Col: His Destined Mate

by Georgette St. Clair

  “Hey, Jordy, back again so soon?”

  Chapter Seven

  Lily set down the receiver of the phone in the HR Office that Rika’s assistant had let her use. She wanted to cry.

  She had just received the estimate from the mechanic at the repair shop where Gabe brought her car. It was worse than Gabe had said. Six thousand dollars. Six. Thousand. Dollars.

  She had made the voice on the other end of the phone repeat it. Several times.

  Something about a cracked engine block, and a host of other terms that her mind couldn’t process, overwhelmed with the number she had been quoted.

  And if she were to buy another piece of junk? The only one they had available immediately was “only” thirty-six hundred, and already had an interested buyer so it would probably be gone in the next day or two. The next one up was forty two hundred. She didn’t even have the money for them to hold the car for her.

  She was well and truly effed.

  She walked towards the Childcare Center, her head buzzing with options, and quickly realizing that they actually weren’t viable. The mechanics wouldn’t start work without a deposit. The deposit was already several times more than what she had in her wallet. Using her credit cards were out of the question—she might as well fire up a flare gun where Rey would see it. Quick calculations told her that she would have to take every available shift for three weeks straight, just to scrape enough for the cash deposit that they insisted on before ordering parts.

  It is what it is, she reminded herself. No use shedding tears over it. She made sure her eyes were dry by the time she entered the Staff Childcare Center, ready to start her second shift of the day, which would flow seamlessly into the third. At least it was a job she loved, and she even enjoyed the medieval clothing that she got to wear. Today’s outfit was a soft, mulberry linen overdress with a square neckline. It fluttered over a thin, loose-weave white chemise. The entire ensemble was comfortable, even with the exertions of dealing with young, energetic kids, yet still flattering. She drew the line at wearing the medieval-inspired shoes, wearing her own running shoes that barely peeked out from under the skirt’s volume.

  A brief memory of Mr. Hot and Hunky with the auburn brush cut fluttered through her mind, and she mused whether he would like her outfit. She shook the errant train of thought away immediately, willing her common sense to return. He’d probably had already forgotten her, and she shouldn’t care about whether she looked nice in it, only that it helped camouflage her. Right?

  Before she could beat herself up some more, Brady and Clover swarmed around her, eager to tell her what had transpired in the last ten minutes that she had been gone. She looked at their shining, bright faces and decided to focus on the good fortune part of her situation. Even TraceyAnn was complimentary towards her, which Lily sensed was rare when it came to other women. TraceyAnn was more than happy that Lily could harness the twins’ considerable rambunctiousness into something akin to a well-run childcare center. Which TraceyAnn prided herself in managing, of course.

  Lily was gratified to see, when she had met their mother earlier, that Rosa was every bit as patient and attentive as she could be with them. She had looked at Lily with gratitude.

  “They’ve really taken to you. They couldn’t stop chatting about you this morning when they first woke up.”

  Rosa smiled at Lily, her pretty features the grown up version of five year old Clover’s. She was wearing the kitchen uniform that was required of all Staff Caff workers, as she would be all day long. Like Lily, she was picking up every shift available. Rosa didn’t go into details, but Lily could tell she was doing everything she could for her kids. It was only possible because of the Staff Childcare Center, and the Faire owner who had implemented it.

  In another life, Lily could see Rosa becoming a close friend. She already adored the twins. It was too bad that she was just passing through.

  As soon as she made the money to leave.

  Col let out a low, rumbling growl of frustration. He’d finally found the abandoned cave where he’d been abducted – but there was no scent of the two men who’d been there. Had his senses abandoned him completely?

  The other four Bredhren, like him, had shifted and walked around, sniffing the air, before they shifted back to human form and confirmed that there was no scent of the two —in fact, it was noticeably absent, impossibly absent, as if someone had used the magickal equivalent of bleach to scrub the site clean.

  That cinched it. This was the right spot, the right slab in the center where Col had been restrained, the right rock walls that had the dancing shadow show created by candlelight.

