
Candice didn’t reply for a moment, twining her fingers into Flash’s silky mane. Then she gathered the sleeping baby unicorn into her arms, getting up. She didn’t look in his direction.
“I’ll stay with Wystan,” she said to Blaise. “Thanks, though.”
Callum had already silently faded away to his isolated tent, set on the very edge of the camp away from all the others. With a last backward glance, Blaise went off to her own. She crawled into the small pup tent, zipping the flap closed behind her.
“My one is over here,” Wystan said to Candice, gesturing across the clearing. “This way.”
He wanted to take her elbow to escort her, but after all he’d dropped on her tonight, he couldn’t imagine that she’d welcome his touch. She had a blank, withdrawn look that he knew only too well. Car crash victims looked like that, and refugees driven out by fire—people whose lives had changed in an instant, without warning, leaving them lost in uncharted territory.
Every instinct screamed to wrap his arms around her, to comfort his mate. He shoved his hands into his pockets, his fingernails digging into his palms.
Candice trailed a few steps behind as he led the way to his own tent. Like Cal, he preferred to maintain a bit of space between himself and the rest of the crew. Even though his unicorn wasn’t very sensitive to the presence of the unchaste—or at least, it hadn’t been—he still found groups of people draining. Much as he loved his squadmates, by the end of a long, grueling day on the line he always found himself longing for quiet solitude.
“I’m afraid it’s hardly palatial,” he said, crouching down to undo the tent flap. The small orange tents were just big enough for one person to lie down, or two if they were exceedingly good friends. “I could steal Joe’s bedroll for you if you want extra blankets. It doesn’t seem like he’ll be using it tonight.”
“No, it’s okay.” Candice shuffled in just far enough to deposit the sleeping Flash on the pillow. “This will do.”
Wystan hovered awkwardly as she arranged the bedding to make a comfortable nest for the unicorn. She never so much as glanced his way. He couldn’t see her face, but the stiff line of her back spoke loudly enough.
He drew in his breath, bracing himself. “You’re angry with me.”
“Damn straight I am.” Candice crawled out of the tent again, standing up. She folded her arms across her chest, facing him squarely. “I am furious. How dare you keep this a secret?”
He winced. “I was going to tell you. Truly. I was just…trying to find the right moment.”
He’d thought he’d seen the full range of Candice’s glares, but this one was fierce enough to melt steel. Even Buck would have been impressed. “The right moment was the second I opened the door and found you standing in front of my trailer!”
He’d been fully prepared to grovel to any degree necessary…but this was, he couldn’t help feeling, a little unfair. “You think that the first words I ever spoke to you should have been ‘Hello, I’m a unicorn?’”
Candice actually stamped one foot. The fine flyaway wisps of her hair trembled with the force of her rage. “No, you irresponsible idiot! Of course you would hardly blurt out your sec
ret to someone you’d just met. I wouldn’t expect you to have ever told me that you were a unicorn. But you should have told me that she was a unicorn!”
He blinked at her, wrong-footed. “I’m sorry?”
“Yes you damn well should be,” Candice said, evidently mistaking incomprehension for an apology. “I was treating her as if she was an ordinary deer! What if, if unicorns had turned out to be allergic to bran? Or need an entirely different dosage for painkillers? I could have killed her!”
Oh. His breath caught. Oh. Just when I thought I couldn’t love her any more than I already did.
“You,” he managed to get out, through the emotion choking his throat, “are utterly magnificent.”
Now Candice was the one to be caught off-guard. She paused mid-rant, her anger transmuting to bafflement. “What?”
“A creature out of a nightmare attacked you tonight. Your campsite burned down. I dragged you into a whole hidden world you never suspected existed, one filled with danger and terror, and yet…” He gazed at her, humbled and awestruck. “Still your first thought is for the creatures under your care.”
“Well, yeah,” Candice said, as though this was nothing out of the ordinary. “Of course. Why are you looking at me like I walk on water? You’re the magic one here.”
“I’m really not.” He shook his head, getting a grip on himself again. “In any event, you’re completely correct. I should have told you what Flash really is, the moment I gave her to you. I put you both at risk by not telling you the truth. I’m sorry.”
Candice’s body language relaxed a fraction. “Okay. Just don’t let it happen again.”
“Er.” He eyed her cautiously. “Is this a bad moment to tell you that Fenrir is actually a hellhound?”
Candice scrunched her eyes shut for a moment in a pained expression. “Is anyone around here what they actually appear to be?”
“Most of the crew, actually,” he offered. “It’s only A-squad that are shifters. Everyone else is human, I promise.”