  But the candles were gone, there were no ropes, no sacrificial dagger…someone had done a thorough cleanup job.

  Nevertheless, Miller carefully recorded the coordinates, and took photos with his phone to bring back to Simon. Tybalt ordered Aylwyn to shift, and see if there was anything he could pick up in that form.

  The large silver-grey wolf appeared, and ran about the cavern floor in a methodical fashion, sniffing vainly before returning to the front of the Vixar. He yelped, and faced the entrance, his muscles straining with the urge to propel his powerful body towards it.

  “Go, Aylwyn. Barric, shift to maintain a telepathic lock.” Tybalt’s orders were followed, as the silver-grey wolf shot out of the mineshaft, and a wave of energy pulsed outwards from where a large wolf with brown and white markings now stood, growling. Col caught the look in Miller’s eyes. It was akin to envy. It was bewildering to Col, for he found the human male to be worthy of admiration, even despite his limitation to only one form.

  Moments later, another pulse of energy announced Barric’s return to human form.

  “He found something.” Barric announced. Aylwyn walked in, also in human form. He was holding something carefully in his hand. Miller was the first to recognize what they were.

  “Careful!” Miller barked. “Those are fucking tranquilizer dart cartridges.” Miller quickly pulled out a small, hard case from his backpack, and directed Aylwyn to deposit the darts carefully inside. There were eight of them. He snapped the case shut and looked grimly at Tybalt.

  “Now we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. I don’t know what is in these particular darts, but a normal one would be enough to knock out a human. If the kidnapper saw Col shake off the effects of multiple darts, that would alert them that Col’s physique is unusual. To say nothing of the fact that someone is on Simon’s property, using tranq darts at all on humans. That’s kind of a bad thing.”

  “I thought so,” Col agreed sourly.

  Tybalt nodded, and turned to Col. “Do you recall how many you were hit with?”

  Col shook his head. “I had even forgotten that I had been struck. They had a strange effect on your mind.”

  Barric, of course, made a loud scoffing sound.

  Before he could speak more, Tybalt turned on him with a snarl. “We do not have time for your foolishness! Silence!” Barric clutched at his throat. Tybalt’s power over their physical functions was a continuing source of ire for Barric; when he found he could not utter a word, he stormed out of the cave.

  “Col should go with me,” Miller indicated the case containing the dart cartridges, “I’m going to take these to Simon’s vet friend in town, to definitively confirm that they’re tranquilizers. Might as well find out what kind while we’re at it.”

  Tybalt nodded. “That is a good plan, Miller Armstrong.”

  Miller looked at the remaining Bredhren. “That means you boys will have to fend for yourselves, along with Simon, for lunch. Think you can handle that?”

  Aylwyn laughed. “Think you that Simon can handle it?” Merek started hooting, and Aylwyn joined him, the barks of their whoop-whoop-whoops-echoing in the inky darkness of the mineshaft.

  Miller sighed.

  “Probably not,” he said.

  Chapter Eight

  Cadmus was seated in the Gardendale Bakery and Coffee Shop, a few doors
down from where Resting Witch Face had failed him. She kept insisting that she had the ingredients he needed, just that they weren’t in the backroom of the store after all, and she had called to see if they were at her stall at the Faire. With far more detail than he cared for, she finally got to the point and said that it was in her storage space at home, in something she called a root cellar.

  She’d have it for him tomorrow, if he’d like to come get it. Then she batted her eyelashes at him, saying she’d waive the fee and give him the Soulmate Finder special reading on the house.

  Cadmus had shuddered, and reminded himself that he needed her alive to supply the ingredients he required. It wasn’t exactly something that he could get on Amazon Prime.

  At least he learned about root cellars. When he returned to his rental house he would check out the one there and see if that would be suitable for the next ritual. He had initially dismissed it, wanting to surround himself in the energies of the earth in that area, which had meant letting Billy Bob guide him to the abandoned mine-shafts and caves deep in the woods. But perhaps the energies were strong enough where he was as well, given how his magickal senses were still somewhat muddled.

  “Enjoying your cake?” He addressed the young female seated across from him, tucking into a slab of frosted Black Forest cake that had never been anywhere near Bavaria. She was a promising candidate, even if her choice of attire was a tee shirt emblazoned with a raccoon and the words Trash Panda.

  “This is yummy,” she said, her cheeks full and a smear of frosting on the corner of her mouth. She stabbed her fork towards him. “Want some?”

  He gave his most charming smile. “Oh, no, that’s all for you.”

  “Yeah, cool,” she said, stuffing another bite into her mouth.

  It was so easy. Once he realized what she planned to do when she told Resting Witch Face the ingredients she wanted, he offered to teach her how to do something even more effective. “Binding spells are for children,” he had said, arching his brow meaningfully. And then he gave her an alternative.

  Her face had lit up right away, possibly because she recognized that it was forbidden magick, harnessing dark forces that had nothing to do with lavender fabric, wind chimes and dreamcatchers.

  This girl Jordy was pathetic. Which made her perfect for his purpose. Another lost kid who couldn’t —or wouldn’t—accept how absolutely ordinary they really were. That made them ripe for any promise of power, any route to feeling feared and respected. After learning that all she wanted to do was move a rival out of the way, he upped the stakes for her.

  “Dare to dream bigger,” he had encouraged her, watching her eyes widen with the unfamiliar encouragement. She was hanging on his every word. “With my help, my tutelage, you can do so much more. But in the meantime, I will help you with this.”

  She had babbled about how she had pulled the Hierophant card earlier, and how he was the very embodiment of what that meant to her. He evened out his smirk, so it would appear as an encouraging smile instead.

  “I will consider taking you on as my acolyte, but the path will be arduous and not for the weak-willed or faint of heart.” The girl had sat upright at that, all but ready to prove her worth.

  “I’ve never had it easy, I’m not about to start now,” she said, puffed up with the arrogance of the deeply insecure. “Bring it on!”

  Cadmus let his chortle escape. With her as his first recruit—the idiot Billy Bob was never meant to be more than hired muscle—he could build a small army in this location, and be prepared should His Terrible Majesty choose this for relocation. He would be ready to wipe Micah’s smugness off his face, when Cadmus was restored to his rightful place by the side of His Terrible Majesty.

  His reverie was interrupted by the scraping of Jordy’s fork against the plate’s surface. Irritated, he looked up just as she stuck the last piece of frosting into her mouth.

  “Want anything else, Jordy?” He could afford to be magnanimous, this was in some ways a celebration.

  The high pitch of her voice was almost as grating as the sound of her fork scraping. “Actually, could you—could you call me Hadeez?” So hopeful, like a child playing at being a villain.

  “I will not.” He felt a tiny thrill as the girl almost visibly deflated, the surprise widening her eyes. He knew exactly how to play her. “You will earn a name, a designation of my choice, which is to be conferred upon you only if you satisfactorily meet expectations. And I warn you, they are quite high.”

  She pondered that a moment, and then squared her shoulders, responding exactly as he had predicted.

  “Meet them? I’ll blast through them.”

  “Really?” He took a calm sip of his water, letting his skepticism float in mid-air, watching her immediately try to dispel it.

  “I’m not afraid.” Jordy said, lifting her chin up. “Tell me what to do.”

  He did, and her eyes widened again, not in surprise but in malicious glee. A nasty smile spread over her freckled face.

  Cadmus sat back, pleased with the results of his efforts. Such eagerness to prove how much darkness she was capable of, enthusiasm in doing what most would find morally reprehensible.

  What a fine recruit she would make.

  After the kids had been given their dinner, Lily had collected the last of the emptied juice boxes, and thrown all of the used napkins and paper plates into a large lined garbage can, which would be picked up by someone from Ops at the end of the night. The brightly colored plastic utensils would be returned to the Staff Caff, to be washed and reused for the next meals for the children. The kids had already moved onto coloring books or reading books, depending on their age, and she had already moved the toddlers out of their high chairs and into the small enclosed, padded area where TraceyAnn was ostensibly keeping watch.

  Apparently with the eyes on the back of her head, as the woman was at the window, watching some drama play out in the parking lot by the security booth.

  Lily wiped her hands with a wet paper towel, and walked over to make sure the latch on the plastic gate of the toddler pen was securely latched.

  “You’ve got to come see this,” TraceyAnn exclaimed. “There’s an ambulance and I’m trying to see who’s on the stretcher that’s being loaded in. It looks like it might be one of the Ops crew — even Puma’s there, so it’s got to be a big deal.”

  “Oh no,” Lily was worried for her roommate. “Hope it’s not Jordy —she’s in Ops.”

  “You mean Hadeez?” TraceyAnn’s voice had a nasty tone. “Probably not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t involved in some way. At the very least she’d probably be happy about it, she’s such a weirdo.”

  Something about glass houses flashed across Lily’s thoughts, as she joined TraceyAnn at the window. There was indeed an ambulance, with the insignia of St. Joseph’s Medical Center on the side, and a small crowd milling around of people wearing either t-shirts or vests with the word OPS on it. Lily saw the familiar face of the HR Director. Next to her, a tall man stood to the side, with a quiet air of authority, his features settled into a grim expression. He was built, broad-shouldered, with glossy black hair that was tied back, and a large chain and ring of keys hanging off the left hip of his worn denim jeans.

  “Is that Puma talking to Rika?” Lily asked. To her relief, she was able to pick out Gabe and Jordy in the cluster around the ambulance.

  “Sure is,” TraceyAnn said. “In fact, I’ll go outside and find out what’s going on.” She didn’t wait for a response before gathering up her skirt and rushing out.

  Lily turned around, just in time to see Brady unlatching the door to the toddler pen, two of its inmates ready to break for freedom.

  She sent a quick, silent prayer for whoever was being put into the ambulance, and rushed over before Clover joined in the kiddie prison break.

  Jordy watched with satisfaction as her nemesis, Trish, was being loaded into the ambulance. The girl had passed out in pain after the paramedics took her vitals.
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  It had meant that she was spared the agony of every bump and jostle of her broken body being carried by stretcher and then transferred into the vehicle, but Jordy didn’t need to be greedy. It was already enough that Puma was quietly telling the HR Director how it was really unlike Trish to drink while on duty. How out of character it was for her to bring up a six-pack of pre-mixed margaritas to the top of one of the dovecotes and proceed to chain them. The fall was inevitable.

  Trish was permanently out of commission, whether or not her injuries healed, because how could be she trusted again? And now she would have to be replaced, stat.

  Rika nodded, she knew what the head of Ops was saying was right. As generous as Simon was with the employee benefits, it was stuff like this—although not exactly like this weirdness—that explained why they were chronically understaffed and so quick to hire. The Faire was one big spectacle, and as the saying went, The Show Must Go On.

  Puma wasn’t one to wallow. He was already looking for a replacement right hand person, and his eyes lit on Jordy.

  “You,” he said. “You’re taking over for Trish as of right now.”

  Jordy gulped. Even though that’s exactly what the spell was supposed to achieve, Jordy still couldn’t believe it was happening. Puma was normally way too cautious, too hard to impress. Yet here he was, like a confirmed bachelor zapped with a love potion. He was acting like the Puma version of being lovestruck: trusting, looking at Jordy like there was nobody else that would do. Trish wasn’t the only one acting uncharacteristically because of the spell.

  Jordy blinked. Puma was looking at her expectantly. Nope, he still hadn’t said “Psych!” or “Just kidding!”

  Shit. It was really happening. She could let herself feel the pride bloom in her, her chest puffing out as all eyes were turned to her. To Puma’s recognition of her.

  Jordy tried not to swagger as she came closer to her new direct boss. He had a huge set of metal keys on his left hip, but everyone in Ops knew that he had a second set of keys in the vest pocket closest to his heart —the flat cards that allowed access all over the Faire, and not just gangboxes, vehicles, and the huge cargo containers where supplies and spare parts for machinery were stored.